33 Apocalypse Ave, Saturday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

After a night spent crashing in the front room catching up on some of the K-dramas that had come out while she'd been dead, Kathy decided that it was a good morning to make a hearty Korean breakfast. It was definitely cold enough that the hotteok sellers would be out in force in the streets of K-town and gaeran tost-u was always a hearty breakfast food. Kathy decided to make something like a Southwestern vegetarian omelette for the tost-u and set to work chopping, dicing, and slicing the fillings while waiting for the hotteok dough to rise. She still wasn't up to eating meat yet, but figured everyone else in the house would appreciate a side of bacon with their meals. And maybe if she fried the tost-u bread in the bacon drippings, she could get a little bit of the flavor without tripping over her current aversion to meat?

It was worth a shot, anyway.

Not knowing that anything was weird yet, Kathy danced and sang around the kitchen, hoping Raven had fallen asleep in her room last night instead of out in a tree somewhere, planning on waking the guys up with breakfast in bed. It was a good morning and already the house was beginning to smell of delicious sugary pancakes, frying bacon, and brewing coffee.

And the strains of upbeat pop music, too. Because you couldn't cook breakfast without bouncing around to the bippiest music you could find.

[Open for housemates and wandering children alike, warning for SP in the afternoon]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay," Kathy said, a little disappointed. "Well, the first time you showed up, you ate pizza and carefully read my comics so you didn't get them all greasy. You're welcome to read more comics today if you'd like."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Which ones were the comics? About the blue guy?"

The boy was running out of pancake. Crisis.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy could at least fix one of those problems. She nudged the plate of hitteok towards him. "Might have been," she said. "We can look through them and check? Also, want a gaeran tost-u? It's an egg sandwich, nice and tasty."

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy watched her warily - though not so warily that he couldn't grab the plate and yank it towards him. "Okay," he said at last.

And in the pancakes went.

[spin_kick_snap]

He was eating. He could look at her warily all he wanted so long as he was eating.

Kathy went over to the stove and grabbed two of the egg sandwiched from where they were warming in the oven. "Here," she said, keeping one for herself and adding the other to his plate. She was careful to keep several feet of distance between them. "Not an olive in sight, either."

[rebelseekspizza]

Smacking loudly, the boy looked up at the food. "I think I remember you from a dream."

[spin_kick_snap]

"A dream?" Kathy asked, getting them both glasses of milk as well. She added a little bit of chocolate syrup to his; she figured he needed the calcium a lot more than the extra sugar would harm him. And then she sat down in her seat, wishing she could move closer to him. But he was back to being feral and she was better off respecting his desire for distance than giving him the cuddles she really wanted to.

Rule number one was nobody touched him without his permission. Not even for all the hugs, Kathy.

"Will you tell me about it?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"We were in a room. A different one. Small," the boy said, a little mollified now by the food - and the sense there was no immediate threat. "There was food too."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded. "I will always feed you when you're hungry," she promised. "And warm clothes and somewhere safe to rest."

She eyed him. "Speaking of, are you chilly? I've got a couple of sweatshirts that you can borrow while you're here. They're soft."

And huge even on her, because Kathy liked being enveloped in oversized warm clothes in the winter.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm fine," the boy said stiffly.

He was only wearing a sleeveless shirt and pants, but he didn't get cold fast.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay," Kathy said, since she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere by fussing. "But I'll leave a hoodie out just in case you do get cold later."

So he wouldn't have to ask. She hoped he'd be more amenable to things if he had the freedom to take them for himself, rather than needing her to give them to him. Admitting he needed something was just one more way someone could have leverage over him.

Kathy wished she could go back in time and burn the nuns of Saint Lamia alive herself.

"Is that all you remember about your dream?" she asked, fighting down her anger so he wouldn't think it was at all directed towards him.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy shrugged both of his shoulders expressively.

"'s just a dream," he said. "At least there wasn't any screaming."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Do you think this is a dream?" Kathy checked. "And there won't be. Any screaming, I mean."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I don't know. Doesn't matter," the boy said.

He reached for his milk. "Why's it brown?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"There's chocolate in there," Kathy said, kicking herself for not realizing that he wouldn't ever remember having chocolate milk before. She hadn't even thought!

Jesus, Allah, and sweet baby Buddha, it was chocolate milk.

"If you don't like it, I can pour you a fresh glass," she offered. "But it's sweet. I think you'll like it. I also have some strawberry jam I can put on toast."

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy studied the drink in front of him.

Then her, again.

Then he shrugged anew and picked up his glass, taking a big sip of it. It was... nice. Sweet.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy didn't say anything as she watched him drink, figuring that too much enthusiasm might raise his suspicions again. But she couldn't stop herself from smiling when he seemed to like it.

Good. She was limited in ways to make Dante happy, but if introducing him to new, plentiful food was one, she'd take it.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy's eyes darted to her face as he finished. Why was she smiling? He pushed the glass aside.

"I'm full now."

[spin_kick_snap]

Because she cared about you, Dante, and wanted you to be full and content and maybe even a little happy.

"I'm glad to hear it," Kathy said. "I'm going to keep cooking a little so that Anders and Raven can have a hot breakfast when they wake up, too, but would you like to help me clean up a little after ours? Two sets of hands clean up faster than one."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Do I have to?" the boy asked warily.

Stupid to think he'd get food for free.

[spin_kick_snap]

"No," Kathy said, easily. "You don't. There's a TV in the living room and comics in my bedroom if you're looking for something else to do."

She got up and started moving dirty dishes to the sink. "I invited you to breakfast as my guest. You don't have to help clean up if you don't want to."

She'd just poke regular-flavor Dante into doing dishes a couple more times instead or something.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy watched her for a few more moments, weighing those options. Weighing having options at all.

Then he climbed out of his seat, empty glass and plate in hand, and put them down on the counter next to the sink.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Thank you," Kathy said, sincerely. That he even did that much, rather than just running away as soon as her back was turned, meant a lot. "You're a good kid, Dante."

She knew he heard the opposite all too often. One compliment in the face of thousands probably didn't do much, but it was still something.

[rebelseekspizza]

The boy made a slight noise of acknowledgement, somewhere in the back of his throat. "Why d'you keep calling me that?" he asked, padding back to the table to get his knife and fork.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Dante?" she asked, startled. "I call you that because that's your name. Don't you remember?"