Chapata two, my lovelies! Sorry I had to kill Ms. Mommy and her bebes. DontBeAZombie was telling me how it wasn't romantic, but I had to disagree because I feel it brings us all together as a fanbase :") and there be nothing more romantic than gathering in the sadness of dead kittens.
Enjoy!
Tugger's home was probably one of the farthest from the junkyard, which made his occasionally overprotective brother more than a little nervous considering how many opportunities he had to get himself killed. Revisiting the mucky streets and intersections by which they came, Munkustrap could easily come up with several more reasons why he hated the family's choice in locale.
Snow pelted him from every direction, matting his fur into useless clumps where the wind burrowed its way under and left more clusters of wet snow. Every now and again he'd have to stop and give his pelt a good shake before the weight of it all dragged him down into the slushy mess on the ground. Many times he'd glanced back to find the tux, nearly invisible now, trying pathetically to do the same.
"Do you want to stop?" Munkustrap yelled once Mistoffelees had finished batting the snow out of his whiskers and eyelashes. He regarded the bigger tom curiously and cocked his head to the side. Stepping in closer, Munkustrap leaned down to gently press his nose against the tip of his ear. "Should we stop and find shelter?"
Mistoffelees perked at the suggestion, clearly not opposed to the idea, but a quick glance around the street proved the offer to futile. "There's nowhere to stop, Munk... Let's just keep going."
So they continued slowly pushing against the wind and snow for another few blocks until the tabby stopped to stare up at a lone lamppost, his tail limp and shoulders slumped, disheartened. "W...w-what's wrong?"
Mistoffelees watched as he inspected the road, looking as far each way as the blizzard allowed before glancing back up at the lamppost. On it were two metal plates half covered in snow, both of which had semi-obscured writing that Mistoffelees couldn't make out if he tried. "This way," the tabby finally said, nodding towards a street to their right. "It's... it's faster. How are you?"
"F-fine," the tux coughed, trying to suppress violent tremors in his shoulders. "Lead the way."
From there the storm only blew stronger as evening settled, making the dark streets impossible to navigate. Mistoffelees eventually found himself stumbling off the sidewalk with every gust of wind; one especially strong blast completely swept the small tux off his feet and sent him tumbling into a stack of soggy boxes and glass bottles. They'd been inconveniently set out on the side of the walk in front of a delicately lit home with silly toy reindeer on the lawn.
His legs sore and stiff from the cold, it took quite a bit to get even shaky paws under him to stand. Before he could think about the other tom Munkustrap was by his side gently pulling him to his feet; the two huddled close and braced against another strong gust of wind.
Wrapping his arms protectively around the tux's shoulders, Munkustrap held the shivering tom a moment. If he could get them further into town there would be ways to find shelter. "Stay close to me, we'll find some covering soon."
As they braved another round of windy assault Munkustrap took care to keep Mistoffelees tucked safely into his side. If he couldn't keep him warm, then the least he could do was keep him from flying off across the city. Soon the faint orange glow of city lampposts and shop signs lit up the major streets. With renewed spirits, the two quickly scurried over and dove under the nearest parked car they could find.
"Y-you didn't h-ha-ve to do that," Mistoffelees stammered, frowning at the thick blanket of ice and snow covering the entire left side of Munkustrap's body; the tabby shrugged with a warm smile and set to pulling out the knots from his long coat.
Instead of using his claws to scratch at the snow, Munkustrap noticed with a soft blush, Mistoffelees broke up the debris by gnawing and licking in a way that chased off the chill in more ways than he could imagine. Of course not wanting to seem rude or unappreciative Munkustrap graciously accepted his well-meaning, completely non-suggestive help and took the opportunity to secretly revel in their closeness.
Once they'd uncovered the dark and clumped wet stripes of his fur, the two huddled close in the small space under the car's undercarriage. Close as they pressed their bodies together the draft running through the tight space between the ground, car, and curb created a bitter wind tunnel that was much worse than walking out on the street.
Tiny eyes peered out behind the tires, searching for an open shop door or a heating vent they could worm into until the cold passed. The next best thing was a dark, narrow alley sandwiched between a bakery and the local cigar shop; it certainly wasn't a first choice, but it looked much less windy than where they were now.
Following Munkustrap's lead, Mistoffelees crept alongside of him to poke their head out from under the car. Only a few cars were left wandering the street; their headlights creeping along through the thinning curtain of snow. "Wait for this one to go by, then we should be..." Somewhere along the street a stuttering engine roared to life. "...Should be safe to cross." Teeth clattering loudly, Mistoffelees nodded and trained on the slow-moving vehicle, ready to bolt across the street to the safety of the alley the first chance he got.
As soon as the metal monster squared up to them, Munkustrap and Mistoffelees had already crawled out of their hiding place and began inching towards the other side. They had barely made it out halfway when Munkustrap first heard the sharp, terrifying shriek of failing car breaks. Light so bright he'd thought they were already halfway to Heavyside washed out the entire street.
Without another thought Munkustrap leaned forward to catch Mistoffelees by the scruff of the neck and yanked him back towards the parked car. The tux, who had more sense than he and had launch himself out of the way, flailed wickedly when his neck was caught mid-flight and slung back.
In a whirl of squealing tires, blinding light, and wild limbs, Mistoffelees was ragdoll limp in Munkustrap's grip; everything passing him in a blur until the world stopped, slamming hard against the icy ground and then the curb with a loud crack!
Mistoffelees cried out when the pain finally hit him with mind-numbing strength. He wasn't entirely sure what was hurting yet but as he slowly tried to push himself upright he had the sickening feeling he would soon find out. In the very near distance the tires squealed on, dragging the useless corpse that made up the rest of the car with them.
"Bast, are you alright!?" Out of some dark corner Munkustrap picked himself up and slowly limped over to inspect the abused tom.
Mistoffelees again tried to push himself up onto his elbows but fell back heavily against the hard-packed snow. "Something's wrong. I… I don't know what, but it really hurts!"
Concern and a hint of guilt flitted across the tabby's face before he composed himself with an uneasy cough. "Here, let me see. Where does it hurt?" With delicate paws he examined Mistoffelees from top to bottom, frowning at the irregular jut in the tux's shoulder and hissing at the sight of his oddly angled foot. "I think you might have dislocated your shoulder; I'll have to put it back in place."
"What?!" Mistoffelees gasped, "How did I…? You're going to put it back? How?"
To answer his question, the tabby shifted him over onto his back. Mindful of his own injuries- a couple bruised ribs and some small cuts here and there- he settled himself beside the younger tom and gently settled his foot against the hollow of his underarm. "I'm going to pull it back in. I need you to take a deep breath and try not to move." Mistoffelees stared, not entirely sure if he should take the tabby seriously or not.
He laughed. "I'm not letting you yank at my arm! What if I just left it, we can get it fixed when we get back to the junkyard?"
"You're not going to get very far, I can promise you that much."
The silence was awkward as Mistoffelees considered his options. "Fine. I suppose you- Ow! Munk, I didn't!-" Mistoffelees hissed and spat while Munkustrap gently pulled at his deformed arm, slowly pulling harder until the arm gave with a resounding pop as it jumped back into its proper place.
Together they shared a sigh of relief and, with Munkustrap still holding onto his paw and wrist, the tux gently pushed himself up to sit. Almost immediately he saw the sore sight of his foot and swallowed hard. "I don't suppose you could pop that back in?" his voice was shaky and thin, as well it should be; they were a long ways from the junkyard, and without a foot how was Mistoffelees supposed to make it back before he froze to death? Sadly Munkustrap shook his head no. "What do we do, Munk?"
Munkustrap was at a loss. They were much too far to chance walking now. If the temperature outside was to stabilize, they would catch hypothermia at best; if not then Munkustrap would have to consider leaving Mistoffelees behind and backtrack to Tugger's if he wanted any chance at making it himself until morning
He mentally smacked himself for even considering leaving Mistoffelees out there to die: that was definitely not an option. "I suppose we should start looking for that shelter now." A quick check found Mistoffelees' ankle to be thankfully unbroken, though it was sprained pretty badly and in no shape to be hitting the pavement anytime soon.
With nowhere to go they had to settle with revisiting their alleyway hideout. This time Munkustrap watched the road until the street had been more or less deserted before letting the tux pull himself out from under the car. "It stopped snowing," Mistoffelees noted, holding his paw out to the wind.
Munkustrap gently grabbed his paw and pulled him to his feet, lowering the tux's body against his before checking the road again. "It's much too cold for snow now." Half dangling from Munkustrap's side, Mistoffelees warily let himself be led across the road, luckily not a car in sight until long after they slumped into the shadows.
The wind had been blocked by the tall stack of apartment buildings and shops so the cold wasn't nearly as bitter. Mistoffelees let out a big sigh of relief, "At least I can feel myself think here!" he chuckled nervously, his eyes dashing in paranoia from dark corner to shady outline every few milliseconds.
Sticking inexorably fused to Munkustrap's side, he followed the tabby deeper into the ominous corridor until he stopped with a satisfied sound and a confident nod. "This should do nicely… but there doesn't really seem like there's much here to use as shelter."
Mistoffelees nodded towards a leaky, old dumpster and shuddered. "We could use that as a…" He saw the unveiled disgust on his friend's face as he considered this option as well, "… never mind then."
With nothing else at their disposal the two were at a loss. Surely they could chance the cold without the harshest of shelters, but at this point the more they had going for them the better their chances of survival. The taller of the two jumped slightly, ushering the duo to the nearby wall. "I have an idea! Wait here, I won't be long," Munkustrap enthused with a smile bright enough to appease the tux's worries while he left him sitting against the cold cobble brick to disappear out the alley and down the street.
As there was no snow and very little wind to slow him down, Munkustrap was able to run back up the street they'd travelled in no time at all. In fact, he was barely out of breath by the time he'd reached the deflated snow bank where Mistoffelees had fallen. The tabby sniffed and circled the arrangement of recyclables and garbage until finally beginning the task of picking the pile of folded cardboard boxes apart.
Thank the humans and their habit of using boxes five sizes too big to package their trinkets! Munkustrap had seen the Christmas hampers families would buy when the stores were just too hectic to chance with the human kits; a box big enough to fit four fair-sized Jellicles fixed a family of four with a silly little turkey, a couple boxes of stuffing, and a can of cranberry sauce which could also be swapped for a baggie of instant potatoes. As ridiculous as it was, Munkustrap couldn't contain the feeling of giddy accomplishment as he dragged the reduced box by a cheesy plastic reindeer.
He'd been a block if not more away when his ears caught the gentle whimper up ahead and his body went rigid. Slowly releasing their vice on him, his muscles slowly relaxed and he was bending over to pick up the corner that'd fallen out of his mouth when an adrenaline-pumping, drawn out scream, the owner of which undoubtedly an older queen, echoed out from a nearby stairwell.
Like a cave its mouth was a stone arch that led down a short strut to the stairs. The voice or, now, voices were coming from the other end of the dim tunnel. Faster than his fear could stop him, Munkustrap bolted up the story and a half of steps, stopping at a sharp 90 degree turn to the right where two light-coloured cats rolled and thrashed upon a thin plastic doormat. One of them, the queen he'd heard before, let out another, less distressing cry. This one of pleasure than of pain.
Unsure of what exactly he'd stumbled upon, Munkustrap cleared his throat as obnoxiously as propriety allowed. "Erm… Excuse me?" To his horror, the two stopped mid-coitus and glared at him, still connected down below. "I-I apologize for… interrupting, but I couldn't help but notice your—ahem—screaming." They blinked slowly, the slim tom mounted on the thicker queen was the first to break the awkward staring contest with a wicked grin; the queen, on the other hand, did not look at all humoured. "But I see everything's alright, so I'll just leave now—"
"S'your name, pal?" the tom wanted to know.
Not impervious to the sights and smells of sex (for he is a tom with needs and desires), Munkustrap struggled to keep his voice and eyes leveled and away from the enraptured couple. "M-my name is Munkustrap."
It was the queen's turn to speak up, her glowing yellow eyes finished in their thorough inspection of him from ear to tail-tip. "Have you mated before, Munkustrap? You seem rather flustered, or perhaps you're hoping to join us?" With a low, seductive purr she pointedly licked her lips while her stare slowly trailed over his body, lingering here and there to make her intentions crystal clear.
A thick, noticeable blush bled through the thick, dark colourings of his coat, and his body grew hot with embarrassment. "What?! No! I was just making sure you—"
"Calm down, stripes!" the tom guffawed, each peal of laughter shaking his body where his partner sighed and rolled forlornly against him. A thick, musty scent gave the air a comforting and alluring feel that toyed with the formal tom's thinking; if he wasn't careful he could soon become quite… vulnerable. When he'd finished laughing, the male grew quite glib when he spoke. "She's sayin' you can get warm with us, if you need ta. 'When the night gets chilly, us cats get silly' as we like to say, but you've never heard of that since you're not a stray. No cat without ribs you can knock a tune offa is a street cat."
"Shut up, Jyessup, you're scaring him away," the she-cat hissed, running a tantalizing tongue across her upper lip. "If you're looking for a little heat until morning, we've got plenty here to share... Munkustrap." She'd pronounced every. Single. Syllable. Beautifully. But Munkustrap's softening mind wandered from the lovely feline in front of him to a more potent, lusty specimen he silently worshipped for their claim on his simple heart. Once, and only once, had he heard his name used so much sweeter and its effects over a hundred times stronger, sadly in the ignorance of his dear's kittenish teasing.
Everlasting, what was he doing here thinking about sex?! Mistoffelees was still waiting for him to get back!
She smiled with smug contentment when the indecisive tom bit his lip, yearning shining bright in his semi-reflective eyes. Mindful of the enthralling chemicals coating the air, he drew in a slow, careful breath. "I… I can't. There's somewhere I need to be right now."
Not giving the enticing pair a chance to draw him back in, he spun on his heel and flew down the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. Munkustrap's foot caught the cardboard lip and nearly sent him crashing to the ground as he burst out of the mouth of the stone passage. To his horror the temperature had dropped, breathing possibility into his last-resort plan to abandon the tux for the rickety clatterings of Tugger's radiator.