33 Apocalypse Ave, Wednesday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

By the kindness of fate--or perhaps the influence of Fandom--Kathy had treated herself to a long bath and a book the night before, ending up falling asleep in her own room mere pages from the end up the book. This bit of unexpected luck allowed the Kathy that woke up the following morning to have at least a little while before she was unexpectedly traumatized. At thirteen and still several years before attending Fandom or developing superpowers, this Kathy was a little less trained to roll with the punches.

But for now, she got washed up and dressed, then headed downstairs to make herself a bowl of cereal and some toast before figuring out what to do with the day.

And wow. That was a lot of booze and leftover pizza to shove into one fridge. Huh.

[Open!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"That's also kinda messed up," Dante said. "Stuff she did isn't your fault."

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"I'm supposed to stop her from getting into trouble, though," Kathy explained. "It's what big siblings are supposed to do."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're a kid," Dante said. "Not a parent."

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"Right, but..." Kathy frowned. "It teaches responsibility for the future. And you don't have to be a parent to, umm, want to care of them?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"What, so you have to learn responsibility and your sister doesn't?"

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"No, she does, just..." Kathy didn't have a good answer for that.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't wanna talk shit about your parents," said Dante, though that was a lie. "But that just sounds like they want an excuse to yell at you."

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It had taken him months to get through to Kathy about her parents and that was with Sparkle and Eliot and Raven laying groundwork. This Kathy didn't have the benefit of that, just years of indoctrination.

"Oh no," she said, shaking her head. "They're just--they want me to be the best I can be, because it's a hard world out there. And I sometimes daydream or spend too long on the internet or get my head lost in a book or something. So they have to be a little hard on me. But they're just trying their best. I can just be a little...frustrating, I guess. You know. To deal with."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're really not," Dante said quietly.

He swept past her, pizza box in hand.

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"But we only just me--oh." Kathy watched him go by, assuming he was leaving. "Umm, bye? Sorry."

[rebelseekspizza]

"C'mon," Dante said, waving at her. "Eat your cereal in front of the TV like a normal person."

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"In front of the TV?" she squeaked.

No wonder Sparkle had called her a mouse, once upon a time. "We're allowed to do that?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're allowed to do whatever you want," Dante said. He didn't wait for her to follow as he wandered into the living room and flopped down on the couch. "Your folks aren't here, and you're a guest in this house, so I make the rules."

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"But--but--" Kathy trailed after him in a confused daze. "Not whatever I want. There have to be rules." She blinked at him, sprawled out over the couch and her stomach did several tiny flips. Gosh, he was--pretty. "What if I want to do something bad? Or mean? Or illegal?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't kill or hurt anybody," Dante said, waving his pizza box at her, "And don't eat all the pizza. There, that's the rules."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shook her head in disbelief. You needed to have more rules that just that, Mr. Dante. You really did. "Do you eat pizza for breakfast every day?" she asked, gingerly sitting on the edge of the couch, worried she'd spill her bowl of cereal.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Most of the time, yeah," Dante agreed, shoving another slice into his mouth.

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"What do you eat for lunch?" Kathy asked. "Or dinner?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Pizza?" Dante offered. "Uh, steak. Sometimes y- Kathy and Anders get Chinese, or Kathy cooks like, Korean stuff."

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She cooked? Of course she cooked. Kathy was starting to think this other girl was perfect. No wonder she was able to get a boyfriend.

"Who's Anders?" she asked, since he'd been mentioned several times. And had also been stomach-floppingly pretty

[rebelseekspizza]

"Our boyfriend," Dante said.

And didn't add anything else, because he had a feeling she was gonna need a moment with that.

[spin_kick_snap]

Yeah, there was some wide-eyed staring, along with an open mouth and some quality squeaking right there.

"How--but--can--umm...Sorry--" Yeah, there weren't any sentences forthcoming, nope.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sure you don't want some pizza?" Dante asked, holding up the box.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Boyfriend?!"

Probably a no on the pizza, Dante, but the offer would be appreciated later, when brains were a thing again.

[rebelseekspizza]

"You know how sometimes someone asks you to choose and you're like, fuck no?" Dante said cheerfully. "That's us."