Caleb looked up from his book to find Beau standing in his doorway. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her expression was closed off. He knew this face, he saw it every day when Jester, Fjord, and Yasha were in chains. This was Beau trying to pretend she wasn’t having emotions.
“I’m gonna need you to not ask that goddamn question and just do me a favor.”
He cleared his throat and sat up straight on his bed. “Very well. Do you want to sit?”
Beau shook her head and then sat down anyway, finally opening her eyes. “Can I have Frumpkin? Just for a few minutes? I feel… Fuck, I just need him. Don’t ask why.”
He opened his mouth to ask a question but decided not to. Right now she was stressed but not violent, he didn’t want to push her over the edge that she was obviously teetering on. “Ja, certainly.” He summoned his cat with a flick of his wrist and told him to climb into Beau’s lap.
She dug her fingers into his fur and pressed her forehead against his back to feel his purring. She let out a shaking breath and her entire body sagged like she’d just dropped a giant weight.
They sat there silently together for a few minutes before Caleb turned back to his book. It was a few minutes later when Beau pulled her feet up into the bed and curled at the end with her back to him (not unlike a cat herself) and with Frumpkin resting against her stomach and purring louder.
He wanted to try asking her something now but was worried anything he said would shatter their companionable silence. They were quiet together for nearly an hour before she finally got back to her feet, leaving the cat curled on the bed. “Thanks. Sorry.”
“Do you-” He paused, his voice sounding so loud in his own ears. “Do you want to have him for the night?”
She looked surprised. “Would you be okay with that?”
“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have offered.”
She hesitated still so he snapped and Frumpkin disappeared from the bed and reappeared around her neck like a purring scarf. She reached up to gently rub her finger against Frumpkin’s cheek. “Alright. Thanks, I guess.” She started to leave but paused in the doorway. “If I talk to Frumpkin… can you hear me?”
“No. Not if I don’t want to. You can tell him whatever you like.”
“Cool,” then she finally left.
Caleb was still curious what had gotten under her skin but decided to wait until she ready to talk to him instead of just his cat.
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