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“Mistoffelees! Mistoffelees? Are you here, my boy?”
Mistoffelees immediately leapt up from where he had been lounging on the warm pavement and trotted briskly over to the entrance to the junkyard.
“Uncle Bustopher!” Mistoffelees beamed.
The rotund cat’s black coat was shining in the afternoon sun. “Good day, my lad. Come take a walk with me. I am on my way to Blimps.”
“It would be my pleasure, Uncle.” Mistoffelees fell into step with Bustopher’s stately pace.
They chatted for a bit about the weather and some nonsense Bustopher’s humans were up to with rearranging the furniture.
“Mistoffelees,” Bustopher said when those topics were exhausted, “there is something I wish to discuss with you.”
“What is it, Uncle?”
“It has come to my attention that you have… taken up with that scamp the Rum Tum Tugger.”
Mistoffelees nearly tripped over his own feet in his surprise. “I - um - well -”
“When the lovely Miss Anydots told me, I was certain that it must be a casual flirtation, but she assured me that you were… cohabitating as it were!” Bustopher gave a ‘haroomph.’
“Ye- yes. We’re living together at the junkyard,” Mistoffelees murmured.
“Now, I would have you know that my objection is not to the fact that you are cohabitating with a tom instead of a queen.”
“Your objection?”
“In fact I had quite a few pleasurable flirtations with toms in my day,” Bustoper continued.
Mistoffelees’s ears pricked up. “You did?”
“My objection,” Bustopher plowed past the question, “is to this particular tom. I realize that he’s Deuteronomy’s son, but he’s certainly not the respectable one!”
“You don’t like Tugger?” Mistoffelees asked, trying to wrap his mind around the conversation.
“Come now, my boy, the way he carries on and gets the young queens all riled up is quite unseemly. And those garish accouterments he wears! What is that thing? A belt?”
Mistoffelees glanced down at Bustopher’s spats but held his tongue. His stomach was a swirling mess and he felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
“What I mean to say,” Bustopher forged ahead, “is that you can do so much better, my boy. You’ve always been such a good, upstanding cat. And now with your service to Deuteronomy, you’re held in quite high regard. I’m sure any number of cats - toms and queens both! - would be eager to… become better acquainted with you. And not just within the local tribe! Word of your magical feats has spread throughout the jellicle community. I’m certain you would have an easy time finding a more suitable mate.”
They arrived at Blimps then, and Bustopher finally turned to Mistoffelees and gave a harrumph, possibly because he had noticed Mistoffelees’s expression. Bustopher reached out to pat his shoulder.
“There’s a good lad, Mistoffelees. Nothing to worry about. We’ve all had our youthful indiscretions. This’ll pass soon enough.” He glanced at the door of the club. “Now I must be going, my boy. I’ll see you soon.”
Mistoffelees nodded, eyes downcast, and Bustopher bustled into the building.
Mistoffelees could hear Tugger singing as he approached their den. Did he have the girls in there? Was he giving a performance? Was Bustopher right? Mistoffelees’s coat bristled and he crossed his arms over his slim chest. Should he go in? Should he go to his humans’ house? His tail lashed back and forth, as he listened to the muffled singing. While he couldn’t make out the words, it was clearly only Tugger’s voice and he couldn’t hear any of the yowling that usually went along with Tugger’s performances for the kittens.
He took a breath and pushed past the curtain that served as their door.
“He’s got my soul and he’s got my heart. And when we move together it feels like art,” Tugger sang, then stopped and muttered to himself, “it’s making great art? No.”
Tugger was alone in the small den, his tail wrapped around one of his hands.
“Tugger?”
Tugger whirled around and his face lit up in a dazzling smile as he dropped his tail. “Clever cat! Where’ve you been? I was looking for you.” He stepped forward and pulled Mistoffelees into a kiss before he could respond.
“I was - uh, taking a walk with Bustopher,” Mistoffelees said when they parted.
“Nice time?” Tugger asked as he went to sit on a cushion.
Mistoffelees shrugged and dropped down next to him. “What were you doing?”
“Oh.” Tugger scratched one of his ears sheepishly. “Uh, I was composing actually.”
“Composing?”
“Yeah, um. I started working on my song for the next ball.”
Mistoffelees grinned. “Isn’t it a little early?”
Tugger shrugged and looked down. He twisted his tail between his fingers. “I uh, kinda hoped you might sing it with me. It’s about us, so I want it to be perfect.”
Mistoffelees’s breath caught in his throat. “The part you were singing when I walked in…”
“He’s got my soul and he’s got my heart,” Tugger crooned. “Do you like it?”
Mistoffelees grabbed a handful of Tugger’s mane and pulled him close. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Yeah, I like it.”
They kissed and Mistoffelees chased Tugger’s lips when the big cat sat back.
“I love you.” Mistoffelees stared into the gold of Tugger’s eyes.
Tugger’s grin was pleased but a bit confused. “I love you too, clever cat. Is something wrong?”
Mistoffelees scrunched up his face then quickly shook his head and leaned his forehead against Tugger’s chest. “No,” he said firmly. “Nothing’s wrong. I just need to finish my conversation with Bustopher tomorrow.”
Mistoffelees stood outside the garden gate at Bustopher’s humans’ house and forced himself to take a deep breath. He shook himself, straightened his posture, then leapt gracefully over the fence.
He found Bustopher lounging in the sun on a lawn chair, undoubtedly considering where he would be taking lunch.
“Uncle Bustopher?” Mistoffelees called as he approached.
Bustopher opened one eye and then the other, and rolled himself up to sitting. “Mistoffelees, my dear lad. Good to see you.”
“Uncle, I wanted to talk to you. About our conversation yesterday.” Mistoffelees realized he was wringing his hands and made himself stop.
“Oh, about the Rum Tum Tugger. Have you moved on?”
“I -” Mistoffelees ground his teeth. “No. I have not.”
“But my boy, surely you see that you can do better? I mean you yourself called him a ‘terrible bore’ at the ball!”
Mistoffelees bristled. “I was flirting with him, Uncle. I - I love Tugger! He is kind and patient and loving and gorgeous and he looks at me like I’m the only cat in the universe. I’m not leaving him. And I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks! There is no one better for me because we love each other!”
Bustopher drew back with a harumph. “Well, my boy, I must say-”
“No, Uncle,” Mistoffelees said firmly, “there’s nothing else to say.” He took a deep breath and gave Bustopher a nod. “I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”
With that, Mistoffelees took himself back to the junkyard and back to Tugger.