“Thanks! I will!” Desi lifts her arms expectantly towards Obie. “Up-up?”
“Up-up,” Obie confirms, bending down to pick her up and perch her expertly on his hip. “We’ll be back just after breakfast tomorrow, okay?”
“Sounds good,” JJ confirms, and he waves. “Enjoy your trip, guys.”
“Keep her safe,” Cass orders.
Ez rolls her eyes. “We always do,” she says, and she flicks her wrist. A rift of warm purple-gold opens just behind them. “Later.”
“Bye-bye!” Desi calls over Obie’s shoulder, and within seconds, the three of them are disappearing through the rift and letting it close behind them, leaving Cass and JJ alone.
For a few seconds, they stand there in silence.
“So,” Cass says eventually. “Are you also a nervous wreck, or is it just me?”
“Oh, thankGod,”JJ says, turning semi-frantic eyes on Cass. “Cass, she’s four! She’s a little girl! And we’re letting her go to a foreign countrywithout us!”
“It’s just overnight,” Cass reassures him, and he immediately checks his watch. Just past nine o’clock in the morning. “Only twenty-three hours, fifty-six minutes, and thirty-two seconds until Ez and Obie bring her home.”
JJ’s teeth rake anxiously over his bottom lip. “Okay. And what, um. What are we supposed to do with ourselves until then?”
Perfect opening.Cass takes a deep breath, bracing himself. “Actually, I—I was wondering if you wanted to go on a field trip of our own? Just you and me?”
For a moment, JJ looks startled.
And then he smiles. “Yeah?”
A little bit of the tension drains out of Cass’s shoulders. He nods firmly. “Yeah.”
“Sounds cool. Where do you want to go?”
“I might know a place,” Cass says evasively, and he quickly turns away, striding towards the kitchen. “How about we pack some lunch? We can make it a picnic.”
JJ jogs after him, intrigued. “So it’s not somewhere with a food truck within a one-mile radius?”
“It is not.”
“Sounds scandalous.” JJ flashes Cass a smile as he grabs two baguettes, pulls out the bread knife, and neatly starts cutting them. “I’m in.”
Affection twirls through Cass’s chest. They fall quiet as they arrange their sandwiches side by side, JJ stuffing his with leftover tortilla española and Cass piling his high with veggies and hummus, and it’s?—
It’s sweet. It’sdomestic.
It feels like home. Honestly, this old safe house only started feeling like home once Desi and JJ arrived, livening it up with wyvern plushies on every cushion and the rhythmic sound of rattan on the punching bag and laughter floating out of every room.
Electrifying it with JJ’s solid body and precise movements and the way he parts his lips when he’s surprised.
This, in Cass’s mind, is a date. He’s officially taking JJ out on a date and trying to woo him as of today, as of this very minute. JJ might not be aware of this fact yet, but hopefully, Cass can work up the guts to inform him of it soon enough.
He thinks he’s been obvious enough about it already, really. Between the lingering touches and the held glances and the little acts of service and the deep conversations late into the night and?—
Cass thinks he’s been obvious enough about it already, but JJ isn’t a mind reader. Neither is Cass. And that’s the biggest reason why he has yet to tell JJ how he feels with actual words.
After all, Cass wants JJ forever, not just for one night. He isn’t worried about pressuring JJ into something he doesn’t want—despite JJ’s initial reservations, he’s quickly become adept at using his new credit cards, and he knows that he has the means to survive on his own—but he doesn’t want to scare JJ enough that he actuallydoestake Cass up on that offer.
Doesn’t want to make JJ so uncomfortable that he decides to leave. Desi would be heartbroken, obviously, and Cass?—
Cass would never forgive himself.
