Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Zoey, you know how you always wanted a cat?”

Zoey’s eye lit up as she jumped off the couch like a kangaroo.

“You got me a cat!”

“Kind of…”

Rumi glanced at Mira, who looked suspicious. She wasn’t entirely sure how this would go over, but she felt like she owed it to Jinu.

“What did you do?” Mira asked. “Please tell me you didn’t adopt some weird, exotic animal.”

“Heh,” Rumi said. “About that—“

“Oh my god, you got me a cheetah,” Zoey said, her smile growing to the point that it was unsettling.

“Close,” Rumi said. “Just don’t freak out.”

“I’m already freaked out,” Mira deadpanned.

“I’m not freaking out at all!” Zoey squealed.

They followed Rumi to her room. With a deep breath, she opened the door, revealing the giant blue tiger and the three-eyed bird that had taken up residence there. Both girls stopped in their tracks, mouths open. Whatever they had expected, it wasn’t that.

Zoey regained her speech first.

“OH MY GOD, IT’S SO CUTE!”

She dove at the tiger, jumping onto its back and burying her head in its blue fur.

“I’m so happy right now,” she muttered in a muffled voice.

Mira gave Rumi a glare.

“You just adopted a pair of demons? What if they’re vicious?”

They both looked at the vicious demons, one of which was getting ear scritches from Zoey and letting out a room-shaking purr.

“Okay,” Mira said. “Probably not dangerous. But still. Why?”

“They were Jinu’s pets,” Rumi said, looking down at her hand as if expecting her sword to be in it. “After he…did whatever he did, they came to my place. And just kind of stayed. So I figured, why not adopt them?”

Mira sighed. The bird fluttered over to them, landing on Rumi’s shoulder and giving Mira an exasperated look that almost mirrored her own.

“I do like the bird,” Mira conceded. “I guess we can keep them. If we don’t, I think Zoey is going to kill us all in our sleep.”

Rumi wrapped her in a hug, causing the bird to take flight again with an indignant squawk.

“Thanks, Mira! I knew I could count on you.”

“Thank you, Rumi!” Zoey said. “I’m so happy I could die. Who’s the cutest little demon kitty? It’s you, yes, it’s you.”

The tiger purred again before proceeding to sit on her. A single hand clawed its way out, giving them a thumbs up.

“I’m fine,” Zoey said weakly. “I don’t need to breathe.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t suffocate,” Rumi said. “You won’t regret this, Mira.”

“I’d better not,” Mira grumbled.

But she always knew it was too late. There was an uncontrollable urge for her to pet the tiger. Oh well.

She’d always wanted a cat anyway.