Archive of Our Own ^beta

Two years ago-

“What was that sound?”

Matthias Køhler peered into an alleyway next to his house after a rather contained but indiscreet mewing caught his ears. The first thing he saw was a very sullen-looking metal trash can. Matthias jumped upon seeing the trash’s lid move ever so slightly. It moved once more. Then, it completely slid off of the can. A dirty face full of long white fur peeked out of the can. Another smaller white face but with a large gray spot on his right eye followed suit. Both of these creatures had pointed ears and whiskered cheeks.

A bit less cautious, and a bit more curious, Matthias took a step closer to the bin containing what he rightfully identified as cats. The larger of the two cocked his head at this suspicious new being approaching them while the smaller one cowered below the rim of the trash can. What was the new being to the cats took yet another step closer. And closer. And closer. Until neither of them were no more than approximately two feet apart. The cat cocking his head looked up into the eyes of Matthias, while the cowering cat turned an ear towards the man.

Matthias extended one arm, the hand at the end with its knuckles angled towards the cats.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt any of you.”

This cat drew his head towards the hand, and sniffed. He drew his head back, then looked up again. Matthias turned his wrist over and his hand tried approaching the white creature once more. The cat evaded his fingers with a swish of his head. The hand started moving away to a politer distance. However, the sudden texture of fur from an affectionate head inclined it to come back. And Matthias did not reject this invitation as evidenced by his loosely-closed fist becoming an open palm, stroking the lovely critter's head and ears. The smaller cat that was initially hiding in the trash poked his head out for a quick whiff of the man in front of them. Afterwards, he was licked reassuringly by the larger cat’s slick tongue. It was as if the larger cat has made a quick judgment on Matthias, and deemed his nature well-meaning.

The young man examined the two cats for collars. The nylon rings were present, but not the metal or plastic tags normally existing on them.

“Strange, not even your name’s anywhere on this collar. I guess I’ll make up names for you two when I think of them.”

He continued examining the rest of the cats’ bodies, and found that they seemed too skinny to be completely healthy. Collars and skinniness were the only things Matthias needed to determine that these cats belonged in a human home, and that they were rather unfit to survive stray life. Therefore, they needed to get food and medical attention and shelter as soon as possible.

While the larger cat continued licking his smaller companion, Matthias reluctantly drew his hand back. Then, he turned on his heel and walked out of the alley and into the doorway of his home. For a few minutes, the cats could detect sounds of clatter and struggle coming through the wall. Afterwards, Matthias appeared right on the edge of the alleyway with a singular bowl full of cat kibble. Caught by the smell of the appealing, petite, bits of food, the cat with the dark gray patch hopped out of the trash bin first. Upon reaching the ground, he looked up at the purely white one as if waiting for him to come down as well. So that one did come down and the two of them approached the sky blue bowl with slow, shaky steps. This kibble bowl was the same color as the man’s eyes. From a respectable distance, Matthias kneeled down. A tranquil smile formed on his face as he watched the two animals enjoy their shared meal with every ounce of collective graciousness filling them.

~~~~~~~(^•w•^)

Matthias’ mind traveled back in time to a little more than over half a year ago.

In that scene, he stepped through the doorway after unlocking the door. Then locked it behind him.

“Axel, I’m home!”

Matthias waited on the door mat for a few moments, tapping his foot. There were neither any mewls in reply nor any sounds of patting feet from his little housemate.

“Okay then. I guess I got to come find you myself.”

He said that rather calmly, but his chest started growing heavier with panic. Never had he ever received such a responseless greeting from his dear, beloved companion of all living beings on the face of planet Earth.

First in order, Matthias made general scans of the different rooms in his small house, calling Axel’s name and whistling a call that his pet had been taught to recognize just like his own name. Next, he looked over the furniture and corners of his rooms more carefully, still whistling. Finally, he really scrutinized every single crook and nanny in his house, even checking the most unusual of places (like under the rugs and in the oven), in hopes that Axel was really still home.

“Third time’s the charm they say.”

But no furry creature could have been found.

If Matthias’ anxiety could materialize at that moment, it would be a boulder crushing him from the back. Clutching his chest, he staggered over to the nearest wall. Matthias just so happened to be right next to a window with its curtains drawn back. It demonstrated a scene that showed everything else outside of the house going perfectly fine at the moment. Cars amongst other vehicles rode down the street next to the house just like they always did.

The window was certainly not closed all the way.

And it’s certainly open enough to let Axel through.

Upon this sudden observation, Matthias opened the window all the way and poked his head out. He searched the busy road, and even the sky, before realizing that the adjacent sidewalk to his house would be the most practical place to find clues of his much loved cat’s whereabouts. To his horror, Matthias noticed a broken red piece of fabric with a piece of metal attached to it on the ground right below the window. He reached for it, grasped it, then pulled it back up to eye level only to make his eyes water. He had let out an upset gasp as well.

“Axel,” the front-facing plate of the metal read.

“We are so sorry to inform you that we couldn’t find any microchips on either cat, Mr. Køhler.”

Matthias snapped out of his time traveling to quickly look right into the eyes of the veterinary assistant, named Kiku Honda. He swore he saw Kiku jump just a little bit out of his skin after such direct eye contact.

“Oh, that’s okay. They’re not sick, right?”

The assistant brushed a bit of jet black hair off of his forehead. The jet black pupils amongst his dark brown irises shifted away from Matthias’ pupils as he cleared his throat to continue the dialogue.

“The both of them are very malnourished, but they'll be healthy once they start eating and drinking properly.”

“How long do you think the cats have been strays?”

“We cannot be sure, but perhaps at least a few weeks. Maybe even months."

"What gender are these cats? Have they been neutered or spayed? How old are they?"

"Both of the cats are male and have been neutered. We believe the bigger one is about three to five years old. The smaller one is likely to be anywhere from one to two years old."

"Ah, okay."

"Mr. Køhler, you say that these are stray cats, correct?"

"Yes, Mr. Honda. And I plan to take them to the local animal shelter after this."

"That would be the best thing to do, Mr. Køhler."

Matthias beamed. His dirty-blonde hair seemed to shine as brightly as his smile and was paired up with crystalline blue irises. Then, a seafoam-green door close to where Kiku was standing opened a little with a creak. An white-coated, ash-blond man with light blue eyes and glasses stepped out of it. This man was holding a plastic carrier with the cats in it. He greeted both Kiku and Matthias with a smile and a simple, informal 'hi.' Matthias might have caught a glimpse of assistant's cheeks turning a bit pinker and brighter.

“Both boys are ready to go, Matthias. Call me, email me, or just come to the clinic if you have any more questions or concerns.”

“Will do, Dr. Jones. Thank you so much.”

The veterinarian called Alfred F. Jones held out the carrier to Matthias who took the handle from him. The exhausted, younger cat was sleeping rather peacefully. The older one still kept faithful watch of the outside world. Both cats had much cleaner fur than when Matthias first found them.

Alfred and Kiku waved goodbye to the cats’ new temporary guardian. Matthias waved back as he walked out the clinic building. Before he could completely leave the clinic, the dirty-blonde caught a glimpse of the vet assistant’s nervous hand just centimeters away from the vet’s hand. Even at a distance, he could tell that Kiku's hand wanted something to do with Alfred's hand. Alfred's face showed he was completely unaware of unnerving electricity his assistant was experiencing. Normally, this sort of interaction would have piqued Matthias’ interests and he would have started coming up with all sorts of guesses on what it could mean. Piquing his interest it did. However, he could not afford the time to ponder on Kiku’s behavior since he had cat care-taking things to do and the cats had places to be.

 Chapter 2:

Two and a half years ago-

Lukas Bondevik walked through the doorway to his home, by all means ready to rest from his usual long routine of sympathizing with various clients as a living. Fortunately for Lukas, it just so happened that one of his regular clients canceled their session for that day to celebrate their birthday instead. So he could wrap up everything before the afternoon was even over and drive back home then read a book. Before snuggling on the couch with a book, he decided, he would give his and his step-brother's domestic companions their evening meals. A hungry chirp could be heard just about a few feet away from Lukas. The young, platinum-blonde man turned his head to see that the chirp's owner was a little black and white parakeet with a medium red beak, Mr. Puffin. A smile curled his lips upwards.

"Emil is expected to be home by midnight, but I'm afraid I can't promise us that since only the Lord knows what Emil would be up to. In the meantime, you're under my total care."

Lukas held out a finger to stroke the bird before disappearing into the kitchen. Moments of opening a cupboard and refrigerator later, he came out to the edge living room with a couple of bags and a handful of fruits and vegetables. Mr. Puffin's large cage stood right at the threshold of the room. After opening the cage door, Lukas dropped the greens and reds into a little bright red bowl. Then, he scooped up some pellets and seeds and placed them in the white and dark blue bowl respectively. Eagerly, Mr. Puffin flew right through the door of his cage. He chirped happily before chowing down on his fresh supply of food. One animal fed. Two more to go.

~~~~~~~(^•w•^)

Perhaps after Mr. Puffin, there would be exactly zero more pets to feed for the night. For more than two hours, Lukas checked the house countless times for any signs of the household's beloved cats, Frey and Bjarni. Anywhere where they would likely hang out, anywhere where they would be unlikely to hang out, and even outside. Finally, Lukas dragged himself to his room, collapsing on the bed while being clouded with heavy panic and melancholy. Eyes dulling like dead fish, he clenched his fist over his heart and stared at the ceiling with a billion thoughts running through his head at once.

"They can't be. They can't be gone. No, they'll be back. They'll come back somehow."

The tears welled up in Lukas' eyes even as he said those last two sentences. The pain of attempting denial filled up his chest even more, which eventually led to his eye sockets spilling copious amounts of teardrops.

Every single moment a teardrop seeped out of his eye socket, time seemed to be stretch in a way such as one might stretch out a piece of yarn to make it look a bit longer than it actually is. Lukas' constant sniffles and broken cries drowned out the ticks of the clock hung onto his chamber walls. So there was no choice for him but to accept each water dripping down his cheeks as the way to measure seconds passed by. Somewhere along the way, he lost count of the tear-filled seconds. Eventually, those seconds stopped coming altogether and the remnants of the cries sticking onto his face demanded at once cathartic feelings. The ticks now had the spotlight for being the noisiest thing in the room again.

Lukas swung his feet over to the side of the bed. He looked up to see his plain wooden desk across from him. This desk hosted a paper pad and a black clicker-pen. It just so happened that the yellow, lined paper looked so deliciously creamy and it was aching for the contact of the black ink. And Lukas' hands were aching for an escape through inked-out scribbles that would express his anguish. He hopped off the bed and sat down in the wooden chair and propped his elbows on the desk. He picked up the pen and clicked the button on top. After a bit of hesitation, Lukas mildly directed the now-exposed tip of the utensil on the paper and filled the spaces in between the blue lines with his own thin, black lines in the same mild manner. Soon enough, this mild manner gave way to passionate, faster hand motions, with many pauses along the way. While the black lines lost their initial neatness and composure, they were still very readable by the average English-speaking literate. Lukas ended up producing these scribbles:

A swirl of gritty dust among other probably microscopic debris followed Johan Willson into his home as he cracked open then firmly shut the door behind him. That was the daily tradition of said dust and debris in the Willson household. As per usual, he never noticed it, and never bothered to care for it either. At once he expected his three companions from nature's origin to find him at the door. One companion did. He was a chirpy young avian fellow that was colored like a penguin or a puffin, even more so like a puffin. In fact, his name was Mr. Puffin. Johan's brother, Markus, was the one who bestowed a name as such to the bird.

While Mr. Puffin chirped his bades of a good evening, Johan listened intently for any mewing sounds in the house, mewing sounds which he would have expected to come from the Willson household's other two domestic friends.

Silence, only silence filled the room and dominated Mr. Puffin's tweeting chatter. Now Mr. Puffin had become quiet as well, increasing the anxiety levels even more.

Then an indiscreet meow echoed into the living room. It echoed again but this time of a slightly higher pitch. Two fuzzy quadrupeds, Frey and Bjarni, stepped in. They mewed again to assert their greetings to Johan.

Johan pinched his cheeks to dispel any possibility that he could be dreaming. Thankfully, Frey and Bjarni did not move from their spot one bit. He ran over to the cats and gently stroked each of them behind the ears. They affectionately rubbed their cheeks against his hand as a thanks for the gesture.

Their content meows indicated that everything was truly going well for Johan and that it would always truly go well for Johan.

He dropped his pen on the table after that. It landed with a thud and rolled off of the table, much to Lukas' annoyance. After picking the pen back up and placing it behind the frame binding all the papers to the pad, he tore his little note off. He held it up to his face to read it once, twice, three times. Then Lukas crumpled it up at aimed to throw it in the trash can by the door to his chamber. He missed this shot, but concerned himself with it no longer once he heard the house's front door unlock.

By all means, Lukas wanted to break down and tell Emil the sorrow news about the cats' disappearance, but he rather his sweet brother not to become as worried about them as he was. That was not to say that Emil would not be worried at all, but any evidence of a breakdown was the last thing Lukas wanted him to see. He worked as a therapist as a day job after all. He was Emil's reliable older brother and role-model after all.

So Lukas wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater. He wore his most neutral expression before opening the door and glimpsing at his white-haired brother greeting Mr. Puffin while dialing only a mere three numbers on his phone. As he walked through the hall, another two people also stepped into the house. These were two of their neighbors and the owners of the house Lukas rented for himself and Emil, Daan and Matthew. The both of them wore very worried faces. Matthew even more so than Daan and he pointed at a nearby broken window and the shattered glass pieces that littered the floor beneath it.