PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XIX Part II

"Yolo," Brownie whispered before dropping the blankets, briefly distracting Coco in the moments she'd spend wrapping her paws around the bombay's shoulders. Brownie then began squeezing the cat so hard her arms were instantly pinned to her side, only allowing her elbows to bend- not that they were moving, the cat was stunned at the bold move.

"B-B-Brownie did you just drop the blankets?!" Coco stammered out in disbelief, her whole body stunned by what was happening.

Brownie wrapped more of her body around the cat, finding it was difficult, but possible to crane her muzzle around the bombay's neck, making her flush against Coco as the warmth of their hug began to sink in.

"Seriously? They were magically folded! I'd like to see you fold blankets THAT good, if you care so little about being tidy!"

"Oh my Dog Coco," Brownie began, squeezing her eyes shut as a single joyous tear ran down her face, "I'm hugging you right now, can you shut up about the stupid blankets?" she said sarcastically.

Coco wrapped her arms around Brownie, pulling her deeper into the hug. "I hate you so much!" she complained, voice growing teary with joy.

Brownie could tell the cat felt the fire striking between their hearts, filling their chests with warmth and happiness. Everywhere their clothing or fur made contact felt electric, like the area was growing numb afforded by the overstimulation of the hug.

Coco wedged her face into Brownie's shoulders, letting her muzzle press up against her jugular. Coco could smell the scent of alcohol and soot baked deep into the corgi's neck, the one place aside from her head and paws which was burnt by yesterday's events.

They could hear and feel each vein pulsing in the other's body, each pound of their hearts, and each shallow breath in equal measure as if the other's form was their own. The two were, however briefly, inseparable both in body, mind, and soul.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Mhmm!" Coco mumbled, nodding her head, which was still concealed by how harshly she was pressing her eyes and muzzle into the crease between Brownie's shoulders and neck.

"You sure?" Brownie whispered.

Coco lifted her head up, hugging Brownie still. "Yeah," she whispered back.

The two shared the embrace for a moment longer before Coco patted Brownie's back, telling the dog it was time to let go. The corgi gave an extra hard squeeze, then pried herself off of the cat, immediately bringing her paws up to her cheeks to cover her blush.

"Huh," Cujo said from his position in the open door frame. His eyes both stopped in their tracks by the display in front of him. The only thing moving was his mouth, and his arms as he crossed them together in confoundment.

Brownie put her paws on her hips. "What, have a problem you homophobe?" she sassed.

"Brownie," Coco said plainly, "here." Coco shoved the disorganized mess of blankets into the corgi's arms just as soon as she could hold them without fumbling them again.

"Alright I'll go. How long are you going to need?" Brownie asked, making her way towards the doorway.

"Oh, uhmm..." Coco scratched at her muzzle, "five minutes? Ten minutes?"

"Alright, I'll check up on you then," Brownie said cheerily, a happy smirk resting on her face.

"Oh ehhhh... Don't worry, I'll come down myself."

Brownie shrugged, "Alright!" Brownie nudged her way past Cujo. The golden shifted to the side, letting the shorter dog brush up against his bandana as she made her way out.

Once she was behind him, he turned to face Coco, and opened his mouth to speak.

"OH! I almost forgot- do you have a TV in this place?" Brownie interjected, poking her head past Cujo so she could see Coco. He appeared perturbed at the development, but stood stock still with a frown.

Coco frowned in thought. "No, we don't. Usually me and my brother just..." she contemplated for a good moment, then perked up in realization, "Oh Dog what do we do? We usually just... study, I guess. If we wanna do stuff we usually just play around with magic, or sleep."

"You just sleep?" Brownie asked, seemingly in disbelief.

"Brownie, sleeping is just-" Coco put her paws up in the air, showing off her pads in the same way Brownie had seen Rover do whenever he got excited, "SO nice. If I didn't have any responsibilities I'd want to just sleep all the time."

"That's adorable!"

"AAA, okay!" Coco exclaimed, flailing her paws around as she regained focus, "Brownie, Cujo wants to talk to me, so would you mind?"

"Oh! Sure! But before I do-"

"Brownie, seriously."

"Coco, seriously. Olive asked if we could play spin the bottle," the corgi said, a giggle already developing as she watched Coco's reaction.

Coco put her arms down and let them fall to her side, staring past Cujo and at Brownie in disbelief. "They what?!"

"Haha, yeah! Turns out they didn't know what it was - they just knew the name - but DOG could you imagine?"

Coco shivered, "Eughh, I'd rather not- with how dumb and serious everyone's being, something like that would just be a total disaster." She curled her lips, "But that is pretty funny."

"Hey I'd be alright with a few rounds of it," blood flowed to Brownie's cheeks as she spoke, "as long as it's just us doing a 1-v-1."

Coco immediately started blushing and putting on a comically angry expression as she brought her wand up 'threateningly'. "Brownie we are not the only ones in the room right now!"

Brownie could only smugly smile at Coco from behind Cujo, enjoying her reaction far too much.

"Aaaaa! Okay, go! Go or I'll toss you down the stairs," Coco exclaimed, gesturing for Cujo to enter the room.

Brownie had the time to wink at Coco before she grasped the door's handle and shut it with her magic.

Brownie immediately gave out a muffled protest from the other side of the door, "RUDE," although thankfully she didn't prod any further, and Coco immediately turned her attention to the extremely perturbed golden retriever.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Coco exhaled, turning around to grab her desk chair and gesturing for Cujo to take Angel's.