Page 91 of By Rude Strength

Cass chuckled, his human disguise fading as he became a furry imp once more, and he purred sweetly. “Thank you, Elly. I really appreciate that.”

LA rubbed Cass’s paw. “No problem.”

“Shall we continue with the show?”

“Fuck yeah.”

They watchedResident Alien, and it wasn’t long before LA felt the itch to finish his painting. The golden hand impressions in the middle were taunting him, and he knew it still needed something more.

He drifted from Cass’s embrace to get up and put the canvas back on the table. He took black paint and a tiny brush, and he started with a tiny black blob of paint right in the middle of the handprints. He kept it small, using little strokes to steadily build the blob into a vaguely humanoid shape.

But no, that wasn’t it.

Horns.

It definitely needed horns.

And wings.

And a tail.

Before he knew it, he’d painted a silhouette of a very familiar imp with the golden handprints framing him. LA smiled, grabbing a bit of white paint to draw another figure right on top of that. This one was a man, but his back was a strange zigzag shape and his hands were on the imp’s shoulders.

The black paint hadn’t been dry when he added the white, so that the edges of the man’s figure blurred into a gray, as if the two figures were somehow melding together.

LA stared at it for a long time.

Then he smiled.

It was done.

Cass leaned in close, peering over LA. “Aw, Elly! Is… Is that us?”

“Yeah.” LA’s heart skipped a few beats and his chest felt light. “This is, uh… This is the first time I’ve painted myself without a fucked-up face.” He laughed. “Damn. I really like it.”

“I do too.” Cass purred. “It’s beautiful, sweetheart.”

“I think I might bring it tonight, but uh…” LA pressed close to Cass’s side. “This one isn’t gonna be for sale.”

“No?”

“Nope.” LA pointed to one of the empty spaces on the wall. “Got a spot picked out for it already.”

Cass sniffled.

“Cass?” LA turned to look at him.

Cass sniffled more and his eyes glistened with tears. “Oh, Elly. I, I am so touched! It really is so very beautiful and I, I can’t believe I helped inspire something so incredible!”

“Well, you did.” LA kissed him firmly. “Mm, and your ass helped too.”

Cass giggled. “Maybe we keep that part just between us, hmm?”

“Our little secret.” LA grinned, kissing Cass again.

Cass kept purring and wrapped his arms around LA, drawing him in against his chest as they kissed. It was soft, sweet, but the first tease of tongue immediately made LA groan. Maybe they could screw around just for a little while and then…

Wait.