The Luckiest Girl In The World

"I'm very proud of you," Kathy told him, carefully laying a handful of pepperoni on her own pizza. She figured she could handle one, maybe two per slice and felt very proud of herself for getting that much. She gave Dante a smile as she laid down the last one; a mute thanks. "It's so exciting to know that one of you won't die of scurvy."

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Dante smiled back at her; he hadn't forgotten the pepperoni thing.

He was stacking his own pizza - predictably - full of meat and cheese, barely a sprinkling of green to be found. "No human afflictions, remember?"

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"Healing mage," Anders added. "Besides, I don't think they've invented scurvy yet in Thedas."

He gave Kathy's addition of pepperoni a pleased smile of his own. Maybe she was getting better.

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It was meat that didn't look or taste like meat! She still couldn't handle sausage, but pepperoni didn't trip up her anxieties.

"You're both ridiculous and make my head hurt," she informed them. A timer dinged and she rushed over to her wok. She pulled the lid off and was immediately met by a wet cloud of steam that flushed her cheeks and stuck her hair to her face. "Buns?" she asked, turning around to present them a plate of dim sum buns. "I made these so you couldn't complain about being hungry while the pizzas are cooking."

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"Well, if you've got buns, hun," Dante joked, reaching to snag one.

... Wait. "What's in these?"

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"They taste good, whatever it is," Anders added, mouth already full.

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"Your anaconda wants some," she told Dante, while bestowing upon Anders another bright, happy smile for trying one--and better yet, liking it. "It's all completely normal stuff, mostly mushrooms and onions and seasonings. I pinky-swore no bugs, remember?"

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"Ew, mushrooms," said Dante.

Considering he shoved one of the buns in his mouth anyway, it wasn't a very serious complaint.

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"Better mushrooms than bugs," Anders offered. "... though if you wanted to hide bugs in something, these dumplings would probably be a good way to go."

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"Keep it up and I'll slipping olives into things," Kathy threatened, her hands on her hips and tapping her foot. "And won't share dessert with you."

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"No, you wouldn't," Dante said.

He pulled up a chair and sank down on it, sprawling casually. "'Cause that would be murder."

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"The olives, or the not feeding us dessert?" Anders asked. "I'm not sure which would be worse."

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Kathy opened the door to the fridge again to show off the mousse cake--look, she was kinda proud of that, it was pretty and looked delicious.

"I'm guessing dessert," she told them. "Strawberries and chocolate. And all for me and none for you if you two aren't nicer to me."

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"You're the one who's being evil as fuck," Dante said, through a mouthful of bun. "Threatening us with olives and no dessert."

He had a better angle on her legs from here. Nice.

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"She always was trouble," Anders chimed in, shaking his head in mock dismay. "I'm not sure what we'll have to do with her if she keeps making threats like that. What kind of monster would deny two handsome men a strawberry-chocolate cake?"

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"The kind who knows both of you very well," Kathy declared, closing the fridge door and whirling back towards the table. Her skirt flared a bit as she did and something caught the reflected light from the fridge for a second before it went out. "You two done making your pizzas? They need a little time to cook and I want them to be done before you finish locusting your way through my buns."

She tried to sound severe, but the twinkle in her eyes and the deep dimples in her cheeks were conspiring against the act.

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"I'm good," Dante said, polishing off the last chunk of bun he had on him. "I mean, my feelings are hurt, but my pizza's good."

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Anders sprinkled a little more cheese on his pizza -- no such thing as 'too much' -- and gestured to Kathy. "All yours," he said. "I'll go back to eating your buns while it bakes."

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Kathy put Dante's pizza into the oven while Anders finished adorning his, and set the timer for ten minutes.

"They take about ten minutes to cook," she said, adding the last few toppings to hers, too, "so it'll be about half an hour before mine's done. Should we, uhh, watch something while we wait?"

She was a little nervous about suggesting anything more risque than that. There was too much on the line to accidentally push too hard or too fast.

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"What'd you have in mind?" Dante asked, stretching his feet out until they wound up on the chair on the other side.

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"I'm fine with watching something," Anders added. "Or just talking. I'm not bored of either of you yet."

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"I'm not bored of either of you, either," Kathy said with a smile. She dragged another chair over towards Dante and waved Anders over to take it. "But then, I wasn't trapped in a car and talking through three thousand miles of farm country, either."

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"Aw, the farm country wasn't so bad," Dante said, snickering. "Anders composed a song."

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"Thirty-seven verses," Anders deadpanned. "Would you like to hear it?"

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