Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey! My boyfriend!” Sticky looked back at Cas. “Uh, I mean bird friend. Bird friend!” Sticky ran off with Cas’s bird friend, with Cardamon chasing her. Cas sighed. That relationship probably wasn’t meant to be. He was a bird after all. She sat down on the steps to Bee’s apartment, setting the confetti machine next to her.

                                “Sorry ‘bout your bird-friend.” Bee crouched down next to Cas. “If you want, you can stay over at my place tonight.”

                Cas took a moment to think. Bee is weird, but nice. Plus she could use the night away from her room, which was still a mess thanks to Toast. It’d also just be nice to get away from Toast’s antics, if just for a night.

                Cas looked up at Bee. “Sure. Can you help me up?” Cas reached her hand out, and Bee took it, pulling the Wizard up.

                “Don’t forget this! I can help you take it to your place tomorrow morning” Bee picked up the confetti machine and brought it inside her apartment, setting it next to her door. “Sorry, my place is still a bit of a me- Oh! You cleaned up a bit! Thanks, PuppyCat. Cas is staying the night.”

                “<Most of the floor salad is in this bag.>” PuppyCat held up a plastic bag, and Bee took it from him.

                “I’m gonna change real quick. Cas, make yourself comfortable.” Bee opened her

 wardrobe, took out her blue night dress, and ran into the bathroom.

                Cas walked over to the window, set her tea down next to Bee’s dad box, and then sat herself down on the couch. PuppyCat caught Cas’s attention. He was holding a pillow.

                “<Here, catch this.>”  Cas instinctively covered her face. Usually, when things were thrown her way, they were meant to hit her face. The pillow instead landed softly in her lap.

                Cas moved the pillow to her side. “Oh. Can you toss me another one?” PuppyCat threw another one at her, and Cas caught it. “Thanks PuppyCat.” What a weird name.

                PuppyCat grabbed and threw more pillows, though this time, he was aiming for the middle of the couch, rather than Cas. Then, he jumped onto a pillow shaped like an eggplant in the middle of the couch. Cas shifted herself to be lying down.

Cas had seen PuppyCat before, but she hadn’t really got a close look at him before today. He seemed to be some sorta cat dog pet thing. Weird. Cas didn’t know she should pet him or not. She decided to and started to pet him. As soon as her hand touched him, though, PuppyCat started to become goopy. Cas awkwardly pulled her hand back. PuppyCat went back to “normal”.

The bathroom door opened, and Bee strolled out. She threw the clothes she’d been wearing earlier into the sphere chair. “You two look comfortable. I’ll try not to mess you up.” Bee shuffled around some of the pillows, and then managed to fit into the space not occupied by PuppyCat or Cas.

Cas was cold, and sat up. “Do you have a comforter or uh, a blanket?” She usually slept under several layers.

Bee reached blindly under the couch. “Yeah, lemme just get it.” Bee eventually pulled out a small, thin blanket. Cas wasn’t impressed, but it’d at least be better than nothing. At least, if she and Bee could share it.

Bee handed Cas the other end of the blanket. “Will this cover us both?” Bee nodded, so Cas decided to lie back down, stretching the blanket over herself.

Despite how small the blanket seemed, Cas was able to fully cover herself up. She looked over at Bee and noticed that not only was she also covered up, but even PuppyCat had some of the blanket. And it was also just a nice blanket. Soft and warm.

“Hey Bee?” Bee responded with a sleepy mumble that Cas assumed was directed at her. “Thanks for letting me stay over. This is nice. And, uh, thanks for getting Deckard to go to culinary school.” Bee mumbled something about fishcakes back to Cas, who struggled to hold in a giggle.

Cas eventually drifted off to sleep, joining Bee and her weird friend in slumber. She dreamed of wrestling uncooperative scripts and programs until they ran without issue. Bee dreamed of couches and snacks. PuppyCat dreamt of bygone adventures as a candy hunter.

The morning sun eventually shone into Bee’s apartment. Cas slowly woke up.

The couch was unrecognizable from its state last night. The pillow that PuppyCat had been on was now across the room. The spot Bee had slept in was empty. Something was moving under a blanket.

Cas reached for the edge of the blanket and lifted it slightly. PuppyCat was fully under the blanket, still deep in whatever he could be dreaming about. She covered him back up.

She lied back down, almost falling back asleep. Cas was jolted awake by the sound of a door opening. Bee walked into the apartment, carrying a tote filled with stuff. PuppyCat’s head poked out from under the blanket.

“Oh good, you’re both up. I got stuff.” She sat down on the couch and reached into the bag, and handed PuppyCat an egg pouch.

“<YEAHH!> PuppyCat knocked the pouch out of Bee’s hand, launching the egg into the air. Bee caught the wrapper, and PuppyCat “caught” the egg with his face.

“Is…he gonna-?” Cas worried that PuppyCat was going to do… something. She didn’t know what.

“I don’t think so? Anyways, I got you an energy drink.” Bee pulled out an energy drink can. It wasn’t the one Cas usually got, but she still liked it.

Cas took it from Bee, opened it and started drinking it. “Oh, thanks. I usually order these off from the island.”

“The cashier had a pack of them! I bought a can off him. I also got us all yogurts.”

Suddenly, Cas had a realization. “Oh crap. I’m late for work.” She finished her can, got up, and started to run out of Bee’s apartment. “Thanks!”

Neither Bee nor PuppyCat were shocked by Cas’s sudden disappearance. PuppyCat finished eating the egg.

“<Why didn’t you throw that bag out?>”

“I dunno. It slipped my mind?”

“<Well, before you throw it out, look for coins in it.”>

“You… threw away coins?”

”<No.>”

“Then why check for coins?”

“<Just in case.>”

Cas got back to her room. She ignored the nightmare that was the state of her room. The wall needed to be patched up, her chair was gone, and a table had a hole in it. Cas needed to focus on work though. She didn’t have the time for that, nor any thoughts about her bird friend, or Bee. She spent the rest of the day working on scripts that barely functioned, typing on a keyboard that was still sticky.

Chapter Text

                Cas paced around the kitchen impatiently. She needed to get back to the apartment. Soon. Cas had an unfinished freelance that she needed to get done. The Cat Café, as usual, was empty. Well, excluding the cats, Howell, and Cas.

                Cas continued to pace around. She wasn’t sure whether Tim, Crispin, or Wesley was going to be taking over her shift. She just needed one of them to take her shift.

                The door of the Cat Café opened, with Tim and Wesley walking in. Cas took off her apron and ran out of the kitchen. “Howell, I’m ditching right now.”

                Howell pleaded uselessly. “Cas. Don’t leave me. You’re our best cook.”

                “I’m not the best cook, Deckard is. And I have a freelance I need to do.” Cas made a gesture at Wesley. “Car keys please.” Wesley reached into his pockets, pulled out the keys, and dropped them in Cas’s hand.

                Howell knew he was fighting a losing battle. “Deckard isn’t here to cook. You a-“

                Cas didn’t let him finish. “It’s my turn to pay rent. I’ll make it up to you later. I need to go, now.” She left the Cat Café.

                Howell sighed as Cas got into the car and drove away. He’d have to find a way to get back at her.

                “Come on, dude.”

                “<I refuse to come out.>”

                “PuppyCat, we need to deal with this today.” Bee sighed. “Come on out from under there,” She was crouching, looking at PuppyCat.

                “<I won’t ever come out of here of my own free will.>”

                PuppyCat was under the couch. Again. “If you help me take the garbage out right now, we’ll come back and marathon Pretty Patrick.”

                “<We missed the marathon.>”

                “I have my ways around that, PuppyCat,” She raised her hand to cover a smile. She hoped he wouldn’t call her bluff.

                Cas ran into her room, jumped onto her chair, and turned her computer on. Her duck alarm was already warning her that her script was due in a few hours. If she worked fast enough, she might be able to just barely get it done in time.

                While her computer was busy booting up, Cas felt like something was wrong. She hesitated at her computer for a second, but nothing happened. After a bit of fumbling, she was ready to start working.

                As she started coding though, one of the walls in her room burst open.

                Toast emerged from the hole in the wall. “I knew you’d be back for a fight, Castaspella!”

                “No! Not now! Also, I live here!” Toast began to charge toward Cas, aiming a punch directly for her face.

                Cas caught Toast’s fist, and threw her across the room. “I need to work!” Toast landed gracefully, and launched herself in the air, aiming to land on her greatest enemy. Cas stepped to the side as Toast slammed on the floor.

                “Fight! Back!” Cas was able to dodge that move, but in a blur, Toast had Cas pinned to the ground. “We need to fight!”

                “Toast! Get off of me! I need to work!” Cas struggled underneath Toast. She tried to roll away, but couldn’t.

                “Kick! Baby! Now!”

                Bee and PuppyCat could hear the commotion coming from Cas’s room, especially since she had a brand-new hole in her wall. The pair wandered into Cas’s room.

                “Hi Cas!” Bee seemed completely unfazed by the fact that Toast and Cas were mid-battle.

                “Bee! Can you uh, help get Toast off of me?” Bee walked over to Toast and tried to pull her off Cas.

                “No! Don’t besmirch our fight!” Toast pushed Bee away. Bee wasn’t expecting to see any retaliation and fell on her butt.

                PuppyCat was offended by the way that Toast treated Bee, so he ran over to Toast, and punched her leg.

                “Hey! No hitting!” Despite Bee’s scolding, he continued to punch her leg. Toast didn’t seem to even notice PuppyCat’s assault.

                Merlin had just woken up when he heard Bee scold PuppyCat. He instinctively knew that Toast was in Cas’s room, and assumed that Toast had started beating up someone other than Cas. He rushed into his sister’s room, and pulled his unwed wife off of Cas.

                “Oh! Good morning Merlin!”

                “Sorry about her. Oh! Bee, I’ve got a few of your things. Wesley and I fished it up.” PuppyCat paused his assault at the mention of Wesley.

                “You’ve been fishing with Wesley?”

                “It’s boring.” He shrugged. “But Wesley enjoys it.”

                “I’ll have pick the stuff up from you sometime.” She waved at Merlin.          

                “No! I want to fight Cas! Let me at her! I need to fight her!” Toast wriggled uselessly as Merlin dragged her out of Cas’s room. Somehow, Merlin closed the door as he left.

                Cas sat up, now that she wasn’t under the weight of her scary friend. “Are you two okay? Sorry about Toast, she can be…” Cas paused.

                Bee stood up. “Yeah, we’re both fine.” Bee pointed to the other side of the room, where Toast had appeared from. “Your wall isn’t, though…”

                Cas groaned as she looked at her wall. “Crap. I really don’t have time for this.”  She got up and threw herself into her office chair.

                Bee raised a finger to her mouth. “Hmm, how do you normally fix your wall?”

                PuppyCat put his paws on his hip. “<I want to go back to the apartment.>”

                “PuppyCat.” Bee put her hands on her hip. “Let’s help Cas.”

                “<I also want to lie down on the couch and watch Pretty Patrick.>”

                “PuppyCat.”

                Bee and her weird pet continued to face off against eachother, in the middle of Cas’s room. “PuppyCat, I could put Pretty Patrick on my computer.” PuppyCat perked up. “You could also hang out on my bed.” Cas opened up a new window on her second monitor just for PuppyCat.

                “Heh. Thanks Cas.” Bee picked PuppyCat up and plopped him down on Cas’s bed. “Oh! Your wall.”

                “Right. I use this stuff.”  Cas pulled out her putty knife and drywall cup from under her bed. “Just kinda start from the bottom and work your way up.” She plopped them into Bee’s hands.

                Bee walked over to Cas’s wall, while Cas sat back at her desk. They both had work to do. Bee scooped the putty out of the cup and onto the gap in the wall, getting it as smooth as she could manage. Cas typed away at her keyboard, speedily writing and debugging her script. PuppyCat continued to lie on Cas’s bed, half asleep, half paying attention to Pretty Patrick on Cas’s computer.

                “Alright, Cas. I think I’m done with your wall!” Bee set the putty knife and cup on the floor, and stood proudly next to her work. Cas pause the scripting she was working on and turned towards the wall.

                She signed. The patch was definitely done by Bee. It was rough in some places and smooth in others, but the whole in her wall was now sealed up. Cas wasn’t sure if this was Bee’s first time patching a hole up in a wall, but it seemed like it.

                But it was done by Bee. She’d still put in the effort to help Cas out, and Cas could appreciate that. “Peeerfect.” Bee’s smile changed. “Thanks Bee.”

                “No problem. Watcha been up to, Cas?” She pointed at PuppyCat, who had long been asleep. “Well, aside from Pretty Patrick for you-know-who.” One of his ears twitched at Bee’s mention of Pretty Patrick.

                “Oh. Uh. I’ve been working on this freelance. It’s hard to explain.” She vaguely gestured at the window that had code brought up on it. Bee walked over to Cas’s desk and leaned over to get a better look at Cas’s efforts.

                “You can try explaining it, I might catch some of it.” Bee’s eyes narrowed. “I’m pretty smart.”

                Cas started her explanation. “Right now I’m working on a script for some game. It’s supposed to generate some stuff, then encrypt it and store it in a few files…” Bee kept facing the screen as Cas scrolled through it, explaining the function of barely functional functions, but her eyes were focused on Cas.

                “So. That’s basically it. Didja catch all that?”

                Bee nodded. “Yeah! I think I get it. You’re basically trying to keep secrets from other people in the form of numbers, right?” Cas laughed.

                Bee didn’t get it, and they both knew it. But it didn’t matter, Bee still found Cas’s walkthrough interesting, and Cas had some newfound clarity of her script.

                “Can I hang out on your bed for a bit?” Cas nodded. Bee set herself down on Cas’s bed, nodding as Cas explained what she had yet to script. “I was gonna store stuff in this file using one method, but I just remembered there’s an easier and more efficient way.” Cas rapidly typed something somewhere.

                The two talked back and forth about programming. Cas talked about programming, since she was a programmer. Bee wasn’t and kept trying to suggest things that didn’t make sense to implement.

                Bee slowly but surely dozed off as Cas continued to ramble on about programming.

                After a 30 minute ramble about compilers, Cas noticed that Bee was asleep. She turned off Pretty Patrick, and put her headphones on with some music. As Cas typed away at her computer, she tried her hardest not to think about the weird cute girl that was on her bed. Cas pushed away thoughts of cuddling under the warmth of her comforter. Of cuddling with Bee. She just had to polish her freelance a little bit.

                All of her thoughts were suddenly thrown off by a can of her favorite energy drink suddenly floating in the empty air next to Cas.

Chapter Text

Cas had a crush on Bee. She kicked the floor to keep herself spinning in her office chair.

“Face masks done! Face masks done! Face masks done!” The duck clock reminded on Cas’s wall reminded her of the passage of time. She took off the handful of face masks she had on. She opened her phone and looked at her face, running a few fingers on her cheek.

Cas didn’t have to work at the cat café today, nor did she have to worry about her freelance. She just had to worry about how she was going to spend her day. “Nice. No zits.” Cas turned her phone off, and tossed it onto her bed. She launched herself off the office chair, landing right next to her phone in her bed.

Cas tried to think of something to do for the day, but couldn’t. Her mind had been clogged up with thoughts of Bee. Since the day of Howell’s birthday, Bee had been on Cas’s mind. Something about being with Bee, about Bee being in her bed, just felt right to Cas.

Cas cleared her mind for a second and focused on things to do. She could fight Toast all day, or she could argue with people online, or she could get peach bread.

Peach bread sounded good. It’d been a while since Cas had any. She couldn’t drive herself to the train station, though. Crispin was at his garage, and Howell had taken the car. Bee could drive her, though. Her bike had been fixed for a while now. Cas just needed to find something that’d convince Bee.

Cardamon was throwing his mother’s tears onto some plants in the garden, which made them weird. Sticky was following right behind him, dragging a garbage bag full of tears. Unknown to him, Cardamon had two people observing him. Bee watched him from her balcony, and Tim watched him from the Wizard kitchen.

Bee was watching Cardamon because she had nothing else to do. She didn’t feel like watching TV, and PuppyCat had drained her phone’s battery by playing a Pretty Patrick game. Tim was eating cereal and writing in his book of people secrets. He flipped to a blank page, and started doodling a caricature of Cardamon.

Cas found what she was looking for. An IOU card. One of Bee’s IOU cards. Cas only had one of those from when Bee had worked at the Cat Café. She just found Bee weird back then. Cas had almost thrown it away when doing laundry a few months back, but instead she kept it and it ended up in a pile under her bed.

Tim heard a door open and close. He slammed his book shut. The book was for his eyes only. Cas ran out of her room, and out of the apartment. Cas paused for a second, leaning against the door she’d just slammed closed, then started walking to Bee’s apartment.

Bee’s attention drifted from Cardamon to Cas. She yelled in Cas’s general direction. “CAS! HIIII!”

Bee’s shouting startled Cardamon and Cas. Cardamon dropped the tear he was holding, and Cas jumped. Sticky let go of the bag and started barking. “Sticky. No. Quiet down. We don’t want to disturb the neighborhood.”

Cas looked up at Bee, seeing that she was waving. Cas took out her IOU card from one of her pockets and started waving it at Bee. Bee continued to wave, until she realized what Cas was holding. Bee winced, and went inside. Cas hurried to Bee’s door.

Bee opened her door to Cas, who was standing with her arms crossed, with a dusty IOU card in one hand. “Hii Cas. You’re here to redeem that?” Bee pointed at Cas’s IOU card.

“Hey. Oh and yeah. I’d like to use it today.” She passed Bee the card.

Bee took the card, and inspected it. “Wo-ow. This ones old. Watcha’ want to do with it?”

“I wanted to go get some peach bread from the train station. It’s been a while since I’ve had any…”

“Oh sure! Let’s hang out at my place for a bit though. I’m not sure if PuppyCat’s awake, and my phone is charging cuz he was on it all last night.”

Bee and Cas walked into the living room. PuppyCat was sitting on a watermelon pillow on the floor, chewing Bee’s TV remote and watching some show. Cas sat down on the couch and started watching whatever PuppyCat was watching. There were multicolored muscular birds punching each other. It wasn’t the type of stuff that Cas was used to watching, but she was focused on it.

Bee walked over to her wardrobe. “Let me get some clothes I can go out in.” She picked out a striped shirt, and some pink jeans. Bee closed the wardrobe, and headed to the bathroom.

After a few minutes, Bee walked out of the bathroom, and shoved her old clothes into the wardrobe. Cas and PuppyCat were still focused on the show. Bee sat on the end of the couch closer to the window, and her phone.

“Usually, Wesley uses the IOU cards to have me help with fishing. Do you remember when I gave this to you?” Bee waved the IOU card around. One of the birds got punched into the sun.

Cas’s focus didn’t stray from the show. “I don’t remember? It was when we worked at the cat café together.”

Bee picked up her phone and checked how much battery It had 87%. “Phones charged. PuppyCat, Cas. C’mon, let’s go.” She stood up, grabbed the TV remote and tuned the TV off.

“<”Go where? I was watching my show.”>

“We’re getting some peach bread from the train station. It’s good stuff, you’ll like it.” Bee passed Cas a helmet with a blue visor, PuppyCat his helmet, and put her own helmet on.

Bee zoomed through the lazy roads of the island, zigzagging around some animals that wandered into the middle of the street. PuppyCat was holding onto Bee, and Cas was holding onto PuppyCat. PuppyCat was not happy that Cas was holding onto him, and shivered every time she adjusted her grip on him. The smell inside of her helmet took Cas a moment to pinpoint, but she realized that it smelled vaguely of Wesley.

The train station came into view, and Bee pulled into the parking lot. The last time Cas had been there was to drop Deckard off, way back when he was just starting culinary school. Cas hoped he was doing fine. Bee and Cas both got off the bike. Cas took her helmet off, while Bee helped PuppyCat off the bike. Bee took off PuppyCat’s helmet, then her own, and took Cas’s helmet from her. She set all of the helmets on the handlebar of the bike.Bee took hold of one of PuppyCat’s paws, and the three started walking to the shopping part of the station.

Cas scanned the shops of the station. It’d been a while since she’d been there during the day, when all the shops were open. One of the places she remembered as a coffee shop was now a gift store. “What happened to the coffee place that used to be there?” She pointed at the gift shop.

“Oh, that used to be a coffee place? I dunno. I don’t really drink that much coffee.”

“At least the peach bread place is still here.”

The trio strolled into the peach bread place. Cas and Bee got in line. “PuppyCat, you could go get a table to sit down at.” PuppyCat let go of Bee’s hand and ran off to get a table.

Cas stood awkwardly next to Bee, slowly shuffling through the line. She felt an urge to tell Bee how she felt about her. To nudge Bee and ask her out. But this wasn’t a good place. Maybe one of their apartments would be a better place. Cas looked at the menu.

Since when did they have tea?

Cas poked Bee. “Did you realize they have tea here now?”

Bee stared blankly back at Cas. “What.”

“Look at the menu.” Cas waved vaguely in the direction of the menu. “This place has tea.”

“Oh. I don’t really look at the menu here. I just kinda ask for boxes of the bread. I don’t have tea that much.” Bee shrugged. “Maybe we should get some.”

Bee felt her PuppyCat sense go off. He was possibly getting himself in trouble. “Cas. I’m gonna quickly check on PuppyCat. I have a feeling he’s getting into something.”

“Wait.” Cas grabbed Bee’s hand. “Should I get you anything? In case you don’t get back in time?” Bee’s hands were, as usual, soft.

“Haha. Thanks Cas. 2 boxes of peach bread and a medium tea. I’ll be back though!” Cas let go of Bee’s hands, and Bee ran off to find PuppyCat.

Cas was in the middle of the line. She tapped her foot, hoping that Bee would show up to take her spot back. Time passed. The line moved. Cas was at the front of the line. “Three variety boxes, two tea lattes. Three variety boxes, two tea lattes.” She muttered her order to herself. Cas didn’t want to slip up when making her order. She wished Bee was there.

The cashier was a girl with short black hair and a nametag with ‘Barb’ on it. “What can I get for you?” Barb’s voice was sweet, yet her stare pierced through Cas’s soul.

“Can I have two-no, three variety boxes and two medium tea lattes? Thanks.”

“Three variety boxes and two medium tea lattes. That’ll be…” Barb clacked away at the cash register, but continued to stare judgingly at Cas. “$40.68.”

Three boxes of peach bread stacked on top of each other, with two cups of tea delicately balanced on top. Of course she misspoke when saying her order. Now, Cas just had to find Bee, which shouldn’t be that hard.

Bee was slumped over a round table. PuppyCat was curled up on a chair on the opposite side of the table. Somehow, despite the noise of the station, both were napping. A third, empty chair was at the[“ table. Cas walked right past them. Then, she walked past them again. She almost walked past them a third time, but PuppyCat caught her eye.

Cas set down her stack on the table, waking both Bee and PuppyCat up. “I got you two boxes of peach bread and a tea.” She sat down at the empty chair, and moved the tea cups off of the stack.

“Niiice.” Bee pulled the topmost box towards the center of the table. “I haven’t had these in a long time.” She started to pull off the lid of the box.

Cas stopped Bee from fully opening the box. “Oh. Uh, sorry. I wanted to ask, could we maaaybe find somewhere more private to eat these? Like maybe your apartment or my room.”

“I’d be fine with that.” Wait, I know a good spot, you’ll like it.” Bee took a swig of her tea. “We might need to stop at my apartment though. For some supplies.”

Supplies? Cas sipped on her tea. It was pretty good tea. What supplies could Bee even be talking about?

“PuppyCat. Cas. Let’s get going.” PuppyCat dramatically jumped off his chair as Bee and Cas got up. “Can you hold my tea for me, Cas? I’ll get the peach bread.” Cas nodded, holding tea in both of her hands. Bee rested the stack of boxes on the palm of one of her hands, and held PuppyCat’s paw with the other.

Bee let go of PuppyCat’s paw, and set the peach bread boxes down on the seat of the bike. She popped open the storage compartment of the bike, and started digging through it. PuppyCat tried to jump onto the back of the bike, but overshot and awkwardly landed right next to the boxes of peach bread.

“Hmm. I guess we’ll have to stop by the apartments quickly. To get the supplies I need.” Bee continued to dig through the storage compartment.

“<”Check the glove box.”>

Cas shook both of the teas to check how much each one had left. One of them had been drank about halfway through, and the other had barely been touched. She didn’t remember which was hers and which was Bee’s.

Bee poked a random panel on the side of the bike. Some gloves, Pretty Patrick figures, and a towel fell out. “We don’t have to stop by the apartment! Though, maybe we should. To, y’know, drop off your figures? I thought you brought those back in.”

“<”Those need to stay there. For safety reasons.”>

“Fiiine.” Bee took one of the cups of tea from Cas and started drinking it. With her spare hand, she handed Cas her helmet. The wrong helmet. Cas put it on anyways. Unsurprisingly, it smelled like Bee.

Bee sped her bike through the island. Cas held onto PuppyCat with one hand, who in turn, was holding onto Bee. Cas was holding her cup of tea with her other hand. She’d been hoping that Bee would stop, or even just slow down enough so that she’d be able to drink some of her tea.

Bee parked her bike at a rock with a bow and a carved smile. “We’re here.” Bee got off the bike and took off her helmet. She pulled PuppyCat’s helmet off, setting both on the right handlebar.

“Your spot is in the… middle of the forest. Ok.” Cas hesitantly took Bee’s helmet off, and handed it to Bee. She sighed, and got off the bike.

“It’s a spot I found a looong time ago. I like coming here every once in a while.”

Bee popped the storage compartment open, and started to reach for the box. PuppyCat plopped himself on top of the stack of peach bread boxes.

“<”You will carry me.”>

Bee grabbed the box with PuppyCat on it, and started walking into the forest.

“Wait, Bee. Weren’t there some supplies you wanted to get? I should grab them.”

“Ah, right! I forgot. There should be a towel for us to sit on in the glove compartment. We’ll wait for you.”

Cas knelt down to the side of the bike and started poking around. Eventually, she pushed something and the glove compartment opened up. PuppyCat’s Pretty Patrick figures didn’t fall out, and Cas grabbed the towel.

“Didja find the supplies?” Cas held up the towel and nodded. Bee nodded back.

Bee walked into the woods, with Cas quickly following behind her. Bee jumped on and around a fallen tree that blocked a path. Cas tried to go around, but instead awkwardly and slowly went under the tree. She didn’t want to spill the tea onto the towel. Bee marched onto the path toward the cliff.

Something caught PuppyCat’s eye. He jumped off of the box, running into the woods.

“Oop!” Bee wasn’t expecting him to suddenly jump. She shouted in PuppyCat’s general direction. “Hey! What are you- Where are you going? Uh, we’ll try to leave you a peach bread!”

He hadn’t jumped around this much in a while. But he needed to find whatever had caught his eyes. A single ladybug stuck itself to the back of PuppyCat’s collar.

Cas looked at Bee, with a raised eyebrow. Bee shrugged, and continued walking to her cliff spot. Cas continued following.

At the cliff spot, Cas took in the view. The only visible sign of civilization was a chair that Bee had left. The water below sparkled. Bee was trying to get Cas’s attention.

“Cas. Caaaas. The towel.” Cas let go of the towel. Bee took it and spread it on the ground near the chair.

“Do you remember this spot at all?” Bee sat on the towel.

“I think I’d remember if I was here before.” Cas sat opposite to Bee.

“I used to bring you guys here. At least I’m preeetty sure I brought you here before.” Bee shifted the box of peach bread to be in the middle of the towel. She then opened the box of peach bread and gestured at Cas. “After you, m’lady.”

Cas blushed as she grabbed a yellow peach bread from the box. She didn’t want to take the good one just yet. Maybe she’d split it with Bee later on. Bee took a pink peach bread and started nibbling on it.

PuppyCat jumped through the forest, keeping an eye out for something shiny. There was barely any litter on the forest floor. He passed up on a lost toy car, a faded sheet of paper, and a tattered bow tie.

In the middle of one of his jumps, PuppyCat slammed his face into something, and fell to the floor. As he recovered from being stunned, the realization that he’d jumped right into a branch set in. Luckily, no one was around to witness what had just happened. Then, PuppyCat looked to his feet.

The handle of a kitchen knife was right at his feet. Finally, something he’d been looking for. PuppyCat grabbed the knife but was met with disappointment. The blade of the knife had rusted beyond any use. PuppyCat stood up and threw the knife as hard as he could in a random direction. The knife landed in a bush with a hollow metallic clink.

The clink wasn’t a sound the knife would’ve made. PuppyCat walked over to the bush and poked through it.

A pipe was in the bush. Not just any pipe either, but a pipe that had fallen off of Bee’s bike. PuppyCat picked it up and waved it around. It was the exact same pipe that he’d thrown away when Bee’s bike broke down a few months prior.

With all the force he could muster, PuppyCat struck a tree with the pipe. There was a loud crack, the tree now having a dent where PuppyCat had hit it. The pipe was unscathed.

Hearing the distant crack, Cas jumped and looked towards the forest. She decided not to think about it, and looked to the setting sun. Then shifted her gaze to Bee, who was munching on a piece of peach bread.

Cas sighed. “Bee.” Cas and Bee’s eyes met. Cas stumbled over her words. “I-uh. I like you. Like I like like you. Like, um, do you wanna be my girl-uh, girlfriend? Cas took one last look at Bee, and then shifted her gaze back to the ocean.

Cas was mentally kicking herself. She didn’t even get the chance to ask Toast out, and now she was fumbling Bee. She couldn’t even get her words out straight.

Cas had fully tuned out while prepping for the worst, and completely missed Bee’s response. Bee could tell that her words fell on deaf ears, and paused to consider what to do. She dropped her mostly eaten peach bread, scooched herself over to Cas, leaned over, and gave her a small kiss on the cheek, which snapped Cas back into reality.

Cas had no idea how to respond.

Bee lightly giggled as their eyes met again. “Cas, I like you too.” She narrowed her eyes for a second. “Like like you, I mean. I’ll be your girl-friend.”

Bee leaned in for a hug. A dumbfounded Cas awkwardly hugged her back.

Moving away from the hug, Bee shifted herself to be sitting next to Cas. She then took Cas’s hand, and leaned on her shoulder. The two watched the sun slowly sink into the horizon. Cas could feel a dumb smile on her face.

The light from the sun eventually faded, being replaced with moonlight. Gradually, a familiar ringing approached them. It stopped just behind Bee and her girl-friend. Cas and Bee both turned their heads to see PuppyCat holding a pipe proudly above his head.

“What did you find, PuppyCat?”

<”This pipe fell off your bike a while ago.”> He waved the pipe around.

Bee raised a finger to her mouth. “Oh yeaah. The snow and lilacs. What are you gonna do with that thing?”

<”I want to use it as a weapon.”>

“Uh-huh. We made sure to save some peach bread for you.” She pointed at the box.

PuppyCat plopped himself down next to Bee, and used his new weapon to bring the box of peach bread closer. Bee opened the box, set a napkin on the towel, and put a peach bread on the napkin for PuppyCat. Cas looked away from PuppyCat devouring his snack and towards the ocean.

Bee lightly nudged Cas. “Do you wanna split a peach bread?” Cas shook her head. She’d had enough peach bread for one night.

The trio of Cas, Bee, and PuppyCat eventually had to return home. Bee’s bike sped back the way through the forest, zipping around the wildlife of the night. Bee parked her bike in the usual spot. Cas and Bee both got off the bike. Cas picked up her box of peach bread, and Bee set PuppyCat on the ground.

Cas opened the door to the Wizard household. “I’d offer you my place tonight, but I’ve got work tomorrow.” She paused for a moment. “Thanks for today, it was really nice.”

“Yeahhh, I’ll see you later, Cas. We’ve gotta get home. He can get quite grumpy.” Bee poked a sleepy PuppyCat.

“See ya.” Cas started to close the door.

‘Oh. Uh. Do you wanna go on a date sometime?”

Cas froze. She responed without really thinking. “Sure, on my next day off.”