After an eternity of darkness, the cold, dreary times were coming to a close. It had been ages since Cora felt the warmth of the sun brushing against her skin, soothing her with the light of life. For too long had she been shrouded by the relentless shadows of asynchronous schedules and emergency overtime. Her memories of lunch dates and couch cuddles had begun to fade, lost to the depths of time and loneliness.

But now, there was hope. Now, the end of the tunnel was no longer a mere star in her dreams. At long last, she could see the light once more, cresting over the horizon like the dawn of a new day. Even as a chilly autumn breeze swept through her thrifted rayon blouse, Cora was filled with warmth, as if the hand wrapped around her own possessed the flames of a thousand suns.

Okay, maybe Cora was being a little dramatic from being deprived of quality time with Farron. And maybe the "ages" since their last date was actually two weeks. But who could blame her? She was hopelessly in lo—

Cora jerked back as soon as the thought entered her mind, then furiously blinked it away. She couldn't be thinking like that so soon. That would be ridiculous.

"What's wrong?" Farron asked from beside her, their hand holding Cora's a little tighter. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Cora scanned the park for an escape route from that line of questioning. The squatting dog they were walking by didn't inspire any excuses. "It's nothing. Something just flew straight at my face, that's all."

Farron's eyes widened, and they pulled Cora to a stop. "Don't move! What if it was a bee?"

"Uh..." While Cora obeyed and let Farron scan her for stray pollinators on her person, she wasn't prepared for the sudden attention. "Thanks."

"Of course," Farron said from behind her; Cora's face flushed over the idea of what they could be looking at back there. "I don't want you to get stung."

"True. That would probably mess up your schedule."

When Farron returned to Cora's front, it was with furrowed brows. "I'm more concerned about you having an allergic reaction. My appointments can wait, especially if you need to go to the hospital."

As touched as Cora was, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty that her lie made Farron worry so much. "That would also be bad, I guess. My health insurance isn't great."

Farron frowned. "Cool Beans really isn't cool at all, are they? I'm glad you applied for Fruitastic."

Cora chuckled nervously. She didn't want to think about work—and especially not how her semi-traitorous job application was in the hands of the competition—when their date had just started. While the food court hadn't been too terrible lately, and the only slip-up had been the vicious drink thrower a couple weeks prior, Cora didn't want to tempt fate. It was already a miracle that Darlene hadn't scolded Cora for the incident after reviewing the security footage the following day, only commenting that they were lucky there was no property damage. Cora wasn't sure she had much luck left to spare, and she was grateful when Farron didn't hesitate to take her offered hand, their fingers sliding over the now pale pink burns.

They continued walking through the park until they reached a large, circular fountain, and the water splashing against the cream-colored marble left a cool mist hanging in the already chilly air. That was probably why there were only two types of people around it: a group of kids trying to splash each other, and two others who weren't people at all.

A pair of dogs struggled towards the fountain, pulling against their leashes and the lanky man that held them—the very familiar lanky man.

Cora stopped in her tracks. "Kevin?"

Kevin yelped in response before spinning around, his eyes wide. "Cora? Farron? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Farron nodded towards the dogs. "They don't happen to be Brownie and Artichoke, right?"

"Well, Brownie and Art, but yeah." Kevin squinted at them through his glasses, then at the camera bag hanging off Farron's shoulder. "Wait, you're not the pet photographer, are you? One of my partners got sick and asked me to meet one here, but I didn't expect that to be you."

"Surprise," Farron said, grinning. "I could've rescheduled, though, especially if they were hoping to be in the photos."

"They said it was fine. They wanted to have some shots ready for their holiday cards." He turned to Cora. "Cora, are you like a photo assistant or whatever they're called? I didn't know that."

"Uh..." Cora and Farron exchanged looks. With their mismatched food court schedules and Farron's photography calendar fully booked for the pre-holiday season, their options for date time slots were slim to none. Thus, they had agreed to multitask: turn one of Farron's more casual photo sessions into a subtle romantic outing.

"Oh no..." Kevin looked down at their held hands, mouth agape. "Am I the third wheel? Or I guess..." he glanced at the two dogs still struggling to swim in the fountain, "are we the third, fourth, and fifth wheels?"

Farron chuckled. "Well, the dogs would probably make another pair, so you would actually be the fifth wheel of our double date."

Kevin pouted. "That's worse."

Once they managed to distract the dogs from the fountain, thanks to the treats Farron packed, they headed to their first photo location. It soon became obvious that Kevin struggled with the animals, tripping over them when they stopped to sniff something or needing his entire body weight to keep them from chasing a flying frisbee. Thus, with a light chuckle from Farron and an annoyed sigh from Cora, they silently agreed to help out.

"So, Artichoke..." Cora said, eyeing the black Labrador-German Shepherd mix at the end of her leash. "That's an interesting name for a dog."

"Oh, that's Brownie," Kevin said from beside her, massaging his hands as he nodded to the dog on his other side with Farron. "The brown dog is Artichoke."

On cue, the small Pomeranian mix looked up at Kevin, then back at Farron on the other end of their leash.

"I'm guessing there's a story behind their names?" Farron asked.

"Oh, yeah. When my partner first adopted Art, he had a bunch of injuries, and most of his fur was shaved for surgeries. His tail still had fur, though, and it was shaped like an artichoke." He turned to the black dog. "And Brownie is just because my partner has a history of burning brownies."

Farron chuckled. "I love when pet names have a fun story behind them. Especially for my clients. It helps me get to know both of them better."

Kevin sighed. "Well, you're clearly getting along with them better than I am. Both of you are." He looked at Cora. "Do you have pets too?"

"Uh..." Not anymore. "Not right now, but maybe in the future. Maybe a dog or a cat."

"You'd be a better dog parent than me," Kevin said, frowning at his feet. "I think all animals know they can walk all over me."

"Well, hopefully we can change that today," Farron said. "At least for these dogs. Other animals, like those crows, are a different story." They smiled at Cora. "And if you ever want to see a cat, Augustus would be happy to have you over again. So would I, for that matter."

Cora felt her face flush at the offer—up until Kevin coughed from between them.

"Should I move?" he muttered. "Or maybe just leave entirely."

"And miss this golden opportunity to get you acquainted with animals?" Cora scoffed. "Absolutely not."

"Agreed," Farron said, nudging Kevin with their elbow. "Besides, three people will make this a lot easier, so you're staying."

As it turned out, Farron wasn't lying. Their first stop was a park bench, and having the two animals stay seated, still, and facing the camera was a lot harder than Cora expected. Art, the small brown dog, was more behaved, and the only struggle was pulling his attention away from staring Kevin down with his wide dark eyes. Brownie, the large black dog, was full of energy, circling in place as if she was trying to tangle her leash even more.

"This isn't working," Farron grumbled after ten minutes, and the dogs' leashes were obstructing Art's small face. "Kevin, can you run around with her for a bit?"

"Me? Run?" He pointed down to his shiny black platform boots. "In these shoes?"

Farron sighed, then turned to Cora. "Can you?"

As much as Cora wouldn't have minded watching Farron running through the grass with a cute dog, she also wanted to help out. The most she had done so far was wave some snacks and a tennis ball above Farron's head, and her success rate wasn't stellar.

"Sure!" Cora said, probably with a little too much enthusiasm for volunteering to do cardio. "I'll make sure to tire her out, no problem."

As confident as Cora acted, the further she and Brownie jogged away from the others, the more skeptical she grew. Once they were in the middle of the grass and well out of earshot, she squatted in front of the large dog and wore the sternest face she could muster.

"Alright, Brownie, here's the deal," Cora said, trying to ignore how the dog was more focused on people playing catch. "I need to impress Farron, and you probably want to go somewhere else and play. Right?"

When she was still ignored, Cora huffed before duck walking into the dog's line of sight. "I'm serious, Brownie, this is important. For both of us."

In response, Brownie leaned to the side to look over Cora's shoulder.

Cora growled, then held up the bright tennis ball and waved it in front of Brownie's face. "You want this? You want this?"

Judging by how the dog's wide eyes began tracking the ball, she most certainly did.

"Then come and get it!" Cora exclaimed, running away with the ball with Brownie at her heels.

Without being able to let the dog run free in the public park, it shouldn't have been a surprise that Cora wore herself out as quickly as she did. In minutes, Cora was panting as the hyper dog pulled her back towards the others, using part of her strength to keep herself upright and the rest of her energy to hold onto the leash. Throwing the ball directly above them had worked a couple times, but Cora stopped after she lost sight of it in the sun's brightness, only finding it when it hit her head. Cora hoped Farron hadn't seen that, but their wide grin said otherwise.

"Nice moves out there," Farron said, lounging on the bench next to Art and Kevin. "I should bring you to my other photoshoots too."

No, thanks, Cora tried to say, but it came out as more of a heavy wheeze.

Farron chuckled, but their mischievous grin softened when they began fiddling with their camera. "I'm serious, though. I got some great shots while you were out there."

As exhausted as Cora was, she was also curious, especially at the sight of Farron's glowing face as they scrolled through the pictures. It wasn't until Cora squeezed alongside them on the bench and peered over that she realized why.

The photos were great. It wasn't just because of the perfect lighting and composition, although Cora found those attributes to be nice too. There was something about the energy Farron captured that made them magical. They showed Brownie's eagerness as she watched Cora, then her determination to get the ball. They showed the dog's surprise when the ball landed next to them from nowhere, and how a second later, the shock had transformed to excitement.

They showed Cora's smile radiating throughout all of them.

Cora hadn't expected for her vision to waver just then. If anything, she figured it would be from fatigue, not emotions. While she managed to blink back the tears soon enough, she wasn't surprised Farron noticed them, wrapping Cora's hand in their warm grasp. Even when the camera's screen went dark, the image remained in Cora's mind. Was that what she looked like when she was happy?

"Those are amazing," Cora whispered, staring at the blank screen for a second longer before turning to Farron. "Thank you."

Farron's smile grew. They opened their mouth to say something, hesitated, then tried again. "Can I—"

"Well," a familiar voice said—a nasty one. "This is unexpected."

With that one sentence, Farron's hand tensed in Cora's, and their eyes widened. Even when Cora squeezed their hand in return, even when she tried her best to telepathically send them strength, their frozen gaze remained on Cora's, and Cora couldn't blame them.

Nasty Natalie had arrived.