First Published: May 4th 2017

Pairing: none

Genre: hurt/comfort

Word Count: 381

Warnings: mentions of a bad day

Summary: He blinks, and his vision clears up just enough to see Roman shutting the door gently before the thing bounds towards him, leaping up onto his bed.

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Meow.

Anxiety doesn't recognise the sound at first, but when he does, he forces himself to turn his head. His bedroom door is open a tiny crack and he can hazily see a white and red figure coaxing a small black creature into his room. He blinks, and his vision clears up just enough to see Roman shutting the door gently before the thing bounds towards him, leaping up onto his bed.

It rubs its face against Anxiety's own and he finally sees that it's the tiny kitten he and Patton had convinced a reluctant Logan to get. It had taken months of not-so-subtle hints and whining until the more serious side had given in and agreed, but on the condition that they all take care of it.

It still doesn't have a name, Anxiety remembers with a frown. Nonetheless, the kitten is one of his favourite things to have on a day like today.

He had tried to go outside today, but everything was just little too loud, a little too bright and a little too overwhelming, which had prompted Anxiety to retreat to the safety of his cool, dark room. There, however, he found it was too quiet to ignore his thoughts and had spent the last few hours feeling bad and trying not to cry.

Now he's actually crying, but the kitten only licks away his tears with its rough tongue, and it's so endearing that Anxiety might start crying for a different reason. It purrs and nudges his face again until he gives in and rolls over onto his back. Then it hops happily onto his chest and settles down, still purring.

It starts kneading its claws into Anxiety's shirt and it looks so peaceful that Anxiety almost feels guilty for dampening its fur with his tears, but he dismisses the thought as soon as it closes its eyes and falls asleep, right then and there.

Anxiety is surprised to find that he finally feels calm. He's even more surprised when he feels himself nodding off soon after, the kitten still curled up on him.

"I'm going to call you Artemis," Anxiety murmurs. The kitten wakes up a little and blinks at him, as if though it doesn't mind the name, and then they both fall asleep.