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Tommy wanders around the neighborhood. It’s so much nicer than where he normally goes but maybe… maybe he’ll get more food?
The kitten tries to ignore the pain in his stomach as he wanders. He’s so tired and he’s lonely.
He walks around as a cat because people don’t want to help starving homeless 8 year olds. People however like cats. Kittens to be precise. So when he needs food, he begs as a cat.
He says this as if he changes back into his human form.
Tommy doesn’t even remember what his human body looks like, he’s stayed as a cat for so long. He’s so familiar with his golden fur, four paws, and tail.
He knows he can shift back but it just never seemed to appeal to him. Being a human kid would only hurt him in the long run.
As he walks, he finds himself in front of a tall man with brown hair.
“Aw.” The man coos, “Aren’t you just precious.”
The man leans down to pet Tommy but Tommy jumps away.
Tommy hasn’t been touched in so long and as much as he wants to be a pet, he can’t let himself.
Everytime he lets himself be vulnerable enough to be touched by another, he ends up hurt. He’s never had a good experience with others touching him and now he avoids it like the plague.
He just doesn’t want to get hurt again.
“Oh, it’s ok darling.” The man kneels down and coos.
Tommy stares at the man and meows weakly.
He lets himself look pathetic so maybe the man will have food for him.
And luckily, he does.
“Oh you’re so thin.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small granola bar, “It might not be much but here.”
The man opens the bar and rips it apart and places it in front of Tommy who greedily lunges for it.
Tommy is just so hungry and he needs food so badly. The scent was immaculate to him and he couldn’t stop himself.
“You really were hungry, weren't you sunshine?”
Tommy doesn’t respond. He can’t. Even if he could, he was too busy eating to be able to.
Once he’s done, the man is still there smiling at him. Tommy meows at the man and swipes at him playfully.
For some reason, Tommy feels his instincts trying to force him towards the man. He feels like the man would protect him but Tommy shakes those thoughts away. He can’t let a random person take him.
“Do you wanna come home with me?” The man asks softly.
Fuck.
Tommy takes a step forward and stops himself.
He can’t…he can’t!
Tommy hates that his instincts are trying to force him to the man so the boy does the only thing he can.
He hisses and runs away.
He needs to get away from the man. He needs his instincts to stop.
Tommy wants somewhere safe but he can’t just let his instincts make him go with any random person. This has never happened before and it scared Tommy.
Why now?
Why him?
What’s so special about that man that made his instincts go off like a siren in his head.
No matter.
He got away from him and his instincts have calmed down. Now that his stomach isn't growling and in pain anymore, he continues to walk around the neighborhood until it gets dark.
With this being an unfamiliar neighborhood for him he tries to find a place that's safe for the night.
He ends up at a bakery.
It's a cozy place. He strolls into the alley next to the bakery and tries to make himself comfortable. Just as he enters the alley he feels something off.
Someone is here.
Snapping his head around Tommy faces a grown black cat with big eyes staring at him. scared but still trying to act tough because he's a big man, Tommy hisses while slowly inching backwards.
The cat meows softly at him and slowly makes his way towards the kitten. Tommy gets a familiar pull as the black cat gets closer to him. It's the same thing that happened when he was with the man with the granola bar earlier.
His instincts try to force himself forward and Tommy, once again tries to push them back. He wasn't going to let himself cling to a random cat he just met.
This cat may not even be nice.
No. He can't let this happen.
Still the black cat persist and meows once more at him, pulling at his instincts even further,
With the cat so close to him, he panics and swipes his paw.
The black cat, being much older than him, manages to avoid his paw and manages to grab him by the scruff of his neck.
Yowling a protest Tommy tries to get out of the black cat, only to fail.
The cat continues to walk, Tommy still trying to get out. The longer he gets taken, the more his instincts take over.
His body feels like it’s on fire. He hasn’t been touched by anyone and now here he is, being carried around like a kitten.
Even if Tommy was a kitten, he’d never had this before. He calms down and his brain begins to fog up. He slowly closes his eyes, enjoying the feeling that he was being held, even if only by the scruff of his neck.
Safe. His instincts say. I’m safe.
And Tommy closes his eyes, his instincts completely taking over.
Oh well. He tried.
When Tommy opens his eyes again, he’s no longer outside. Instead he’s inside a nice room and lying down on a comfy bed.
Not even a cat bed.
An actual bed with an actual mattress.
It was so soft, Tommy let himself relax into the cushions, his mind still a little hazy.
“Good morning darling.”
Wait a second.
“Did you sleep alright?”
He knows that voice.
Opening his eyes, Tommy jumps up.
It was granola bar man!
He hisses and tries to back up but his claws end up getting caught on the sheets.
“It’s ok, sunshine. You’re ok.” The man tries to reach out only for Tommy to swipe at him.
He hums. “Maybe it’s because I’m human right now.”
Right now?
The fuck did granola man mean with right now?
One second the man is standing in front of Tommy. Next, he’s gone.
Tommy looks around from where he’s standing but he has no idea where the man went.
Suddenly, he hears a meow and then a black cat jumps on the bed with him.
Holy shit.
Granola man was a cat shifter too!
Tommy meows and lets himself flop over on his side. His instincts already gave in the night before and accepted the black cat as his protector. Now he can’t take it back.
Granola man was Tommy’s protector now.
The black cat stalks forwards and licks at Tommy’s nose causing the golden kit to pur.
This was nice.
Tommy really enjoyed this.
The black cat meowed once more before shifting back into his human form. Now sitting next to the kitten, Tommy lets the man pick him up gently and get placed on his lap.
“You’re so small.” He coos, “My name is Wilbur.”
Wilbur.
So that’s the man’s name.
“You’re so touch starved, baby. I’m not letting you go back out there.”
Tommy purs and relaxes into Wilbur’s sweater, taking in the scent of his protector.
“Do you have a name?”
Tommy looks up and wonders how he’d be able to tell the man his name.
“It’s ok. I can still understand you perfectly fine even in this form. You can say what you want.”
Ok.
Tommy
“Tommy.” Wilbur smiles, “Hello Tommy.”
Then WIlbur says something he never expected. “Can I meet you in your human form? Or do you want to stay as a cat?”
…how did he know?
Wilbur seemed to see the confusion on Tommy's face because he laughed and scratched behind Tommy’s ear.
“Oh darling. I know you’re a shifter. Shifters have a slight different smell than full cats do. I’ve known you were a shifter for a while. That’s why I went after you.”
Did… did Tommy really want to risk shifting back and having Wilbur leave him?
“It’s ok, darling. I’m not going to judge you no matter what happens.” Wilbur let off a slight purr which calmed down Tommy. “You’re mine now and I won’t let anything hurt you ever again.”
Tommy wanted to cry.
He slowly stood up and trotted carefully off of WIlbur’s lap and onto the mattress.
Closing his eyes, Tommy let himself shift for the first time in so long.
When he opened his eyes, He was still smaller than Wilbut but he was so much bigger than before.
Wilbur placed a gentle hand on top of Tommy’s matted blond hair. “Hello Tommy.” He smiled, “Welcome home.”
Tommy felt tears prick in his eyes and he shot forwards and hugged Wilbur.
Speaking felt wrong but still he tried. “Hi.”
It was scratchy and very broken but it was enough. Wilbur squeezed him tighter and whispered words of love into his ear.
This was… this was perfect.
Wilbur then asked, “Do you want to go to sleep? You seem tired.”
And tired he was.
Tommy nodded but he didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t slept as a human in so long. He doesn’t know what to do.
“Darling, Relax.” Wilbur whispered.
Before Tommy could react, Wilbur had shifted back into a cat. He sat patiently and meows, softly.
Tommy smiled and let himself shift back into his kitten form. He truly did feel loved.
His instincts wanted to just be with Wilbur. All Tommy wanted was to be protected by Wilbur.
So when WIlbur walked up to him, he gladly let the older cat pick him up and trot the two of them over to the middle of the bed. Being placed in the middle seemed to do it.
The haze at the corners of his mind took over and Tommy let himself go.
Wilbur, doing the same, curled up around his kit. His tail rested in front of Tommy’s face as he groomed the child.
This was perfect.
Everything was perfect.