fandomhighdorms | 5th Floor Common Room, Thursday Afternoon

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5th Floor Common Room, Thursday Afternoon

Kathy had spent much of the morning making a list of all the things about her life that she was going to have to hide from her parents tomorrow when they visited. Sex, powers, Banzai, the island were obvious candidates, of course, but by the time she'd gotten to Raven's abilities, my piercings, Japanese friends, she just couldn't take it anymore. Hiding bits of her life and personality from her family was fine. She was used to that. But having to act like she was ashamed of her friends because her dad was a bigot who couldn't let history go? That was just a line too far.

So, rather than think about her parents at all, Kathy had found the most complicated recipe for strawberry cupcakes she could find, ran to the store for ingredients, and had come to the common room to throw herself into an whirlwind of baking. It was hard to think about, well, anything, when you were trying to made graham cracker crust by hand at the same time you were thickening strawberry filling in a saucepan and beating butter and cream cheese together for frosting.

Normally, she would have tried to distract herself with homework, burying all the things she didn't want to think about under piles of equations, chemical formulae, and essay outlines. It felt good to be doing the same thing with something as frivolous as baking, especially since her parents would have vastly preferred the former. And between snacking on cupcakes (for quality control!) and belting out classic rock, Kathy managed to jolly herself back into a good mood in a fairly short amount of time.

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Of course he could. But then he'd piss off the person who made him cupcakes, likely resulting in no cupcakes in the future. Didn't it just make more sense to be nice, thus getting cupcakes now and later?

"Yeah, I decided to pack up and go home instead," she said, sucking frosting off her finger. "I figure any compelling argument I had, I'd already made by being naked on the blanket."

Yeah, but... being nice was weird. And he was still hungry!

"Pretty sure he didn't get the message about turning into a fox halfway into getting laid that way," Dante said.

Not focusing on her mouth this time, because: serious internal debate about the merits of those cupcakes.

That was okay, she was still going to enjoy her frosting. And the strawberry that came with it.

"Well, if he ever does the same thing to you, I'm sure you'll be able to impart that lesson better than I could have," Kathy told him. "And then I hope you come see me and tell me all about it."

"Deal," Dante said.

He finally broke his attention away from the food, but... only so he could wander up to the fridge and see what food other people had left behind.

JESUS CHRIST, DANTE, BEING NICE WAS NOT GOING TO MAKE yOU BREAK OUT IN HIVES.

Kathy watched him go, amused. It wasn't like she was worried about running out of people to share her cupcakes with if he decided that he didn't want them. "What would you do, you think?" she asked, finishing off her cupcake and continuing to frost the rest. "Or did you really mean that bit about the tongue lashing?"

Not hives, no. But Dante was a feral cat, not a housecat. He didn't just jump for treats because she asked him to.

"Scruff of his neck, at least," he mused, rifling around until he found some cheese. "See who wins that staring contest."

Fair enough! Foxes and feral cats; Kathy's sex life was a menagerie.

"And if he stays a guy?" she asked. "...Actually, no, I'm pretty sure your answer would remain the same."

Really made you think, didn't it?

"Pretty much," Dante said easily. "Though then there's always the option of just putting stuff in my mouth."

It would surprise no one when Kathy eventually just got a dog.

"Oooh, now that's just pretty," she said and pushed a cupcake in his direction. An image that nice deserved a thank you.

Dante didn't leap on the cupcake immediately. Because it would be sad to waste this perfect opportunity to turn around and stick a cheese stick in his mouth, right?

Right.

And Kathy blushed, seeing it very much as the prurient gesture he'd intended.

And pushed a second cupcake over, because damn. Giving her dirty thoughts with cheese? That had to be a skill.

See? Two cupcakes, secured just by being himself. Much better.

Dante actually turned away again as he ate the cheese (because that might've sent the wrong message) before idly wandering over to collect his hard-won food items. "You just have to be direct."

Technically, asking politely had just been a suggestion. Kathy's real criteria had just been for him to charm her. This...counted. In its own way.

Look, Dante was hardly a normal guy. His version of charm could hardly be expected to be normal, either.

"I'm still learning to be direct. It's...very much not what I'm used to. You think in straight lines. I'm used to thinking in circles."

Mmm. This first cupcake looked amazing. So much strawberry.

"Sounds like an easy way to waste a lot of time," Dante said.

"Easy to say that when the average person can't even hurt you, Dante," Kathy said. "I'm a lot more vulnerable than you are."

She didn't mean that just physically, but that didn't need to to be mentioned explicitly.

"Different tactics for different people. I learned what would work for me. I had to."

"'Cause of Douchebag Dad and the mob?" Hey, look. Dante did actually pay attention.

He bit into the cupcake. It tasted as good as it looked. Score.

Of course it did! Baking was just chemistry and Kathy was good at that.

"Yeah," she admitted. "More my dad than the Sevens, though. I'm--you can't really be direct with my dad. None of us are, not even my mom. There's just--it's not a great idea. He doesn't deal with challenges to his authority well. The direct approach is about as helpful as beating your head against a wall. But circular...you can make things seem like his own idea and then it's easier."

Dante snorted. "Fuck guys like that," he said. "If he's got trouble dealing with the fact he can't determine everything for everybody, he just needs to get his face shoved into it."

Vergil was going to be so happy about this trait of Dante's one day.

And Kathy would just laugh herself sick at the idea that Vergil had really thought that would work.

"Again, something probably easier for Dante to do, rather than Kathy," she pointed out. "It doesn't take consequences into account."

Though Eliot was also down for this plan and would probably love someone to talk about how great it would be if that happened. Say this weekend sometime. Hypothetically.

"Or maybe you worry too much," Dante said.

He took another bite of his cupcake.

"Or maybe I've met my dad and know what he's like," Kathy suggested.

And then grabbed another cupcake herself and took a huge bite, mostly to have an excuse not to talk rather than because she wanted it.

"Doesn't matter what he's like," Dante said. "You have to decide whether to fight back or take it. One's easier, sure, but still."

He flopped down on the sofa.

"I've been raised my whole life to take it; that the idea of fighting back is the sign of how much I have failed to be a good, obedient daughter." Kathy stayed where she was; she had a whole setup going on, cupcake-wise. "This whole conversation has been me fighting not to make excuses, to explain that I'm just being oversensitive and petty; upset over having strict parents who push me to do better and not let me be lazy."

She still wasn't entirely sure she wasn't. Kathy had spent a very long time being told she couldn't trust her feelings about her family.

"I'm just saying, even that decision isn't always easy to make. That's all."

Dante shrugged. It was a big shrug-- both arms raised and feeding into his expression.

"However you want to explain it," he said. "I still think you need to say it out loud at least once."

"Which part was that exactly?" Kathy asked, tossing him a strawberry.

Maybe he'd get distracted!

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