Natsuo sample

When you're so used to living with a bunch of other people, despite the rifts between one end of the house and across the dinner table, the quiet can get to you sometimes. Natsuo didn't really like living on his own. Despite it being a better alternative than home, silence never really was his strong suit. There wasn't anything happening- no hustle and bustle of people trying to do homework or existing in the same space (despite the noises from his neighbors on all sides).

It's not like he was lonely. Because, he wasn't lonely. He interacted with people all the time, between college and work and the delivery joints! The people in the support department were already super nice, and they called him at least once a day to make sure he was getting his dosage of human interaction! He wasn't lonely. He just didn't like the quiet.

The hustle and bustle of the city was better. Here, it could get so loud that he could hardly hear himself think- Which, ultimately, was a blessing! It was enough to force his brain to a sort of hard reset- He could zone out and think about what he had to do with the white noise of industry blaring around him. He walked home from the convenience store on the corner with a bag of instant meals and soda, humming to himself as he considered the shape of an injectable adrenaline boost attached to armor when he saw a flash of white in the grime of the city.

So, of course he followed it, poking his head into the alleyway it went down. A big ol' cat sat somewhat deep inside, in a ray of light, sitting and licking its paw. Its stomach was white, but the rest of its fur was a stripey brown, and Natsuo fell instantly in love. He set down his bag and crouched down, holding his hand out to the cat. A good fifteen feet still sat between them, but his voice was still low and sweet.

"Hey, you. Oh, hello! Hi there, little guy, I haven't seen you around here before. Are you lost?" The cat gave an indignant meow in response, looking up at Natsuo with wide eyes. And then it sneezed. Natsuo huffed in disappointment, shifting back to look back in his bag. He figured, random alley cat would definitely be hungry- Did he have anything to feed it with, was the real question. The best thing he had was some crappy shelf-safe tuna, which was promptly ripped open and its contents laid across the ground of the alley.

That, it seemed, made the cat perk right the fuck up. It limped its way over to Natsuo, eyeing him carefully as it sniffed the tuna. Natsuo stayed as still as he possibly could, despite the bouncy energy in him, convincing himself to move just slow enough to pull out his phone without the cat jumping and running away. "I am not taking your picture," he said, taking the cat's picture as he texted it to Shouto and Fuyumi. "I am definitely not showing you off to my family so that I can make an educated decision about to do with you, nope." The cat didn't care about his fervent denial, and, at the behest of his sister, Natsuo looked up the address to a veterinary office.