Cameron chuckled and didn't distract himself with the small kiss on the cheek. He just blamed it on her excitement, and mirrored her big smile on his own handsome features.
"You're welcome! Thanks for dealing with me for about two years. Hey, don't worry about it. I want a kitten too, so it's a win win, right? When do you wanna go? I'm pretty sure we can just go walk in, so it's up to you when you want to go…"
Ava is practically bouncing in her seat. This level of excitement is rare and is usually only brought out by animals. “I should be thanking you for dealing with me and Kreja. We are not easy to deal with.” That’s something she finds easy to admit. “We’ll have to go kitten supply shopping first. Maybe we could do that when we go to get the dogs their toys?”
"Yes, that sounds good. And maybe we could do some research on what breed of cat you want. We should find one that would be somewhat friendlier with dogs. Or maybe we could just go with a very friendly tabby," He hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head. "What kind of cat do you want, anyway?"
“Ragdolls, Birmans, and Maine Coons are supposed to do well with dogs.” That’s what she’s read at least. “Hm, we’ll probably have to look at the shelters around here and see what kinds of cats they have.” If they’re adopting then they can be too picky. “I’ve always liked Japanese Bobtails.”
"Well, it seems as if you've done your research," He remarked, even though he did look impressed. He nodded. "Alright, I won't fact check you. I've never owned a cat in my life, so I'm depending on you for the fancy details. I'll buy whatever you need, and the cat, any breed. But I won't travel to a breeder or a pet store. But I will travel to any shelter."
“My brother really wanted a cat so he did all sorts of research. I helped him with most of it,” She explains with a sheepish smile. They never actually did get that cat. Her father isn’t fond of animals. “I’ve never owned a cat either so some research will be required. There a couple of shelter in the area. We could start there and just see what cats they have.”
"Alright, that sounds fine. I leave you with the research, though." Cameron grinned and yawned, leaning on the dogs. "I might take a nap. I dunno. Do you wanna go look at cats today?" He asked, changing the subject.
Ava stretches out and props her feet up on the side of the couch. “I was going to take the pups out for a run and then to the park. You could take your nap while we’re gone and then we can go see the cats afterwards.”
Cameron frowned a little, glancing down at the snoring Kreja. "You can take Lily, I want to sleep with Kreja. He's so tired, after all," Cameron cooed sympathetically, though a slight grin tugged at his lips.
"Have fun with that. You and I both know that he's going to go ballistic when he wakes up and find that I took Lily out and not him." Ava gets up off of the couch. Bending down, she presses a light kiss to Kreja's head before she goes to grab Lily's leash.
Cameron shrugged and poked Kreja's nose. "I guess you'd better take him, then. I'll just turn on the fireplace." Lily's tail started to wag at the mention of the fireplace, getting down to sit down in front of the heating unit expectantly. Cameron chuckled.
Kreja’s head snaps up when Cameron pokes his nose. He barks once and smacks the human’s face with his paw. After stretching out, he hops off of the couch and barks again.
Ava laughs and shakes her head in amusement at Kreja’s reaction. “Who wants to go for a walk?” She asks the pups, gathering their leashes.
Cameron huffed loudly at Kreja's reaction, rolling his eyes. "You're no fun, Kreja. You hate me booping your nose." He crossed his arm, but settled down on the couch anyway.
Lily stood up and followed Kreja towards Ava, sniffing her leash, her tail wagging. She seemed to be completely woken up by the thought of a walk with Kreja.
Kreja grabs Cameron’s toe and playfully bites it. He only stops when he hears the sound of his leash. All thoughts of biting feet subside as he scurries across the room, suddenly wide awake.
Ava gets the leashes clipped to the dogs’ collars. “See you later!” She calls out to Cameron before leading the dogs out of the house.
Cameron wagged his foot a little to dislodge Kreja, sighing down at him. "You're a traitor and a lair, Kreja," Cameron huffed with a slight grin on his face. He sighed and relaxed again into the couch, looking up at the wall. Getting bored almost immedately, Cameron stood from his couch and into his kitchen, where he picked up his phone off of its charger. Only one notification had popped up, and it read: Cormac's birthday.
Ava clips her phone to her running pants and puts in her headphones, turning on her workout playlist. With a content sigh, she leads the dogs down a new path today, deciding that venturing towards the beach could be interesting. Within a few minutes her pace has picked up from lazy walk to energetic jog. They'll only be out for about an hour since she's still bitter with the colder weather.
Cameron frowned a little to himself and flopped down his phone. Thankfully he set that reminder for himself. He wasn’t sure when he was going to have to start preparing. Another smile graced his lips as he quickly started to clean. He wasn’t sure when his son was going to appear, but he was going to stay all day in wait for him. Ava would understand.
"Come on, angels, let's pick up the pace," Ava calls out to the dogs, giving their leashes a gentle tug. An hour and a half later, they return to the house. "We're back!" Yanking out her headphones, she bends down and unclips the dogs from their leashes. "Go get some water," She tells them softly before she starts to head up the stairs. Getting in the shower and getting a fresh change of clothes would be nice.
Cameron was still cleaning his kitchen, and was about to move on to vacuuming. “Damnit. I was hoping you would come back after I vacuumed. All well.” He grinned faintly at her, but he looked pale and nervous. “Welcome back.”
Ava pauses halfway up the stairs before she turns and heads back into the kitchen. "What's up with the cleaning spree?" She asks with a frown. "Cameron, are you okay? Why are you so pale?" Something seems off but she's just not sure what it is.
“Just… nervous,” He answered with a soft chuckle. “My son might be coming today. Remember Cormac? It’s his eighteenth birthday today and I need to prepare. I don’t even know if he’s coming, though, and that really sucks.” He shrugged. He just hoped Cormac would be able to. Or remember the promise he made five years ago to his father.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't realize that his birthday was today." She had almost totally forgotten about that. "Let me get a quick shower and then I'll help you clean." This means a lot to him and she knows it so she wants to help as much as possible. "Just try not to worry about it too much, you'll just get yourself worked up. Things are going to go well if he comes today or later."
“I did too. Thankfully I had presents ready and stuff.” He chuckled at himself. “Oh. I’ve gotten worked up about it so many times. This has just been the worst. I’ve never gotten so nervous about it that I’ve tortured my kitchen and house with more cleaning. I don’t know if it’ll go well. But just go take your shower. I’ll be okay cleaning by myself.”
Blinking, she stares at him for a few moments. She's never seen him this worked up before. "I got him a present too." It's just something simple since she doesn't know much about him but she figures that it's better than nothing. She offers him a reassuring smile before bounding up the stairs. After grabbing a change of clothes, she heads into the bathroom.
Cameron went to wrestling with the vacuum to avoid looking into her staring eyes, his cheeks a little pink.
“A present? W— you didn’t have to!” He said, but when he looked up she was gone. He sighed softly and turned on the vacuum.