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Jewel shook her head, ears flopping softly at the sudden movement. A shudder went down her spine as she pulled her shirt off, causing her fur to be brushed the wrong way. She felt clammy, dirty and disgusting after the undeniably long day she’d had. Jess, her Doberman roommate, had forced her along on one of her weekly hikes. Jewel didn’t mind hikes, mind you, but she preferred them when they weren’t through muddy forests filled with all sorts of creepy crawlers she didn’t care to mention. Jess had had the nerve to laugh at her misery when they had come across a particularly muddy path, filled with spiderwebs, low-hanging branches and god knows what else. She had called her a prissy indoor cat when Jewel had come face to face with a spider the size of her paw and had promptly proceeded to panic. When she had eventually made sure her heart was in her chest and not in her throat, Jess’ accusation had sunk in. Prissy indoor cat. With a sharp glare thrown at her roommate, Jewel had marched on forward without another word, much to Jess’ gleeful delight. In the end, Jewel had been the one to suffer the most anyway. She was prone to keeping her fur nice, enjoying the self-care that came with keeping it in good shape. The hike with Jess had completely and utterly ruined her morning fur-routine. Her tail was a sad thing behind her, the usually pristine fur now covered in mud, bits of pine cones and- was that spiderwebs?
Jewel sighed to herself, once again surrendering to the fact that it would take ages to get clean again.
With that happy thought, Jewel stepped under the hot spray of the shower, immediately letting out a sigh of satisfaction as the steaming water worked its way over her sore muscles. She wouldn’t deny that the hike had put a pleasant strain on her body, but she would eat soap before she admitted that to Jess. It would make the Doberman insufferable to know that she had been right to pull Jewel along on her crazy hiking routes.
Said Doberman had also been tasked with grocery and household shopping for the week. Which was most likely the reason to why Jewel didn’t recognise the fancy new shampoo bottle in the shower-shelf. The fancy packaging tickled Jewel’s ‘pleasantly-luxurious’ nerves and she didn’t look twice at the description before putting it to good use in removing the dirt from her fur.
~~
Jess blinked at the ceiling from her position in the sofa. Her roommate had been occupying their only bathroom for soon one and a half hours. As much as Jess had enjoyed making Jewel miserable while hiking the trail that would inevitably make you dirty enough for days, she would like to clean the worst grime off herself as well.
Just as Jess was about to fall into her most brooding state of impatience, a shrill, definitely cat-y scream echoed through the apartment. Jess flinched at the sudden noise, paws coming up to cover her sensitive ears. She heard quick, determined steps making their way towards the living room, towards her and she internally panicked. Whenever Jewel moved like that through the apartment, towards her, nothing good would come out of it.
“Jess.”
Jewel’s tone made her tense up, ears flattening to her head. She didn’t look in Jewel’s direction.
“Jess. I specifically told you ‘do not get the shampoo for curly fur’. What, in that statement, did you not understand?” Jewel’s voice was eerily calm. It reminded Jess of when her mother found out that she had done something incredibly stupid and now she had two choices. Own up to her mistake and make it right, or run. If she chose the latter one she would most likely be murdered in cold blood.
Jess dared a look over the backrest of the sofa. If she hadn’t been terrified of her roommate, she would have enjoyed the undeniably cute display of her half-naked in front of her. But, as it was, Jess would have to enjoy that later on. As of in the moment, Jess was trying desperately not to laugh. Her roommate, who’s fur was usually straight and gleaming with health, was curly. Not the kind of soft beach-wave curly. No, it was ‘I have just been through a tornado’-curly. Tufts of fur stuck out in every direction, making the cat look like she had been put in the drier and left there.
The cherry on top was her glare. Jewel usually had the talent of making Jess do anything with that look, but with how her roommate looked, fur bristling everywhere and tail looking like a toilet brush, Jess couldn’t take her seriously.
She laughed.
Jewel threw herself over her, claws threateningly unsheathed as a wrestling match worthy of its own tv-program broke out in the middle of their living room.
~
“You’re going to the store, right now. You’re buying me new shampoo, the one I usually use, then you’re gonna have to work this mess out with me,” Jewel eventually said, having wrestled Jess down on the floor, her face pressed against the carpet. Jess had a huge grin on her face and she could hear the smile in Jewel’s voice, loud and clear.
“Alright, Princess Purrs, I’ll get your damned shampoo if you get off me.”
~~
Jewel revelled in Jess’ miserable whine. She purred loudly, making her content known as her roommate fought to get her fur back to its usual straight smoothness.
“I thought you were kidding when you said fixing this would take ages,” Jess complained.
“I warned you. My fur doesn’t take lightly to being curly,” Jewel glances over her shoulder, studying Jess’ work on her tail. “It’s partly your fault for getting me in this mess, so you’re getting me out of it too.”
Jess grumbled something incoherent.
It took several more hours, but soon enough Jewel’s fur was mostly back to normal.
Jess threw the shampoo bottle for curly fur and never bought another one again.