Chapter Text
Reader pov
You looked back at one of the vets currently working at the shelter, waiting for answers with a mix of nervousness and anger at whatever stranger had done that.
"Good news, it's not paint or dye, that red fur is their natural colour," the blond woman informed you, which was a first relief. "They're healthy even if a bit hungry, and we treated them for fleas along with the usual vaccines."
"That's good," you sighed with a little smile, before growing concerned again. "And the bad news ?"
"No chip, no tattoo, no collar or any identifying mark, but there are traces of magic on them," Tate stated bluntly. "Wouldn't be the first time a rich asshole paid for magic coloured kittens for their kid and abandoned them once they're no longer tiny and cute."
You clenched your jaw and glared at the counter. You had heard this story time and time again, but it never stopped breaking your heart. Magic users were not that rare, but their services tended to be expensive, so to think someone would pay a considerable price to alter a pair of cats' fur colour only to abandon them…
Well, suffice to say you would very much like to have a word with said someone.
"So what now ?" you asked Tate, already knowing the answer.
"They're put up for adoption in the shelter," she replied, and her eyes softened. "You know how things go."
You knew indeed. After all, you had worked at this shelter every summer for extra cash during your college years. And you also knew the chances that someone would adopt two adult male cats whose fur had been changed to crimson red then abandoned were slim to none. So you sighed loudly, already knowing your decision had been made the moment you had found them meowing and shaking from the cold in an alley as you walked back home from a meeting.
"I'll take them."
"You're sure ?" the blond vet asked gently. "They won't be like Bastet."
"They won't replace her," you acknowledged with a sad smile at the thought of your previous sweetheart of a cat. "But I miss having another presence with me. You know I'll take care of them."
"Alright then," she nodded. "Give me a moment to prep everything, and they'll be ready to go. You can take one of the carriers from the shelter and bring it back during the week."
"Thanks, Tate," you smiled. "You're the best."
The blond woman waved your compliment off, then disappeared backside to get the cats ready for transport, along with the necessary paperwork.
When she came back with two red cats sleeping in a carrier and a few forms to file, you had already decided on the names to give your two new companions. And so you made your way back home with Ares and Hades, thus continuing your little tradition to give god names to your cats.
-o-oOo-o-
Shanks pov
Shanks woke up feeling a bit dizzy, a bit hungry, but most importantly, warm.
Which was a definite improvment from the last time he had woken up.
Note to self, never piss off a sorceress by sleeping with her friends.
In his defense, Shanks had no idea having one-night-stands with several girls meant their powerful witch friend would use her magic to curse him and-
Shammy.
Shanks opened his eyes in a panic, and instantly realised his brother was next to him, still asleep, still a cat, but looking alive and well. Relief flooded his veins and he relaxed anew since they were still together. If his memories were correct, his twin had pissed off the same woman by rejecting or dumping several of her friends too.
And so she had cursed both of them, forcing them to live as cats for who knew how long.
But that specific problem quickly went to the back of his mind when Shanks started looking around curiously, since that environment looked very different from the alley they had been left in after being cursed, and did not look like any place he had been in his life. Shanks noted quickly that it was surprisingly big, with windows showing nothing but the sky, implying they were pretty high up in a building.
A couple doors and a corridor leading to what he assumed to be another part of the appartement, floor-to-ceiling windows showing a massive balcony, a wide kitchen space open on the living room they were in, the usual furnitures one could find in a home, yet of the kind of quality that contributed to scream the owner of the place had both a lot of money and simple tastes.
The most notable thing around, surprisingly, were the very numerous shelves on the walls, all of them filled with books.
Once he was done taking everything in, Shanks turned to his brother and started to hit his nose with his left paw in order to wake him up.
Shamrock blinked his eyes open and hissed at him after the second hit.
"What are you doing !?"
At least they could understand each other even as cats, small mercies.
"Look, we're in someone's home !" Shanks said excitedly.
His twin quickly looked around, then at the very comfy cat bed and blanket they were in and that Shanks could see himself nap on as long as they would be cats.
"Could be worse," Shamrock grumbled, which sounded like a low growl in this form. "But we need to escape and go find father to break that curse."
"Are you crazy ? The old man's going to kill us if he finds out we've been cursed by a pissed-off sorceress !"
"Only after he finds someone to turn us back into humans," his twin nuanced before stretching.
"Says you," Shanks snorted. "I don't think we can even leave this place, anyway."
"We have to try, or else-"
A noise of key turning interrupted his brother and they both got on their paws in instinct.
Then the door opened, and someone walked inside the appartment with several grocery bags. As soon as those were put down, the person closed the door with their foot, put down the bags, then removed their coat and other winter stuff to reveal a very pretty lady who turned toward them and smiled.
"Oh, you're awake, that's great."
"You're the one who took us from the alley," Shamrock said.
And now that he mentioned it, Shanks remembered it too. They had been freezing in the cold of the first day of December, and suddenly, someone with a gentle voice had come near them and gently picked them both to put them inside their warm coat to bring them somewhere else. Shanks beamed and jumped from the bed to reach the pretty girl and hug her, which he realised quickly was not going to be easy while being a cat.
"Aww, you remember me ?" she cooed and crouched, which allowed Shanks to put both forepaws on her left knee and bring his head closer to hers. "You're such a precious cutie."
And then she put her hands around his head and peppered kisses between his eyes and ears.
It felt nice.
Very nice.
Shanks let go entirely to enjoy her affection, and before he realised it, a low rumbling sound came from him, something he realised after a moment had to be a purr. The pretty girl chuckled, and let go after a moment to stand back up, which pushed Shanks to protest immediately at the loss of that wonderful feeling.
"It's okay, I'm just going to put all that away and then we can cuddle again, alright ?"
Shanks pouted, but sat on his ass with his tail curling around his paws and opted to stare at her instead. It was a good thing being a cat came with instincts about how to use that very different body. So he observed their saviour as she put things away, noted the lovely curve of her ass, her pretty eyes, her very nice figure, and once she left after a quick word saying she was going to change, Shanks could confidently affirm she was totally his type.
"You really are shameless," his twin sneered from the cat bed.
"Sounds like you're jealous because I got kisses from a pretty girl," Shanks retorted smugly.
"She's only affectionate with you because she thinks you're a cat."
"So what ? I still got kisses. You should try it, it feels fucking amazing," Shanks said happily.
"This is not the point, we have to get away from here and break that curse !"
"Sounds like you two have a lot to say," the pretty girl said as she came back to the living room with a smile before sitting on the sofa. "Feel free to explore your new home, okay ? I'm just going to stay here and watch something."
Exploring sounded nice, but the sight of a pretty girl in sweatpants and t-shirt laying on a sofa to watch something under a blanket was much more appealing to Shanks, and so he jumped next to her. Then, since she started to caress his back in a way that felt incredible, Shanks pushed his luck and splayed himself directly on her chest with his head resting on her soft, plushy, perfect breasts.
"Of course that's where you feel most comfortable," she chuckled.
"You have no idea," Shanks replied in a happy meow.
"Mmh, you're lucky your cute," she replied, and kept her gentle carresses and rubs on his fur. "Don't use your claws and we'll be good."
"You got a deal, sweetheart."
She turned the screen on to go on some streaming service, then started something that might be a cooking competition. Shanks was melting on her with how good the petting felt when a furious meow echoed in the room.
"SHANKS !"
Shanks ignored his brother and started purring.
"Get off her at once !"
Shanks purred louder.
"What's wrong, Hades ?" the young woman asked.
Shanks blinked his eyes back open, and saw the way she was looking worryingly at his twin, which had to mean…
The offended look on Shamrock's cat face was just too much and Shanks burst out laughing, or as close to it as he could while being stuck in a feline body. It was enough to make him roll out of his comfy spot and even fall from the couch and onto the rug under it. He could not believe this woman had decided to give his stuck-up brother the name of the greek god of hell, that was just too perfect.
-o-oOo-o-
Reader pov
You paused the cooking show you had chosen, then got up from the sofa. To your surprise, Ares looked like he was having a great time rolling on the carpet, but Hades looked as offended as you had ever seen a cat be, so you decided to get a little closer to him. You stopped when he tensed, and tried to smile as reassuringly as you could while offering him your hand to sniff.
"Hades is one of my all-time favourite gods," you explained gently, knowing a soothing voice did a lot to convey good intentions to animals even if they could not understand your exact words. "He's powerful and charismatic, quite handsome according to most tales, and even if he can appear cold at first, he's actually very caring once you get past his walls. Not to mention he's one of the only greek gods to be faifthul to his wife and the myth of him and Persephone is my personal favourite of this mythology. Well, actually it's tied with the myth of Eros and Psyche, but still."
Your words seemed to mellow the fluffy red cat, and by the time you were done with your little speech, he was only looking at you calmly, as if assessing you. But he made no move to get closer, and so you did not push.
"Take your time to get used to me, I won't force you," you promised.
Then a loud meow came from behind you, quickly followed by your second cat stepping next to you and putting his paws on your knees again with an expectant look on his face.
"Mmh ?" you asked as you scratched his chin, then understood. "Oh, your name is Ares. Greek god of war, and protector of women. I like him because despite being a hothead, he's one of the very few male greek gods to never have forced himself onto a woman. He's even the occasional lover of Aphrodite."
Ares looked positively delighted at that, and started to rub his face all over your hands, legs, belly, everywhere he could reach, and you let him do with pets and a little laugh.
"Oh, you're a cuddler, aren't you ?"
A resounding meow answered you, and you tentatively took him in your arms, which ended with Ares putting his paws on your breasts and rubbing his nose in your neck while purring up a storm. With how affectionately he behaved, you briefly wondered whether you should have named him Zeus instead.
You stood up to go back to the couch and pressed play to keep half-watching your show, with Ares happily clinging to you and Hades glaring from the cat bed. It seemed those cats had very different personalities, and you could only hope Hades would learn to like and trust you with time.
-o-oOo-o-
Shamrock pov
Shamrock was furious.
Mostly at the humiliating situation he was stuck in, and a bit at his brother for not doing anything sensible.
It had only been a few hours since this woman had brought them to her home to treat them like actual housecats, and Shanks was just playing along instead of trying to find a way out. The spell they were under prevented them from even trying to write letters or communicate in any way, something Shamrock had discovered the hard way after forgetting what he was doing a dozen times in a row when he tried to use various methods to tell her they were humans.
So they were stuck in a random appartment, with a complete stranger, no way to contact anyone, and Shanks did not even seem to care about it. Worse, his twin had spent most of his time so far clinging to the woman and behaving like a mindless fool.
Much to his regret, however, Shamrock could not bring himself to be angry at the aforementioned woman.
Not when she had saved them from the bitter cold of winter, taken them to a doctor vet, opened her home to what appeared to be abandoned cats, and treated them with kindness and respect, to the point of giving them the names of ancient gods. It was enough for Shamrock to do his best to keep a respectful distance between them instead of behaving like his twin.
"Alright," she said after the end of her episode and stretched her arms above her head. "I'm gonna take a shower and then I'll feed you, okay boys ?"
"Oh hell yeah," Shanks said from his spot on the couch.
"Don't even think of it, brother," Shamrock warned him.
"Oh come on, look how hot she is, don't tell me you don't want to see more !" his brother meowed.
While Shamrock could not deny the young woman was attractive and he would not have minded getting more intimate with her had he been human, the fact remained that she was unaware of their real identities. Not to mention that if she were to choose one of them, it would definitely be him and not Shanks, which meant his brother had no right to gaze upon her naked form.
"Knew it," his twin declared smugly when Shamrock took a little too long to answer, then trotted away toward the bathroom to follow her.
"Don't you dare !"
"Huh ? What's going on here ?" the young woman asked curiously when Shamrock put himself between the bathroom door and his brother with a warning hiss. "Oh, you don't want Ares to come in ?"
Thank the stars, you understood. Now make sure to close the door and-
"It's alright, Hades, the bathroom is safe for you two," she chuckled. "Just a bit steamy when I'm done. And it's not like seeing me naked matters to you two, anyway."
And she went in while leaving the door ajar.
Thirty minutes later, Shamrock was quite proud to have successfully managed to prevent his brother to go inside, despite Shanks being very determined about it. The young woman stepped out with nothing but a towel around her body, and quickly noticed them outside, which made her coo for some reason.
"Aww Hades, you're protecting my honour ? That's so cute of you !"
Shamrock blinked in surprise, but he could not prevent a feeling of smug pride going through him at her correct deduction and her praise. But then she crouched and presented her fingers to him again, which might work on a real cat but certainly not on him.
Except that Shamrock caught a whiff of interesting scents, and felt frustrated at the difficulty he had to identify them, which meant he got off his brother's back and came closer to her. After a few seconds, he managed to recognise the floral scent of a body wash and it scratched the curious itch in his brain.
Then she gently started to pet his forehead with just the right amount of pressure as she kept going along his spine, and Shamrock felt himself melt in pure bliss. The sensation was like the most heavenly massage he had ever received, rolling through all his muscles and bones, making him relaxed and content to a degree he had never experienced before.
More.
In his dozing state, this thought was the only one going through his blissed mind, respect and distance long forgotten.