Dahlia S.

David stood at Kassidy’s door for a good while, hand raised, doing nothing. He snapped out of whatever haze he had been in and finally knocked on the door. Kassidy’s house wasn’t what he’d expected, but it was fitting to them.

Kassidy lived in a more rural area– or rather, their property had been laid out to feel as so. They had neighbors close enough by to not make the house seem isolated, but they had privacy. The house itself was small, not bigger than two, maybe three bedrooms if David had to guess. He was nervous, the feeling of his anxiety creeping up behind him and looming over his head as he waited for an answer.

An answer he would receive. Kassidy opened the door, mostly dressed in their costume. “Hey! Come on in, sorry. I should have gotten out of bed earlier.” They stepped backwards into the house, allowing David to enter. They hesitated briefly, but opened their arms for David and embraced him in a quick hug as a greeting.

“No problem at all, Kassidy. We’ve got time,” David assured, taking in the interior of the house. It was slightly cluttered, each surface looking lived in, maybe even staged. The house was lit with warm lighting, lamps and fake candles strategically placed so that the larger ceiling lights served as dust collectors and decoration rather than any normal purpose.

Kassidy padded silently into the house, nearly going right back to getting ready before doing a double take towards David. “Wait,” they pointed towards David, squinting. “Are you–” a playful smile danced onto their lips as they became more confident in their assumption. “Are you dressed as Vax from Vox Machina?”

David’s ears warmed, and he nodded with a smile. “I am indeed,” he bowed down, returning Kassidy’s smile. “At your service.” After standing, David looked over Kassidy’s outfit. “Oh wait… I should know this one.”

Kassidy did a small twirl, their arms at their sides and wrists flicked upwards. “You should,” they gasped, moving to go pick up a coat just a little too big for them. “This will help, we’ve talked about this thing recently.” The coat sat on their shoulders, dark gray in color.

It wasn’t until they pulled out a small, red flower from their pocket until David finally connected the dots: “Eurydice.”

“Mm-hm.” Kassidy hummed, holding out the flower to David. He took it, a fond smile across his lips as he moved to put the flower behind Kassidy’s ear. When he saw their brows furrow ever so slightly as his hand moved towards their face, he slowed his movement, fingers just barely brushing their face as he tucked both their hair and the flower behind their ear.

Kassidy looked up at David with widened eyes, feeling as if the air that was inside the room had suddenly disappeared. They smiled after a moment, reaching up to fuss with the flower a bit and then shoving one of their hands into their pocket. “I um…” Their voice was quiet, and they shook their head before continuing, “I just have to finish up my makeup and I’ll be good to go.” They looked just about as nervous as David felt, so he nodded his head and took a small step back from them.

“Sure, yeah. Do you want me to just stay here or…” David trailed off, hoping Kassidy would catch his drift and answer before the silence got too deafening.

“Oh– If you don’t like birds then just staying out here is fine, I’ve got drinks in the fridge and my living room is right over here.” They pointed out things as they started moving into their house again. “But if you think you can be chill with a bird flying around and probably screaming, you’re welcome to come to my room with me.” They turned towards him, backpedaling towards their room as they waited for a reply.

“I think I’m okay with birds.” He offered, starting to follow them. He noted how… loud he felt walking across the wood floors. He hadn’t realized how heavy his footsteps must be in order to be so audible when Kassidy’s were nearly silent. He shrugged, stepping into the bedroom behind Kassidy.

This bedroom fit Kassidy to a T. There were mixes of earth tones and gentle pops of purple and orange, and everything looked cozy. The bed was what caught David’s attention: a mattress on the floor with no boxspring, no frame, or anything underneath it. There were a lot of pillows on the bed, and there seemed to be a sort of sleeping setup partially disassembled and covered with a comforter. There was also a little red panda stuffed animal on the bed.

Kassidy was watching David through a mirror, standing in front of it and putting a pair of earrings into their ear. “Admiring my nest?” They asked, eyes following David across the room as he moved.

“Yeah, I am. And noting that it is decidedly lower to the ground than most beds.” He held no heat behind the remark, and it was more of a question than it was a statement. “You have something against bedframes?”

Kassidy scoffed, picking up a mascara tube. “Actually, yeah.” They replied, “I prefer being closer to the ground when I sleep, I don’t like being up too high.” They grabbed a highlighter pan, using their middle and ring fingers to dab the sparkles into their cheekbone.

Before David could respond, he heard a short trilling noise from behind him. He turned and spotted a small bird, standing atop a cage and holding a food pellet with its free foot.

Kassidy gasped and abandoned their makeup in favor of walking over to the bird. “This is Sunshine, she’s a Green Cheeked Conure.” They held out their hand to the bird, and she stepped right onto their fingers, continuing to munch on her food.

David smiled at the bird, leaning a little closer to see her. She was every color of the rainbow– except purple– and she was a cutie. David had to admit he was a little nervous to be in this close proximity to a bird, but he knew that logically there was nothing bad that could happen to him. Unless the bird poops on him. Or bites him so hard he bleeds. Or scratches his face with her sharp claws. Or–

“She’s cute.” David interrupted his own spiral, bringing his attention to how sweet this bird seemed, leaning into Kassidy when they moved to kiss her.

Kassidy kissed the bird again, letting her get back onto the cage. “Yeah, she’s a real cutie when she wants to be. Don’t let the propaganda bird fool you, she’s a bitch when nobody’s around for it.” They padded back over to the vanity to finish accessorizing themself.

“My friend Fen always says that she calls them slurs.” They joked, clipping some little jewels into their braids. David watched the bird, sticking his finger out towards her and wiggling. Sunshine moved forward and nibbled at his finger, never actually biting, but instead giving him a series of quick licks on his fingertip. He chuckled, and allowed her to continue for a while before she became disinterested and returned to her food bowl.

Kassidy was ready pretty quickly, but they fussed with themself in the mirror until they realized David was looking at them. “Alrighty, you ready?” They asked, stepping back over to the bird and picking her up to put her into the cage and close it.

David nodded his head. “As I’ll ever be,” he watched as Kassidy brought a black cover over the bird cage and smiled as they chatted with their bird as she settled into her cage.

Kassidy led David out of the bedroom, turning off the lights as they went and only leaving on a lamp or two in the living room. They grabbed their keys, which were connected to three different keychains, a wallet, and an earbuds case. “Did you want to drive, or did you want me to drive?” They asked, looking up at David as they pulled their coat on.

“I’m alright with driving, but I don’t really mind either way.” He followed Kassidy outside and watched as they paused, thinking of their answer. “I’ll drive, since you drove here. I don’t wanna make you use your whole tank of gas.”

Kassidy walked over to their little bug and got in, putting on their seatbelt as David got in as well. The inside of their car looked pretty much as David had expected it to. There was a fake vine wrapped around the handle above the glove compartment, celestial print seat covers that matched the console cover (and steering wheel cover), and a little tarot card necklace hanging from the rearview: The World.

Kassidy was a decent driver, and they had offered to let David pick the music. He said he didn’t mind, so they played one of the CDs that was in the loader. They got to the party a few minutes after the set start time, and both of them were glad that they weren’t the first ones there.

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