The Apartment Above Luke's, Thursday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was still glowing from yesterday's museum trip with Anders and now tonight Dante was coming over for the evening, too. She appreciated the lengths they were going to make sure she didn't feel too lonely or lost while she was still adjusting to being back. She'd had a whole evening planned out as a thank you to Dante over it...

But then there had been puppies. She'd come in from her shower and decided to take a minute to refresh her Tumblr before drying off and getting dressed, and then she'd stumbled over a link for a pet adoption website that curated pictures of dogs that needed to be adopted from nearby shelters if you put in your zip code. Which Kathy, more fool her, had done.

And now was scrolling through picture after picture of adorable romping puppies and distinguished older dogs all looking for forever homes and who even knew what time it was anymore, there were puppies.

[For that guy]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Was he worried about what came after fajitas?

"I mean, you could have distracted me with a quickie in the kitchen if you'd really wanted one," Kathy snorted. "But noooooo. You were staaaarving."

[rebelseekspizza]

No, he was just afraid he'd be hungry after fajitas.

"Try to fuck the girl cutting onions with a really sharp knife," Dante said, pretending to think. "...Pass."

[spin_kick_snap]

There were more fixings in the fridge but...that would require more cooking.

Let's be real, if he was still hungry, they'd probably order pizza.

"If you started seducing me and did a good enough job with it, I'd probably be persuaded to put the knife down," Kathy snickered. "I notice you're okay with, like, sassing me while I hold a knife."

[rebelseekspizza]

"There are places where I'm okay with you stabbing me," Dante told her. "That's not one of them."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy pulled his face in for a kiss. "If you're seducing me right, why the hell would I stab you. especially there? We both know you could have me bent over the table or a counter or anything else if you really put your mind to it."

Instead of a kiss, though, she bit his lower lip. "So I'm not sure I can be blamed for the lack of pre-dinner seduction, brat."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I dunno, maybe you got pissy at the onions," Dante said, wincing in a comical way he didn't really mean. "Ow."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You are such a liar," Kathy informed him, sticking out her tongue. "I didn't bite hard enough to hurt the non-Nephilim boyfriend, never mind my Nephilim one."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Still totally unsolicited violence," Dante told her cheerfully, and kissed her for real.

[spin_kick_snap]

...She was going to drop her argument that it was his favorite kind of violence in lieu of kissing him back. Because that was much better than bickering, even as fun as nonsensical bickering could be.

They bickered and Kathy felt...comfortable. Silly. Reassured. They kissed and she felt warm. Precious.

Beautiful.

[rebelseekspizza]

Because she was. All of those things.

Dante's arm crept up around her shoulders as he tugged her in closer. She tasted like fajitas, which he liked, even if it was the veggie kind. More importantly, she tasted like Kathy, backed up with the warm hope that him being here was helping somehow.

He hated being on the island, but he loved being with her, and as the kiss grew more serious, he poured every inch of that into it.

[spin_kick_snap]

When Kathy finally pulled away, her eyes had gone soft and hazy, a small smile playing over her lips which were already starting to bloom. "I missed you, too," she murmured, her teasing tone of before falling away for honesty.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Glad I'm here," Dante said softly.

[spin_kick_snap]

She knew what it cost him, coming back to the island, the same way he knew what it cost her, going to Limbo City. They were like a fish and a bird, trying to find a place to nest together when both their natural homes made the other one suffocate.

But still, they kept trying, these moments right here making up for all the discomfort on the outside.

Her fingers splayed over his cheek. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked. "The way you got my bed for me. Anything I can do to make it easier?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nah," Dante said, tracing his fingers in circles along her circles. "Don't ask me to sleep here every night of the week, or do groceries at T&C every morning, but..."

He kissed her forehead. "'m happy to be here with you."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Back in high school, I was convinced that I knew what love looked like," she said quietly. "I knew it wasn't all flowers and Hallmark cards, that it was lazy mornings and making up after fights and compromising when you had to. It couldn't all be surprise proms, as perfect as that moment was."

She looked up, meeting his eyes, trying hard not to fall into them as she had to do every time their gazes locked.

"Funny how now I understand that love looks like someone standing in the doorway of your house, just happy to spend a weekend with you."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante's mouth curved a little bit, and he caught her eyes as surely as she did his. "Hope we make you feel like that enough," he said softly. "You deserve it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"And here, I'm hoping the same thing," she told him. "Hang on, don't go anywhere, I got a thing for you."

She'd been planning on giving it to him later, maybe both of them at the same time over the weekend or something. But it was exactly the right moment now and she wasn't gonna argue with that.

Kathy was back a second later, towel off her hair and fingers curved around something. She offered it to him, a little bit of metal on a chain. "Seems only fair that you should have one for here, too," she said. "No reason you should be knocking when you're always welcome."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante took it, the cold metal pressing into his palm. He smiled down at it.

"Thanks," he said softly.

He looked back up, and something impish had snuck in his expression. "Gonna make it a lot easier to surprise you with crap."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy chuckled. "The optimist in my hopes for something pretty and sweet and maybe a little romantic," she told him. "The realist knows to expect something weird and probably accompanied by pizza."

She said like her back back at his place wasn't the most romantic thing in the world.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Maybe I'm just gonna leave a dildo sitting like, right there on the kitchen table," Dante joked. "Who knows?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you leave it on a chair, you'll have a better chance of catching me riding it," she teased right back.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Just kinda tape it to the seat?" Dante said. "Living dangerously."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh my gooooooood," Kathy groaned, letting her head flop forward onto his chest dramatically. "How do you have a girlfriend who owns a sex shop and still not know about suction-based dildos?"

She even had a whole fantasy and--right. That one hadn't actually ever made it out of her mouth because it was still a little too...much...even when they were in that place they reached sometimes.

[rebelseekspizza]

"You obviously don't let me test enough of the merchandise," Dante said practically.

Or smirkily. One of those two.

[spin_kick_snap]

Definitely smirkily. Kathy didn't even need to see his face.

Although now they were switching positions in that fantasy and - hnngh. Okay, yeah, that was hot. Hot enough to have her shifting slightly in his lap.

"Be less hot," she told him in an attempt to think about not that. "So I have more reason to play with toys with you, rather than just jumping on you first thing."