∞ The HouseCat And The Stray ∞

Nekotalia AU! And Slight Language! 

    Hearing his name, the beige tomcat lifted his head whilst he stayed lying down on his side lazily. The young tom sent the person (or cat in this case) in that direction an irritated glare with one open hazel-gold eye. He was having a nice siesta before this interruption! The tom wasn’t in any mood to get up too. But as soon as he looked up, both his golden-hazel eyes snapped open and widened like saucers.

    “Shit,” he swore, scrambling to stand and move away although only doing so groggily, “(Name), you idiota, don’t–!”

    However, it was too late.

    A she-cat of (fur. color) fur and bright, excited, (e/c) feline eyes pounced at him at full running speed, sending them both tumbling back into the side of Romacat’s owner’s tomato stall. Roma groaned quietly, shaking his head to regain his sense of balance.

    “Hey Roma!” the she-cat greeted, snickering as she grinned down at the tom she surprised, “Did I scare you again?” Her tail swished from side to side in amusement and eagerness of seeing her house-cat friend. The tom’s strange curl on the side of his head twitched and he scowled at her.

    “Dammit, you ragazza idiota,” he hissed at her, pushing the lighter cat off him and shaking his body free of dust from the tumble, “I told-a you not to do that already!” His thick Italian accent mixed with his cat-speech as usual, causing the ownerless she-cat laugh silently. Romacat on the other hand grumbled sourly under his breath and rolled his eyes at her inaudible laughter. They were lucky his owner was too busy with the nice customers – and the occasional rude ones – and that it was the biggest market day of the month.

    “I can’t-a believe I’m-a friends with you,” he huffed, only succeeding in making her grin wider – why? Because he never meant it and she knew it. 3 weeks were a short time to be friends, especially when at first, (Name) was keen on stealing a tomato from the stall. Still they had somehow managed to find some common ground and became good friends – begrudgingly on Romacat’s part, though he had to admit that she was nice (sort of calm) company.

    “You don’t mean that, Lovi,” she called his blatant lie easily with a grin, “And you better believe it cause I’m right here!” “Don’t call me that!” Romacat hissed at the mention of the petname given by his owner’s ‘tomato bastard’ of a friend. (Name) was unperturbed and just sat down opposite him with that same old feline grin on her kitty face. It was only then, when he was fully awake from his nap, that the tom realized the darkening skies.

    Turning to her, the light brown-splotched cat frowned and questioned, “It’s-a past market hours-a. Don’t you-a have like, three, annoying fratelli to go back to?” (Name) seemed to perk up at the question, expecting it. “I tricked them into thinking that I was going to sleep in the old church, “ she answered, her grin becoming sly with a glimmer of mischievousness lighting her (e/c) eyes, “They didn’t question it obviously.” She snickered to herself as she thought of the reason before continuing, “Gil heard rumors about it being haunted and now him, Tony and Fran are too scared to even walk pass it. They’re off my back for today.”

    Romacat could only shake his head.

    The three cats mentioned – going by the names Gil, Tony and Fran – were all tomcats, older than both Romacat and (Name). They were (Name)’s ‘brothers’ though not by blood.

    Gil was a slightly immature and boastful albino cat with a scar over one of his uncommonly ruby eyes and had the accent of someone from Germany – or like how he’d call it, Zhe Awesome Prussia. Tony was a cheerful and optimistic brownish beige cat and like Gil, isn’t a local stray. The emerald eyed tomcat was from Spain, all the way across the ocean. Lastly, Fran. The longhaired white cat with blue eyes was from France. He was the most dramatic out of all of them when it comes to fur conditions and the one that seemed least likely to be a stray.

    As strange of a group the three were, they were her brothers that taught her the means of surviving the streets of Rome.

    “…Why are-a you here anyways, ragazza?” Romacat finally questioned out of curiosity, looking at the she-cat with an inquisitive look in his golden hazel colored eyes. (Name), who had fallen into a small daydream, was snapped out of her reverie and another bright knowing smile graced her features.

    “I’m glad you asked, Lovi!”

---

    “Aww, Your-a little ragazza friend is-a so cute, Lovicat!” cooed a human man who had a childish close-eyed smile on his face, “I’m-a glad Felicat brought you two-a over!”

    (Name) purred as she nuzzled her head into the palm of the nice Italian man’s hand while Romacat sat a few feet away with an annoyed huff. Next to him was a tomcat that looked similar to him, save the lighter shade of fur. “Dammit, fratello,” he muttered at his brother with a scowl, nudging him away with his hind leg, “You and your-a ideas.” Felicat – or Itabby – simply smiled bright and cheerfully up at his older brother. “It’s a good idea, isn’t it-a?” he asked with innocent obliviousness at Romacat’s irritation, “You-a get to-a be close with your-a ragazza!” “She’s not ‘mine-a’,” Romacat snapped quietly, blushing is cats could blush.

    Suddenly, Feliciano, Itabby’s owner stood up and said to the cats, “Wait-a out here-a, I’ll go-a cook you two-a some pasta! Poor ragazza probably hasn’t-a tried pasta yet!” And with that, he bounded to the kitchen.

    “Romacat, Itabby!” (Name) exclaimed as she went over to them, “Your owners are so nice!” She smiled radiantly with pure and genuine happiness. “Si!” Itabby agreed, just as happily. Then the she-cat went over to Romacat, who – to her – seemed to be sulking. Nudging his shoulder, the young cat tried to coax him into talking to her, without much success.

    “Roma?” she asked, worriedly after a while, “Things alright?”

    “Peachy,” was the deadpanned answer.

    She wasn’t convinced but left it be and they sat in the clean alleyway behind Itabby and Romacat’s owners’ shared restaurant business under the clear Prussian blue night sky.

    However, Feliciano returned in record timing with a plate full of steaming hot and fresh spaghetti in a hand. Itabby prancing right behind him – wait, since when did he leave them alone? Well, either way.

    “Eat up!” Feliciano encouraged, accompanied by Itabby’s own meow of encouragement. Immediately, (Name) took the opportunity to dive in and after a moment, Romacat did the same, though he ate much slower compared to the seemingly ravished (Name). “Gil, Tony and Fran are going to be so jealous of me,” (Name) said to herself, severing the noodle in her mouth. “They-a should,” Romacat said as he ate, proudly, “No-a one can cook pasta or-a pizza like our-a owners.” Itabby purred in agreement as well.

    “Idiota!” an angry voice from inside the small modest restaurant called out, most likely for the human named Feliciano, “Come-a back here and don’t-a slack off!”

    “Coming fratello! Let’s-a go Itabby,” Feliciano called back, earning a meow from Itabby as approval, “Lovicat, bambina gatto, take-a care and have as-a much as you-a like!”

    Then, the two bubbly Italians were off, leaving the two to their own devices.

    “Finally,” Romacat sighed, tail now lazily moving from side to side. “They aren’t that bad are they?” (Name) asked, dipping her head to grab one end of a noodle of spaghetti. “Not until you-a lived with-a them,” he grunted, doing the same as she did and finding a noodle to start eating on. The food was still warm on their sensitive cat tongues even after exposure to the cold evening air.

    (Name)’s (e/c) eyes flickered up when she thought she saw a flash in the night sky and she sat up straighter. Noticing the change, Romacat did the same, a sense of curiosity taking grasp of him.

    It was like a movie – no, that wasn’t right – a fairytale. What was happing was that the stars were beginning to shine. Flickering into existence one by one, it was like someone was pressing all the buttons in sequence to light up the night sky with stars, one by one.

    Watching with keen and unbridled wonder, (Name) and Romacat continued to eat that one noodle of spaghetti absentmindedly, not paying attention to where it led. (Name)’s eyes were glued to the horizon, marveling in the wonder that is nature. Running away with food all the time didn’t really give the stray she-cat a free moment to smell the roses. Romacat watched as well, with a certain calmness washing over him mixed with the scent of contentment. Rome’s night sky was really amazing – he’s just never noticed it.

    The spaghetti began to get shorter and shorter and before either noticed…

    … Their heads were turned to face each other and as the last bit of sauced over spaghetti disappeared, their pink noses made contact and their lips met in an unexpected kiss.

    Both of the young cats froze immediately and – if it weren’t for their fur – were obviously blushing a thousand new shades of red. One thought ran through their heads simultaneously.

    Didn’t this happen between a lady and a tramp once?