Masitda Restaurant, Baltimore, Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

To tell the truth and shame the devil--a saying Kathy's mom had adored when she was alive--when Dante had suggested that they go out for Korean food, Kathy hadn't expected much. Dante didn't speak the language, didn't know the culture, and his only real introduction to the cuisine was what Kathy cooked at home and the hundred of weird bottle and jars of seasoning she kept in the door of the fridge, next to the more normal bottles of mayo and ketchup and relish. It wasn't that she was expecting it to be bad or anything, but she'd figured something middle-of-the-road, declaring its authenticity by blaring k-pop from the mid-2000s with two kinds of kimchi at most and a couple of sushi offerings to round out the 'Asianness' of the menu. All of which would have been perfectly fine and Kathy would have gone home, full and happy, and not given it another thought.

She realized she was wrong the moment they stepped into the restaurant. It smelled like home, evoking a sense of nostalgia and homesickness so sharp she rocked backwards on her heels for a moment. The table next to them had seven different banchan bowls on one side of it and over the shoulder of another patron, she could spot a menu page devoted entirely to different kinds of kimchi, several of which had seasonal warnings next to them. Apparently this place thought it wouldn't do to serve Yeolmu-kimchi in the middle of winter and you know what? They were goddamn right.

Kathy reached for Dante's hand, squeezing it tightly, letting her grip speak louder than she could right then about how pleased she was with his choice of restaurant for the evening.

[Not for broadcast and for that guy she's with!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"You look like you got this handled," Dante said, holding his hands up.

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"Don't worry, I know what you like," Kathy said.

"Bet you do, noona," the waiter said in English.

Kathy snickered again, then added Dante's order to hers and sent the waiter off for several bottles of soju. "You have a new admirer," she told Dante as soon as their waiter was out of earshot.

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"Told you," Dante said cheerfully, settling back.

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"Right, because I ever doubted your ability to turn heads," Kathy snorted. "Definitely a thing I was uncertain about."

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"Told you there was at least one gay server," Dante amended. "But thanks, Kat."

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"No ditching me for our cute Korean waiter," Kathy chided, not that she was actually worried he would. "For one thing, Auntie might not ever let me come back if my date went off and debauched her staff."

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"Ah, don't worry," Dante said, grinning. "I got all the Korean I need at this table."

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"And you're saying that before all the meat shows up to be grilled," Kathy said, her hand on her forehead. "It is love."

Their waiter showed up and handed over two bottles of soju, with a wink for Dante and a cheerful grin towards Kathy, but didn't stay to chat.

"You remember soju, right?" Kathy asked, checking the proof. "This one's about vodka strength." She reached for his cup and filled it about halfway up with soju. "Drinking is huge in Korea, did I ever tell you that? Oh my god, you'd love it. It's part of any kind of, like, work or social bonding time. And one of the rules is you never pour your own alcohol."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Never pour your own alcohol, huh?" Dante said, reaching to take the bottle from there. "Why's that?"

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Kathy shrugged. "It's just rude. Like, you're supposed to watch other people's drinks and make sure they don't run out, but focusing on your own looks selfish. So you trust everyone else to keep yours topped up and do the same for others. It's all very community-oriented."

And then he finished pouring, she deliberately picked up her cup with both hands. "This means 'thank you,'" she said, demonstrating. "You pick your cup up with two hands after someone pours to show appreciation."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Okay," Dante said.

He followed her example, picking the cup up with both hands. "Good?"

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"You're a natural," Kathy told him. "I'll be dragging you around Korea doing Oh Cha like a pro."

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"Do I wanna know what that is?" Dante asked, and took a sip of his drink. Mmm.

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"Five rounds," Kathy said with a grin. "When you go out with a group, there are five stops you make throughout the night. First is dinner where you drink soju. Then you hit up a Hof to order fried food with beer, and then a second Hof, a Western-style one, where it's just booze, no drinking. By this time, everyone's nice and drunk, so you head to a noraebang to do karaoke in a private room for an hour or so. And then everyone who is still mobile heads to a nightclub or a disco to dance for a bit and finish up drinking there."

Her smirk deepened. "Think you could hang, white boy?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante smirked right back at her. "Hang and bang," he said. "Any time."

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Kathy shivered a little. "We'll have to find a way to put that to the test sometime," she said, pupils dilating. "I know I've mentioned my club fantasy to you before."

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"Wanting to get those bathrooms out of your system already?" Dante said, grinning at her. "Or you just want me and Anders to do you on the dance floor?"

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"I mean, yes?" Kathy said with a cheerful shrug. "Okay, not sure just how far I'd be willing to go on the floor--" Though in a place where they didn't know anyone and it was crowded with people already mostly drunk meant she'd probably go a lot farther than she thought "--but get us all hot and bothered out dancing and then we end up in the bathroom because we just need it? Yeah, that's pretty much my whole jam right there."

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"Guess just doing it at the house all the time kinda gets fuckin' domestic after a while," Dante mused. "Maybe you two should come crash spring break."

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"Hard to play around in public in our own house anyway," Kathy said. "But--ooh, you think we could? We'll just hide in your luggage and they'll never notice."

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"Or you can grab a portal and we can sneak off somewhere," Dante said. "Gonna be tough just entertaining myself for a week."

Rude hand gesture.

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"Especially if you end up sharing a room with someone," Kathy said with more amusement than sympathy. "If being a teacher while you were still in high school hadn't been so weird, I could have just grabbed Anders and gone--but it would still have been weird, so never mind."

Yeah, it would have been awkward hanging out with both the teachers that had taught her and the students she was teaching. Hard pass.

"When is it--the first full week of March?"

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"I think so, yeah," Dante said. "Was gonna play hooky but then I figured, it's my last school-sponsored vacation..."

He still sounded torn about it.

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"I think you should go," Kathy said gently. "I still regret the trip I skipped to play hero in LA and not just because you didn't bring me back a dinosaur. We'll miss you, but I don't want you missing out on things just for us."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, but I wish you guys were there," Dante muttered.