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Cats leapt from all corners to greet River as they opened the door.
"Hello, babies!" they said, crouching down to greet everyone. Cassidy relieved them of the tray and set everything up while they were still dripping with cats.
"Okay, so, I thought we could hang out and watch something fun and eat cheese and play with cats," River said. "Does that sound okay?"
"Sounds heavenly," Cassidy said, then plopped himself on a cushion, long legs akimbo.
Mushroom leapt onto Cassidy’s head, skinny white tail flicking his ear.
"Shit, sorry. Damn it, Mushroom, we’ve discussed this."
They plucked the cat off Cassidy’s head and searched his scalp, moving his thick hair aside to search for any injury.
"You okay?"
"Mhm, feels good," Cassidy said, and shot River a flirtatious look.
Oh, damn. Be yourself, be yourself, beyourselfbeyourselfbeyourself.
"I’ll be right back."
River fled the room, took some deep breaths, and grabbed the bag they’d prepared from behind the front desk. When they returned, Inspector Gadget, Murder Dog, and Grandma Fantastic had formed a loose arc around Cassidy waiting for his attention while Mushroom and Croissant crawled all over him. Typical. And fucking adorable.
"Aww."
"This is Inspector Gadget, right?" Cassidy asked, stroking her small head.
"That’s her. Can you believe it? The vet, said she probably wouldn’t have survived much longer than she did."
River sat on the cushion beside Cassidy and doled out chin scratches and ear scritches. There were some cats that demanded acknowledgement of their greatness upon entering a room.
Cassidy picked up Inspector Gadget and cradled her against his chest.
"Good job," he told the cat, and dropped a kiss on the missing tip of her ear.
River’s heart melted.
Inspector Gadget stretched out her toes and flipped out of Cassidy’s arms, only to scramble up his shoulder. He let her stay there and made himself another cracker.
"This guy dropped off all these old magazines along with his donation of towels and washcloths," River explained. "I like to cut them up while I watch something and make collages. Do you want to?"
Cassidy nodded enthusiastically.
"Very much. Idle hands being the devil’s playthings and all that."
"ADHD hands, maybe?" River offered.
"Exactly."
They dug into the bag of magazines, glue, scissors, utility knives, and markers. Eventually, Inspector Gadget got annoyed at her perch moving and settled for curling up next to Cassidy’s knee.
"No glitter?" Cassidy asked, pouting.
And somehow, Cassidy fucking Darling looked epically hot when he pouted. How was that fair? His plump lower lip glistened and his eyes went all soft and disappointed and River’s brain short-circuited.
"If you just added a k you’d be Cassidy Darkling," they blurted.
Cassidy’s pout was replaced with amusement.
"Darkling, I like that. If I could draw, I would want to write a comic book about Darkling."
"Ooh, what would Darkling’s whole thing be?"
"Is it rude if I dig in?" Cassidy asked, indicating the cheese.
"Please do. And there’s no glitter because cats."
"Oh, yes, bad combination."
"A lesson learned the hard way, unfortunately."
Cassidy grimaced, then drizzled honey over a cracker with brie and ate it in one bite. He groaned as he chewed and River felt it in their whole body—a shuddering promise of things to come. Hopefully.
"I think he’d be a splotch of ink that could flow around unnoticed on the ground, but then he could lift himself up and be any shape. So he could become the shape of a key or a rolling pin or a gun."
"In case it was a baking emergency?"
"Why would a gun help a baking emergency?" Cassidy retorted.
River grinned.
"I would definitely read that comic," they said, and turned on the TV. "I was thinking something light and fun? What do you like?"
Cassidy pointed at River’s home screen.
"Wait, you watch Secaucus Psychic? I love that show."
"Really? Perfect."
River put on a random episode and familiar music filled the room. The cats settled down.
Cassidy held up a piece of blue cheese.
"If I eat this will you still want to kiss me?"
Heart pounding, River leaned closer. Close enough to see that Cassidy’s rich brown irises had flecks of an even darker brown in them. Close enough to smell the shaving cream on his neck.
"What makes you think I wanna kiss you?" they murmured, eyes on Cassidy’s mouth.
Then they leaned in slowly, brushed Cassidy’s lips with their fingertips and watched his eyes flutter closed.
River kissed him gently, a slow, lingering kiss that said more and yes and sent warmth from River’s mouth to their gut.
"Ask me now."
"If I eat this will you still want to kiss me?" he said, voice rough and low.
"Yeah."
Cassidy’s expression raised the hair on River’s arms. River settled onto their cushion and put together a cracker and cheese.
"You think I’d put something on my own cheese tray that would make me not wanna kiss you? Come on."
"So you did think about kissing me," Cassidy said.
River thought about laughing it off or denying it.
BE YOUR DAMN SELF.
"Yeah. I have thought about kissing you every day since our date."
