Page 40 of Angel of Thursdays

Three seconds. Four. The party was still audible through the kitchen door. A single drop of rainwater dripped down from somewhere. The cold air was on the back of his neck and May’s mouth was warm and the December sky was black above the rooflines for a moment longer, before he remembered to close his eyes.

May pulled back first, just an inch, his hand still on Cassiel’s jaw, still cold.

“Sorry,” May said. “You were talking about a laser.”

“A swing-arm laser assembly.”

“Right. Please continue.”

“No.”

May’s breath clouded between them. “No?”

“I don’t want to continue about the laser.”

“Oh.” He exhaled. “Oh, okay. Good. Because I was about to have a⁠—”

Heart Attack.

The ring had not moved and it had not moved since May’s hand touched his face. There were no rules to how his hands moved in this regard, but there had been a pattern, one where the lack of the stim meant he’d reached a wall. This wasn’t that.

Cassiel kissed him back. This one was his and his alone. He set the CD case on the railing, freed his right hand, and put it on the back of May’s neck where the hair was short and cold from the night air, tipping his face up. He’d thought about this more than he’d wanted to, and the thinking had still not prepared him.

May made a sound against his mouth. Small, surprised, swallowed. His other hand found Cassiel’s waist.

When they separated, the cold was still forty-four degrees and dropping, and the party was still humming. The CD case sat on the railing, the liner notes facing up toward the sky, twelve songs in May’s handwriting, and neither of them had moved more than an inch apart.

The kitchen door opened. Lauren’s head appeared.

She looked at Cassiel. She looked at May. Her mouth opened.

Cassiel looked at her.

Lauren closed her mouth. She picked up a glass from the counter behind her, took a sip, and walked back into the parlor.

“You’re freezing,” Cassiel said to May. “Let’s go back inside.”

* * *

May had to leave at eleven. Minju offered to drive him. She and David were heading back to the East Bay and May’s place in the Outer Richmond was on the way to the bridge if you were generous with the definition of ‘on the way,’ which Minju frequently was. May protested. Minju told him to get in the car, and so May followed her out.

At the door, the hallway light falling across both of them, May turned.

“Happy birthday, Cassiel.”

“Thank you for the secret,” said Cassiel.

“Thank you for the laser arm swing disc story. It was super interesting.”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“I’ll let you finish next time.” His eyes dropped to the CD case in Cassiel’s hand. “Volume one, by the way.”

The grin again. The gap, the canines, the mouth he’d kissed twice. Then Minju honked from the car and May went down the steps and into the car and the door closed. Cassiel stood in Lauren’s hallway with the stained glass dark above him and the CD case in his hand.

Lauren appeared behind him. She put her chin on his shoulder, which required her to stoop slightly.

“Good birthday?”