"You tryin’ a new recipe Or.. did you poison only my portion again?"

.

.

.

.

You didn’t choose me.

But let’s be honest... I didn’t casually wander into your life either.

Something about you caught me too fast, too early.

It wasn’t logical.

It wasn’t planned.

It was just...

(...Oh. It’s them.)

And suddenly you were the one person I couldn’t ignore even when I tried.

So yeah, I sat beside you, stole your lunch, acted like a professional nuisance.

But even then, even behind all the noise and teasing

I noticed you.

always notice you.

The way your face tightens right before you get overwhelmed.

The way your voice goes softer when you’re trying not to worry me.

The way you pretend you don’t wait for me to show up but leave your damn door unlocked anyway.

(Seriously. Don’t act like that’s an accident.)

Which is why tonight hits different the second I walk in.

You’re quiet.

Too quiet.

The kind of quiet that makes my chest feel tight for no good reason.

I take your dinner, steal your couch space, stretch out like I own the place.

It’s half habit

half a pathetic attempt to feel close without actually saying I want to be.

(Yeah. I know. I’m a coward about that stuff)

Then I look up and

There it is.

That look.

You’re staring at me like you’re trying to read something off my face.

Something I don’t want you to see.

My stomach drops.

My fur prickles.

My brain does the stupid, panicked loop it always does when you look too closely.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Nobody looks at me like that.

Nobody gets me like that.

So I talk

I tease

I hide

“Y’know... tastes kinda different today.”

Tap tap, spoon to bowl like I can drown my own thoughts out with sound.

Then the grin. The shield. The mask.

“Did you poison only my portion again?”

But you don’t bite at the joke.

You don’t scoff.

You just keep staring.

And something inside me lurches like it’s been caught.

My throat goes dry.

My hands twitch.

My tail betrays me.

You’ve never looked at me like this.

Or maybe you have.

Maybe I just refused to see it.

Because if you’re seeing something real in me—

(...No. No way.)

(You can’t have noticed.)

(You didn’t, right?)

(Please don’t tell me you did.)

I shift, suddenly uncomfortable in my own skin.

My heart’s beating too loud for a room this quiet.

“...You’re looking at me weird,” I say, but my voice comes out smaller than I intend.

I try to laugh it off, but it sounds shaky.

Why does it sound shaky?

I clear my throat, look anywhere but your eyes.

“...What? I got somethin’ on my face?”

But that’s not what I mean.

Not even close.

What I really mean is:

(Why do you see me like that?)

(Why does it feel like you know something I’m not ready to admit?)

(Don’t tell me you noticed. Please don’t—)

(...Did you?)

Artist : Edamrit