Squeak ~ Bonus ~ Mouse & Squirrel (Patreon)

*** content warning: innuendo ***

"Phew!" Mia exclaimed as she slumped down onto the bed next to me. 

She was on her side facing towards me, and I could see the faint sheen of perspiration on her forehead and cheeks as she took a couple deep breaths.

"Sorry Lydia," she added a few seconds later, in between gulps of air. "I'm going to need a minute before I'm ready for more."

"Aww c'mon," I teased, while at the same time trying very hard to hide how tired I was. "Are you saying that a mouse is stronger and has better stamina than a squirrel?"

She rolled her eyes as she took another deep breath, but didn't actually have a come-back for me.

"Anyways we're so close to the end, we can't quit now! And that was the hardest part, by far," I reminded her. "Plus we've only got like another hour before Robyn gets home, and we both agreed we wanted to be finished before either of the big girls got back."

The adorable squirrelgirl puffed out her cheeks as she huffed, "You need to stop calling them that! It just encourages them to tease us about being smol."

I giggled, "Aww, you say that as if you don't like being reminded how small and cute and adorable you are."

Mia pouted at me for a second or two then sighed, "Ok fine. You're right, we're nearly done. Getting that mattress up here was a bitch and a half, but now all that's left is to make the beds and we're good to go."

"You know," she added a moment later, "I'm pretty sure our strength has nothing to do with which plushie we used? Although I know we're both a lot stronger than we ought to be, when you consider how small we are."

I looked down at my slender arms and nodded, "I think you're right. I almost wonder if our physical strength is more based on what we were before? My original masc body was big and burly, I was pretty strong. I don't think I've lost that."

"Plus in this case it's not so much that the mattress was heavy," Mia pointed out, "But it's bulky and awkward, and regardless how strong we might be it's a lot bigger than the both of us. Plus we don't weigh much."

"Also true," I agreed. "Anyways, enough talk let's finish this!"

Despite my little pep-talk it still took us both another ten or fifteen seconds to move. Then we slowly sat up together, and I carefully climbed down the ladder while the cute squirrelgirl rolled over the foot of the upper bunk and practically skittered down the post at the corner. 

"I'm not sure which was worse actually," I commented as we both started opening up the sealed packages containing our new matched sets of bed linens. "Getting your old bed down into the basement for storage, or getting that new mattress onto the upper bunk. Then again putting this thing together wasn't exactly easy either, considering how small we both are."

"Honestly I'm amazed we were able to any of those things. I never thought we'd get this far," Mia responded with a shrug.

She got the fitted sheet out of her package the same time I got the other one out of mine, then we both made for the ladder at the same time.

"Oh," I said as we bumped into each other. Then I grimaced, "I guess we never did talk about who'd get the top bunk."

Mia blushed, "I kind of assumed I would? Because squirrel? Y'know, we're good at climbing, no fear of heights, sometimes referred to as tree rats? Although I find the term offensive."

I frowned, "But I wanted the top bunk? And um, I did pay for the bunkbed."

"It's my room though?" the squirrelgirl pointed out. "I agreed to let you share it."

"I am paying half the rent now, remember? So I don't think you can hold that over me," I reminded her.

She responded, "Well I don't think you can hold the bunkbed over me, considering I already had a perfectly good bed to begin with. I didn't have to give that up, just like I didn't have to agree to share my room with you."

"How about we arm-wrestle over it?" I offered with a big cheese-eating grin.

"Pffft," Mia puffed out her cheeks and pouted at me. "Not falling for that again, little miss mighty mouse."

The two of us stared at each other for another couple seconds, her with the puffy cheeks and cute pout, me with the wide cheesy grin. Then we both dissolved into giggles, and ended up sitting together on the bottom bunk as we got the rest of the laughter out of our systems.

By the time the last of the giggles were gone I had an arm around her, she had one of hers around me, and my head was resting on her shoulder. 

I gave her a gentle squeeze as I said, "Seriously Mia, thanks for letting me move in with you. These last two weeks have been like a dream come true, in so many ways."

"You're welcome Lydia," she replied as she gave me a little squeeze in return. "And big same here as well. Five and a half weeks for me, but I'm definitely living the dream."

After a half second she added, "I'm glad we're friends. I'm glad Robyn isn't jealous that I'm friends with her sister. And that you're not jealous I'm friends with her."

"And nobody's jealous that we're all 'friends' with Jordan," I added with a smirk. "Like you said, we're all living the dream."

She stifled a little giggle, while her cheeks started to colour again.

After a few quiet seconds I added, "Bringing this back to the topic of sleeping arrangements and dreams coming true, I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've always wanted a bunkbed."

"Me too," the squirrelgirl confessed. "I asked my parents for one when I was like, I don't know ten or eleven maybe? They said it was a stupid idea since I was an only child and there was no need for a second bunk."

I made a face as I agreed, "Same. I mean, there was me and Robyn but we both had our own rooms and it's not like they'd have wanted a um, brother and sister sharing like that. I doubt Robyn would have been interested in it anyways."

Mia made a snerk sound then pointed out, "Maybe not back then, but I've caught her checking you out more than once since your plushie popped."

"Mia!" I squeaked at her while my cheeks went bright red. "She's my sister! We're not going to hook up!"

The naughty squirrelgirl giggled then finally gave me a little push, "C'mon mousie, let's finish making the bed. I'll do the upper bunk, you do the lower, and we can argue about who sleeps where later."

"All right scribbles," I muttered as I got to my feet. "But just because I'm letting you make the upper bunk doesn't mean I'm not going to fight you for it later."

She scrambled up the ladder and got to work while I started stretching the fitted sheet over the lower mattress. A few seconds later she asked, "Scribbles? Is that a nickname or something?"

"Yeah," I told her, "When me and Robyn were younger that was our word for squirrels? We called them scribbles. I guess it's because of how they move, like bouncing along the ground? The motion sort of looks like scribbling on a piece of paper."

After a second or two she replied, "Yeah ok I can see that. It's kind of cute I guess."

That was the last of the conversation for the next few minutes, as we both just focused on the task at hand. After the fitted sheets came the pillows and pillow cases, two for each bunk, and finally the matching sheets and duvets. Although being the twenty-second of June I didn't expect we'd need the duvets all that much, now that summer had finally arrived.

At long last the two of us stood side by side as we admired our shiny new bunkbed together. The posts and supports were all sturdy solid walnut, the bedding was a deep dark forest green, and everything looked pristine and perfect. All that was left was to gather up all the packaging and tidy the bedroom.

"I can't believe we did it," Mia commented. "It looks good though. And after all that work I'm about ready to dive in and enjoy it."

I shook my head, "It looks great, but we still need to do some cleaning up before we get too comfy."

The squirrelgirl sighed, "Fine. I'm not convinced this isn't some plot to exhaust me though, so I'm too tired to fight you for the top bunk later."

As we started picking up the trash and stuff together I suggested, "There's still a good half hour before Robyn gets home, maybe we should grab a shower? We both got a little sweaty with some of that work, plus it was kind of dusty down in the basement. And thirty minutes is more than enough for a quick shower."

Mia puffed her cheeks and pouted again, "Maybe that's enough time for you, considering it only takes what? Thirty seconds to run a towel over your skinny little tail? It takes me like ninety minutes with a blow-dryer and two towels to get my luxuriously-perfect floof dried off."

"Must be rough," I responded with some fake sympathy. 

After we dumped all the packaging into the trash and recycling bin as appropriate I excused myself and ducked into the washroom. I kept it short, probably less than five minutes, then quickly towelled myself off. Like Mia said, my tail only took a half minute to dry. My hair took a lot longer, but I didn't need to keep the bathroom tied up to do that.

When I emerged with one towel wrapped around my small body and another bundled up around my hair I found the cute squirrelgirl waiting. I grinned at her, "See? Only took me a few minutes."

"Show-off," she grumbled as she pushed past me and into the washroom.

"Tell you what," I offered. "When you're done I'll help you dry your tail, ok? Until then I'll be working on my hair."

Her big poofy tail twitched once or twice, then Mia nodded "Yeah ok, I'll take you up on that. See you in a few minutes."

Then she pulled the bathroom door closed behind her, while I popped into our room for a moment. I slipped on a simple white sundress, but didn't bother with anything else. I also grabbed my blowdryer and brush, and headed back out to the living-room. I plugged in the dryer then sat crosslegged at one end of the sofa and started working on my hair.

I was about halfway done drying my hair when Mia emerged from her shower. A few moments later she joined me in the living-room, after pulling on a simple dark red tunic top. She was also carrying a couple towels in one hand, and had another one wrapped around her tail which she had tucked up against her right side and under her right arm.

My hair wasn't done yet but I stopped to give her a hand like I promised. We spread a couple towels out over the sofa then she kneeled in the middle with her back to me, while I sat down behind her. 

"You know," Mia commented as I got started towel-drying her sad wet tail, "We're both going to feel pretty silly if after going to all that work and expense of the new bunkbed we end up never actually using both bunks at the same time?"

I smirked as I carefully patted and squeezed moisture out of her fur, "You figure three beds is enough for four people?"

She glanced back at me as she pointed out, "It's worked for the last two weeks hasn't it? Three beds plus the sofa anyways."

My own tail was wrapped around my hip, and while I continued working on Mia's tail she reached back and took hold of mine. She started playing with the end of it, but I didn't mind. It felt nice, and it seemed fair considering I had hers in my hands.

"It's worked ok so far," I replied after a few seconds, "And it might work out fine most of the time? But I think it's important we each have our own space. There'll be times when we need some privacy. Maybe it won't happen that often, but I think it's important that the option is there."

The towel I was using already seemed a little too damp to be effective, so I swapped it out for another one she'd brought with her and kept going. I held back a comment about her high-maintenance floof, but I already knew the two of us would have to do a load of laundry when we were finished. 

"Yeah I guess you're right," she responded. "And maybe it'd be different if any of us were in some kind of exclusive relationship? Like I mean, if me and Robyn were exclusively together then maybe it'd be fine for me to just live in her room with her all the time?"

After a moment she added, "Or if either of us were exclusive with Jordan then maybe that would work too? But honestly I think I prefer the way things have worked out for all of us. Even if it means we need our own private spaces now and then, like you said."

I suppressed a laugh, "Seriously Mia, it's hard to imagine Jordan being exclusive with anyone."

She make that snerk sound again as she responded, "More like she's exclusive with everyone. All at the same time."

This time I couldn't help giggling, "I'm not sure that's how the word 'exclusive' works, silly squirrel. Although to be fair Jordan's bed is certainly big enough to fit us all in there at once."

"It might not be how the word works," Mia replied as I finished up with the second towel. "But I'm pretty sure that's how Jordan works."

I couldn't argue with that. In the two weeks I'd known her the tall strong beautiful blonde had shared her bed with all three of us, although not simultaneously. Not yet at least. Robyn told me at one point her roommate had a reputation, and as far as I could tell it was well-deserved. Not that it was a bad thing, nor was it even a bad reputation. It's just how Jordan was, and she absolutely owned it.

"While we're on the subject, do you know much about Jordan?" I asked as I reached for her brush and my hair dryer. "Whenever she's around I'm a little too timid to ask directly. I don't even know what she does for a living."

The squirrelgirl laughed, "Same! I wouldn't be surprised if she's a professional dominatrix or something though? She's got the looks and the style for it, not to mention the attitude."

"Yeah true enough," I grinned.

Then I turned on the dryer, and for the next few minutes we were both kind of quiet. She was still idly playing with the end of my tail while I brushed and dried hers. I couldn't help smiling at how her auburn fur poofed up as it dried.

Eventually I spoke up again, with my voice raised over the roar of the dryer. "Did she freak out much when you first changed? I was kind of shocked at how she was so calm and cool when I first met her."

"Honestly she was the same with me," Mia responded over the noise. "I think she assumed it was a costume or something? But when I told her the ears and tail were real she just accepted it. I also came out as trans, she'd met me before my plushie incident? So she knew what I used to look like, and she took that in stride too."

I frowned, "That's weird, isn't it? Robyn flipped, my parents flipped, everyone else I know flips when they find out I'm now a tiny mousegirl. But Jordan was totally cool with it."

The cute squirrelgirl looked over her shoulder at me as she smirked, "You couldn't be that weirded out by her lack of reaction, mousie. As I recall you seemed pretty eager to share her bed that first night after you popped your plushie."

I felt my cheeks heating up as I focused my attention on her tail again. And she continued playing with mine, which I found myself enjoying a little more than I expected. 

After another half hour or so I finally turned off the dryer and said, "I think it's mostly dry? I just need to finish brushing it."

"Well let me help with your hair first," Mia offered. "I can see it's still a little damp."

She and I ended up trading places so she could spend a few minutes with my brush and the dryer, working on my long white hair. Then the two of us sat next to each other on the sofa, I had her tail on my lap as I carefully brushed the tip while mine was curled up on her lap so she could resume playing with it.

We were still at it a few minutes later when the front door swung open and my sister finally got home from work. Robyn made it about two steps in before she stopped to stare at us, while a wide smile formed on her face.

"Hey sis," I greeted her as I continued brushing the big floofy tail in front of me. "You're late, we thought you'd be home like an hour ago."

Mia added, "Hi Robyn, how was your day?"

My sister just grinned at us, "Well aren't you two just adorable! Is this a rodent-girl thing, grooming each other's tails?"

"Nah," the squirrelgirl replied with a smile. "But it is a friends-with-tails-with-benefits thing. So if you want in on it all you have to do is use one of those plushies yourself Robyn."

I rolled my eyes then reached over and wrapped an arm around Mia. I pulled her into a side-hug as I told them both, "I think the 'friends with benefits' charade has gone on long enough. Robyn I hope you don't mind, but your girlfriend and I have become girlfriends with each other as well."

Both my girlfriend and my girlfriend's girlfriend immediately blushed, but I couldn't help noticing they were both smiling. I also noticed neither of them made any attempt to deny it.