Room 322, Tuesday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

If Anders was being honest, he'd have to admit that the tall box from Kathy that Ringo had given him some months before had fallen completely out of his mind.

It had started with good intentions: He'd dragged the parcel back to his room and stuck it in the closet so he could save it for his actual birthday and feel like Kathy was there, just for a moment. And then there had been the madness of trying to summon a demon, and the dull terror of the Circle, and by the time he was home again his birthday was some weeks past and the tall package entirely forgotten in a back corner of his closet. The fact thinking about Kathy hurt and he avoided it when he could had only added to his amnesia.

It might have stayed there forever, if Lachlan hadn't managed to hit one of his toy mice deep into the closet. Anders went digging through a mess of discarded paper to find it, and ended up bumping into the box. The tall, slender package wobbled worryingly for a moment before he was able to catch it.

And then there was nothing to do but open it. Lachlan's mouse was forgotten as he pried the paper off and found --

A damned fine staff. The kind he'd never expect to afford on his own. He could feel its power singing to him as he held it in his lap. Some part of him couldn't wait to get to a space where he could test it safely.

The rest of him mainly wanted to cry.

"Dammit, Kathy," he muttered. "Just ... damn it."

[OOC: Cracked door, open post.]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"Anytime," Anders said, after dropping a little kiss on the top of her head. "I like you terrible and selfish. You know that."

[not_every_mage]

"It is, though," Anders said softly. "Maybe everyplace is like that."

There was a depressing thought.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Probably," Dante said quietly. "Guess I let her get my hopes up about something anyway. Fucking Kathy."

[not_every_mage]

Anders sighed in agreement instead of answering, swaying against Dante.

This was just hard, was what it was. He didn't know what more to say about it.

[rebelseekspizza]

Sometimes there wasn't a whole lot to say. This just hurt. He knew Anders didn't hurt quite the same, but it was close enough.

Dante turned to kiss Anders firmly on the cheek. Brought his hand up to undo Anders' hairtie so he could run a hand through his hair too.

Fuck.

[not_every_mage]

Fuck. This was stupid. But they were better at it than they were at talking about feelings, so ...

Anders turned his mouth to return a warmer kiss, pressing his lips to Dante's.

[rebelseekspizza]

That wasn't what Dante'd been going for. ...Or maybe it had been.

He slid his other arm over Anders' shoulders, too, sighed, and kissed him back. Slow, with no real purpose in mind.

Maybe he was just starting to discover he had a real problem saying no to Anders.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo managed a little smile of appreciation for the sentiment, but forced herself to take a deep breath and shake her head. She was going to be mature about this, dang it! Well. "Mature", anyway. What she understood of the concept, at least.

"I'm sure lots of people didn't get anything from her," she pointed out, as if that made her feel better about it.

[not_every_mage]

Anders would have said he understood, that he knew he was hard to say no to.

He relaxed into the kissing, taking a cue from Anders to keep it slow. Light. Even as he leaned back onto the bed, it was more about comfort than lust.

Probably there were arguments against having this kind of comfortable physical relationship with Dante, especially after the man had made it so clear that he might have to leave someday too. But right then, Anders couldn't think of any.

[not_every_mage]

"But most of them didn't clean out her room," Anders responded. "I'm glad you're taking it well, but..."

But he knew it would hurt.

[rebelseekspizza]

And because it was light, Dante managed the presence of mind required to put the staff down on the floor before it just tumbled right off the bed. He settled over Anders, trying not to break contact for too long. His hand slid up and under Anders' shirt, just... touching.

Sex, distraction and comfort had always had a weird, unhealthy relationship with each other for him anyway; if there were pitfalls there, it didn't even occur to him to think about it.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo managed another wan sort of smile, then nodded firmly. More in an attempt to convince herself than reassure Anders, really.

"As well as I can. I'm trying to be grown-up about it, you know?"

Probably not, Ringo, since you were almost certainly using some weird definition of the term.

Then, more softly. "But, yeah. I miss her."

[not_every_mage]

"We all do," Anders said, equally soft. "Maybe we should ... I don't know. Have some kind of service. It might have been too long."

[soniaroadsqueen]

That idea seemed to surprise Ringo. She blinked, then hummed thoughtfully.

"Um. We never did, did we?" She'd half-convinced herself, for that first month, that Kathy might make it back. "I think. I think maybe we should."

[spin_kick_snap]

Well, she had to return the kisses to his neck. That was just what needed to happen. It took precedence even before answering, laying a tiny trail of sucking kisses around his throat.

"I still want you," she murmured. "And I'm not ready to let go yet. Not of you or what we had."

[not_every_mage]

Anders started and then giggled when the staff hit the ground, then brought his hand up to rest on Dante's back.

After a few moments, his kissing became more intent.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante managed a brief, soft chuckle at that giggle.

Anders was distracting him more fully shortly after, though, and he let his remaining thoughts drift off to the wind. He pulled on the shirt, tried to work it over Anders' head without breaking away too much, his hips pressing down of their own accord.

[not_every_mage]

"I don't even know where to start," Anders admitted, hugging himself (and the staff). "Or what it should be like."

He knew what Andrastian funerals were like. But Kathy wasn't Andrastian.

[not_every_mage]

"Easy," Anders said, pulling back a little. "If I sleep with you here, going back into the real world will kill me."

He wasn't completely certain that wasn't literally true.

[not_every_mage]

Anders' hips rose to meet Dante's, and he moved his arms so his shirt would come the rest of the way off before tugging on Dante's in return. He could never resist skin on skin.

If he was thinking at all, he was thinking that this was probably the best end to his breakdown over Kathy's gift that he could have asked for.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo shook her head, feeling her fingers curl into tight little fists. "Me neither. But, maybe that's okay? It doesn't have to be a big, um, thing, does it?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante smiled faintly to himself as he tossed his shirt aside. And then it wasn't so much smiling to himself anymore as smiling at Anders. "Hey," he said softly, and kissed Anders again, cupping Anders' face with both hands.

[spin_kick_snap]

"If you sleep with me here, maybe it won't be so long until you come back," Kathy said. She drew away herself, pulling her legs back to her chest and inching away slightly. Her eyes were sad, though she kept up a smile. "I miss you."

[not_every_mage]

"Probably shouldn't be," Anders said, body tensing just as Ringo's did. "I don't want a bunch of people who didn't know her at all to come and pretend to be sad."

[not_every_mage]

"Hey back," Anders said, and something about the way Dante was looking at him made his toes curl in happiness. "I think this is making me feel better."