Oh, she's smiling. She is definitely still interested in hanging out at the very least, and he immediately forgives his sister for not telling him who her son's doctor was. Anything that might have changed the trajectory of this encounter is forgiven!!
"Perfect, because I am sure I will get my own layers of snot to wear too before the day is out."
He should probably take his nephew before he passes out, just in case being jostled from one adult to another wakes him, but the baby looks so peaceful that Cassian hesitates anyway.
"That would be far easier to do if I had your number." Smooth af. But also the phone he had overseas is not the same one he has now. He wasn't quite settled back in the States yet then, so it was easier to just set up something there. He pulls it out of his pocket. "New phone. Then I can take him home to rest."
That was so smooth Jyn doesn't even think to question any of it, just bleating out the number automatically when he pulls out the phone.
"I'll fax a script for Vicks and nighttime cough medicine over to Shara's pharmacy so you won't have to pay for it." Insurance companies hate it, but they can suck Jyn's dick. You bet your ass she will write scripts for tylenol if she feels like it, if her patients can't afford it, if an insurance company in particular has irritated her that day. "I do suggest investing in some saline wipes for his poor nose and if you have a chapstick you don't mind sacrificing, just slather that all across his cheeks and nose and mouth, it'll keep it from drying out from constantly cleaning his nose."
The chapstick is key because of the easy application.
She jiggles Poe on her hip so he lifts his head again and she can talk to him. "You'll all done, my brave little lion. Time to go back to Tio Cassian." Yeah, that's right, she knows uncle in Spanish. She glances up at Cassian, smile playing at the edges of her mouth. "I guess I'll see you tonight."
He's so delighted to have her number, he too virtually immediately forgets how smooth he was. He sticks his phone back in his pocket, a very easy half smile on his face. "I will let her know all of this, and I am glad it is not something worse. I am surprised she has not tried calling me already for updates. Thank you."
Insurance companies are garbage and Cassian hates them. American health care is terrible.
Jyn is so good with Poe, he almost doesn't want to take the baby from her, but alas. He reaches out to snag him back, tucking him neatly against his chest. He curls in comfortably against his uncle, snuffling a little and making tiny unhappy noises, but he seems content otherwise to snuggled. "You did so good, pájarito."
He looks over at Jyn again, his grin turning much wider. "I can't wait."
He can say that right?? Too late if not! He lifts Poe's little hand in a wave. "Say goodbye, Poe. Dr. Erso is really looking out for you."
"Pájarito?" Her eyebrows lift in question at Poe's little nickname. Cassian has to go but she's curious and if she waits she might not remember to ask later and also maybe she doesn't want to talk about babies on their date.
Date, holy shit, they're going on a date.
Wow.
For the record, she still stumbles over the word even having just heard it. Her mouth isn't used to Spanish.
"Little bird. For whatever reason, he just loves to be up high. It drives Kes crazy, but Shara thinks it is hilarious."
He is infinitely amused by her Spanish, but he doesn't tease her for it. It's a weird word, of course she stumbles over it. Besides, he doesn't want to make things weird or cross a line before their date.
Little bird. That's so cute and Jyn's smile softens before she dips her head in a nod.
"Yeah, yeah, that'll be great. Feel better, Poe. Hopefully next time I see you is for a well baby visit." No more sick baby Poe is the ideal. She glances back up at Cassian, feeling an outpouring of butterflies suddenly.
He supposes he can't linger much longer. There are other sick children Jyn needs to see, and he should get Poe home so the poor thing can rest. Besides! He'll be seeing Jyn again later. With another quick smile and thank you, he ducks out of the room and heads to the front to finish out the last of the paperwork.
He finally manages to text Jyn the address a little after three, when Poe dozes off for a nap. He sends her a picture of the sleeping baby too, just so she knows for sure that it's him.
Shara picks up her baby boy only a couple minutes late, rattling on about how Kes is going to pick up everything at the pharmacy, including the chapstick, thanking her brother for all he's done today. He tries not to rush his sister back out the door, but he doesn't want to tell her he has a date, so it isn't until 5:30 that Cassian manages to text Jyn that he's free at last, and they agree to meet up around 6:15.
Cassian is lucky he's not late, considering he labors over what to wear, which is stupid because they're just meeting up for pizza. He settles on a nicer pair of jeans and a black three-quarter sleeved henley, after washing and cleaning himself up. Goodbye baby germs. He even puts on a nice cologne. He gets to the restaurant first, taking a little corner table right by the window. It's a battle between looking at his phone and looking out the aforementioned window, not sure which is the least awkward.
But he catches sight of her walking in and his face lights up. He lifts his arm up in a wave, as if she hasn't already seen him. This is dumb, it's pizza! Pizza with a girl he's apparently been really into for a while.
Jyn gets puked on twice so when her last patient cancels she sprints home to take the world's longest shower to get the ick off of her. By the time she is done, she smells like a woman again -- like roses and honey -- and hurriedly grabs a pair of skinny jeans and a tank top out of her closet. Once she's yanked it on she figures she should probably wear something suitable for being briefly outside and she tugs on an oversized jumper in palest lavender cashmere that she's never had a chance to wear since Bodhi bought it for her five years ago.
He'd be so proud.
She shoves her feet into her worn boots and sprints out of her apartment, looping her hair into a disheveled top knots as she hurries to the pizza place, double checking that she has her phone and keys and money. Should she have checked before she left? Of course. But she lives dangerously.
Walking right past the door, she has to double back when she realizes she's in the right spot, grinning when she spots Cassian waving her over. "Hi!"
Oh god, she's like a freshman in high school level of disaster.
Cassian honest to god debates if he should get up and pull her chair out, but it's not like they're in a fancy restaurant. It's just pizza!
"Hi," he says. Just pizza doesn't stop him from smiling like an idiot while she makes her way over. They are literally behaving like teenagers, not very accomplished medical professionals. So much so that he doesn't know what to say for a second, struck by the simple momentum of being out on a date with her and excited to be here.
This is ridiculous.
He huffs a little laugh while she sits down. She looks... cute. It occurs to him that he's never really seen her in nice casual. It's always been med-coats and camping clothes. "You look nice. I hope the rest of your afternoon was not so bad."
"It was rubbish, actually. Poe was definitely a high note." He's a sweet baby, okay. The ones that puked on her were sweet too and she'd rather be puked on than their poor parents so it was fine, just gross. She hasn't been puked on in a while, she did not miss it.
"I want to ask about Poe, but I don't want to talk about babies on our date." She makes a face like SO YOU FIELD THAT FOR ME, please.
Also now it is officially a date since she said it out loud. They're on a date, deal with it.
"How about I just tell you he seems about the same? Shara says thank you, for all the prescriptions too."
He did not tell his sister he was going to see Jyn for her to say so specifically, it was more of a broad thank you universe statement that Cassian decided to pass on. Poe is a good bean, he does not mind talking about him briefly.
Date! She used the word date! On the date! He's so distracted by the word that he completely misses her throwing the conversation into his field and there are a few moments of weird quiet, before he just puffs out a little laugh.
"I had no idea you worked so close. I remember that you had an office in New York, but it was not like we talked about details. I really lucked out today." A beat. "How long have you been here?"
She nods, pushing back the urge to ask more questions about Poe. This is not a work thing, she doesn't want to talk about work.
"I'm still up at the hospital a couple times a week, but honestly I prefer my office." It's her space! And usually the kids are healthy, she needs those well baby visits to make up for the heartbreaking outcomes at the hospital. "It's been a few years, I think. My parents teach in the city so we've been here since I was... 21, I think? Maybe 22. I went to school in the city, Bodhi and I shared a flat for years. But I've been here here for just a few years."
Here in her own apartment without her brother, here at this hospital, here in the hipster part of town. Brooklyn, her true love.
"We came here when my sister was a toddler, and so her accent is much weaker than my parents and mine. They still live in Sunset Park." A beat. "My parents. Shara and I live around here now, but she has been with Kes for so long the most I ever lived with her was crashing on her couch."
He and Shara both went off and did their own thing for a while, and yet here are, back in Brooklyn. It was very hard to resist his mother's not so subtle demands that they both come back home until they got married, which Shara circumvented nicely with the birth of her son. Cassian used the excuse of wanting to be near Shara in case she needed anything, and Carina could not agree more!
"I start work here in two weeks. My first time in a steady hospital trauma center. I almost wish I had an office like yours." So, still plenty of trauma to be had, but at least it's not out and about and being stationed overseas away from his family anymore. It doesn't occur to him it could be the same place Jyn works part time - there are plenty of hospitals in Brooklyn, and his is going to be about a twenty minute commute. "It used to be St Rosa's, now it is the Rosa Santiago Medical Center?"
It treats high levels of immigrant populations and his fluency in Spanish was a big old bonus.
"Rosa's? You're at Rosa's?" Her eyebrows lift, bleating out a soft laugh. "Bodhi and I are at St Rosa's."
The name might have changed, but it's always going to be St Rosa's to the majority of the people in the city.
"Bodhi's there full time, I'm more of a consultant at this point, but I'm there a couple days a week. And I bet you anything that Bodhi knew that." He gave in too easily when Jyn refused to make a move on Cassian during their trip. He must have known that they would inevitably run into each other again at the hospital.
His face lights up. He does not bother to hide it. Not only did his nephew facilitate their reunion, now he finds out they work - at least part time - in the same place. He is having the best fucking luck today!
He huffs his own quick laugh. "I will be there soon, yes. He mentioned it over the summer to me, when we were talking about what to do after the trip. I had nothing lined up and he thought it would be perfect for me after he discovered I was planning to move to Brooklyn."
So. Yeah. Her brother definitely knew, but Cassian can't say he minds. "We will have to grab a vending machine lunch sometime."
He knows how hospital shifts are! But it doesn't mean he won't use it as an opportunity to hint that he already wants a second date when the first one has barely started and they haven't even gotten their pizza yet.
And he's a twat that won't even be scolded because that would mean Jyn acknowledges his gambit was successful and she refuses. She told Cassian he was a sneaky bastard and no one suspected him because he was the nice brother but now there is proof!
"Vending machines in peds are better than anywhere else." Do it, Jyn, fucking do it!! "But we could probably get lunch before then, too."
He said two weeks, they could have... many lunch dates before then.
Bodhi one hundred percent knew what he was doing. Cassian fears that man meeting his sister, it's a disaster for he and Jyn waiting to happen. In this case it turned out to be a good kind of sneaking, but what if next time! It's worse!
His grin widens. "We definitely could." Please, son, try not to sound too eager. He already knows that's impossible but she's the one who asked this time. "There is no short supply of places to eat around here. Maybe for dinner again too."
Planning multiple dates, it's fine. He'll bring up a walk in the park next, that's at least a little different.
Jyn bites down on her lip to hide her smile but then she's sort of just grinning and it doesn't even matter. She is clearly into this line of thinking. Maybe they have just two weeks worth of dates, lunch and dinner.
"Do you..." Maybe this is too fast, but Jyn doesn't like feeling like a goofy idiot in public. She would much rather be a goofy idiot with less of an audience. "Do you wanna, maybe get the pizza to go? We could rent a movie. Or discuss with steadily growing horror the fact that Poe and all his little friends are never going to know what renting a movie even means."
They are both full of grins and smiles. It's a good sign of how their date is going so far, as though it hasn't barely begun. He felt like he had to be more restrained overseas, keep up a level of professionalism even against the thinly veiled flirting they couldn't help but keep at almost the whole trip.
He wonders if he should be offended she wants to leave already, but literally everything about her offer sounds appealing. Maybe they are old! But he doesn't care, he'll take this elder excitement.
Breakfast tomorrow sounds especially appealing.
"I have netflix. We do not even have to rent one, which I suppose only adds to Poe's lack of understanding." A beat. "I am not far, if you want to go back to my place."
Place has more specific connotations than house, but so does breakfast tomorrow, so they're still on the same page.
"Sure." Her head bobs in a nod and this time she really does have to rein it in so she doesn't seem too eager to be going to his place. Even if she is a little too eager to be going to his place. It comes off as casually eager.
"But only if you make me breakfast in the morning."
She is the one that suggested getting breakfast so she feels like she is well within her rights to amend that suggestion as well. She wants Cassian to make her breakfast, preferably so she can stay lounging naked in bed because that is exactly where she wants the evening to lead.
Sure. If she is just casually eager, he is just casually excited, biting back on the smile that threatens to light up his entire face. It doesn't quite leave his eyes though.
"How do you feel about pancakes?"
He is very into the idea of making her breakfast, because it means they don't have to rush and leave the house at a certain time to avoid the morning food and coffee rush. So, that's a yes. He will absolutely make breakfast in the morning, even if it isn't pancakes. He could probably do waffles.
He just wants her to still be there in the morning, in his bed. With him. After a whole night with her too.
She finally gives in and grins, standing up and holding out her hand. Some small part of her brain tells her that this is too fast and they should take it slow and get to know each other first but they had a whole summer of taking it slow and getting to know each other.
She'd spent an entire summer watching Cassian without a shirt on and unable to touch any part of him. She is tired of being slow. "Come on, lets go get that pizza. To go."
Pizza, movie, sex, sleeping, pancakes. This date is already going better than he ever dreamed.
He climbs to his feet and takes her hand, giving it a little squeezes as if he's trying to reassure both of them that this is not too fast. It's fine! They had a whole summer of awkwardly flirting without being able to do anything about it. They already were slow!
He tugs her and over towards the counter. "A couple of slices and maybe some breadsticks? I have drinks at home, alcoholic or otherwise."
"We could get a whole pizza. In case we get hungry... later." Later after bouts of wildly acrobatic sex, that way they won't have to figure out what to eat when they get hungry at 2am after making out naked on the couch, too tired to keep banging but too wired to go to sleep like reasonable adults.
She can very much see that happening this evening so it makes sense to prepare for the best.
As if he wasn't already beaming, Cassian's face brightens more. Maybe this evening isn't going like he planned so far, but it's going... better. It's still going great. He's holding her hand and they're gonna get pizza and hang out on his couch all night. Probably naked.
He resists the urge to tell her she's the real midnight snack, as tempting as it is. Maybe he'll feel safer doing so after they actually sleep together.
"What do you like on your pizza?" That's a yes, let's get a whole pie. "My favorite is jalapeños and olives, but I know it is not everyone's choice. I am not picky."
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"Perfect, because I am sure I will get my own layers of snot to wear too before the day is out."
He should probably take his nephew before he passes out, just in case being jostled from one adult to another wakes him, but the baby looks so peaceful that Cassian hesitates anyway.
"That would be far easier to do if I had your number." Smooth af. But also the phone he had overseas is not the same one he has now. He wasn't quite settled back in the States yet then, so it was easier to just set up something there. He pulls it out of his pocket. "New phone. Then I can take him home to rest."
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"I'll fax a script for Vicks and nighttime cough medicine over to Shara's pharmacy so you won't have to pay for it." Insurance companies hate it, but they can suck Jyn's dick. You bet your ass she will write scripts for tylenol if she feels like it, if her patients can't afford it, if an insurance company in particular has irritated her that day. "I do suggest investing in some saline wipes for his poor nose and if you have a chapstick you don't mind sacrificing, just slather that all across his cheeks and nose and mouth, it'll keep it from drying out from constantly cleaning his nose."
The chapstick is key because of the easy application.
She jiggles Poe on her hip so he lifts his head again and she can talk to him. "You'll all done, my brave little lion. Time to go back to Tio Cassian." Yeah, that's right, she knows uncle in Spanish. She glances up at Cassian, smile playing at the edges of her mouth. "I guess I'll see you tonight."
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Insurance companies are garbage and Cassian hates them. American health care is terrible.
Jyn is so good with Poe, he almost doesn't want to take the baby from her, but alas. He reaches out to snag him back, tucking him neatly against his chest. He curls in comfortably against his uncle, snuffling a little and making tiny unhappy noises, but he seems content otherwise to snuggled. "You did so good, pájarito."
He looks over at Jyn again, his grin turning much wider. "I can't wait."
He can say that right?? Too late if not! He lifts Poe's little hand in a wave. "Say goodbye, Poe. Dr. Erso is really looking out for you."
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Date, holy shit, they're going on a date.
Wow.
For the record, she still stumbles over the word even having just heard it. Her mouth isn't used to Spanish.
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He is infinitely amused by her Spanish, but he doesn't tease her for it. It's a weird word, of course she stumbles over it. Besides, he doesn't want to make things weird or cross a line before their date.
A real date! He has a real date with Jyn!
"I will text you later."
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"Yeah, yeah, that'll be great. Feel better, Poe. Hopefully next time I see you is for a well baby visit." No more sick baby Poe is the ideal. She glances back up at Cassian, feeling an outpouring of butterflies suddenly.
"See you."
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He finally manages to text Jyn the address a little after three, when Poe dozes off for a nap. He sends her a picture of the sleeping baby too, just so she knows for sure that it's him.
Shara picks up her baby boy only a couple minutes late, rattling on about how Kes is going to pick up everything at the pharmacy, including the chapstick, thanking her brother for all he's done today. He tries not to rush his sister back out the door, but he doesn't want to tell her he has a date, so it isn't until 5:30 that Cassian manages to text Jyn that he's free at last, and they agree to meet up around 6:15.
Cassian is lucky he's not late, considering he labors over what to wear, which is stupid because they're just meeting up for pizza. He settles on a nicer pair of jeans and a black three-quarter sleeved henley, after washing and cleaning himself up. Goodbye baby germs. He even puts on a nice cologne. He gets to the restaurant first, taking a little corner table right by the window. It's a battle between looking at his phone and looking out the aforementioned window, not sure which is the least awkward.
But he catches sight of her walking in and his face lights up. He lifts his arm up in a wave, as if she hasn't already seen him. This is dumb, it's pizza! Pizza with a girl he's apparently been really into for a while.
He's... pretty excited.
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He'd be so proud.
She shoves her feet into her worn boots and sprints out of her apartment, looping her hair into a disheveled top knots as she hurries to the pizza place, double checking that she has her phone and keys and money. Should she have checked before she left? Of course. But she lives dangerously.
Walking right past the door, she has to double back when she realizes she's in the right spot, grinning when she spots Cassian waving her over. "Hi!"
Oh god, she's like a freshman in high school level of disaster.
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"Hi," he says. Just pizza doesn't stop him from smiling like an idiot while she makes her way over. They are literally behaving like teenagers, not very accomplished medical professionals. So much so that he doesn't know what to say for a second, struck by the simple momentum of being out on a date with her and excited to be here.
This is ridiculous.
He huffs a little laugh while she sits down. She looks... cute. It occurs to him that he's never really seen her in nice casual. It's always been med-coats and camping clothes. "You look nice. I hope the rest of your afternoon was not so bad."
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"I want to ask about Poe, but I don't want to talk about babies on our date." She makes a face like SO YOU FIELD THAT FOR ME, please.
Also now it is officially a date since she said it out loud. They're on a date, deal with it.
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He did not tell his sister he was going to see Jyn for her to say so specifically, it was more of a broad thank you universe statement that Cassian decided to pass on. Poe is a good bean, he does not mind talking about him briefly.
Date! She used the word date! On the date! He's so distracted by the word that he completely misses her throwing the conversation into his field and there are a few moments of weird quiet, before he just puffs out a little laugh.
"I had no idea you worked so close. I remember that you had an office in New York, but it was not like we talked about details. I really lucked out today." A beat. "How long have you been here?"
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"I'm still up at the hospital a couple times a week, but honestly I prefer my office." It's her space! And usually the kids are healthy, she needs those well baby visits to make up for the heartbreaking outcomes at the hospital. "It's been a few years, I think. My parents teach in the city so we've been here since I was... 21, I think? Maybe 22. I went to school in the city, Bodhi and I shared a flat for years. But I've been here here for just a few years."
Here in her own apartment without her brother, here at this hospital, here in the hipster part of town. Brooklyn, her true love.
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He and Shara both went off and did their own thing for a while, and yet here are, back in Brooklyn. It was very hard to resist his mother's not so subtle demands that they both come back home until they got married, which Shara circumvented nicely with the birth of her son. Cassian used the excuse of wanting to be near Shara in case she needed anything, and Carina could not agree more!
"I start work here in two weeks. My first time in a steady hospital trauma center. I almost wish I had an office like yours." So, still plenty of trauma to be had, but at least it's not out and about and being stationed overseas away from his family anymore. It doesn't occur to him it could be the same place Jyn works part time - there are plenty of hospitals in Brooklyn, and his is going to be about a twenty minute commute. "It used to be St Rosa's, now it is the Rosa Santiago Medical Center?"
It treats high levels of immigrant populations and his fluency in Spanish was a big old bonus.
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The name might have changed, but it's always going to be St Rosa's to the majority of the people in the city.
"Bodhi's there full time, I'm more of a consultant at this point, but I'm there a couple days a week. And I bet you anything that Bodhi knew that." He gave in too easily when Jyn refused to make a move on Cassian during their trip. He must have known that they would inevitably run into each other again at the hospital.
That little meddling prick.
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He huffs his own quick laugh. "I will be there soon, yes. He mentioned it over the summer to me, when we were talking about what to do after the trip. I had nothing lined up and he thought it would be perfect for me after he discovered I was planning to move to Brooklyn."
So. Yeah. Her brother definitely knew, but Cassian can't say he minds. "We will have to grab a vending machine lunch sometime."
He knows how hospital shifts are! But it doesn't mean he won't use it as an opportunity to hint that he already wants a second date when the first one has barely started and they haven't even gotten their pizza yet.
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And he's a twat that won't even be scolded because that would mean Jyn acknowledges his gambit was successful and she refuses. She told Cassian he was a sneaky bastard and no one suspected him because he was the nice brother but now there is proof!
"Vending machines in peds are better than anywhere else." Do it, Jyn, fucking do it!! "But we could probably get lunch before then, too."
He said two weeks, they could have... many lunch dates before then.
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His grin widens. "We definitely could." Please, son, try not to sound too eager. He already knows that's impossible but she's the one who asked this time. "There is no short supply of places to eat around here. Maybe for dinner again too."
Planning multiple dates, it's fine. He'll bring up a walk in the park next, that's at least a little different.
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"Do you..." Maybe this is too fast, but Jyn doesn't like feeling like a goofy idiot in public. She would much rather be a goofy idiot with less of an audience. "Do you wanna, maybe get the pizza to go? We could rent a movie. Or discuss with steadily growing horror the fact that Poe and all his little friends are never going to know what renting a movie even means."
Are they old???
Impossible.
Deep breath, Jyn. You can do it.
"Maybe we could get breakfast tomorrow."
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He wonders if he should be offended she wants to leave already, but literally everything about her offer sounds appealing. Maybe they are old! But he doesn't care, he'll take this elder excitement.
Breakfast tomorrow sounds especially appealing.
"I have netflix. We do not even have to rent one, which I suppose only adds to Poe's lack of understanding." A beat. "I am not far, if you want to go back to my place."
Place has more specific connotations than house, but so does breakfast tomorrow, so they're still on the same page.
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"But only if you make me breakfast in the morning."
She is the one that suggested getting breakfast so she feels like she is well within her rights to amend that suggestion as well. She wants Cassian to make her breakfast, preferably so she can stay lounging naked in bed because that is exactly where she wants the evening to lead.
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"How do you feel about pancakes?"
He is very into the idea of making her breakfast, because it means they don't have to rush and leave the house at a certain time to avoid the morning food and coffee rush. So, that's a yes. He will absolutely make breakfast in the morning, even if it isn't pancakes. He could probably do waffles.
He just wants her to still be there in the morning, in his bed. With him. After a whole night with her too.
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She finally gives in and grins, standing up and holding out her hand. Some small part of her brain tells her that this is too fast and they should take it slow and get to know each other first but they had a whole summer of taking it slow and getting to know each other.
She'd spent an entire summer watching Cassian without a shirt on and unable to touch any part of him. She is tired of being slow. "Come on, lets go get that pizza. To go."
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He climbs to his feet and takes her hand, giving it a little squeezes as if he's trying to reassure both of them that this is not too fast. It's fine! They had a whole summer of awkwardly flirting without being able to do anything about it. They already were slow!
He tugs her and over towards the counter. "A couple of slices and maybe some breadsticks? I have drinks at home, alcoholic or otherwise."
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She can very much see that happening this evening so it makes sense to prepare for the best.
"Midnight snack."
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He resists the urge to tell her she's the real midnight snack, as tempting as it is. Maybe he'll feel safer doing so after they actually sleep together.
"What do you like on your pizza?" That's a yes, let's get a whole pie. "My favorite is jalapeños and olives, but I know it is not everyone's choice. I am not picky."
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