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"Oh no."
The skittering of claws over hardwood floors.
"No no no."
A hiss.
"Go away."
A sting of claws against their back.
"Shit."
A trip on the rug.
Another sting of claws along his arm.
Black.
When Acho next awoke, he was back in his house. The purple duvet lay slightly crumpled underneath him, the wool scratching slightly on his bare skin. Fairy lights flickered faintly in his vision.
He'd died.
They weren't surprised, not really. Not when the cat was that big. Honestly, they had no idea what Scott put in that stupid potion, but there was no way it was something that was supposed to be in a potion.
An image of the cat flashed in his mind, large and looming, and then again, small and sneaking under counters and shelves to swipe at them.
They're not even really sure why they were all downstairs today. Usually the only time a lot of them went down at the same time was for pantry runs, and they'd done one with Bek, Scott and El that morning.
They sighed. They really did need to get up. The other rats would come to check on them soon, and if they weren't at the office, the others would get worried.
An ache spread through their back and arm as they pushed themself up on the bed. There were angry red marks running up his arm, providing an ugly contrast to their purple fur. It was... Not nice to look at.
He ignored the sting and pushed himself to his feet, trying to pretend his eyes weren't watering at the pain. He was fine. It was just a few scratches; they were already healed.
The trapdoors creaked as he slipped into the makeshift chicken pen, a few perking up from their laps around the space at the noise. Most stayed curled in corners, bundled together in the piles of loose wheat and hay Acho had borrowed from Scott.
He reached a paw into his pocket and scattered a few seeds across the floor in front of him. The baby chicks were first there, tripping over their own feet to get to them. It always warmed his heart a little to watch them eat, flapping their wings slightly in happiness.
A slight nip on his leg brought his attention to the bird lurking at his feet, sniffing his trousers. One of the original Tinies. They were the only ones with large brown markings across their wings, with all the other chickens being fully white or fully brown. Acho crouched down, holding out a small pawful of seeds. Tiny Two happily took them, cocking his head at Acho when they were all gone. A plea for more. Acho chuckled and shook their head. They wouldn't be fooled.
There was a muffled laugh from outside, followed by a more muffled giggle. Will and Martyn, he guessed. They were probably taking a shortcut downstairs, but that didn't stop his heart from jumping slightly in his chest.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a beam of distant lantern light falling into the chicken space. It was gone almost as soon as it came, replaced by Bek standing in a pile of hay. She was frowning down at her feet, obviously not having expected to land in hay.
"Uh…"
"Oh!" She looked up, smiling slightly at the sight of Acho, Tiny Two trying to climb up onto his lap. "Hey. I didn't… notice you there."
"I guessed. You wanna go outside?" He gestured to the trapdoor, nudging Tiny away for what felt like the hundredth time. That damn chicken.
"We could do. I don't mind." She paused for a moment. "Your arm looks sore."
Acho hummed slightly, suddenly grateful they hadn't moved yet. Their paws automatically busied themselves with fishing out a few more seeds and scattering them around. Bek's gaze was still burning into his skin.
"It's not that bad," he said, voice quiet.
"I'm not gonna lie, Acho, it looks bad."
"It's fine."
"Acho."
They met Bek's eyes as they settled into a sitting position on the floor. Tiny Two immediately clambered up onto his lap, letting Acho gently stroke his head.
"I'll be fine, Bek. Honestly."
She finally stepped out of the pile of hay, making her way to sit down next to him. He watched her as she did, the scarf around her neck falling off one of her shoulders. A baby chicken pecked gently at the tassels hanging from the end.
Bek didn't say anything else. The silence sat between them – not heavy or uncomfortable like Acho was used to, though. This was gentle. It was the same sort of silence he usually settled into by himself, or with the chickens.
They watched as Bek scooped up one of the chickens in her paws, lifting it to eye height. She screwed her eyes shut and frowned as it pecked gently at her nose, but Acho could see the small glint of happiness in her eyes when it pulled away again.
"Do they ever get too noisy for you?"
"No. I like it here. It's quiet." He smiled down gently at Tiny Two in his lap, now fast asleep. "The rattic can get a bit… much, sometimes."
Bek hummed in agreement. "I go to El's gallery when it gets too much. I swear she's cast some sort of magic in there, it's almost dead silent when you're by yourself."
"I'm not surprised you go to the gallery. Waiting for El to show up, maybe?" He smiled at the small blush on Bek's cheeks.
"Actually, we're, um… we're going on a date soon."
"You're- A date?!" Acho turned slightly to face Bek, ignoring the annoyed clucks from Tiny Two. He'd settle down again.
"Yeah."
"Well, you can't just leave it there. What sort of date?"
"A picnic, I think."
"...You think?" Acho raised an eyebrow, smiling. "You're telling me you're finally going on a date with El after you've been pining over her for months and you don't even know what you're doing on the date?"
"Well– in my defence, I got… distracted. And kind of overwhelmed. I didn't expect her to actually say yes."
"Oh, Bek, what are we going to do with you?"
Bek mimicked his words in a high pitched voice, sticking her tongue out. Acho chuckled, resuming his stroking of Tiny Two as the silence settled over them again.
It was broken this time by familiar voices and laughs as the trapdoors opened, followed by the familiar figures of Scott, Owen and Apo dropping into the chickens' space.
"Oh, this is where all the chicken sounds were coming from? I thought I was going crazy," Apo said quietly.
"Hey." Owen smiled at the pair. "We've decided we're gonna get the goth girl to help us fix the cats, if you guys wanna come help us find her?"
"Yeah, course," Bek said, lifting the chicks off her lap and standing to follow them out. She smiled at Acho as she did. Her focus seemed to immediately shift to, unsurprisingly, taking the piss out of Owen. "As long as you don't get us caught almost immediately, yeah, Owen?"
Acho watched her climb out of the room, followed by Owen and his loud protests. Scott shook his head affectionately, right on Owen's tail.
Apo stayed put, one hand in the pocket of their trousers, watching Acho stroke Tiny Two with a small smile. There was something… sad, almost, behind it.
"You feeling okay?" he said quietly, leaning against the wall a little. Acho gave them a small smile.
"Bit of an ache, but I'll be fine." Apo nodded, accepting the answer quicker than Bek had. Maybe because there was a bit more honesty behind it this time.
"Well, if you need anything, you can ask me. I know cat scratches can hurt like a bitch."
"Thank you," Acho said, warmth blooming in his chest.
"I'll see you downstairs, yeah?"
"Yeah. I'll be down in five."
He watched Apo go, waiting until all he could hear was the chickens before letting his shoulders relax. They'd all been spooked by the sudden noise, and now most of them had woken up and were roaming around. Acho really needed to get a bigger space for them.
After a few more minutes of watching the chickens peck up loose seeds and nudge the hay around, they lifted Tiny Two off their lap and stood, not without protest. A sharp nip at their paw showed him Tiny Two's true thoughts of being awoken from his sleep. Acho shook their paw out in a futile attempt to get rid of the pain and pulled a face at Tiny Two.
If only chickens understood rats pulling faces at them.
As soon as he opened the trapdoor, he was swept into a conversation with Martyn and Will – something about milk, that he was sure was probably some remnant from the night Will spent as a cat, but he wasn't going to mention that. Instead, he just let the conversation carry him down to the goth girl's room, laughing along at his friends' bickering.