The Second Task, Part Five
The door of the common room opened. Nekozawa, Soma, and Atsushi, the newly-formed group of social pariahs, were privately celebrating Nekozawa’s win together. Dungeons and Dragons was this celebration.
Sebastian walked into to the room towards the group. He winced upon seeing the game they were playing, muttering something about ‘weebos’.
“Atsushi?”
The white-haired boy turned to Sebastian, the Triwizard Tournament judge, grin still on his face in response to one of Nekozawa’s hilariously witty jolks. He briefly wondered what the judge was doing in the Oxbridge common room, considering he was neither a student or teacher, and should probably be monitoring the other contestants who were still trapped in the maze.
“Yes, Sebastian-san?”
Atsushi’s eyes were blown wide, the same colours of the beautiful Empress Sebastian had been stalking following the first task. He could feel the saliva pooling in his mouth upon being reunited with his beautiful kitten.
Sebastian gripped him gently but firmly by the wrist with his gloved hand and lead him to the wall. But oh, how he would love to feel the warm flesh of his kitten against his own! Atsushi in ultimate confusion just watches Sebastian, who pins him against the wall and presses a forearm to the wall near his head, caging him in.
Atsushi gulps.
“Oh, quit acting innocent,” Sebastian leans in closer to Atsushi, using a single finger to tip his delicate head in his direction. He licked his lips. Now the entire focus of his Empress was on him and him alone! “Such round eyes…” he muttered. “My precious little kitten…”
“Uh-uh – Sebastian-san?” Atsushi struggled to maintain eye contact but simultaneously found it impossible to pull away.
“Come on a moonlit walk with me tonight,” and upon seeing Atsushi’s unsure expression finds himself continuing, “You don’t be shy around me, my little kitten. With me…you can be your true self.”
Atsushi’s cheeks blazed brighter, blush fanning over the height of his cheekbones to the tips of his ears. “Um – um, okay, we – we can do that.”
Sebastian rubbed Atsushi’s delicate chin with the pad of his thumb. “That’s good.” He regretfully pulled away from the boi. “I’ll see you tonight, my kitten.”
When Sebastian left the common room, Atsushi found his eyes following after him.
-
The full moon sat in the clear sky, the air crisp. Sebastian glanced at his pocket watch. His kitten was late. He longed to see him again. The amazing round eyes, the vivid black stripes contrasted on the smooth white fur, the plump paw pads. His love of cats was overriding his duties as a judge, but at this moment he didn’t care.
Suddenly he sensed him. The precious boi. Atsushi ran over to him, slightly breathless. Atsushi had been so nervous. Just as he had been leaving to meet Sebastian, Soma had fixed his hair and smiled at him. ‘Don’t forget,’ he said to Atsushi. ‘If he puts in effort for his appearance, he likes you. He probably thinks this is a date.’
Did Atsushi want this to be a date? He wasn’t sure. He was tired of his self-loathing cycle of sleeping with random, faceless men. Was he even ready for a relationship?
But upon seeing him, Atsushi could not stop the smile on his face.
Sebastian was confused. When he had heard that Atsushi’s ability was called ‘Beast in the Moonlight’, he had assumed that upon the whispering touch of moonlight on his skin Atsushi would immediately shift into his beautiful tigeress form. That was why he had decided to invite Sebastian for a ‘moonlit’ walk. Where was his beautiful kitten?
The pair walked through Oxbridge grounds in a comfortable silence. Atsushi noticed Sebastian’s sharp and clean clothing couldn’t help but think back to Soma’s words. Would a man wear a tailcoat and white gloves on a moonlit walk unless he liked the other person? Atsushi wasn’t sure. But even if this was intended to be a date, Atsushi had never properly dated someone he liked as an adult and wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to.
Atsushi rested his hand in the crease of Sebastian’s elbow as the walked around the fountain together.
“Your ability – Beast in the Moonlight – do you not become a beast in the moonlight?”
Atsushi suddenly realised that he was actually IN the moonlight. “Was that what you were expecting?”
“Excuse me for saying, but the majesty of your tiger form is something to be truly worshipped.”
Atsushi hesitated. He had never heard anyone compliment his tiger form; most people ignored it, and as consequence it was another something he felt insecure about.
“Are – are you joking with me?” Atsushi heard his voice break. He thought he was finally making a new friend, but in reality Sebastian was kidding with him. He remembered the lies Sanji had told him about his fur. The betrayal was something that had reduced his capability of trusting new people. Was this the same?
Sebastian laughed. “Something you should learn about me, Atsushi: I never joke about cats.”
Atsushi trembled. The sincerity in Sebastian’s tone made this cheeks darken with a blush.
When Atsushi finally shifted into his second form he curled into Sebastian’s lap; the other man ran his fingers through his fur, the same fur that was damaged and matted following Shu’s mistreatment, and listened to the deep rumble of his voice. “You poor baby,” Sebastian muttered. He removed his gloves to continue petting him. Atsushi couldn’t help but let his tail curl in satisfaction. “You deserve so much better. What happened to your fur? Who hurt you? My pretty kitty. Such a pretty kitty. You deserve to be worshipped, not hurt.”
Tears slid out of the tiger’s large eyes. Sebastian frowned at their appearance. No one had ever cared for Atsushi’s tiger before. Sanji lied about his fur as if it didn’t even matter. Following his first death, they had buried Atsushi in an unmarked grave like trash. Atsushi’s headmaster and only father figure hadn’t appeared when he finally made his debut as a judge. He didn’t even get attention as a human – and his tiger got even less. And this kind of unconditional affection Sebastian was giving him?
“Atsushi, will you come to the Yule Ball with me?”
The tiger licked Sebastian’s palm in response, heart aching with happiness.
-
Over the next few nights Sebastian and Atsushi met in the moonlight, the latter curled in Sebastian’s lap, who gently rubbed a healing salve over his white and black striped coat. New fur grew to replace the old. A shining tiger emerged.