Chapter Text
It was a lazy Saturday morning, everyone was just chilling out on the picnic blanket while in the secret hiding spot. Mari and Hero talking, Kel figuring out how much orange joe he needs in order to jump from tree to tree, and Aubrey and Basil sitting near the black puddle of Sunny in front of them. There wasn’t much traffic or clouds as was expected for a Summer day, the sandwiches and cookies immaculate as always, but there was an irregularity:
A cat cafe recently opened across town, past the othermart. It was a side of the town the gang doesn’t really frequent, being more developed and urban, but curiosity gnawed at them all.
This is how they ended up going to that cat cafe.
Mari and Hero had to stop by their respective houses to get money from their parents, but it wasn’t long before they were all heading down the sidewalk as a group. Sunny, despite Basil’s recent protests, is walking unleashed and uncollared. Mari tried to wrangle on one of Mewo’s old collars, but 3 thrown collars and a light scratch later she gave up on the idea. Turns out Sunny still retains fine motor function with human thought behind it, not to mention how he’s gotten used to his cat body allowing him to take off every collar they try. Even the belted ones were undone as soon as Mari turned around thinking a job well done. Basil was adamant with trying to figure it out, the Hector incident coming to mind, but since Mari was the one doing the fitting (Hero and Kel were in their respective house) she gave up. Besides, nothing can go wrong, right? Just keep an eye on Sunny and it should be fine.
That was all the past, and now they were all on the sidewalk 6 strong and headed for a cafe. Hero and Mari hung back, preferring a relaxed pace to go easy on Mari's knee and totally not as an excuse for the two to flirt while Aubrey, Basil and Kel were ahead. Sunny was trotting at a relaxed pace beside them, occasionally having to dodge Kel's foot when he pulled another one of his stunts. Basil was very close to giving him death glares every time, but the fine Sunny day along with relaxed attitude calmed him down. Aubrey was arguing with Kel half the time and discussing Sunny stuff with Basil the other half, occasionally scooping up the cat to ask his opinion.
They entered the more urban section of Faraway after not too long, seeing the place in mind: A cozy looking cafe which is a few turns from the main road they followed. The lighting wasn’t too bright, and all of the wood and cushioning was dark and thus easy on the eye. Inside, the seating was primarily booths with a few couches in between.
The group arrives enters the cafe, which is surprisingly empty for being so recent and a Saturday. There are a few other patrons lounging around the cafe itself, petting cats and making sure no feline touches their food.
Everyone steps up to the counter to order, each getting something different in order to gauge what they could want for the next time. Aubrey gets a chocolate mochinut, Kel gets a orange-chocolate coffee Tiramisu , Basil gets a peppermint tea with some crackers on the side, Hero gets a chocolate-chai espresso and Mari gets a simple hot dark chocolate. Additionally, they order some pastries for the group as a whole and a cat treat for Sunny.
Everything is going fine, they grab a circular booth in a corner with room for all of them and a walkway for cats behind their backs. Setting out the dishes, everything is smooth until they start eating, where they promptly realise that Sunny has vanished. This leads to a revelation:
They brought a black cat, who has no leash or collar, to a cat cafe.
Needless to say, they made as much of a scene without making a scene as they could. They spread out around the cafe, looking around for a piece of the void. They don’t want to call Sunny’s name in order to not startle the other customers, but that just leaves hoping that Sunny will recognise and approach them. It’s not that big of a cafe, so how hard can this be?
…
5 minutes later, and there's a little more panic. The calls become a bit louder, everyone getting close to whatever black cat exists in the cafe only to have it walk off in a mix of fear, laziness or curiosity in anything that isn’t human. Kel even makes a lap of the outer area, finding nothing.
Eventually they all decide to return to their table only in order to plan what to do next only to see a black cat nipping at the cat treat meant for Sunny. When Aubrey tries to shoo it away, the cat only jumps into her arms thinking that she wanted a hug. Seeing as most stray or even tame cats wouldn’t so openly trust her, Aubrey comes to a slow realisation:
“You’re Sunny, aren’t you.”
The shard of abyss in her arms gets a little scared by her annoyance before nodding and relaxing back into her arms.
“You gave us a real fright, you know! We were searching for you for a solid 5 minutes!”
Sunny looks up again, a bit more sombre this time, before jumping back onto the table in a silent attempt to tell them to sit down and relax. While Aubrey wants to be mad, she also does want to enjoy the treats she got with her friends, especially now that they are the perfect amount of cool and everyone needs to relax.
…
Everyone is feeling satisfied with their snacks, each either knowing to order it again or make a slight modification. Empty cups and plates are scattered around the table, a clear sign of their enjoyment. Hero and Mari are talking with each other out of earshot of the rest of the group, who themselves are simply lounging around. Basil and Aubrey keep Sunny firmly in between them in order to not lose him again. They jokingly mention dying Sunny’s fur with purple or pink to make him more distinguishable from every other common cat, but there is one clear solution that they really should have thought about:
Don’t bring an unmarked black cat to a cat cafe of all places.