Page 17 of Thicker than Water


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Cass certainly supposes it could be better, of course. But it could definitely be worse.

For the most part, he and JJ have spent the past few hours ignoring each other. It’s a surprisingly easy feat to accomplish, namely because Desi is enough of a distraction to keep them occupied at basically all times. She skips happily between them, asking ten thousand questions about everything under the sun, and Cass and JJ dutifully take turns answering.

Cass is perversely pleased that he was able to answer several questions that stumped his hunter counterpart. JJ’s disgruntled expression afterward was just the icing on the cake.

And today’s little excursion has been relatively low stress. They’ve really just been milling around the Courtyard, checking out all the food trucks and shops. Cass has been here hundreds of times before, of course‍—it’s one of his favorite spots for lunch with Ez and Obie‍—but he’s never explored it quite as thoroughly as today.

And he’s never seen it through someone else’s eyes, either. Usually, he comes here with a purpose and a destination in mind, but Desi just wants to race around and seeeverything,leaving Cass and JJ following in her wake.

Based on JJ’s comments, Cass is pretty sure that he’s already building a mental schedule for their next few field trips, which is both irksome and endearing. Irksome, because he just seems to assume that Cass is going to agree to this stupid charade again next time, and‍?—

And endearing, because seeing how much care he’s putting into his time with Desi makes Cass’s heart do something funny. He’s trying his best to ignore the sensation, though.

So he likes that his hunter co-parent is good with their semi-adopted daughter. It’s not a crime.

In any case, JJ has been surreptitiously guiding Desi towards one last store as the sun starts to drift towards the horizon, and Cass has to admit that it’s a good one. And when Desi catches sight of the handmade dolls in the window display and claps her hands in delight, Cass can’t fight back a smile.

“Pretty!”she squeals, running over to press her face against the glass. “JJ, can I get one? Can I get oneplease?”

“Of course,” JJ says, and unexpectedly, he sweeps her into his arms, covering her eyes with his hand. “But there’s aspecialdoll for you in there, okay? One that looks just like you. But it’s a surprise, so you have to close your eyes.”

Cass almost scoffs. Nikolai’s claim to fameishand-sewn dolls with a wide variety of skin tones and hairstyles‍—a doll for every child, as he likes to say‍—but that doesn’t mean JJ has to be dramatic about it.

Desi clearly doesn’t share Cass’s pessimism, though. She gives JJ a toothy grin, covering each eye with one small hand. “Okay! All set!”

“Awesome.” JJ shoulders his way into the toy shop and steps inside, pausing just long enough to hold the door for Cass. He waves politely at the owner, makes a beeline for the section with the cloth dolls‍?—

And completely ignores the shelf with the ones that look like little girls. Frowning, Cass breaks into a jog to catch up with him. “Jackson? You sure you know where you’re going?”

Briefly, JJ glances over his shoulder. “Yep,” he says, and he strides past the animal plushies, ducks into the section that houses fantasy creatures‍?—

Cass stops dead, heart stuttering.

JJ doesn’t seem to notice, carrying Desi to the wall of dragon plushies. “Surprise!” he says, and with a flourish, he pulls a green wyvern doll off the shelf. “Look, Desi! It looks just like you!”

Desi gasps. “It’sme!”she says, grabbing the plushie and hugging it to her chest. “I love her! Thank you, JJ!”

“My pleasure,” he says, tweaking her nose with a grin. She giggles, throwing her arms around him in a hug, but Cass‍?—

Cass is more preoccupied by the innocuous little wyvern plushie, becausethat’s Desi’s true form.Not the form she took in Tamaros, obviously, because physical bodies don’t quite exist in Tamaros, but‍?—

But that’s the unearthly part of her. Theinhumanpart of her.

The part that Cass thought hunters were trained to despise and revile and destroy.

But JJ is downright beaming as Desi makes her new doll fly through the air. He brought her here for the express purpose of buying her a toy that looks like her true form.

And, Cass realizes with a start, JJ was the one who introduced her to thatWyvern Academyshow, too. He’s the one who made it a point to pick out picture books that included friendly dragons as main characters.

Apparently, he’s the one who saw Desi at her most demonic and made it a point to love that part of her, too. Cass wonders if JJ has any idea how rare that is for a human.

Especially a hunter.

Suddenly, Desi makes grabby hands at the shelf. “Ooh, ooh! JJ, look!Thatone has pretty blue scales like an ice wyvern! Can we get her, too? So they can be friends?”

JJ hesitates, glancing at the price tag. “Well‍?—‍”

Impulsively, Cass steps forward. “Sure, we can,” he interrupts, grabbing the ice wyvern and passing it to Desi. “How about JJ gets you the one that looks like you, and I get you her friend?”