Chez Dante & Anders, Limbo City, Monday Morning

[not_every_mage]

After two weeks of luxury, coming home felt strange. On the one hand, having to pick his own socks off the floor and pour his own cereal into the bowl felt even more burdensome than usual.

On the other ... it was nice not to have to worry about getting hauled into whimsical alien jail if the person he had been mistaken for showed up. That made up for a lot of annoying daily chores.

He'd done some laundry that morning, with only a few giant sighs along the way, and lugged the basket into the living room to fold while he watched some soothing TV. The first channel he turned on was showing a special about imaginary animals, which was enough to have him sighing at the screen even more loudly.

"Why is everything mythical here?" he asked thin air. "It's probably for the good of everyone they don't have to worry about dragons, but they should at least have a few phoenix or deepstalkers somewhere."

[OOC: Open for calls, the housemate, etc.]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snickered. "What, like a gift?" he said. "Are we gonna have it stuffed and put it up above the fireplace?"

They did not, it had to be pointed out, have a fireplace.

[not_every_mage]

"I was thinking more like a hat," Anders deadpanned. "You know, with the legs draped over your neck down to your shoulders."

They didn't have a fireplace, but Dante had a head!

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sounds hot," Dante said, stretching his legs out, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

It sucked not having Kathy here. But it still felt good to be home.

[not_every_mage]

"I'd be all over you," Anders said, and gave him an exaggerated wink. "There's something about a man willing to wear arachnids."

[rebelseekspizza]

"It's all the legs, isn't it?" Dante joked easily.

[not_every_mage]

"And the eyes," Anders added, neatly adding the folded shirt to a stack and reaching for another. "All shiny and poisonous and ... dead. Perfect to set off your features."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snickered softly, leaning over to press a kiss against his cheek. "Having fun with the laundry, your Excellency?"

[not_every_mage]

"Not in the least," Anders said, and would have frowned at the thought if the kiss hadn't been so pleasantly distracting. "I forgot how annoying it is to have to take care of yourself. It's going to take a while to get used to again."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I knew it," Dante said, leaning back. There was amusement clear in his expression. "You're a princess at heart."

[not_every_mage]

"And the sad thing is, I can't even argue with that," Anders sighed. "I never thought I needed to be spoiled until it happened."

Blondie traipsed into the room and made little mrowling noises as she pawed some of the socks into a nest, and Anders looked at her wryly.

"Now, if you want to talk about princesses...."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante looked over there, and let out a soft laugh. "True," he said. "Fuck, I missed seeing that."

[not_every_mage]

"Me too." Anders ran his knuckles over Blondie's head. "It seems like the kennel took good care of her and Lachlan, at least, but it's not the same."

[rebelseekspizza]

"It's been weeks since we spent a lot of time with them," Dante said quietly. "Is it, like, wrong I'm looking forward to us spending some time here with our stupid fucking cats? While Kathy's over there?"

He loved being with Kathy. Seriously. But being somewhere he felt like he was supposed to be? That gave him a calm he didn't have anywhere else.

[not_every_mage]

"If it's wrong I'm wrong too," Anders said quietly, relieved to hear Dante give his own inner thoughts a voice. "It feels like we didn't stop moving for two months. I'm almost afraid to think it's over now because it might bring the next thing down."

It wasn't that he didn't want to be with Kathy, because he did. But the feeling of home that he got from Dante, the cats and, Maker help him, even the pile of laundry was somehow comforting.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante nodded. He let out a deep sigh. "I just want us to work on life for a little bit," he said. "Finish making this place home."

[not_every_mage]

"Get settled in at the clinic," Anders agreed. "Maybe you could figure out something to do besides punching demons, if you wanted."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I dunno," Dante said, shrugging one shoulder. "I'm pretty good at punching demons."

[not_every_mage]

"Doesn't seem like a job choice with much of a future, though," Anders mused idly. "Lousy pay. No retirement plan."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I got paid for it once before," Dante said, stretching his arms back. "I was thinking maybe I should set up shop, see who comes in."

[not_every_mage]

“You’d be good at that,” Anders said, going a shade more serious. “And Maker knows, there’s got to be a market for it here.”

[rebelseekspizza]

"Not that I'm going to stop just helping people, but there's got to be rich desperate assholes out there who want their factories cleaned out of demons, right?" Dante asked.

[not_every_mage]

"No shame in charging the people who can afford it," Anders agreed. "Especially if they'd have to shut down the factories otherwise."

[rebelseekspizza]

"So there we go," Dante said easily. "Punching demons is gonna be my profession." A beat. "You been thinking about this for you?"

[not_every_mage]

"A bit," Anders said vaguely. He'd turned back to the laundry, and was working on it as he spoke. "It's hard, though, because what I like is healing, and I don't want to be in school for the next thousand years to be a doctor. Besides, I want to be able to help you punch demons, and I don't think med school is very good for that."

He gave Dante a speculative look. "I have an idea, but promise not to laugh?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Cross my heart," Dante said easily. "Why?"