Scattered light

Kids Say The Darndest Things

Notes:

Scar tissue that I wish you saw
Sarcastic mister know it all
Close your eyes and I'll kiss you 'cause
With the birds I'll share
With the birds I'll share
This lonely view
With the birds I'll share
This lonely view

-Red Hot Chili Peppers

Chapter Text

I've never been a huge fan of cats, or animals in general. Actually, that's a lie. Animals, cats especially, have never been a huge fan of me.

When I was younger my grandmother had an old grumpy cat that I would follow around the house, unsure on my pajama padded feet, until he would find some place high out of my reach to curl up in and nap. That was usually the end of it, with my mom calling out a quick "Tobi, baby, leave Setsu alone" and me tottering off in the other direction to find something else to occupy my short attention span.

But one day Mom wasn't there, and with Grandma in the other room watching something much too boring for my tiny mind, Setsu's tail hanging down from the window sill seemed so much more reachable than ever before.

Three good shoves with my chubby hands and the kitchen chair was exactly where I needed it and within seconds I was eye level with smooth gray fur. I reached out to pet Setsu right as I lost my balance atop the kitchen chair, stubby fingers closing around a patch of fur as I fell backwards, pulling a screaming spitting cat down with me.

Setsu never came near me again and I'm almost certain he warned every other cat in the world to avoid me also. Years later and I still have scratch scars on my hand and a strong belief that cats are so fluffy because they're full of hatred and anger.

And then there's Kenma. He has every characteristic of a house cat; that calculated clever look in his eyes, his independent temperament, even his ability to fall asleep practically anywhere, but as far as my track record with cats goes I think he might actually like me.

Other than the sugar incident I've only spoken to him once. Hinata had asked me over to watch a movie and I ended up sat between him and Kenma on the sofa while Natsu took the recliner. For such tiny people the Hinata siblings sure knew how to take up a significant amount of space, Natsu somehow spread sideways across her chair and her brother lying upside down with both arms out to the side. How he read the subtitles from that position I have no idea.

Kenma started out sitting stiffly, his knees pulled to his chest and his chin resting on his hands, but about halfway through the movie I could see his head starting to nod as he dozed and somehow, much to my surprise, his head ended up in my lap as he curled up and slept soundly as if it was the most natural thing.

No one noticed until the credits started to roll, Hinata standing up to stretch and smiling down at his friend, making a "shh" motion to tell me not to wake him. I was stuck there for two hours, long enough to watch another of Hinata's cheesy action movies, Kenma's warm breathe softly purring against my leg until I thought that maybe this whole scene was something I could really get used to.

I had gone home that night with an odd domestic feeling in my chest. I've always had a domestic sort of relationship with Suga but this felt different somehow. It felt like I was actually a part of a whole instead of just being cared for by another person. It was unfamiliar but not unwelcome.

I felt like I had two families and I hoped that maybe I'd be able to join them together someday. Maybe the amount of love I feel around the people I care about most could pull me out of the dark hole I'd stuffed myself into years ago.

***

To add to the laundry list of things Suga's parents have done to upset him, they scheduled their dinner on pizza night.