Not Feline Fine [depressed!Ichi x depressed!Reader]

Cats and Questions

Ichimatsu and I approached the house, him entering first with me close behind. I turned to shut the door, already hearing the other five get up to greet us and ask us where we went. I didn't answer and Ichi kept the pachinko accident a secret.

"Oh (Y/N), you left your stuff at the parlor. Here," Osomatsu stepped forward, handing me what looked to be about 30,000 yen with a wink. His brothers looked at him with surprise.. except for Ichimatsu, who looked irked by Osomatsu's gesture.

"Oh, thank you," I smiled, hesitantly taking the money. "That was sweet of you." He blushed lightly and chuckled.

"Uh, (Y/N), are you staying for dinner? Our mom should be here any minute now and she's going to make food for us," Choromatsu chimed in, smiling softly.

"Oh uh, I don't know.. I should probably head home tonight," I rubbed the back of my neck. "Maybe another time-" As soon as I said that, the door had opened behind me to reveal a small elderly woman and an even smaller elderly man.

"I'm home, my NEETs! Oh, and who is this?" The woman looked at me, her eyes wide behind the foggy lenses of her glasses.

"Hi mom! That's our friend, (Y/N)! She's staying for dinner!" Jyushimatsu said, looking at who was apparently their mother.

"Oh, is this true?" She crossed her arms still looking at me with a smile.

"W-well I.. I was about to head home, I don't want to.. be a bother or-" I stuttered, a sudden feeling of nervousness balling up in my gut as I spoke.

"Nonsense! Please, stay as long as you like!" She leaned in, dropping her voice to a loud whisper. "But tell me, should I be expecting grandchildren soon?"

"I.. what?" I blushed, caught off guard by the question.

"MOM!" the boys shouted. A few of their faces showed a crimson hue, especially Ichi and Choro. The woman just snickered and patted my shoulder.

"You boys better start working if you want to get a wife like this, you're lucky she's even wasting her time around you guys!" She chirped, making her way to a different room with her husband flashing me an apologetic expression. I was speechless and I could feel my face burning due to the embarrassment.

"Ah, don't mind her words, (Y/N)-chan," Osomatsu said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, she always asks things like that. She doesn't know what makes people uncomfortable." I heard of twinge of nervousness in Todomatsu's voice as he spoke. Ichimatsu and Choromatsu were still silent, and Karamatsu wasn't even paying attention. He had his shades on so I couldn't exactly see where his eyes were, but I noticed him moving his head slightly as if he were looking between his brothers. Jyushimatsu had disappeared, so I assume he just went to the other room. 'Was it going go be like this all night?' I thought to myself with a sigh.

We passed the time by talking or playing little games, waiting for the inevitably awkward dinner. I had a feeling that their mother was going to ask me all kinds of questions like the previous one, but I was willing to stick it out for these boys. As expected, their mother continuously prodded me with personal questions. "So, what do you do for work?" "How old are you?" I didn't want to be rude, but I tried to keep my answers vague and attempted to change the subject until she asked "Are you going to be staying the night?" The Matsus paused what they were doing and glanced at me.

"I.. I don't know, uh.."

"Come on, (Y/N)! It could be fun! We could play more games!" Jyushimatsu butted in, the others joining.

"I could serenade you with my guitar~" Karamatsu smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"We could take cute selfies and edit them!" Todomatsu snickered, and they continued bargaining. They were like needy children..

"Fine, fine I'll stay," I smiled genuinely, leaning against and gently nudging the nearest Matsuno who happened to be Choromatsu. They really seemed happy to have me around, and I was happy to be around them. It'd only been a week but it felt like I'd known them forever. Dinner proceeded as normal, their mother's questions growing less frequent.

After everything had been cleaned up, Ichimatsu approached me and said he had something to show me. He was wearing one of those paper masks people wear when they're sick. He led me outside into the alleyway beside the house, pulling something fluffy out of his pocket. A cat toy? He squatted down and I followed, staying close to him. Ichi started gently clicking his tongue, waving the cat toy at the darker area of the alley. Soon enough, two or three cats had emerged from the shadows: a fluffy calico and two scrawny yellow tabbies. I gasped at the sight of the creatures.

"They're so cute!.." Ichi set the cat toy down and grabbed my hand gently before reaching into his pocket. I heard some crumpling and he pulled out a few dried sardines, placing them into my hands.

"They're friendly." He muttered, pulling up the mask he was wearing. Probably to hide his smile as I extended my arm to hold out the fish treats and squealed when the cats took them. I looked over at him, smiling widely. He'd been staring at me and averted his eyes when I caught him. Cute..

We played with the cats for a little bit, him telling me their names and their favorite places to be scratched. "Heh, I had.. fun. Thank you." I smiled, nudging him gently.

"Tch.. it's whatever," he spoke coldly.

"Yeesh, we were just having fun and you're giving me the cold shoulder again?" I pouted and stepped away, sliding the door open. He was silent as we entered, disposing of the mask before walking up to the sextuplets' room. I followed him up, earning a few hello's from the brothers. Jyushi and Todo were playing Shogi (the younger looking agitated), Karamatsu was looking at himself in a mirror, Osomatsu was fumbling with a few Mahjong tiles, and Choro was reading a magazine. We all just hung out for the rest of the night, playing Shogi, Mahjong, Jenga, and other games to pass the time. Soon the time came when I had to leave the room and hit the hay. I had to go tomorrow.. Don't let anything distract you, I told myself before passing out once more on the sofa downstairs. It was a good day.