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"It feels so much smaller from here."
Carbucketty glanced up at his brother from where he was pulling at the fading grass beneath them. "I guess. But we still got lost and Jenny's still cross with us."
His brother, Bill Bailey, didn't look back at him, only mulling over the scenic view. The two lounged languidly on a quaint hill by the Junkyard that just about overlooked the bustling centre of London. Jennyanydots had been reluctant to let them out after their most recent adventure, but Skimbleshanks had convinced her that they’d be shaken up enough by it to go any further. "Jenny's always cross with us. She gets over it pretty easy, though."
"She's not been that angry before, though." Bucky shifted awkwardly, fiddling with the grass once again. "The other kittens haven't ever gotten lost like we did."
"Um. Duh. Remember when Jerrie and Teazer-"
"They were older than us. And they actually knew their way around."
"But they still disappeared for really long."
"They've been bending the rules since before they could even talk."
Bailey finally looked at his brother. "You sound like Munkustrap."
"...He lectures me a lot." Bucky spoke quietly, shrinking in on himself.
"Still." Bailey puffed out his chest. "We made it out just fine. That means they'll take us more seriously."
Bucky made a face. "I don't think so. Jemima’s started wearing all sorts of shiny and scary stuff so the adults would treat her more grown up, but they still think she's just cute and all that since she's the youngest."
"Really? I thought it was 'cause she wanted to look like Bomba."
"I guess that, too. But they'll always think we're babies."
"Well, babies don't explore the city alone, do they?"
"Babies cry."
"Exactly! We're real toms now, and we don't cry."
Laughing and filled with a newfound determination, Bill Bailey triumphantly stared down the view and blew a raspberry. "Take that, London!"
He began to chuckle and preen, tumbling around in a rather celebratory manner. It was only when he paused to catch his breath did he notice his brother uncharacteristically disengaged.
Carbucketty sat quietly, having hardly moved from his spot despite the rather ridiculous display before him, the only sign betraying an otherwise unbothered demeanour was the slight shake of his shoulders.
In any other universe, Bailey would assume his brother was laughing. Who wouldn't, after seeing such a silly sight? However, Bill Bailey and Carbucketty had been attached at the hip for longer than anybody could remember, and knew each other better than they knew themselves.
In an instant, Bailey's arms were wrapped around his brother, whose soft sniffling then gave way to broken sobs.
"I'm sorry." Bucky cried between hiccups. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Bailey, I'm sorry."
"For what, Bucky, for what?" Bill Bailey frowned at his woeful brother.
Carbucketty only wailed at the words, inconsolable.
Bailey stayed at his side silently, clutching his brother close until the tears eventually slowed, the energy depleting, and his voice giving out.
"Bucky." Bailey spoke quietly, gently prodding at the former. "Bucky, why are you sorry? What do you think you did?"
The kitten in question sniffled dryly. "I know I did." He muttered stubbornly, refusing to meet Bailey's eyes.
"Okay, fine. What do you ‘know’ you did?"
Bucky chose to ignore his brother's sassy tone. "I cried. Like a kitten. A baby. And then I cried some more. Only babies cry. I'm supposed to be a real tom." He stated simply.
"Well, that's-" Bailey stammered. "That doesn't- you- you don't- I mean. Just because you're, um, well-"
"See?" Bucky threw his arms in the air dramatically, which narrowly missed Bailey's face. "I got us lost, and now I'm still a baby, too. You said it so!"
"You can still be an adult. Nobody else heard!" Bailey blurted, jumping onto numb, unsteady legs and looking over the other.
"But now you're an adult, and I'm a baby. Not fair. You need me." Bucky’s ear flicked as he pouted.
Bailey stamped his foot in the dirt, creating a slight cloud of dust around his brother, who, too, stumbled to his feet and struggled to balance. "No. you need me. Nobody else knows what to do when you start crying like a baby."
"Well. Without me, you wouldn't have gotten lost, and- and you wouldn't be an adult anymore!" Bucky tried to kick dirt back, but only ended up nearly tripping himself over.
Bailey instinctively moved forward to catch him by the arms. but pushed him off immediately after. "Well without me, you'd have to find your own breakfast!"
Bucky began waving his arms in his brother's face to annoy him. "And without me, you'd have to wake yourself up in the morning. Lookie here.” He assumed a cartoonish, stiff posture, and began prancing around and singing in a horrendously off-key tone. “My name is Bill Bailey. I smell like rotten fish-“
"Well my name is Carbucketty and I eat-"
Bailey hardly had the chance to finish his sentence, as both brothers pushed at each other at the same time, and a quarrel ensued.
It was a rather miserable ordeal, consisting of exchanged small pushes before one pounced at the other, the two rolling a short distance away. It never escalated past that, from there nothing occurring besides dull smacks and batting and pawing and perhaps at some point a weak ear pull.
The fight ended as quickly as it started, with Bucky biting at Bailey's arm only to be met with a mouthful of dirt and fur. Both parties recoiled quickly, recovering from their respective inconveniences.
Eventually, after a while of slowing breathing and mass amounts of avoided eye contact, Bucky broke the silence. "Who won that?"
It was practically enough to give the other extra whiplash. "Huh?"
"Adults win fights all the time. Don't you listen to the stories?"
"Um. No." Bill Bailey was still trying to piece together the past five minutes of his life. "Hey, wait. That's cheating! I'm already a tom, and you're still a kitten. I can't be a baby again. That's backwards."
Bucky began to sport a triumphant smirk. "So then you think I won?"
Bailey bristled, fuzzed up tail lashing back and forth. "I didn't say that!"
But rather than start another moderately inconveniencing fight, Carbucketty unexpectedly plopped onto the ground. "I'm tired. Adulting must be hard."
"Hmph. It must be, if my first fight was with a baby and I almost lost." Bailey grumbled, crossing his arms and dropping to the ground beside his brother.
"Uh, nuh uh. I totally won that."
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I di-"
"Okay, okay, fine! You win, and you're an adult. But that doesn't un-adult me." Bailey ducked his head between his paws, exasperated.
"Yes, it does!"
"Bucky..."
"Fine, fine. You're an adult, I'm an adult. Yay."
Bailey glanced over. "Aren't you happy to be a real tom?"
Bucky cocked his head to the side, contemplating. "I dunno. If adulting is just fighting all the time then it seems not very fun."
"Or looking for lost kittens and yelling at them."
"Adulting sucks." Carbucketty suggested.
"Adulting sucks." Bill Bailey agreed.
A pause.
"So what now?"
"Hmm. I dunno."
"Being a baby isn't a lot better either, though."
"Yeah. Adults tell you what to do and stuff. And you cry a bunch and then feel bad."
"I'd rather cry than fight my brother.” Bucky stated matter-of-factly, tugging at the grass once again. “And I still feel bad after. At least I'm good at crying."
Bailey considered that for a moment. "Should we go back to being babies?"
"I thought you said you can't un-adult."
"Well, I say a lot of things. And nobody else heard."
"But still-"
"Look, Bucky." Bailey flopped backward onto his back. "We both want to be kittens again. And nobody even saw us be real toms in the first place."
Bucky did the same, sprawling his arms out and smacking Bailey. “I guess. They still think we're babies anyway. Not like they'll believe us when we say we're adults."
Bailey grumbled incoherently as he swatted at his brother, the two of them eventually getting themselves comfortable. Their respite was made short when he spoke once more. "So are we kittens again?"
Bucky cocked his head, glancing over. "Do we have to do something to un-adult?"
A short silence.
"Ehh. Probably not."
"Okay."
More silence.
"Bucky?"
"Yeah, Bailey?"
"I'm glad you got us lost."
"...Huh. I'm glad I got us lost, too."
The two brothers lay there, under the serene moonlight and soft twinkling of the stars.