"Teddy, did you grab the bag?" Eli asked as he opened the door to the warehouse, Teddy close on his heels.
"Yeah, I got the shopping bag. What's in here? It's really light." He missed the smirk on Eli's face as they entered the main room. Eli grabbed the bag, pulling out a small baggie filled with some small dried green flakes. "Woah, woah, what is that?" Tommy came running towards the noise, curiosity getting the best of him.
"Catnip." Eli opened the bag, throwing the small baggie on the floor. Immediately Tommy pounced on the bag, plastic crinkling under his paws. Eli grabbed a hold of Teddy's arm, keeping him from pulling the baggie away from Tommy.
"Dude, you can't give him catnip. Do you know what Billy will do to me when he finds out?"
"Teddy, chill. Tommy's just going to chill out. Besides, this is payback for how he's been acting around Kate." The plastic bag ripped, catnip spilling all over the floor seconds before Tommy was rolling around in it. Teddy stood there, gaping as the tiny kitten licked some of the dried plant. "Besides, Billy isn't going to find out. He and Kate are out getting 'kitten supplies' or something. He'll be fine by the time they get back." Tommy mrewed, purring as he staggered over to Teddy before laying down on his foot. He quickly picked up the kitten before Eli could. That smile on his face was starting to worry him. "Okay, hold him still. I have some temporary dye."
"Woah, no. Absolutely no way are you dying Tommy." The kitten purred, grabbing Teddy's hand and rubbing against it as Eli pulled out the packets of red and purple dye. He shrugged off Eli's glare. "No, Billy's going to kill me enough as is. I thought your point was to get back at Tommy without getting Kate and Billy angry at us." He removed the kitten from his hand, using it to keep Eli back.
"It's just a harmless prank. Come on, man." He moved back, keeping himself between Eli and the limp, purring kitten. "The point is to teach Tommy that he doesn't have free reign of the warehouse." His phone buzzed in his pocket as Tommy flipped himself over, paws batting at the air.
"Dude, I'm dead enough already." Eli tried to jump around him, but he quickly shifted and flew out of his reach.
"That is not fair, get back down here." Maybe if he just ignored Eli he'd be able to convince Billy he had nothing to do with this. Tommy prupped, grabbing a hold of one of Teddy's claws as he landed in the rafters. "Seriously, get back down here." He just rolled his eyes, carefully taking his hand back to pull out his phone. He paled at the message.
"You're dead, dude." Eli stopped yelling.
"What?" Teddy tossed his phone down.
"They're on their way back now." Tommy batted at his hair, the warehouse dead silent.
"We're back!" Billy yelled as Teddy flew out of Eli's reach. The looked out of the door to the main room, then back to Eli on the ground. "Teddy? Eli? Where are you?" Tommy rolled, trying to get to the floor far below him.
"No, no Tommy. Stay here. Calm yourself, cat, calm yourself." Tommy mewed, reaching for the floor. Eli stared at the door, trying to act normal. Kate and Billy entered the room, looking around, quickly noticing Tommy halfway hanging out of Teddy's arms.
"What are you doing up there?" Billy asked as he looked up. "Put him on the floor before he jumps and hurts himself." Teddy sighed, landing to place the high kitten down. Tommy staggered over to Kate, rolling over, purring. He was dead, he was deader than dead. Tommy was obviously still out of it, pupils blown wide as he begged for attention. "What did you do?" He held his hands up in surrender, shifting back.
"I didn't do anything. Eli gave him catnip and then tried to dye him. I kept him from getting dyed." Billy glared at him as Kate plucked Tommy off of the ground. Eli tried to step back out of the room, knocking over a chair. He let out a sigh of relief as the two shifted their glares to Eli.
"Catnip? Damn it Eli why would you do something like that?" Kate asked, petting Tommy's head. "He's just a kitten. We don't know exactly how much of himself he remembers, and you're getting jealous of him. You do know that kittens need a lot of attention or they will run wild? I cannot believe you." She handed the kitten to Billy before marching over to Eli and dragging him out of the room by his ear. Billy scratched behind Tommy's ears, his blue eyes sliding shut.
"I really didn't have anything to do with this." Billy just smiled as he walked over to him. Thankfully Billy didn't hit him or anything, but wrapped him in a hug.
"I know. Thanks for keeping him safe." He smiled as he returned the hug. Tommy let out a mew, batting at Teddy's ears. "You are too silly right now." The front door to the warehouse opened and closed. "Come on, Kate got us all reservations to some fancy restaurant tonight and we need to go get ready."
"Really? Fun stuff." They walked into the main room, Billy putting Tommy down to curl on the couch.
"Let me just put these toys over here and we can get going." Teddy petted the kitten as he picked up his head to watch Billy scatter the toys. It wasn't long before Billy was back taking his hand and leading him out of the warehouse. "Bye Tommy. We'll see you tomorrow." He scratched behind Tommy's ears one last time before he followed Billy to the street.
That night the power went out.