Work Text:
When Mason arrived at the Albright’s apartment, the last thing he expected to find was Cat sitting in the middle of the living room covered in dirt. She had only returned to Wayhaven the night before, having gone to some mandatory training in the city, so he expected to find her unpacking or resting. Instead she was dumping out her plants?
When he entered, Cat looked up at him. “Oh, Hi. Did you need something. I left my phone in the bedroom, so I probably missed it ring.”
“I just came to make sure you got back alright, so I can report it. Why are you murdering your plants?”
“I’m not. I’m rescuing them. See these leaves?” She pointed at the leaves on the plant she was holding, now completely out of its pot. “They’re turning yellow and wilting, so I pulled them out to inspect their roots. Turns out I was right. The roots are rotting.”
She shook her head and blew a stand of red hair out her face. “This always happens when I leave. None of the others know how to properly care for plants. I always yell at Lukas for forgetting to water them when I’m gone, so I think he may have decided to over water them this time which is what causes root rot.”
Mason shook his head, indicating he didn’t really care about her plants. He plopped down on a chair near where she was working on the plants. Cat glanced up at him, surprised he was staying, but just shrugged and went back to her plant.
She draped the plant over her knee, so she could cut off pieces of root that had turned brown and started wilting. Then she set it in a new pot, and filled it with new soil from the bag next to her that was almost as big as she was. When she was satisfied, she hopped up, and placed it on the windowsill before returning to work on the next plant.
Mason found himself mesmerized watching her. Despite having to spend her day off doing a chore that shouldn’t be necessary, she looked perfectly content. In fact, every time she smiled during the process, Mason could see the sheer joy that lit up her face. She was so genuine in everything she did. Mason didn’t understand her.
“There we are!” The delighted words coming from Cat brought Mason back to reality. “Last one finished. Now we just have to hope I caught it in time or else I’ll need to get some new plants.”
She went over to place the final plant on the kitchen table, and turned it a few times trying to decide what the best angle was now that there were several leaves missing. She sighed when she realized there was no good angle, and wouldn’t be until more leaves grew in. Then she wiped a hand over her forehead, and turned her attention to the floor that was now covered in dirt.
Cat walked over to the giant bag of dirt, and attempted to pick it up. After a good effort of not being able to lift the bag, she tried dragging it, and managed to get it to move slightly. Before Mason realized what he was doing, he walked over to her, and pulled her hands off the bag.
“You’re just going to break something. Where do you want this?” He grumbled.
“In the closet?” She asked hopefully, pointing at the door she meant. She moved ahead and pulled the door open while he effortlessly picked up the bag and deposited it in the closet she wanted.
He turned to face him to make a flirtatious quip about getting a reward for his services. The remark died before it left his mouth when he caught a glimpse of the genuine, grateful smile on her face. Her whole face lit up as she looked at him.
“Thank you.”
“No problem, Sweetheart. Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.” He surprised himself with how genuine his answer was, and frowned. She must be rubbing off on him.
Cat didn’t appear to notice his frown because her smile widened and she turned her attention back to the giant pile of dirt. Mason left her to it, marveling at how unconcerned she was about the amount of dirt she had managed to get all over herself.
Several minutes later she was wearing a proud grin, and placed her hands on her hips. “All done! Everything is back in its place, and the mess is all cleaned up.”
“Not everything,” Mason remarked, drawing his gaze over her, slower than necessary. Several strands of hair were falling across her face, some sticking to it with sweat. She also had a giant smudge of dirt across her cheek and her clothes were covered in it. “You still need to clean yourself up. Although, I’ll volunteer for that job if you’d like.”
The intense blush spreading across her cheeks was only partially covered by the dirt. “Umm, no. That’s okay. I… I can do that myself. I mean all I have to do is shower, and there’s not really a way you can help with that.”
He stepped closer with a flirtatious smirk. “You sure about that, Sweetheart?”
“Pretty sure.” She drew her brows in confusion, and tilted her head. “Showering isn’t exactly a complicated task. You get it, use soap, wash your hair…”
Mason shook his head in disbelief, wondering how she could be so oblivious to his advances. “That wasn’t exactly what I was suggesting.”
“Then why did you say that?” She asked, still confused. Mason groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. Why couldn’t she just make this easy? Perhaps the better question was why was he still trying at this point?
“Well, you should probably go so that I can shower and stuff,” Cat said awkwardly, pulling on the sleeve of her shirt.
Mason moved past her to head to the door. As polite as always, Cat trailed him to the door. She grabbed the edge of it when Mason stepped out. He started making his way back to the warehouse, glancing over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of her one last time. She pushed some of the stray hair out of her face, smiling when he accidentally caught her gaze. When she completely disappeared behind the door, Mason was able to keep moving forwards, wondering why he felt so disappointed.