Chapter Text
It wasn‘t the first time that Viktor hat seen the cat. Smallish, almost no fur covering the skinny body and always loudly meowing for food. For sure, it was a stray and one that was barely making it in this city. To be fair, it already was difficult for humans to survive, how should an animal this small manage? There was a reason there were so little animals around here. Why struggle in a place like this. Most people wouldn’t choose this city for living if they really had a choice. It only made sense that animals had left very early.
But this one cat had pulled through. Somehow. And sometimes Vik wondered for how long. Now and then he offered some food; simply leftovers that were gulped down in an instant, no matter what he put in the small bowl at the steps towards his clinic. Often Vik felt like that in a way this cat was the embodiment of the struggles of living in this city.
This morning started a little late. It was raining (sour again) and the world outside his window had been so gloomily uninviting that he hadn’t want to leave his bed.
His days didn’t start too early anyways. He worked long hours and late. After some amount of sleep (and it usually wasn’t too much he had to admit) he would train a little and then go on his way to his clinic. Even after his boxing career he couldn’t cut exercising. It felt weird when he had stopped for a while. For so long, it had been part of his daily routine that he didn’t want to stop by now. And to be honest, it was helpful to be fit when he had to carry some customers down into the clinic. That had happened now and then, and sometimes people showed up in such a bad shape that they wouldn’t even make it down the stairs. So, after training, some coffee and some burrito he had left his flat. Sometimes Viktor didn’t really know why he even owned the place. He was barely there, lived kind of in his clinic and he had to pay for two places at a time. Actually, he wasted money with that. But at the same time it felt nice to sometimes just leave everything behind and see something else besides the flickering dark and medical instruments all around him.
Normally, he wouldn’t bat an eye when he turned into the small alleyway, welcomed by a small meow. In the corner of his eye he saw the cat’s body. By this time there were hardly any humans, any customers in the streets. It was in the middle of the day and yet way too early in his experience for waiting customers. But still, something was different, something was off. And that was the kid sitting next to the cat.
Both of them looked at the ripperdoc. He stopped. Looked back at them. The cat (looking like it almost had been hit by a car yet again) and the kid, equally small and scrawny as the cat, clothes dirty and the hair unkempt and all over the place. They both looked like two peas in a pod, a tiny mess all over the place in this big city.
Vik had never seen this kid before. They looked like they lived on the streets. A sad picture overall. He looked around. No adult they belonged to was to be seen. On the other side, it was not uncommon for children to be on their own. Often he had seen one or two of them making their way around crowded places. In a city where you had to crunch for making a living and earning just enough to survive, there was no time for supervising your children all day long and certainly no money for a babysitter and such. Quietly, they mustered each other before Vik moved again, passed them both and stepped down the steps into his clinic.
It was already dark when he came back outside in the evening, colourful street lights shined from the street behind the alley. It was getting louder, more people were moving around than before. Vik had the sad leftovers of a microwaved hotdog in his hands, intended for the cat.
And the kid was still there. They leaned against the wall next to them, looking tired and occasionally dozing off. Vik looked onto the busy street. Still no adult that was looking for the child. Perhaps they were missing, run off or something. Wouldn’t be the first time in this city. Vik had seen it all. But there was no one and actually, Viktor had to be honest with himself here, he didn’t want to make it his responsibility. His problem actually. He was busy on his own, he didn’t like children at all and the kid had come from somewhere. They could just go back, couldn’t they? Someone would be found who would take care of them.
He placed the food in the bowl and the cat shoved it down in a second. The kid woke again, looked hungrily at the bowl and somehow Vik expected that they would take the food from the stray. You know, survival of the fittest. Vik wouldn’t have stopped them. But the kid only managed a small grin and petted the cat. »Not so fast, Smokey«, they whispered under their breath. The cats ears perked up, it didn’t raise his head, but indeed, it went a little slower.
Smokey, Vik echoed in his head. It fit somehow, the leftovers of what had been pelt was kind of dirty greyish, looking like smoke rising up from a freshly lit cigarette. He wondered if the cat belonged to the kid or if they just had named the stray for bonding. The scene before him was kind of heart-warming and at the same time freaking sad. Vik felt like an odd bystander; both didn’t pay any further attention to him. And again he wondered if he should say or do something, but this time this thought didn’t felt like a bother or burden like the hours before.
Before he could even do a step forward, a client appeared in the alley and took that decision from him. »Viktor, choom! You got any chrome for me?«
»Sure, Anthony. Hope you have the eddies this time«, Vik nodded, freeing his sight from the kid and turning towards the dark haired man next to him.
»Things are going great lately, lemme tell ya«, the man laughed and took the stairs down to the clinic. He kept chattering about his work and all the jobs he had done that had brought him some fat cash. Vik wasn’t really listening. It was part of the job. Most patients, clients (whatever you wanted to call them) talked a lot and with some Vik really enjoyed having a little chat now and then. But Anthony wasn’t one of them. He was always bragging and overall an ass. But you know, you have to keep the clients happy, so Vik simply nodded and did what he was paid for. He followed back inside, risking a short glance over his shoulder. The kid had went back to sleep, Smokey curling into a ball in their lap right before the door slid shut behind the two men.