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“Infuriating.”
That’s the word Rory would use to describe many of the encounters between him and Petey, so infuriating that they’d end up duking it out frequently like they were doing right now.
Swinging left to right, hits being landed and missed in a dark alleyway in the dead of night. The two fighters? Detective Rory, freelance private investigator and Petey The Cat, self proclaimed evil genius, having yet another one of their frequent scuffles.
“Can’t believe we’re actually doing this again” Rory thought to himself as he was attempting to dodge Petey’s hits and blocking out his maniacal laughter.
A few minutes ago, he and Petey got into yet another argument, with Petey being the instigator as usual, over something rather trivial at the moment, not even worth mentioning because of how petty it was but Petey couldn’t help but to jump at the chance to use it to piss him off.
He knew better than to entertain petty behavior like that but there was something about Petey’s arrogant attitude, the sweet yet conceited tone in his voice while he gleefully insulted him always managed to push the right buttons in Rory to set him off.
That damn cat.
He was going to wipe that smug look off his face, one way or another .
Rory’s train of thought was interrupted when a sucker punch hit him square in the stomach, causing him to step back and nearly double over from the pain. He winced and looked up to see Petey smiling proudly at him. “Awww, don’t tell me you’re getting tired already~!” Petey gloated proudly.
In response, Rory growled and punched him square in the face, causing Petey to stumble back a bit, holding his nose. He slowly removed his hand from his nose, revealing the blood pouring from it. He paused for a second, seemingly stunned, before smiling at Rory. “Now, THAT’S more like it! For a second I thought you had gotten rusty, DOG MAN !” He yelled out gleefully.
Rory froze, stunned for a moment, then boiling hot rage overwhelmed him the next.
“Dog Man.”
The nickname people used to demean him, to mock him.
To point out how he’s just an unholy abomination created from an unnatural surgery that cost him his original body AND the life of his partner.
All of that pain and suffering.
Because of that bomb Petey planted.
All of that was HIS fault.
And yet he loved using the name associated with all of Rory’s pain and grief, as if it was some sort of a cute pet name.
It was just… so… INFURIATING.
Rory tightly clenched his fists, snarling and shaking in absolute fury all the while Petey was smiling like a kid in a candy store. If Rory wasn’t going to before, NOW he was going to make sure that Petey wouldn’t be able to make a smug look, or any other look for that matter for a LONG time.
“Uh oh, looks like I touched a nerve~! But that’s okay. It just means we can get this party started FOR REAL!!!” He exclaimed excitedly before pouncing at Rory.
Rory countered this by lunging wildly back and the two were locked in a vicious battle, striking each other again and again, with intense force and fury. Kicking, scratching, biting, you name it, they were doing everything and anything to try to hurt the other.
Rory blocked out the pain, the blood that was now dripping from his own nose, everything else around him except for Petey. Petey, who was still laughing and smiling, as if all of this was a game. No matter how hard he hit him, he still wouldn’t stop laughing, looking at him with that smug face .
Taking advantage of Rory’s unbalanced coordination caused by his blind fury, Petey clawed and scratched his face. As Rory stumbled back, Petey pushed him into a wall and pinned him with one hand and gripped onto his jaw with the other. Petey smirked at Rory’s frustrated face.
“You know, has anyone ever told you that you are absolutely adorable when you're mad?” he chuckled. Rory, who had long since grown tired of Petey’s shenanigans, bit the hand holding his jaw, causing Petey to hiss in pain and let go. Rory then kicked Petey into the wall on the other side and pinned him by the arms, growling in his face.
Petey looked mildly shocked and slightly annoyed. “Damn, you know you didn’t have to bite my hand to get me off of you, right?” he huffed. Rory’s growling became more intense in response. Petey wasn’t wrong about that, Rory could’ve just pushed him off, but after everything he’s done? Getting bitten is tame compared to the rest of the things Rory wants to do to him.
“Well? Aren’t you going to finish kicking my ass?” Petey questioned, sounding bored out of his mind. Normally Rory would have happily done so. But for some reason, he didn’t. He stayed unmoving, growling at Petey while keeping him pinned, feeling the warm air from the orange cat’s out of breath huffs on his face, and staring deep into his emerald green eyes.
Rory’s growling kept getting lower and lower until it was eventually replaced by out of breath huffs as well. Despite how much he hated Petey, he never could stop thinking about him, the sickly sweet sound of his voice, his stupid laugh, or… the incident back at New Year’s … embedded deep in the back of his mind. He was sure Petey felt the same, albeit in a more twisted manner.
Rory finally moved, letting go of Petey’s arms and grabbing onto his jacket collar, pulling him even closer, the blood from their noses dripping onto the ground below. “Hey, watch where…” Petey mumbled half-heartedly, unable to finish what he was saying due to how flustered he was.
The pair’s faces inched closer and closer together, their gazes softening as they leaned towards each other…
Until…
Their lips pressed against each other.
Their eyes closed, and their arms wrapped around each other, Rory's tail began to wag on it's own accord, both completely ignoring the injuries they inflicted onto one another a few moments ago.
Licking into each other’s mouth, the metallic taste of the blood from their noses hit their tongues, yet neither showed any sign of stopping.
It was intoxicating, intense, explosive, and addictive in the best way possible. The two passionately grappled onto each other, neither of them wanting to let the other go…
Until the reality of what they were doing sunk in.
Suddenly, the two opened their eyes and pulled away from each other simultaneously. Both looked at each other in complete shock.
“Did we really… just…?” Petey mumbled, completely dumbfounded over what happened. Rory just looked at him with a flabbergasted expression. Here he was making out with his sworn enemy- the one person he truly hated, like they were a pair of hormonal teenagers.
And yet…
…
Both stood there, looking at each other in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity.
Until it was broken by Petey giving Rory a mean left hook in the side of his face.
Rory yelped and leaped back from the sudden sensation of pain, putting his hand to his face. Confused, he looked at Petey, who now had an expression that was a mixture of embarrassment and fury on his face, his tail flicking to match.
“You… You IDIOT! Why did you go and do that for, HUHH?! Were you trying to give me a HEART ATTACK??!!” He screamed while moving forward and grabbing hold of Rory, grappling onto the collars of his coat.
“What the…? Wasn’t that what you wanted you little…!” Rory thought as his confusion transformed into anger. He punched Petey in the face once again and Petey struck back.
The brawl between the two had reignited, this time with Petey hissing and yelling obscenities instead of laughing.
This went on for a few minutes before the pair hit the ground, completely exhausted.
Miraculously, neither of them had broken any bones during their tussle.
They laid there, both panting, trying to catch their breaths after the intensity that was the past couple of minutes.
It was once again silent between the two for several minutes, until Petey started to get up. “Welp, I think we can both agree that this trumps what happened during New Year’s.” He groaned as he stretched and wiped away the blood on his face. Rory sat up, wincing from the pain.
“This was fun, but I really got to be going, bye Rory~!” Petey sang down at him happily. Rory growled and shot up a middle finger at Petey, who just laughed and walked away in response.
“God, that cat is the king of sending mixed signals, he just loves doing anything to piss me off,” Rory pondered as he painfully picked himself up. He cleaned off the blood smeared on his face with his sleeve and began his trek home.
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. As he started puffing it, he wondered if he should go buy some booze. Sure, he quit drinking after what happened on New Year’s a few years ago. But honestly, with the night he had? He wouldn't mind getting blackout drunk and passing out again.
He ultimately pushed the thought out of his head for the time being and started reminiscing on the advice Chief gave him regarding Petey long ago.
“Listen Greg, I know that the relationship you and Petey have is… interesting to say the least, but please don’t go and get yourself wrapped up in Petey’s whole… THING. The last thing I want is you getting hurt.”
…
Rory went to a nearby puddle and inspected his injuries. He thought back to all of the moments between him and Petey. The arguments, the fights, the moment during New Year’s, sitting together while Rory had his head against Petey’s shoulder, listening to the silence of the night, right before the fireworks went off and Petey asking him if he wanted to… Rory paused, quickly feeling himself starting to blush.
………
“Please don’t go and get yourself wrapped up in Petey’s whole… THING.”
“God damnit,” Rory brooded as he held up his hands to his head, flustered and frustrated.
“Too late to avoid that from happening.” He thought while sighing. Putting his hands in his pockets, he slowly resumed his lone walk back home, his head looking down at the ground.
Far too late.