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"Stop feeding that damn cat!"
And just like that Tommy was off. He thought this family would last longer. The kid who lived there was nice, sneaking him and sometimes Will some food. She would speak to him, tell him about her day and how she had to dig through her fridge to find something for him. It was nice for a while. But he knew his luck with her had run out when her mother came out onto the porch swinging her broom at him.
Tommy sprinted into the alley where Wilbur and Techno were. He shifted from his orange tabby form and sighed loudly.
"What happened Toms?" Wilbur asked.
"Remember that girl down the street? Her mom found out she was slipping me some food and chased me out." He huffed.
"You went back? I thought we agreed not to go to one house multiple times." Techno crossed his arms. He was very adamant about not risking their identities. He didn't want to take any chances since shapeshifters were very rare. Rare enough that some cruel people would keep them locked up, almost like exotic pets.
"I know but she was nice," Tommy whined.
"The mom?"
"No, the kid. Duh Wil." He turned to Techno. "She was so nice, Tech I swear."
"You know we can't take any chances."
Tommy frowned. Tech never trusted anyone. It was probably coming from his fierce protectiveness of his younger brothers but other times it seemed he took it a bit too far. Being the youngest, Tommy was almost always on the receiving end of one of his lectures on keeping their identities a secret.
"Yeah yeah, whatever."
…
"Sun's going down," Wilbur stated, having stayed out of the conversation for fear of metaphorically adding fire to the flame.
Tommy shifted, snuggling up to Wilbur who was also in his cat form. It was more comfortable than his other form anyways.
Techno settled a bit farther away but Tommy and Wilbur knew he wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon.
~~~
Kristin was washing dishes when she heard it. It was a tiny meow coming from her backyard. At first, she thought it was maybe a neighbor's cat before she saw it. It was a dirty ginger cat, presumably a stray.
Kristin always loved animals so she wanted to help in any way she could.
"Babe? Do we have any leftovers from last night?"
Phil walked into the kitchen confused. "Why?"
"There's a cat in the backyard. I wanna give it something."
"Oh. Yeah, there should be some chicken legs left."
Kristin finished the dishes, dried her hands, and grabbed the chicken for the cat.
She walked outside and the cat's head snapped up. He didn't look scared, more so curious. When he saw the tub he took a step forward, meowing.
"Hi, kitty." She smiled. She opened the tub, setting it down a bit in front of her. She didn't want to scare away the kitten.
But he wasn't scared. He walked up, sniffed the food, and meowed loudly with his head angled behind him.
Two more cats emerged. Both brown tabbies. One headed straight for the food while the other looked warily at Kristen.
She slowly backed away, making sure there was enough distance between her and the cats.
When she got back inside she saw Phil watching from the window.
~~~
The next day Kristin honestly didn't expect the cats to come back. But lo and behold, the ginger was back. When he saw Kristin in the kitchen window, he meowed loudly. She smiled.
"Hey, little guy."
"Meow."
"You hungry?"
"Meow."
Pretty one-sided conversation am I right?
She glanced around in the fridge before finding some take-out that was still good from earlier in the week.
Walking outside she noticed the ginger cat was no longer alone. He was with one of the brown tabbies from yesterday. This one wasn't as hostile as the other so she smiled and held out her hand, hoping maybe one of them would approach her.
Only the ginger stepped forward. He rubbed his head on her hand and went around her legs a couple of times before meowing at the take-out box.
"Right. You guys must be hungry huh?"
She watched them eat from inside.
"They came back?" Phil asked.
"Yeah."
"They're gonna keep coming back if you keep feeding them."
"Maybe I want them to come back." She smiled. Phil just sighed and smiled back.
~~~
It's been a week since Tommy first visited the nice ladies' house. She reminded him a lot of the little girl from before. She talked to him and occasionally pet him if he got close enough.
Tommy made his way to her house while Tech and Wil were out and was very surprised when saw a man standing by her. He was blonde and had a tub in his hand. Tommy stalled when he saw him but the lady just smiled and held out her hand like when she wanted to pet him. He walked up to her but kept his eyes on the man.
"I don't think he likes me, Kristin."
She- Kristin? just laughed. "Kitty, this is Phil. Phil, this is a kitty."
"Kitty? You didn't give him a name?"
"I couldn't think of anything."
The guy, Phil, moved to open the tub and held out some chicken in his hands.
Tommy looked at Kristin and meowed. She didn't move to grab the food from him so he assumed this was her way of trying to get him to go to Phil.
He slowly inched toward Phil's hand. They both smiled wider when he ate out of his hand.
"Tommy."
His head snapped toward where his name was called. He saw Techno first in his cat form, watching Phil and Kristin closely. Wilbur was a bit further, also watching the two, Phil more so.
"Hey kitties. Want some chicken?" Phil called before Kristen held her hand up.
"The bigger one still doesn't like me. The other might be scared of you." She explained.
"Tommy, get over here," Techno called.
"No." He liked these people. They wouldn't hurt him. At least Kristin wouldn't. And she definitely wouldn't let Phil do anything if he even tried.
"Tommy, please." Wilbur pleaded. He was pacing, further showing how worried he was.
Tommy looked to Kristin and Phil, meowing to them before turning to Will and Tech.
"They wouldn't hurt us. Cmon Tech, lighten up."
"Tommy." Techno hissed. That was different. Techno never hissed at Tommy or Wilbur. (Except for that one time Tommy climbed onto the roof of some random person's house.)
He looked to Techno and shot him a stink eye before turning to Phil. But Kristin pulled his hand away.
He meowed in question and she just said "You should go kitty. Your friends are waiting for you."
He huffed. He didn't want to leave but they weren't giving him much of a choice.
Techno and Wilbur were silent the entire way back. Once they did make it back though, Techno shifted and turned to face Tommy.
His face was scrunched up in anger and any other time Tommy would have laughed.
"What the hell Tommy? What were you thinking?"
"Kristin and Phil are nice. They would never hurt us. I swear Tech." Tommy tried to defend them and himself.
"God Toms. I love you but sometimes you can be so stupid. It doesn't matter what you think about them. You don't know for sure."
"What the hell man? I'm not stupid! You don't know anything about them. You're just fucking paranoid about everything and everyone."
"I'm not 'paranoid' I'm cautious. You just walk around, no care in the world, and risk getting us caught."
"Guys calm down-"
"Wil, shut up. You're the same as him."
"Excuse me? Okay Tech I get it, you wanna keep us safe, but there's no reason to make us feel bad. You think we would intentionally risk getting caught?"
"Not intentionally, but we have rules for a reason. Breaking them could risk everything."
"I know Tech, God I'm the one who helped come up with the rules. But listen to Tommy. Kristen has never done anything to try and hurt us."
"What about the guy? Huh? What about him?"
It was clear the conversation wasn't going anywhere. Techno wasn't budging and Wilbur wasn't going down without a fight. Tommy, the whole reason the argument started, was left out of it.
So, when the two weren't looking, he slipped away. He wanted to get away from the yelling for a bit and could only hope Kristin was still up given the sun had already set a while ago.
When he got to her backyard, the lights from the kitchen window were off.
He meowed and was about to walk off before the light flicked on. It was Phil looking through the window but Tommy was happy to see him nonetheless.
Phil smiled and a few minutes later he was outside with some chicken from earlier.
"Hey, kitty. Got some food since you didn't get to eat it earlier. Sorry Kristin isn't here, bet you'd prefer her here instead."
"It's fine." He meowed.
"She wanted to stay up to see if you'd stop by but it got late and she has to go to work early tomorrow."
Tommy didn't say anything. He was just really tired. So he snuggled up next to Phil who had sat down on the ground to pet him. Phil moved his fingers to pet under his chin and behind his ears, drawing out purrs from Tommy.
A little nap wouldn't hurt, right?
~~~
Tommy woke up inside. Immediately, he looked around, confused as to where he was. He didn't remember going into anyone's house.
He calmed down a lot when he saw Phil sleeping on the other side of the bed. Tommy walked over to him and started pawing at his face, eager to leave. His brothers would probably be very worried about him.
Phil yawned, squinting at Tommy.
"Hey mate. Sorry I took you inside. You fell asleep and I didn't wanna leave you out there alone." He explained.
As much as Tommy appreciated that, he had to get going. He jumped off the bed and ran around the hallways to try and find the door. He'd never been inside Phil and Kristin's house so he had no idea where to go.
His intentions must have been clear because Phil picked him up and brought him to a door, setting him down so he could open it.
"Bye kitty. Come back soon." He said.
~~~
To say Techno was worried was an understatement.
Tommy had been gone the entire night and when they visited each house they had previously gone to, he was nowhere to be seen.
Imagine Techno's surprise when he and Wilbur came back to the alley to see Tommy there, sitting on a couple of boxes.
Wilbur ran up to him, engulfing him in a hug. Techno, however, stood back, unsure if Tommy was mad at him after last night.
"Where'd you, Toms?" Wilbur asked when he let go of him.
"Wanted to get away from the yelling." He mumbled. "Went to Kristen's but she was asleep so Phil came out instead. I fell asleep and he brought me inside. 'M sorry I made you guys worry."
"No. I'm sorry Tommy. Maybe you're right." Techno sighed. "Maybe I am a bit paranoid. Never had the best experiences with people but that doesn't excuse how I acted. I'm glad you came back in one piece though."
"It's fine. Even if you were a bit of a dick."
They embraced each other, albeit a bit awkwardly since Techno was a bit shorter than Tommy. At some point Wilbur joined in, his lanky arms wrapping around his brother's to push them closer.
"Heh, guys as much as I love this brother bonding moment, I'm starving."