Chapter Text
Måns was laying in his hammock, trying to fall asleep without any success. He kept turning and turning but to no avail. He had a weird feeling but he chalked it up to the failed attempts to mess with Pelle. There was something about that new cat that just bothered him. Every time he heard his name he got this strange feeling, which Måns himself would describe as a headache and general hatred for the other.
But this specific evening he felt it stronger. Pelle had been praised all day for his heroic actions and his kindness like usual. He was always so annoyingly clever that cat.
Finally, Måns gave up on getting any sleep, deciding to instead go out on a walk. Without much grace he stumbled up from the hammock, almost falling in the process. After quickly recollecting himself he went to check if Bill and Bull were sleeping. As always, they were snoring loudly, so Måns could be assured they were sleeping deeply. He really didn’t know what he was expecting them to do instead. Silently he made his way to the hatch, which was not a hatch at all but a plank, and made his way out into the cold December night.
“How unnecessary with all the snow this time around. Only makes your paws go cold”. He kept muttering about the weather while walking down the alley. By now it had occurred to him that he really didn’t have any plan on what to do, so Måns decided to wander around until he found someone or something to bother.
After what felt like hours (but really was a few minutes) he gave up on finding anything to do and decided to sit on a nearby snow pile, resting his head against the wall behind him.
***
Pelle was snuggled up together on the windowsill, tossing and turning in his sleep. He was having a wonderful dream about chasing butterflies in the summer grass. In all his turning his back happened to touch the ice cold window where frost had started to form. Pelle's body twitched and he hastily woke up, much to his dismay.
“Ouch” he mumbled, even if it didn’t really hurt. He stared at the window like it had personally offended in some way. Then he looked out, and saw the star-covered night sky and felt rather intrigued to go out on a little adventure. Slowly he creaked open the window, just enough to slip out unnoticed, and then making sure to close it behind himself.
Pelle slid down the drainpipe that was right outside the window, and landed rather steadily on his feet. He pulled down the sweater and fixed his bow, and then he set out on his adventure. He passed house after house until he passed Måns home.
It looked to be in a very rough condition, considering it wasn’t even a house to begin with. But it gave him a very strange feeling being there, so close to what Måns considered home. It felt vulnerable in a way, to be close to something Måns must value a lot. But then again, what did Pelle know? Maybe he hated it and thought of it to be no more important than anything else he owned.
Pelle realised how strange his behaviour was, and how weird it would be if someone passed by asking what he was doing standing and staring. He wouldn’t even know where to start explaining it. Quickly and silently he continued on his midnight walk.
Suddenly something cold pricked his forehead. He turned his head up and immediately got something that felt oddly a like water in his eye, but colder. After blinking a few times to clear his eyes he could finally see that clouds now covered the sky and snow had started to fall, and quite heavily too.
“Quite a wonderful evening, I wonder if the human children will build another one of those snowmen in the morning” he whispered to himself while starting to get distracted. He stuck out his tongue and tried catching the snowflakes, and he tried catching them with his hands. Pelle was jumping around and playing in the snow, just like a little kitten, has he forgot about the rest of the world for a moment.
***
By now, Måns had fallen asleep, despite the cold snow that was now starting to cover him. In just a few minutes he was almost completely covered, and a while later, the big cat couldn’t even be spotted under the huge pile of snow. He lay cozy under the snow, still like a dead body due to the heavy weight the snow was putting on his body.
Pelle turned the corner, still trying to catch snowflakes with his hands, and spotted the wonderful snow pile. It looked so inviting and it basically begged to be jumped in, so that’s what he did. He sprinted towards it and took a big leap, aiming to get as high as possible, before softly landing in the snow. Except it wasn’t soft. And the snow pile was… screaming?
“HELP HELP HELP SOMEONE HAS COME TO KILL ME! PLEASE SPARE ME VILE DOG PLEASEE!” Pelle fell backwards from the pile onto the ground as Måns jumped out of the pile and started running around in circles, waving his arms.
“It’s just me, Måns. I’m sorry for disturbing your sleep, I truly didn’t mean too.” he managed to sputter out quoits calmly, despite the shock. Måns stopped, and was now looking down at the other. Pelle gave him an apologetic smile, still sitting on the ground. Finally the bigger cat spoke.
“Jumping up on people in the middle of the night? What are you thinking! You could have hurt me, you know?” He crossed his arms and turned his head away, similar to what toddlers did.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t see you under the snow. Are you okay by the way? Your tail looks frozen!” Pelle got closer and turned his head to take a better look at the tail. Måns turned his own head and simultaneously grabbed the tail to inspect it himself. May it have been very cold, but it was in pretty good condition. Although Pelle was partly right, as it was covered in frost and snow. He turned his head to say something to the other cat when he spotted something.
“You’re bleeding”
“What?” Pelle gave him a questioning look
“You are bleeding. A lot.” Måns uttered it quite matter of factly. Pelle turned his head and started to frantically examine his shirt and arms.
“What do you mean-”
He got interrupted by Måns quickly grabbing his jacket and turning his head so the back of it faced Måns.
“Christ you are dense. You are bleeding. Here, right behind the ear on the back of your head, and it’s dripping everywhere. You must have hit the pavement when you fell.” He was moving Pelle's ear and examining the damage. Pelle was still too confused to register what was going on.
“Hand me your bow” Måns put is free, now bloody, hand out in front of Pelles face.
“What..?” This time, Pelle sounded more surprised
“I said hand me your- never mind” He quickly turned Pelle so he was facing him, and untied the bow himself. Pelle was frozen in place, barely registering anything at this point. It might have been because of the copious amount of blood he was losing, and maybe not. Then Måns turned his head again, more gently this time, and started wrapping the ribbon from the bow around his ear and head.
“It won’t stay in place.. if only I had something else…” He looked around and finally decided on using his belt, the one with the fish skeleton buckle. He didn’t really need it anyways, the pants were almost too tight at the waist and would stay up with or without the belt. He wrapped it around the ribbon and used the buckle to secure it in place. He took a step back and admired his own handy work.
“That should do it, huh?”
“Thank you” Pelle finally managed to stammer through, after a period of silence. Måns quickly let go of the head he was still holding and let out a stifled chough.
“Yeah yeah whatever.” He muttered, looking in the other direction. Pelle was trying to regain his senses but to no avail, and instead he stumbled on his own feet and almost fell backwards again. Luckily he managed to stay on his feet just enough for the other to grab his arm.
“Cant you walk for yourself?” Måns snarled, trying to recover from that humiliating situation. But something in his stomach felt different as Pelle slurred his words in reply.
“Fine fine I’ll help you. But don’t tell anyone, alright?” Pelle gestured something that could be interpreted like a nod, and gave him a crooked smile.
“Yes yes, no need for all that posh nonsense. Now let’s find somewhere else where you can rest” Måns took a steadier hold of the cat beside him, placing Pelles arm over his shoulder to lift him up on his own back. Praying that no one would see them and that Pelle wouldn’t remember this he started to walk into the night to find a sheltered place where they could rest in peace.