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In all fairness, Alex had warned them something like this might happen.
Though the correlation dawning on him as he stared at the heavy debris crushing his leg felt a bit late.
They suppressed all noise as they carefully removed as much as possible from the undoubtedly broken leg. He’d been stuck under the pile for what felt like hours, consistently going dizzy with pain in needing to lay down before continuing to pick away at the remains of the bricks covering his leg. They were lucky they didn’t at least seem to be bleeding, but there was a small fear that they’d just lost complete and all feeling in it.
Alex had once joked about putting a tracker on them, but Morgan was starting to think that might’ve actually been a good idea. It’d been two days since he’d last seen them and worrying for their safety was slowly becoming a valid idea.
A sharp pain coursed through their body as they lifted a particularly heavy stone and they grunted as they tossed it aside, immediately laying back to the ground when it clattered somewhere.
By the time they could bring themselves to open his eyes, something cold hit his nose. A part of him prayed it was just the nose of a bear or something come to put them out of their misery. They opened their eyes to gray skies and another sharp splash of cold against their shoulder. They sighed as it began to pour.
Unable and unwilling to spend anymore time being patient, he dug the heels of his palms into the dirt churning into mud, and pushed. Their body sent desperate waves of panic through his body as he frantically tried to drag his leg out.
The rain was practically pounding as they fought against the ground and his tears were starting to blend along with the storm. The brick ripped across his skin as they finally managed to break free, slipping back and ending up on their back again.
The world spun a bit as he struggled to regain his breath, the pain barely easing as he desperately waited.
Eventually they could manage sitting up, though looking at their incredibly bruised, and definitely broken leg; they weren’t standing up and walking anywhere without some kind of support.
He knew it’d be better to splint his leg first but he just wanted to find shelter as fast as possible before anything else could happen.
They scanned the area, quickly spotting a collapsed tree nearby, there was an off chance they could find a fall branch and make-shift a cane or even work together a splint with some tears of his clothes. Lit with dim hope, they slowly began their crawl through the mud towards the tree.
_____
Splinted, equipped with a make-shift cane and ruined clothes, it only took a short while before Morgan found a building that wasn’t completely boarded and inaccessible to them. It was perhaps the cleanest gas station they’d ever seen in their entire life, with only a few blood stains and shattered glass littered about. It still made a better option than the freezing rain at least.
They settled in a far corner of the store, passing the mostly emptied shelves that only hosted hollow cans and torn wrappers. It separated from the thunder that was slowly beginning to rumble overhead and there was a less likelihood of getting hit by any of the stray drops of rain that flew past the emptied window panes.
Morgan carefully stationed their cane and slid down along the wall to relax, hissing at the slightest misadjustment of their injured leg.
The second they were down, they felt their eyelids getting heavy. It had been way too long since they’d rest properly, safely. And maybe an abandoned gas station wasn’t the safest place to fully relax in the apocalypse but it was warmer than outside and Morgan’s body was too injured to protest anything else.
His eyes only fluttered once before he passed out.
He barely got the chance to dream before the sound of crashing woke him up. He shot up quickly, too quickly, and he was crying out in pain as his leg protested his movement. They quickly covered their mouth, ignoring the welling in his eyes as he searched for the source of noise through blurry vision.
It’d gone quiet just as quickly though and he internalized a groan as he forced himself up with the help of his cane.
He limped through the aisles, eyeing the area more clearly as he noticed a shelf of empty cans being knocked over. They neared it cautiously, praying it not to be a trap or bomb of any sort, they had more than enough for the day and just wanted to be able to rest.
Carefully he reached to the pile of can’s picking one up for something to dart out at them. He full-on screamed as something caught his coat sleeve and found himself hoisting a heavy black blur up from the tins.
In a mix of terror and confusion he recognized the shape of a cat staring at him, claws stuck on his sleeve. The fear melted and he was stuck with confusion as the cat looked back at him before opening its mouth ridiculously wide and yelling at him.
They, baffedly, lowered their arm, trying to help it unhook. Easily, the cat tore away and continued staring. Reasonably, Morgan could return to his resting spot and continue their nap but there was also way too much adrenaline coursing at the moment to even think about relaxing again.
So, unreasonably, they began talking to it.
“Hey, little guy, what are you doing here?” Carefully, he offered his hand out to it.
The cat didn’t acknowledge this at first, just staring with way too wide eyes that were starting to unsettle Morgan a little bit before closing them and leaning forward to sniff his hand.
The cat barely passed as a cat, it was thin and missing fur in large patches across its entire body, not to mention it’s unusually large size. But it sniffed his hand and turned indifferently just as one normally did so he assumed it was safe enough.
He pet its head, immediately encouraging a chorus of purrs to fill the room. He smiled, pleased at its friendly nature and surprisingly soft fur. They continued gently patting the cat for a bit before the exhaustion slowly resumed it’s blanket over him and they decided it was safe enough to go back to their corner and continue resting.
He pat its head a final time before turning back. “Alright, I’ll see you around, little guy. I’m gonna catch up on some much needed sleep.” He yawned and carried himself back to his spot, ignoring the feline’s expectant staring.
As he sank back to the floor, ready to drift again, he heard a yowl. Quickly, he lifted his head to see the cat, sitting in front of him facing the ceiling with its mouth open as it screamed.
“Buddy. Buddy! I need some sleep.” He called out to the cat, who lowered its head back to him and gave a softer meow.
Sighing, he lifted his hand out to it. The cat instantly resumed purring and nuzzled itself against their hand. It was oddly endearing.
“I’m gonna name you Tin.” He decided suddenly, scratching behind Tin’s ear. “After the little mess you got yourself in.”
Tin only continued to purr, avoiding Morgan’s wounded leg and favoring resting against their uninjured one.
He chuckled, the act oddly familiar. “You know, I have this friend who was a cat once.”
Tin glanced at them as he spoke, only to decide it was unimportant and return to resting their eyes as Morgan stroked them.
Yet they continued the story anyway. “We had to share a hotel room once, for… reasons, and there was only one bed so we had to share. They shapeshifted into a cat and slept beside me for the night but when I woke up somehow they ended up in my arms. It didn’t have anything to do with them being so very soft and fluffy, though. Just so you know.”
Tin glanced at him again, their wide eyes a bit narrow.
“That won’t happen with you if that’s what you’re worried about, my leg’s too messed up for any type of cuddling, unfortunately.” He chuckled, despite the poke at his own injury.
“My friend’s really cool though, maybe you’ll meet them. Oh! Maybe they’ll be able to talk to you since they can shapeshift into a cat and all. That’d be so cool, I have to ask next time I see them.”
He suddenly paused, furrowing their brows and sinking a bit deeper into the corner. “... If I see them again. I haven’t seen them in a bit with all that’s going on. And I heard some heroes and villains got their powers messed up after that radiation thing with the water. I’d hate for anything bad to happen with them and their powers. They’re just as badass without them but…” They pursed their lips, uncertain as they thought. “Ah, nevermind. They’re the one who warned me about the water in the first place so I can’t really imagine…” They forced a shrug, shaking their head.
“Anyways! I just can’t wait for you to meet them, they’re awesome and you’ll get along great.”
Tin blinked incredibly slowly before yawning and placing their head between their paws.
He smiled, scratching the back of their ear a final time before gently resting his hands in their lap and telling a few more stories before drifting off to sleep.
_____
Before the next clatter woke them up, they’d at least got a chance to sleep a good amount.
Now accustomed to the sound of disaster Morgan only mumbled a warning to Tin without bothering to open their eyes. “I swear, Tin, there’s nothing in these aisles. Go back to sleep.”
“Nothing but filthy sewer rat, huh?”
Morgan’s eyes shot open and they lifted their head to a man standing over them with a spear to their throat.
“Uh, good morning?”
“Get the fuck up, you started this, you’re going to fix this.”
Morgan blinked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”
“Don’t play dumb with me! You and that S-tier did all this, I know it!”
Morgan stared blankly, slowly he recognized the hero to be the famed Waterguy. A hero who mostly worked with water-based solutions and based on the crazed look in his eyes he didn’t take too well to the unsafe water floating around.
He gestured the weapon forward, threatening to stab Morgan at the pause. “Well! How do you respond when confronted by your crimes?!”
“I- Look, I wish I could take credit for the end of the world but you got the wrong guy here.” He offered up his hands in surrender, probably wasn’t the best idea to pick a fight unarmed with a broken leg against a fully-armed rabid super hero.
“Lies! You and your superior are the only ones capable of this- this destruction!” He insisted, curling his lip into a snarl.
“Superior?” Morgan frowned, were they even still talking to them at this point.
He growled, suddenly reeling his arm back, and Morgan realized too quickly they were reeling back the arm that held the spear. They ducked down, covering their head with their hands with nowhere else to go. They flinched at the sharp sound of brick crumbling behind them.
“The S-tier! That damned S-tier! They ruined me, they made me into a joke! Now look at me! Look at me! I could barely win a fight against a cat!” He was sobbing, making Morgan minorly uncomfortable but what really struck them was his last sentence. They quickly glanced around for Tin.
Tin was huddled across the room, bleeding but breathing, their pupils contracted sharply in the direction of Waterguy.
“What the fuck!” Morgan gaped, a surge of anger rising quickly. “Did you attack my cat?! That’s so uncalled for!”
“No, no, what’s ‘uncalled for’ is my career being in shambles because of some D-Ranked piece of-” He broke his spear from the wall, this time aiming properly for Morgan and dread set in as they realized they were about to be murdered alone in a gas station by a manic who still carried around a midieval spear.
They couldn’t tear their eyes away as he plunged the spear down, their life flashing before their eyes in a second before the gross sound of metal meeting flesh broke through the store. A few strangled gasps broke through and Morgan slowly opened his eyes to see Waterguy staring down in shock at them, blood dripping from their chest and slowly dripping from their mouth as a sharp blade pierced them.
Morgan pressed impossibly closer against the wall as the body of the hero was jerked away and Alex stood in its stead. They were heaving, eyes wide with worry and hands drenched with blood.
“Morgan! Oh my-!” They cried out, collapsing beside him, careful not to land on him. “Did he hurt you? Are you okay?” They thoughtlessly cupped his face, eyes clearly welling. “I’m so so sorry for not getting here sooner! It’s just, I couldn’t find you and-”
Morgan quickly shook his head, his own eyes welling with relief. “No- no, it’s fine. You don’t need to explain. I’m fine.”
“Your leg is broken, Morgan!” They exclaimed, panicked as they looked over him. “And your clothes! They- I think they’re messed up? It’s so hard to tell with you sometimes but- you’re very clearly not fine!”
Morgan reached out to Alex, taking their face into his hands. “It’s fine! I’m okay now that you’re here. I knew you’d find me soon enough.”
Alex stared at them for a minute before smiling. “Alright… I mean I appreciate the faith but, Morgan,” Alex gestured vaguely to his broken leg. “I do not have healing powers!” They stated sternly, smile dropping.
They shrugged. “Well, I know, but you make a mean chicken noodle soup.” He laughed, leaning toward them.
They sighed, standing up and brushing themselves off, despite not having a speck of dirt on them. Even in the apocalypse, Alex’s entire style was flawless.
“Since your leg is broken I have no choice but to carry you back to my base.”
And they were also still completely delusional.
“You are not carrying me.” Morgan scoffed immediately, using the canes to help himself up. “I’m not a toddler.”
Alex frowned. “I know that, Morgan, but your leg is broken. I’m not having you risk more damage to it. Besides, it's a bit far off, I don’t want you wasting energy.”
“Well what about Tin?”
Alex blinked, narrowing their eyes. “Who’s Tin?”
He gestured to Tin, the cat still curled up in the corner staring skeptically at Alex.
“I am not letting that into our base.”
“Aw! What! Tin’s like my second best friend!”
Alex turned back to Morgan, raising a brow. “Oh? Who’s your first?”
They snorted, beaming up to them. “You, of course.”
They stared at him, almost studying him before huffing. “Fine, they can stay.”
Morgan laughed, watching a faint red spread to Alex’s cheeks. It was oddly commonplace, normal even. And Morgan felt, just a little, that everything would be okay.