This chapter comes from "Cassandra talks Stone into a movie night since neither have dates" submitted by the lovely justlook3! If you have an idea for me hit me up at mouseintheannex on tumblr. I'll keep taking Valentine's Day prompts through Monday although there is a chance that if I get a lot they won't all be done by the 14th, haha. (Any leftovers would be posted soon after though!)
[cross-posted to AO3]
Jacob slipped quietly into Cassandra's lab and hoisted himself up to sit on the counter. She barely glanced up from her work; it wasn't unusual for him to come in to visit, but he didn't usually mind if she kept at what she was doing. She didn't want to lose her train of thought as she wrote out equations across the length of a whiteboard. He waited patiently until she seemed to be done.
"Gotta question for ya," he asked as she stood back to read over what she'd written.
"Shoot," she told him slowly, dragging her gaze away from her math and swinging around to face him.
"Ezekiel been braggin' to you about his hot date, too?"
Cassandra snorted. "Yeah, he hasn't shut up about it."
"Right," Jacob answered with a nod. "But has he mentioned who his date is?"
"Nope," she admitted, pausing to think. "No, not even once."
"Yeah. Exactly. He's bein' so mysterious about it I'm not sure he ain't makin' the whole thing up."
She laughed. "You think Ezekiel can't get himself a Valentine's date? I dunno, he's pretty cute," she teased.
Jacob gave her a dirty look, but not without a little amusement. "Now don't you tell me you've gone soft for all that Aussie charm he thinks he has."
She laughed again, coming to lean her elbows on the counter next to where he sat. "Hardly." Grinning, she rested her chin in her hands. "When I think about it, though, he is being awfully vague. Won't tell us who it is, where he's going, anything. Just keeps loudly reminding everyone he's got a hot date."
"Wouldn't it be just like him to make something like that up just to mess with us?" Jacob asked.
Cassandra drummed her fingers against her cheek for a moment, then shook her head. "Nah. He doesn't lie, remember? I do actually think that's pretty true. I think it'd be just like Ezekiel to have a date but then make it sound like he's making things up, just to leave all of us wondering."
It was his turn to laugh. "Kid's a weasel," he muttered, shaking his head. Clearly he still couldn't decide.
Cassandra smiled and tipped her head to one side to look up at him. "So what about you?" she asked.
"Hm?" He glanced down at her. "What about me?"
"Ezekiel's got a hot date, or something, Eve and Flynn didn't even come into work today, Jenkins has made himself scarce in the large collections annex – you have any Valentine's plans?" She tucked a curl behind her ear and looked at him expectantly.
He stared at her for a fraction of a second before shaking his head, half in answer and half to free himself from his momentary hypnosis. "Nah," he said. "Nah, my only date's with a stack o' books I've been neglectin'. How about you?" He glanced at her sidelong.
"My plans are with the Library theatre, a bag of cinnamon hearts, and a bunch of movies. A date with myself, if you will." She paused, looking at him thoughtfully. "Although, I wouldn't say no to some company."
"What?" Jacob asked. "Me? Nah, like I said, got readin' to catch up on. 'Sides, I'm not really much one for Valentine's Day type movies-"
"I've listened to you recite romantic Shakespearean sonnets, Jacob, so don't you even start," Cassandra laughed, straightening up. She turned and hopped up onto the counter next to him. "But I'm not necessarily watching any 'Valentine's Day type movies' anyway! C'mon, you should join me. You can pick. Ezekiel's been trying to help me fill the gaping holes in my pop culture knowledge, but I'm sure you must have a few recommendations that he wouldn't think of!" She bumped his shoulder playfully.
"I dunno, Cassie," he answered, part genuine reluctance and part teasing. "Sounds like you had such a nice date with yourself planned. I wouldn't wanna be a third wheel. Second wheel?" He rubbed his chin, exaggeratedly pretending to think about that.
"Oh, no, don't worry," she assured him with a giggle. "I already spoke to me, and I said I wouldn't mind at all."
He snorted and glanced down at the floor, still waffling. "I was really lookin' forward to those books, though. Things've been so busy lately, I haven't had much time for 'em at all. And even when we have a little downtime, Ezekiel's always runnin' around makin' noise."
"I know a great reading nook he's never found," Cassandra offered in the most tempting voice she could muster. "I'll show you tomorrow. But come on, it'd be so nice to have your company tonight. We haven't hung out in ages, especially off-case!"
Jacob sighed and looked over at her again, and she was smiling and giving him just a little dose of her puppy-dog eyes, and he couldn't help it. Cracking a smile and shaking his head, he asked, "How big a bag of cinnamon hearts?"
x
It was late, and Jacob and Cassandra were most of three movies into Clint Eastwood's filmography. ("He's not really an especially likeable person, if y'ask me," Jacob had explained, "but that doesn't mean the man hasn't made some fantastic movies.") They'd started around maybe six or so, after Ezekiel had finally dipped out after talking for a good five minutes or more about how great his date was going to be without offering any further details. They'd long since finished the cinnamon hearts; they'd managed to throw together some sandwiches for dinner and, digging around the Annex kitchen for a few minutes, put together an array of unfinished potato chips, miscellaneous candy, and the doughnuts still left from yesterday's bakery run as their after-dinner movie snacks. Cassandra had snagged her favourite blanket from the reading room to toss over their legs where they sat on the Library theatre's comfy seating.
Jacob glanced at the time during a quiet scene and laughed briefly at himself. "It's past midnight," he murmured when Cassandra glanced up questioningly. "Took me by surprise somehow."
"I'm not tired," she assured him with a little grin.
"Not tired? You've been leanin' on my shoulder for the last half o' the movie, Cassie," he teased her.
"Not because I'm tired!" she insisted. "It's just because your shoulder's so comfy, and you weren't complaining, so…"
He watched her for a moment in the dim light, a bemused look on his face. She watched him back curiously, and after a few seconds she asked, "What are you smiling about?"
"Nothin'," he answered, turning his attention back to the film.
"What?" she nudged him with her shoulder. "Come on."
"Nothin'," he repeated. "Pay attention to the movie."
"No, I can't now! You have to tell me or I'll be all distracted wondering about it and I won't be able to appreciate the movie."
He glanced back down at her from the corner of his eye, cocking an eyebrow. As he suspected, she was grinning; she knew he wouldn't leave her hanging if it stopped her from watching. "You know how to charm a guy, is all. Or swindle him, dependin' on the perspective. Tellin' him it's not a date and then gettin' all cuddly."
"I don't think I ever specifically said this wasn't a date," she pointed out. "I called it a date with myself and then I invited you along. Pretty sure I never once said it wasn't a date."
Jacob couldn't help looking a little amused. "You implied."
"Well, I didn't mean it to be a date anyway, so good," she answered, and settled into his shoulder to return her attention to the screen. He leaned his head back for a moment, wondering where that whole roundabout little conversation left them, then gave a little sigh and looked back at the movie.
Only a few minutes later, Cassandra spoke again, this time not looking up. Still resting comfortably against him, she asked, "So do you feel charmed or swindled?"
He hesitated a moment, wondering the best way to answer, but eventually he smiled to himself. "Charmed."
Now she looked up again, smiling too. "You don't mind the cuddling then?"
He lifted an eyebrow again. "Cassie, I gotta ask, is this a date? Or am I just a friendly, obligin' pillow?"
She looked back away, her hair hiding her face from his view. "Well I only meant for the latter, I swear."
"But?"
"But I've been leaning on your left side for almost an hour and I can feel your heart still pounding since this conversation started and I'm kind of hoping you wouldn't mind if it became the former too?" she answered, the second half of the sentence coming out increasingly quickly.
He tipped his head to one side, considering her. "I do have a couple concerns," he admitted.
She frowned. "What are they?" she asked, tensing to pull away from him if need be.
"Well, one is that we've missed most of the last ten minutes of this movie by now, and if I say yes somethin' tells me we won't be payin' much attention to the rest of it either," Jacob answered. "The other is the whole Valentine's Day thing. First date on Valentine's Day, first kiss on Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day confessions of love – such a cliché. Never was a big fan of all that." His left arm was still hanging loosely around her shoulders, and with his fingertips he began to trace little circles against her upper arm through the fabric of her sleeve as he talked.
By now she was looking up at him again, beaming, as he made a show of looking nonchalantly in the other direction. "First kiss, huh?"
"Oh yeah. Has that never come up before? I've always been a kiss-on-the-first-date kinda guy."
Cassandra pulled away from him just enough to twist her body around in the seat so she was facing him better. Legs tucked underneath her now, she leaned forward a bit. "Well, lucky for you," she told him, grinning, "it's not Valentine's Day any more. As you so kindly pointed out a few minutes ago, it's past midnight."
"Oh, y'know, that's true!" he agreed, finally turning to face her, a little grin still on his face. He wasn't quite done teasing her. "You think that cou-?"
"It counts." She cut him off by kissing him, a smile still on her lips as she did so. He responded in kind, letting one hand find its way into her hair as hers landed on his shoulders. When she finally pulled back, they were both still smiling. "Oh. Hello," he said as she bumped her nose against his.
"We definitely should have paused the movie," she laughed.
"Better late than never," he agreed, peering over her shoulder as he pawed around for the remote, finding it somewhere next to his knees. "Very convenient havin' a movie theatre with that option."
Cassandra nodded. "So you said something about confessions of love, too," she reminded him, raising her eyebrows.
Jacob laughed. "One thing at a time, Cassie," he told her, cupping his hand against one side of her jaw and pulling her back in to kiss him again.