FIRST | JOHNTEN

EIGHT | CATS

while on the way back, ten heard something move from behind a trash bin. he doesn't mind it much until he catches the noise of a faint mew, causing him to pause suddenly and look back. johnny does too, although a little disinterestedly. "what?"

"i thought i heard something..." ten whispers, walking closer to the trash bin. the smell isn't exactly pleasant, but that's to be expected. he avoids touching the trash bin along with the others as much as he can as he peers behind it.

sure enough, there's a cat. no, correction: a kitten.

it's brown, short-furred, and striped as well as tiny. it gives ten a curious look with it's huge eyes and lets out a high-pitched mew. from what ten can see, it made an old cardboard box its home of some sort, sitting in the wet thing with its paws tucked under its tail. johnny comes up beside him, so close that they brush each other. ten feels a bit tingly there.

"aww," johnny coos in a soft voice. "he's so cute...."

"yeah," ten agrees before crouching down to sort of level with the kitten. it was a stray. the kitten sniffs but quickly draws back its head. ten doesn't exactly remember too many rules regarding the dorms. heck, he doesn't even remember being told any or reading any. if he ever had, it sure slipped his mind. "i should — we should leave it alone."

"hm," is all johnny says.

"i don't think we're allowed to have pets, anyways," ten continues, looking back at his roommate, who just purses his lips unsurely.

"yeah, probably," johnny glances behind him. "let's get back, i don't want to go to sleep too late."

"okay," ten agrees. before they leave, he gives the kitten one last glance.

****

"so... who's your crush, ten?" art whispers into ten's ear for the hundredth time during painting. he wasn't letting up about it, so bent on finding out who ten liked.

ten had kind of just... forgot to tell them. he would rather dance around the topic instead of answering it. maew, thankfully, hadn't been constantly pestering ten about it, but she glanced at him with a certain knowing look in her feline-like eyes before focusing back on her painting. she was going to figure it out sooner or later.

ten doesn't respond to art's question, making the other young man frown. "c'mon, ten. i won't tell anyone!"

"just focus on your painting, art," ten tells him, lightly nudging him with his shoulder. when art seems reluctant, ten adds, "i'll tell you later, alright?"

"good! you better!" art retorts with a giggle, pressing his brush to his canvas again and bringing it along it, adding to his night sky that was a mix of shades of purple and black. art does one last stroke before cleaning off his brush and dipping the very tip into the white paint to add stars.

ten went with making a river cutting through a valley with mountains in the far off distance. class is near over when ten finishes with a last few final touches to the grass. but then, he feels like something is missing. yet, ten can't figure out what. he tilts his head to the side to study it within his head. maybe the river needs more shine? or....

thinking back to that sketch he drew of a tabby cat that one day, an idea that came to him after merely looking in the direction of his crush, ten decides to do that. he paints a small brown tabby cat watching the river while sitting down near the very edge, it's back turned. once he finishes, the bell rings, and ten's satisfied.

when leaving the classroom, ten takes note of the paint that got onto his hand that he hasn't previously noticed (mostly likely there because of art when he carelessly moves it around). he tells himself mentally to clean it off the first chance he gets, only to get attacked by art questioning him again.

"who's your crush?" he asks in a whisper that almost wasn't much of a whisper. "you said you'd tell me later — "

"art, don't," maew hisses.

"no, i did say i would," ten mutters before walking a little closer to art and angling his head up a bit to whisper into his ear due to art being a few inches or so taller than him. when his lips start to move, when the name is forming on the tongue, the said person he was going to mention has to appear and scare ten away from admitting the truth.

johnny taps ten on the shoulder after calling to him, falling in line with his steps. he's all smiling and it makes ten's heart flutter. "i saw you and just thought i'd say hi," he adds.

"heh," ten feels his farm warming up and out of habit, touches one of his cheeks that went a light pink colour. "hi."

johnny giggles. "hey art. hey maew."

maew's curling a strand of her hair with her finger. "hi."

art gives her a weird look before returning johnny's smile and waving. then, out of nowhere, johnny's eyes widen, as if he just remembered something out of the blue. he says, "can i borrow ten for a bit?"

"sure, go ahead," art pushes ten, which makes him run into johnny. "see you in class!"

"see you!" ten replies before his friends leave. he steps back from johnny, now red in the face, and continues on, "what's up?"

"i came across this thing when walking to my first place and wanted to show it to you," johnny answers. "come on!"

"but class — " ten starts.

"you won't be that late!"

johnny takes charge, holding onto ten and leading the way. holding onto ten as in he ends up, whether purposely or not, holding ten's hand. he sort of just intertwined their hands without much thought, slipping his fingers between ten's, and pretty much dragged him along the corridor with the biggest smile yet. all while ten was freaking out on the inside, his thoughts basically screaming, johnny's holding your hand! holy shit, he's holding your hand!

they take a turn and end up down an empty corridor, johnny taking a right into a room. it's completely white and would be extremely boring without the paintings that adorned the walls. johnny pauses in his steps, making ten do as well, as they take in their surroundings. it was hard to pick which was the best of all, because every single piece of art was beautiful in their own way off of a basic observation alone. ten remembers his professor saying their paintings were going to be displayed... perhaps they would be displayed here.

johnny meets ten's eyes. they're shiny again. his eyes are a pretty colour, as ten acknowledges for the umpteenth time. "i just thought you would want to see this, since, y'know, you're an art major."

"thanks," ten breathes, his words quiet.

johnny smiles too before he abruptly pulls his hand away from ten's, the fingers between ten's own slipping from and away. he's red in the face now and looks away, "s-sorry."

"no, it's — " ten starts to say before shuts his lips, looking wide-eyed at the ceiling.

the bell had just rung.