Hey guys! So we have an early update this week because of my results and I wanted to celebrate. Basically, in Ireland, we have the Leaving Certificate which determines whether or not we get into college. Courses give out a certain number of points, and if you get more than the points they state, you can get in. Points are based off your grades; if you get a H1, you get 100 points, if you get a H2, you get 88 points, and so on down to H8, where you get 0 points. Six subjects count towards it, so you have a maximum of 625 points (if you do Higher Level Maths and get over a H5, you get 25 extra points). Last year, you needed 420 points to get onto the course I want to do (creative writing BA), and I just got my results. I got a H3 in Home Economics, Business Studies, History, and French at 77 points each, and a H4 in English and Irish at 66 points each. I also got a distinction in LCVP at 66 points. I'm planning on having my English paper re-checked so that might go up but I got 440 points. I also applied for performative points, where you send  in a portfolio of your work and if you're chosen, you can get 40 points, and I got that, so I got 480 points in total. I'm honestly delighted with it because I was so scared that I wouldn't get in and would have to repeat the year. So because of good results, I'm celebrating with an early update! This chapter is relatively fluffy so I hope you enjoy! Beware, it's un-betaed because I sent it in late and didn't want to badger Riley today because it's also her results day. Anyway, enjoy!

CW: Slight abandonment, injured animal, scratching, anxiety and mental healthy issues

Malik hummed as he typed. He wasn't on an article at the moment - just writing an email to a friend he had made at Mehi's mosque. Or... their mosque now, he supposed. He had gone twice now and had no intentions of stopping. Ryou was slaving over his last day of study before his final exam and was practically reduced to tears by his book earlier; hence why Malik and Mehi had started working with him on their own things. It helped him focus.

Ryou ran a hand through his hair and tugged it. "Okay... Okay, I think I know this."

"Yeah?" Mehi looked up from the work out regime she was drawing up for one of her clients. "Need one of us to test you on it?"

"I'll do it." Malik set aside his computer. Mehi was actually working, so it made more sense. She nodded and ducked back down to look at the paper as he took Ryou's book. "What am I testing you on?"

Ryou sighed. "The same shit as earlier."

Malik tried not to smile. Ryou had completely lost all sense of formality since his last few days of study had start it, and Malik couldn't help but find it amusing when the former had entirely refused to swear around him prior to that. "Right. Give me all of the quotes that you can remember."

"Which act?" Ryou pressed. He needed the specifics, and Malik kept forgetting. Without the specifics, he floundered.

"Act One."

Ryou launched into his memorised monologue of quotes that he had probably picked at random. His brow was furrowed and he kept reaching up to rub his forehead when he paused. They had convinced him to take off his binder earlier when he had been struggling to breathe through tears of frustration, and now he was wearing a sports bra under a baggy t-shirt and a baggy sweater. Even still, he had sat hunched over and tugged at his clothes for half an hour before easing into it. He was breathing easier now, and Malik hadn't seen him wince in an hour.

"You got it." Malik shook his head as Ryou finished. Ryou reached for the book. "I think you're done for the moment, honey."

Ryou took his book back. "No, I need to write out a notes sheet and then a flashcard for before the exam. It'll help me remember it more."

Mehi closed her notebook. "Ry, I'm proud of you, but Malik's right. You need a break. Even just twenty minutes."

"I'm fine." Ryou picked up his pen. "Look, if I keep going, I can get this out of the fucking way and relax for the end of the evening. It'll be harder to get back into it if I stop."

"I know, but it's been nearly three hours." Malik put his hand over Ryou's page. "Please, honey. An episode of One Day At A Time or something. Then you can go back to it."

Ryou just shook his head. "This shouldn't take more than an hour. Then I'll stop for the night and cook-"

"I'll cook tonight." Malik stood up. "You just get that done."

Ryou gave him a grateful smile and turned back to his notebook. He was already writing out the thirty seven quotes that he needed for his test. Malik sighed and made his way into the kitchen, pulling out some quorn beef and taco shells. He turned on the oven and began slicing vegetables as it heated. When he put the taco shells in, he fried up the quorn, followed by the vegetables. He would leave the sauce on the side in bowls - Bakura couldn't eat sauce. He pulled the shells out, dished the vegetables and quorn into a large bowl, and placed them on the table, followed by smaller bowls of diced lettuce, tomatoes, and sauces.

He ducked back into the room. Bakura wasn't back yet, but he could eat whatever leftovers there were in a sandwich if he was too late. "Dinner's ready." Ryou was still writing. "It's been over an hour, honey. Come on."

"One sec..." Ryou stabbed a full stop onto the page. "Done. Can one of you test me on this before dinner?"

"No, Ryou, it's on the table," Mehi protested, closing her notebook. "We'll test you after dinner."

"But if you do it now, I can take my break, look over it again after dinner, and get you to test me again," Ryou bargained. "Come on - please. I need to know this."

An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Malik had hoped that force would be a hot meal, but it turned out to be Bakura shouldering the door open with tears running down his cheeks. He had one arm inside the body of his jacket, and the other holding the body closed. "I-I-I couldn't leave it, and it was just- it was just there an-and I- it could have died-" Ryou ran over to Bakura and tried to wrap his arms around him, but Bakura shook his head and pulled away. "No, you- you could scare it and-"

Malik closed the door gently. "Bakura?" Mehi's voice was calm and seemed to ground him a little. He looked up at her, eyes shiny and still watering. "What are you talking about?"

Bakura sniffed and opened his jacket. Inside was a small fabric shopping bag with a kitten's head poking out. Malik stared at it. "It was- it was behind the dumpster outside the theatre- it's leg's h-hurt, and I didn't- it could have died in the heat-"

"Hey, it's okay," Ryou soothed. He reached up and ran his fingers through Bakura's hair. "It's okay."

Bakura shook his head and stumbled over to the couch. He gently set the kitten down. It looked up at them with bright blue eyes. Its coat was matted and brown with mud, but around its eyes were circles of golden fur.

"We need to ring the landlord," Mehi murmured, crouching down. She waited until the kitten looked at her before blinking very, very slowly. When her eyes were open again, she reached out her hand and let the cat sniff it. "I think our lease said she's fine with cats, but we need to double check."

"What for?" Malik frowned. When the cat stopped sniffing Mehi's hand, she tickled under its chin.

"Well if we're going to keep it-"

"What? No we- we can't just-" Bakura shook his head. "It could have an owner- or- or-"

Malik knelt down in front of Bakura and took the latter's hands in his. "Bakura, you need to breathe. Okay? Just look at me and breathe." Bakura met his gaze, but his breath was still coming out in rough heaves. "Deep breaths, honey. With me, okay? In, two, three..." Bakura held his breath. "And out, two, three, four, five." They repeated the pattern a few times until Bakura's breath evened out. "Now try again."

Bakura took one more deep breath. "We can't keep it - its owner could be worried about it, or-" He shook his head. "We need to get the chip read and-"

"It's okay," Ryou soothed. "We can give the poor thing some food while we eat and drive it up to the emergency vet later on. If it has a chip, we'll bring it home. Okay?"

Bakura reluctantly nodded. Mehi scratched the kitten behind its ears. "We can't just leave it if it's not chipped though."

"But some people just don't chip them and-" Bakura's breath was speeding up again.

"We'll put up posters for a while," Ryou assured him, "all around the area you found it in. Now let's get some food." Now that he was preoccupied with Bakura, studying was the last thing on his mind.

"Should we wash it?" Malik asked. It seemed to find it hard to move in the mud.

Mehi shook her head. "It might not like being picked up."

"Still..." Malik pursed his lips. He didn't like to leave the kitten uncomfortable.

Ryou disappeared into the kitchen as Mehi looked up at him. "I've been around cats for most of my life - trust me. It's fine; we just need to bring it to the vet later."

Bakura was the one to nod. He was hunched over, small, with tear tracks still staining his cheeks though he had stopped crying. "Alright."

The kitten looked up as Ryou returned with two small bowls and mewled. Ryou smiled and set them down on the floor - a bowl of water and one of cut up pieces of boiled ham. The kitten paused, examining the floor, before jumping down. It landed on three legs but walked over on four. Mehi frowned. "Something's definitely up with its leg," she mumbled, bringing up her thumb to chew on.

"We'll sort it out later." Ryou had become the voice of reason. "Let's eat."

Despite wanting to be calm about the kitten in the living room, everyone bolted their food, focusing more on getting it down so they could get the cat to the vet. Malik shoved the dishes into the dishwasher as Mehi tried to coax the cat into a bag. By the time he was done, she was still unsuccessful.

"It might be its leg," Ryou suggested, holding the bag open wider.

Mehi hummed. She placed her hand on the cat's head and ran it down its back. Once she got a little past the cat's mid-back, it hissed and swiped at her, just scratching her as she yanked back. She grunted in pain and Malik flinched.

Bakura scrambled to the press as Mehi reached out again and touched the cat's back right leg. Nothing. She held her breath and reached for the left leg as Bakura returned with a green box. Before she could even touch it, the kitten lunged at her arm and dug its claws in. Mehi gritted her teeth and pulled her arm back. The action successfully dislodged the claws, but led to a long scratch down her forearm.

"Shit." Malik grabbed the first aid kit off Bakura and pulled out antiseptic wipes. "Bakura, get the cat in the bag."

"I'm fine," Mehi insisted, though she winced as Malik wiped the wound. "Here, just give it to me, I'll do it."

"You won't be able to bandage it alone," Malik protested. He picked up the roll and wound the cloth around Mehi's arm. Once he was done, he fasted it with two of the small clasps.

As he did, Bakura managed to nudge the kitten into the bag. Ryou zipped it mostly closed and quickly pulled his hand back in case the cat swiped at it, but it just pressed its face up against the small gap and mewed.

"Let's go." Mehi stood up and shook out her hand. "Hopefully they're free."

They took the bus - they had no other option. The Rice Molly DVM was the only one that they all knew for certain was close and open, and that was a twenty minute ride. The whole time, Malik wasn't sure who to fret most over - Mehi, Bakura, the cat, or Ryou, who was surprisingly calm about the whole situation.

When the four stumbled into the waiting room, it was already eight at night. The receptionist looked up. "Hi, can I-?" The cat finally succeeded in pressing its face out of the bag and poked its head up.

"We found the cat outside the War Memorial and Performing Arts Centre," Mehi replied as Ryou gently took the bag off his shoulder. "It's got a collar but it looks too tight, and its leg is hurt. You can't touch its left leg or past the middle of its back, or it'll react badly because it's hurt. We need to check if it's chipped too."

The receptionist nodded and took the bag from Ryou. "Alright, the vet's just out of surgery so I'll get her to take a look. You can take a seat and we'll bring her back out to you."

Bakura slumped into one of the hard plastic chairs, and Ryou sat with him, holding his hand and murmuring soft assurances. Malik had half a mind to follow them, but instead, wandered over to the vending machine with Mehi. "Why did you touch the cat like that?" He asked as she gave the machine a few dollars.

She shrugged. "To find out where it didn't want to be touched. I knew it'd scratch, but if they didn't know and it scratched them, they could assume that it was feral and put it down." The water that she selected clanked down into the tray.

Malik stared at her as she took it out. They wouldn't, rested on his tongue, but they would have. He looked back at Bakura. "You could have used gloves or something."

Another small shrug as she opened the bottle. "Didn't think of it. Besides, I'm fine. Just a scratch."

"That could scar," Malik protested.

"And if it does, so what?" Mehi snorted. "I'm not planning to be a model." She glanced into the window of the vending machine and fixed her shayla.

Malik sighed. "Why did Bakura react like that?" His voice was lower now, and he kept an eye on the dancer to ensure he didn't hear them.

Mehi paused. "He has... some issues with abandonment," she replied. From her tone, she was being very careful. "He was probably having a bad day already and the cat abandoned in an alley just... pushed him over the edge."

"That didn't sound like a small issue."

"If you want to know about it, ask him." Mehi shook her head. "But not tonight. He's had enough going on tonight." She walked over to the chairs and Malik slowly followed her. Ryou gave them a smile as they sat, but Bakura hardly acknowledged their presence.

Eventually, the nurse returned with Ryou's bag, holding the kitten in her arms. "Alright, so you were right - she was injured by a car. It doesn't seem to be severe, so she should be fine in a day or two. We also took off the collar." She shifted the cat in her arms so they could see her neck better. In a ring all around her throat was a thin line of matted fur. "They used a cheap dog collar with a furry inside and had it far too tight. If she got caught in something, she wouldn't have been able to get out. Now the fur here will grow back, but it'll take time. You'll need to get her a proper cat collar - preferably along with a body harness."

"Is she chipped?" Ryou asked.

The nurse shook her head. "No. No, she's not. If you find her owner, tell them to get her chipped. It's not safe to do that here."

"Got it." Mehi carefully reached out and took the small cat from the nurse. "Thank you."

"No problem." She nodded. "Have a good night." She handed Ryou his bag and disappeared back into the door behind the desk.

Bakura slumped in the chair. "What do we do?"

Ryou let out a slow breath. "We... ring the landlord and check about cats, we put up posters, and if no one comes forward and she's okay with it, we keep the cat."

Bakura glanced up at him. "Really?" His eyes still seemed shinier than normal.

Malik nodded. "Yeah. We can't just leave her out on the street."

Mehi hummed and tickled her under the chin. The kitten purred and tilted her head back. They must have given her some sort of drug. "We should call her Strix or something like that."

Ryou grinned as Malik frowned. "What's that?"

"A monster from mythology that cursed anyone that killed it," Mehi snickered.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "No way. She's too small for that." He pushed himself up out of his seat. "We should call her Diabound."

"After that Duel Monsters card?" Mehi scoffed. "No. Not happening."

"Cassie?" Malik shrugged. He wasn't quite sure where the name had come from.

Ryou grimaced. "No. Bad associations." Malik knew better than to ask what the bad associations Ryou had with the name Cassie were. "Melody?"

Mehi paused. "That's actually really cute. We could call her Mellie for short."

Bakura grinned and shook his head, walking towards the door. "That's the dumbest name I've ever heard. I love it."

"Oi." Ryou frowned at him. His southwest London accent was bleeding in, and Malik tried to resist the urge to swoon like an anime fangirl. He loved that accent, but it was usually masked by an unintentional American drawl. "Cut it out. You know I don't like it when you do that."

Bakura huffed. "It's not like I said ret-"

"I don't care, and don't finish that sentence." Ryou's frown deepened to a scowl, and despite his love for the way Ryou's accent thickened when he was angry, Malik didn't want to see it become a glare.

Apparently, neither did Bakura, so he waved his hand. "Sorry, I'll work on my ableism."

"Do." Ryou folded his arms.

After a minute, Malik cleared his throat. "Melody's a good name."

Mehi nodded in agreement. "I think so too. It suits her. It's a sweetheart name, and she's just a little ball of fluff."

"So it's decided?" Malik raised an eyebrow.

Bakura stole the kitten from Mehi as they came to a halt at the bus stop. He held her up to his face and smiled. "Welcome to the wacky family, Mellie."

Malik's heart thudded. The family.

Hope you guys liked the chapter! It's another new chapter so I hope you like their new family member. Please vote and review!