A/N:

this was written for the 2019 andreil week, day 5: cats; hence the title, lol

also thanks to queenofmoons67 (tumblr handle) for beta-ing and for the punny title

i do not own the foxhole court, and i've also cross-posted this fic to ao3 (Bookdancer) and tumblr ( bookdancerfics)

WARNINGS: hostage situations

i hope you all enjoy the fic!

(Cat)astrophe Chapter One

All Neil had wanted was to pick up more dry food for King and Sir, maybe try out some new cat treats, and definitely get some more cat toys to pretend to hide from Andrew. He was just about to walk up to the register, the person in front of him getting their items bagged, when a gunshot went off.

Neil hit the deck, his heart pounding. All he could think was my dad's men found me, and then the Moriyamas no longer have any use for me, and then he thought of Kevin and Jean and how they were supposed to be safe, and he almost choked on his own panic. He forced himself to take large, gulping breaths, his chest heaving and his eyes squeezed shut.

His dad was dead, he reminded himself. His men were in jail or no longer looking for Neil. The Moriyamas would never take care of a loose asset in such a public way.

Someone's heavy boot prodded his side, and he looked up. The person above him was tall, probably about Matt's height, with a black ski-mask covering their face. They wore black pants, but rather than the classic all-black ensemble, they wore a red turtleneck. Behind them were four more people, all in the same outfit but with differently colored turtlenecks.

The one in blue was the shortest, but still taller than Neil, and thicker, with sunglasses on even though it was overcast outside. Green and purple were about the same height and size, making Neil wonder if they were twins or just people of remarkably similar build. And the last one, in pink, had ginger hair sticking out from beneath their ski-mask.

Neil had the sudden thought that Allison would find the pink on ginger incredibly clashing. He clapped his hand over his mouth to hide his sudden smile.

"Oy," Red said, and prodded him with their boot again. "If you're gonna be sick, do it over with the rest of them."

Neil looked where Red pointed, and a dozen obviously terrified people looked back. There were also a few others, one who looked like she was doing her best to put on a brave face, and two more who had tightened mouths and narrowed eyes. Neil would bet that they were angry more than anything else. Three of them wore the store uniform, and a young girl clutched a small puppy to her chest. A couple others looked like they were just teenagers.

It looked like Neil was the last hostage, and when Red pointedly gestured with their gun, he pushed himself to his feet, straightened to his full height, and walked just as pointedly to the hostages, looking Red in the eye the whole way.

Red bristled, and Neil couldn't stop his own smirk. Red had a good foot on Neil, but still admitted that they felt threatened by him just looking them in the eye.

"Keep an eye on them, Red," Purple said. "You, too, Pink. Green and Blue, with me. Bring the manager with you."

The four nodded, sharp, and then split up, with Blue dragging one of the people in uniform with them. Neil took the advantage of no longer having Red's attention on him to look around.

Red and Pink each stood on one side of the hostages, their guns pointed in the hostages' relative direction. The front of the store had been barricaded, and a security guard lay on the ground a few feet away, gagged, hogtied, and probably unconscious.

Outside, sirens wailed.

The store phone rang a few minutes later, but neither Red nor Pink jumped, although a good half of the hostages did.

Pink jerked their head toward the phone. "One of you go answer that."

Neil started to stand, and one of the employees and someone else in a Captain America shirt did the same.

"One," Pink snapped. Their gun wavered. Neil glanced at the other two, and they both stared back at him. Slowly, Neil sat back down, and so did the employee, until only Captain America Shirt was still standing. Relief stood out, stark, on the employee's face. Neil fought to control his own expression, but his heart hammered in his chest and he couldn't guarantee anything. Most of his mind was screaming at him to not be noticed any more than he already was. The rest was yelling for him to run.

Pink drew a second gun, this one looking more like a handgun than the more serious, rapid-fire weapon pointed at the hostages. The mouth of the handgun pointed at Captain America Shirt.

"Answer it," Pink said. The phone rang again. Captain America Shirt took a hesitant step toward it, then paused, looked back at all the hostages, and practically sprinted the rested of the way.

"Careful what you say," Red warned, "or someone gets it."

"H—" Captain America Shirt said after he picked up the phone, then coughed and cleared his throat. "Hello?"

Slowly, Red's gun shifted until its target was obviously Neil's chest. Neil stared back.

"This is Sam Young," Captain America Shirt — Sam — said. "I'm a hostage."

There was a pause, and Sam looked back at them.

"I don't think it's safe for me to answer that." Another pause. "Yes… No… there's sixtee—"

Someone's gun went off.

Neil's ears rang, and he clapped his hands over them, trying to block out the screams of everyone else.

"I'm sorry!" Sam's voice rose above everyone else's, desperate, but when Neil finally looked back up, Red and Pink hadn't moved. No one was bleeding. As far as Neil could tell, the gunshot hadn't come from that area of the building.

Green hurried from the back of the building, where they had disappeared with Purple, Blue, and the manager several minutes before.

"Sorry!" they called, and there was a pause in which Neil wondered if they had smiled at them behind their ski-mask. "Just a misunderstanding; Purple took care of it. I'm here for an employee who actually feels up to cooperating."

This time, in the pause, Neil knew for certain that Green was smiling, and something squeezed his lungs till he was breathless.

There was red spattering across the sleeve of Green's turtleneck.

The employee who had almost stood with Neil earlier stood again, terror written across her face, but she looked back at them, and Neil realized for the first time that the third and last employee looked like he was probably still in high school.

And then, right as Green was about to leave, they turned around and peered back at the hostages.

"That one looks familiar," they told Red. With a sinking feeling, Neil realized that Green was pointing at him.

"Does he?" Red asked, and they stepped forward until their gun pressed right against the side of Neil's head. Fingers laced through his hair, pulled tight till it hurt, and jerked his head up until his eyes found Green's. "Take a better look."

Green stared back, and Neil was uncomfortably aware of the fact that Green could read every expression on his face, while Neil couldn't read a single one of Green's. And then, just as Neil was starting to think that maybe he could get away with being Neil Josten —

Green stiffened, and Neil knew he'd been recognized.

"That's Neil Josten," Green said.

"No I'm not," Neil said, and then internally winced. Smart mouth plus hiding his identity for a good decade did not a smart decision make, apparently.

Red must have agreed, because metal struck across his cheek, sending Neil tumbling to the ground. In a daze and trying to get to his knees again, Neil realized that he'd been pistol whipped. His hands couldn't support his weight, though, and in the end he just let himself lay on the cool tile.

"Call Purple back in here," Red said, their voice fading in and out of Neil's hearing. "It looks like the plan is changing."

A/N:

i haven't finished writing this fic yet, but the rest should be coming soon

also, i have a tumblr account, bookdancerfics, so please feel free to drop by. sometimes i post writing updates

and, finally, please comment here! i love hearing what people think