33 Apocalypse Ave., Friday Evening

[not_every_mage]

Anders was doing his best to be stealthy as he crept down the sidewalk toward the house. He was almost disappointed that nothing had changed in the last few days -- somehow he wanted the island to look different, now that he didn't live here.

Of course, he thought, he might notice more changes if he stayed away for more than a few days at a time.

He paused at the edge of the yard and eyed the house. "I don't see any lights on," he whispered to Dante. "Do you think she's home?"

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"Maybe she's already moved to the apartment...?" Dante whispered back, huddling close. "Shit."

[not_every_mage]

"She found one?" Anders whispered back. "I wasn't sure how serious she was about that."


He shrugged. "Worst case, we're looking like idiots in front of an empty house. Unless Raven's around."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I think Raven mostly sleeps in the woods," Dante posited. "Think we're good being idiots."

He walked up to the door and knocked.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy honestly expected it to be the delivery rickshaw for her enormous order from Il Pollo. If she'd known the guys were coming out tonight, she would have worn something a little more flattering. Instead, she answered the door with hair in a messy bun, wearing one of Dante's old t-shirts and a pair of Anders' old sweatpants, with a light blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Look, she'd been watching K-dramas and bingeing on wine and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. She hadn't been expecting company.

"...Guys?" she asked, blinking at them both for a second in shock.

And chagrin. Because of course they'd find her like this, disheveled and ridiculous.

[not_every_mage]

"Hi," Anders said, casual as could be. "We were in the neighborhood, thought we'd drop in."

[rebelseekspizza]

Fuck, it was good to see her. Dante grinned.

"And we're starving," he joked.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy didn't bother responding to their quips. She was too busy throwing herself at them both, arms wide and demanding a kiss. From each of them. Or many kisses. Something like that.

"Oh my god, I missed you both so much!"

[not_every_mage]

"We missed you," Anders returned, pressing kisses to her face just as eagerly. "Couldn't stand a weekend without our favorite girl."

[rebelseekspizza]

Kathy's face was in use. Dante'd just have to settle for kissing her neck and her jaw. "It was fucking tragic."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy pulled Anders in for a deep, hello, I-missed-you-like-crazy kiss, cupping his face with her hands so he wouldn't be able to move until she'd kissed the breath out of him. And then she was turning slightly to deliver the same to Dante, nipping his bottom lip before she finally pulled away.

"I didn't think you'd be willing to come back this soon!"

[not_every_mage]

"You underestimated us," Anders said, and nipped at Kathy's earlobe before stepping back. "Hope you don't mind us surprising you, but we wanted to see the look on your face."

[rebelseekspizza]

"So..." Dante leaned back, grinning at her. "Pizza?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I already ordered Italian," Kathy informed him, hands on her hips. "Though I supposed there might be enough to share since I have two wayward, hungry guys on my doorstep."

She moved back inside, mostly because she wasn't done kissing their faces but figured it would be better to not do that out on the street. "Come inside and tell me all about your first week. And how much you missed me."

They were free to focus on that bit, if they liked. It had been a long, cold, lonely four nights of sleeping by herself.

[not_every_mage]

"We did nothing," Anders said, stepping past her and plopping onto the couch. "Unpacked more boxes. Bought groceries so we'd at least try to eat something that wasn't pizza once in a while. I spent some time at Magic Box checking in on the new staff."

[rebelseekspizza]

"And we caught up on shitty Limbo City TV," Dante informed her, kicking the door shut behind them. "Very important."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I spent a fair bit of time catching up on K-dramas and telenovellas," Kathy admitted, catching their hands in hers and leading them into the living room. "Both of which are great when your brain just doesn't wanna do anything."

Like, say, because you were missing your boyfriends something fierce and sad about being apart from them.

...Not that anything about the ice cream, wine, and sweatpants gave that away at all.

[not_every_mage]

"Were you sad without us?" Anders asked, making puppy eyes at her. "Because we were sad without you."

[rebelseekspizza]

"How about we don't talk about that and just go on to not be sad around each other already?" Dante said, giving her hand a squeeze.

[spin_kick_snap]

Saved from the devastating effect of Anders' puppy eyes. Kathy squeezed Dante's hand in appreciation. "I like that idea," she said, more than happy to skip over a week of sad and lonely. "You're here now. That's what matters."

[not_every_mage]

"That's probably a better idea," Anders agreed, relenting on the puppy eyes. "Skip the depressing recaps, just unwind with -- what's the K-drama about this time, Kath?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Somebody's in love with somebody else but they can't be together because reasons?" Dante asked. Said. One of those things.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not every K-drama is like that," Kathy retorted, her nose in the air.

Beat.

"But this one is, yeah. This elite general from the 1300s travels to the present day to find a doctor who can heal the empress after her throat is slit, but accidentally kidnaps a plastic surgeon instead."

Beat.

"It's better than it sounds, shut up."

[not_every_mage]

"I'm shut," Anders told her. "So are the plastic surgeon and the general in love yet, or does she have a boring but appropriate fiance she's loyal to?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"And is he hot?" Dante asked, collapsing backwards onto the sofa.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had her hands up over her face and was laughing hard enough to turn her cheeks red. Called out. It's possible she'd watched a few too many of these when they were around.

"General is super-hot," she giggled. "Same guy who was in a bunch of the dramas I've watched recently. And yeah, she still has a fiance, but he kept negging her about giving up her career, so his days are numbered anyway. We'll see if he ends up back in time, too."

He was totally going to end up back in time. These shows were trope-tastic.

[not_every_mage]

"They always end up back in time," Anders said, plopping down next to Dante. "How else is he going to fight the general over her?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Oh man, there's going to be like, tons of close-up shots of them glowering at each other, right?" Dante said, immediately plastering himself to Anders' side.

[spin_kick_snap]

And Kathy was just going to drape herself over both of them and snuggle in close because she couldn't possibly get enough of either.

"I'm about to revoke your K-drama watching privileges if you don't stop making fun," she threatened. "Lee Min Ho is prettier than both of you anyway."

That wasn't even slightly true. Dammit.

[not_every_mage]

"But Lee Min Ho isn't snuggling with you on the couch tonight," Anders said, nuzzling into her hair. "So until he flies over from Seoul, you're stuck with us."

[rebelseekspizza]

"And he might be a shitty snuggler," Dante said, his hands sliding over her legs and then up to her hips.

[spin_kick_snap]

"There is no way a guy that perfect is shitty at snuggling," Kathy declared, her head cushioned against Anders' shoulder and running her nails down the back of Dante's neck. Oh god, she'd just missed touching them; missed reaching out and knowing one of them was right there. "How dare you sass my Hallyu boyfriend."

She never wanted to let them go.

[not_every_mage]

"Remind me what hallyu is," Anders requested, and the angle of Kathy's head gave him a perfect opportunity to twine fingers through her hair. "And you cannot tell if someone's a good snuggler just from watching him on TV, anyhow. You have to get in there and snuggle them."

Like he was doing right then. He was clever like that.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Something something Korean TV, right?" Dante asked, his fingers drawing idle patterns on Kathy's leg.

[spin_kick_snap]

"The Korean Wave," Kathy said, grinning. "The spread of our culture to the rest of you heathens. Mostly through our superior music and TV shows. And our food. Soon we're going to own your souls through kimchi and barbeque."

[not_every_mage]

"I'd be scared if you weren't all so damned good-looking," Anders laughed. "If we have to have overlords, they may as well be pretty."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Next thing we know, we're gonna be in Hot Korean Jail," Dante said, making big eyes at Anders.

[spin_kick_snap]

"For daring to sass the snuggling abilities High Lord Le Min Ho, it's the least you deserve," Kathy informed them. "But hey, your jail food is gonna be amazing."

[not_every_mage]

"Then I'll have to get arrested sometime just to see for myself," Anders said, and glanced at Kathy. "How long has it been since you went there, anyhow?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Trying to add another stop to our world travel plans?" Dante teased gently.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Korea?" Kathy asked. "Ummm...not counting an hour trip as part of Eliot's class, I haven't been back since I was a kid. We used to go every summer, but then Dad lost his job in...sixth grade, I think? And I haven't been back since."

[not_every_mage]

"In that case," Anders said seriously, "I am indeed trying to add another stop to our world travel plans."

[rebelseekspizza]

"We need to buy a world map," Dante opined. "Stick a bunch of pins into places we wanna ago."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had been planning to give Anders a kiss for the suggestion anyway, but it was the seriousness of his tone that turned it into a real kiss, her hands holding him close. "I would love to revisit Korea with you guys," she said when she pulled away and including Dante in her smile. "I won't even insist you learn the language first."

You know. Unless they wanted to.

[not_every_mage]

"I'll make sure I can at least say 'where's the bathroom' and 'sorry for stepping on your foot,'" Anders promised, laughing a little as his cheeks flushed from the kiss. "I don't want to embarrass you too much."