Mob had always liked cats.

They were just the best! They were soft and they liked to be petted and they rubbed up against you and purred. She couldn't imagine a better pet to have than a cat. She used to have one, actually more than one, but those cats had to go back to their families and the only one left had gone to Fukuda because Dad hated pets. Mob wished that she could have visited it but it lived with Fukuda and he was the last person Mob wanted to see or think about. She had no idea why she was even thinking about him now. It was her birthday and she was having tea with cats.

What more could she have wanted?

"Oh, hello!" said Mob as a cat jumped into her lap. The cat didn't say anything back, Mob wasn't so stoned that she thought that cats could talk, and that had only been one time anyway. She and Shimazaki had found a cat in an alley and it had started meowing and they had thought that cats had their own secret language. They didn't. If they did then it would have been a lot easier to make friends with them. Making friends with the cats here was kind of hard. You had to wait for the cats to come to you first.

So maybe it wasn't so hard after all.

All of Mob's friends had come into her life on their own. Well Dad had brought them all into it, since they all worked for him, and…well not Hatori, she had invited him into the house, and not Serizawa since she had found them….but still. It still felt like they had just dropped into her life. She hadn't really done anything but run into them and now they were here forever. It was the same as was with these cats. She couldn't pick them up or pet them unless they asked her to.

Not that she minded.

This cat was so soft and fluffy. It was one of those white puff ball cats. She couldn't remember the name of the breed…something with a 'p' sound…it would come to her. If it didn't then she could have asked Sho….well no, because she wasn't allowed to talk to him. She petted the cat a little harder. This cat loved her and it wanted to be with her…but she had no idea what it was called. She had forgotten the names of the cat breeds…

Mom would have been so disappointed in her.

Mom had spent a lot of time teaching her and Sho all about cats. They used to go to the animal shelter a lot. Before Mom had gotten sick she used to take them there a lot because she worked there. Well she volunteered, which was like working but you didn't get paid. She used to bring her and Sho with to be her helpers. She explained all about the different kinds of cats, what they were called, and how to feed and groom them…wait!

The Cat!

The Cat with a million names! Meow-Meow was a good one, Mukai had thought that up…but that wasn't important now! Well actually Mukai was always important but right now the cat was more important. Mukai wasn't starving, Meow-Meow was starving. Sho had texted her to feed the cat for him. He had taken all of his hamsters but left the cat because the cat had already eaten one of his hamsters…or so he thought. Mob didn't have the heart to tell him that Shibata had accidentally stepped on one of them…and anyway the hamsters were ok and Sho was ok. The Cat wasn't…but Mob didn't want to go home just yet. She still had a bunch of birthday stuff to do.

She hadn't even finished her tea.

This was called the Cat's Tearoom. That meant that you drank tea with the cats, the cats didn't drink your tea…oh no! She hadn't remembered the cat's water. The cat had a very specific water it had to drink. It came from the filter pitcher in the fridge and had to be left until it got to just under room temperature. Too cold or too hot and the cat wouldn't like it. The cat had so many specific instructions, more than Mukai did and she was a human being, and Mob…she had to feed the cat….

But she was having such a good time.

"Ryou?" asked Mob as she petted the cat. Shimazaki was on the floor letting cats climb on his chest. She hoped that he hadn't opened his eyes, the last thing she wanted to do was spend her birthday watching him clean out his eye sockets. She knew that it was mean to feel this way but watching that was really gross. If she went home then she'd end up getting stuck there…and she'd probably end up having to hold his eye cleaner for him…he was his friend, his girlfriend, and a nice person. She shouldn't have minded. She needed to stop being selfish.

"Meow-meow, what's up, meow-meow." Said Shimazaki. He had the cats paw in his hand and he was making it pretend like it was talking. It wasn't funny…but it was also the funniest thing that Mob had ever seen in her life. She put her hand in front of her mouth and laughed…maybe way too loudly. The owner or manager or whatever was looking at her now.

"Come on, don't do that. I love it when you laugh. Meow-meow, we both do, meow-meow." Said Shimazaki

"I shouldn't laugh so loud, though, it's rude." Said Mob

"So what? You're Suzuki Shigeko, you're my girlfriend, and it's your birthday. Laugh as loud as you want. Here, I'll go first." Said Shimazaki before he laughed…really loud. Loud enough for the cat on his chest to get scared and run away. Mob didn't blame it. They had very sensitive hearing and they had a lot of feelings too. People thought that dogs had the most feelings, well Shimazaki thought that, but he was wrong. It was cats that felt the most. You could see it in their eyes.

"Um…that's enough. People are looking." Said Mob

"So? Let them look. I don't care." Said Shimazaki. Mob did. People had been looking at her all day. Maybe because he was wearing a looser shirt so the top of his tattoo showed. Or maybe because he had been holding her hand and kissing her in public even though you weren't supposed to do that…or maybe just because no matter where they went or what they did or even who's birthday it was he always had to go around acting like a crazy person.

"I do…I mean I don't want us to get kicked out…I mean we have to go but I still don't want us to get kicked out." Said Mob

"Is our hour up? I have cash if you want to do another." Said Shimazaki. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a big ball of money. Not all of it was good in Hongkong, she could tell, and also some of it had blood on it…she decided that she'd be the one spending money today. But now here. She had to feed that cat, she had promised Sho, and there was nothing worse than breaking a promise to your little brother.

"No, it's not that. I just forgot to feed Meow-Meow today and I promised Sho that I would…and also Meow-Meow is starving right now." Said Mob

"Meow-meow starving right now, meow-meow?" asked Shimazaki in the same cat voice he had done before. It wasn't as funny without the cat.

"Tough crowd." Said Shimazaki

"Sorry, it's just funnier with the cat." Said Mob

"Don't worry, another one's going to come. I stuffed my pockets with cat treats." Said Shimazaki

"But the sign says that you can only give the cats three treats per hour." Said Mob. She pointed at the sign before she realized how dumb she had been.

"I can't read." Said Shimazaki. He could read, she'd seen him read, but he could only read braille…and she had known that. It was just so easy to forget that about him…even though she had known him practically her whole life.

"Oh…I forgot…sorry, Ryou." said Mob

"No, it's fine. You're just going to have to be in charge of reading the signs from now on." Said Shimazaki

"What if there's braille under the signs?" asked Mob

"My Chinese braille isn't that good." Said Shimazaki

"Oh…I'm sorry…um…I really am, but we have to go." Said Mob

"Mob…is this really about the cat or do you just not….I don't know." Said Shimazaki

"What?" asked Mob. She knew what it meant when he got like this. He had said, once, that he had a lot going on in his head. Sometimes even things he wanted to run from. When he stumbled over his words like that it meant that he was running from something…but what?

"It's nothing, just me being, well, me again." said Shimazaki. He ran a hand through his hair and then turned away from her. A cat walked up and nuzzle the top of his head. He nuzzled it right back and made purring noises….that was so him. She didn't know who else he would have wanted to be.

"You're always yourself, who else would you be?" asked Mob. She wouldn't have wanted him any other way. He was nice to her, he was fun, he was funny, and he was allowed to hang out with her. The only thing she would have changed was the constant kissing and touching but that wasn't as weird as it used to be. She'd gotten used to it, she figured. They said that people could get used to anything after all.

"Mob…you always know just what to say. You're right. I'm myself so I should just accept every single part of myself, even the insecure parts that tell me that one day you'll realize how amazing you are and leave me." Said Shimazaki. Mob hadn't meant that at all…but maybe it didn't matter. He seemed happier and happiness was always good…right?

"That's a good thing, I think, but it isn't about-" said Mob

"Because if you don't want to hang out with me than that's ok. I should have put more work into this. I mean I couldn't even find a dog café." Said Shimazaki. Dogs, of course. Shimazaki loved dogs and dogs loved him. He didn't even have to fill his pockets with treats

"That's ok, we can go to dog park. I know how you like dogs." Said Mob

"Yeah, of course I do. Everyone does, dog is man's best friend. I just know that you like fancy drinks too and I figured you would have liked fancy drinks and cats at the same time." Said Shimazaki

"I do…but I want to go to the dog park since you like dogs so much…but after I feed the cat, and it is about the cat. I don't want to go either but I can't just let it starve." Said Mob

"Mob…you're a really caring person, you know that? I mean I really care about you and you care about everyone…just…never change." Said Shimazaki. Mob had changed, though. She had changed and…and there was no way to stop and…and if Shimazaki wouldn't like her anymore if she changed…or maybe that was just something that he said.

"….I wish I could." Said Mob. Maybe he was just saying things. He had said that he'd like her forever and no matter what and Shimazaki said that he was never going to lie to her. He was her boyfriend and that was just how boyfriend were. They weren't allowed to lie to you….

"Anyway can't you just have Serizawa do it? It's not like he has anything else going on today. He didn't even try to come and hang out on your birthday, you know. He never would have thought to bring you here or to the place that supposedly has Hello Kitty dim sum and he wouldn't have made sure to get is hands on the best quality molly money could buy and he wouldn't have thought to feed you first so you didn't end up passing out either." Said Shimazaki. Mob didn't see why that needed saying. Serizawa wasn't her boyfriend, first of all, so he would have had no reason to find things for them to do. Also he never left the house on his own. He could leave his room on his own now…that was progress…but not as much as Serizawa was talking about.

"Your right, Ryou, you are better at these things than he is. I wouldn't even have expected any of that from him, it wouldn't have been fair." Said Mob

"Damn straight. Now come on, ask him to feed the damn cat. How hard can it be to pour a can of cat food?" asked Shimazaki

"You have to cook for the cat…well Sho left meals-" said Mob

"Your brother is going to make one hell of a father some day…either that or the male equivalent of a crazy cat lady. Or should I say hamster lady." Said Shimazaki. Mob didn't know. She didn't want to think about Sho growing up. She didn't want to think about how one day he would grow up and rule the world and just…leave her all alone. He would have hamsters, of course, but she didn't know about him having kids since he was in love with a boy…and she didn't even know if she could ask. Sho was going to grow up and so was she and….

And she didn't want to think about this.

"Um…let me text Serizawa." said Mob as she pulled her phone out. She didn't want to think about this, growing up and changing and stuff. She wanted to stay the same…but she didn't want to be a kid anymore. She wanted to be able to change…but she didn't want Sho to change…but mostly she just wanted the cat to be fed.

So she texted Serizawa.

She asked him nicely, and made sure that he knew that he was free to say no. She knew that he did a lot for her, tried hard for her, and the last thing that she wanted was for him to push himself too far too fast. She loved him and the last thing she wanted to do was make him explode. Maybe this had been a mistake. Who was she to make him do things? To tell him what to do and when and-

-oh.

He said that it was ok. He even sent a smiley face. He called her Miss Suzuki, too, even though that was a lot more to write than just 'Mob'. But she wasn't going to make him call her anything else. He had done enough for her. He had agreed to this and he'd even said happy birthday again…she smiled. It was a lot to ask but…but it was nice to have someone who wanted to help her.

There was a hand over hers.

He was sitting up, now, and his hand was over hers. Her phone hand. She clicked the screen off even though she knew that it was pointless. She could feel herself being looked at. The owner was looking at her and some of the other people there, too. Maybe because she was wearing a crown out in public. She might have been too old for that.

That must have been it.

"Done?" asked Shimazaki, his hand covering hers.

"Yes. He says that he'll try….and also he says 'Happy Birthday' again." said Mob

"Did he say anything else?" asked Shimazaki

"No, just that. Why?" asked Mob

"I don't know….my own insecurity. I mean…like I said, it feels like the day that you realize how amazing you are you'll leave me." Said Shimazaki. His aura pulled in close. He looked down….oh. Something was bothering him. At least that was what she thought. She was kind of clueless a lot of the time…but not about him. She knew him more than she knew most people…and they knew what it looked like when he was sad…and she knew how to cheer him up.

"I'll never leave you, Ryou, ever." Said Mob before she leaned down and kissed him. It wasn't so weird anymore…just a little weird…but it was worth it. It was worth it because now he was smiling. Other people weren't smiling…they were frowning, actually. Well that made sense, it was rude to kiss in public.

She made it quick.

"Fuck….Mob, I lo-" said Shimazaki as Mob pulled away from him. There were too many people looking. She pulled her shirt away from herself. It was big but…but it still felt like people were staring right at her for how she looked and not…well not what for because of what she had done.

"Yes? You want me to kiss you again?" asked Mob. She would do it one more time, she decided, just one more time. Just to make him feel better. That was her job as his friend and his girlfriend.

"No. I was just going to say that we should maybe get out of here. Apparently the owners have something against two people in a healthy relationship." Said Shimazaki

"Oh…that's a weird thing to have a problem with." Said Mob

"Finally, someone gets it!" said Shimazaki…a little too loudly. Now more people were looking at them…and she didn't like the way they were looking at them.

"Gets what?" asked Mob

"That you're amazing and I'm happy to have you." Said Shimazaki

"Oh…um…I'm happy to have you too…but sorry that we're going to get kicked out but…um…we can go to the Hello Kitty place or wherever else you have planned. Whatever you want." Said Mob. She didn't care where they went or what they did just so long as people didn't stare at them. There were so many people staring…so many people…..

"No, Mob, whatever you want." Said Shimazaki

"Um…whatever you want." Said Mob

"Whatever…whatever we want." Said Shimazaki. He took her hand in hers again….and people were looking. She was looking right at Shimazaki and other people were looking at her and…and she needed to get going. This was her birthday and on her birthday she could go wherever she wanted to go and do whatever she wanted to do…and right now she wanted to get going.

She liked cats…but she also wanted to get on with the rest of her birthday.