Page 13 of Angel of Thursdays

He was dressed smartly in a blue sweater under a well-fitting navy jacket that emphasized his shoulders. Which were wide. Monolids, strong jaw, a tidy haircut that probably cost more than May’s last grocery run. Basically, he was K-drama hot and May was determined to be cool about it. May shifted his attention to the other man’s hands, in a chill way. They were on the table and Cassiel’s thumb was doing a thing with his fidget ring, turning turning turning. May, who was also a chronic fidgeter, decided he liked this.

“Hey!” May dropped onto the stool. “I’m early. I’d like credit, please. Write it down.”

“You’re fifty-fifty. But noted.” Cassiel’s hands did not move to note anything, but May decided to let that go.

His coffee arrived at the little window in the wall, which was still a novelty the second time. He fetched it, grinned at the barista, and settled back on the stool. He took a quick sip of the latte and put it down on the table before pulling the yellow notebook from his jacket and setting it between them.

“Okay, what’s the agenda? More intel on your family, or are we getting into the cover story?” As he said it, he realized he hadn’t written anything down about their cover story last week. Then he remembered, looking at the cover of the notebook between them, that he’d written both ASS and GAY ANGEL, and if last week was anything to go by, Cassiel was definitely going to see that.

He reached back into his backpack and pulled out his purple notebook instead.

“Cover story,” Cassiel said, either not noticing the swap or not caring. “We have the basics. We should fill it in.”

“Right.” May flipped to a blank page and clicked his pen. “So. We met at Lau Kee. I was working. And you came in because…”

“A friend recommended it.”

“Which friend?”

“Lauren.” Cassiel glanced down at the notebook.

“Okay, great. Your friend Lauren, who has great taste, told you about Lau Kee, you strolled in for lunch and I…” May paused. “Actually, here’s the thing. I’m usually out back. I wash dishes.”

“You were on your lunch break,” Cassiel supplied. “In Chinese restaurants, workers eat in the shop.”

Broadly speaking, this was true. In any Chinese place May had ever been to, this was true, and it was true for Lau Kee too.

“Oh, so you are a Chinatown guy.” May grinned. “Okay, so… You’re eating. I’m also eating. Our eyes meet across the room. One of us is struck with Cupid’s arrow, a voice from on high saying, ‘You must speak to him before the chance is lost!’”

Cassiel blinked at him slowly, then lifted his choco mint latte to his lips and took a long drink.

“We’ll say that was you,” he said.

May laughed and started writing: Met at LK on break I SPOKE FIRST obv. CHARMED INTO DATE. “How long ago are we talking? How long have we been together?”

“Long enough that bringing you to Chuseok isn’t inappropriate. Short enough that it’s reasonable I haven’t told my family about you yet.”

“Right. You didn’t want to tell your folks because you didn’t know if it was going to last, type thing.”

Cassiel spun the beads on his finger once before nodding.

“Okay,” May said. “How about… a month and a half? Not a long time, but long enough that it’s starting to feel like it could be real enough, and this big family thing’s a test.”

“A month and a half,” Cassiel repeated. “That would be early July.”

He wrote it down. “Early July. Happy birthday America.” He clicked the pen twice. “Okay, so your mom’s going to ask what we do together. Last week you told me you go three places, which was a lie, because you were sitting in a fourth one when you said it.”

“…Four places, including this one.”

“In our fiction, let’s make that six. Lau Kee and my place. We don’t need to invent anything wild. Simple stuff! We get coffee, we go for walks. That’s believable for you, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do I feed you?”

Cassiel looked at him as though May had non-sequitured into strange new territory.

“Your mom’s going to want to know. I work in a restaurant; it’ll come up.”