My flight back got in later than I’d expected thanks to some bad weather, but at least my clients had paid extra for the bother. Still, I was kind of frustrated because I’d been living in Avenglade for six months now and Cooper and I were planning to have a date night, and now we were going to have to postpone thanks to the weather-related flight issues.
I was initially rather annoyed when I pulled into the garage, but when I headed into the house I stopped in surprise.
None of the lights were on, but there were candles lit, giving the room a soft, warm, and very welcoming feel.
“Welcome home, Tommy,” Cooper’s voice startled me as it came from behind – he must have been standing next to the door from the garage, waiting for me to come through. Now as I turned to look at him in surprise, he reached for my bag, tossed it aside, and then wound his arms around my neck and started kissing me before I had fully figured out what was going on.
I automatically gripped his hips and returned the kiss, my stress disappearing almost as easily as my breath.
“Mmm,” I murmured against his lips, “I think I could get used to being welcomed home like this.”
Cooper was blushing a little but seemed happy as he gave me another kiss. “When I got your message about being late, I thought maybe we didn’t have to give up our evening entirely. I made dinner – nothing fancy, though – and I figured we could just have our date here.”
“That sounds amazing.” I started walking forward, guiding him backwards as I did. “But can I have dessert first?”
“Dessert?” He looked dismayed. “I – I didn’t think about that.”
“I meant you, silly.” I leaned down to kiss his neck as I settled us onto the couch. “I want to make out for a while.”
“Oh. Okay, yes.” He flushed again, but eagerly reached to pull me back to his face.
I took my time kissing his lips, then moving to his neck, and collarbone, my hands slowly exploring his body under his shirt. He seemed to be enjoying it, judging by the way he moved – and then I paused, startled, as a sound met my ears that I hadn’t quite expected.
Cooper’s reaction was even more unexpected, though, as his eyes widened and suddenly he pushed me off him and then curled up in a ball, looking genuinely terrified.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” He sobbed. “I didn’t mean to!”
For a moment I was bewildered, but I had something more important to deal with first than being confused. I gently reached over and rested my hand on top of his head.
“You don’t have to apologize, and please don’t cry, Cooper.” My mind finally processed what I’d heard. “Why are you upset about purring?” His reaction didn’t make sense to me, and I needed to understand why it freaked him out so bad.
He groaned a little and hugged his knees tighter. “I – I didn’t mean to,” he choked out.
I took a moment to consider how to respond, then opted to just hug him gently, resting my chin on top of his head.
“I’m not upset about it,” I told him. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
His crying sounds paused for a second. “But – but Sean….”
Sean? His first boyfriend? Wait, he’d said he made a mistake that had revealed he was a supernatural. Was that it?
“Did you purr with him and he reacted poorly?”
He hesitated, then nodded as he wiped at his eyes. “I knew I used to do it when I was content with my family, and I’d taken care to avoid that with him, but I didn’t realize I’d purr when I got really into, uh, making out. We were going to sleep together so of course things were getting heated and then I purred by accident. I – I should probably have tried to say I was good at mimicking animals, but I’m not a great liar, so I just told him the truth and he flipped out. He called me a freak, said being with me was like bestiality, stuff like that.”
I felt my anger rise but tried to snuff it out. The guy was dead, it wouldn’t do any good to be angry with him about the past.
“Well, he was wrong. Granted, being with a supernatural can involve some…unusual…things, sometimes. I mean, you’re not the only one.” I released him to stand up, allowing my wings to appear as I did. His eyes widened and his tears completely stopped as he stared at me in wonder. “Not everyone has wings as tall as they are,” I pointed out, “or glows when they’re happy like some fairies or gets an aquatic form if the get in the ocean like merfolk. Point is, yes, supernaturals may have different things to worry about than just humans, but that doesn’t make it bad. Just different.”
I sat back down without hiding my wings, instead curling them around the end of the couch to almost create a cone of just two of us. Cooper was looking at them in fascination and reached out to touch the feathers lightly.
I just let him, watching as he explored for a bit, before sliding my arms around his waist and pulling him into my lap, earning a startled squeak from him.
“And for the record,” I murmured into his ear, “I think it’s cute that you purr in human form. I kind of like it.”
His eyes widened as he turned back to look at me. “You…like it?”
“Mm-hmm.” I kissed his forehead, then rested my forehead against his. “Now that I know that’s a thing, I think I’m going to try to get you to purr more often since I know it means you’re enjoying yourself.”
For a second, he looked taken aback and almost offended before melting into a warm smile as he shifted around to face me better. “I love you, Tommy.”
I was startled by the words, realizing that while I’d known how he felt about me and was pretty sure he knew how I felt about him, we’d actually never said it to each other before.
I couldn’t stop the smile that lit my face at those words, though. “I love you, too, Cooper. And, uh, you're going to purr for me from now on, right?” I winked at him flirtatiously.
He laughed lightly. “You’ll have to make me,” he warned, blushing a little. “I mean, I can purr if I just want to, but it’s your job to bring it out.”
“Sure, I can do that.” I immediately leaned in to give him a long kiss, slowly running my hands up his side as I did. I really wanted to hear that purr again now that I was expecting it and could appreciate it – and that Cooper knew it was okay.
He caught my face between his hands and looked at me, biting his lower lip. “Sometimes you make me want to do crazy stuff,” he announced, to my surprise.
“Like what?” I moved my hands to his back as I kept my eyes trained on his rich brown ones.
He blushed again. “I – I kind of want to do something impulsive and crazy but I don’t know that it is so crazy, really, because it’s you?” His words stated coming out in a rush. “The other day when we had lunch downtown, I kind of just wanted to sneak off to City Hall and get married and move in with you and just give in and trust you and not listen to my fears anymore because every time I talk to you about them, you somehow make it seem like it’s not so big of an issue, like when I’m with you, it’s just – it’s like I know it’ll be okay somehow. Like I don’t have to be afraid for the future because with you, it’s different. Like it’s not even that crazy to want to get married already because it’s with you and it just makes sense. And – and I want to just be impulsive and give in to that instead of being afraid.”
He stumbled to a halt and looked at me nervously.
A slow smile started to spread on my face. “Are you asking me to marry you, Cooper?”
He blinked a bit, then let out a huff. “Yes, I think I am. Please marry me, Tommy. Tomorrow. I don’t need a fancy ceremony, I just want – just want to be with you.”
I held him as close as physically possible while trying to convey all my emotions in a kiss that startled him with its intensity for a second, but then he started to melt and I could feel the faintest rumble of a purr under my fingers.
Licking my lips a little as I lifted my head, I smiled warmly at him, not letting him budge even a centimeter out of my arms. “I would love to. Gladly. Just tell me when and where and I’ll be there.”
He sighed with relief, then bit his lip again. “Are we – going to keep going tonight?” He murmured softly.
“Do you want to?” I leaned in to slowly kiss the side of his neck, working my way down from just below his ear to the crook of his neck. “Or would you rather wait till we’re married? Or after? I’m in no rush, we can do this at your pace.”
I could feel his breath catch with every press of my lips against his skin. At my words, though, he suddenly grabbed at my collar and tried – with clumsy fingers – to figure out how buttons worked.
“I want to,” he explained breathlessly. “I really do. I’ve been wanting to for months and I don’t want to wait any longer and why is this so hard to get off?” He wailed as he failed to figure out how to unfasten my shirt.
I muffled a laugh and stood up, lifting him with me. “Let’s go to my – our - bedroom,” I suggested. “Then we’ll enjoy the dinner you made and tomorrow we can go to City Hall or whatever.”
Cooper clung to me as I started across the room. “I love you, Tommy,” he repeated as he kissed the side of my face.
“I love you, Cooper, and I always will.”
Looking into his eyes, I could see he was finally starting to believe that.
~~~~~
Cooper was curled up against me, my fingers lightly playing with his hair while I listened to the soft rumble coming from him in response. I couldn’t help the smile as I realized he was purring in his sleep in response to my touch.
Sean had been an idiot, I decided, not to appreciate this. Hearing Cooper purr was relaxing, cute, and intimate all rolled into one and I found myself rather delighted with the discovery. Every time I managed to get a purr out of him, it sort of thrilled me.
He’d gotten moved in by now – after we’d officially gotten married – and we were figuring out the differences in living together versus just dating. Cooper really liked snuggling in the mornings and was always disappointed when I left before he got up, so I tried to stay for him unless I had an early flight. I tended to sleep somewhat less than he did, but I wondered if that was a bit of a cat thing.
I’d also learned that the most grievous error I could make with Cooper was to remove one of his bookmarks or otherwise lose his place in a book. He didn’t yell or get aggressive, just grumbled about it for a long time and would glare at me if I went to touch any of his books for a while until I successfully earned his forgiveness with a gift of new books and some roses. I also made a mental note not to try to read whatever he was reading at the same time – even if I just was curious about what he was reading – just in case I messed up his place again.
Today was Saturday and I didn’t have any flights planned, so I was willing to laze around until Cooper got up, for now just enjoying his soothing purr and the touch of his body against mine.
That was the plan, anyway, until my phone started vibrating. I frowned at it, not expecting anyone to call me, and reached over to see who it was. To my surprise, it was a number I didn’t recognize, but looked local to Avenglade.
I hesitated, glancing at Cooper, whom I didn’t want to wake up, and decided to slip into the hallway to answer the call and then return before he woke up.
“Hello?” I said as I got into the hallway and closed the door behind me.
“Tommaso Moretti?” An unfamiliar woman’s sharp, professional voice met my ears.
“Yes, I’m Tommy. Who is this?”
“My name is Violet Woodson. I’m calling about your parents and your brother,” she explained. “I need to talk to you about something – but you should probably sit down.”
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