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]

"That's true," Kathy said, closing her eyes and sighing. "I feel really selfish sometimes," she added in a low murmur. "Like I should just suck it up and move anyway. I'm single-handedly keeping us apart."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I keep saying the same thing about me," Dante said softly. "And what do you say to me every time...?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Something like 'Mrrf mffle mrrm mmlllff'?" Kathy tried. "It's hard to enunciate around your dick."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes and poked her. "You say 'you had to do this, you'd have lost your mind otherwise'," he said. "This is just what we gotta do right now. We'll find our way back to the same place sometime."

The more the weeks dragged on without her in it, the more certain he was about it.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't roll your eyes at me, that was a great joke," Kathy told him.

She made jokes because she wasn't as certain as he was. Not that she didn't want to believe, but she just got so afraid sometimes. At night, especially, when the hours loomed long and empty and the constant noise in her head nearly overpowered her.

"You sound so sure," she said softly.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged an easy shoulder.

"I'm sure of me," he said, "And I'm sure of you."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy chuckled softly. "Talking to you is dangerous," she said quietly. "You make be believe that anything's possible. That everything is."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Dante grinned at her, bright as hell.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Aww, I like optimist-Dante," Kathy said, that grin making her heart flutter like it was August 2015 all over again. "This is everything I've ever wanted for you, you know?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I wound up in a good place, with good people," Dante said easily. "It helped."

There was the nagging part of him that would always be empty, broken.

But there was so much fullness all around it, most days, he could ignore it was there at all.

[spin_kick_snap]

That was fair. There would always be a part of her that would be jagged and broken inside her, as well. Different from his, because their trauma was different, but that was okay.

And maybe, one day, Kathy would be okay with her broken parts, too.

"Oh, I mostly meant naked and lying back on a bed beneath me, but I guess all that is good, too," she teased, smiling down at him.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Shh," Dante said, and let his hands idly explore her arms and back.

[spin_kick_snap]

"But my jokes are so great," Kathy murmured, settling back against him, lips pressing against his shoulders.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Just let me hold you for a minute," Dante murmured. "No jokes."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Always," Kathy said, burying her face in his neck. She closed her eyes and just listened to his heartbeat, holding him close.

This was everything, right here. Just holding and being held, and feeling the love between them both.

[rebelseekspizza]

And it was good.

Knowing she was here. Knowing Anders would be here in less than an hour, and they'd all huddle up on the sofa and watch TV and eat snacks and just... be.

Knowing he could just be, right here and right now, with her light form pressed against his chest.

He kissed the top of her head and smoothed his hand over her hair, at peace for a moment.