It was for the sake of his own sanity that Mikhi opted not to focus on any of his university coursework during working days. Their schedule at the Cirque was actually much more lenient than the majority of "regular" jobs, with a meagre three night work week, and so he typically had a lot of free time to keep up to date with his classes.
Given that it was a warm yet slightly cloudy afternoon in the midst of those working days, Mikhi had opted to spend his afternoon outdoors. Lounging on a patch of greenery under the looming shadow of the ferris wheel, he basked in the intermittent sunlight with his earphones in and his nose in a recently sourced book.
Ever since he'd worked out that he could once again transform and shift between cat and human form with ease, Hiroki had been doing just that. He roamed the circus grounds at night as a cat, fulfilling his obligations as the pest controller, but during the day, that was when he let his human self out to explore.
It was as he was doing this that he happened to spot the sprawled figure of Mikhi on a patch of lush looking grass that he aborted his previous run towards the food tent and instead aimed himself in the direction of the other.
He was another person who knew Hiroki as a cat, but it was high time he got to know him as… well, this, a person!
Or… something.
Still, it was never exactly easy, but then Hiroki was the furthest thing from shy or retiring.
He approached quietly (as even in human form he was stealthy as fuck thank you very much) though the music in Mikhi's ears undoubtedly helped, but pfft, ignoring that. He stopped with his feet on either side of the human's head and then leaned down so the top half of his body was angled down in order for him to tilt his head, regarding the other with a glint in his eyes.
"Hey."
Blissfully—or perhaps stupidly—unaware of the presence of another, it took Mikhi several long seconds to realise that he was no longer alone. It was the continued chill of shade that eventually had him cracking open his eyes, though to say he had not been expecting someone leaning over him was an understatement.
To anyone watching, it would have appeared like something from a comedy sketch show. Mikhi gave a violent jolt, tearing the earbuds from his ears with a tug of the wire while sitting bolt upright…and colliding with the newcomer.
"Ow!" he called out in pain, immediately wincing with a hiss as he flopped back down onto the grass with a hand flying to his forehead. The muffled sounds coming from his discarded earphones and his quickened breathing only helped a little as he attempted to push aside the bright lights now manifesting behind his eyelids.
In all honesty? Hiroki should have seen this coming.
Maybe if he had, he'd been better prepared for the inevitable collision. A sudden explosion of pain spread outwards from the middle of his forehead and all Hiroki could do was give a sharp *yowl* (as he had done many times in cat form) and stagger backwards, clutching at his forehead.
Ow, ow, ow.
"Chikushou!" he hissed. "You have a hard head, Mikhi."
That yowl sounded oddly familiar, though Mikhi didn't connect any dots immediately. He was still blinking away the tears that had sprung up in his eyes that had been caused by the impact, the pain sure to leave a bruise in its wake.
"So do you…" he paused, squinting through the moisture while propping himself on his elbows to look at the newcomer. He didn't recognise the man looking down upon him, though he was clearly known in return. "Um. Who even are you?"
Hiroki brushed the back of his hands over his eyes, drawing the moisture away from where it was clinging to his eyelashes. "You don't recognise me?" He asked, dramatically pouting, before he lifted both shoulders. "It's me, Hiroki."
To be fair, how was anyone supposed to recognise him? Ordinarily he was a gigantic Maine Coon stretched out somewhere with his tails or ears occasionally twitching, but now? Now, he was a six-foot actual person with colourful hair and a ton of tattoos.
"Is your- Your head, is it okay?"
Hiroki.
Mikhi knew the name, of course he did. But to him Hiroki was a cat, not a man. The confusion played clearly across his face, expression a mix of scepticism and befuddlement. "My—I don't think so," he confessed, brows furrowing, "Because if you are the Hiroki I know, I must be concussed because Hiroki is a cat and you're definitely not one of those."
"I'm not a cat," Hiroki complained. "Or I was, but I'm not any longer." He huffed and flopped down into a seated position. "I'm a Bakeneko, which I guess is still a cat, but not in the traditional sense. Technically? I'm a Yokai."
Supernatural creature of Japanese folklore.
He leaned in a little closer and a very sharp gaze peered into Mikhi's eyes, checking to see if his pupils were focusing okay.
It was an awful lot to process at once. Mikhi continued to look up at Hiroki, who seemed to be coming closer, as the revelation percolated inside his pain-addled brain. Given that he had grown up in the circus and crossed the paths of many creatures, he knew what a Bakeneko was, what a Yokai was. It really oughtn't have been surprising, that somebody he had known in one form actually had a different one.
Huh.
As the other man came closer still, Mikhi felt his eyes begin to cross while keeping Hiroki in his line of sight. "You kept that quiet," he muttered, resisting the urge to lean away from the intense scrutiny he was currently under, "Were the belly rubs just too good?"
A soft giggle escaped Hiroki and he leaned back after a moment once he'd ascertained that Mikhi did not have a concussion. "Really good," he assured, a soft purr accompanying the words.
That was probably the one thing that Hiroki was worried about, that people might stop giving him affection because they were weirded out by the thought that the cat also had a human form.
"Sorry for giving you a fright."
Now that the pain and the shock were both subsiding, Mikhi was beginning to feel strangely calm in the wake of the revelation. It spoke of his acceptance of the strange and surprising, the very things he had grown up surrounded by. It was not all that alarming to discover that somebody or something he had always known was not in fact that somebody or something at all.
"You're good," he said, finally reaching for his phone to pause the music still playing. Quickly coiling the cord around it, he slipped the device into his pocket without another thought. "So, why are you a man now if the petting was so good as a cat? Like, wouldn't you rather stay like that?" There was no judgement there, simply curiosity as he properly looked Hiroki over.
"Oh, totally, but I can still become a cat anytime I want, but I lost the ability to take this form until we came here and now that it's back I'm taking full advantage of it." He appreciated how calm and together Mikhi was being about his revelation, he'd always known he was a good egg, much better than some people.
He folded his legs under himself and closed his hands around his ankles, still as flexible in this form as he was in his cat form.
"So, what do you think? Am I still as glorious in this form as I am in my cat form?"
It was all very interesting to Mikhi, who couldn't tear his eyes away from Hiroki now that he had learned the truth. As his gaze flickered over his face, down his neck, and along his limbs, Mikhi hummed to himself as though actually considering the words posed to him.
"You're a different type of glorious," he offered somewhat diplomatically, not entirely comfortable with describing another man as he would a cat. Sure, Hiroki was the same being but it would take a little time to grow used to him in this new form. "Can you still change back or haven't you tried yet? I'd be scared I wouldn't be able to, that I'd get stuck again."
Hiroki preened under the attention, shifting and moving to better accommodate Mikhi's curious gaze, and again how he was as a cat was evident in how he presented himself in that particular moment.
"I was terrified at the start," Hiroki confessed. "That I'd turn back into the cat and be unable to come back to this, but I tackled that fear pretty early on. Now I know I'm good to change whenever I want. Whatever was broken before is no longer broken."
He bounced his legs restlessly with his grip flexing around his ankles.
Of course he had already tried it. Unlike Mikhi, who typically erred on the side of caution given his distinctly human nature, Hiroki was surely much braver and more daring. It oughtn't have come as a surprise at all.
"That's really good," he said, his gaze turning somewhat admiring as he grinned, "So you can switch back if you ever get a really strong craving for catnip."
"And the belly rubs," Hiroki answered with a broad boxy grin. "Don't forget about the belly rubs." He'd be bereft without those and the ear scritches. Honestly, he was definitely worried that people would stop because they knew he had this form.
He might like affection on his own terms, but he was still a very big fan of the whole thing.
Hiroki unfurled one of his legs and poked Mikhi's leg with his foot.
"We good?"
"How could anyone forget those?" Mikhi asked with a laugh, watching as Hiroki's leg extended to nudge his own. As the chuckles subsided, his head tilted slightly in yet another show of pending curiosity. "I guess this makes things easier," he said steadily, "If you want affection, you can just tell people rather than knock stuff over."
"No promises," Hiroki shot back with a soft laugh of his own. "Sometimes the best way to get attention is by knocking stuff over."
He shifted again, moving over to sit beside Mikhi rather than across from him, gently knocking his shoulder into the other's.
"Hopefully I'll still get as much affection as I did before without people feeling weird about it."
There were several breakable items in Mikhi's trailer that disagreed with such a statement but he could hardly be mad about it. Hiroki was right; it had gotten the attention he desired.
The warm nudge against his shoulder was much like a magnet to Mikhi, who gravitated towards it instinctively. "You're still the same Hiroki," he muttered, glancing at the man from the corner of his eyes. Maybe that wasn't strictly true but Mikhi didn't feel much of a difference himself. There was still something distinctly feline about the man at his side, the temperament was the same, as were Hiroki's memories and recollections. In his opinion, very little had actually altered. "There's just more surface area to cover now."
Hiroki smiled as he felt the way Mikhi gravitated, happy that his shoulder nudge had the intended effect. "Lots more surface area," he agreed. "And you can have an actual two-way conversation with me."
Honestly, the things he knew and had seen would fill pages upon pages of a book should he ever decide he was going to write one, but he would never do that. He felt a real sense of responsibility for people's confidences.
"So if you're feeling stressed out about exams or assignments I can help, or I can just let you cuddle me in my cat form, whichever one works better."
He gave a soft trill to further accent his point.
The callback to several times in the past where Mikhi had frustratedly, worriedly, and oftentimes tearfully confessed his overwhelmed feelings to Hiroki only verified that this man and the cat were one and the same. It drew a sheepish look from the human, who ducked his head in an attempt to hide the embarrassed flush spreading over his cheeks. "Thanks," he offered quietly, bringing a hand up with the intention of patting Hiroki's shoulder but skimming the nape of his neck instead.
The response and reaction from Hiroki was immediate, he leaned into the brush to his neck and let out a soft purr because that felt nice, really nice. It might not have been what Mikhi had intended, but it was clear that Hiroki was receptive.
Hopefully the sounds he made didn't put Mikhi off or disappoint him, not that he thought the other had spent the same amount of time as Bliss imagining what he might or might sound like if he were human.
It was momentarily alarming to have a man purr in his ear at such a simple misplaced touch. Mikhi turned his head to look properly at Hiroki, silently relieved that his cheeks were already pink from his previous embarrassment, for they would have inevitably lit up again at that sound.
"I guess you like the attention in both forms?" he muttered, hand adjusting to squeeze Hiroki's shoulder lightly before the tips of his middle and index fingers twitched up to skim the space behind his ear, almost as if testing the theory.
Hiroki unashamedly liked attention in every form, the more the better. His eyes fluttered at the brushing of Mikihi's fingers behind his ear and he let out another sound, less feline and more human, a little huff and gentle exhale. Both of which were accompanied by him leaning in, turning his head, and nuzzling gently.
"I do," he murmured, figuring he should voice that rather than just melt into the touch, for Mikhi.
He blinked slow and lazily, lifting his gaze to look up at Mikhi.
The words definitely helped to ease any lingering strangeness. Mikhi watched as Hiroki all but melted at his touch, his own lips curling into a pleased smile at the nuzzling. It was sweet and without intent, simply instinctive.
"You can lay down, if you want?" he offered, adjusting his legs out in front of him and patting his thigh with an idle hand. He had no plans and it appeared Hiroki didn't either, so what better way to pass the time than this?
Oh… that was very kind of him to offer. If he had his cat ears right now, they would have twitched in interest, but thankfully for them both the soft trill he gave was indication enough that Hiroki was very excited by the offer.
Hiroki shifted and immediately rested his head in Mikhi's lap, turning over so he could look up at the other while making himself very comfortable.
"This is nice," he murmured with a smile.
It was a relief when Hiroki seemed to think positively about the idea rather than assume it was weird. Mikhi didn't think it was, given that the other had been considered a friend in his cat form and those feelings hadn't changed just because his physical form had. Perhaps he had spoken too quickly, prompted by the strangeness of the situation and the conversation both, but it all seemed to have worked out for the best.
The warm, heavy weight against his leg and the happy expression on Hiroki's face pleased Mikhi, whose hand moved from the other's neck up to his hair instead. "If I do something you don't like, promise you'll tell me rather than bite me?" he said, mostly teasing but also not as his fingers began to card gently through the soft grey strands.
Hiroki's eyes closed when there were fingers in his hair, a slow long breath escaping him, before he turned his head to playfully but more importantly lightly bit the inside of Mikhi's wrist. "Okay, okay, no biting."
He could do that, use his words instead of his teeth and claws.
"I'll use my words."
Pausing briefly as Hiroki's teeth grazed his skin, Mikhi shot the other a stern look that not only appeared odd on his face but lasted only a second or two before being replaced with a laugh instead. "Only if something is really bad or really good," he offered, short nails grazing lightly across his scalp at the side of his head, thumb occasionally skimming the outer shell of his ear.
Hiroki could behave, if he wanted to, and Mikhi had asked nicely so he could accommodate. "Mmm- that, the thing you're doing with your nails feels really good."
See? Words!
He rumbled out another purr but this one deeper in his chest, tipping his head into the brush of thumb against the shell of his ear.
Oh, that felt really nice. Shivers down the spine nice.
Smiling happily at the sound of Hiroki's words, Mikhi continued doing what he was doing. It elicited a positive response from the other, who practically melted at the simple touches. He really was such a cat.
"Oh no," Mikhi sighed in an overly exasperated manner that relayed immediately that he was simply teasing, "Now you're going to get used to this and expect it all the time."
Hiroki peeled one of his eyes open and levelled an equally playful but also serious look at the human. "I mean, obviously. All the time, whenever you have free time, you're going to get sick of me."
It wasn't a completely empty threat.
Hiroki could also give affection and would do so if it was clear it would be well received. He dipped his toe in the water by nuzzling against Mikhi's wrist before dropping a kiss there, returning to his original position moments later.
"Pretty sure that's impossible," Mikhi retorted, his voice trailing off at the kiss to his wrist. As unexpected as the return of affection was, it certainly wasn't unwelcome. His ministrations paused only briefly in acceptance of the brush of lips, beginning again once Hiroki returned to his previous position pillowed against his thigh. "But definitely not today, not right now."
"Mmm, exactly." Hiroki settled right where he was, completely comfortable and right at home with his head in Mikhi's lap.