Cat-napped
Summary: A cat cat-naps your rat.
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader
Characters: Sam Wilson, Alpine the cat
Warnings: language, rat-napping, rat-hate, fun, reader loves rats, Bucky loves his cat, a hint of fluff, awful word play, I mention cancer (no description)
“Stop the cat! Stop the cat! Stop the cat they got my rat!!!” you scream at the top of your lungs while chasing a white cat along the hallways of your apartment complex. “Help! That monster got my rat!”
“What? Where?” you almost crash into two guys. One of them steadies you as the other looks at you as if you lost your mind. “What’s wrong, sugar?” the friendlier of the pair asks. “I’m Sam.” He says as you already try to sidestep them to get back to chasing the cat.
“I-that cat got my rat! The monster will kill Chestnut!” sniffling you try to make the men understand that you need to save your rat. “The cat cat-napped my rat! Please help me!”
“Alpine would never do such a thing,” the other man finally speaks. “Why would he kidnap a dirty rodent?”
“You must excuse my friend,” Sam tries to calm you. “Bucky is very fond of his cat.” He grins as he guides you toward the cat. Alpine still is holding your rat by its neck, while looking up at its owner with big eyes. “Alpine, let the rat go.”
Bucky steps toward the cat. “Alpine didn’t cat-nap the rat. If he took the rat, and I’m not saying he did, he would’ve rat-napped the rat,” Bucky grunts as you are close to losing your mind. “Alpine, let the dirty thing go.”
“My rat ain’t dirty! Chestnut is clean and a good rat,” you growl as Bucky crouches down to pat his cat’s head.
“Alpine, let the rat go,” he softly says and the cat immediately lowers its head to carefully put the rat down. Alpine licks over Chestnut’s head, purring before stepping away.
“Chestnut,” you crouch down and hold out your right hand for your rat. The little rat looks up at Alpine, sniffing at its leg before turning around to run toward you. Chestnut stands on two legs to sniff at your hand. “Good girl.” You sniffle as your rat jumps onto your hand and climbs up your arm to get comfortable on your shoulder.
Bucky carefully picks Alpine up. He stares at Chestnut on your shoulder, shuddering as the rodent snuggles into your shirt. “Uh-she has a rat on her shoulder, Sam.”
“I can see that man,” Sam steps toward you to get a closer look at Chestnut. “Aw, he’s a cuddly little rat.”
“She,” you correct. “And yes, she’s a good rat. Chestnut is cuddly and she loves to groom me.” You fall into an easy conversation with Sam. He laughs as you tell him about your rat and that you saved her from the animal shelter.
“Sam, we should be on our way,” eying you and your rat Bucky tries to get Sam to follow him. “I’ll bring Alpine back to my apartment.”
“Yeah, be right there,” Sam grumbles. “Another time,” he says. “I’d like to get to know more about rats. I never thought they that can be so…” Sam carefully runs his index finger over Chestnut’s back. “Cute and cuddly.”
“Any time,” you smile widely as Sam seems to be interested in rats too.
It’s not easy to find people liking rats. They got a bad reputation due to the millions of rats running around town.
Of course, they got nothing to do with your domestic rat. People just don’t want to see rats can be the best pet ever…if you just give them a chance…
“No! Not again!” you cry while chasing Alpine up the fire escape staircase of your building. The cat once again, cat-napped your rat. He’s carrying her upstairs and disappears inside one of the windows. “Get her back!”
You knock against the window, calling for help. “I’ll get her back, monster.” Turning around to climb back down you huff. You can only hope the cat didn’t kill your rat.
“BARNES!” you harshly knock at your neighbor’s door. “Your cat cat-napped my rat again. Open the door! I’ll call the police. You’re hiding a rat-napper in your apartment!!!”
“Doll, what the—?” Bucky opens the door. He sleepily looks at you. He huffs and grumbles as you shove him aside to make your way inside his apartment. “Whoa, what are you doing?”
You turn around to look at the man defending his rat-napping cat. “Your cat kidnapped my rat again! This is—I dare that beast to hurt Chestnut!”
Bucky scratches his scruffy chin. He just woke up and is still in his pajama pants and a white wifebeater. His feet are bare, and he’s got his hair in a messy bun.
“Alpine?” Bucky walks toward the living room to look for his cat. “Punk where are—uh…fuck,” he huffs as Alpine lies on the couch, your rat on top of him. Chestnut is busy grooming his cat as the super-soldier stares at the scene with wide eyes.
“See! He kidnapped my rat again,” you mutter while pointing at Alpine and your rat. “He can’t just break into my apartment and cat-nap my rat! That’s against the law.”
“How’d my cat get inside your apartment?” Bucky dips his head to look at you standing next to him. “Doll?”
“UH-he sneaked into my open window. You should make sure that your cat won’t leave your apartment,” you purse your lips as Bucky just laughs it off. “I mean it, Sir!”
“Doll, my cat did not kidnap your rat. I bet that little rat enchanted my cat and lured him in,” your neighbor concludes.
“You’re a liar! Your cat cat-napped my rat!” you grunt. “I don’t want my Chestnut to get hurt.”
“If you don’t want my cat to sneak into your apartment, you shouldn’t leave your window open. You should never leave it open. Unattended. It’s dangerous for a woman. It is a dangerous world.”
“I’m a big girl and can take care of myself,” Bucky huffs as you walk toward his couch. Alpine hisses as you try to pick your rat up. “Leave me alone, cat. That’s my rat. Come here, Chestnut.”
You hold out your hand for your rat. Chestnut lifts its head and sniffs at your hand. Your rat looks up at you for a moment but turns their attention back toward Alpine to groom the cat.
“Can your rat stop grooming my cat? Maybe it got parasites or something,” he mutters as you try to convince your rat to come home with you. “See, it’s the rat manipulating my cat!” Bucky wildly gestures toward Chestnut on top of his cat. “She’s a cat enchanter.”
“Cat what?” you stare at Bucky in disbelief. “It wasn’t my rat kidnapping your cat. It was the other way around.”
“Lady, my cat is not a criminal mastermind,” he just won’t admit that his cat is a dangerous kidnapper.
“Chestnut, let’s go,” while your rat is having a blast grooming the cat, you sigh deeply. “I know you are missing your partner. I promise to find a new friend for you. Just not the cat.”
“Wait, she lost her friend,” Bucky furrows his brows as you sit on his sofa next to his cat. “What happened?”
“He got cancer and,” you sniffle, “there was no hope. He was so sick and in pain. I had to let the vet put Romeo down.”
“Romeo, huh?” Bucky’s voice softens as he watches you wipe a tear off your cheek. “A cute name. How long since your little rat is without her partner?”
“A few weeks. I’m trying to find a new friend for her,” he nods as you tell Bucky so far Chestnut didn’t like any of the rats you introduced to her.
“She’s a picky lady, huh,” Bucky grins at you. “How about she can come over to groom Alpine until you found a new rat? They seem to get along pretty well.”
“I thought you don’t like rats.”
“Alpine likes that furry beast so, I’ll make an acceptation for Chestnut,” he gives you a soft smile. “How about breakfast? I wanted to make eggs and toast. I think your little rat is busy snuggling with my cat for a little longer.”
“I got croissants and French Toast,” you offer. “Give me a minute and I’ll be right back.”
“Let me help you carry the food,” Bucky offers. “I can’t let you carry all the food. Alpine likes to carry Chestnut around too…”
“As long as you don’t want to carry me around all time,” you grin, “we are golden…”
Bucky nods. He looks you up and down, furrowing his brows. “We will see. Maybe after we got to know each other better…”
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