Chapter Text
Fuck.
It was raining. Heavily. Cats and dogs, one might even say.
Akutagawa stepped out of the back door, into the dark alley way of his workplace. He sighed, letting the rain soak him through. He needed to wash his clothes when he got back anyways. It would be a plus if he could fall sick as well, that way he could call in for paid leave. Life was meek. Life was cruel. Life was unfair.
It would be better if his immune system just failed him now and made it quick
He reached into his coat pocket to fish out his phone that was already safely kept in a ziplock plastic baggie. He nonchalantly checked the time as the rain splattered onto the plastic covering his screen.
4.20am.
(GET LIT)
He had taken his usual nightshift at the bar, but the boss let him off around 2 hours late. That fucking ass. It was now too late for dinner and too early for breakfast. Well, Akutagawa would just have to skip both then.
The young man shoved his phone back into his pocket, kicking down a loose piece of gravel down the quiet asphalt street. The sound if the rain hitting the ground was almost therapeutic, and for the first time in a long while, he felt like nothing mattered.
Suddenly a loud clang of metal followed by the dull think of a dustbin being tipped over broke the silence of the rain, shocking Akutagawa from his trance. He looked up, only to see that a garbage bin had been tipped over, its open head peeping out of the side alley in front of him and spilling its contents onto the wet ground
Well someone is going to have a mess to clean up...
"You fucking rascal—! Don't go around tipping our bins and making a mess! God the Mrs is going to slaughter me if I don't get rid of you..."
Akutagawa paused, silently slipping to the side to press his body against the wall opposite the alley, pretending to seek shelter from the rain in a nearby concrete overhang. He trained his eyes on the commotion as a fat, gruff man clad in what must have been a chef's attire, holding an umbrella, held up a white creature by its tail, the poor thing failing around madly and hissing with fear. Akutagawa's eyes widened as he saw that the man had managed to trap the creature by catching a noose around its neck, and was now using the remaining length of thick rope to tie up the animal's limbs. Around the paws, around the neck and through its jaws, across its stomach till it looked like an unnatural pile of limbs and fur. Akutagawa felt his stomach lurch.
After the chef was done with his handiwork, he then proceeded to open up another trash bin and throw the creature in like a basketball player doing a slam dunk. The lid was shut with an unnecessarily loud bang. He then retreated through the back door.
Silence.
Akutagawa rushed forward without hesitance, breathing bated as the cold rain hit harder than before. He threw open the lid to the bin frantically, eyes trying to find the white mass of fur in the darkness of the bin. He heard a small mewl come from the far bottom corner and a pair of glimmering eyes shone in the moonlight, begging for help.
Not even thinking twice, Akutagawa clambered inside the large bin, trying to be as silent as possible as he held his breath, bracing himself for the stench. He reached forward to quickly grab the wet animal from the pile of rubbish. It gave a few soft meows and trembled slightly, but Akutagawa paid no heed as he carried it in one hand and hopped out of the bin. As he landed, he stumbled, causing the bin next to them to tumble over as well with an ungraceful bang.
Whoops.
Running faster than he ever had, Akutagawa darted down the empty road, arms clutching the mass of wet fur beneath his coat as he heard the chef shouting profanities yet again. He quickly turned sharply into the alley carpark where his motorbike was chained up in the shelter and started up the engine, holding the mass bundled in his coat between his legs as he sped off through the rain.
His heart was beating, and boy, Akutagawa was sure he wasn't built for this kind of adventure.
******************
"Ah jeez..."
Akutagawa sighed as he parked his bike to a screeching halt in the sheltered garage of his dingy 1 storey apartment, which was really just an abandoned garage. He paid the meagre water and electricity bills so the landlord didn't kick up a fuss or go investigate.
It was just a large empty space, 3 quarters serving as his house while the other quarter just to park his motor cycle and his shoes.
Shrugging off his soaking wet coat, Akutagawa grabbed his pocket knife and immediately began cutting away at the thick rope that bound the poor cat together. The animal was silent in his arms, eyes shut as Akutagawa lay it to rest gently on a towel he had by the walkway. It was small, but it wasn't a kitten. Its snow white fur was dyed almost a sad grey and was matted with mud and grit. It was thin, weak, breathing soft and pained as it just lay there, unmoving.
The young man made haste in stripping himself down to his boxers and singlet, leaving his wet clothes in a heap by his bike as he gently carried the stray cat up to his chest. He wasn't sure what to do now but a warm bath sounded appealing, and it would be good to do it before the wild cat awoke.
He filled up his bath with 3 inches of warm water and slid in, still clothed and with the dirty cat in his arms. Carefully, he splashed handfuls of the warm water onto the lithe body of the animal, touch gentle against the delicate wet fur. Akutagawa scraped his fingertips softly through the cat's fur with some shampoo, watching as the grey left its white coat. It wasn't long before it was clean, and Akutagawa heaved a soft sigh of relief, glad that the animal had not awoken.
Just as he had thought lady luck was being kind to him, those bright, golden eyes flickered open and met his, and Akutagawa swore he almost jumped in shock.
"......."
The cat gave a soft, tired mewl, resting its head against Akutagawa's knee as he sat cross legged in the tub. It seemed perfectly content with having its legs and belly in the water, and purred quietly as it nuzzled its face against Akutagawa. The young man froze slightly, pausing before gently stroking a finger down the back of the white cat's head, only to be rewarded with a low, satisfied purr. Akutagawa gave a small, rather uncharacteristic smile, seeing that the stray was reasonably friendly, and carefully carried it up in his arms to the sink. The cat stood up on the counter,obediently still as the man gently dried it off with a hand towel. After the deed was done, Akutagawa carefully placed the creature on the ground outside his bathroom and went back in to take a shower himself, not giving much of a second thought about the stray. He had left the windows open. If the cat really wanted to leave it could go anytime. After all, Akutagawa had a whole garage to share.
Humming the random chords of the new song he was coming up with in the shower, he tried to add in a bit of vocals, completely immersing himself in singing. He sang about today, he sang about how he wanted to kill his shitty boss and how much the whole world sucked in general. And he laughed, voice half hoarse. Happily, as the warm water bathed him and washed away his agony. This was okay.
**********************
After stepping out of his steaming hot shower, Akutagawa quickly dried himself off and wrapped a towel around his waist, ready to get a change of clothes and hop into his bed to sleep. But Just as he stepped out the bathroom, he almost stepped on the small, white cat curled up right in front of the door, as if it had been laying against it. It was sleeping soundly, so vulnerable.
This cat definitely wasn't the smartest of the litter.
"Oi...don't sleep there...its troublesome for me..."
Akutagawa deadpanned as he wearily stepped over the cat and walked to his closet, pulling out a simple white sweater and his boxers. He sighed audibly, walking to the kitchen and bending over to check the contents of his fridge for a quick bite to eat. Behind him, he heard the soft sound of padding against the concrete before a warm softness brushed past his ankle.
"...."
The cat sat next to his leg, giving a louder mewl as its tail swished around. Its eyes were glowing almost, but Akutagawa was 67% sure he was just imagining things. Relenting, he gave a small smile and gave the cat a quick tickle under its chin.
The man managed to skewer out some frozen fish fingers that had expired a week ago and put the remaining 6 icy sticks on a plate before sticking it in the microwave. He closed his eyes momentarily, the weight of the world slowly sinking down on his shoulders, exhaustion weighing his shoulders down. He tried to shrug it off, but he knew that food alone would not solve all his problems.
"....."
Akutagawa opened his eyes yet again as he heard the cat jump up onto the counter and sit down on his hand, golden eyes begging for attention. The pain ebbed away from the edges of Akutagawa's brain and he gently caressed the fluffy face of the cat that seemed to be smiling in some way or other. It purred happily, and soon, there were fish fingers for dinner.
Akutagawa found a can of beans and poured half of it into a bowl, moving all the food to the counter.
"Hn...I pretty sure this stuff is bad for you but...its all I got..."
He hummed, setting down a chipped plate on the table for the stray cat and donating half of his fish sticks to the animal. It eats without complaint, tail swishing happily. It did make quite the mess though, but Akutagawa didn't reply feel like scolding a stray he had just found soaking wet on the street.
They finished up after a few minutes and it had stopped raining. Akutagawa had went to brush his teeth, only to find that the white cat had now snuggled up in his sheets upon his return and was now snoozing. Akutagawa felt the corner of his lips twitch up in a smile as he got the bottle of pills from his cardboard box of a bedside table and popped 3 into his mouth.
Antiretroviral.
He slipped under the covers, not forgetting to open up the window beside his bed wide enough for it to leave if it wanted to.