fat cats and hobos [ trevor + kiev]

The incredibly fat furry thing glared up at him. Trevor’s first thought was that thing must’ve been loved a lot. It was white with a few light brown spots; most of the animals he saw in the south were strays, mangy things that were questionably rabid. He crouched down in front of the cat; toanyone passing by it looked like he was in a staring match with the animal. He wondered who it belonged to. It looked…really fluffy. He didn’t have the best experience or relationship with animals. Dogs seemed to like him well enough but cats were a completely different story. He heard cats were intelligent creatures and he didn’t doubt it, maybe they knew he was a harbinger by some animal instinct and that was the reason they seemed to attack him on sight.

Didn’t stop him from trying though. He reached out a hand tentatively to pet it, slow and steady…. The cat hissed and its fur stuck straight up. “Ow.” The cat had locked his teeth snapped firmly around most of his hand. It didn’t really hurt that bad but he felt his hopes fall.

He probably should’ve tried persuading the cat to let go of his hand before it started bleeding but he never could hurt an animal despite how vicious it was. His biggest weakness probably. Trevor would’ve been there for who knows how had not someone else come into the alley behind him.

A boy, teenage by the looks of it. The cat almost immediately relinquished its prey for the other boy, purring like the sweetest thing against the boy’s leg. It would’ve been a lie if Trevor hadn’t felt the tiniest bit of jealousy that this boy was a lot better with animals than he was. He stared at the pair of cat and boy for a moment, noticing that both the kids face was a mirror of the blank expression he himself owned.

He stood up from the crouched position, hiding the injured hand in his pocket; it would heal, though at a normal speed than when he performed his job. The boy was blocking the end of the alley and pushing past him would’ve been rude…

What little communication skills Trevor had were useless and he just stared, not even in eye contact with the boy, but at the cat. God he really wanted to pet that thing even if it had possibly taken a chunk of his hand.

Was he really that obvious? He leaned down to see the scribbled writing on the paper being shown to him. This also caused him to question whether the kid was perhaps mute or otherwise. He didn’t doubt the kid’s words per say, but cats hated him in general, regardless of state of hunger.

Another note, this time introducing the cat’s name. Puffdragon… it was both an odd name and incredibly fitting. If there was absolutely one thing that Trevor was adamantly stubborn over it was his insistence to keep trying to befriend the furry animal despite his every terrible experience with one in the past.

He crouched down yet again, a new look of determination in his eyes. His hand reaching out slowly… fucking. Success. He didn’t smile, he never did but if this were a cartoon, angels would be descending from the heavens, playing holy music for this long awaited moment of Trevor’s life when which he finally gets to pet a fucking cat.

“Soft…” The word barely audible as he stroked the cat intently with a completely blank expression.

He was thoroughly engrossed with his current activity, he only became aware of the boy again when he moved, calling the cat back to his side with an outstretched hand (or better description, sleeve). Trevor laid his hand across his knees for lack of a better place of where to put it now that there was no fluffy cat to pet.

A moment of silence between the two once again while he scribbled yet another note for him. He blinked once while scanning the directions. As much as he would like to have the furry companion, he barely had the means of keep himself fed much less anything extra for the animal. Well it was nice while it lasted even if it was only one time…

The kid added another note, the little probably harmless little smiley face tagged at the end suddenly made Trevor feel extremely self-conscious. Oh god, how stupid must he have looked letting his guard down like that for an animal?

“N-not really…” averting his eyes and one had to question if he was the worst liar in the world. He hoped his skin was too pale for the pinpricks he could feel heating up his cheeks to be visible. Unusual he was showing so much emotion today, actually lately he had been conversing with people more often. He must be getting sentimental or something.

So he wasn’t a good liar, he never had much reason to since he barely talked in the first place. It’s completely understandable his skills are rusty which is why he shouldn’t be making things worse by shifting awkwardly from the knowing stare of someone much younger than him.

He probably looked like a cat himself who had just had its fur rubbed the wrong way when he read the accusatory note. “nngh…” He dealt with violent cats before, the telltale scar on his lip that most assumed he had gotten from some fight was actually just a cat scratch when he had walked into an alley full of the creatures.

A paper bag was handed over, Trevor had noticed earlier that the boy had fed puffdragon with pieces of meat from it.

“You wanna try?”

He almost didn’t. it would only fuel his already completely unconvincing denial earlier. He shifted his stubborn stare at anything but the cat or boy onto said fluffy creature. That’s really all it took for him to cave. He reached into the bag and took one sausage , and held out the morsel to the cat in the palm of his hand.