It was already September, meaning it was about time for another (unofficial) party at Megakat City Salvage Yard. All entrances to the underground hangar were secured and hidden away, enough space was cleared up in the yard and garage to hold guests (with the rest cordoned off by yellow tape), and the spare fridge was filled with cans, bottles, and a couple of large kegs until it could barely close. Which left only one item that still needed to be ticked off the list: the traditional pre-party fight over whether or not to invite Callie.

Chance's argument was that they should invite her 'cause she might enjoy herself; Jake's counter argument was that they should not invite her 'cause she might not enjoy herself. In Jake's mind, a rowdy party with their loud friends and lots of drinks was no place for the deputy mayor. They both still had a crush on her, though Chance was starting to suspect Jake's interest ran deeper than just wanting to impress a cool kat; and the fact that Miss Briggs - the dazzling and brilliant deputy mayor - only knew him as a car mechanic instead of a genius inventor must have been a blow to his confidence. It was something they both had to deal with: as the Swat Kats they might be seen as the epitome of cool, but when they came back to the garage they were just two regular kats most katfolk didn't even notice.

Of course, Jake was very steadfast about not inviting Callie while he was sober - but once the party started and he got a few drinks in him, his determination would waver and the insecurities would take over, and he would spend the rest of the night sadly wailing to power ballads on the karaoke machine. Be that as it may, in the end Chance always relented and promised not to invite Callie: he was still convinced she would have a great time at the party, but seeing how much it upset Jake made him drop this particular hot potato every time.

Besides, as amazing as Callie was, it's not like she was the only she-kat in Megakat city.

It was an hour into the party and everything was going great: the music was blasting and more and more kats kept arriving every minute. Chance stood in the doorway with a can of cold milk, talking to old buddies from his Enforcer days and lazily scanning the room for any (she) kat he might want to go greet personally. At last somebody caught his eye from across the room: a tall she-kat in short frayed-hem jeans and a cropped "Katallica" T-shirt. Nice, at least we'll have something to talk about. He had just wiped the milk off his whiskers and started to move through the dense crowd to get a better view, when the she-kat lowered the can of milk she was obviously finishing and he could finally see her face clearly. Is that… Felina!?

Chance stopped in his tracks - he wasn't certain how to feel about this fact. To be honest, he definitely liked Felina, but his mind was still not sure how much and in what way. His body, on the other hand, seemed a lot less confused: he watched her lick the milk off her whiskers and a pleasant shiver ran down his spine all the way to the tip of his tail. There couldn't be any harm in just saying hi to her, right? The worst that could happen is he gets ignored. Besides, he was pretty sure she liked him as T-Bone, but… Hm… Oh damn, was he having his "Jake" moment? Was he afraid that no matter how awesome she thought T-Bone was, ultimately she would be disappointed to meet Chance?

Looking over his shoulder, he tried to find Jake. He saw him next to the karaoke machine, putting fresh batteries into the mics while holding a bottle of booze under his arm. Well Jake, after all the crap I gave you, I'd be a total coward if I didn't at least try. He took another gulp of milk and raised the can towards Jake, now surrounded by a small crowd shouting song requests at him. Wish me luck, buddy. And with that he strode over to Felina.

"Hey there! I'm Chance, of the eponymous 'Jake and Chance's Garage'. Haven't seen you here before, have I?"

He noticed Felina's ears perked up a little as she turned to face him.

"Oh hey! My name's Felina, it's my first time here. My friends kept telling me about these crazy parties you guys throw at the salvage yard, so I finally decided to tag along."

"And how are you finding the party then, Felina?"

"I mean, I'm no expert, but so far so good. The music's great!"

Chance puffed out his chest.

"Ha, it's my playlist. And I have it on good authority there is some Katallica in there, too", he said with a nod to her shirt.

"Lucky me", she responded with a grin that was a bit too wide to be simply polite.

Chance was relieved to find that his conversation with Felina flowed pretty smoothly. They liked a lot of the same stuff (well, maybe that wasn't that big of a surprise), and they shared a similar sense of humour. It was obvious they were both holding back a little, neither of them feeling fully in their element: Felina's usual cocky attitude was replaced by a more amiable one, and Chance was not ready to potentially ruin things with his flirty come-ons. Nevertheless, it was definitely a conversation they were both enjoying.

An hour flew by and the party was really starting to pick up speed now. It became harder to talk over all the chatter and music, and Chance was getting interrupted more and more by random friends passing by.

"Heeey, if it isn't ol' Bonehead!"

Chance spotted a bunch of his high school buddies walking over with shot glasses in their paws - some of them already empty. He groaned.

"Oh damn, didn't see you were talking to a lady", his friend continued, "ma'am, I assure you there is no lurid meaning behind that nickname - Chance was simply the only kat who was equally safe landing on his head as he was landing on his feet."

"What do you know", replied Felina, "a kat with a head harder than mine."

Chance laughed way too hard at that - after all, he did know her better than he was letting on.

"See, Chancy, old Oggy still has your back! How about a drink then, for old times sake?", he said, pushing a shot glass towards him.

"Eh I don't know, it's still early..."

Chance didn't want to start immediately downing shots in front of Felina - he still had some water to test.

"Well, it's poor manners to let a friend drink alone", Felina chimed in, swiping a full shot glass from Oggy's other paw.

"Oh...", Oggy and his friends were too stunned to really react, but Chance was expecting that the Lieutenant Feral he knew would rear her head sooner or later.

Felina quickly swung her arm around Chance's so they were linked at the elbow.

"Bottoms up, tomkat."

"If the lady insists."

They both downed their shots, and a disgusted grimace appeared on their faces.

"Holly paws, Chance, what is this? Engine degreaser!?"

Felina was trying hard not to cough.

"No way", Chance replied while tapping his chest, "I'd never put something this corrosive in an engine."

The whole crowd got a good laugh out of that one.

"Now that we've all been properly introduced", Ozzy's eyes narrowed into a shifty expression, "Chance, you still owe me a rematch in Mortal Komkat."

Chance was about to reply when he noticed that his arm was still linked to Felina's. If she was ready to go full out, maybe it was time he did, too. He leaned in and gave her a seductive glance.

"Would the lady perhaps be interested in helping me defend my position as champion to save the world from the forces of evil?"

A familiar mischievous expression appeared on Felina's face.

"Game on."

After their hard-earned victory at Mortal Komkat, Chance and Felina were rewarded with another round of shots, and slowly but surely things started to spin out of control.

Chance remembers arguing with someone over the merits of bench pressing, and taking off the shirt he wore under his mechanic's coveralls seemed (at the time) like a good argument in his favour. Felina and her posse of female friends quickly took this opportunity to do an impromptu photo shoot with him - maybe he could use some of those photos for the garage's Snoutbook page? Jake probably wouldn't let him, though.

"He never listens to all the brilliant marketing ideas I have", Chance mumbled to himself as he took another swig from the bottle in his paws.

"What was that?"

Felina looked up at him. Her eyes seemed a little blurry, too.

"Nothing. Just thinking how underappreciated my genius is."

"I appreciate you, Tiger", she said while playfully tousling the tuft of hair on top of his head, his red baseball cap long gone missing.

"Thanks, Wild Kat. I knew you'd get me."

'Tiger' and 'Wild Kat' were nicknames that probably would have made both of them cringe from the bottoms of their souls while sober - but now they sounded like peak flirting. After their little photo op was over, a couple of tomkats obviously worked up the nerve to try and flirt with Felina. She challenged them to an arm wrestling match. And won. Chance found all of this absolutely hilarious, high-fiving Felina and downing another couple of shots with her.

Suddenly Chance's ears perked up and he turned his head towards the living room.

"Oh my claws, they're playing my song!"

He quickly grabbed Felina's hand and started dragging her towards the dance floor in the living room.

"Hey, hey", he could hear her giggle and protest behind him, "I'm not much of a dancer!"

"You can't be worse than me!"

Once they were safely enveloped by the darkness of the living room - where even sharp kat eyes had trouble seeing what was going on - Chance proceeded to break out his dance moves with no shame, despite them making him look more like Austin Pawers than Jaguar Bond. He could tell Felina was still dancing near him from how the locks of white fur among her perpetually rebellious hair glowed under the faint blacklight.

After his song ended and a more sultry, psychedelic number started playing ( must be one of Jake's ), Chance took a moment to catch his breath and wipe the sweat off his face. He was just about to check on Felina, when he felt a firm body press against him and a pair of paws slowly slide down his back and into the back pockets of his coveralls, giving his rear a cheeky squeeze. If he was looking for a hint, he was not going to get one more straightforward than this. With a big grin, he threw his arm around her so her head was nestled comfortably in its crook and kissed her.

He was definitely caught off guard by the adrenaline rush the kiss gave him, with blood racing to his head and his heart pounding loudly in his chest - it was almost as exciting as hearing the Turbokat's engines roar into life. Memories of the danger they faced together while he was T-Bone flooded his mind and only fueled the fire further. Her cocky attitude, her love of danger, the way she defied old Feral, all of it made him realise how much he had wanted this probably from the first time he saw her blow something to smithereens.

They spend a few minutes like this, lips locked and paws roaming eagerly, when Felina broke the kiss and Chance felt a pair of sharp fangs graze his ear.

"Let's get out of here."

Chance lifted the yellow tape that cordoned off the "no-go" area of their living quarters and somehow managed to get both himself and Felina to pass under it without breaking their somewhat sloppy kissing stint. Slowly they conquered the few feet needed to get to the first door in the hallway ahead, and he pinned Felina against the door frame while also pawing at the handle as he tried to get the door to open.

"Welcome to the VIP lounge!", he said triumphantly after finally getting the door handle to cooperate.

"Oh...", Felina turned to look behind her, "...this is, like, just your bedroom, right?"

"Em, yeah?"

"Ok, cool", Felina said while locking lips again, "just checking… we're… on the same... page."

"Oh, definitely", he mumbled against her mouth, "my... favourite... page."

Once they we're finally inside, Felina quickly kicked the door shut and pushed him against the opposite wall with enough force to rattle the shelves above his bed. Chance didn't really mind - in fact, he felt like he could get used to being tom-handled.

As their make out session continued, Chance found himself getting bolder and slowly slid his paw up her back and under her shirt - after all, he still owed her for that butt squeeze from before. And while he was definitely excited to feel the clasp of her bra under his paw, he was even more thrilled to discover something else: a series of small scars under her fur, probably not easy to spot normally, but distinctly tangible under his paw pads. He wasn't sure why this gave him such a rush, but he proceeded to meticulously trace each one until he could imagine them clearly in his mind. Maybe it was because he held a few battle mementos under his fur as well: everything from shattered glass, flying shrapnel, to angry kat claws had at one point dug into his flesh, and to find something similar on another body evoked a strange combination of excitement and intimacy.

"Found something you like under there?" Felina said with a smug expression.

She didn't seem at all bothered by his newly discovered scar-fixation - then again, she was the kind of she-kat to wear battle scars as a badge of honour.

Chance didn't really answer her, instead he just gave a low growl and pressed their noses together.

"C'mon, Tiger, let me count those stripes."

Felina grabbed ahold of his coveralls and spun him around so his back was facing the bed. She then gave him a small push and he happily launched himself backwards onto the mattress.

He should have known it was going too well to last.

"SON OF A SHE-KAT!"

Chance flipped over onto his stomach and buried his face into the pillows to stop himself from cursing. He had landed on something sharp and cold, something like a…

"Oh no, the Viper!" Felina exclaimed in a sad voice.

A viper? Like, a snake viper? A Doctor Viper!?

Chance turned around to see Felina cradling a deformed miniature model of a Dodge Viper.

"Poor little car, you've been squished," Felina cooed at the small metal replica, before scuttling over to the shelves to put it back on its stand. It had probably rolled onto the bed when they hit that wall.

Looks like Felina's attention span has gone out the window. Maybe we've both had too much to drink. Chance was still rubbing the sore spot on his back - he had lived through countless injuries as T-Bone, but his booze-addled brain was certain this was the one that would do him in.

When he was finally done soothing his back (and his pride), he rolled over to see what Felina had been up to while he was (figuratively) licking his wounds. She was now standing on her knees on the bed, back straight and head cocked to one side, mindfully examining the miniature models on the shelves above. Her expression matched that of a curious kitten, and she handled the small metal fighter jets as carefully as if they were glass figurines. He spent a few minutes just watching her like that: things hadn't exactly gone as planned, but there was still something satisfying in seeing her in the dim light of his room, completely engrossed by his humble yet carefully curated collection of model vehicles.

"Hey there."

"Oh hey!" Felina turned to face him and put on a big smile, before clumsily plopping back on her behind.

"I like your little planes."

"And I like you, Wild Kat." He was trying his best to sound seductive, but in reality he was most likely slurring his words like a sleepy toddler. Now that the sea of horny adrenaline had ebbed, they were obviously both starting to feel the full effects of all that booze.

"There's just something about a she-kat who can handle a 9-tonne machine", he continued groggily, "that just does it for me, y'know?"

Felina cocked her head in surprise.

"Oh, so you know I'm a pilot?"

"Em, yeah..." Damn, she didn't mention that, did she? "...your girlfriends told me."

"Most tomkats get cold feet when they find out."

"Pffft, scaredy kats."

Felina let out a small chuckle that ended with a hiccup, and Chance rubbed his eyes in an attempt to keep the sleep away.

"Look Felina," he said rolling onto his back, "what if… we leave whatever was supposed to happen here tonight for a later time when we're both better coordinated?"

Felina gave a big yawn. "Yeah, that's not a bad idea."

"I have an even better one." He patted his left pectoral. "How about a nice, long kat-nap?"

"Mmm okay!"

She started crawling to him on all fours, but the soft mattress combined with the side-effects of the booze wasn't doing her any favours. As soon as she was within arms reach, he grabbed her and curled her onto his chest where she snuggled in with a satisfied sigh.

"You're so fuzzy."

"You mean buff... and totally ripped."

"You're literally purring."

"I don't purr," said Chance with full confidence, "I'm too macho to purr."

He then promptly went back to purring.

"'Night, Felina."

"'Night, Tiger."

…

"...Chance?"

"Hm?"

"Is your friend ok?"

Chance turned his ears and realised he could hear singing coming from the direction of the living room.

"Oh crud, I forgot about my boy."

He patted his paw on the top of the night stand looking for the remote. Earlier he had plugged the karaoke machine into one of those remote-controlled power sockets - Jake will probably be too drunk by now to figure out what's going on. Locating the remote, he pressed the top button and the music stopped, much to the audible disappointment of the few party-kats still around.

"'Night, Jake."