The House In Limbo City, Limbo City, Wednesday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

It had been ten days since the kids had left and Kathy was mostly back to normal. The fact that it was the end of the semester had probably helped a bit in that regard - it was possible to be maudlin and to study your ass off, but it took a lot more energy than Kathy really had to spare.

Her immediate plans for the evening - more studying, finals started on Monday - had been immediately derailed when Dante had declared it a night off, carrying her downstairs to a pillow pile, made from what looked to be every pillow in the damn house. As if that wasn't dirty enough, he plied her with a mixing bowl full of ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel sauce, a similar-sized sundae for him on the other side of the nest.

Ice cream, blankets, pillows, and boyfriend. The perfect recipe to get rid of post-kid and pre-finals blues.


[Dante modded with permission!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey now," Kathy said, with another quick kiss to his shoulder. "I think wings are sexy enough that I'm not specifically of your mom right now. Just your matrilineal heritage."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante chuckled softly. "Okay, okay," he said. "Guess I can't put up a fight against something you think makes me hotter, right?"

He really did think it was sweet.

[spin_kick_snap]

"That's right," Kathy told him, shading the wings a bit. The feathers were outlined in black, but then she overlaid silver, causing them to shimmer a bit. Row after row to decorate his back from shoulders down to his waist and angling down towards his sides.

One wing done, she grabbed the black again, drawing a sinuous line down his spine. Yep, definitely going for a dragon on the front.

"Does that mean that I should start telling you 'I swear, this will make you hotter' every time I don't want to have an argument?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante chuckled again. The markers were cold against his back, but he liked the attention she was pouring into it; made him aware of every inch of his skin back there.

"I mean, you can try," he said, "But it's gonna start sounding like an insult."

[spin_kick_snap]

"We'd both know I was lying anyway." The tail drawn, time to start outlining the scales and then filling them in with the metallic gold marker. "Sexy wings aside, I'm not sure I could think of something that could actually make you hotter."

[rebelseekspizza]

"See, that's better," Dante said, grinning against his arm. "Mm. This is actually kinda nice."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I like it too," Kathy said. "It's soothing. Reminds me of that time in my room. God, if i hadn't been so stubbornly refusing to even consider it, I probably would have fallen in love you with right there."

[rebelseekspizza]

"That was a nice day," Dante murmured.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It was," Kathy murmured. "Quiet and gentle and soft. Hadn't really fully understood that you could be those things until then."

She hadn't realized it, but that was when it all had started. Meredith's death, Josh's descent into...not quite insanity but something. All of it leading up to her eventual death and zombification.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Didn't exactly spend a lot of time being those things before then, either," Dante said quietly. "Fandom was... good. For me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"For me, too," Kathy said. "Above and beyond giving me the chance to meet you. But I like who I am. Started liking who I was back then, too. And that was the first time that was true."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't say shit that makes me want to kiss you," Dante said, grinning. "Might fuck up my back."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Just give me enough warning to cap the marker and you can kiss me whenever you want," Kathy said.

Because she would be an idiot to let her pretty drawings interfere with Dante-kisses.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Okay, then you better cap that marker," Dante said, smirking. "Dirty kinda."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't I usually trust you to cap my marker?" Kathy asked, not sure what that would actually be a euphemism for, but rolling with it anyway.

While ostentatiously capping said marker.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed, turning around. He reached for her cheek and immediately pulled her into a kiss.

[spin_kick_snap]

And Kathy went, arms wrapping around him, mouth soft and opening beneath his.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante lingered in the kiss for a little bit. "You are," he murmured, "So fucking worth liking."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy didn't know how to respond to that. Thank you just seemed so inadequate. So she kissed him again, letting herself fall against his chest. "So long as you know it's true for you, too," she whispered.

[rebelseekspizza]

"You don't let me forget it," Dante teased, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Thanks."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not enough people told you that for about eight years there," Kathy told him. "I'm making sure you're aware."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante smiled.

He didn't say anything, but he kissed the tip of her nose. Gently.

[spin_kick_snap]

And, well...she just liked him. She liked spending time with him, he made her laugh and smile and relax in ways that few others could.

So she took opportunities to tell him that she liked him. That he was likable. Not just sexy or good at fucking or useful. But likeable.

She giggled at his kiss and stole one in return. "You want me to continue on your chest now?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed. "Oh, you getting ambitious on me?" he teased. "Isn't there a show on body art you should be on?"

[spin_kick_snap]

His back was maybe half-done at best, but the outline was there at least. "Pretty sure we watched that the summer I came back," she said, amused. "I don't know if I can make you disappear though."