Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maybe taking that piece of fish was a bad idea. That's what went through the orange feline's mind as he ran away from a shouting man, dodging around walking legs and biting hard onto the flesh of his stolen good. He might have even knocked off some stuff while he was running but you know, he was focusing on not getting caught. That riled up some people, what more with him just running through their legs even.

"Stupid cat!"
"What an ugly creature!"
"They should've just kill pests like you..."

He didn't give much thoughts to the words. Sure, it hurt to hear them but it was how it's like living as a stray cat in the streets. He's gotten used to them and all he can really do is just endure it. Sometimes, people would start chasing him down and try to catch him to take him to the shelter.

He's heard of it and hell no, he is not getting caught and staying there. He'd much rather die in the streets than being forced into a place like that. Because of how often it had happened, he pretty much know his way around to avoid getting caught. And he'll keep it that way.

He continued to run as fast as his little paws can take him, taking a sharp turn and running into a damp alleyway. The feline looked over his shoulder, checking if he was still being chased, fur standing on end as the adrenaline continued to rush through his veins.

When he was sure nobody is coming to get him, he went over to sit behind a trash can, panting and trying to catch his breath as his fur settled down. How long has he been running? Hours? Either way, he waited for a few moments to let his racing heart slow down and stop the adrenaline rushing through his veins.

As soon as he has taken enough oxygen, he dropped the piece of fish down and started eating it hungrily. He felt bad stealing from people but he was starving and he might die if he doesn't do anything about it. He had forgotten when was the last time he ate something as decent as this but he knows it was far too long. Even as he ate, he didn't let his guard down. He learnt that the hard way. When he was finished, he licked his lips to clean any extra flesh off before he pattered over towards an overturned box, circling in it and curling up into a ball.

Then he noticed droplets of water starting to drip down from the sky. He gave a whimper and huddled tighter into the cardboard box as rain started to pour. What bad luck... He shivered when the cold started to get to him but not much he can do with that, other than curling up tighter in his ball form as he buried his face into his tail. For as long as he's gotten used to living in the streets, sleeping in cold places and scavenging for food, he still hoped maybe he'll get to live in a better place.

Ah, what was he thinking? That was all wishful thinking. He let out a soft sigh through his nose, slowly drifting away as the sound of rain somehow lured him to sleep, even though he was shivering from the cold.

He was violently woken up by something hitting the box he was sleeping in, causing him to tumble out and land gracelessly onto the wet ground of the alleyway. Oh dear, he's soaked. Then he felt something slamming onto his tail, giving an agonising pain. He gave a loud yowl of pain and scrambled away from whatever had hurt his tail.

Seems like the thing that had awoken him from his slumber violently and hurt his tail was a human. They didn't even noticed that they just hurt the poor feline, as they just continued to walk off to god knows where. The orange feline could've sworn he saw them giving an annoyed look to him and mumbling to themself.

He gave a whimper as he curled his tail close to his face, licking where it hurt to try and soothe the pain before he stood up onto his feet. He hissed as the rain started to soak deeper into his fur.

He tried to shake the water out of his fur but to no avail, so he did the next best thing. He ran to find any kind of shelter from the rain, not caring if he might have bump into any wandering people or moving obstacles. He just needed to find some place to shelter from the rain.

His tiny paws continued to patter against the wet ground, the cold starting to seep into his skin and making him feel exhausted. Just as he was about to give up and collapsed, he found a house nearby, just across the street. With the only thing on his mind is to find shelter, he dash across the road, almost getting hit in the process. Thankfully he managed to cross the road and ran to the house, jumping onto the windowsill.

The door didn't have shelter over it but the windowsill did. So he figured he could just sleep there until the rain stop. He shuddered as a breeze came by, making it colder than it already was. He shook some water out of his fur, even licking any place on his body to help his fur dry easier. He knew that was just a futile attempt but it was just so cold and he needed some warmth. At least he wasn't getting any wetter than he already was.

He soon curled up at the corner of the windowsill, tight and small as he tried to keep himself warm. His little body continued to shiver though, but he tried to ignore it. He gingerly tucked his tail under him, whimpering when he felt it throb. Ah, it might have been broken, who knows.

He really wished he could get a better life than this. Hm.. Seems delusional, in his opinion.

What he didn't seem to realize was a pair of curious, bright blue eyes staring at his curled up body from inside the house.