Chapter Text
The rain poured hard upon the land known as Critter Valley, smothering everything in water & a thick haze, worse as dusk was teetering on the edge of night. All were in their homes, waiting out the storm or sleeping it off in their bedrooms. No one was sane enough to go out in such a storm… unless you were one named Dogpressed.
The blue canine was making her way through the storm, her turtleneck sweater long soaked with the downpour. Her umbrella had flown away from the first intense gust of wind, resorting to her using only her arms to block the way. Even to scrape her knee when she slipped in the slick mud, which wept as time went on.
Dogpressed was beginning to question why she was putting this much effort into coming out here when she could be wallowing in her bed, crying the night away in her comfortable weighted blanket. Why go through this much-
But as her eyes caught the lights of a familiar orange-colored cathouse, she remembered why she was doing this: She was worried about Catfeine.
The normally energetic & caffeine-high cat, always ready to explode with energy and ideas for chaos, didn’t feel too well today and asked her to take her place in the group’s activities.
Normally it was Catfeine who would organize their group outings, the only person to bother and actually go out of their way to get everyone out of their houses. But to know that energetic furball, always ready to conquer the day & activity, was seemingly unwell? It didn’t settle right for Dogpressed, even in her own saddened state.
So after she tried(and failed spectacularly) to get everyone ready & going for the day, she tried calling her best friend on the phone, something she rarely engaged with first. But all she got was a deadline.
So this was what she was out here for: To make sure her springy feline friend was alright.
Finally, she made it to the doorway of Catfeine’s home, and with what strength she had left pulled the door open and entered the ladderwell.
But by now, Dogpressed herself was worse for wear. Her clothing was all but sopping wet like a drenched rag, her sweater weighing heavily on her shoulders. Even her body was drenched with cold water, causing her to shiver like a leaf in the wind. And the effort to get here in such a state left her shakily breathing and weary. Overall, this trip left her drained.
Taking deep breaths to steady her breathing, Dogpressed held up through the fatigue and began climbing up the ladder to the feline’s home proper.
Inside the home, she could see it was pretty tidy & neat despite the feline’s chaotic nature, yet still felt lived in with a personal touch here & there. And the smell of coffee was perfuming the air, the knowing scent of her feline friend, yet she saw no sound or hair of Catfeine.
Once she was standing on the hardwood flooring, shaking and shivering from how cold she was, she finally grasped her own voice and stuttered out, “C-C-Catfeine? A-Are you home?” Yet she didn’t hear anything, not even a creak, “I-Im sorry if I’m intruding during… something, b-but I… I-I came here to m-make sure you were… o-ok.”
‘Because I cared for you.’ But she only said that in her mind. She didn’t have the courage to tell Catfeine how she really felt, the two of them were complete opposites, like day and night. Would Catfeine even feel the same?
Dogpressed was pulled from her thoughts to the sound of the bedroom door opening where she was standing at now, not realizing she wandered while deep in thought. Standing before her, more so staring a bit down at her, was none other than the energetic cat that took her thoughts away, wearing a tank top with a ‘Screaming Critters’ logo on it and starlight black pajama bottoms.
What was weird was how Catfeine seemed to look tired. Even early at night the caffeine cat would still be ready for anything. So why was she-
“Oh, Dogpressed. What brings you over at this hour, Raindrop?” Catfeine spoke with a slightly cheery tone, yet sounded tired herself.
A soft blush ran over the dog’s cheeks to the nickname before Catfeine gasped at her state, “What happened to you!? You’re all soaked and shivering and shit!” The feline was already holding Dogpressed’s hand, causing a redder hue to cover the dog’s cheeks which only furthered the feline’s concerned look, “Wait here, I got a change of clothes you can borrow.”
So Catfeine went back into her room to grab the clothing she had in her dresser before making her way back to the door to hand the sad & soaked dog.
“You can find my bathroom just down the hall from the kitchen, you can use the shower before you change. I’ll make ya something to warm up, Raindrop~” Catfeine’s energy seemed to rise upon saying that, moving to the kitchen to prepare the canine a warm drink.
The downtrodden canine could only give a weak smile to the feline’s efforts to make her comfortable, even if it was late at night. So she moved to the hall Catfeine mentioned, but was stopped by her paw tail before she passed the threshold.
“Hey, I thought to ask, are you hurt?”
Catfeine’s tone was hesitant and… weirdly tense, like the fact Dogpressed was hurt was putting the feline off. It made the canine nervous, turning a little to the feline as she stuttered, “I-I-I scraped my knee when I got here, b-but I don’t think it’s bad… H-How did-”
Her words caught in her throat when she saw Catfeine so close to her, kneeling down with a paper towel in hand as she rolled up her loose pant leg. She was startled to see that the scrape had wept a good amount of blood down her leg, the black color of the slacked pants must have hidden how bad it was.
But the way Catfeine looked at it… her eyes were tense, shaking almost while her body remained just as tense. Like she was holding back something. Was she weary of the sight of blood? It didn’t seem like it when she would get hurt herself and even brush off any injury she got.
With a breath in, Catfeine dabbed the paper towel on the canine’s leg, cleaning up the wound and what mess was made as carefully as possible. “I have some bandaids in the bathroom, should be in the medicine cabinet for you to use. Ok, hun?” When they met eye to eye, the feline was smiling happily at her.
Something felt off, but Dogpressed didn’t want to press into it, so she nodded and made her way down the hall while the feline went back to making their drinks.
<Catfeine’s POV>
When she was sure Dogpressed was in the bathroom, the feline held the bloodied paper towel up to her muzzle, taking in the scent that lured her to the canine. Feeling her fangs extend from her gums and her eyes take on a glowing orange hue. She savored the smell on the paper towel, exhaling a heated breath and ready to gulp another scent. But she ripped it away quickly because she was losing herself to scent, intoxicated by it. Any longer and she would become blood drunk.
This was why she didn’t go out today: Her vampirism would go out of control only to hurt one of her friends or worse, her Raindrop.
Catfeine was always careful to get her blood somehow, whether it was from the blood bank or sneaking it into her strong coffee, no one would smell blood from the strong aroma of roasted coffee beans.
But she ran out of blood a couple days ago, and what’s worse is the blood bank was closed due to an accident with a spoiled shipment of blood bags. Today was her 4th day without blood, and she was starving. Even her normally strong brews weren’t enough to keep her up and about.
“Fuck… I don’t want to scare my Raindrop… But she’s here to see me… Maybe I can-” Then she grimaced at the thought coming into her mind. She didn’t want to hurt Dogpressed, nor did she want to scare her. It would only break her heart.
Tossing the towel away, Catfeine continued to brew some of her famous hot chocolate, trying to keep herself from lingering on the smell of Dogpressed.
<Dogpressed’s POV>
By the time she was done, she was feeling better than when she was drenched and cold. That shower did her wonders on both her fatigue & cold body. Now here she was, walking out of the bathroom wearing coffee-print pajama bottoms and a t-shirt that had a donkey harnessed by a rat saying ‘I don’t give a-’. To be fair, she understood Catfeine’s crude sense of humor.
But she didn’t care, Dogpressed gently tugged the t-shirt up to her muzzle to take in the scent. It smelled exactly like coffee grounds and Catfeine, the only thing that seemed to cheer her up & calm her nerves.
Pulling herself back to reality, she made her way back into the open ended kitchen where she saw Catfeine waiting in the living room, a mug in her hands & another in her tail hand. A smile on her face when she saw the sad canine.
“Hey Dogpressed! How was the shower?” Catfeine chimed with a grin, handing the mug to the canine, “And how’s the knee?”
Dogpressed gingerly took the mug into her hands as she took a seat next to the feline, nursing the mug as she stuttered, “I-It was alright, b-better now that I’m not sopping wet. A-And I put a bandaid on it. I-I’m sorry I drenched your floor… a-and my wet clothes are in your bathroom.”
The feline merely waved off the apology, “Oh you don’t need to worry, Raindrop, I’m not too concerned by it.” She took a sip of her drink before asking the big question, “But I gotta ask, why did you come out here in the pouring fucking rain? It’s not like you to go through that kind of crap.”
Mulling on that thought, Dogpressed took a sip of her cocoa, savoring the taste of it before answering, “Well… I-I guess I was… c-concerned for you.”
That surprised Catfeine, tilting her head to the right as she wondered, “Concerned about me? Why?”
All Dogpressed can give was a weak shrug, staring into her mug, “I-I guess I was worried, m-maybe for nothing. But… i-it’s not like you to not do an outing with everyone.” A tear formed in her eye after a moment of silence, “I-I thought something was wrong…”
A rare frown glazed Catfeine’s features for a moment before a smile returned, her tail hand wiping away the tear as she spoke, “I’m sorry for worrying you, Raindrop. I’ll be alright, today’s just one of those days I’m not feeling well, you know? Like when we were kids.”
Dogpressed did remember that, when Catfeine would have her ‘sick days’ that she couldn’t come out. They were rare, but happened. “Y-Yeah…”
“Hey.” Catfeine placed a hand upon the canine’s shoulder, giving a warm smile to her as she spoke, “I know some days might not seem alright, but I do have them as well. But the fact you came all this way out here, through some shitty storm… I’m glad you did all that to see me, Raindrop~”
Dogpressed felt a flutter in her chest that reddened her cheeks once more, the contact enough to make her want to hug the feline right now, but she didn’t want to ruin the moment. In a rare occurrence herself, Dogpressed smiled at the feline, if weakly, as she caringly said, “O-Of course, Catfeine, I care about you very much. As kids or adults now…. I’ll always care about you, no matter what happens… K-Kitty.”
The pet name made Catfeine blush a little, feeling warm herself as she whispered, “Raindrop…”
Then she felt a twinge inside her stomach and a beat within her chest, causing her to flinch and set her coffee mug down, messily spilling its contents. This made Dogpressed concern as she saw the feline not looking too good now. Catfeine knew however, it was her hunger ebbing outwards.
“A-Are you alright, Catfeine?” Dogpressed worried with a frown.
“Y-Yeah, Raindrop, r-right as fucking rain.” Catfeine looked away while covering her mouth.
Was she too forward? Did she push Catfeine in some way? Did she… Did she not feel the same way somehow? All these thoughts filled Dogpressed’s mind, feeling tears form as she worried about what she did.
Soon, she set the cocoa down and readied to get up, “I-I should go, I-I’m sorry if I-”
Dogpressed flinched when she felt a strong grip on her right arm, and she looked down to see Catfeine holding her arm, her tail swishing around as the feline looked at her.
“W-Wait, don’t go…. Please.” Catfeine stuttered with worry.
That was enough for Dogpressed to slowly sit back down again, her hand still being held by the feline. It was making her blush bright red.
Catfeine was continuing to stare at her for a time before she gulped and spoke, “I…. I do need your help, Dogpressed… but promise me you won’t freak out, ok? It’s… It’s something I’ve never told anyone before.”
Dogpressed remained seated where she was, only giving a nod as the feline continued, “I haven’t been outside because… I-I need blood. I’m… kinda like a vampire, I guess, except without the bullshit myths of holy water & garlic, heh.” She smiled for a moment before frowning, looking at Dogpressed, “And… right now, your blood is so tempting to take… But I don’t want to scare you.”
At those words, Dogpressed quietly chuckled with a soft smile, holding a hand to her lips to stifle it.
“Don’t laugh at me! I’m being serious!” Depressed spoke up, waving a hand at her with worry, “I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t being mean to your needs. I just… I can’t find you scary, Catfeine. I-I think out of anything in the world to b-be scary, you’re the least scary thing to me.”
Catfeine could only stare at Dogpressed for a few moments before looking down to her blue-furred hand in her own orange ones, questioning with a frown, “D-Does this mean… You’ll help?”
When the feline met Dogpressed’s expression once more, while tears were still in her eyes, she held a soft smile as she nodded firmly. This only brought a wide smile on Catfeine’s face and she nuzzled the canine’s hand.
Not long after the agreement, Dogpressed was red faced when she found herself with her back against the couch in Catfeine’s lap, fidgeting in the feline’s hold as said cat’s tail hand gently wrapped around her body and wrapped its fingers around her left arm. Dogpressed held onto the appendage like it was a safety net, even more so when she looked into Catfeine’s hungry eyes, yet she still saw concern.
“I’ll be as careful as possible, just try to relax, alright?” Catfeine reassured the canine with a signature smile.
Dogpressed felt her gently move the collar of her t-shirt away from her neck with her right hand, leaning her head into her cupped left as Catfeine caressed her head while her tail hand guided her left arm out, gently intertwined with her fingers. She was the most comfortable she could be, and yet Dogpressed still felt butterflies in her stomach.
“It’ll be all ok, Raindrop. I promise it’ll be painless~” The whisper in Dogpressed’s ear only flustered more, especially the hot breath on her neck.
She took deep breaths as she felt Catfeine’s maw wrap around her neck, feeling her heart thump in her chest in anticipation of the fangs. And it wasn’t long until they pierced into her neck.
A grunt and flinch was all Dogpressed could give, grasping the tail hand tighter and gripping the shirt of her friend. The pain only remained for a moment as a numbing feeling came over the area. Not long after, she heard the feline begin to gulp down her blood. Fresh tears began to fall from the strange feeling & her anxious nerves.
To Catfeine, it was like she was drinking the finest, smoothest brew of coffee there was, with a sweet afternote in with it. A soft moan of relief left her lips as she continued to drink the sanguine brew down.
When she felt the canine begin to tremble under her grasp and cry, she felt a pang of sympathy to her position, wanting to comfort the sad dog.
Dogpressed felt Catfeine’s right hand slowly wrap around her waist as she was gently pressed into the couch, feeling the feline’s left hand brush away her tears and caress her head. All while she heard & felt the feline gulp down her blood.
It was enough to comfort the blue canine, knowing that even when Catfeine was hungry, she showed she cared about her safety & wellbeing. It didn’t feel too bad either, just strange.
The more time passed, the weaker she felt, feeling her vision swim, her body become heavier with each gulp, and the warmth coming more from Catfeine. She could tell she was running low on blood.
“C-Catfeine.” A whisper lifted her lips, but she wasn’t sure if she was heard. Her head gently lulled into Catfeine’s hand, whining softly as she felt really tired now, her right hand losing grip with her friend’s tank top. The feline’s touch felt nicer as it went.
A gasp left her lips when she felt the fangs leave her neck before she relaxed into Catfeine’s hand again. When the feline lifted up to look at Dogpressed, the canine could see the feline licking the blood away from her lips with a devilish but warm smile.
“Thank you, Dogpressed. Your blood… it tastes so much better than crappy blood bags.” Catfeine spoke as she settled the canine into sitting on the couch. “Try not to lull off yet, I need to bandage you up and make sure you’re ok, ok?”
Getting a mere nod, Dogpressed watched the feline move down the hall from the kitchen, coming back shortly after with a medkit as she set it on the couch and opened it up. The only things she pulled out were wipes and a bandage strip.
“This might sting a little, luv.” The words barely register to Dogpressed until she whined from the stinging on her neck, gripping the hand she felt presented in front of her while tears fell from her eyes. The stinging faded away as something was placed on her neck, feeling it to realize it was a bandage.
Then a hand gently caressed her cheek, opening her eyes to see Catfeine warmly smiling at her, “Good girl, you did well holding still for that~”
With the medkit packed away and out of sight, Catfeine took her seat next to Dogpressed, helping her bring her cocoa mug up to her lips, “Here, you need to get something in you after having a lot taken out.”
With a muffled whine, Dogpressed put her lips to the mug and sipped its contents, Catfeine helping her drink it down and hold her up as well. The cocoa was warm, sweet, and filled her body with warmth again. The feline took her time with Dogpressed until the mug was empty, having abandoned her own in favor of taking care of the blue canine as she set the empty next to the full one.
“I can’t thank you enough for allowing me to drink your blood, for trusting me to do such a thing… I…” With a warm smile, she gently guides Dogpressed’s head to face her own, moving closer to her lips as she whispered, “I love you, my Raindrop~”
Dogpressed felt the feline’s lips around her own, gaining a mixed taste of chocolate & blood. But she gently pressed into Catfeine’s lips, feeling her heart flutter and her nerves zing her back to reality.
She loved her. Catfeine really loved her. She was so scared that she wouldn’t, fresh tears formed in her eyes.
When they parted, a line of saliva between their lips, Dogpressed clung to Catfeine’s tank top and pressed her head into the crook of her neck, feeling zingy with emotions.
“I… l-love you too, Kitty~” Dogpressed whispered, tears in her eyes from finally letting it out. “I-I have for a-a-a long time… I-I was so scared you… you-”
“Shhh~ You don’t need to worry anymore, Dogpressed. I felt the same way too~” Catfeine admits, holding her love closer to her, “But now you know, we both know. We care deeply about each other, and that’s all that matters~”
No sound came from the blue canine, only a gentle breathing. A look down at her chest saw Dogpressed fast asleep against her, causing a quiet chuckle and head shake to the tired sad dog.
“Such a sleepy head, then again, you helped me so much despite what you went through~” Catfeine leaned forwards and planted a soft, gentle kiss upon the canine’s head, getting a chest nuzzle from said canine in response. “Thank you, Raindrop, for always being there for me~”
Being as careful as possible with her precious cargo, she carried the blue dog to her room where she tucked her in under the blankets. She felt disheartened by the whines from her Raindrop, but soon smiled as she gently cuddled the canine into her arms & chest, feeling the blue dog relax into her form while her tail wagged. Catfeine’s smile grew, wrapping her tail hand around her canine lover.
“Goodnight Raindrop~” Catfeine said before she finally fell asleep that night, knowing that even during a storm, Dogpressed would be there for her. And she would be there for her Raindrop.