A/N: The idea for this story came to me while I was working on a request for a Munk/Alonzo one-shot, and if you've read that you'll notice the two stories are pretty similar in their set-ups. Don't worry though, this one will be much different once things get moving.
I told myself I wouldn't fall for him. I promised myself I would keep myself in check. Unfortunately for me, things didn't actually end up that way. Maybe it has to do with how we always seem to want what we can't have, or maybe some of Tugger's disobliging ways ended up rubbing off on me back when I was one of his fans. I wasn't the only one who used to be one of his fans. Pretty much everyone our age or younger in the tribe had been at some point. These days though, his fan club was most kits and a few queens. Now I'm sure at this point that you'll be thinking that it was Tugger I told myself I wouldn't fall in love with. Thankfully it wasn't. Ok maybe I nursed a quiet crush on him right after he became a tom and I was still a kit, but I moved on pretty quickly. Ok so maybe it took a month or three, but I did! Anyway, as I said it wasn't him that I'd fallen for, it was his brother, Munkustrap.
Munkustrap and I have always been close. Munkustrap was a little less than an year older than me, and was almost a grown tom when I was born, and he was a tom by the time the kits that were roughly my age (Tugger, Bombalurina, Demeter, Coricopat, and Tantomile) and I were able to hunt for ourselves. I was never very close with the other kittens my age since I was always the one that thought things through before doing them. When the rest of them would run off and do something ill-advised I'd be the one trying to make sure that nobody ended up getting seriously injured. There's one in every group, and in ours, that one was me. I think that's why Munk and I were always so close. I don't recall how it all came about, probably because I was so young, but throughout my kittenhood I remember him being there to guide me through. Nobody actually knows who my parents are, apparently Deuteronomy found me one day on his journey from his human home to the junkyard and he took me in. Come to think of it, that may be why I don't recall how I came to know Munk, since Deuteronomy is his father. That actually makes a lot more sense now that I think about it. It's funny how you never realize things like that until one day they just pop into your head. Getting back to my original point, Munkustrap was always there to help me and guide me.
When I finally became a tom, Munkustrap had already been chosen as jellicle protector and he asked me to assist him in his duties. Of course I was honored to have been asked, and accepted the task readily. At the time I was still nursing my crush on Tugger so working with Munk day in and day out was no problem. After I finally got over my crush I promised myself I'd focus on my duties. Munk was relying on me more and more for the frequent trivial matters that needed sorting out so he could focus on the larger issues facing the tribe, and though it meant I didn't hang around with my friend and mentor all the time anymore, I was happy to be doing more and proud that he trusted me with that level of autonomy.
It was also about that time that he and Demeter began seeing each other. He finally had some time to himself and was clearly making the most of it. At first I was very happy for them, but every time I saw them together I felt a little more jealous. When I first started feeling jealous I told myself it was because he'd found someone and I was still single and that I'd get over it soon enough, but I couldn't keep myself convinced of that for very long. I saw the way she looked at him, the way she reacted to his touch, and I wished it was me there in her place. Lucky for me, my duties kept me busy most of the day so I didn't have any time to be sitting around moping and wishing it was me he loved.
That all changed not long after, though. They'd been seeing each other for about two months when out of the blue Munkustrap asked me to meet him in his den late one evening. There were always a few jellicles hanging around the junkyard, no matter what time it was, but given our duties we had a general idea of most people's schedules. Tugger and Bombalurina for example would usually be out and about from early afternoon until the small hours of the morning, while Skimble and Jenny could only be found when the sun was shining. Given our duties, Munkustrap and I would usually retire to our dens in the hours surrounding noon and midnight so we could be available to as much as possible, which is why I was surprised he'd want to see me so late in the evening.
I began to grow nervous as I drew nearer and nearer to his den. I was worried he might be displeased with how I'd handled something or that I'd failed in one of my duties. I couldn't think of any instances that would fall into either of those categories, but as I said before I've always had a tendency to overthink things. When I arrived he greeted me with a smile and quickly ushered me inside. His den was on the smaller size, but certainly very cozy. He had the rear view mirror from one of the cars in the yard propped in the corner so he could groom himself, a few blankets to sleep on, a pair of wooden blocks to sit on, and a few miscellaneous trinkets scattered here and there.
"Sit down Lon, I've got something I want to talk to you about," he said as gestured towards one of the blocks and pulled the other close to it.
"Sure. What's on your mind Munk?"
"Well you know Demeter and I have been seeing each other for a while."
"Of course I do. Who doesn't?" Something told me I wasn't going to like where this conversation was going.
"Right, well um... I've been thinking about it a lot and, um... well I..."
"Thinking about what Munk? Spit it out already!"
"I'm going to ask her to be my mate."
