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Evan had always had a fondness of rain. It was hypnotizing watching streaks of water run on the windows, drops racing down to reach the bottom, the thuds of storm tapping on the houses reminded him of popping the bubble wrap in the big packages Dad always ordered. His mother always said the rain is when Mother Nature needed to let her tears fall, but he personally saw it like she was blowing kisses to the world, spreading her love in a sheet of blue.
(When he had said this to Mike, he had promptly blown a raspberry at him before pulling him in for a noogie, which he had concluded was a very big brother way of saying that Mike had thought what he said was smart, but was too cool and strong to tell him.)
This particular rainstorm had been going on for about an hour, and the lulling call of the wind was making it difficult for him to focus on finishing his Marvel comic that Cassidy had fished out of her cabinet. He was reading it on her bed, covered up to his waist resting on the Evan pillow. (Cassidy had apparently “practiced” her confession to the pillow, the story of how he learned that could be its own movie.)
Evan couldn’t believe that Cassidy had never read comic books before. She was a big fan of cartoons and films but books were reduced to forced reading lists and class books from two centuries ago. He had made a point to take her to a store and let her buy anything she wanted there. Unsurprisingly to him, she had gravitated towards a volume collection of The Incredible Hulk , the cover showing the gargantuan green monster on top of a city, while a scientist watched the chaos unfold. He took note of her eying another book of Iron Man as they left, and he pocketed that observation for a gift later down the road.
It had only taken her two days to finish it, which for Cassidy’s attention span was ridiculously fast, although Evan had been on pace to knock it out in one sitting. He had discovered the Hulk was actually a much more complex and interesting character then he’d originally thought. The scientist, Bruce Banner, had an internal struggle dealing with the Hulk, who wasn’t just a mindless destruction machine, but a real living being who wanted to help people, and they had to work together to overcome society’s expectations of them.
Cassidy liked him because he was a cool looking superhero who smashed bad guys and lifted up islands in an average day, which was cool too.
Speaking of, Cass was currently drifting in and out of sleep next to him, hair undone and sprawled on the sheets, a tuft on his shoulder. Facing her was her digital clock, and a framed picture of her on top of a rock climbing wall, triumphantly grinning at the camera. He smiled at the portrait and how it was such a Cassidy picture to take. He reached over to graze her hair with the tips of his fingers when she shot up and Evan’s face was promptly swiped full of hair, causing him to sneeze from the sensation.
“I’m late for school, oh my god oh my god Mom is gonna kill me.” Cassidy said to herself, muttering at fifty miles an hour, rapidly turning around the room presumably searching for her backpack. (It had a closer resemblance to a portable wormhole.)
Evan blinked in surprise, and his eyes briefly wandered the room as muscle memory told him to assist her before his brain kicked in and looked at the clock which displayed the time 9:32 plainly on the wall.
Rather inconveniently he noted, her clock did not display whether or not it was AM or PM.
“Two hours behind how am I even gonna get there in time?” She leapt out of bed, almost falling before pacing back and forth, her hair doing its best impression of an afro.
Evan slightly shifted his spot to sit up a little as he awkwardly cleared his throat; “Uhm, Cassidy?”
“Evan we have to get moving, you better be able to keep up and-” Cassidy paused mid sentence, her face contorting in confusion, slowly turning around to face him. “Evan?”
“Que?”
“What are you doing in my bed on a school morning?”
“I’m um, not,” Cassidy lowered her brow and moved to drag him out of the bed, which he really would prefer to avoid today. “School I mean. Like I’m here obviously! But it isn’t a school day.”
Cassidy’s eyes widened before turning to look at the window, and being greeted with a dark rainstorm crying tears of laughter at her confusion.
“You’re serious?” Cassidy asked, eyes boring into his own with an intensity that caused the butterflies in his stomach to start fluttering madly.
“Y-Yeah. We’re on spring break, remember?”
He twiddled his fingers a little nervously while he watched the gears in her brain churn, attempting to replay the previous couple hours before her lips pressed together and she sagged a little, murmuring a quiet “Oh."
There was a bit of awkward silence where they stared at each other, Evan searching her expression while Cassidy’s energy seemed to be rapidly draining from the burst of activity. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, shivering as her arms were tight to her chest.
“What were we doing before that?” She questioned, rubbing her eyes while her balance swayed slightly.
“Just relaxing basically, I was reading your book,” He moved her covers off of him to get up. “But we can do whatever you want-”
Cassidy had unceremoniously fallen on top of the mattress, before crawling over to Evan.
“It’s just so cold in here, can you..” Her words drifted off before she finished. Her poor face looked exhausted, a blush on her cheeks while she looked at him almost pleadingly. Cassidy was historically a heavy sleeper and did not react well to being woken up. She reached out to grab his hands then jerked back, thinking she might be rejected. Evan suddenly felt very hot, partly from being flustered and partly from his heart melting in his chest.
“Do you want to snuggle Cassa?” He asked with a warm smile, before letting out an “ Oof” as she landed on his stomach and wrapped around him like a cocoon. He felt her body stiffen like a board reacting to his grunt, and she let out a quiet gasp and looked up at him, her first primal thought being that she hurt him. He stifled a chuckle and laid back, gently pulling her into him and pressing his face into her neck, causing her to squeak at the proximity before he started to kiss it. He felt her body quiver and loosen as she let out a sigh of contentment and shifted her thighs into his.
Evan removed his lips and slipped his arms around her torso, shifting them to their side facing each other. He cupped her cheek, drawing circles with his thumb while his other hand patted her head and stroked her hair. “Relax baby I’ve got you.” He whispered with his eyes twinkling. Cassidy tried responding, but was interrupted by a planted kiss on her nose and it came out as an adorably incoherent babble before she melted against him. For a few minutes Evan caressed her face, hands moving through her hair like he was lathering conditioner while she sat and continually purred, eyes closed as she hugged their legs together.
Eventually he was starting to feel the lull of the rain calling him to sleep, and he didn’t wanna keep Cassidy “awake” (Not that she wasn’t half asleep already.)
Deeming Cassidy “properly relaxed”, he cradled her while he switched onto his back, and wrapped his arms gently around her. She blindly rubbed at his arms and searched until she found his hands and moved them under her shirt, gently grazing her back until they rested at her sides. Evan vaguely felt like he should feel flustered but was too drowsy and simply relented, drawing circles at her sides, his elbows pressed into her stomach while she nuzzled into his neck, resting her head on him while melting into their embrace. Almost immediately her breathing slowed as he felt her stomach rhythmically rising and falling. The quiet repetition mimicked the soothing droning of the rain outside. Faintly he heard her murmur into his neck and he smiled as he kissed her head; “Love you too.”
He stopped resisting the impulse to close his eyes and take in the warmth of the girl he was holding, and wrap himself in the sounds of her soft slumber and the storm outside.
He was very fond of the rain.