They continued along the path until Ronan heard the most minute of rustlings in the bushes. He threw his arm out and raised a finger to his lips.

They stepped back just in time to not be knocked over by a scrabbling Emrys. He had a lap full of kittens and one incessantly licking at his face.

“Ger off!” He giggled as he tried not to get a kitten tongue in his mouth.

“Emrys!” Edith exclaimed in a shockingly good imitation of Minji Lloyd. He hurriedly got up and placed the kittens on the ground. And he placed the kittens on the ground. And he placed the kittens on the ground.

It seemed like no matter how many times Emrys plucked one of them off of his clothes and plopped it on the ground, there was always another one scrambling to take its place.

“How many kittens are there?” Edith whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

“There were eight, now there’s six.” Ronan whispered back.

“Oh. But it looks like there’s way more than that?” Edith said confusedly.

“Fred their mom is also there, so is Jambo their gruncle-dad and Timothy their double cousin.” He said as he watched Emrys lose the battle against kittens. Edith stared at him.

“I’m... not even going to ask.” She said firmly.

“Good choice.” He snorted.

“Are either of you going to help me?!” Emrys shrieked as one of the kittens got a little too close to his sensitive areas.

“Nope.” They chorused.

Emrys grumbled but trudged off to the stream, which immediately got the kittens to run away. The kittens immediately found the new targets so they also bolted to the stream. He motioned Edith to go behind Emrys.

Emrys squinted at them. “Why are you being so- ack!” He shrieked and squirmed. Ronan took that as his cue to shove the frogspawn down his shirt. Emrys frantically unbuttoned his shirt and did an odd hop-jump-wiggle combo.

“Evil! Evil!” He shrieked. Ronan cackled, even after Emrys hip checked him and sent him sprawling into the stream. Edith just slunk out of range of any hips. Coward.

Emrys managed to brush off all of the frogspawn on his chest and pulled a handful out of his back pocket. Ronan scrabbled backwards as Emrys reached for his face.

“That’s enough.” Edith said firmly as she grabbed Emrys’ shoulder. “Both of you have gotten a good one in. Let’s look at the kittens.”

Ronan sighed and went back to the moderately dry land. Emrys looked almost pitiful with a handful of frogspawn and no face to shove it in. Almost.

“Just put it in the water.” Edith sighed. Emrys pouted but obliged.

Ronan and Emrys plopped down onto the wet grass, neither caring if they got dirty since they were both already quite grimy. Edith, who somehow managed to remain high and dry after the whole ordeal, was not so keen. She kneeled down but quickly stood back up once her knees got wet. She fidgeted with the fabric of her overalls and seemed to settle on hovering over them.

“So half of them are boys, half are girls.” Ronan told them, “My mom’s friend already claimed all the boys so don’t get too attached.” Ronan threw a knowing look towards Edith, who sniffed and looked away dramatically.

“This one?” Emrys mumbled as he tried to avoid the same kitten licking his mouth again.

“Female. The one in your lap with a white dot on her chest is too.” Ronan pointed out, “Here, this one is the last female.” He said as he handed over the fluffy kitten who was trying to make a nest in his lap to Edith.

Edith’s eyes widened to an extent he wasn’t aware was possible. She carefully cradled the kitten to her chest and cooed when the kitten cried.

“How old are they?” Edith asked softly.

“Less than a month. Jiwoon said their eyes start changing colour at around a month and theirs are still very blue.” He said. Edith hummed as she tilted the kitten’s head up.

“Aw, look! Little fangs!”

“Their father is also their great uncle. There’s bound to be some... oddities.” Emrys piped up.

“Yes, I know. I’m not an idiot.” Edith sniffed, “Anyways. Ronan, how’s Jiwoon?”

Ronan grimaced, “Our brothers are the same age and act the same way.” He said diplomatically. He was not comfortable talking about such things in front of Emrys. Their friendship just wasn’t like that. Close, but not in the way he was close to Edith.

Her face pinched for a second before it became completely smooth. It was always little creepy when she did that, he wasn’t going to lie.

She gasped dramatically, “Oh! I forgot to ask, are you guys going to the all boy’s school in town?”

“Nah, we’re both going to the big one a town over. It has better facilities and doesn’t need to share teachers between schools, apparently. Our parents picked it. I think it’s co-ed.” Emrys said.

“Oh thank god. You know one of my dad’s cousins teaches at the boy’s school and she is a piss-poor-“

Emrys shrieked and she trailed off. He plucked the female kitten out of his lap, which was a bad idea since the kitten was mid-pee and showed no signs of stopping. Ronan snatched the kitten out of Emrys’ hands and put her down with Fred. Emrys hopped up to assess the damage and Ronan plucked the other female kitten who was clinging on for dear life off of Emrys’ shoulder. He held her tight to his chest.

“I- I- what the hell?” Emrys muttered as he ran his less dirty hand through his hair.

“Maybe get in the stream?” Edith said worriedly. He could also tell she was highly amused but trying to hide it. Emrys immediately dashed back into the stream and dove head-first into the shallow waters.

While Emrys was sufficiently distracted, Edith sidled up to Ronan. “Say, do these kittens have names?” She asked him innocently.

“We got our naming privileges revoked after Orla tried to name her guinea pig ‘Yogsothoth the Destroyer.’ I still blame you for that one, by the way.” He said solemnly.

“Yeah, fair. But there’s no rule against me naming you...” She chirped as she picked up the piss culprit. “Hmm... I think Squid would be marvelous!”

She clearly said it too loud, as Emrys let out a loud wail while he was scrubbing at his pants.

“It’s final.” Ronan said smugly. Edith cackled evilly. Emrys whimpered pathetically.

---÷---

“Oh, please mom? You said you would get me a cat! Please?” Edith whined. She gave her mother her best puppy eyes. Ronan thought the effect was severely diminished by the streak of mud she had on her cheek. Emrys had been able to catch her while she was distracted and she never noticed. Ronan probably should have informed her, but he was more than a little annoyed that they were filthy while she remained pristine.

“I meant one, not two.” Her mother said sceptically.

“Oh, but don’t you know that cats don’t do well on their own? They need a friend!” Edith said pitifully. Her mother looked torn and confused.

Emrys was whining to his own mother on the other side of the kitchen. He was pulling off the pitiful child act much better. He was soaked and shivering, though Ronan knew he was completely faking it. He held the kitten that loved licking him close to his chest and pouting at his own mother. Ronan’s own mother was quietly conferring with Mrs. Lloyd. He couldn’t tell what they were talking about but it seemed to be going well. Mrs. Lloyd beckoned over Ms. Eld and they huddled in a corner where he couldn’t see their faces or reactions.

Ronan, Emrys and Edith huddled in their own corner.

“The puppy eyes were stellar, I think it’s going well.” Ronan whispered encouragingly like he was their soccer coach. “Good job with the guilting, Edith.” Edith looked conflicted but beamed when the unnamed kitten gave out a little purr.

The three of them stared at their mothers as the discussion got more heated. Ronan realised he really should have remembered that his mother and Edith’s mother did not get along before convincing Edith and Emrys to keep the kittens. To be fair, he only gave them a little nudge before they were squabbling to be the first one to the phone to dial their respective mother’s number.

“So we’ve come to a consensus.” Mrs. Lloyd said intimidatingly. She certainly wasn’t doing it on purpose, Ronan was just more than mildly scared of her.

His mother glared at Edith’s mother when she thought no one was looking. Ronan gulped.

“You can have the kittens.” Edith’s mother said. He could see the other’s eyes widen but before they could say anything she continued, “But not yet.”

The three let out a long, drawn out sigh. It consisted of a mixture of feelings- annoyance, frustration, anger...

“Now, don’t get too huffy. It’ll take another three weeks until they’re fully weaned.” Mrs. Lloyd consoled.

They paused, then Edith and Emrys cheered and hugged their mothers.

Ronan smiled. Making others happy felt really, really good.