The Parking Lot, Wednesday Afternoon

[rebelseekspizza]

Roadtrip time next week. It was an exciting prospect, but it did mean one thing: Dante leaving his bike behind on Fandom for a while, so they could rent a car that would (hopefully) not inspire Anders to vomit.

So... he was giving it a little quality time. It'd earned it. And the dust and the mud that'd settled on it over the past week? Dante couldn't let that slide. And...

... okay, cleaning the damn thing was therapeutic, too. With all the Kathy shit and everything of the past few weeks, Dante needed something to channel himself into. He kneeled down by the side of the bike, patted it on the side-panel, and dragged the rag over it again. "Sometimes life's easier when it's just you and me," he told it softly, lovingly.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

Dante's phone failed to respect his special time with his bike as it beeped with a text from Anders.

am on lunch break, want to eat together?

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sighed, sitting up when he felt his phone buzz. He pulled it out of his pocket and squinted at it.

... fine, he could get back to the bike later.

sure chinese r pizza

Presumably there were also other takeout options, but Dante was choosing not to think about them.

[not_every_mage]

pizza's fine, Anders returned. He wasn't particularly bothered either way, and he knew where Dante's heart was. where r u?

(So maybe he wanted to have some time checking in with Dante, too.)

[rebelseekspizza]

lookin after the bike, Dante texted, patting the saddle after he was done. (It was soothing, okay.) at lot

[not_every_mage]

should've guessed you'd want some time with your girl, Anders typed back, amused. see you soon.

Some 20 minutes passed before he was walking into the lot with a fresh pizza balanced on one hand, a bag of sodas and napkins danging from the crook of an elbow, and a blanket for them to sit on while they ate rolled under one arm. He'd borrowed the red fleece from the shelter supply room; he hoped Dante wasn't wearing anything he minded getting fur on.

"Hello," he called. "Behold, food."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Huh," Dante said, taking in the pizza, the sodas, the blanket and the napkins. "Someone did not feel like phoning in lunch today."

[not_every_mage]

Anders rolled his eyes, though he couldn't hide that the comment pleased him. "Just because I don't want to sit on gravel and sip water out of rain puddles doesn't make this gourmet."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Coulda walked back and sat on the fence or something," Dante said, but it wasn't really a criticism.

He walked over to free Anders of the fleece. "Let me get that."

[not_every_mage]

"Oh, now who's fussy," Anders said, but let Dante take the blanket. "I hope you don't mind a little dog drool. I had to borrow it from the storage closet."

[rebelseekspizza]

"As long as we're not putting it on my bike, I'm good," Dante said.

He took a few steps, picking a spot on the gravel that had enough space and didn't look like anyone was going to drive over it anywhere soon. Then he spread it out across the ground. "So what's up?"

[not_every_mage]

"Not much. I was at work," Anders said, as he opened the sodas and passed one to Dante. "We should've thought to send the girls home with kittens, but I guess that's a missed opportunity."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Oh please, like those kids don't have three already," Dante said, laughing. "If you didn't give 'em any, they probably sassed their way into kittens."

[not_every_mage]

"And you're saying there's such a thing as enough kittens?" Anders wondered, with a laugh. "It's like you can't even imagine me as a dad."

Not that he could imagine himself as a dad, either, but he was fairly sure it would involve giving the kids plenty of kittens.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy hadn't meant to intrude on Dante's bike time, she really hadn't. But the island had started feeling confining again, so she'd headed over to Baltimore to for the morning.

She'd crossed the Causeway singing some forgettable pop song someone had used as a ringtone, not noticing Dante until she was practically on top of him. "Oh shit! Dante!" A+ friendly greeting there, Kathy. "I mean, hi. Sorry, you kind of startled me."

But she hadn't immediately clacked her teeth at him, so...progress?

[rebelseekspizza]

"By standing still?" Dante asked.

Though he'd shifted out of the way just so when she'd come near, so it wasn't like she'd done any harm.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I didn't realize anyone was out here," she admitted. "And I was kind of off in my own thoughts."

Trying to remember all the words to a song that had come out just before she'd died. It was weird how certain things stayed with you, like the memory of Nick's last assignment with the agency before he'd quit to take on zombies full-time. It had been soothing the ego of a young popstar who was upset her interview had gotten canceled to promote her new single. The single had been released about three days before the popstar had gotten bit by a fan and here Kathy was singing it, knowing she'd released two others over the year.

Nothing earth-shattering about her thoughts, but still weird.

"Wasn't paying attention. Sorry."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shook his head, let out a snort, and poked her gently in the forehead. "So now what's going on in there?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Lots of stuff," she said with a shrug, because why should today be any different. "The weekend, the kids, all that stuff. Tonight's 'meet the family' with Eliot and I'm worried about that. The way life goes on in one place when it doesn't in others. Typical stuff, you know?"

She gave him a wry grin at that. She knew what was going on in her head was hardly typical.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I dunno," Dante said, tilting his head. "Not really the kind of shit I worry about."

But then he didn't worry all that much.

[spin_kick_snap]

"What do you worry about?" she teased. "Beyond whether or not it's possible to eat all the world's supply of strawberries in one sitting?"

Honestly, she could name five things that Dante worried about with ease but it was a gorgeous day and Dante was working on his bike. Why infect him with her brooding melancholy?

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sometimes I worry about how much booze I can drink before I fall over," Dante said easily, watching her. "Weekend throw you for a loop?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Couple times over," Kathy admitted. "In several different ways."

So between that and tonight and her talk with Ringo yesterday, Kathy was a little emotionally wiped.

"You're good though, right?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm fine," Dante agreed. "Just getting things ready before the trip."

He patted the bike. "Wanna go for a ride?"

That might get her head out of the clouds.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I--really?"

She needed to stop doing that, stop checking to make sure Dante really meant it when he did something or offered something. But since she was never a hundred percent sure where she stood with him, it was habit.

"I mean, yeah. Sure, okay."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah, really," Dante said, rolling his eyes. "You used to calm your brain when you got moving. I figure that hasn't changed, right?"