From the Apartment Above Luke's to Currant, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy'd had trouble sleeping last night, in that she really didn't at all. Even moving to the safety of her closet hadn't helped; sure, she'd managed to fall asleep, but only long enough to have a screaming nightmare about zombies and towers and rabbit brains and then she was back up for the night. It wasn't until she noticed the date on her phone that she realized what she was responding to.

Right. Halloween. The trip to LA and then their getaway had messed with her sense of time enough that she hadn't realized how close the holiday was. Kathy used to love Halloween; she still might, if she hadn't been on the island. Last year's little...stunt had left her more than a little fucked up. Turned out her subconscious was better at keeping track of the date than the rest of her. Yay.

After the nightmare, she'd given up on sleep entirely, obsessively watching for signs that the island was going to turn her into an ex again, aware that she wouldn't notice even if it did, and that being paranoid it would was probably a good sign that it hadn't. Once dawn broke and she remained herself, that should have been the end of it - but it wasn't. Kathy had worked herself up into a panic and that wasn't responding to anything useful like 'logic' or 'thinking.' She just knew she had to get out of there. Off the island. Something.

She spent the morning in Baltimore, but when the third shitty zombie costume finally made her break down and cry in public, she realized this wasn't a viable option. Neither was Limbo City; if she was hesitant to visit most days, Halloween itself was a hard pass. That left...Ezra.

Kathy didn't even bother calling, just booked the closest portal, giving her enough time to grab a thing of donuts and go. And the irony of ironies was that Ezra wasn't even home when she got there; nobody answered her increasingly frantic knocks or her abuse of the doorbell. Eventually, she gave up, hoisting herself up to the roof of their porch. Exes couldn't climb, she would be safe on the roof while she waited. Something about that thought process was wrong, but she didn't bother to pinpoint what. Her brain was pinging safe and that was what mattered.

Curling up on the tiny bit of roof, she burrowed into her winter coat and, at some point, fell asleep.

[Ezra's house modded with permission and for said house-modded guy!]

Comments

[smilestopscars]

Ezra pressed a quick kiss against her other cheek. "Don't get used to it," he quipped, just to try and make the situation a little lighter. He sobered immediately after, though. "But you were asleep on my porch roof."

How was he supposed not to worry?

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, that's just logical," Kathy pointed out. "It's harder to get you when you're up high. Few things look up, too."

...Might not be as reassuring as you thought there, sweetheart.

[smilestopscars]

"Halfway in the woods," Ezra pointed out gently. "In Currant."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shrugged. "Just...just in case," she said. "I don't know when I'll be able to fall asleep without taking precautions again. Especially by myself. Or outside."

The Kathy who had just fallen asleep on the beach without a second thought beyond suntan lotion was long gone. It was a toss-up if she'd ever make her way back.

[smilestopscars]

"Did you talk to Dante?" Ezra asked. "Or Anders?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Today?" Kathy shook her head. "They'd want me to come there, even if they didn't say so. And I just...can't. Today. And I don't want them to feel bad."

That hadn't quite been how it had gone in her brain this morning, but it was more of a panicked shortcut to the same destination, just without all the details.

[smilestopscars]

"Okay," Ezra said, his nod a short and precise movement, but his tone was soft. "Okay. You could've texted me though." Had to be said. "Or called. And I don't mean in advance, but... once you were here. I would've shown up quicker."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I...I didn't want to be a bother," she said. "At least, not more than I was already going to be. And I was safe enough up there. Even if you didn't come home, I was okay."

Ish.

It was Maine at the end of October, which meant it was still cold as hell, but she had her winter jacket and hopefully once she'd woken up, she would have been in a little better shape to make ration decisions like 'call Ezra' or 'at least go to a cafe and warm up, christ.'

[smilestopscars]

Ezra sighed, quietly. Then he kissed the side of her head.

Then, he reached for the box of donuts. "I think you should eat one."

[spin_kick_snap]

Not just letting her have a donut, but insisting she take one. Ezra was worried.

"Okay," she said, reaching for a donut and making a face at it as she brought it up to her mouth.

Her appetite was always the first to go in times like these.

"And here I thought Lock was the mom-friend," she said, mostly as a distraction as she took a tiny nibble.

[smilestopscars]

"He is," Ezra replied as he got a donut for himself as well. "I'm more like... a drunk uncle who has a smart moment or two, every once in a while."

[spin_kick_snap]

"A whisky uncle instead of a vodka aunt?" Kathy asked with a small smile. "I could see that."

She bet he'd make a great uncle, if his sisters ever having kids.

[smilestopscars]

She didn't need to know that in Ezra's own mind, it was referring back to something less favorable Dante had told him before. Just a little bit.

He just snorted, before devouring half his donut. "I have many facets."

[spin_kick_snap]

If she had, she would have been horrified that she'd agreed with him.

"I know," Kathy said, "and I don't kid myself to think I've seen them all."

Pause.

"Seen a few more recently though."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra shrugged a little. "Maybe the various surfaces of my prism have been a little clearer and cleaner, lately."

You know, because he was like a prism with all his facets. Just be grateful he hadn't called himself a diamond, instead.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You're calling yourself a diamond in your head," Kathy said with a chuckle. "I'm onto you."

[smilestopscars]

"... Yes."

Look, since she'd called him our for it so directly, and nailed it too, he had to give her that one. With a half-surprised grin, to boot.

"Wouldn't you, if you were in my shoes?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Facets and prisms pretty much spelled out diamonds. It wasn't like Ez would go for something like 'crystals' or 'cubic zirconia.'

"And yeah," she said after a moment. "But that's because they're beautiful and expensive and everybody thinks of them as only adornment, but they're actually really useful in a lot of different fields. Just most people don't know that." She grinned at him. "So diamonds have a lot of different facets, too, even beyond their actual facets."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra smirked at her. "I'm impressed, darling," he said, while his hand came up to idly twirl a strand of her hair around his fingers. "You really know your diamonds."

But more importantly... Him.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy offered him a small smile. "I pay attention," she said. "Or try to, anyway."

Which worked for both the statement he'd spoken aloud and the one he'd left unsaid.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra gave the strand of her hair that she was holding a little tug. Just a gentle, playful one.

"A good quality in any person," he said quietly, as he gave a sage nod.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm just pretty great in general," Kathy informed him. "...You know, so long as you ignore the crazy."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra leaned in again. This time, to nuzzle her temple. "You're great despite the crazy," he told her, soft but definite with his tone. "And the crazy, not that I'm sure that's the right word, is understandable."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Feels like crazy from the inside," Kathy admitted, since curling up on someone's roof - or your bedroom closet - didn't really smack of sane. "But so long as I make up for it, I guess I can't complain."

She turned slightly in his lap to give him a fierce hug. "I love you, Ez."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra wrapped his arms just a little more tightly around her. It was reflex. Same with the burying of his nose in her hair.

His words, though, were a little bit more measured. "I know, dollface," he told her. "Love you too."