There was a very small infinity of bliss, space between moments where thoughts went to die. Tee melted into the feeling, into the knowledge that they were with their friend, with the person they’d learned to think of as Cassandra, a name that fit her so damn well. It was a small, perfect moment, so of course it didn’t last very long. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Cass nearly crawled backwards over the table to push herself away from them.
“Why are you apologizing?” Tee asked with a frown. They knew why, they could see the gears turning. But Cassandra throwing herself down a mental staircase for an imagined slight was exactly the kind of thing they expected her to do, and they weren’t going to just let them. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I kissed you.”
“Y-yeah,” she said, and seemed to relax, a bit. She was clearly still guarded, and Tee took a step back to give her space to breath. “I just… I don’t want to take advantage of you,” she said, and Tee groaned.
“You aren’t. I like you, Cassandra. I have, for like, years.” Cassandra blinked once.
“Wait, really?” Tee could have slapped her if she wasn’t so damn precious, kind, wonderful, beautiful… they shook their head. Focus.
“Yes, really.” Tee smiled softly at Cass, who was still looking thoroughly confused. “You’re a great person, a wonderful friend, and I always thought you were…” they paused slightly, “cute. Even before you got all,” they waved at the beef mountain that was their friend, “amazonian.” Cassandra blushed. Tee had a little smug moment of relief, knowing Cass was still as quick to fluster. For a moment, she seemed a little relieved. Tee counted down in their head, waiting for the next mental stumbling block.
“But… Ellis. I don’t want to…” Cassandra seemed to be genuinely struggling. Tee sighed and grabbed her by the hand, and led her to the couch. Ironically, it reminded her of sitting on the sofa just days ago. Or half a decade, from Cassandra’s perspective.
“Ellis loves you,” Tee said softly. “He has, always has, since college.”
“And I love him too. He’s always been there for me.” Cass sighed and then caught Tee’s expression. They were trying aggressively to get her to pick up what they were putting down. “Wait… you mean…” Tee nodded. “But he’s… he’s cool. He’s so good and sweet.”
“I know, Cass. That’s why I started dating him. That’s why I live… lived with him.” That hurt for a moment, but they pushed on. “And you were there for him too. It wasn’t exactly a one-way street. Sure, we took care of you sometimes, but you were there for us. Always.”
“Yeah but…” Cass bit her lip. “I was always just… well, me. I could never have…”
“You’re his best friend,” Tee said, finishing the thought for her. “That means something to him. In more than just… Do you know why you were invited to our place last… uh… before we came here?” Tee had needed to interrupt her train of thought. It was a little sad, and a little relieving, to see that some of the old insecurities were still there. Cassandra had grown, but she wasn’t changed to the point of being unrecognizable. She shook her head.
“I thought it was just a regular hangout after the movie. We’ve done it loads of times.”
“True,” Tee said. “But no, that’s not what we invited you for.” Cassandra cocked her head, her expression asking the question for her. “If Ellis and I were, are a family… well, we wanted you to be a part of that.”
“Aww,” Cass said with a smile. “You guys are family to me too.” Tee gritted their teeth. This insufferable, beautiful, dense dumbass.
“Not… Not that kind of family, Cass.” They turned to their friend and grabbed her face in their hands. “Ellis and I love you. We care about you, talk about you, and we both have a crush on you. We would like it very much if you would date either or, ideally, both of us.” There. That should have been enough. Tee knew that sometimes you had to go at a wall of cluelessness with a sledgehammer and the subtlety of a rhino.
“I-- wh-- ho-- when--”
“Right now, if you want to,” Tee said. “Ellis and I talked about you. A lot. About how we were going to have this conversation, about dating you separately and together. About how it was literally okay for either of us to start dating you if the situation arose, because we care about you and your happiness and we want you in our life.”
“So you… I… we didn’t…”
“Nope. That kiss was entirely allowed. Nobody got hurt or betrayed. We’ll talk to Ellis when we find him, of course. But you didn’t overstep any boundaries, and neither did I.” Cass blinked again, seemingly still trying to wrap her head around everything.
“Wait does that mean…” Cassandra seemed to fidget slightly. Tee waited patiently for her to finish that thought, curious to see where she’d take it. “Does that mean we can do that again?” Finally, Tee smiled.
“Do you want to do that again?” Tee asked. Cassandra nodded. Her confidence and bluster that had carried her the past two days seemed to not quite be gone, but hidden under the insecurity of the person she used to be. Tee thought for a moment. “What about with Ellis?” More nodding. “He’s going to be happy to hear that.”
There it was. The Cassandra they’d never seen. Her face relaxed, when she finally seemed to realize that she wasn’t hurting either of her friends, and then there was a smile, and that smile split into a grin that could stop a charging bear in its tracks. Her movements were not tentative. Tee was happily surprised at how comfortable Cassandra was in her own body. Sure, they’d heard mention of an ex, but they got the feeling there was more than one person who had taught Cassandra a few things. And clearly, she’d been listening. The tall woman closed the distance between the two of them and for a second, Tee was overwhelmed by her directness. An arm like a steel beam around their waist pulling them in, a hand on their face pulling them in for another kiss. This one wasn’t a scared expression of loneliness and a search for companionship. This was a kiss that tried to make up for years of hidden yearnings, and while something like that was impossible, it became clear to Tee that Cass was going to give it her all, so they wrapped their legs around her, took her head in their hands, and returned every iota of passion and doubled it. They had a lot to make up for.
Mort found that his hiding spot behind the couch was no longer sufficient to shield him from the nonsense the people were doing, and he fled out of the room. Neither Cassandra nor Tee noticed his sulking growl, nor his slightly annoyed “finally”.
The two of them spent days, weeks, making up for lost time, while they waited for news from Ellis. At first, they’d hoped that it was simply a matter of days, but after a while, they realized that that was unlikely. It had been only seconds when they fell through the weird crack in time, but Cassandra had arrived years before Tee did, so while they tried to figure things out, Cass started to show Tee around her little slice of the city, floor 44 and the surroundings. Down here, so close to the undefined border between the more regulated part of the city and the more ‘criminal’ lower city, life was strange but interesting.
A lot of mercenaries apparently put down roots here, and it wasn’t really that they were the law, but people had a tendency to behave in neighborhoods populated by people who could turn them into paste with an elbow drop. It made this little slice of the city almost relaxing to walk around in. Cassandra showed Tee the local markets, with their weird foods, the strange crops people grew belowdecks and the bizarre creatures that lived in the nooks and crannies of the city. Tee was very excited to try cooking with a lot of them.
“So you were here for five years, right?” Tee asked as they strolled between the different stalls. They were pretty sure at least one of them sold some kind of injectable video games. Cassandra nodded, tossed someone a coin, and they tossed her something apple-ish back. “Do you remember how long you were in like, the weird tunnel thing?”
“The transdimensional anomaly,” Cassandra nodded sagely. Tee knew she’d made it up, and smiled at her with amusement. Cass stuck out her tongue and continued. “I think Ellis fell… away? Out? Down? Anyway, he popped out first, and there was more time between you and me than there was between me and him. So in theory we shouldn’t have to wait as long.” She took a bite of the ‘apple’, which was jet black on the inside. Cass didn’t seem to mind in the slightest and she pointed out a stall that had beautiful glasswork displayed. “I don’t remember how long I was in there, though. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah,” Tee said. “Sorry.” Cass pulled them close and kissed the top of their head.
“You’re entirely fine, Tee. I found a place here, and a little community. And now I found you. We just have to wait for Ellis, and we don’t have to do it alone.” That cheered Tee up a bit, and they felt… pretty good, all things considered, as they reached the edge of the market. Like most plazas like this, Cass had told them, the market was built near the edge of the floor, for ease of access. The salespeople tended to hop between blocks and floors often, and the markets were built to facilitate that. Or at least, chosen. “Yeah,” Cass confessed. “I have no idea how old the city is, and nobody here seems to know either. It predates any written record. Not that anything but paper survives very long here.” Tee shot her a questioning look. Cass vaguely waved her hand in the air. “Background magic. It corrupts a lot of digital data, but paper is so rare people resort to it anyway. That’s why you don’t see robots everywhere. Their programming slowly goes off the rails.” For a moment, Tee was worried, and apparently Cassandra had seen it on their face. “Don’t worry, babe,” she said with a grin as she ran a hand through Tee’s hair. “You’re magical as fuck. You’re even warm. I love that.”
Tee smiled and slinked an arm around Cassandra’s waist as they looked over the edge of the floor and looked at the city. Someone on a hoverbike passed them by, and waved at Cass, who waved back happily. “Someone you know?” Tee asked.
“Sort of. I kind of… well, I didn’t ruin my predecessor’s reputation, but she used to be known as someone who would only come out for really well-paying contracts. I did a lot of pro-bono work in the neighbourhood. Figured it would help me get to know the place, and now most people owe me one. Win-win.” Tee looked up at her.
“You...” they said softly.
“Hmm?” Cassandra looked down at them and smiled.
“Just… you changed a lot. You also didn’t.” They shrugged a little awkwardly. “You’re amazing. That’s all.” Cassandra blushed, again. Tee giggled softly and stretched. “So I’ve been messing with this reconfiguration matrix a bit. Getting a feel for it. I learned my first trick, wanna see?” Cassandra nodded her head eagerly. Tee took a step back. For the past few weeks, they’d been taking the time to feel the matrix, which was very much like trying to become truly aware of one of their organs and then moving it, but it had slowly become easier.
They stretched again, and connected the matrix to their limbs. With a clicking sound, the plating in their arms and legs shifted and Tee smiled, looking Cass in the eyes, as she looked down at them, then was eye level, and finally, up.
“Holy shit.”
“Right?” Tee said, looking at their arms and taking a few careful steps along the boardwalk, finding their balance. Cassandra stood back, letting them find their footing while she obviously appreciated the tall form. It wasn’t the most useful form, but it let them be taller than Cass, and that was already a good thing. With a single stride, Tee closed the distance between them, and took their girlfriend’s face in their hands again. “This is a lot easier now.”
“Holy shit,” Cassandra whispered again, and Tee felt her shaky breath on their face before they kissed her again.
Omg they’re so wholesome and loving and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Friendkisses! And then datingkisses!
Oh my. That's going to come in handy...