Overland Park, KS, Saturday Afternoon

[vanillajello]

Kate was nervous. And she thought she had every damn right to be. This was actually the first time ever she'd brought a boyfriend home to be introduced to her parents. (As always, Leto didn't count. They hadn't even kissed before he came home with her.) And that was just... Weird. It felt weird.

And anyway, in her mind, they were here more to get a break from Fandom. Not to make official introductions. But it was still a little terrifying, even if she wasn't really showing it.

They'd taken a bus from the airport and walked the rest of the way since it wasn't far from the bus stop, and Kate thought she could use the extra time to remind Bod of what he wasn't supposed to talk about. And to prepare herself for everything.

The first thing she noticed after they got to her house was that her dad's pick-up truck wasn't parked outside. Neither was The Green Hornet, her mom's car. But she was too nervous to think about what that might mean.

"So. That's my house," she said, nodding at the house and flashing a smile at Bod as she stopped to stand by the green mailbox, which had a few painted flowers on it and said 'The Gregsons' in Tara's handwriting. "Welcome to Oak Avenue."

[ooc: For that guy I modded a bit just now. NFB due to distance.]

Comments

[vanillajello]

Marshall's smile quirked into something that was almost a sly smirk. "She bullied you into it, didn't she?"

Kate promptly thwapped her brother on the shoulder. "Shut up."

[therewaslife]

"It might just be that I'm a slight pushover," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't outright fidget.

"I haven't been bullied as of yet," he added with a small smile in Kate's direction. "Perhaps I'm safe."

[vanillajello]

"Lulled into a false sense of security," Marshall said, but Kate cut him off before he could say anything more.

"I can't believe Mom and Dad aren't here," she said, shaking her head as she went over to the fridge. "I thought they'd be, like, all over this."

[therewaslife]

Bod laughed a bit and almost said she could probably convince him to do anything with her persuasiveness but kept that to himself. It probably didn't need to be common knowledge.

"That still gives you time to hide me, Kate," he said easily, trying to loosen his posture a touch. He wasn't standing at attention but he was close to it. "I'm sure I could fit in a closet somewhere."

[vanillajello]

As if everyone living in this particular house didn't already know Kate could convinve a lot of people to do a lot of stuff.

Marshall went to put some of his baking things away. "Well, her closet's probably half empty now..."

"I did already tell them you were coming here," Kate pointed out, grabbing a can of Coke from the fridge. "You want anything?"

[therewaslife]

"Just water, please," he replied. "And I know you did. I wouldn't actually let you hide me in a closet, half empty or not. I'm sure your mum will be back soon enough. It's not like you and I are going anywhere."

Bod found it wasn't as easy to try and soothe her nerves when his were a little ragged as well. He'd keep trying though. "And orange juice is important."

[vanillajello]

"Hmph." Kate didn't really say anything to thaht, just went to a cupboard and got a glass she then handed to him.

"So, uh, are you English, Bod?" Marshall asked. "Like... actually English?"

The last guy Kate bought home sounded English, claimed to be Greek, and turned out to be from another planet. Marshall felt it necessary to check.

[therewaslife]

"Thank you," he said and took the glass before moving to half fill it with water.

"I am actually English," he then said to Marshall with a quiet laugh. "I'm from Cleadon, if we'd like to be specific. It's a small town in South Tyneside. I've been all over England, though. My parents were a bit transient."

He hoped that was a fairly convincing bit of improvisation since the only part that was true was that he'd been through Cleadon after leaving the graveyard.

"Cleadon is a tiny, tiny village," he added. "I'm still getting used to bigger cities."

[vanillajello]

Kate had stopped to listen, too, trying not to look like she was hearing this for the first time, and wondering where the roots of this bit of improvisation were.

Marshall seemed to be buying it, at least. Bod was more convincing than Leto had been, anyway. "Well, at least you live in a fairly small town," he noted with a tiny smile. "Even if it seems to be a pretty special one."

Not that he was trying to work out whether there was anything special about Bod.

[therewaslife]

"Special?" asked Bod, looking curious at that. "Cleadon is 8 kilometers around. I assure you, there's nothing special at all about it."

He paused and looked like he was reconsidering that. "Actually, it might be slightly special. Charles Dickens did reside in Cleadon for a short while and took some inspiration from the village. As did Oliver Cromwell."

He took a few sips of his water. "And we do have two pubs."

[vanillajello]

"I meant Fandom," Marshall clarified, still smiling mildly. "But Cleadon does sound pretty special too."

Kate rolled her eyes at Bod. "Whereas you sound like a fucking guide book." That might have been code for... something he'd probably never find out, because this was the moment she finally decided to open the can in her hand and--

Got sprayed with rather a large amount of Coke. Yeah. "Fuck."

[therewaslife]

"I sound like a -- " Well, the rest of that got cut off in his surprise at seeing her get liberally covered with a soft drink.

He winced and stepped towards her, looking apologetic for both the soft drink and reasons he wasn't quite sure of. "Did you want me to get your bag?"

[vanillajello]

Kate shook her head, setting the now mostly empty can down on the counter and letting herself look a little miserable. "No, I think I'm gonna go upstairs and just change," she said, then looked down at the floor. Yep, Coke there too. "Great."

"Kate, I got it," her brother chimed in, already reaching for some paper towels. "Go change."

[therewaslife]

"All right," Bod said, stepping back so she could go get out of her now wet clothes. She looked fairly miserable and he felt bad because of that but hopefully that was the just the soft drink.

"Would you like me to help?" he asked Marshall instead, glancing at Kate once more as he did.

[vanillajello]

Kate went past both of them, muttering something about stupid cans and stupid sticky soft drinks as she headed for the stairs.

"No, I got it, thanks," Marshall replied, crouching down to wipe the beverage puddle off the floor. "I'm used to cleaning up messes of all sizes."

[therewaslife]

"All right," he said, fidgeting a bit with his hands before correcting that by reaching for the water glass again. He gave poor Kate an errant thought before forcing himself to stop worrying.

"I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, having a talent in that area," he said idly. "I don't think anyone likes to clean up messes but it's good to know for when it does. Preparation is important, I suppose?"

[vanillajello]

"It's kind of a necessity in this house," Marshall said with a quiet, if a little joyless laugh as he straightened up and threw the paper towels in the trash.

Then, realizing he wasn't sure whether Bod actually knew about the crazy, he added, "Kate's a klutz sometimes."

No she wasn't.

[therewaslife]

Bod smiled a bit and looked down, nodding not necessarily out of agreement but simply for the fact that it seemed like the thing to do right then and there.

"And to think, she likes to boast about how graceful she is to me back on the island," he laughed, nodding again. "She's probably far less a klutz than I am. She might just be cursed with some rather bad luck."

[vanillajello]

"Kate likes to boast about a lot of things," Marshall remarked wryly. "Not all of them turn out to be exactly true."

The egg timer went off, so he went to check on the muffins. "How long have you guys been dating, anyway?" he asked as he peered into the oven. "She hasn't really said anything."

[therewaslife]

"That I have figured out," he said, laughing a little more easily now. "I tend to let those stand as fact mostly because she argues better than I do. I'm rather bad at it."

Or really bad at it.

"It's been maybe two and half months, if I'm doing my math correctly," he continued. "I've known her since January but we didn't start dating until June."

There'd just been...things before that. "It's a recent thing so I can see why she hasn't."

[vanillajello]

Marshall laughed too, quietly, as he took the muffin pan out of the oven. "I'm sure she loves that you're bad at arguing."

Faintly, the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway could be heard in the background now.

"And she probably loves that no one here knows what she's doing over there until she tells us."

[therewaslife]

"She does. It means she wins almost all the time. I have to be either blessed with good luck or having a particularly sharp day to get one over on her."

And that just didn't happen very often. Bod finished his water and found himself twisting the glass back and forth on the counter.

"It's a small island though. There's not much of anything for anyone to do. The sense of independence is nice. I don't tell my parents much of what I do either. They're happy with knowing I'm not in trouble."

[vanillajello]

"I don't think I would, either," Marshall shared. "Would be nice to get a little more privacy."

Someone was at the door now. The sound of a key twisting in the lock made Marshall look up. "That's probably Mom."

A fair warning.

[therewaslife]

Bod was grateful for that warning and straightened up, resisting the urge to try and fix his hair or straighten his shirt again. Idly, he realized that he was about to face one of her parents alone just as she had.

That was karma for you.

"Thank you for the warning," Bod said thankfully. "Let's hope I don't make anymore messes that you have to clean up, right?"

Right. Calm down, Bod.

[vanillajello]

Kate was probably going to laugh about that. Later. When she wasn't so busy washing her clothes before the stains set in.

Marshall gave him a vaguely encouraging smile. "You'll do fine."

And they were going to find out soon enough whether that was to be the case, because Tara walked into the kitchen right then, carrying a paper bag that looked a little full. Just buying orange juice wasn't enough, apparently.

She'd already seen Bod and Kate's bags by the door, so she wasn't surprised to find him standing in the kitchen. "Hi," she said, smiling. "You must be Bod. I'm Tara, Kate's mom."