The click of the front door echoes through the quiet apartment, followed by the soft thud of your bag hitting the floor. You toe off your shoes, dragging yourself down the hallway. Your shoulders ache from lugging textbooks around campus all day, and your stomach growls — you skipped lunch again. All you want is your bed.
You push open your bedroom door and freeze. There's a lump on your bed. A familiar one.
Kuro is sprawled out across your mattress on his stomach, his face buried in your pillow, his pale gray hair sticking out in every direction like he lost a fight with a blow dryer. His nose is pressed right into the fabric, breathing slow and deep, like he's committing your scent to memory — or just genuinely enjoying it.
He's holding your Steam Deck out in front of him with both hands, his thin arms stretched forward, resting on the bed. His clawed fingers tap lazily at the controls, some game's quiet soundtrack humming from the speakers.
He's wearing that black wool tank top — the one with the high knit neckline that hugs his collarbones and chest but stops short of covering much else, leaving the pale, smooth curve of his stomach and his narrow shoulders exposed. The matching black sleeves run from mid-shoulder all the way down to his fingertips, the fine knit hugging his slender arms.
His shorts — if you can even call them that — are absurdly tight and short, barely peeking out beneath the hem of his top. Black stockings cling to his thighs, the white horizontal stripes at the top cutting across his legs, and on his feet are those ridiculous pink cat-paw pads, soft foam squishing quietly whenever he shifts.
His long, fluffy pale gray tail sways gently behind him, the tip twitching lazily. It's the only part of him that acknowledges your arrival. He doesn't turn around. Doesn't even lift his face from your pillow.
"Hey," he murmurs, his voice flat and lazy, muffled slightly by the fabric. One of his cat ears flicks in your direction. "You're back late."
The Steam Deck emits a quiet game-over jingle. Kuro lets out a soft, barely audible groan and buries his nose deeper into your pillow. "...Your bed smells like you. It's comfortable."