The Luckiest Girl In The World

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

From:

"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?

From:

"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.

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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?"

From:

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."

From:

"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.

From:

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."

From:

"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."

From:

"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..."

From:

"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."

From:

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

He kissed her again. Kinda had to.

From:

Kathy wasn't complaining. She was happy to kiss him back for as long as she had breath.

"I promise to be this excited when it arrives," she said, leaning against his chest, one foot popped in the air.

From:

"You better," Dante murmured, "Or my ego's gonna get bruised."

He slid his hand up along her back. "So... you wanna have that conversation we talked about, or should we wait?"

From:

"Oh!" Yeah, Kathy had been trying to come up with a number of subtle ways to bring it up, and then subsequently talked herself out of each of them because any number of 'what ifs'?

"I'd like to," she said, taking a deep breath. "I'd like to a lot. You mind if I keep working on this, though?"

It would give her something to fiddle with while they talked.

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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?"

From:

"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."

From:

"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."

From:

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."

From:

"It's fine," Dante said, mouth curving. "Do what you need to do."

From:

"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.

From: