It’s hot out today, so warm we even have fewer customers than usual. To the point I let Yuna have the day off, it’s so slow.

  I think she’s grown attached to Oraxia lately. It’s cute, I figured she’d grow close with the thing.

  Tugging on the neck of my shirt, I hear Salka groan nearby, clearly as hot as I am. Looking over, she’s tugging on the hem of her shirt and fanning it to cool down, her black shirt clinging to her boobs, and I stare at it for a moment.

  ‘Wait, what’s wrong with you Lumi, get your mind out of the gutter!’

  …after a few more seconds of staring, I turn and shake my head, going and grabbing some cold water and chugging it, my mind clearing a little.

  “That’s better.”

  Hearing customers come in, I quickly go and get their orders, before heading back and cooking food, Salka being a great help when she’s not cooking her own recipes in just helping me go along smoothly.

  “Thanks for the help, Salka. You’re pretty good at this.”

  Glancing up at her, I quickly look away with a blush, realizing how I can’t help but focus on her chest right now. She doesn’t seem to notice though, speaking calmly. “Well it’s not hard, I just remember what your usual recipes call for, and get them for you as you need them. It ain’t much.”

  Biting my cheek a bit to force myself to focus, I nod and finish preparing the food, setting it on the plate she’s holding out for me. “Try teaching Yuna then, she still can’t do it as effectively as you.”

  Shrugging, she heads out to serve the food to the others, my eyes drifting to her very toned looking back and arms where the shirt clings to them. Prying my eyes away, they’re only glued to her firm looking butt, and I-

  ‘Stop it stop iiiit!’

  As she walks out the kitchen finally, I slap my face a few times to try and control myself. “What’s wrong with you today… fucks sake… crap, don’t tell me it’s heat…”

  Quickly I leave the kitchen, calling out to Salka to let her know I’ll be right back, before hiding in the bathroom and grabbing a thermometer.

  We cats have a few ways of entering heat, and a few ways of checking for it as well. Usually, a spike in temperature paired with different daylight hours is enough, or just in the same way as regular humans get horny, just more intense.

  But… this is odd. Yes it’s hot, but the day hours haven’t changed much, so I shouldn’t be in heat. Or else Yuna would be in heat too.

  Putting the thermometer in my mouth, I watch my temp… fuck, it’s high, I am in heat.

  ‘But how?! Yuna isn’t, nor is Salka, I would’ve smelt it off them!’ Pacing around the bathroom with light and rapid steps, I try to figure it out. ‘Unless… fuck fuck that’s why isn’t it?’

  Looking at myself in the mirror, my face is still a little flushed. ‘I was in that mirror world for a while, so when I got out the daylight hours suddenly changed. And now the temp spiked not too long after, just enough to trigger heat. So basically… everyone else is stage 1 of 5, and I skipped to stage 3 before the season even started.’

  Letting out a loooong groan, I bonk my head against the wall. “Goddamnit. Such a dumb issue. How do I handle this?”

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  Knocking makes me jolt, before Salka’s voice sounds out. “Are you alright in there?”

  “Y-yeah! O-one minute!”

  “Alright, I’ll get the next meal prepped for you then!”

  At that, I sigh, the decision made for me. She already took the next order, so I gotta deliver… time to go work and hope I can keep myself under control until the end of the day.

  ***

  I could barely keep myself working all day. Constant trips to the bathroom needed to be made to clean myself, my body feels like it’s running a fever, and Salka giving me looks doesn’t make it any easier to ignore her!

  As I hand her the last order, I keep my eyes focused on the floor. “You alright?” Fuck, her voice didn’t always sound so good, did it? “Y-yeah, um, think you could close up for me?”

  The surprise in her voice is clear. “Oh, yeah of course. Wh-”

  “Thanks!” I run off, not caring how weird it seems. I can explain it later, for now, I don’t want to do anything weird.

  ‘No ruining this relationship with her thanks to my heat, damnit. Cats already have this reputation for being animals, I’m not going to play into it! No matter how tempting it is.’

  Hiding in my room, I quickly climb into bed and check myself, finding my panties are soaked… again, like all day today. Heat’s so much worse this year than ever, this is what happens when I can’t manage it in advance, and I’m around someone I want to be with.

  My tail isn’t flicking, rather, it’s raised high behind me, and my crotch is aching.

  ‘Fuck, I need to handle this before-’

  Knock knock.

  Gritting my teeth, I pull my panties back up and wipe my hand off on my skirt. “Come in!”

  Salka walks in… goddamnit. “Are you alright? You… have been off all day. Are you sick or something?”

  Squeezing my legs together, I wrench my eyes away and down at the floor. “I… I’m just fine…”

  As she sits next to me, her smell is unbelievably good, making my whole body shudder. “Well… I have another question then… it might sound weird, but I’ve never dealt with it before, and figure it’s to do with being a cat.”

  “W-what?” ‘Is it from heat or something? No, no way she’s in heat, she’d need to be aroused for that.’

  “Well…” Blushing with her tail raising a little on its own, she looks away. “You smell really good today… It's almost distracting.”

  Completely zoning out, my mind runs. ‘That’s… that’s heat… normally it just smells off and strong, but if you’re in heat too it seems almost sweet, she shouldn’t notice it so strong… unless she was aroused by me…’

  Suddenly, I realize she’s staring at me, waiting for a response. How long was I out of it?

  “For a minute… again.”

  I snap my head to look at her. “Did I say that out loud?!”

  “You did… “ Her face has a slight blush, and she even smells a little good I noticed… fuck I can feel my entire body tensing up.

  “...that smell is because I’m in heat, and it’s so sweet for you because you’re in heat too.”

  Slowly, she gains a bright blush, her tail raising high just like mine. “W-wait, is that why you’ve been zoning out looking at me all day?”

  Blushing, I slowly nod, my heart pounding. ‘Please please please, please say you feel the same.’

  “I… “ She hesitates and looks ready to stand, but my entire body is screaming at me in heat. I’m not thinking straight, or at least with the caution I should.

  So when I grab her arm and pull her towards me, it’s honest but even I’m surprised. “P-please… can you help me… with my heat?”

  Slowly, she turns towards me, before lowering herself to my height, face to face. “...are you sure?”

  Grabbing her cheeks, I kiss her, her jaw untensing beneath my hands. Slowly, my tongue pushes into her mouth, licking against the rough and hot surfaces of her tongue and cheeks, before she returns the favor with quiet moans.

  After a few moments, I break the kiss panting, saliva trailing between our mouths. A smile is painted on her face, and I can see the same emotion in her eyes that’s in mine.

  ‘Finally…’

  She pounces on me like a… cat in heat literally, like I’ve dreamt of for a while now.

  ___

  And finally, someone made a move! Well, it may have needed a bit of life to give them the push, but still.