Barry's Old Warehouse, Warehouse District, Monday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

All of Kathy's cleaning yesterday had paid off and the warehouse was much more livable today. All the broken furniture had been tossed, though very little had been moved in to replace it, and everything that could be swept, scrubbed, or tidied had been. Kathy had ended up crashing up in the loft in a nest of pillows and blankets that she'd managed to scrounge from various stores around the island and Ikea. The loft itself was more of an open platform jutting out from a wall than a proper room, so Kathy hadn't even tried to make it resemble a bedroom. If anything, it was a colorful blanket fort with two hammocks strung in the corners. It was truly ridiculous, but she loved it. She'd also destroyed the stairs leading up to loft, replacing it with a knotted rope that dangled from the ceiling all the way to the floor. Eventually, she'd add a ladder and some kind of pulley system to help get other people up, but last night she'd slept more soundly than she had since Mexico, up in the air where nothing could get to her.

This morning had involved a run to JGoB's for frosted cranberry scones slathered with creamy honey-butter and now she was wandering the warehouse, debating how much furniture she'd actually need to replace and where it would all go while waiting for Dante to show up with the hair dye.

Not a bad Monday, overall.

[For the guy mentioned but also open!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"I don't think Anders has found anywhere yet...?" Dante said. "But yeah. On the island. I still gotta go to school or whatever and you're here, so..."

[spin_kick_snap]

She had to smile at that. In no small part because the Dante she'd met at first would have been fine leaving school if he'd had a good enough reason to go.

And also to know that she was a reason to stay.

"Normally, I'd offer my place to crash in until he did, but it's currently under construction," she said ruefully. "But mi almacén es tu almacén if he doesn't find somewhere permanent by Friday," she said, gesturing all around them so he'd know what word she'd swapped in for 'casa' there.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Thanks," Dante said, grinning back at her. "But hopefully we'll be good. Gotta get some big beds to make room, though."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't be fooled by the general superiority of all things Californian," Kathy said, going to toss her hair and remembering at the last minute to not do that. "California kings are longer than regular king-sized beds, not wider. If you're looking for width--" saaaaay to fit more people in, for example "--a standard king is the way to go."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante tilted his head. "Hey, you're the expert," he said finally. "Managed to find one for all of us."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm your nerd friend, remember?" Kathy said. "I did research. Standard kings give two people about three feet of room each. Two feet if you decide to squeeze in a third."

Like for reasons.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Standard king it is," Dante said, grinning. "Gotta have that squeeze space."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy returned it, warmed down to her toes. "Don't know if you ever noticed, but it's about the size of your two beds pushed together. Only without that little gap in the middle."

[rebelseekspizza]

"So nobody has to worry about falling out through the middle in the middle of the night," Dante mused. "Handy."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Maybe if you play your cards right, one of those will be my housewarming present to you guys," Kathy said. "...Hmm. Maybe my graduation present will just be a trip to Ikea. Y'all can't have much in the way of furniture at all."

[rebelseekspizza]

"We've got a lot of cat furniture...?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm sure Lachlan and Blondie will be thrilled to know that they've got more furniture than you do, but that's not going to do much when you're sitting on the floor hoping to put egg crates together," Kathy said, giggling.

[rebelseekspizza]

"We could probably sit on the cat tree I got Anders for his birthday," Dante said, smirking. "'S big enough."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Whatever happened to 'I just give orgasms'?" Kathy snorted, with her usual excellent mimicry of Dante's voice. "Mmmhmmm."

[rebelseekspizza]

"The cats just needed a place," Dante protested.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because your beds and the desks and the bureaus certainly weren't enough room," Kathy said with a sage nod, fighting off a smile. "That's ridiculous."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante squinted at her. "Whatever you're doing with your face," he said, "Stop it."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy immediately adopted a sadder and more solemn expression. "It's just my face," she protested. "Don't you like my face?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Not when you're doing stuff with it," Dante said, pointing at it.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Fucking liar," Kathy said, bursting into giggles. "I can name a bunch of things you like my face doing. I'd offer to remind you, but you said I'm not allowed to start shit."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Other stuff!" Dante exclaimed, rolling his eyes at her.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You mean like expressions?" Kathy asked. "The things your face just does normally in the course of feeling emotions? Those things?"

Smart ass.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, stop doing those," Dante informed her, sliding his fingers into her waistband.

[spin_kick_snap]

"How you gonna make me?" Kathy asked, looking up at him with a rebellious tilt to her chin. Her lips curved into a smile.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Like... this."

Sliding his hands under her shirt and tickling her!