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Catnap’s eyes slowly open, and he stares up at the familiar white ceiling; he shifts slightly, feeling the golden silk sheets over his fur. Then, he carefully sat upright, using only his stomach and back muscles to do this. The purple cat gazes down at his unless hands, which were in their default state, curled inward.
Catnap tries to wiggle his fingers, but a flash of pain up his forearm makes him stop.
Turning slightly, he stares at the critter that was lying next to him; he sees the floppy ears twitching. Then he gazes down at the bare chest, noticing the lighter orange fur that runs down the front of his body. Catnap studies the darker orange fur surrounding it, which goes to the shoulder and down the arms.
Catnap looks down the chest, it was rising and falling calmly; he stares up and stares at the dog’s eyes. They were closed...
Catnap turns back around and stares numbly at his arms; scars were running from his inner wrist and stopping midway.
The cat shows his teeth at the scars, his ears pinned to the back of his skull; he closes his own eyes and breaths deeply through his nose and slowly, through his mouth.
When he was ready, he kicked his legs out of the sheets and swung his legs around, turning himself in the process; he put his bare feet on the cord carpet and moved his toes over them. Then starts rubbing the bottom of his feet against it.
Feeling movement behind him, he turns to look over his shoulder. Dogday, his boyfriend, had rolled on his side. The dog was smiling and adjusting the pillow under his head.
It was early morning.
The cat turns to stare around the medium-sized room.
The overhead light was on; however, the sunlight was starting to creep through the curtains that were opposite where he was facing. He stares at the sunlight pouring through the slight gap, watching the tiny dust particles dancing there.
The sunlight was hitting something shining in the corner of his eye. Turning to gaze at it, he sees his boyfriend’s wheelchair there. The metal frame was catching the light.
Catnap stares at it blankly.
Dogday had two wheelchairs, one he used around the apartment and another he used outside; the outside one was bigger and had a solid back to it, the wheels were slightly different, and it had handles. This one had a loose black fabric for a backing and did not cover Dogday’s form fully; it had no handles for Catnap to push.
Catnap looks down at his useless hands; he had to hook them on carefully before pushing them. It was a real pain.
The purple cat stands, and he walks towards the bathroom that was just outside their bedroom. The floor was clear of clothes or any items that could block Dogday’s chair. Their furniture had to be completely out of the way, too; he also had to make everything out of the way.
Catnap reached the bathroom, and he had to pass the large mirror that was inside. The cat had wanted to take them down; however, they were renting the place, so he could not make changes... which did not seem fair. The landlord had been extra nice concerning Dogday’s wants and needs, but when it came to Catnap...
‘I don’t blame them,’ The cat thought as he stared at himself in the mirror; his once beautiful purple fur was gone, replaced by patches of fur where the fire had not touched. His skin had melted together in some places; his skin was a lighter shade of purple than his darker purple fur.
It was even across his face; his left side of his mouth was pulled down slightly, and he was missing part of his left ear. His eyes had not been touched; they were working well.
‘I wish they were not,’ Catnap thinks, running a hand down his chest, feeling between his lovely fur patches and his gross scarrings.
When the blast happened, Catnap was close to it.
It had been so loud, it had busted his eardrums.
Catnap glances down at the tap, which was slowly dripping... There was no sound. It was like someone had hit the world on mute.
He stares at his arms in the reflection; he was holding them in front of him. He looked like he was doing an impersonation of a Tyrannosaurus rex critter. Well... his arms were in chronic pain, and he was always taking painkillers just to dull them.
Catnap moves away from his pity party, going to relieve his bladder before Dogday woke up; their toilet was not disability-friendly. Dogday was in the middle of buying a house...
‘Well, he bought the house, and he has just renovated it to fit his needs.’ Catnap thought as he lowered his boxers with his useless hands... it was a hard task, sometimes, Dogday would have to hold him or he had to sit down on it..., ‘Damn it.’ he pushed the boxers further down and, turning around, sat down.
The cat lets out a sigh and stares ahead of him; he cannot hear the stream. So was going on, feeling alone.
It had been six months since the accident, and three of them were in the hospital alongside Dogday, who had been in the same university building at the time.
Catnap was a chemistry major.
Critters said he was to blame while he worked on a personal subject he called ‘Poppy Gas’.
It was meant to help anaesthetists put critters to sleep quicker or even as an aid for sleeping disorders.
However, it was highly inflammable.
When working with inflammable material, a notice was left at the door.
According to witnesses, no such notice was left, and the critter working on the neighbouring bench put on a brunson burner while Catnap was putting his sample in the storage unit.
The gas was a soft browish red colour, yet it seemed that some colourless parts had slowly spread over the building without his knowing, while he worked. It could have been anything that caused a spark, but the flame had been right there. And the science building went up.
Catnap was alive.
The floor under him collapsed, making him and others in the unit area drop.
Dogday had been visiting his girlfriend on the ground floor and got crushed.
The orange dog had managed to push his girlfriend out of the crumbling room before it came down; Dogday got hit on the head while helping more critters escape and fell. His legs got completely crushed up to his mid-thigh.
There was no hope for his legs, and he needed amputation; he also got a scar over his stomach and back area in the same place. The fur had grown back in that area, but critters who have scars under their fur, the colouring grows back a different colour. For Dogday, his scars came out as white.
Catnap’s skin was too damaged to grow up, but the parts that did grew back a deeper purple, almost black colour.
The cat cleans himself and stands; he did not bother with his boxers. Dogday was blind. The crash on top of his head had caused acute blindness. There was surgery that could be done for his eyes, but he was holding it off for some reason.
‘Maybe because he knows I’m ugly,’ Catnap thinks dully, washing in hands... the tap was coming out fast, but no sound came with it.
Dogday’s girlfriend, the one he saved, saw him once and broke up with him.
Catnap moves back into the room. Dogday was now sitting up in bed, his tag slightly wagging. His mouth was moving... no sound came out; thankfully, Catnap could lip-read, something he learnt during high school... because he thought it would be interesting to try.
Catnap sees the sunlight had grown brighter and was now shining on Dogday’s chest; the cat walks in the way of the warm light, and he starts purring when he reaches the dog. The cat could feel the vibrations in his chest and throat. He sits on the side of the bed and, leaning over, starts rubbing himself against the dog.
That mouth starts moving.
{Do you need the toilet? Or have you been?} Dogday says with a kind smile, his eyes were shut; he never saw the point of keeping them open.
“I have been. Thank you.” Catnap says the words carefully, while he still remembers, he could not be sure he was saying them right or clearly, “Do you need help?”
{Yeah. I need to go. I also need to have a shower this morning.} Dogday told him with a helpless smile, leaning towards him and giving him a firm kiss on his cheek, {Sorry.}
“No need to apologise,” Catnap replies with a kiss of his own, kissing the dog on the temple.
Dogday held his arms up, and the scarred purple cat reached forward, picking up and carrying the dog.
The house was amazing.
A large front garden, the path led to a large house. The front door was in the centre of the building, with two large bay windows a few paces either side. The window to the left was the living room, and the window to the right was the dining room. Further to the right, there was a garage sitting further back from the house; it had two long doors.
On entering the front door was a wide hallway, with large archways to the left and right; there was a spacious chaircase in front that had a chairlift on the right side. The hallway continued on to the left, which led to the back of the house. The huge kitchen with a big pantry, and the downstairs bathroom that had a laundry room attached. There was a conservatory that the kitchen was connected to, which led to the back garden.
The upstairs had four large bedrooms and a bathroom. There was a master bedroom with an ensuite and a walk-in wardrobe. There was an attic and a basement...
Catnap was impressed by it. He knew that Dogday came from money, but never realised that they could just buy a place like this, and with all the renovations to accommodate the dog's needs.
...Catnap had been planning to break up with Dogday, mainly because he felt guilty. Catnap’s gas was the cause... although the dumb critter could not read because the cat was sure he had placed the warning on the door.
There was going to be a lawsuit against the cat because he did not follow the guidelines the university set. The critter who put on the burner had also survived and was like Catnap, completely covered in scars from the fire.
Dogday had already paid off Catnap that day; the dog had asked him to be his boyfriend. Which had surprised the cat.
The pair had been on a ward together for a while, then moved together to a private hospital. And shared the same room. All by Dogday’s request because he was sad his girlfriend had abandoned him and was grateful to the cat for ‘listening’ to his woes.
Catnap had been shocked by the transfer to the new hospital together. Not understanding why, then just thought that with the many critters that had come in from the accident, it was overcrowded.
Catnap sits on Dogday’s lap, staring at the big living room, wondering what colours his soon-to-be ex-boyfriend would paint it.
‘Dogday is going to have the op soon,’ Catnap thought as he curled around the small dog, making himself as small as he could.
Dogday taps his shoulder, mouthing to him, {This is our new home, do you like it?}
“Love it,” Catnap told with a purr, “It’s amazing.”
Catnap and his best friend, Crafty, a white and cyan unicorn critter, sat across from each other; the pair was in a cafe; he was sure it was nosy because of the way his friend was jumping and looking around.
{Why ruin this?} Crafty mouth, frowning at him, {You like her?}
Catnap mouths back, it was the unicorn who had gone to lip-reading classes with him, {Dogday may be a female, but he wants to be a ‘male’.} he informs her again.
{You are ‘male’ who wants to be ‘female’ but you still go by ‘he/him’,} Crafty points out as she rolls her eyes, knowing that the cat would never tell anyone other than her, {Just swap your genders around, give her your dick and let her give you her womb.}
{Stop being a jerk.} Catnap mouths, frowning at her, {I may want to be female, but there’s nothing I can do to change the body I was born with, so why bother?}
{You let your uncle and aunt really control you...} Crafty mouths to him, staring at him sadly, {If you want to wear dresses and-}
Catnap puts his hand up and gestures to his scarred body, his broken hands wobble in front of him, {There’s no way I can ever be beautiful. I can’t be anything other than this.} he looks down with a sorrowful expression, {My uncle saved me from the system... I may hate him, but he gave me a home and let me stay in my hometown with my friends.}
{But the price for that, you never let yourself be ‘you’.} Crafty replies back, the two staring hard at each other, almost scared to look away in case they missed something.
{They were so happy when they realized that Dogday was actually a bitch,} Catnap told her grimly, {So much that they didn’t care that I wasn’t dating a cat. Weird, right?} he gave a bitter laugh, one only she would hear. {They told me to get a female, and it had to be a cat. When I told them I wanted to be ‘female’ they no longer cared if it was a cat I was with, unless it was a female.}
{I remember you saying that you wanted to be three things when you grew up,} Crafty mouthed to him, raising a hand to stop him from lowering his head, {A housewife. A mother. And a mad scientist. I think you have the mad scientist part down.}
Crafty brings out a pile of newspapers and, standing, she leans over the table to dump it in front of him.
Catnap flops his broken hands on the drop and reads the headlines; his eyes widen slightly.
They all spoke as if he were a crazy student who was hell bent on making a super weapon with toxic gas.
{Who told the papers anything?} Catnap questions frowning deeply, he looks over at Crafty who was watching him, {The university said that no names would be given out...} he did not bother reading through the rest, sure that they would be similar, {I need with my names, I would not be able to complete-} he stops, he could feel tears swelling up in his eyes, {My lift is really over, isn’t it. I’m going to prison and will never get out.}
{Catnap, I love you, you are my best friend and a kind, caring critter,} Crafty told him, leaning her elbows on the table and moving forward to mouth at him, {Use Dogday.}
{What?} Catnap mouths back confused at this, {What do you mean?}
{Use Dogday.} Crafty mouths again, slower and more forceful, {Dogday is rich. And at the moment sees herself with no one else but you. Because she feels no one would want her.} The unicorn moves back and points at the cat, {Like you. But. Dogday only is missing her legs, and her eyelight will be restored soon. When she sees you, she might realize that she went with you because you trauma-bonded. Or was she on the rebound from the girlfriend who dumped her, since she was down on her luck.}
{I can’t. Not to Dogday. He deserves better.} Catnap mouths up, breathing heavily now.
{Do you know what egg trapping is?} Crafty mouths slowly, she reaches over with one hand, seeming to hold his hand, but instead, places two small red bottles over. {These will cause heat. In both of you. As an interspecies couple, the chances of having eggs are low.} She brings her arm back and quickly reaches over again, this time, placing two large blue bottles, {These will up the chances of having at least one egg.}
Catnap licks his lips, then looks around at the large cafe, full of colour and movement; no one is paying attention to the pair in the corner.
Catnap leans down and grabs his messenger-style bag with both arms, pulling it to his chest and turning around, he sets it on the table and nods to Crafty; his friend got the message. She gets to her feet and moves around to his side of the table, grabbing the bottles and hiding them in the inner part of his bag, and zipping it up. Then put all the newspapers and shove them in the main part of the bag.
Together, the two friends stood up. Crafty holds the bag up, putting it over his head and on his shoulder.
Crafty looks him in the eye, {Think of this as my way of saying ‘thank you’ for saving my art.}
Catnap smiles at her.
When they were in high school, Crafty was going through an art scholarship. Three other critters were fighting for this chance, with Crafty being the one most likely to get it. There was a huge art gallery featuring all four of them, their art being kept inside the school’s auditorium that had a safe room attached to it.
Catnap overheard one of the candidates saying that they had bribed a teacher to get inside and were going to destroy Crafty’s artwork and mess with her files the next day.
Catnap could pick a lock. So, he did.
The cat had a mad rush getting to the auditorium, picked the locks, got inside, and moved every single one of Crafty’s works. Moving it across to another room, he was exhausted but kept going. He moved that critter’s own work in Crafty’s place.
Catnap collapsed in a small room off the side of the Auditorium and fell asleep there; he had awoken to someone screaming. He got up and joined the crowd that had formed.
Catnap dripped through the many critters and saw Crafty into the room with the destroyed works. He took off her name and number from the door and grabbed her, helping her to her feet; then he dragged her over to the other side, took the name and number off that, then placed Crafty’s on there. The unicorn was the only one who saw this.
Then, she opens the door, the critter screams at her that this was his room, but then was stunned at Crafty’s name on the door. They all rushed in and uncovered Crafty’s work under the white clothes that covered the canvases. The cat had slipped back over and put his name and number on, just in time too; the other critter ran over, went to the artwork, and removed the slashed white clothes, revealing the torn artwork under it.
Catnap and Crafty stop at the bus stop; the cat gets on and turns to his friend and mouths, {I understand. Thank you.}
Crafty smiles at him.
It was easy.
Dogday was blind.
He or she... could not see when Catnap gave her the tainted drinks.
The orange dog was sitting on the black leather sofa they had picked out together; leather was a rare thing and only the super-rich got them...
Catnap sat down and drank his own tainted drink, staring up at the white ceiling, waiting for the heat to kick in. The larger bottle had to be drunk slowly, over a course of time. And during that time, they had chosen beds, chairs, tables, pots and pans, dinner plates, and silverware. And many other things.
Dogday was going to have his eyesight restored in the next few days; Catnap had to get him carrying at least one egg.
‘Please let this work,’ Catnap thinks, his heart racing as he turns to look at the smiling dog, ‘The egg should form in six hours after impregnation. A critter lays the eggs another six hours after that, and it takes six weeks for the egg to hatch.’
The cat nods.
Warmth starts in his chest and moves its way downward.
Dogday grabs the cat’s arm, startling him. Dogday was heavily breathing, holding his stomach; he leaned forward and tightened his hold on Catnap’s arm.
“Are you okay, ‘Day?” Catnap says quickly, he takes his hand off him and holds it; then moves to sit in front of the dog, “... ‘Day?”
Dogday wiggles his hold out of Catnap’s hand and then grabs his shoulder, pulling the cat to him in a clumsy kiss. Catnap smiles through the kiss and takes hold of the dog’s chin, kissing him deeply.
The heat was growing, and he needed something...
Dogday pulls away, and he watches as he opens his mouth and raises his head to the ceiling; it looked like he was screaming... he brings his hands to his muzzle and holds it there.
“Hey, ‘Day? Are you okay? Do you need help? Are you in pain?” Catnap spoke quickly, sure his words were blurring together now.
Dogday stops and reaches for him again, this time ripping at his clothes.
“Haha... It's not even the weekend,” Catnap laughs, helping his boyfriend and removing his clothes; they normally make love during the weekend, normally because he was in pain most of the time and was limited in his... activities of certain things, 'It's fine... Dogday once said we could have sex when he's asleep and he won't care... so this is fine, right?'
Dogday was mouthing something to him, but it was too quick.
The dog kisses the cat...
It had happened.
There was a large golden egg.
Catnap stares at Dogday. The dog was sleeping deeply.
The master bedroom was large, but Catnap had taken the egg to the walk-in wardrobe and found a little hole, placing his egg down.
Dogday had followed the scent, it seemed; he had not known the dog had gone after him.
The wardrobe was the size of their old bedroom in the old apartment; it was white walled with their clothes hanging around to give it colour; there was a chair inside, right at the end. Dogday was now sleeping on it. Whenever he woke up, his nose would lift up and wiggle in the air.
“I’m going to be a mother,” Catnap told the egg softly, hoping that his voice was clear for them. “I’ve always wanted to be a mother.” he leans forward, rubbing his cheek against the smooth surface. Soon, the first creaking would appear, and the egg would get bigger.
Catnap glances over at his mate and then back at the egg.
“I’ll raise you well. Even if Papa tries to get rid of us,” Catnap continues talking, he feels his throat working, feeling the movement of his jaw and ears when they move, yet still no sounds, “My friend says that Papa might have only wanted me because of a rebound. Now that you’re here, Dogday can’t get rid of us...”
The cat purrs as loudly as he can.
“I’m going to be a good housewife and mother...” Catnap says with a strained grin as his scar on his mouth could not let him spread it wide enough to form a good smile, “...I think I’ve already gone the mad scientist part... I’m going to ask Papa to keep me out of jail... They are pushing the blame for what happened onto me, when it was the other dumb critter’s fault.”
Catnap stares at the egg, wondering when it will start. There was no way he would hear the creaking happen... so, he could only watch and wait.
‘When Dogday sees what a monster I am, he’ll try to leave me for sure,’ Catnap thinks sadly, staring down at his broken hands, “Maybe I should just cut off my hands and get robot ones...”
Beeping...
Catnap gasped loudly when he woke up; it left his ears ringing. The lights were too bright, and he raised his hands up, shielding his eyes. The smell of disinfectant was everywhere.
“What’s happening? Dogday? Dogday, where are you?” Catnap calls out and hears his own muffled voice. He blinks and looks around once the brightness wears out and his rings calm.
A white room, filled with machines and critters in hospital scrubs. They were mumbling to each other, and then he saw one look up.
Catnap follows his line of sight and blinks at what he sees.
Dogday, standing on his feet... made from metal. And staring happily down at him, in his arms were two little critters that were the mirror image of Dogday. Dogday’s eyes were open, and the way he stared at Catnap made him know that he was seeing him.
Catnap looks down at his own robotic hands, then lightly touches his ears; there was fresh scarring there.
‘I can feel through these metal hands?’ Catnap thinks, bringing them down to look at them again; he could also see the part where flesh met metal, ‘I’m confused. The last thing I remember was lying on the floor to our walk-in wardrobe, waiting for the creaking to happen.
Catnap heard a door opening. He turned to see Dogday strolling in, puppies in his arms.
“... ‘Day, what’s happening?” Catnap questions in a tired voice, lying back on the table and relaxing now that his mate was by his side.
“It’s okay, ‘Nap, memory lost is one of he side effects,” Dogday explains gently, leaning over and letting the cat rub against his cheek, “I’ve dealt with all your worries. All you have to do is come home and be my wife.”
“...I’m confused...” Catnap says softly, feeling sleep starting to claim him.
“No worries, my love.” Dogday kisses him on his forehead, “The puppes are missing you, get well soon.” Catnap stares at the puppies, who smile happily when the cat looks their way.
“I love you, ‘Day.” Catnap says as if this explains everything.
“Yeah, I know,” Dogday answers, still kissing him softly, “And I love you. I’d do anything for you, anything.”
Catnap smiles and drifts off to sleep. He notices the red gas in the tube and frowns, “...that’s my...”