Just a guy (runwiththepack) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-03-01 17:18:00 |
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Having worked so hard on making sure that the stall went off without a hitch, Kitty had rested only when she’d been physically forced to and now she was sort of buzzing on over-tiredness and caffeine. Early afternoon on Saturday and she wasn’t working, Jesse and Cassidy didn’t have work for a few more hours and Kitty was on a Goodwill Mission to give out presents to the people in her life. Jesse, bless his soul, had been dragged along primarily to make sure that she didn’t fall asleep in a corner somewhere when the caffeine high disappeared but also because he had a truck and she did not and Kitty hated public transport at the best of times.
She’d dragged him enthusiastically up the stairs, though was somewhat out of breath by the time they got to Cassidy’s door, knocking before she pushed it open, ignoring Jesse’s comment about naked Wednesdays with “It’s Saturday, nobody does naked Saturdays.”
Tugging Jesse into the apartment, she raised her voice out of habit rather than any particular need since Cassidy had hearing just as sensitive as Jesse’s. “Cass? You home? Please be home. We brought food and gifts!”
Well, Jesse had the food. Kitty had gifts but they were less “gifts” and more the most recent output of her experimental charms that she wanted to give to the people she cared about which, really, was the Green pack. Specifically, those that worked at Midnight. She hadn’t given Jesse his yet, but she was planning to. Peer pressure and all that, both of them getting something charmed would make them both give in.
It was an excellent plan. Definitely not doomed or flawed because she’d concocted it in her current state.
“Do you have any coffee?”
Cassidy would like to make a crack about the predictability of his life. He really would. It’s not like he was explicitly wondering when exactly his Saturday would be crashed, but more of an impending countdown in the back of his mind. And bitch as he might, he was trying not to lie to himself. He left that door unlocked for a reason, and, honestly, things had been enough on the quiet side lately that he might have actually started to worry if someone didn’t come knocking on his door.
Which, points for them, at least they knocked. And he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to hear the rest of the conversation about ‘naked Saturdays’ that he only just caught through the door.
“Thought that was you two running up the stairs.” He called back at a more sedate level, slipping from down the hall. He’d only been up for the last hour and a half, lazily getting ready for the day - working at Midnight was great for a lot of things, but a normal sleep schedule was not one of them - but just looking at Kitty made him tired all over again.
“...That would be a no on the coffee there, Kitty. Any more caffeine and you look like you’ll vibrate through the damn floor.” He chided, gently, more concerned than anything. Nevermind the cabinet full of coffee that he was kind of hoping Kitty was too sleep-deprived to remember he had. And that Jesse wouldn’t enable her by reminding her. Because he’d cave like a wet napkin if that came up and he knew it.
Shaking his head, he latched onto the first thing that came to mind to avoid any more talk of coffee he may or may not have, “Take it the fair went well? Or is there another reason you look dead on your feet?”
Jesse gave a sigh of relief when Cassidy very firmly told Kitty no when she asked about coffee. She really didn’t need any more coffee, she’d already had more than enough, He shot the older wolf a grateful look because yeah nobody needed Kitty vibrating through the floor least of all Jesse who would have to end up carrying her home when she finally crashed. It wouldn’t be the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last.
“Yeah, it went really well,” Jesse answered with a smile. “She sold out of pretty much everything.” And Kyle to his credit had done a very good job of screwing with the competition.
“Well, the fair is one reason,” Kitty said, scowling at them both when her request for coffee was denied. She was pretty sure Cassidy had some, but she couldn’t quite remember if it was here she was thinking about or the kitchen in the pack home she was thinking about and she wasn’t quite so desperate for caffeine that she was about to go rooting around blindly in cupboards just in case she was wrong.
She didn’t want to look like an idiot, after all.
“Jesse was a great help, and Kyle hovered angrily down beside other stalls which sort of put people off going there. Good for me, not so good for the others. I met a really cute little girl, too, and her mom.”
She beamed at Cassidy, “Also morning! Or, sort of morning?” She bounced forward and hugged him quickly, the briefest of kisses being planted delicately on his cheek before darting back to stand beside Jesse. “Okay, okay, you guys need to go sit down,” she told them, waving her hands demonstratively.
A sheepish, barely there nod in Jesse’s direction when it became obvious Jesse was on his side with this one. “Sounds like a success then! Sorry I couldn’t come down - I’m sure it was a great time though.” But, short of Kitty explicitly asking for him to, that whole thing just sounded like good way to stress him out. It was really a shame though - some of the stuff Kitty made was amazing, and he was kind of sad he’d missed it, if only for that.
Well, missed that, and Kyle scaring people. That was always interesting to watch.
Cassidy held up both his hands at the scowl with an apologetic smile. “When you look like you’re not about to ascend to another plane or collapse from a heart attack, I’ll go get more coffee, alright? Even let you pick what kind.” He offered, placatingly, though he knew he probably didn’t need to. Seemed he definitely didn’t need to if she still felt alright hugging him anyway. And if he ducked down slightly to make it easier for her to reach, well, that was just habit.
“Morning, afternoon, doesn’t much matter now does it?” Not when he’d be up all night anyway. Time tended to get a little fuzzy around the noon area for him, even on his days off, so he didn’t let it bother him too much.
Raising an eyebrow, he sat down heavily at one of the chairs around the over-large dining table he had crammed into the open space between the kitchen and the living room, kicking out one of the other chairs for Jesse. “Is it just me, or does that sound ominous?” he asked, shooting a confused look Jesse’s way.
Wow, yeah, no more coffee for Kitty. She was so close to bouncing off the walls and she definitely didn't need any more encouragement. Thankfully Jesse was used to this slightly more manic side of his best friend so he sort of her erratic energy though he knew Cassidy was not as accustomed to it. Thankfully he was good with Kitty.
He shot the other wolf a grateful look when he kicked out a chair for him to take a seat and he did so. "This sounds really ominous," Jesse assured Cassidy with a chuckle. "I think it's a little scarier than it would be normally because y'know she's high on caffeine right now."
Jesse then turned his attention to Kitty. "Okay, so, we're sitting."
Kitty looked delighted when they both sat down, resting her bag on the floor and crouching down, rummaging in it. “It’s not ominous,” she protested, not looking at them as she dug around. Handbags magically turned into the TARDIS whenever she needed to actually get something from it. Cassidy’s offer of coffee later was one that she filed away in her mind; if he was going to let her pick the brand that seemed dangerous but if it would provide the last boost she needed to get home so she didn’t fall asleep in the front seat of Jesse’s truck again then more power to it. Caffeine was a godsend.
Even if she thought, possibly, she could taste colours. Was that a normal thing to feel when caffeinated? She didn’t know.
“I’m also not high on caff- well, probably. But that’s not the point. Okay? The point is. I made you guys things and I wanted to give them to you when you were together.”
She let out a triumphant sound when her fingers caught on two paper bags in the depths of her purse, pulling them out with what could have been a flourish but was actually a far more functional in nature. She wasn’t much for the extraneous flowery stuff. It wasn’t serving a point, so why was it needed? It wasn’t needed, that was her point. What was she doing?
Oh. Yes. Gifts.
Standing up, she held them out to the werewolves, one each. “Don’t open them yet,” she instructed. “I wanna tell you what they are first and then you can open them.”
She paused, “Does anyone want water or something? Before y’know, I start rambling at you guys?”
“Oh good, not just me then.” Cassidy said, nodding decisively and with as straight a face as he could make. “And it just a bit, Kitty. Digging into your Mary Poppins’ bag isn’t helping much either,” he added, teasing, but game to sit there as long as it took.
Even if he had to raise his hand to gesture ‘little bit’ at Jesse when she protested whether or not she was high on caffeine.
“Exactly how much coffee have you had since you last slept anyway? ...Wait, when did you last sleep? Jesse, when did you two last sleep?” Not that he could do anything about it, and not like he’d lecture them or anything, but hey, he could be slightly worried. And want a baseline for next time.
Regardless, he took the bag Kitty held out gingerly - both because possibly magic and because, well, it was a gift. Wouldn’t do to go breaking it now would it?
“There you go with the ominous again. And pretty sure I’m supposed to be offering you that, given this is my place and all.”
“Dude, don’t look at me,” Jesse huffed in Cassidy’s direction. “I’ve slept. She-” He gestured towards Kitty. “Well, she must’ve snuck a lot of coffee when I was doing the normal thing of sleeping.”
At the presentation of the “gifts” he took it with a curious expression completed only by the arch of his eyebrow. “I think you could do with some water for sure Kitty. You know, dilute all that caffeine in your veins.”
His lips tugged into a teasing grin.
“How dare you,” Kitty said, mock-scandalised at the teasing grin thrown in her direction. “If I dilute the coffee in my blood stream right now I’ll probably just die. And you wouldn’t want that on your conscience now, would you. So.” She waved her hand in Cassidy’s direction when he mentioned that he should have offered. “Eeh, I’m on my feet, it made sense. Anyway. Gifts.”
As if she’d been thinking too much about sleep - since it had been brought up - she felt a yawn trying to creep up on her. She just breathed in deeply to try and circumvent it. “And for the record, I’ve only had like, three. Or four. And then one of those tiny ones.” Which were the equivalent of a caffeine shot. It had tasted gross, but it had been made with that Deathwish stuff that Elijah liked. She’d gone through half a packet of chewing gum to get the taste out of her mouth.
She wiggled her fingers, indicating that they could open the small paper packets. Paper to save the environment and all, since it was recyclable. Inside was a braided leather bracelet with a deep blue stone ,for Cassidy, and a deep red one ,for Jesse, embedded in the middle going all the way through so that it would be felt against the skin when the bracelet was worn.
“These are attuned to you,” she told them. “I mean, to both of you. Individually. They won’t work for anyone else.” She wet her lower lip, suddenly looking nervous and shy, eyes dropping down to the floor. Her fingers laced together and she rocked up onto her toes, her voice even dropped a little. Less confident. “I- uh, they’re charmed. I’ll need to redo the charm once a month, or so, but the crystal should warm up and vibrate a little if someone around you is intending to harm you.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and then went back to picking anxiously at her thumbnail.
“In my defense, when one of you’s done something dumb, there’s a decent chance the other has too.” Cassidy shrugged, shooting a grin at Jesse.
He might’ve looked mildly alarmed at Kitty’s defense against the water. If only because trying to figure out how much caffeine that would actually take was...disconcerting. “...So four coffees and a shot. And you haven’t had a heart attack?” Now he definitely looked alarmed.
The redirection of the conversation to the little paper bags in their hands mollified him a little. But he was definitely keeping an eye trained on her now - the last thing he needed was for her to pass out after a caffeine crash or something and crack her head on the floor. Slightly paranoid? Him? Definitely not.
Carefully pulling apart the paper, he kind of had to blink at the bracelet for a moment. “This is-” he started, only to pause when she started to explain. Well damn.
It took a second to figure out how to get the thing on - not a big jewelry wearer, but whatever - but it fit perfectly when he managed. Maybe the bear hug he gave Kitty the next moment was a little sudden, especially if she wasn’t actually watching him, but oh well. He’s always careful with her, and he let her go after another moment. “Thank you, Kitty.”
Jesse watched Cassidy for a moment as he opened up his paper bag and arched his eyebrows as he pulled out a bracelet. “Wow, that’s pretty cool,” he agreed readily. At a rather pointed look from Kitty he acquiesced and broke into his own bag and sure enough he had almost the exact same bracelet as Cassidy but his stone was red.
“This is awesome,” he assured Kitty with a grin as he fastened the bracelet to his left wrist and smoothed his thumb over the stone. He had a feeling he knew what conversation had inspired Kitty to make these bracelets but that nugget of information he kept to himself. “Really awesome.”
He smirked as he watched Cassidy give Kitty the biggest hug as he could remember a time when the other wolf had been a little cold and rough around the edges. Seemed like forever ago though.
Kitty did jump a little as Cassidy wrapped his arms around her in a fierce bear hug, lifting her hands to hug him back even as she met Jesse’s eyes and knew that he’d worked out already where her desire to make these had come from. She’d feel better, knowing that they had them on. She’d feel better knowing that there was something else watching out for them that was more objective than their senses. Not that their senses weren’t good enough, because of course they were, but Kitty spent such a long time fretting in general that something would go wrong at Midnight - more so since Jesse had met her for breakfast with bruised ribs - that this just would help put her mind at ease. Or at least a little bit.
“You guys don’t gotta wear it all the time, but at least when you’re at work, please? I’ll need to, uh, redo them once a month or so just to make sure the charm’s held and over time I’ll need to do less and less, but they won’t work for anyone else, so they’ll be a useless accessory on someone else’s wrist.”
Dropping back down in his chair, Cassidy ran his fingers over the bracelet and the stone curiously. “Seriously Kitty, this is amazing.” Thoughtful and practical too, which he could more than appreciate.
He’d never actually put much thought into it, but when she mentioned work, things made a little more sense. He was used to stepping between people and coming out the other end a little rough for wear - even before the job at Midnight. And he knew Jesse was as good at the job as he was, and that didn’t come without its own badges from time to time. He doesn’t know if there was an actual conversation between the two of them or not, but he wouldn’t be surprised. That Kitty would include him though, kind of was. Pack or not, he could still remember a time he was firmly on the outside - his own doing of course, but not the point.
Raising an eyebrow at the last touch, he glanced back up. “...Good thing it’s pretty then, huh?” he asked, grinning. “But, part of the uniform, got it.”
“What Cassidy said,” Jesse assured Kitty as he slipped the bracelet on and lifted it so she could see it better. “See, it looks good.” And honestly he probably wouldn’t take it off even when he wasn’t working as Jesse knew himself well enough to know that he might forget to put it back on if he did that.
He got to his feet and bundled Kitty up into a hug of his own before dropping a kiss on her temple.
“Thank you.”
Pleased though she had been when Cassidy hugged her, she all but melted into the one that Jesse wrapped her up in, humming happily and embarrassed when his lips touched her temple. “I mean- I just wanna look out for you guys.” Lord knew they’d all looked out for her long enough, and even in recent years after her mom died. The pack had mourned her as one of their own.
Her arm stayed looped around Jesse’s waist and she looked at Cassidy, cheeky grin flicking across her lips as she asked, “So… can I have a coffee now?”
Cassidy could feel the fond smile on his face, watching Jesse and Kitty. Those two were in each other’s pocket’s, and honestly seeing that was...refreshing, sometimes. Best word for it that didn’t touch on the nostalgia that still tasted a little too bitter, at least. “And you’re doing a fantastic job of it, Kitty. Don’t worry.”
Then he snorted, shaking his head. “Ah, no. I said when you didn’t look like you were literally tasting the rainbow, I’d go get you coffee. Know what that means? After you get some sleep. And preferably drink some water. Jesse, back me up on this, please.”
“Uh, no,” Jesse said quickly and readily. “No more coffee for you until you stop looking like you could power an entire city block.” He knew that Kitty needed to sleep and if she kept drinking coffee then sleep was actually never going to happen.
He squeezed her affectionately. “I’m with Cass on this one.”
Kitty huffed out a breath as she was told no again but relented, leaning into Jesse’s squeeze, settling comfortably under his arm where she slotted almost perfectly.
“You got plans for the-” her question was somewhat derailed by the yawn that caught her by surprise. Sheepishly, she apologised before she continued. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day ‘fore your shift?”
“Come back tomorrow, and we’ll see, alright?” Cassidy offered, not wanting to put up too hard a face. It just wasn’t in him, not with these two.
“And I was gonna see if I couldn’t get dinner cooked for the next week, get it in the freezer or something. Super exciting stuff.” He shrugged, dragging a hand through his hair. He didn’t expect anyone over for the next couple of days, except random drop ins like normal, so there wasn’t much of a need to plan anything fancy for awhile. “I’d ask if you wanted to stick around and help,” he teased, grinning in their direction, “But I think you’re about to pass out on your feet.”
“How about this,” Jesse began. “Kitty can grab a nap on the couch and I can help out? Then when she wakes up she can help with whatever is left over.” Seemed like a good solution to their current predicament.
He unlike Kitty definitely hadn’t drank a lot of coffee and was definitely able to help Cassidy out with no problem.
“Works?”
Jesse, unlike Kitty, had also slept a few more regular hours than she had in recent weeks. She wanted to protest but honestly the more she stood on her feet the more tempting a nap was, and Cassidy did have a really comfortable couch.
“If that was your way of getting rid of us,” she started, rubbing one of her eyes as she kissed Jesse’s cheek and detangled herself from his arms to plop on the couch, “I think it just backfired. ‘Cause I’m gonna sleep on your couch now.”
She toed off her shoes and flopped to the side, tucking a cushion under her head and wriggling onto her side. She was pretty tired.
“Now why would I ever want to get rid of you two?” Cassidy asked, tone light but no less sincere, pushing himself to his feet. He disappeared down the hall long enough to grab a blanket to unceremoniously dump on Kitty, before heading back to the kitchen. He honestly hadn’t expected the two of them to stick around, but he would never kick them out. And if they were willing to help cook, well, more the better.
“Simple this week at least, shouldn’t take long.” He told Jesse, sliding over a cutting board with some celery, garlic and peppers, while he himself pulled out what he needed to get the stock going. “Should be enough for you two to take home too.” Wouldn’t be fair otherwise, he figured.