Ghostcat shenanigans

[technicallyhellbound]

It had been a few weeks since they'd started this arrangement, and so far the Cat had, in fact, been a surprising amount of help. Enough so that Charles had stopped being mostly on-guard while in his presence and had even taken the 'puppy' nickname in stride, though he still hadn't really looked too deeply at why it didn't bother him as much as it probably should.

That particular day was neither a Monday nor a Friday, and was in fact a Wednesday, so while it wasn't one of their scheduled briefings, it was a visit that had been arranged in advance, a few hours while Crystal and Charles were at a concert, the kind of thing that while Edwin enjoyed being invited to, really wasn't the kind of thing he actually enjoyed going to, and the others both knew it, which was why they continued to invite him, even if he always declined.

It was late afternoon, not yet early evening when he stepped out of the mirror into the cannery, tugging at the collar of his slipover in much the same way he did the lapels of his usual jacket. He'd been branching out from his usual look, just a little, in bits and pieces, and now had something of a range of shades of those softer jumpers, this one was a deep bottle-green and was nearly a cowl-neck, but definitely less severe than his usual look.

It had been raining in London, or rather it had been misting heavily, and he wasn't quite sure if it was still raining here or if it had just finished, there wasn't the same kind of moisture in the air, which meant that if it was raining it hadn't been doing so for long, and all he knew was that the Cat had something planned for them to do, he was only now considering that he probably should have asked a few more questions beforehand.

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[catting]

The Cat considers Edwin's words, still feeling that strange bubbling desire to do something, though even he isn't quite sure what. It isn't until he thinks about using this brief moment of tangibility to get something out of Edwin he might never get again — like that kiss that will circle his thoughts for weeks and weeks after Edwin calls it a day and returns back to London like he always will — that inspiration strikes.

He still has Edwin boxed in against the wall, still has him pinned, even though Edwin is more like a rat with sharp teeth than he is a meek mouse. The Cat has used up his gifts, has nothing more to use as leverage, but perhaps he can shift the scales a little, if Edwin is feeling generous.

"I know I haven't earned it, but I wanna call in an IOU. I'll do whatever, whenever, and I won't bitch about it in the slightest, even if it's some dumbass menial task or like, sorting through a bunch of old shit to find one line of spellwork or whatever." He flicks his tongue over his scar, suddenly wondering if this is a good idea but figuring its much too late to back out now. "... Will you- Can you hold me?"

[technicallyhellbound]

The Cat effectively giving him carte blanche for a future task was a surprise, and certainly not one that he was going to turn away, especially when the request that followed before he could even ask, was as simple as it was.

Which was even more of a surprise, to be honest, but he did his best not to let that surprise show on his face even as he answered, a quiet, oddly gentle: "Of course."

Even penned in as he was, it was easy to just slip both arms around the Cat, drawing him just a little closer as he did, not even fully pushing himself up away from the wall, just straightening a little to bring the Cat to him. The embrace wasn't as rib-crushing as he would have used with Charles, but that was because he didn't think that the Cat needed that same sort of full-body pressure that Charles did, though if it seemed that he did, Edwin was fully capable of changing tactics as needed.