He never intended on leaving, but he always knew the day would come eventually. This boy was the first person in his whole existence as a vampire, who treated him like a human being. He cared about his health as if it would matter, but he also argued without fear of the monster he actually was. Yes, Mahiru Shirota was a wonderful person, making the coldest of people melt with his mere presence. Kuro would never admit to this to anybody but himself, and that was already a big enough challenge in itself. Of course there was that part of him that told him he didn't deserve to be taken care of, and much less being appreciated so much. Kuro was nothing special, though. He knew this. Mahiru was like this to all of his friends. Still, it was the best feeling to hear somebody being around in the evening after dinner. He didn't feel so lonely when he lay on his futon in the living room, the smell of dinner still lingering in the air and bare feet making their way down the hall, constantly changing rooms to finish his late chores before he turned off the light in the already dim lit kitchen and told him good night. The lamp on Mahiru's bedside table would be turned on for half an hour, Kuro could see it when he was laying down, before his eve went to sleep. Only then could the servamp close his eyes, falling into a light sleep, always ready to be at his partner's side in the worst case. The soft breathing and the night routine of his master helped him relax and feel more at home, he really liked it.

But this didn't keep Kuro from his decision. He had to leave. Just like a cat that knew its time to go would soon arrive, Kuro began to avoid leaving the house more than ever. In contrary to a real cat, Kuro wasn't dying, but it sure felt like it. He had to catch the right moment to make his escape and break the contract, until then he enjoyed every moment with his beloved eve like never before.

Because Mahiru was so perfect, he noticed his vampire's odd behaviour shortly after it started. Kuro knew he would. It was quite odd for him to not obey Mahiru and go shopping or keeping Mahiru in such a serious way from leaving the house, not a single jokingly meant statement leaving his lips.

Brown eyes fell onto him whenever they were in the same room but it wasn't until one evening, that Mahiru sat down next to Kuro on the couch. He obviously wanted to talk even though he was busy beating the boss of this very difficult game, how annoying. Now that Kuro had almost finished his escape plan, Mahiru had to come and give him a bad conscience. Of course he had to.

The eve looked at the vampire's moving fingers on his PSP awkwardly. Unimpressed, the sloth like vampire wondered how long it would take him to either walk away as awkwardly as he came or to stutter a few uncertain syllables. Yes, this has happened before, and it never turned out how Kuro thought Mahiru would have imagined it. So he just waited, and waited, and waited...

…

It really was troublesome when people didn't follow their usual patterns of socializing... Mahiru now seemed very busy with some old shopping bag he pulled out from god knows where. With a glance to the side during a cut scene after he lost yet again, Kuro spotted the orange fabric of one of his friend's dresses. She had given it to him on the last day of school before winter holidays to fix it. Mahiru was doing it for free and also with very much care, but somehow he never got around to finishing it.

The thought of leaving popped back into the servamp's mind.

The student put the dress aside, though, and instead pulled out an unfinished scarf and the light blue wool it was connected to. In silence, Mahiru started to knit, the clashing of the needles and the pressing of buttons was the only thing to be heard in the small apartment (Kuro had learned a long time ago how to dismiss the sound of vehicles and drunk people on the street). The blue haired vampire slowly started to sweat in his pyjama – why did the tension between them feel so uncomfortable. Kuro could clearly feel there was something on his eve's mind (their bond never lied) but so did Mahiru. So why didn't he simply cut the crap and talk to him or – even better – leave. Was this Mahiru's new method of dealing with him? Or was this some sort of duel? He certainly wouldn't give up first.

This... experience (Kuro couldn't find any other words to describe it) went on for another ten minutes until, suddenly, his device's screen faded to black from one beat of his sword to the next. With horror in his eyes, he looked behind him. On the kitchen table lay his Nintendo. The remote control was still resting under the coffee table and his manga built neat towers next to the TV. The whole world must have been against him in that moment. Did Mahiru plan this? Maybe it was because he didn't finish his meal – no, wait, bad weather should have followed in that case. Slowly, Kuro moved from his position on the couch. Maybe he wouldn't perceive him if his movements were as slow as a sloth's.

"What's up, Kuro?"

Damn it he accidentally threw a pillow on the ground. His eyes darted to Mahiru. He was looking down onto his growing scarf, eyes half closed, his face only illuminated by the tall lamp next to his couch. He hated this conversation already – only the topic, of course. He could never hate Mahiru.

"Nothing," his voice came out more high-pitched than he intended to. Kuro felt like a little kid caught stealing cookies.

"I thought about going out with some friends tomorrow night, you up to it? Oh–" the ball of wool ended and Mahiru bent down to get the next one out of his bag before continuing the procedure.

Kuro didn't plan on replying, so he posed a counter question instead. "What're you doing?"

"Knitting a scarf."

This cat-like behaviour seemed to have really gotten onto the young eve. He wasn't his lively self anymore, not really. Maybe he could do something about those memories with Lily's magic, if his brother's health was up to it.

But Kuro would have never expected what Mahiru said next.

The brunette stopped the needles from moving and looked at his servamp with a faint smile, gesturing the almost-scarf in his hands in his direction. "Wanna try?" he rose and sat down closer to him, not expecting an answer. The blue thread grew longer with every centimetre that he moved. Putting the things in his hands down, Mahiru took the console out of his partner's hands and laid it on the table in front of them. "Give me your hand," he mumbled.

Kuro hesitantly moved his thin, shaky fingers a bit in his eve's direction. They hurt a bit from playing all day long but the thought of what might come next didn't leave any space for pain. Why was he doing this? Before he could do anything against it, the boy had already taken hold of his right hand and started to part his fingers, placing the blue thread between them.

"You put this around your pinky like this, and then you wind it around your index like that."

The vampire's dead body heated up in something between embarrassment and the urge to run away. Fortunately, the focus was on their hands right now, but his hands were still shaking a bit and Kuro wondered if the other could feel it.

"The other hand does this," Mahiru stated and leaned over to thread the blue wool there as well. The blue soon-to-be-scarf was now situated between his pale hands and in his lap, needles and everything lay in his loose grip. He didn't sweat anymore. Instead, a cool shiver ran down his spine when the student suddenly put his hands over his own and guided him through the first few stitches, slowly.

Kuro only realised how close Mahiru's face was when he spoke again for the first time in a while. "I wanted to give this scarf to you, Kuro. I saw the colour and couldn't help but think of you," his voice was quite and unsteady, almost sounding afraid. The only thing he could manage to give as an answer was a nod. Having something with him that smelled like home would certainly be nice, even if it would only last for a short amount of time. "I–," he stopped his indirect knitting momentarily but continued right afterwards. "I thought it would be nice for you to have something of me when I'm no longer here," he blurted out in one breath, his hands beginning to feel warmer.

A cat can sense more than its death, it can also feel when somebody feels unwell.

As the eve of the servamp of sloth – a cat – Mahiru was a cat as well, in some way at least, so of course he would notice when something wasn't right.

"Please don't leave," Mahiru said, slightly tightening his grip on the hands beneath his.

Kuro's eyes widened and a shocked expression spread across his face. So many thoughts ran through his head at that very moment, things he wanted to tell Mahiru, things he wanted to tell himself. Reassuring words and words of love and trust, but just as he was about to open his mouth, he felt his body move on his own.

Kuro didn't know what had happened in the time between sitting on the couch side by side, and him laying on his eve, the scarf carefully placed between their chests with their hands still connected. Instinct was the only explanation he could come up with in his stressed state. A confused "What?" escaped his lips. The boy under him looked at him with big eyes, mouth opened in a silent O. "I'm sorry, Mahiru, I don't know what just happened, I'd better–"

The surprised expression turned into a big smile in a second. "No," he pulled their hands closer to himself and repeated his statement several times. "No, you're staying. Forever. Don't get up, stay, you lazy cat!"

Kuro felt so much happiness in that moment, his old self, free of any fear of judgement, would have cried. His partner finally laughed again like a boy his age actually should. The words leaving his partner's lips didn't make any sense, but he smiled and that was the only thing that counted right now. The giggling died down after some time and was replaced by a content smile which seemed to grow closer by the second until it disappeared on his own lips.

The last time Kuro had kissed somebody or had shown affection like this at all lay back so many centuries that he was sure it happened before he had died. This sensation was nothing like that time, though. Kissing Mahiru was like getting all of the new game releases from this year plus the new consoles at once – no. It was better. Their bodies were so close that he could feel the needles and the other's fingers on his chest. There wasn't more than a second of hesitation on Kuro's side before kissing back lovingly. After all, he didn't know if he would get a chance like this ever again. Somebody better might start to see the same things as Kuro in the brown eyed boy before he knew it. This was just to make sure it wouldn't happen. His knees drew closer to his own body, trying not to burden the body under him with his weight. The kiss was innocent and over way too soon, Mahiru being the first one to pull back a few centimetres.

"I was so scared you'd leave," he breathed. "Don't to this again, ever," it was more a demand than a request, but the vampire didn't make promises he couldn't keep, so he simply tighten the grip on the other's hand, the thread tangling itself between their fingers. The brunette let himself fall back down on the pillow behind his head with a sigh. "You do know this means you're going out with me tomorrow, I've had to stay in this apartment for way too long because of you."

Mahiru kissed him again, this time shorter. "And I'm making you wear the scarf."

"Alright," Kuro closed the distance between them.

He still wanted to leave, but maybe he should postpone it for a few years or maybe even more than that.