fandomtownies | Outside the Ruins of Pizza Planet, Sunday Morning

That stopped the laughter, replacing it with a look of surprise. "I--"

What was with all these people and their obsession with hugs?

She swallowed hard. Looked away. And quietly mumbled, "Okay."

Hey, now. Dante wasn't usually the hugs guy. Not at all.

But reality had gotten too shitty for him to ignore the urge. (He'd blame Alluka if asked.)

He sighed, taking a couple of steps closer. "C'mon," he said, and reached to draw her in.

"Okay,"Kathy said again. "Okay." She stumbled the last few steps, not because of her legs but because of the emotions she was struggling with. And then she was in his arms and hers were wrapping around him and--

It wasn't the same. But it was close.

Hugging really didn't come naturally to Dante, but once she was in his arms, he was fine. He sighed, wrapping his arms around her more tightly.

She wasn't the girl who'd abandoned him. If she had been, maybe he couldn't have convinced himself to do this.

But she was Kathy, and for a moment emotion pulled tight in his chest too.

This felt so good. This felt too good. The walls and defenses that had been cracking under the weight of everyone's damn caring this past week gave a great shudder and fell away, leaving her hear vulnerable and hurting. She gave a deep, shuddery inhale, managing not to cry only because she remembered how bad Dante was at dealing with that.

"Everything is so fucking broken," she mumbled into him. "And I don't know how to fix it."

She didn't really mean Fandom.

Yeah. Well.

Fixing that kind of thing wasn't really what Dante was good at. The heavy weight of despair around here made him want to try, though, which weirded him the hell out.

"They're making headway in town, I guess," he said, "If that's what you mean."

It wasn't, but if it helped him to think so...

"Been awhile since I fought something," she said. "And was any good at it. Probably best to leave it to the people who aren't s rusty."

It wasn't so much that it helped him to think so, as that he just didn't know any better.

"Not gonna argue with you staying safe," Dante decided, taking a deep breath. "Sorry."

"I learned that lesson the hard way," she said. "It's gonna stick with me awhile."

She almost mentioned that it was him on the front lines these days but...no. Dante had gone out of his way not to let his counterpart know who he was and Kathy wasn't going to gainsay him.

"Does it bother you?" she asked. "Seeing me?"

"Little bit," Dante admitted quietly. "Good to see you too, though."

Especially because he didn't have to be angry at this Kathy.

"I know the feeling," Kathy said, at last stepping back. But not far. Her eyes were still greedily drinking in his face and she didn't want to be too far away. "Will it help, you think? If you said all the things to me you want to say to her?"

She'd let him. If it would help.

"I don't think so," Dante said quietly. "You're not the girl who spat in our faces when we tried to save you, and left Anders in shambles--"

He cut himself off. Didn't matter.

"...was there something you wanted to tell other me?"

"Only about a million things," she said. "But most of it will just confuse you anyway. And I still have the chance to say things to him." If she worked up the guts. "You don't. I might be the closest you get."

"If you are, then it doesn't matter," Dante pointed out. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "You know, I think last month's the first time Anders smiled and I believed it. He's getting better."

Kathy had to close her eyes at that. That hurt to hear. That might not be her Anders and their actual relationship was complicated to all hell, but--it still hurt. This was why she'd wanted her walls; because then it didn't hurt so much realizing she couldn't think of the last time 'her' Anders had smiled, either.

"Do you hate her?" she asked quietly. "I'd hate anyone who'd hurt him like that."

"No, I don't hate her."

Fuck. Realizing that much just made him feel tired.

"But do I still want to smack her? Yeah."

"Believe me," she said with a short laugh, "I know the feeling."

Some days she itched to slap that mask right off of him. Or Anders, when Justice was looking out of his eyes and--ugh.

"I thought you two were gonna get an apartment and you were gonna go to college," Dante said. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "It'd be fine, you know? Good."

Kathy nodded, willing to listen to Dante talk. Hell, enjoying hearing Dante talk. She was hungry for this, she realized. Just conversation between them that wasn't fraught by might-have-beens and bitterness and angst. "He was going to follow me out to California?" she asked, more to urge Dante to keep going than because she doubted the answer.

"I think he was gonna when he graduated," Dante said, "Not sure if he was sure of it, but he really fucking loved you, Kat."

Fucking hell, he was gonna break his own heart here.

"Yeah," Kathy said. "He did."

Past tense for her. For both of her, really.

"I really love him, too."

Present.

"Yeah," Dante said.

He sucked in a loud breath of air. "You and him here...?"

She shook her head. "No. None of us are exactly...close anymore. Most days, we wind up avoiding one another. When we do meet up, we fight. It's the same old fight, too."

She was bitter, Anders had Justice, and Dante refused to get close to anyone. They went round in circles, playing it out a hundred times over.

"Have you met him, here? He's...different. Went home. Made some bad choices. Came back changed."

Dante shook his head. "I've been busy keeping an eye on my own Anders," he admitted. "Haven't gone out to find the other one."

"Good," Kathy said. "That's good. Not that I have a right to tell either of you what's best," she added, her grin growing wry and self-mocking. "But I'm glad you two have each other....'s backs."

That last bit had been tacked on belatedly, after she realized that Dante might not appreciate the alternate phrasing.

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