Apartment Above Lukes, Tuesday Evening

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So, technically, Kathy's plan was to make tacos for dinner, but no one would know that from the state of the kitchen. She'd decided to make homemade guacamole (because what were tacos other than tasty vehicles for guac?) and now all the taco fixings were kind of pushed off to one side while she finished mashing up the avocados and chopping the cilantro and prepping the other stuff.

And texting Dante, because making tacos was the perfect opportunity for jokes, right? Especially with her shoulder still a little red from Pride?

Looking forward to putting all the tacos into my face tonight, she said, continuing their lazy conversation. No more sausage for me, but tacos are always the way to my...heart.

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Kathy looked at him, surprised, before linking her fingers through his. "Aww, and here I was hoping that it would just mean more margaritas for me. Gotta get ready for Mexico, you know."

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Dante gave her fingers a squeeze. Look, none of that had been easy on her.

"Sorry. You're gonna have to steal your excess margaritas from Anders later," he said. "I gotta drink too."

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Or him, either and Kathy appreciated that.

"Which reminds me...any interest in showing up in Mexico?"

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"If you guys want me there, sure," Dante said. "Not like the school kicked my ass for playing hooky last time."

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"Anders hasn't decided yet, but I don't think that's going to be a problem," Kathy said. "And I'm totally doing this for the pleasure of your company and not to have an excuse to stay an extra week at the resort."

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Dante chuckled softly. Then something occurred to him. "Can you guys afford that?" he asked, finally picking up his taco again.

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Kathy hesitated. "Yeeees," she answered finally. "I know Hardison tossed a bunch of cash into mine and Raven's account when we got back. Between that and the money we have from our jobs, it should stretch to two weeks."

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"I can kick you some of Vergil's money if you need," Dante offered, before biting into his taco.

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Kathy opened her mouth to protest, to insist that she hadn't invited him so he'd bankroll their trip. Except...except he knew that. And maybe part of moving forward, whatever that meant, involved trusting him a little more, too. "I... wouldn't say no," she said. "If you think you can spare it."

Using Vergil's money for their own, human enjoyment made her spitefully happy, too.

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"I got plenty I don't know what the fuck to do with," Dante said easily. "Might as well make sure you two have a good time."

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"I don't expect you to pay for the whole thing!" Kathy said quickly. "But if you do come down and we stay the extra week, some help would be great."

Because expeditions were expensive!

"Also the second week, there's a tasting tour held by a local tequilaria. Just saying."

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Dante laughed. "Hey, hey, a week in some resort getting laid, you already had me," he said. "Now you're just showboating."

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"You wanna see showboating," Kathy snorted. "Two words: all inclusive." Which was really one hyphenated word, but shut up. "All food, all drinks, all free."

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Long pause.

"We're gonna get so drunk," Dante decided, rising from his seat to take his plate to the sink.

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Kathy pulled hers back over in front of her and took a nibble. It went down easy and reawoke her earlier hunger. "I figure we're not gonna actually sober up until we get back to the island."

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"Sounds like my kind of vacation," Dante said, leaning casually against the counter.

He picked up another taco, dumping a bunch of meat on it before shoveling it into his mouth.

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"I've decided my ideal vacation involves being buzzed at ten in the morning, in a bikini on the beach, rubbing sunscreen over Anders' chest," Kathy said with a dreamy smile before finishing off her taco in three neat bites.

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"Man, you'd be doing the sunscreen-rubbing, not the other way around?" Dante said. "Feminism has failed you."

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"What do you think you're for?" Kathy snorted. "I did say my ideal vacation, didn't I?"

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"Oh, so that's the pecking order around here? No way," Dante said, shaking his head. "Anders can cover the sunscreen parts."

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"He'll be covering yours," Kathy said, shaking her head at him. "Keep up. Besides, what's wrong with covering me in sunscreen, huh? Tons of people would kill for that job!"

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"Hey, if you wanna build your own army of groveling sycophants, be my guest," Dante said, waving at her. "I only play henchman in the sack."

He leaned back against the counter again, looking her over.

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"And behind the table at Pride," Kathy reminded, stretching out and propping her legs up on the next chair. "And if we're all rubbing each other down, it's not really henching, is it?"

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"I don't know," Dante said, tilting his head. "Think it might be. But if you wanna come over here and convince me..."

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As argumentative as Kathy could be, never let it be said she couldn't obey with alacrity under the right circumstances. And Dante making that suggestion definitely counted as the right circumstances.

"I think I can see the merit in that," she said,swinging her legs back down to push herself up and slowly saunter over to him. "How amenable are you to persuasion? Should I break out the big guns, you think?"

There was that box from Site's, discarded on the table, that had never made its way back to her room.