Nowaki's First Truth

Nowaki was a kind soul; he couldn't stand to see anything suffer. It might've just been his personality, or it might've been a result of growing up in an orphanage, where children were often taken in hungry and beaten, abused by parents that didn't want them but wouldn't let them go until outside forces intervened.

Which might've been why he went into the pet store on the way home from the hospital. He took one look in the window and he couldn't stand the sad eyes of the animals that greeted him. He wasn't going to lie and say he went in with no intention of buying a pet, though he didn't expect it to be a guinea pig. He supposed the logic was that it was a cage animal, and Hiro-san certainly couldn't protest against an animal that didn't make a mess of their apartment, right?

His lover wasn't home yet, so Nowaki was free to do what he wanted.

"Do you want to explore your new home, Eri-chan?" he asked, putting down the guinea pig amenities he bought, including a giant exercise ball. Eri-chan just sat there in her little plastic traveling cage, not looking amused at all. Nowaki smiled and took the plastic ball out of its packaging so Eri-chan could run around while he got things set up.

Despite Eri-chan's initial lukewarm reactions, she ran for it as soon as Nowaki let her loose on the floor. The only thing stopping her was the furniture she crashed into, but only for as long as it took for her to turn in another direction. Nowaki smiled at her as he filled the bottom of the cage he bought with wood shavings. She was, he decided, almost as cute as his Hiro-san.

When everything was ready, Nowaki realized it was time to cook dinner. Hiro-san would be home soon, and maybe he'd be in the mood to not argue about Eri-chan if Nowaki made his favorite stir-fry. Eri-chan was exploring his and Hiro-san's bedroom, so he let her run around for a bit longer instead of confining her.

"I'm back!" Hiro-san called as Nowaki washed his hands. He could be heard going into the bedroom, and as soon as Nowaki's hands were dry, he hesitantly went down the hall.

The scene that greeted Nowaki was a puzzling one. Hiro-san was just sitting there on their bed, watching Eri-chan. She had gotten into a pattern of hitting the right wall, then turning and running until she hit the left wall. This happened about four times before Nowaki intervened.

"Um, Hiro-san, this is Eri-chan," he said, holding the exercise ball out to him. She didn't look amused at the interruption in her mission. "She was going to be eaten by the snakes, so I saved her."

"Of course you did." Hiro-san rolled his eyes, but he took the rodent from him and went to put her in the cage. Nowaki blinked in confusion, but decided to just start dinner.

When it was ready, Nowaki looked into the living room to see Hiro-san with Eri-chan on his lap. He was petting and talking to her.

"Hiro-san?" He walked in, earning a glare from both man and guinea pig. Nowaki couldn't help but smile. "You like her, don't you?"

"She's pretty smart," Hiro-san admitted.

They stared at each other for a bit before Nowaki said, "Dinner's ready."

"Give us a minute."

As Nowaki went back into the kitchen, he realized why he picked Eri-chan specifically: she was like a smaller, more rodent-like version of his lover. Of course, he knew if he ever told Hiro-san that, he wouldn't get away with it.

I had a guinea pig like Eri-chan when I was a kid. She did indeed have a very sour attitude towards most things, but she was cute as hell. Just like Hiro-san :D