fandomhighdorms | The Roof, Monday Afternoon

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The Roof, Monday Afternoon

Kate had only returned to Fandom about an hour or so ago. She'd offered to stay in Kansas, to help, but then she'd been asked "What with?" and she hadn't been able to come up with any real answer, so they'd sent her off, and she'd grabbed a portal back. She'd soon realized she didn't want to stay cooped up in her room, so she'd just dumped her bags there and headed up.

And now Kate was on the roof.

It probably didn't seem like much of a momentous occasion to anyone else, but it kind of was one for her. She didn't even care that the weather was much, much chillier than it had been back home. She had her monkey hat and her golden jacket on, and she was good, just leaning against the railing, looking out over the island.

Everything felt calm. She felt weird, but it wasn't really a bad weird. She just felt like the world had shifted somehow, just a subtle little bit. Something had fallen into place and she could really breathe again for the first time in months. That seemed liberating and totally fucked up all at the same time.

It almost made her smile.

[ooc: It doesn't get much more open than the roof.]

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Nathan had been in some kind of mood since...last week (and when he realized it had been that long, he'd hate himself) so it hadn't been odd for him to head to the roof to both get some air and get some fucking distance.

Finding Kate of all people on the roof was a bit of a surprise and Nathan maybe looked momentarily taken aback before getting all that under control and lighting his cigarette while he looked over at her curiously.

Kate immediately knew someone else was on the roof with her, but she took a moment before she finally turned halfway around, one arm still on the railing, to see who it was.

Recognizing Nathan, she quirked a faint half smile at him. "Hello, Nathaniel."

"Yeah, it's Nathan," he said automatically, shaking his head. "What is it with blondes and not getting my name right? Did you two have a secret meeting or some shit just to come up with alternate names for me? I'm flattered, I am."

"Please, I don't have secret meetings with anyone," Kate replied lightly. "I remember your name, I just like to mix things up."

Nathan rolled his eyes and wandered closer to the edge of the roof so he could hop up on it and then stand up, blowing a smoke circle up into the air as he did.

"What the fuck are you doing up here anyway?" Nathan asked, glancing down at her. "Isn't this a no no zone? Weren't you afraid of getting herpes or chlamydia or something if you came up past the fifth floor?"

"Well, things change," she replied easily, shrugging a shoulder and glancing out over the town again. "Besides, who could resist coming up here on such a lovely day as this?"

That last bit was sarcastic, obviously.

"Right," Nathan said, shaking his head and tucking his hands into the pockets of his hoodie to keep them warm while he puffed away on that cigarette. He wasn't sure if she was being serious about that whole changing thing or if she was attempting to be deep and existential now that she was some kept woman.

"Well, congratulations on getting past your fear and making it to the roof," he quipped jokingly. "It's a big accomplishment, I'm sure. Next up, maybe you'll grow a pair or something."

"Mm." Briefly, Kate smiled wryly, her eyes still on the town. She breathed in and stayed silent for a moment, and felt that weirdness she'd been carrying around with her for a day again. "I don't think I need to."

"Yeah?" Nathan didn't believe that and just rolled his eyes again before turning around to face the town. He looked down and wasn't really affected by how far the drop was. It wasn't like he was planning on taking a fucking swan dive off the ledge.

As long as no one pushed him (be nice, Kate), he'd be golden.

"Why not?" he finally asked after having let the silence linger. "Cuz, while admirable, getting to the roof of the fucking dorms isn't that big a deal. I come here all the time even with the threat of possible death always on my mind."

"I'm not making coming up to the roof into a big deal," Kate replied, glancing up at him. Sure, it felt like one, but that was kind of private. "And I see no need for me to grow a pair, when in the metaphorical sense I've always already had a pair."

Was that baiting him a bit? Maybe it was.

Well, considering the mood he'd been in for awhile, it wasn't gonna be that hard to bait him. In fact, he was already giving her a look that said he was properly baited.

"Bullshit." It wasn't a great comeback but it was immediate. "Unless we're talking about the tits that you were born with and, sadly, haven't grown into, you haven't had anything lately."

"Oh but you're wrong," Kate drawled, sweetly, smirking in a way that suggested she knew more than he did. "I had the balls to keep dating a dude all my friends hated because I wanted to see for myself whether it would work out."

It may not have been the smartest thing to do, in hidsight, but she hadn't caved in under outside pressure either.

"And when I ended it, I did it for my own reasons, not because someone else told me to."

"You ended it?" Nathan asked and if he sounded surprised, well, he was. "Are we just waiting for his next voicemail now where he plies you with some more sweet words and says he'll drink gasoline if you don't come back to him?"

Nathan thought he had all the reason in the world to be skeptical of this since it had happened once before and she'd proven herself to be blind when it came to this.

"He was a douche about my brother," Kate replied, shrugging. That was an overly simplified version of it, but that was the point where she'd seriously started being unable to ignore her unease. "It's over. Ding dong, the wicked... restaurant chain owner of the midwest has been dumped."

"Good fucking riddance," he muttered, still not sure if he believed that it was truly over. Whatever, at least he wasn't smug? His shitty mood over the past few days was benefiting her right now.

"You all right?" he asked, finally jumping down from the ledge to lean against it. "Not thinking of taking a fucking swan dive off the roof, are you? That fucker isn't worth it."

"No, he's not," Kate agreed with a slight wrinkling of her nose and a galnce away. "I'm fine. Yesterday was a strange day all around, but I'm good. I don't know, I'm weird but good."

Better than she had been for a while, actually. A little.

"Weird" Nathan questioned, digging out his pack of cigarettes and offering her one. "Well, at least you don't sound like you're regretting kicky that skinny fucker's ass out of your life. I'd have to permanently split ties with you if that was the case. I've had enough stupidity in my life without that."

"Don't worry, I think I'm done with breakups for the time being, platonic or not," Kate replied, taking the offered cigarette, then patting over her pockets in case there was a lighter there but nope. She raised an eyebrow at him, mildly amused. "But who the hell are you calling skinny?"

Oh right, lighter. He had one of those too. He dug it out of his other pocket and tossed it her way.

"I'm not fucking skinny." He was, he so was. "I'm tall and lanky. There's a big difference between skinny and lanky. I'm thin because I'm tall. He's thin because he's a douche."

"That makes... absolutely no fucking sense at all," Kate informed him as she was lighting her cigarette. She took a drag off it before handing the lighter back to him. "But I'm not inclined to defend him, so fine, keep your messed up logic. Except you are skinny, we both are. Come on."

Nathan turned towards her, finally smiling now that it seemed she wasn't going to relapse right back onto this that douche's dick anytime soon.

"Hey, Kate?"

Yep, it was coming. Brace yourself.

Kate took one look at that sudden smile and rolled her eyes.

"Come on then, get it out of your system."

"I fucking told you so."

There, with that out of his system, he took a deep breath and sighed happily.

Kate gave a long-suffering sigh and rolled her eyes again, and shook her head, and still none of it really made it seem like she actually minded him saying that. She'd been expecting it.

"Yes, yes, whatever," she said. "Happy?"

"Yep." Well, he wasn't necessarily happy but he felt better having been right. "So, what're you gonna do now? You're free and clear, right?"

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