.....88. kissing under the stars????
You got it, my dear.
Sorry for skipping the last couple days, everyone! I had guests, and my brain was cottage cheese.
Only two more days left in SaintSpy May! Send in your prompts if there's anything else you'd like me to write!
-
88. Kissing under the stars
Their first attempt to go camping with Cat is…
Well. Call it an experience.
“That,” Jude tells their dog very seriously, holding her by the collar and pointing her in the general direction of the campfire, “is fire, Miz Hunt. You cannot go into the fire, because it is very hot.”
Cat, apparently unmoved by Jude’s reasoning, leans her long, elegant snout forward, clearly attempting to sniff the crackling logs, ears perked up with far too much interest. “No,” Jude says, and pulls her away again. “I am doing this for you. Your curiosity is going to end in singed fur and distress.”
Ethan, from where he’s watching this exchange in the seat Jude had abandoned him to in order to save their too-adventurous puppy, cracks up.
“You could help,” Jude grumbles at him, frowning in the way that means he only sort of means it. “You will also have to deal with the consequences of this if she jumps into the fire.”
“You’re doing great, sweetheart,” Ethan tells him, but he relents under the scowling, and reaches for the bag of liver treats they brought with them—Cat’s favorite. He shakes them, and watches Cat’s ears perk up.
“Kitty-Cat,” he croons, and gets a cocked head. “Come.”
Cat, being the very, very good and very, very food motivated girl she is, abandons Jude in a beautiful twist that breaks his hold on her collar and scrambles up to Ethan enthusiastically.
“Yes,” Ethan praises, and pulls out a bit of treat to give her. “Sit.” Cat sits. “Yes!” Another treat. “Down.” Down she goes, and accepts a third treat. “Stay,” Ethan says—the hardest by far. Cat starts to stand up. “Eh! Stay, Catherine.” Cat settles back down, still up on her haunches. “Settle,” Ethan says, and with a big doggie sigh, she flops down to the side. “Yes! Good girl. Stay.”
“She only holds a stay if you stand over her with a bag of treats,” Jude says, as he pulls himself to his feet and treks back over to them. “What, are you going to stand over her all night?”
Ethan looks up, a smile playing over his face. “I mean, it’s that or we move her leash anchor back to the tent.
Jude makes a face. “She’ll be cold,” he complains, and the treat Ethan was holding vanishes from his hand as Jude leans over to give it to Cat. “Won’t you? Good girl. Good stay.” He leans down to kiss her right between her ears, scratching under them the way she likes. Cat’s tongue lolls out of her mouth, tail thumping like a metronome on the ground. She starts to stand up—”Eh! We didn’t say ‘okay’—”
Cat springs to her feet, tail wagging furiously.
“Beginner’s move,” Ethan observes as Jude sighs.
“Yes, yes. Cat—sit. Yes, good girl.”
Ethan looks up through the trees as Jude resettles Cat into lying down. From here, the stars are laid out all around them, peaking through the windows of the canopy bright and beautiful. He traces the Milky Way above him with his eyes, picking out constellations and breathing in the smell of wood smoke, the trees around them, the warm summer air.
His view is eclipsed by Jude’s face for just a moment before his lips are taken in a kiss, slow and relaxed and warm.
“Mm,” Ethan says, and kisses back, lets Jude settle over him again, bracing to take both their weights.
“Hm,” Jude agrees, free hand sliding slowly up Ethan’s arched back. Ethan can feel the other hand braced behind him, Cat’s leash wrapped firmly around the palm. “Where were we?”
Ethan smiles, and sucks Jude’s tongue into his mouth past his teeth, slides his own over it the way that always earns him that low rumble in Jude’s chest, deep and interested and happy—
He feels the leash go taut barely a fraction of a second before Jude’s sitting back up and catching their ridiculous greyhound as she makes another leap towards the fire, nose going furiously. “Catherine Hunt,” Jude snaps. “No!”
Ethan collapses back onto the blanket, laughing again.
“It’s not funny,” Jude insists.
“It—it really is,” Ethan says. “Put her by the tent!”
“She’ll get cold.”
“Take a blanket, then, sweetheart—”
Cat belly crawls towards the fire again, pulling herself out sideways in an attempt to inch closer.
“Eh! No. Why are you like this?” Jude asks, exasperated as he pulls her back enough to catch her with his other hand again. “You are going to get banished to the tent, and I will be unable to save you.”
Ethan laughs again. It’s a beautiful night, he has his husband and their ridiculous dog, and above him, the stars spread out above the trees, their own beautiful canopy. It’s a good night. He doesn’t think he could be more full.
-
5 notes
·
View notes
short-ish vent/explanation as to why things have been so slow sobs
I don’t really feel the passage of time anymore but it’s crazy how much time I’ve lost just since February to just one after another dealing with the house pets. First our puppy’s neuter, then my sister bringing her cats into the house, her cats tearing things up and needing to be watched constantly (by me of course bc I’m the only one here), her cats then giving everyone ringworm which was a nearly 2 month ordeal that we’re still recovering from physically and financially, and now both puppies (one has seemed to recover now) are having some sort of intestinal issue the vets don’t know the cause of, but I’m just cleaning bloody diarrhea (its not parvo, the vet tested) and doing laundry all day.
I never really got the chance to recover from the introduction of the puppies back in September last year. I feel like my life has been overtaken by all these animals completely against my will and out of my control. Mom is just hemorrhaging money from all these obligations and vet bills she never planned/asked for, and I’m trying to help (despite none of these pets being mine) while also barely having the time to work that I used to. I used to be able to sit at my desk nearly all day without being interrupted but now dealing with all these animals by the time I get to sit at my desk I’m exhausted and it’s like 7pm but I gotta get up at 6am to give out medications and make breakfast for 5 pets.
Its starting to calm down but I’m just really upset over how all this affected my ability to work since these extended wait times reflects on my business very poorly and it’s just been killing me because this is not how I normally conduct things but I just had the rug completely snatched from under me and haven’t really been able to get back up.
I also want to make clear that none of these animals are mine, nor did I have anything to do with the decision making to get them. I was told by my fam that it was expressly kept secret from me- literally until the animals came through the front door, because they knew I’d be upset because I’d have to watch them since I’m the only one home. The only pet that belongs to me is my leopard gecko who is a perfect angel boy who I’ve had not one issue with since getting him (he just turned 2 last month).
Things are (hopefully) starting to stabilize, I’m praying that we can have just a little time without an animal having some sort of health crisis. I’m really sorry this has been such a long running thing, I never could have anticipated for any of it. I’m so grateful for the patience of my commissioners and am especially sorry to them, this isn’t normally how my business handles and I’m really ashamed of it.
18 notes
·
View notes