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"MAL BERTHA, HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS?!"
Evie throws her hands up, her voice echoing around the dorm room. Jay sits on the bed behind her, lips firmly shut and pointedly avoiding Evie's gaze.
"I spent hours researching how to reverse this and I come back to find you like this !"
Jay loops a hand around Evie's wrist and tugs her down beside him. He gently turns her so he can massage her shoulders. Once she's visibly relaxed, Jay chuckles and leans into her space.
"Are you gonna stop yelling now?"
"No," Evie huffs and gestures in front of her. "If Mal had been more careful-"
Jay snorts and shakes his head. "Aw c'mon babe, when has Mallie ever been careful?!"
Evie groans and buries her face in Jay's chest. He laughs, carding his fingers through silky blue tresses.
"We can reverse this. You've done your research, and we can always ask Uma if we can't. You can relax," Jay says softly, a twinkle in his gaze as he nudges Evie's shoulder, "besides, I know you've got outfit ideas already."
A rare blush creeps onto Evie's cheeks as she ducks her head. Jay pokes Evie's side, grinning as she squeaks and tries to shuffle further away. He loops an arm around her waist, keeping Evie close as she gives him a warning glare.
Jay holds his hands up, the tug of his lips showing how unapologetic he is, "C'mon Princess, you've gotta admit this is pretty funny; classic Mal."
Evie rolls her eyes, her gaze drifting back to Mal and she groans, expression instantly softening.
"There's going to be fur everywhere." she whines half-heartedly, biting her lip to suppress a smile as a tiny paw bats at her shoe.
Carlos hasn't moved from his spot, nestled in Jay's hoodie and his fluffy tail wagging every time he catches Evie's gaze. But there, gnawing at Evie's boot, is a kitten with easily recognisable bright green eyes and tiny fangs. As the light catches on Mal's fur, it almost shimmers in the light, flickers of purple in amongst the black coat. Why must Mal be irresistible even in this furry form?!
Jay's smile is still in place as he leans down to scoop the squirming bundle of fur into his arms. He winces as Mal purposely drags her claws against his palm, hissing at him with more force than necessary.
"We're going to have so much blackmail material." Jay cajoles in a sing-song voice.
He chuckles and lightly bops Mal's nose. Jay's teasing only stops when tiny fangs latch around his thumb and Mal is hastily shoved into Evie's lap. Evie raises an eyebrow, slowly bringing her hand towards Mal and letting it hover near her head. Mal nuzzles into Evie's touch, a low rumble of purrs shortly following.
"Seriously?!" Jay huffs, glaring down at Mal with a big pout.
If kittens could smirk, Evie is certain that's what Mal would be doing now.
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Jay vigantly waits in the corner of the dorm room, Carlos's camera carefully positioned and the red light blinking as the video starts.
Another second goes past and then Jay hears it, the soft padding of footsteps. It quickly morphs into louder padding and scrambling as a tiny blur of black zooms into the room, with a slightly larger (but still adorably small) ball of white and grey floof hot on her tail.
Jay clamps a hand over his mouth, body shaking from the laughter he desperately tries to hold in.
Mal scrambles to the bed in a panic, disgruntled meows escaping as Carlos bounds after her. Carlos’ tail swooshes back and forth, head tilted and blinking up at Mal with a literal puppy dog expression. Mal glares at him with full force, her fangs poking out as Carlos pads a fraction closer.
Seemingly unbothered, Carlos leaps onto the bed and pounces on Mal before she has the chance to escape. Mal hisses and lets out an almost human-like yelp, paws frantically batting at Carlos’s face as he nips at her neck. It doesn’t deter Carlos though, his tail wagging a mile a minute as he continues to relentlessly attack Mal.
Jay has to wipe the tears as he howls with laughter. He’s still giggling when Evie comes in, effortlessly plucking the wrestling furballs apart and scooping Mal into her arms as Carlos dashes over to Jay.
“Well, this definitely looks like your History of Heroes assignment.” Evie raises an eyebrow, a smirk dancing on her lips.
Jay rolls his eyes and waves his hand, “oh yeah, I love reading about how ‘brave’ they all were. Besides, this is way more fun.”
Evie hums contemplatively and gives Mal’s head a scratch before looking back up, smiling at the sight before her.
Jay’s attention has gravitated back to Carlos; who’s watching him with rapt attention. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small, bright yellow stress ball. Carlos’s tail thumps against the floor, his entire body wiggling as he bounces on the floor. Jay chuckles softly and pulls his arm back pretending to throw the ball. Carlos lets out a loud huff, staring back at Jay unimpressed.
Evie giggles, unable to stop her amusement at Carlos’s impatient whine. Jay tosses the ball and Carlos quickly darts after it, retrieving it in mere seconds. He trots back to Jay with the stress ball in between his teeth, dropping it on Jay’s foot and waiting just as eagerly as before.
Jay gives Evie a lazy grin and tosses the ball even further, the two of them watching Carlos bound after it with amusement. It goes back and forth with Jay throwing the ball in different directions, each time making it more of a challenge. Carlos yips happily, ducking and diving to catch the ball without breaking a sweat.
Click.
“What the hell-” Jay tears his gaze from Carlos just as Evie takes another photo.
“Perfect.” Evie coos sweetly, bringing her phone closer to Carlos, “you’re going to look so good in the sweater I’ve made.”
Evie takes at least a dozen more photos, clapping and fawning as Carlos sticks his tongue out and tilts his head at just the right angle. It takes Evie several minutes to hear the insistent mewling below her. Mal kneads her paws over Evie’s leg, repeating the action again and again.
Evie rolls her eyes and places a hand over Mal’s paws, “M, stop it, you’re going to ruin my leggings.”
Mal mewls louder and pushes at Evie’s hand.
“You’re so needy.” Evie sighs dramatically, slipping her phone back into her pocket and letting her hand rest on Mal’s back.
Evie waits for a few seconds, shaking her head as Mal scrapes her claws across her leg in warning. She laughs softly and resumes her slow stroking up and down Mal’s back.
Mal purrs loudly, eyes fluttering shut under Evie’s gentle touch.
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“Jay, it’s not funny!” Evie hisses, smacking Jay’s chest.
He smirks and leans down to pat Carlos’s head, “Good boy, Carlos.” Jay stage-whispers, ducking as Evie moves to swat his head.
Carlos licks Jay’s hand and lays his head on the shoe that once belonged to Chad. It wasn’t Jay’s fault Chad happened to be in Carlos’ sights, or that he was too busy laughing at Mal spitting a furball right in Doug’s face to pay attention to Carlos. But the sight of a tiny puppy Carlos racing off with Chad’s shoe was totally worth Evie smacking Jay’s head.
Which is why they were currently hiding by the Enchanted Lake, Carlos curled up around the remains of Chad’s shoe and Mal sitting beside Evie, her spellbook open in front of them.
Mal meows quietly and nudges the book with her paw. Evie smiles indulgently and leans down to flip to the next page. She presses a quick kiss to the top of Mal’s head and then sets her gaze upon Jay.
“We don’t need anyone telling Fairy Godmother about this.” Evie explains and gives Jay a pointed stare, “and the potion is going to take another 6 hours to brew.”
“So, we can have fun until then,” Jay sing-songs, sitting up suddenly and rummaging in his backpack. “Aha! I think this is the perfect place for a fashion show.”
He pulls out two Evie originals with a victorious grin and waves them in front of Evie’s face. “You know you want to.”
Evie bites her lip and lets her gaze drift from the outfits to the two bundles of fluff beside her, and then back to the outfits. She had spent all morning crafting the perfect outfits.It would be a shame to waste them. Rolling her eyes at her own predictability, Evie holds out her hand and practically snatches the outfit she’d made for Mal.
A black and purple sleeveless waistcoat, made with a soft pleather, and with tiny studs around the collar. On the back were tiny dragon wings protruding out, the metallic purple thread shimmering in the sunlight. Surely Mal couldn’t be annoyed about that.
Jay looks at the outfit for Carlos, a cosy white and red striped sweater that is quite possibly the softest fabric Jay has ever felt. Across the white stripes were little black pawprints that met in the middle to make up the shape of crossbones.
Evie quickly lifts Mal up, gently shushing the kitten as she mewls in protest. Mal squirms in Evie’s hold as Evie slips the waistcoat over tiny paws. Jay can’t contain his cackling when the wings on Mal’s waistcoat flutter in the wind causing her to jump; spinning around as she tries (and fails) to bite the offending objects.
Carlos pads over to Mal and nudges her wings with his nose. Mal whines directly into Carlos’s face and turns smacking his nose with her wings. Mal flashes him a toothy grin and nods her head to Jay. Carlos whirls around just as Jay slips the sweater over Carlos’s floppy ears. Carlos pokes his head out, grumbling lowly as Jay readjusts the sweater and pointedly ignores the puppy dog eyes.
“Aw Princess, you’ve outdone yourself.” Jay grins looking ironically like the cat who got the cream.
Evie’s cheeks flush a baby pink and she sits back to admire her work. Jay reaches into his pocket, sneakily trying to retrieve his phone. Carlos spots his motion instantly, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Mal shifts her attention from Carlos to Jay, her eyes honing in on the flash of Jay’s camera. Carlos barks loudly and hastily backs away from Jay’s hand. Mal hisses at Jay, face morphing into utter betrayal when Evie’s camera clicks beside her. Carlos barks again and sprints away at full speed, zooming past Jay and diving through the bushes. Mal looks at Jay with an almost challenging glare and then she’s racing after Carlos, wings fluttering rapidly behind her.
Jay scrambles to his feet, cursing under his breath as he races after them. “Get back here!”
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It’s well into the evening when the four return to the boy’s dorm. Evie is still plucking leaves from Jay’s hair whilst Mal and Carlos trail behind, bumping into one another as they walk.
Jay immediately collapses on his bed, flopping down face first. Evie sits beside Jay, gently rubbing his back.
“You tried your best Jay.”
He grumbles into the mattress and exhales loudly. Evie squeezes his arm, nudging Jay until he relents and flips over.
“Having a puppy as a boyfriend is hard work.” Jay huffs and levels Evie with a pout.
“You weren’t so sullen when your boyfriend was marking his territory on Harry's hook.” Evie sings mockingly.
Jay raises an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Well, I saw you laughing when Mal scratched Audrey's bag."
Evie shakes her head, unable to hide her smile "That was pretty funny."
Jay chuckles and rests his head on Evie's shoulder. "We should start an Instagram for them."
“We can’t!” Evie snorts and shakes her head, "Mal wouldn't speak to me again."
“You’d finally get some peace and quiet.” Jay sniggers, lips curled up into a teasing grin.
Evie pushes his shoulder. “You’re incorrigible,” she says through her laughter.
Jay gives her a proud smile and leans back against her, getting comfortable with his head resting against her chest. Evie drapes her arm around Jay’s waist and lets her chin rest against his shoulder. He gestures to the opposite bed, where Carlos and Mal lie. Carlos is pinned down, whining pitifully as Mal kneads at his back licking his head and refuses to move.
"They're kind of adorable," Jay says softly, "Are you sure we should change them back?"
"As adorable as they are, I miss cuddling with my human girlfriend." Evie sighs looking across at the kitten with a longing smile.
Jay hums thoughtfully and nods his understanding. They both know he misses Carlos, too. Carlos’ whining has long ceased, and when Jay and Evie look over, their hearts warm at the sight. Mal and Carlos curled up together, both sound asleep and clearly tuckered out from their day of mischief.
"I guess you're right." Jay whispers, his smile gets wider and he starts to chuckle, "y’know Mal's gonna be so pissed when she sees the video I sent in the group chat."