I am NOT your little "meow meow"

Hello, please give me food

Believe it or not, Tommy wasn't a huge fan of the big city. It was dirty and crowded and just overall wasn't a fun time. But he managed the best he could. I mean, when you're a twelve-year-old boy with no family, what can you do other than look hopeless and hope and pray that some kind soul would stop and give you some money or food.

Tommy wasn't too good at the begging part, though. No, Tubbo was better at that. Not only did he look younger than he was, but he was also significantly better at the puppy dog eyes and faking a little quaver in his voice, and being weirdly good at crying on command. Tommy swore that Tubbo was practically born for that role.

No, Tommy was much better at pick-pocketing. He could go into a crowd, "accidentally" bump into some fuckwad in a suit, and grab the guy's wallet. Was it moral? No, but he was starving!

Ranboo was the one that used their money to get whatever little they could. He actually convinced the owner of an apartment complex to let them stay, just as long as they provided rent. Sure, it meant that they couldn't spend their money on things like clothes or food, but hey, the dirty and torn clothes that were clearly starting to get a bit too small just helped their act even more.

But, on the days when they didn't get enough to eat, they had to shift into their cat forms. Three small and malnourished stray kittens, who could possibly turn their nose away from that!?

A lot of people, actually...

Tommy usually hung out around the train station, meowing whenever he saw someone give him a glance. Usually, those people would stop and give him whatever food they had on hand, which usually wasn't much, but anything was better than nothing.

His favorite was this college student. He was very tall and had curly brown hair and eyes that were just as dark. He usually wore an ugly mustard yellow sweater and black pants, and usually had a maroon beanie on. He was nice, and usually brought a can of tuna just for Tommy.

Tommy's ears perked up when he heard the man's voice. He started trotting over to him once he saw him, and the man laughed as Tommy swatted his pant leg, not intending on hurting the man.

The man bent down and pulled a can of tuna out of his coat pocket, opened it, and set it down in front of Tommy, who immediately started chowing down.

The man's friend chuckled. "I knew you smelled off."

The man rolled his eyes with a smile. "Oh, hush."

The man's friend had long pink hair that was in a braided bun, amber eyes, and a singular emerald earring on his left ear. He was slightly shorter than the brunette but still very tall. He was kinda scary, actually.

As Tommy finished his tuna, he felt the man pet him, and he started purring, which caused the man to verbally aw.

Then, the next thing he knew, he was being held.

"Maybe I should take him home..." The man said, still petting Tommy. "Bathe him, feed him, all that."

His friend looked at him, incredulously. "Wil, it's a stray cat. You don't know how many diseases it has!"

Well, excuse you, mister, Tommy thought, but I'm very clean, thank you very much.

"Well, I could just take him to the vet." The man argued. "C'mon, Techno, just look at his little face!"

The man held Tommy up to where he was face-to-face with the friend. The friend sighed.

"Whatever, but you're buying him shit."

~<•>~

Ranboo woke Tubbo up, panic and confusion on his face. "Uh, Tubbo...?"

Tubbo woke up, rubbing his eyes. "Wha-huh?"

"Where's Tommy...?"

Tubbo sat up, furrowing his brows. "He's not on his bed?"

Well, it wasn't much of a bed. It was a couple of dirty and torn towels, but that's beside the point.

Ranboo shook his head, his panic becoming more evident. "You don't think he got killed, do you?"

Tubbo shrugged as he stood up. "Knowing Tommy? Who knows?"

Then, the phone rang. There was one phone shared between the three boys, and it was a house phone that came with the apartment. Frankly, the boys were amazed that it actually worked, considering how old it looked.

Ranboo picked up the phone. "...hello?"

"Hey, Ranboo!"

Ranboo blinked, shocked. "Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Oh, some dude that gives me tuna at the train station adopted me. I'm at a cool-looking suite right now."

"A suite!?"

"Oh, yeah. Apparently, his dad is a famous businessperson or something, I don't know. But I'm alone until the dad gets off in...five hours?"

Ranboo blinked with shock. "And you're just accepting this!?"

He could practically feel the shrug on the other side. "I mean, yeah? I don't remember the last time I had a bath or slept in an actual bed. I'll leave eventually, I promise, but please just let me enjoy this for a bit?"

Ranboo sighed. "I-whatever. I'll uh, talk to you later, Toms."

"Okay, bye boob boy. Oh, and tell Tubbo I said hi!"

Ranboo sighed as he hung up. He looked at Tubbo, who looked at him, very confused.

"Well, Tommy became someone's house cat." That was all Ranboo said as he left the apartment.

~<•>~

914 words

Guess who decided to write another fic instead of finishing my main one?

Inspired by bari_astralis cat shifter fics, "Hope Had Ginger Fur" and "From Nine Lives To Four" on ao3. Very pog fics, totally recommend.