A/N: Okay, I've been putting this off. As has Misto, I imagine. Yep, after everything that happened in "From Alley to House" and "Friends and Lovers," the impossible is happening- Zaph is making him watch CATS on DVD!
The tomcat opened the package with a smile. Presents were a new concept, and a very pleasant one at that. When he saw what lay beneath the Christmas paper, the smile faded a bit. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked his mate, who giggled.
"Me and Zanna both thought it was time you saw it."
He merely blinked at her.
"And I want to see it again too. I haven't seen it since long before…before it took on a more personal interest."
Mistoffelees just looked at her, holding the DVD in his hand limply. With a grin Zaphia pounced on him and took the case away to put it in the dvd player.
"I guess we're watching CATs" the tomcat said with a sigh before settling on the couch. This wasn't exactly what he'd pictured for Christmas morning.
"Why is all that stuff so big?" Misto asked, brow furrowed. The show had just started, and already he was confused by the set alone.
"To make the actors look kitty-sized" Zaphia said with a shrug.
"They're supposed to be actual cats?"
"Yep."
"But why is that car normal size…"
Zaphia groaned and rolled her eyes. "Maybe it would be better to wait until the first character appears, at least?" she said gently, and Mistoffelees closed his mouth.
A silver tabby stood in the center of the stage, and Zaphia looked at her mate curiously as he laughed. "It's just…seeing someone purposely dressing like that…" he said, and Zaphia laughed with him. She couldn't wait until another character appeared…
He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with the show. She'd shown him pictures, particularly of his namesake. So it shouldn't have been too much of a shock. But, just as her ears picked up the softly spoken lines "the pied piper's assistant" Misto physically jumped at her side.
"That's...!" he cried out, and Zaphia laughed hard at the shocked expression on his face. "Yep, that's Mistoffelees" she giggled, barely able to get the words out past her laughter.
At her side, a tomcat named Mistoffelees was sitting with his mouth wide open. "What, it's not like you didn't know!" Zaphia pointed out, poking him in the ribs.
"Still…to see a picture, and to see someone dressed up like you and dancing around…it's totally different to see him romping around like that…"
"He's not dressed as you, you look like him. Hence earning your name" the queen pointed out. The tom just nodded slightly, staring at the screen open-mouthed.
"Who plays him?" he asked.
"Jacob Brent."
Mistoffelees watched the dancers move for awhile, following his own signature character to the exclusion of almost everything else. "He's playing it up a lot" he grumbled. "Lolling his tongue about…like he's purposely acting as silly and childish as possible. And that little thing at the beginning of the Gumbie cat song…" at a wide-eyed look from Zaphia he changed his tone a bit. "Well…at least he seems to be a very good dancer…"
"Glad you approve. He's kinda considered the penultimate Mistoffelees. Incidentally, you guys have some other things in common."
Misto turned to her, eyebrows raised. "Such as…?"
Zaphia grinned. "Well, in addition to you both being dancers who have had to learn to answer to the name 'Mistoffelees,' you're the same height."
Misto turned to the screen. "I thought as much…he's much shorter than the others."
The queen ignored that statement. "Also, you both have brown eyes."
With a start her mate turned to her. "Just how many times have you watched this?" he asked. She giggled and turned a bit red. "I just did some research online after we met…I was curious!"
Without a word Mistoffelees turned back to the screen. It was strange, watching this other person pretending to be…him. But not him. But…
"Aren't they embarrassed?" the tomcat asked during a musical number that was noticeably Misto-less. Zaphia raised an eyebrow. "Well, they're pretending to be kitties…most people get embarrassed to just bearound us when we act like that" he continued.
Zaphia looked thoughtful. "It's just a musical, and a very playful one…and they're broadway performers mostly, who're getting paid. I think they're okay with it. And…it's not embarrassing to play a part professionally. We freak people out because…we're real. And not on stage." She laughed before continuing. "But I bet if Jacob Brent or any of the others acted that way in front of somebody in real life, like at the dentist or something, people would be totally freaked out."
Misto nodded. "That reminds me, another dental hygienist screamed when I came in" he whispered, and Zaphia groaned. She kept telling the dentist they went to that he needed to warn the new hygienists about them, but he kept forgetting…so another poor girl who was already nervous about such unusual patients got to be freaked out by their unusually pronounced canines. "I told her I didn't bite, but I don't think it helped" he added softly and she giggled.
Most of the musical passed without incident. Misto's eyebrows raised dangerously high during the fight of the Pekes and the Pollicles…the idea of people, dressing like cats, dressing like dogs in fake and oddly sized garbage…it was hard to deal with that level of strange. "You know, you're majoring in dance, you spend all your time around the theatre department…you should be used to the weirdness of musicals" Zaphia whispered in his ear, and he laughed.
"But I'm in this one!" he cried out.
Zaphia giggled. "Yep, 'you're' dressed as a dog and barking" she giggled, and Mistoffelees groaned. "Just wait…" she whispered, squeezing his arm.
A flash of red on the screen earned a raised eyebrow from the critical tomcat. "She certainly thinks she's something" he said softly and Zaphia laughed. "Bombalurina" the queen put in. "The sexy queen of the junkyard!"
Mistoffelees shook his head. "She's not that sexy…just rather crude. And full of herself."
He didn't look at Zaphia as she laughed, so he missed the pleased expression on the small queen's face.
"She's just like that tall one with the mane- Tugger? So cocky, so full of himself…" the tomcat trailed off as Zaphia doubled over on the couch next to him. "Did I miss something?" he asked.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Zaphia shook her head. "No…well, yes…but it's probably just as well. It's just…you kinda sound a bit jealous. And there's a lot of fanfiction out there that I realized you should never, ever read."
He knew better than to ask.
Finally, it was time. The stage was dark, and Tugger began his song. The tomcat at her side sat up at the very beginning, looking at the screen curiously. "Why isn't he-" Zaphia stopped his question with a hand on his mouth. "Just watch" she whispered.
As soon as the sparkly figure descended from the ceiling, Mistoffelees covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the embarrassed giggles. By the end of it he was about to lose it, so Zaphia paused the DVD. "Can we watch that again?" the tomcat asked, and Zaphia backed up the show obligingly. Again the song played out, complete with the little dance and the magic tricks. Again the tomcat on the couch collapsed into a fit of giggles, although his face was bright red in embarrassment.
"What's up, magic boy?" Zaphia asked, leaning close.
Misto hid his face in his hands for a moment. "Oh, no wonder people laugh when I tell them my name. That's really me! I mean, I'm really like that…aren't I?" With a playful growl Zaphia pounced on him, pulling the hands away.
"Is that so bad?" she asked, looking him earnestly in the eye.
He looked up at her. "I should ask you. Wouldn't you prefer if I just so happened to be just like Munkustrap or Rum Tum Tugger…or one of the less silly ones?"
Zaphia shook her head so that the ears flopped. "Nope. Not at all. Besides, you're not exactly like the character."
"Close enough."
"But not exactly." Misto looked at her. "Well, you're real, so you show a lot more moods besides showing off or being adorably kitteny. Your tail is real, which is perfect. And you didn't lose the white tip on it when you went all magical, which is great." He closed his eyes and sighed. Zaphia surprised him with a kiss on the nose. "Oh, don't be sad…he's quite a favorite with the fangirls, right up there with Tugger" she whispered, and his eyes opened again.
"WHY?" he asked, and she laughed.
"Because there are lots of girls who like adorable, nice guys who dress in tuxes and could do magic for them." Zaphia shrugged, her face a bit red to spell it out like that.
Misto's eyes opened wide. "Are you a 'fangirl' ?"
Zaphia looked thoughtful, then snuggled up close. "Well, I am now." She looked at her mate and bopped a finger against his nose. "But not of a made-up character…of the real thing."
The two of them turned back to the television. Zaphia giggled a bit again, causing Misto to turn and look at her. "I was just remembering 'Victoria' at that party…" she said softly, and Misto hugged her tight.
"Don't worry- thisMisto isn't quite as fond of her as that Misto appears to be."
Zaphia laughed again. "See, there are important differences!"