CHAPTER ONE

Arthur growled as he continued to squirm under the heavy coat of the white Persian. The blasted frog had decided to take his chances and tried to MOUNT him. Arthur had always tried to fend off Francis, an annoying Persian who was the proud pet of a Frenchman that lived in the apartments near where Arthur's alley resided. Just like his owner, who Arthur has the absolute pleasure of meeting, Francis was way too touchy and never seemed to understand that not everyone liked to be touched in such a crude way.

Just when Arthur felt the Persian's nether regions getting way to close to his backside did he turn himself around and claw at the underbelly of the white male. Francis yowled and leaped back in pain. A satisfied smirk crawled its way onto Arthur's muzzle, whiskers quivering in amusement. That would show the bastard.

"How could you, mon cher? I just wanted to show you some love!" Francis cried as he winced at the long, but shallow claw marks.

Arthur scoffed and began licking his paw then rubbing said paw on his head.

"I don't want your love, I may just catch some sort of disease." Arthur replied sharply, venomous green eyes narrowing into slits as he glared at the Persian who was cleaning his wounds to the best of his ability.

A rumble caused both cats to look at the sky and observe the dark clouds with apprehension. Arthur let out a worried sigh, he would have to find a different alley soon as the one he currently resided in didn't have any form of shelter from the rain. Francis often told him that he should come home with him but the idea of living with the perverted Persian and his equally disturbing owner brought chills to Arthur's whiskers and he did not care for the creepy face that Francis had worn when he had asked.

"You best be getting back." Arthur stated, his only response was a nod.

"Where will you be?" Francis asked just as he stood up, shaking his head a bit when he felt a drop of rainwater land on his head.

Arthur's ear twitched and he grunted.

"Don't know but I'll manage, now get lost before your coat gets soaked and I have to listen to you whine about it." Just the mention of his precious coat getting ruined had the white Persian racing towards home with a hurried 'adieu' .

Arthur sighed and began his search of a quick meal before finding a place to take shelter. The mice that often scurried the alleyways weren't enough to fill a cat and the garbage cans behind the fast food places were enormous and too high for the Scottish Fold to jump up to. At times, some kind human would drop some food for him and although he never interacted with them, the humans would sometimes leave food out for him as they saw him many times, scrounging through the trash.

Another drop, this one heavier than the light ones that were falling previously, brought Arthur from his hunt for food and he immediately dashed out of the fallen trashcan he had tipped over and ran out of the alley as it provided no protection from the heavy drops that were increasing. Even being a stray as long as Arthur, he hated the water if he wasn't drinking it. It matted his fur and weighed it down uncomfortably.

"Bollocks." He cursed as he spotted an alley across the road with a thick layer of bushes and dead leaves. It would have to do.

However, Arthur wasn't a fan on running across the road as he heard the deafening sound of those metal contraptions the humans often rode in. They zipped passed him furiously, growling angrily. Francis had said they were called 'cars'. But Arthur knew that they could kill if you were to miscalculate. So he waited until he was sure he couldn't hear the roar of the cars and couldn't see their glowing eyes and sprinted across the road as if a dog were on his tail.

Thankfully, he made it and dived into the bushes. Arthur panted as his coat dripped heavily and he began to groom himself. The water still seeped through the bushes but nowhere near as heavily as it was just moments ago, the leaves and branches catching most of it.

The Scottish Fold told himself he would just sleep until the storm ended before going out and try his luck with some of the mice in his alley.

"What a rotten day." He mumbled to himself, his ears twitching as the rain rhythmically pounded on the ground.

A low mewl made his ears and head perk in attention. When it did not sound again, Arthur dismissed it as his hunger and laid his head back down on his paws, only for the mewl to sound again.

"What in the bloody hell?" Curious, Arthur picked himself up and followed the now frantic mewling. It sounded young and the Scottish Fold maneuvered his way through the thick bushes and came into a small clearing, the branches were broken and bent so they hung limply or laid on the ground. However, in the middle of the clearing, where leaves were littered and soft but worn blankets rested, were mewling kits.

They squirmed and mewled pathetically, perhaps looking for the warm of their mother. Yet there was no mother to be found. They didn't seem to be newborns as they all had their eyes open and their coats were a thicker than that of newborns. They had to be around at least eight weeks or so.

Arthur shifted uncomfortably as they spotted him and began whining for him, dragging their bodies closer to him, probably smelling him and wanting to be closer.

Worried, he rushed over to the kitten that happened to crawl its way out of its nest and gently picked it up by the scruff and settled it down with the rest of the kits. They all crowded around him and Arthur sighed but laid down on his side, careful not to hurt any of the kittens. All the kits immediately snuggled into his flank and he purred, the sound comforting to the squirming kittens. He suddenly felt tongues lick at his side and he glanced down and saw a few were trying to suckle him.

"Sorry love, there's nothing there." Although perhaps they were doing it for comfort more than anything as they didn't whine when nothing came out and instead nuzzled him and fell asleep. Arthur chuckled at the sight, his heart almost bursting at the sight. He felt content and happy as he gazed down at the litter, his tail wrapped protectively around the kits. However, he then began to think of what the mother would do if she saw him in her nest. Females got really nasty when unknown cats, especially males, were near their nests.

Arthur had really ought to leave before the mother came and shred him to ribbons and as he was about to heave himself from the nest of worn blankets and leaves, an angry growl made him turn and flinch when glowing blue eyes glared into his green.

"What are you doing here?" The voice sounded male and Arthur noticed that this male seemed to be quite large. As in, larger than him and could defiantly kill him.

"I...apologize, I meant no harm! I just heard a sound and went to see what it was and I found them, they were mewling and well-!" Arthur knew he was rambling but the nervousness wouldn't cease. This must have been the father, even though most males didn't really help when it came to their young but it wasn't unheard of.

The larger male seemed to relax as he decided that Arthur meant no harm but still eyed him warily.

"Uh..so, what's your name." Arthur relaxed as the larger male seemed to be less threatened by his presence near his kits and smiled wearily.

"My name is Arthur, pleasure to meet you and your kits."

"Nice to meet ya Artie, name's Alfred." Arthur scowled a bit at the nickname but did not voice his complains as to not anger the already wary male-Alfred.

"I am sorry Alfred, I did not mean to intrude on you or your mates nest." Arthur knew that mated pairs hated any strange cats near their young and often attacked if they got to close.

Alfred stared a bit at Arthur before bursting out in laughter, although it was quiet as not to wake the kittens. Pulling his ears down, Arthur grew annoyed at the others laughter as he tried to apologize and hissed at him.

Slowly recovering from the well-deserved laugh, Alfred grinned but his whiskers twitched in amusement.

"I don't have a mate, you don't have to worry. I found these little ones a couple weeks back, the mother was really sick and died shortly after. I've been taking care of them since." Alfred's voice grew softer as he mentioned the kittens' mother and Arthur sadly looked down at the kits nuzzled up near his flank.

"I suppose you would want me to leave." Arthur felt like he was intruding and he cursed himself for ever coming here. The short time he had spent here made him feel warm and needed. He was a loner and despite it being by choice, he still felt lonely. But it was safer, whether it was physically or emotionally. He was the runt of the litter and his mother deemed him unworthy of raising, abandoning him in the trash while she moved on with her healthier kits. He admired Alfred for caring for the kits and not abandoning them to fend for themselves.

Just as he was about to lift himself, he felt a paw keep him down. Arthur looked up and his fur felt warm. Now that Alfred stepped closer to Arthur and less obscured from the shadows of the branches and leaves, he noticed how handsome the larger male was.

His coat was slick and shining, while white was the main color, a ring of orange wrapped around his neck and the very strange marking just underneath his eyes was black and looked almost like incomplete rectangles with a line connecting the two. Despite Arthur knowing the other male was large, it seemed like the majority of it was fur. Long whiskers twitched in what Arthur guessed was nervousness and his sky blue eyes looked off to the side in embarrassment.

"You could stay the night, I don't want the kits to wake up and you know, it is cold." Alfred looked severely uncomfortable while Arthur looked at him in utter bemusement. Surely Alfred didn't want a complete stranger in his nest. Even if they weren't his own, Arthur could tell he cared for the kittens very much. Yet Arthur found himself selfishly wanting to stay close to the kits as well.

So hesitantly, he looked up at those sky blue eyes that continued to eye him nervously as he were expecting to be shunned.

"If you do not mind then-"

"No of course not!" Arthur smiled at the outburst and shifted a bit, taking care not to jostle the sleeping kittens and curled up around them a bit tighter, his chin resting on his paws. He saw Alfred walk to the kitten's right side, as Arthur himself laid on their left, and laid down close and curled up.

Arthur now felt as if it were too warm. This all felt very intimate, him and Alfred curled around a litter of kittens as if they were mates with their young. As quick as the notation came, Arthur shook it away. He didn't belong in their family, he was just a stranger. Alfred just didn't want him waking the kittens, otherwise, he would have asked him to leave. Arthur was sure of it. However, despite all this, Arthur fell asleep to the thought of him with a family of his very own.

Outside, the rainstorm slowly began to lighten until the moon shone brightly and the stars twinkled.