Catnip - HouseBroken

Chapter One - This One's Special

The Grey One was on a walk. Where to? Chico's house, of course. He asked earlier, during group, if he could come over. Chico had asked why, and The Grey One replied with a lie; "To, uh, hang out?" After that, Chico had been overjoyed. "Totally!" The tubby tabby's words laced with a purr, he and the grey one scheduled the "hang-out", at sundown, when Kevin, Chico's owner, left for...whatever it was humans do.
...

Now, which house was it? The Grey One scanned the cluster of buildings, ones with russet roofs, grey roofs, yellow roofs...ah, right, the one with the cat door and the backyard with the dead grass. After he'd found it, the grey one leapt the brick fence and landed softly in Chico's backyard, dead grass crinkling under his paws. He ducked through the rubber cat door, and was greeted with a delighted purr. "You're here!" A very fat tabby cat bounded up to him, greeting him with a warm mew.
The Grey One awkwardly purred, the sound lopsided. Purrs always sounded strange to him, as, all his life, the cats around him rarely did that. Shaking his head to clear the thought, the grey one scanned the room, hazel gaze stopping at the mountain of cat food. Huh, so this is how Chico gets so fat. He broke away from Chico's greeting, heading towards the delicious meal before Chico padded in front of him, blocking his view.

"Wait! Don't you want to play first? I have loads of mice toys!" Chico eagerly swished his tail side-to-side, practically bouncing on his paws in anticipation. "Uh, no th-" He started, before Chico had dashed into a colorful room and brought back two bright fabric mice, the former a sunny orange striped and the latter a grey patched-up that looked like it had seen better days. The Grey One sniffed them curiously, getting a strange yet welcome whiff of catnip. "Woa-ho-ho, what is that stuff?" Chico dropped the mice at The Grey One's paws so he could speak. "Kevin called it catnip." The Grey One immediately snatched up a mouse in his jaws, the earlier desire for food seemingly forgotten. The orange fabric clashed with his blue-grey pelt, but he didn't seem to mind. It reminded him of a new friend that maybe he's just made. Chico purred, paws shuffling in excitement. "We can go play now! Oh, we'll have so much fun! I'll show you to the cat tree!" Chico had then padded away, tail straight-up in a wordless signal to follow. What was a cat tree? Some kind of tree filled with cats? Did Chico have to share his food?

The Grey One's hazel eyes hurt. "Ugh, it's so bright and colorful in here." His friend purred. "I know! It's awesome!"

He decided this one was special.

Chico then stopped at an annoyingly colorful and vibrant structure. The shiny surface reflected the too-bright light in his eyes, the one that lit the whole room and somehow stood at the top, stuck to what looked like a wooden flower that was spinning. The Grey One narrowed his eye, squinting and trying to see what the shiny thing was made of. It looked to be several pipes, like he had seen in the sewers. "That's a cat tree?" Chico nodded. "That's my cat tree, mhm. Isn't it cool?" The tabby leapt up the cat tree, all the way to the unstable top, which rocked under his weight. "Chico, that's unstable...!" He yowled, trying to get his friend to come down. Chico peered over the edge, amber gaze curious. The Grey One couldn't see anything but his friend's eyes and ears. "It's not! It's completely s-" The tabby was cut off as the tower began to sway, sending him tottering over the edge. The Grey One "MRRROW!"'d in alarm as the whole thing began to tilt, scattering into bits and crushing his slim form under several pipes.

Chico let out a frightened wail, tail flicking anxiously. "The Grey One! Where are you?!" The ginger tabby ducked under pipe after pipe, trying as hard as he could to lift them off his friend. Scattered all over the floor, the pipes were hard to move. "The Grey One!" He yowled again, fear coursing through his paws as he searched. Chico took a moment to collect himself, drawing in a large breath and letting it out after a few seconds. "Okay, okay, uh..." He started to scan the pipe mess, amber gaze resting on an unusually large bump in the pipe mess. "Okay." Chico echoed himself, trotting up to this particular mess and lifting a pipe with the top of his head, ducking under more pipes and letting them roll off. "There!" He meowed loudly to himself at a clump of grey fur, grabbing the pelt with his teeth. Chico dragged his friend out of
the pipe mountain, little by little, until both cats were completely out. He huffed, dropping the tom on his side.
Chico bent down after a few breaths, pressing his ear against The Grey One's chest, hoping for the best. Luckily, his heart beat steadily, if not a little quickly.
A quick sniff determined he wasn't bleeding, either.

Chico dragged his friend by the scruff to his comfortable red cat bed, dropping him on the soft surface. After a moment, Chico lifted his paws and placed them on the comfy surface, the down-like material made his paws sink right into it, and he couldn't resist kneading it once or twice. Chico then padded up beside his friend, curling around him and trying to, at the very least, provide some warmth. He sank down into the pillowy soft bed, his purr rich and warm. Sleep dragged at his paws, and Chico tried to stay awake with all of his might, trying to make sure The Grey One was safe and secure. But he had soon succumbed, sleeping peacefully.