House in Limbo City, Limbo City, Friday

[spin_kick_snap]

With her mom's kimchi recipe now in her possession, Kathy figured she should try to make some. Without a proper kimchi fridge, she couldn't make much, but she figured she could probably get away with one or two jars in the back of the fridge. With her mom's recipe in hand, her children behind her and the gijesa of her whole family on Monday (though her parents got short shrift compared to Sarah), family was kind of on her mind a lot.

Her usual strawberry Yakult had been swapped for banana milk and she had a bowl of injulmi rice balls to snack on when her hands weren't covered with red pepper flakes or salt. She sang as she worked, TARA and BTS and Super Junior blaring from her phone, dancing around the kitchen chopping vegetables, salting water, simmering the glutinous rice powder.

For the first time since she moved in, the house - or, at least, the kitchen - really smelled like home.

[Open for visitors or phone calls or them guys what live here!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"Something smells interesting," Dante said as he followed his nose into the kitchen. "...And someone looks like she's having a good time."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm making kimchi," Kathy said with a grin. "My mom's kimchi which is, obviously, the best kimchi in the whole world. Not to brag or anything."

It just was what it was, you know?

[rebelseekspizza]

"Oh, really?" Dante said. He walked up to the counter, leaning against it as he watched what she was doing. "Couldn't wait another, like, two weeks, huh?"

Sometimes you ordered a 'oh fuck I feel so guilty about what I asked you to do' gift and it took a while.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy, ignorant of any delivery schedules, immediately tried figuring out what was happening in two weeks that she'd need to make kimchi for. "...No?" she said, brows puckering. "But this will be ready in about two weeks if you needed it for something?"

That didn't seem right.

"Did you need the kitchen?"

...That didn't seem right either.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sighed.

He reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone, flicking through a few screens, and then held it up.

... it was a payment confirmation from a company that imported Korean kimchi fridges.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy gasped, looking up at him with sudden happy surprise. "You got me a kimchi fridge?" she asked, not linking it to any guilt or past requests at all. She just figured that he knew she'd wanted one but couldn't justify the cost and had decided to surprise her. "For real?"

[rebelseekspizza]

It was like, 33 percent guilt? 66 percent wanting to see her smile like that.

"I mean, I ordered it weeks ago, it's just taking a while to get here," Dante admitted. "Had been hoping I'd get it to you quick."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, you ordered it from Korea," Kathy said, snagging the phone and going through the specs. "It's got one of the UV rays! And the lactic acid thermometer. And the space for wine bottles on the door!"

Kathy didn't know if she wanted to learn how to make wine and beer in her spare time? But, like, now she could.

"You picked such a good one!" she said, beaming at him.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged helplessly, though he couldn't help but smile along with her. "There's a company that imports them here?" he said. "I just kinda went with what they recommended. But... good."

[spin_kick_snap]

"And here I was, purposefully cutting the recipe down by half so I wouldn't take up too much fridge space," Kathy said, leaning over to give him a hug. "Which also means that there's more room for pizza, which I'm sure didn't factor into your decision at all."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Maybe a little bit," Dante said, laughing. He wrapped his arms around her. "But fuck, if I can buy a smile that big with a fridge..."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm a girl of very simple needs," Kathy giggled. "Crazy amounts of sex and weird Asian appliances and I'm good."

She pulled his face down for a kiss. "Thank you."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You're welcome," Dante said, grinning. "Kinda wish I hadn't spoiled the surprise, but eh."

He kissed her again. Kinda had to.

[smilestopscars]

The past three days had been something of a whirlwind, and one of Ezra's own design. He'd needed to shake off the weekend and so he'd thrown himself into other things, starting with his usual class on Tuesday and leading up to some random college party last night.

But now it was Friday, and he was at home, and...

It was probably time to check in with someone. So Kathy's phone was ringing.

[spin_kick_snap]

Girl Generation was interrupted by Babymetal's Megitsune, which could mean only one thing.

"Hi Ez," Kathy said, holding her phone between her ear and shoulder as she rinsed the salt off her hands. It wasn't her usual energetic and enthusiastic greeting, but still warm and fond for all that it was a bit more subdued.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra was honestly not expecting anything particularly bubbly.

In fact, his own greeting didn't fare much better in not sounding subdued. "Hello, darling. Did I interrupt anything?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Just making kimchi," Kathy said, though she couldn't help but audibly smile a bit at that. She'd honestly never expected to get her hands on her mom's recipe and yet, here it was. "Do you think Lock would like some? I'd offer it to you, but it's both vegetables and requires waiting for two weeks before it's ready to be eaten."

[smilestopscars]

"I'm sure he would love it." Ezra himself, probably, too. But he couldn't say that and risk his reputation as a person who found vegetable suspicious. Or, indeed, as an impatient person.

Anyway, he was smiling the tiniest bit. "Might even call it worth the wait."

[spin_kick_snap]

And, if she gave it to Lock, Ez would be able to steal some, which was his favorite way of eating.

"Then I'll bring a jar next time I come by to visit," Kathy said. "And pray that it came out okay, since this is my first time making it by myself."

[smilestopscars]

"It's bound to be good, cupcake." If for nothing else then just for how much care and effort he knew she put into these things. "And if not, well, maybe Lock needs a little excitement in his life."

He did not.

[spin_kick_snap]

"True," Kathy nodded solemnly. "I can't imagine what else Lock could have going on. Saved by homemade kimchi, hope his spice tolerance is decent."

She said, looking at the amount of gochujang she was adding to the mix.

"So, what's up? I'm guessing you didn't intuit I was making food and decide to call and lay claim to some."

It wasn't so much that she couldn't imagine why he'd be calling so much as there were any number of subjects he could be wanting to broach she was at a loss just choosing one.

[smilestopscars]

"I'm checking in," Ezra replied, after a little pause to decide what he actually wanted to say. His voice was on the soft side, but still pretty light. "Would hate for it to seem like I was running away again."

There was a fair bit to run away from, after all.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Taking time to deal and decompress isn't running away," Kathy said softly. "And you've had a lot of shit to deal with recently."

[smilestopscars]

The noise Ezra made was kind of dry and rough, but amused all the same. "Just let me atone for past sins, darling," he told her, gently. "I'm just saying."

He worried, a lot, about looking like he wasn't trying to be better.

[spin_kick_snap]

But he was being better. And Kathy wanted him to know that she noticed. He'd earned back the benefit of the doubt at the very least.

Kathy hopped up onto the counter and smiled, a little rueful. "I appreciate the call," she admitted. "This weekend was rough. I felt pretty bruised coming out of it and I'm pretty sure I got off relatively easy."