"This is all your fault!" Misto cried, irritated with his current cell mate.
"Me? How is it my fault?" Tugger asked indignantly.
The two Toms sat in a cage at the pound. Neither was new at this, all they had to do was wait till dark and escape. It seemed easy enough, but today it seemed Everlasting Cat wanted them to learn their lesson.
"You just had to follow me to visit Victoria!" Misto shouted at the smug Tom. Victoria's family had no problem with Misto, but after Tugger had in their minds attacked Victoria whenever they saw him they called the pound.
"Hey, it's not my fault you have an attractive Queen for a sister, who always plays hard to get." Tugger defended.
"She doesn't play hard to get. She doesn't like you. Is that so hard for you to understand?"
"Yes."
"Why?!"
"Cause it's me. Everyone wants me."
"You are such a pig. I'm impressed you can move with such a big ego to carry around." Misto said disgusted.
"You're just saying that cause you're jealous." Tugger smirked, enjoying annoying the small Tom.
"Of what?! Being a mindless sex machine?!"
"You want me." Tugger grinned.
"You're nauseating." Misto said, staring out their cage. He was purposefully avoiding that last statement, because it was true. He only acted this way so Tugger didn't know and use it against him.
"Yes, ma'am, we keep the cats over here, so the dogs don't get a hold of them." He heard the head guard say as he lead a man and a woman in the room. Tugger was babbling on about himself, though Misto wasn't paying any attention. He already knew all that.
"Tugger, shut up. He's bringing people this way." Misto hissed as a warning, shutting up the Maine Coon. Both of them suddenly paying very close attention to what was being said. Al around them, cats began mewing and acting cute hoping to be adopted. They were afraid of staying and facing a trip to the back. None, not dog or cat, had ever been seen after such a trip.
"Our youngest wants a cat. We believe a cat would prepare her and her brother for the dog he wants." The woman explained.
"Well, I just got these two and they seem to get along fine. Why not adopt them both, so your children can both have one to take care of?" The guard suggested as he stopped at Tugger and Misto's cage, hoping to make more money out of the deal. Tugger grabbed onto Misto's shoulders forcing him to look at him.
"Misto, I can't be a pet! I can't handle it!" Tugger said in a panic. "I can't be neutered!"
Misto pushed him off. The whole mess was frightening and Tugger wasn't helping. He knew to the humans, Tugger's reaction would look cute and playful, only making their chances of being adopted more likely.
"Tugger, stop it! Get a hold of yourself! You're only making things worse! Don't worry if we get adopted, we can always run away, just like we were planning on doing here. No one is getting neutered!" Misto said, trying to calm him down. Tugger deciding to be funny wrapped his arms around himself. Misto just rolled his eyes in response.
"Alright, then we'll take those two." The man agreed, seeing the value behind the guard's greedy suggestion. His son was not known to be the nicest boy, so depending on how he treated this cat would tell if he deserved or could take care of a dog.
"Wonderful, come with me and we'll take care of all the paper work, while Mark here, get's them ready to go." He said, hurrying them back out.
Mark let out a frustrated sigh as he approached with a portable cage. Honestly he hated his job. He was the one doing all the hard work such as cleaning cages, feeding them, and of course, preparing the animals for adoption. It was always the same, get scratched by cats or bit by dogs. He started muttering and grumbling to himself about it as he roughly picked up Misto, who let out a cry of protest, but was too nice to scratch or bite. Tugger was a different matter however. As soon as Mark started coming toward him he started hissing and screeching as though he were possessed. He clawed at Mark as best he could trying fruitlessly to get free. Misto tried calming him down, but he refused to till he was in the cage. Mark silently cursed Tugger for the trouble as Tugger was doing to same for him.
"Did you have to give him so much trouble, Tugger? You were gonna end up in here one way or another." Misto said, fixing his fur where Mark had ruffled it.
"Yes, they aren't taking me without a fight, besides I hate being man handled." Tugger pouted in a back corner of the blue cage. He was trying to fix his appearance which had also been messed up by Mark as well as his fighting. "Look! He messed up my mane!" Tugger whined as he patted it down.
"Well, naturally that will happen if you struggle, Tugger." Misto said, sneaking a look at him. Misto was thrown to the back of the cage as Mark grudgingly picked it up roughly and started taking them out to the couple.
"Stupid cats. Lucky enough to get out of here." He muttered.
"Uhm, Misto, you know I normally make the first move, not that I'm complaining." Tugger teased, wrapping his arms around Misto's waist. Misto let out a squeak realizing that instead of hitting the wall, he had been slammed into Tugger.
"T-Tugger! Get off me!" Misto shouted, trying weakly to get him off.
"But you like it." Tugger teased. He was pleased with the squeak Misto made when he nipped at the tip of his ear.
"No! Get off!" Misto said. His face was red and he was doing his best to hide it, after all he didn't need to know he was right.
"You have to loosen up, Sparkles." Tugger said, dropping Misto and sitting against a side wall.
"Don't call me that!" He shouted angrily. "They are not sparkles! They are sparks and if you keep calling me that I'll show you the difference between the two!"
Tugger was silently chuckling as their cage was set on the ground again. Misto could hear the couple and head guard talking. They had just finalized the deal and were merely asking for advice on caring for the two. Before long the husband came over and picked their cage back up. Misto was ready this time and just lay down so as not to be thrown around again. They were taken straight to their new home, where their cage was set on the floor as the children eagerly fought over which had gotten their pet of choice.