Chapter Text
David lumbered out of the back door of the dubious establishment known as ‘The Tiddly Fig’ and slouched against the greasy wall of the ginnel. The air was cool and refreshing on his flushed face after the drizzle earlier in the night. He stared up into the flickering lamp hanging overhead, tilted the bottle to his face, and swallowed down the remnant of booze that lay within. The bottle came away from his lips with a lurid pop. David heaved a sigh and let the empty bottle dangle freely at his side by his fingertips. The lone bulb overhead continued to waver, washing him and the rubbish scattered about the wet alley in a slick, grimy tangerine.
Another unsuccessful outing.
David rumbled and stared down at a crumpled pack of wet cigs, black tobacco leaking from the box like spent coffee grinds.
Of course, he’d probably be more successful if he ever actually mustered the courage to ask someone home with him. He’d gotten close to doing it several times now, drinking and chatting up several good-looking blokes who he thought might’ve swung that way, but whenever the opportunity arose, he’d always chicken out, and they’d always slip away to somewhere else.
He went to take another pull of his beer but then remembered he’d already finished it off. With a heavy sigh, he let the empty bottle drop back to his side and then angled his gaze back up at the overhead light, staring at it until it made his eyes water.
He’d specifically chosen this place because it was far away from his usual stomping grounds. He didn’t want people to recognize him and immediately write him off. This place also tended to attract people that were a bit more… open, without it strictly being labeled as a gay bar. He’d wanted to avoid being seen in those places on the off chance he was recognized, but also, those types of places didn’t tend to have the type of person he was looking for. If it was just sex he was after, then it would have made this whole affair much, much easier, but oh no… he had to go and make things complicated…
Part of him wanted to go that route just to get it over with— just finally confirm to himself that, yea, he really was into other blokes, get on with it already— but that wasn’t really what he wanted. The truth was…
The truth was that he still wanted Tristan.
Despite everything that had happened between them, despite his cold feet and the parade of women he’d forced himself to be with… Tristan was the only other person in the world he’d ever really wanted to be with. For the longest time, he’d thought that Tristan had been the exception, and David had convinced himself he was still basically straight because he wasn’t into any other men— just him.
Tristan was just… special. And in many ways, he still was, but David knew that route was closed to him now. He had to move on…
Coming to terms with his preferences and who he was had been the hard part. Now, He just had to bloody find someone he could bring himself to be with that wasn’t Tristan.
David finally looked away from the light and saw nothing but stars. He harshly rubbed the blindness from his eyes, wishing he’d drank more before escaping the bar.
A rustling sound suddenly came from the opposite side of the alley, startling him from his melancholy. He blinked hard to adjust his vision to the darkness.
Just as the pile of rubbish directly across from him became visible again, he saw something inside it move, and then heard a faint squeak.
“Fook.”
He placed his feet into a ready stance, raised his bottle into the air like a ball, and waited, expecting a huge rat to burst from the pile and leap at him at any moment. He’d already seen his fair share in this city…
The rubbish shuffled and squeaked again, except… that didn’t quite sound like the squeak of a rat. It sounded like—
A tiny head with big pointy ears suddenly popped out of a mound of dirty rags.
“Mrreeeeeuw!”
David straightened and stared in wonder at the diminutive black kitten that had just emerged from the trash. A pair of large, reflective green orbs stared back.
“Well bloody hell.”
“Meeeew!”
The kitten suddenly leapt from the rubbish pile and bounded over to him, tiny tail as straight as a pole as it meowed up at him excitedly.
His face cracked into a large smile at the sight. He crouched down and offered his hand, tossing his empty bottle to the side. As the kitten sniffed his hand and took in his scent, he noticed that the tiny creature was very dirty and greasy, but didn’t seem to be in too bad of health going by its friendly nature.
When the cat finished scenting him, it backed away with a scrunched face and then licked its nose.
“Ah soz mate. Probs the alcohol you don’t like. Won't hurt ya none though. Why don’t ya c’mere?” he said, voice automatically pitching upward as he beckoned it.
As David reached out to pet the dirty kitten, the door beside him suddenly exploded outward.
A very perturbed woman in black stilettos and a very tiny dress nearly collided into him. She jumped back in surprise at his unexpected presence, and then rushed by him, quickly clacking down the alley towards the busy street.
As David struggled to his feet, he thought about calling after the woman to see if she was alright, but by the time he’d thought of something to say, she had already disappeared around the corner.
Looking around, David saw that the kitten had gone as well. He imagined it must have scurried the opposite way while he was distracted, because the mound of rubbish pile remained quiet and unmoving.
David frowned, bitterly disappointed.
Muttering drunkenly, he went back to sulking and leaning against the wall, trying to put the woman and the kitten out of his mind. It was still relatively early in the night. David wasn’t quite as drunk as he’d like, but he was considering just going home at this point. The night was basically a wash. He hadn’t even gotten to pet the kitten.
The door beside him exploded again. This time, a young lad in a disheveled gray suit stumbled out into the night, sloshing his half pint all over the ginnel. Several drops even managed to land on David’s very expensive loafers.
Once the kid finally managed to catch himself, he snapped upright and spun around in confusion. During all this, his overly-gelled quiff stayed perfectly still atop his head, as if it had been taxidermied.
Finally, he spied David lounging against the wall, squinted, and locked eyes with him. His prickish baby face and ostentatious suit gave the clear impression of a wealthy, ungrateful brat. “Oi mate, you seen a lovely but very cunty lookin’ broad come thru here?” he slurred.
David scowled. “Wot’s it to yous?”
The kid swayed and snorted in annoyance at his nonanswer, “She’s m’ gal friend. We had a misunderstandin’ and I need ta talk wit her,” he said, beer splashing as he waved his pint around. “I can’t leave without me gal.”
David hummed and narrowed his eyes, thinking silently for a very long, drawn out moment. Only when he saw the impatience begin to burn in the youth’s face did he finally answer.
“Nah,” he said. “Can’t recall.”
The young drunk gave him a nasty scowl and scoffed. “You’d have to be fuckin’ blind as a bat to miss that skank. Ain’t no other exits ‘cept fer the front. The fook you playin’ at? You tryin’ to mug me off??”
Clearly, the kid was an experienced drunk who could hold onto his wits better than his motor skills. He would require a bit more effort to manipulate.
However, just as David was about to provide his response, the brat spoke again.
“Oi wait a bloody minute… I know you,” he said, pointing unsteadily. “You're the one who’s always by y’self or chattin’ up other lads at the bar. Don’t think I’ve ever seen yous with a girl once. You some kinda faggot?”
David felt his body go rigid at the slur. He pushed himself away from the wall and balled his fists. Hot anger and a profound, deep-seated insecurity blooming fiercely in his chest. “You lookin’ to get that empty head of you’s caved in mate??” he snarled.
The younger man just smirked and smiled sloppily. “Oh. Haha , looks like I hit a nerve. Typical, that. Gotta say, you really don’t look all that much like a fag though. Reckon that means you’re the type that like poundin’ other bloke’s a—”
David lunged forward and seized the man by his collar. His right fist reeled back, ready to relieve the man of his front teeth, when the man threw up his hands and his half-empty pint of beer in capitulation.
“ Oi oi oi! No need to be gettin’ all miffed mate! Was just pokin’ a bit of fun!! Can’t take a bloody joke?!”
David growled and pulled the stupid asshole in close until their noses were nearly touching. The fear was evident in his hazed, unfocused eyes. The alcohol on his breath was almost overwhelming.
“Tell you wot, mate. On account of you bein’ a drunk off yer arse, dumbfuck kid who’s brain obviously hasn’t finished developin’ yet, instead of beatin’ yer head in… Imma cut you some slack.”
The kid stared dumbly back, eyes vacant and glazed.
“So here’s the rub; I’m gonna leave you be with all yer teeth intact, and yer never gonna call me or anyone else that word ever again. You fookin’ got that? ”
He gave the kid a threatening shake to make sure he was listening, causing him to jolt from his drunken stupor.
“I said you fookin’ got that?! ”
“Yea! Yea! I got it mate! I got it! Now lay off!” he spat as he tried to push away, obviously more annoyed and indignant than anything else.
David held onto him a few seconds longer, staring hard into his alcohol-clouded eyes. He doubted the drunken asshole heard even half of what he’d said, but David was tired of staring at his stupid face.
Before he could change his mind about punching in his teeth, David shoved the kid into the rubbish pile and stormed off toward the mouth of the ginnel. At this point, he wanted nothing more than to just go home and crash.
The kid cursed as he struggled like a flipped turtle on the mountain of trash. Cans and glass scattered everywhere about the pavement as he tried to get back onto his feet. “AGH! Fuck you mate! Humorless prick!”
David snorted in amusement, noting that a certain word was now absent from his vocabulary. “Fuck you too mate— and yer humor is SHITE! ”
The kid muttered an inaudible curse to himself, and David couldn’t help but grin.
When he was halfway out of the ginnel, however, a different but very familiar little sound interrupted the chaos.
“Mreeuw?”
David stopped in his tracks and slowly turned.
The kitten had reappeared, and was now investigating the drunken asshole who had disrupted the rubbish pile that had presumably been its home. It meowed sweetly beside him as he clambered to his feet, pleading for his attention. When the drunk finally took notice of the animal and gave it a nasty scowl, David’s stomach sank.
“Ugh, damn cat!” he spat, stomping at the ground in warning.
The kitten recoiled slightly, but then went right back to begging and meowing. It was too friendly for its own good.
David started running. “Oi! Don’t you dare lay a finger on that thing!!”
But the damn fool was too drunk to hear him.
“Piss off ya mangy pest!”
The man’s foot shot out and hit the cat square in the side. It yowled sharply as it spun several meters through the air, landed clumsily, and then darted back into the safety of the rubbish.
David snarled in outrage. He charged forward like a raging bull. “Bloody fookin’ BASTARD!!”
It was only now that the drunkard noticed him, and the look of shock and dumbstruck fear that spread across his face was one of most satisfying and enraging David had ever seen.
“Oi, wot?! F– fack off!! I said fack off ya damn fag! Is jus’ a stupid cat!!”
The panicking drunk staggered and stumbled backward as he tried to avoid the incoming freight train, but couldn’t move nearly fast enough.
David roared as he barreled into the man’s midsection and then slammed him to the ground. Before the animal abusing fuck could even think about recovering, he followed up with a furious flurry of devastating punches. In a matter of seconds, the man’s face had become a bloody pulp, and his squirming shouts for mercy became gargled mush.
“IT WAS JUS A CAT!! IT WASH JUS A CATTT!!”
Several times, the fucker tried to shield himself, but David was quick to rip his hands away so he could go right back to pummeling that infuriatingly pretentious face.
Breathing hard as he towered over him, David grabbed the gurgling bastard up by his collar and pulled his fist back for one final right hook… but hesitated. Bloated and smashed, the man’s face now looked like the raw side of a freshly-butchered cow. His mouth-hole choked and spewed a stream of blood onto his reddened shirt.
David grimaced in disgust and let the barely conscious man fall back onto the concrete. He wiped at his face with the cleanest part of his sleeve and then climbed back to his feet. After taking a moment to study his handiwork, he gave the fucker one last good kick in the ribs before deciding his work here was done.
“Fucking prick piece of shite ,” he growled, spitting at the groaning mound of flesh. “Kickin’ an innocent little animal… I ever see that new face of yours again, you better pray I don’t recognize it!!”
The mound just continued to groan and squirm on the ground. Satisfied, David wiped his nose and turned his back on him, doubting the lad was even coherent enough to hear him.
With the asshole subdued and his anger quelled. David refocused his attention on the rubbish pile that the kitten had scurried away into. There were no signs of life at the moment, but David knew now that that didn’t necessarily mean that the kitten was gone.
“Little kitten? Elloo-oooo? S’alright to come out now,” he said, ducking and dipping as he did a quick visual search of the pile. “I pounded that fookin’ tosser to bits. You don’t gotta worry ‘bout him no more.”
The garbage remained still and silent. The moans emanating from the lump on the ground stopped. David looked back at the man and was able to tell with a glance that he was passed out and not dead, because his chest was still visibly rising and falling. David wouldn’t have been very sad if it had been the latter, but it would have certainly made his life a hell of a lot more complicated.
Redirecting his attention back toward the hiding kitten, David began to carefully search through the trash, checking through slimy, overfull bags before tossing them away, and picking through piles of degraded, unrecognizable debris. With all this activity, he expected that at some point that the kitten would yowl at him and then suddenly dart away to escape, but it never did.
The alley around him quickly became scattered with trash. When he’d disassembled about half the pile, David started getting worried.
Was the kitten more seriously injured than he’d realized? Had that asshole…
David grit his teeth and redoubled his search efforts.
If he found the kitten in any other state other than alive and well, David decided that he was going to do the same to the piece of human trash beside him. If that mother fucker—
“MROW!”
David lurched backward as a furry black mass suddenly leapt from a bag and scurried out into the open. Once David was sure his heart hadn’t literally burst from his chest, his anger and distress poofed into non-existence when he saw the little black kitten all puffed up and agitated in the center of the alley.
“Ah thank Christ,” he said through a hiss of relief. “There ya are. Was about ready to return the favor to that fook.”
The kitten continued to stand its ground, ears down and back arched as it tried to look as big and scary as possible. It was a considerable challenge for the kitten, seeing as how it was no larger than a soccer ball, but it stared David down with its big, jade green eyes as if it were ten times his size.
Seeing how on-edge the kitten still was, David brought himself down to one knee and crouched low, doing his best to appear as non-threatening as possible.
“Bastard’s lucky you’re such a tough little fella,” he said, offering his hand to the kitten. “Why don’t you c’mere and lemme take a peek at ya, aye? I’m sure that kick must’ve stung like mad.”
When the kitten didn’t move, David wiggled his fingers and clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth a few times.
That seemed to create some interest. The kitten deflated minutely. Its nose wriggled as it cautiously sniffed the air.
“Yea, that’s roight. I’m jus’ a big dumb idiot tryin’ ta help. Ain’t no threat…”
He wiggled his fingers once more, and that seemed to do the trick. The kitten’s fur deflated as its defensive posture eased, and then it began slowly inching toward him. David remained perfectly still as the kitten refamiliarized itself with his scent. Even as its tiny tongue flicked over his torn, bloodied knuckles, he did not flinch. He used the opportune moment to examine it for injuries, but could see nothing of note.
The kitten pulled back and a little pink tongue darted out over his nose. Its ears and tail perked up. It looked up expectantly at him with those big green eyes and trilled.
“Mrrrreow?”
David smiled and turned his hand to stroke the kitten’s head. It strained up to meet him and leaned hard into his touch. Despite how dirty its fur was, David was immediately taken aback by just how soft the kitten was. It was like petting a cloud. His smile grew wider as the kitten spun back around to headbutt his hand, its thin little tail shaking with excitement.
Even though the kitten seemed to be fine at this point, David still did his best to be as gentle as possible and avoided touching its side. However, David was not a doctor though, or a veterinarian for that matter. It was impossible for him to tell if the kitten was suffering from some invisible internal damage, especially since he didn’t know the first thing about cats. It would need to be examined by an expert. Where to find one at this hour though? Were there emergency rooms for animals? Was this even an emergency? He couldn’t really take it back to his flat overnight either— animals weren’t allowed there. Did he even have the ability to take care of this thing? He could barely even take care of himself…
David hummed in thought as he decided on what to do while the kitten continued to enjoy his gentle scritches. Its happy little body vibrated like an engine with how hard it was purring. As it spun and rubbed and purred against him, the kitten paused a moment to look up at him with those enormous, marble-like eyes and gave another joyful, melodic trill.
In that moment, David felt something within him crack and melt into a big, gooey mush. He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do to help this kitten or how he was going to do it, but he knew now that there was no possible way in hell he was going anywhere without this little ball of fur.
“Ahh shite…”
The kitten continued to mewl and purr, and David sighed.
“Alroight then, come on ya little bugga,” he said, gently scooping the little black cloud into his hands and bringing it close to his chest. The kitten didn’t seem to mind this at all, and only continued to vibrate with purrs and squeaky, high-pitched trills as he lifted it and himself into the air. Before he could move anywhere, however, the kitten instantly started climbing up his chest, digging its razor sharp claws through his shirt and into his skin as it sought higher ground. David yelped and twisted like a complete idiot, utterly failing to catch the kitten and pry it off his chest in any sort of way.
“AGH!! Blimey bloody little shite!! ”
He finally relaxed when it clambered up onto his shoulder where his jacket was thickest and shielded him from its needle-like claws. He puffed out a sigh of relief and gave the kitten a disgruntled, but amused, side-eye.
“Ya done carvin’ me up mate? Ya bloody happy up there?”
The kitten just blinked and butted its dusty, silky-soft head into his cheek, mewling sweetly. David couldn’t help but be instantly taken by the tiny terror despite being nearly disemboweled by it mere moments ago.
He tsked in faux irritation. “Yer lucky yer so damn cute.”
The kitten chirped in reply, and David just shook his head, wondering how in the bloody hell he’d managed to get himself into this.
He took the cool night air deep into his lungs, let it out in a long, slow breath, and gazed up into the glowing, yellow-gray clouds of an overcast city night. “Alroight, les crack on then,” he said, starting off for the street at the mouth of the ginnel, the piteous, bloody mound of human contempt behind them long forgotten.
“We’ll get you sorted in no time.”