Barry's Old Warehouse, Warehouse District, Sunday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

So. The island could turn her back into an ex at literally any moment. That was not a thought that was good for Kathy's peace of mind. Being an ex again, for however short a time, had not been good for Kathy's peace of mind. She hadn't been a mindless husk that had seen everything that moved as 'prey,' no, but that was cold comfort when she had spent the day eating brains.

Sharing brains with other people.

Hunting small creatures to get--

Her stomach lurched again, just thinking about it. She hadn't eat much this past week just for that reason. It felt like February all over again, when eating had been a struggle, the very act bringing up memories she didn't want to relive.

Distantly, Kathy knew she should go home, deal with the mess left in her room, deal with the mess that was her life. And she would! She just--couldn't yet. Not while she still felt like this, ten pounds of crazy in a four pound bag. She just needed to get a handle on it--was trying to get a handle on it--and when she did, she'd go home. She'd apologize for worrying everyone, she'd clean up, she'd be okay.

Soon. Just not now.

[Open]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Would you be okay with that?" Kathy asked, interest sparking in her eyes. "You and Anders fucking and me just coming in to watch sometime?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante lifted his head for a moment to think about it.

"...That'd be kinda hot, if you were into it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"We're talking about the two hottest guys I know fucking, how could I not be into it?" Kathy pointed out. "I wouldn't get involved without a proper invite, but sitting and watching? That I could do."

Maybe taking care of herself at the same time...

[rebelseekspizza]

"Only checking," Dante said, his fingers tracing easy patterns on her stomach. "Just watching?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Unless you or Anders invited me to join," Kathy said honestly. "You might just want it to be the two of you or something." She bit her lip a moment and added, "I'd rather miss out than go where I'm not--where I'd be too much."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're not too much, Kat," Dante said.

He dropped a kiss on her shoulder.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Sometimes I am," Kathy said with a shrug. "And sometimes I'm just not who you want, you know? And that's okay. We're a triad, but we're three pairs of two at the same time. And sometimes you just wanna be part of a pair--like your date with Anders in Baltimore last month. That's just how this works. So, unless one of you lets me know that it's not just-a-pair time, I'd rather not intrude."

[rebelseekspizza]

Yeah, but sometimes it felt like Kathy thought--

Ah, fuck it. He wasn't gonna argue about that right now.

"We should do that sometime," Dante mused. "Date or whatever."

[spin_kick_snap]

Sometimes she did. And probably wouldn't even deny it if he called her on it explicitly.

"You want--?" She didn't perk up exactly, but something about her whole body language lifted, lightened. "I'd like that."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Just go to Baltimore, dinner and a movie like boring-ass people," Dante said, pressing a kiss into her neck. "Then fuck like champions and show 'em how it's done."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Is this before or after we leave the theater?" Kathy said, laughing. "Normally, I'd assume after, but you did just say we'd show 'em how it was done."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Bathroom?" Dante said merrily.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy turned pink, her stomach twitching under his fingers. They didn't quite tickle, but it was close. "Dante, families go to the movie theater!"

[rebelseekspizza]

"One, those parents probably really need to be shown how it's done," Dante said. "Two, just pick something not PG-13."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Aww, but the Revengers movie is coming out sometime soon. And it's starring the pretty one. And his even hotter evil brother," Kathy said, winking at him. "But...yeah. We could do that sometime."

She gave him a sidelong look. "It would be our first ever, like, proper date, I think."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Does that mean I have to show up in a tux with flowers and ask Raven for permission?" Dante joked.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm pretty sure if you did, I'd pass out from shock and miss our date anyway," Kathy snorted. "A tux T-shirt? I could see that. Maybe. You'd probably at least tear the sleeves off, though."

Even if the image hadn't been so absurd as to laughable, Kathy was just happy that Dante was interested in going out on a date. Who needed flowers on top of that?

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snickered and rolled over her, to kiss her more easily. "Aw. You get me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I think I'm getting there."

Like right now, she wasn't asking him if he'd only suggested a date because of Halloween. Instead, she'd realized that the answer didn't matter. He still wouldn't have asked if he didn't want to, so whether Halloween was an inciting incident or not was irrelevant.

"For someone who's supposed to be smart, I'm kinda a slow learner sometimes," she told him, leaning in for another kiss. "But I'm making progress."

[rebelseekspizza]

And Dante... hadn't even thought about Halloween when he'd brought it up. Just that he and Anders had done things, but Kathy and him hadn't, and that seemed weird now.

"'s all right," he said. "Progress's good."

And kissed her again.

[spin_kick_snap]

Whereas Kathy could completely understand that dates might be something Dante felt more comfortable doing with Anders than with her.

This time Kathy wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer and snaked a leg around his, hands splaying across his back, nails just pricking into his skin. She licked into his mouth, arching up against him.

Talking was for suckers.

[rebelseekspizza]

That was a kind of reasoning that came from traditional notions of relationships that Dante didn't really observe. His feelings for Anders had shit all to do with dating, or vice versa.

He wasn't sleeping with anybody else. That was the big one.

Not that Dante was inclined to talk about that, with Kathy all over him and his tongue in Kathy's mouth. His hands smoothed over her hips, her sides, her breasts.

[spin_kick_snap]

Whereas Kathy figured the automatic assumption that there'd be dates was the detritus of traditional relationships. Back in the dorms he'd laughed at the idea of doing dates at all, so she'd been guessing that his date with Anders was the exception.

Basically, Kathy had a lot of catching up to do with all the ways things had changed over the past year.

But for things that hadn't changed, there was the way she still felt every time he touched her. Fire ignited in her stomach while goosebumps pebbled her skin under his fingers. She moaned, wordlessly encouraging him to keep touching her everywhere.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante let out a soft sigh in between kisses, coming to a quick decision on the spot.

He pressed his mouth to her neck, kissing his way down, his hands toying with her breasts, her nipples.

[spin_kick_snap]

She liked where this decision was heading, arching under his hands to press her breasts more firmly into his palms. She ached for him, that sweet ache that started between her legs and traveled upwards, centering in her belly even while it stiffened her nipples.

"I take it back," she said, voice husky. "Naptime is over for now."