Tom And Jerry

All Astro had wanted when he entered the Imporium was some advice on taking care of an imp, since he hadn’t really planned on actually having one so he hadn’t done research ahead of time. Meteor just kind of crashed into his life and stayed there. By which he means the poor thing sped through his window being chased by an impup and crashed directly into him while he was doing some stretches. And then would not get out from under his dresser even after the impup had been shooed back outside. So Astro had made the poor decision of naming the thing, which caused him to get attached, which caused him to realise that he actually has no idea how to take care of and train an imp, as he had now lost at least six socks to his new pet, and he’d like to make it no longer a necessity to lock away his work uniform thigh-highs…

Point is, Astro just wanted to ask the guy who knows about imps to tell him what they know about imps so he could know how to keep his imp from eating his socks since he typically prefers his socks uneaten. Actually, he always prefers his socks uneaten. Astro is certain he has never been in a situation in which he would have wanted his socks eaten and after spending plenty of time thinking about it so hard he got lost several times and turned what should have been a simple half-hour walk into a four-hour ordeal that involved walking directly into a construction site and dislocating his arm after awkwardly falling into the very clearly labelled hole which led to being carried to someone who could set his arm into place so once that was done he tried to get to the Imporium again but got distracted with the socks thing which then had him going on autopilot to the point that Hops had to ask him what he was doing at work, he had specifically requested a day off? He was still certain there was no reasonable situation in which he would want his socks eaten.

But either way Astro eventually managed to get through the front door to the Imporium, imp in hand and arm firmly in his arm socket, ready to talk to whoever ran the place so he could save his socks from their future demise at the hands… hooves? mouth? of his imp.

Astro had no clue what the name of the very pretty brown-haired bun currently feeding little treats to a phloof was, but he decided he should find out as soon as possible to make it easier to ask them out as he was fully aware of his weakness for little curled horns and thick-framed glasses.

But first, imp training advice. Taking care of a living creature first, he can think with his dick later once he had the free time. Seeing no one else in the store at the moment, he made his way over to the attractive brunette, since either they can tell him what he needs to know, or point him to someone else who can impart the necessary knowledge.

Probably not a good first impression to scare them or the imps in the store, so he makes sure his footsteps are noticeable when leaving the doorway, and gave a small wave with his free hand when the brunette looked over, since his other arm is occupied with gently holding Meteor against his chest as the poor thing looked like it was about to have a breakdown from even being perceived by another being.

Astro probably put a little too much of his brain capacity into making sure he didn’t trip over his own feet, as only once he was standing at appropriate conversation distance did he notice that the other bun was opening and closing his mouth. Right. He was being talked to. He had absolutely no clue what the other had said to him. Clearing his throat, he decided to do the normal thing and just ask the other to repeat himself.

“Sorry, what did you say?”
“I, uh, hi, I’m Hutch, welcome to the Imporium?”

He found the questioning tone at the end weird, but Astro wasn’t about to make the guy feel bad, so he just continued on.

“Hi, I’m Astro! I recently got an imp, but I’m not completely sure what I’m doing, so I came for some advice?”

Ah, that definitely brought some confidence into the other. Hutch brightened, clearly excited to talk about imps. Astro mentally yelled to get himself together and stop comparing the bun in front of him to celestial bodies.

“Right, yes, do you have the imp with you?”

Astro looked down to where the uniqor was seemingly trying to meld with his cardigan. It’s not particularly surprising Hutch hadn’t actually seen the small creature.

“Uh. He’s currently trying to become one with my cardigan. He’s a uniqor though, bit shy… very shy. I don’t know if imps can get anxiety attacks but if they can I think that’s what’s happening”

The imp tamer looked clearly worried at that, which Astro supposed was fair. He was also concerned about that, as well as the destroyed socks he still hadn’t bothered picking up from his floor. He really should clean up at some point, but hadn’t wanted to potentially bother the little sock destroyer by taking away his destructive conquests.

“Also he keeps chewing through my socks, which isn’t great, I prefer my socks with the one hole for the foot that they came with, also I don’t know why he’d want my socks, I’ve never eaten them myself but I don’t think they’d be particularly tasty, and I found him being chased by an impup, although I guess it’s more that he found me, I was just trying to warm up to do a workout, he crashed into me, that’s where his name came from ‘cuz I called him Meteor since those crash into things and he crashed into me-”

Astro decided that he may as well just let the usual flow of words happen, since it seemed Hutch was listening intently as he described exactly what happened after the wild imps invaded his room, so neither of them noticed Meteor slipping out of Astro’s hold until the loud crash of a cage falling over makes them whip their heads around to see-

“I think that’s the same impup that chased Meteor into my room, unless you have an orange one?”

“I don’t have any orange impups!”

Seeing Hutch rush after the two imps that seemed determined to knock over everything in the Imporium, Astro snapped into focus and remembered that this is a situation that calls for immediate action, rather than passive observation. Calling out Meteor’s name, Astro chased after the two imps as well, although looking back after the fact he probably would have helped more by actually just continuing to stay in place, as what followed was several minutes of the two buns running in circles trying to catch the overly slippery critters.

After tripping for the fourth time, Astro realised they weren’t really getting anywhere like this, so he grabbed Hutch as they were running past, and asked if there was some trap they could set up or food to tempt the imps with rather than having to risk colliding with the wall again.

“Ah, I, well, I actually have some boxes and some cake that I use to catch imps?”

Well, with the other option being to continue running in circles, the two of them gathered the materials, and soon had a box each on opposite sides of the store to drop on top of the destructive imps, Astro putting significant effort into not letting his thoughts wander as he carefully tracked where the imps were going and THERE!
Admittedly he could have used less force, but he was already severely embarrassed over the whole debacle and was considering if he’d ever be able to look the cute brown-haired bun that ran the place in the eye again. Speaking of which, said owner of the place came over to hold the box down.

“Thanks for the help”

“No, no, I kind of caused the mess, sorry, I should have kept an eye on Meteor instead of talking your ear off, and now the whole place needs cleaning, I’ll help but I’m so sorry”

Hutch hurriedly assured him it was fine and asked Astro to bring over a cage they could release the imps into, so that’s what he did, and the two sat on the floor looking over the now quiet impup and uniqor in the spacious enclosure.

“...So, uh, want help cleaning or do we need to do more with these two?”

“They… should be fine for now. I’d appreciate help while I calm the other imps down”

“Sure. I’ll pick up anything that fell”

A couple customers came in while they were cleaning, with some helping tidy the store while others just left when they saw that they were clearly occupied. By closing time, the Imporium barely looked like anything had happened, the only sign being that a couple things were slightly off where they had been before the chaos happened. During the time cleaning, Astro managed to learn from the pride-horned bun that Meteor needed a better hiding space within his home, as well as some treats to stop the small creature from going through his socks.

At least Astro did in fact get what he came for, including a new carrier for Meteor until the little guy got more used to public spaces. He did call a friend to pick him up and guide him home before leaving though, as he wasn’t sure he’d manage to talk himself out of doing his best impression of a blackout drunk and just passing out in a ditch rather than actually making his way back to his burrow. He’d set up times to come train with Meteor in the Imporium, so at least his most recent crush was still willing to be in his presence. He’ll take the positives.

Passing out on top of his soft, plush, wonderful bed that he’ll never take for granted again, Astro dreamed of colourful imps.