33 Apocalypse Ave (and eventually to Limbo City), Friday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Last week, Kathy had been an utter lump, eating ice cream and playing sad music and watching a lot of TV while she got used to life without the guys. This week wasn't actually much easier, but Kathy's tolerance for her own moping had run out and left her needing to do something that wasn't just dwell.

Fortunately, it wasn't like she was lacking in options. With the guys gone and Raven spending most of her time out in the woods, the house was just too big and full of memories. So she was moving back to the apartment above Luke's - along with Raven, at least nominally - and this week she'd really gotten her ass in gear when it came to packing. Most of the upstairs was packed, even if those boxes were still mostly stacked downstairs, and now she was just cleaning out their old rooms of the detritus the always seemed to accumulate under furniture and in corners.

Like this old credit card bill of Dante's from...April of 2017. Kathy snorted and rolled her eyes, preparing to toss it into the bin that was half-full of junk when she noticed that one of the items on there was in Hangul. Wait. Had Dante been learning stuff in Korean?

Wait. 김치 크림 파이. Was that a-- Kathy grabbed her phone and did a quick search and yep. It was pretty much exactly the kind of website she'd been expecting with a name like that. Definitely didn't have to do with desserts, that was for damn sure.

"Oh." She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, especially since that was back when everything had still been really...rough...between them. They'd been friends, in a tentative kind of manner, but no more. So then why...?

"Hi, Portalocity? I've got a portal scheduled to Limbo City for later on this evening, but I was wondering, could I bump it up to earlier than that? Something this afternoon would be good, yeah."

[Open for calls, texts, and visitors before she goes, and LC folks afterwards!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy would have sworn she was too tired to spare the muscles to smile, but the warmth in his tone proved that theory wrong pretty quick.

"Hi," she said, meeting his eyes. "Needed that."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Missed you," Dante said softly.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy smiled and linked fingers with him again. She was still sweaty enough that she didn't exactly feel like full-body cuddling just yet.

"Missed you, too," she murmured. "It feels wrong to have days that you're not a part of."

Lest that sound too overly-sentimental, she added, "Does give us a lot to make up for on the weekends, though."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I did say I could call more," Dante murmured, touching her cheek with his free hand.

[spin_kick_snap]

"And I'll call more, too," Kathy promised, since it shouldn't be all on him. "But I was more making a point about how entwined with me you are. Or trying to."

Maybe post-coital wasn't the best time to make words.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I know," Dante said quietly. "It's weird not to have you here every day too."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I didn't expect this," she said, rolling over a bit to look up at the ceiling while she gathered her thoughts. "You remember that day at the Perk last spring?" For all their trips to the Perk, she was pretty sure he'd know which one she meant. "It's almost funny now, because we fought over expectations and yet back then I never would have dreamed about us being here, like this. It would have seemed too fantastical, even for me."

Even now, it still surprised her.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed softly. "Guess that's what can happen when we both let go of our bullshit, huh?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Guess so," she mused, trying to trace the path of their relationship from there to here. Sure, this hadn't seemed likely back when they were still trying to rebuild their relationship from the ground up, but it hadn't seemed any more likely several months after they'd reconciled, either.

It wasn't really important; she didn't need Dante to tell her that. But she couldn't help but be curious about all the ways they'd changed. Incremental progress was hard to track but made for some amazing leaps when you looked back.

[rebelseekspizza]

He'd become comfortable with her. That was the big difference. That had sent everything rolling on his end to get them to where they were now.

And it wasn't comfortable in the way they'd been comfortable before her death, either. It was the kind of comfortable you had with someone you could share a house with, 24/7, and feel like everything was right in your skin.

"I can see you thinking," he mused, tracing a line (imaginary? maybe) on her forehead.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's those keen Nephilim senses at work," Kathy teased before adding, "Nothing bad, I promise. Just - I fought falling for you all the way. Same thing with Anders, though that was all Before. But that means I was intensely aware through the whole thing." She chuckled a bit and shook her head. "This, though. This took me by complete surprise and now I'm trying to see if I can figure out when it did in retrospect, cause I sure as hell missed it when it happened."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed softly. "Just let me know when you figure it out."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I probably don't think I will," Kathy said with a soft smile. "It's like I said the day I helped you move: love happens in the moments between. The ones we don't take note of."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante kissed her cheek. "I think we still had a couple of those just now."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I know I had a couple of somethings," Kathy said, cooled enough to roll a bit closer to him. "Hey you. I like your face."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I like your face too," Dante said, grinning. "It's very you."

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's cute and sweet and adorable and nice?" Kathy asked, just to be ridiculous.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snickered softly. "Sure, let's go with that."

[spin_kick_snap]

"While your face just says 'brat through and through'," Kathy told him, all dimples.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Ah, but you like this face that way," Dante said, grinning. "You ride it all the time."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, yeah. Your face is improves when it's framed by my thighs," Kathy said, waggling her eyebrows at him. "What face wouldn't be?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I dunno, how many faces have you been trying?" Dante asked.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy waggled her eyebrows at him. "Look, you already got your orgy, remember? Can't blame me for wanting mine."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, but I'd like to be part of it if you ever manage to make one happen," Dante replied.

[spin_kick_snap]

"What's the minimum number required for an orgy again?" Kathy asked, pretending to think about it.

Her evenings without the guys were spent curled up in fluffy bathrobes eating takeout and watching trashy TV. Orgies did not seem likely.