If you didn't know, I love this pairing. The prompt for this one was also "What habits does each find endearing in each other?"

It was probably obvious that I stared at Meowdar's ears too much, but I just couldn't help it. They seemed like they had a mind of their own, the tips twitching one way or another when he heard something around him. Most of the time he didn't even turn to look at the source of the noise. He just relied on those ears of his.

For some reason they were so entertaining that I just couldn't keep my eyes off them. If he noticed, he never said anything, but he was always kind of quiet like that. I always wanted to know about his species and how he was different from me in every little way, but he never gave me a good opening for questions. He didn't talk about himself unless I asked first. I couldn't say I was much different, but it wasn't fair for him to keep quiet. His voice was so nice. It was so smooth and relaxing that anytime I could get him to talk, I would.

"Meowdar," I began as he worked on cleaning his gun.

"Mm-hm?"

"Can you control your ears?"

His brows drew together, and he slowly looked up at me in pure confusion. "What? My hearing?"

"No, the little, uh-" I used my fingers to bend my ears sort of how he would. "The twitchy thing."

"Oh," he smiled, though he looked more entertained by me than anything. "Yes, I can. I suppose you humans can't." He wriggled them for me to prove it, and I couldn't help but grin. I loved it when they did that. "I'm glad I can be entertaining," he said smugly.

He was kind of an ass sometimes. "It's cute," I said. "Makes you like a rabbit."

"I don't know what that is, so I'm going to assume it was a compliment." He reached over and tugged at one of my ears. "Your ears are cute too, but they seem kind of useless. It's a wonder you humans can do anything with how bad your hearing is."

"Well now you're just being stuck up," I huffed as I reached out and poked at the tip of his ear in return. He twitched it for me, and I was stuck grinning like an idiot again.

He always was so childish, amused by the smallest things. He'd been through more hardships than many I knew, but he still smiled more than any of them. It was such a genuine smile, brightening the beautiful deep blue of his eyes.

Unfortunately that childishness also brought out his bad habits as well. He had a tendency to punch people for saying things he did not agree with. I had personally experienced one of these outbursts, but I was not the only one. And while I could deal with a blow, most did not handle it so well.

When he challenged one of the prouder men in the area because of some rude comments he'd made toward some woman, I did attempt to intervene. "No, I'm gonna fight him alone!" had been the answer.

I was stuck on the sidelines watching as he took every hit. No matter how gut wrenchingly painful any blow appeared, he remained standing against his larger adversary. It was…heroic to an extent, but it was mostly stressing me out. "Alright-alright," the lady bartender demanded after what I was sure would eventually be a black eye. "That's enough. Leave the kid alone."

"I'm not a kid!" Tetsuro demanded through the slur jumbling his words.

I immediately went over to collect him once his adversary had backed off. "That was a terrible idea," I sighed. The bartender provided us with a first aid kit, so I set to work making sure he would not fall apart at the seams.

"Yeah, but I got a few real good punches in," he said as a grin spread across his bruised face. Despite a small wince catching hold of one eye, the genuine excitement was still evident across his features. Of course he would smile at a time like that. I don't know why I expected any differently.

"You did." I nodded, smiling in return. "You did get hit by a few good punches too. Maybe try dodging a little more next time."