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]

"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."

[therewaslife]

"I am, yes," he said, straightening up again even though his posture was fine. He just needed to feel like he was trying to look as normal as he could be. "I'm Bod Owens."

Mentally, he praised himself for, once again, not saying Nobody even while he was at his most nervous.

"Hullo, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for letting me visit with your daughter. I appreciate the hospitality."

At least he could use all those etiquette lessons he'd been forced into as a child right now.

[vanillajello]

Tara's smile took a turn towards gently amused (a look he'd definitely gotten from her daughter more than once), and she really couldn't help thinking Alice would just adore Bod.

"I'm not a ma'am," she said, setting the bag down on the counter, where Marshall immediately reached for it to start unpacking. "But you're very welcome. We don't really get to meet many of Kate's friends. It's a pleasure to meet you too, I'm sure."

[therewaslife]

"Not a ma'am," he said, shaking his head at himself and laughing. "Right. I apologize. Mrs. Gregson, then. I suppose it being a break week and England being a little too far away for me to visit worked out, then. You can meet me."

And hopefully he wouldn't want to be in a closet by the end of the visit.

"I hope I'm not boring."

[vanillajello]

That made Tara laugh. "I can assure you, we're not looking to get entertainment out of you," she said. "And if Kate is interested in you, then you most likely are not boring." Really, some of Kate's friends were a little too interesting. "Where is the prodigal daughter, anyway?"

"Oh, she's upstairs," Marshall provided. "She had a minor beverage incident."

[therewaslife]

Maybe strange was a better adjective for him rather than boring but strange would have just opened up questions and he'd promised. So, he'd stick with being a boring Brit.

"The soft drink exploded on her," Bod specified, wincing. "Rather liberally, in fact. She wasn't too pleased about that but I don't think anyone would be, really."

[vanillajello]

"If by not too pleased you mean that she swore and stomped off, then yes, I'm sure she wasn't."

Tara had raised Kate, she knew how she acted. Still, it made her smile some.

"I guess I'll have to wait to give her a welcome back hug, then," she continued, leaning against the kitchen counter. "So, how was the flight? Did you get here okay?"

She had other questions that she would've rather asked, but she didn't want to intimidate the poor boy. He seemed just a tad nervous. She was too, though.

[therewaslife]

"The flight was uneventful. I took advantage of the free peanuts because I was hungry. I ate Kate's too," he admitted with a little laugh. At least he hadn't blushed.

Not yet, at least. He was sure it would come at some point when he least expected it. When his nerves settled a bit and he wasn't guarding against it.

"But yes, we got here just fine, thank you," he said, tucking his hands back into his pockets. "We walked from the bus stop and Kate showed me your artwork out front. On the mailbox, I mean. It's really quite good. I can't even draw stick figures. If I try, they turn out misshapen. I've drawn them for Kate before. She knows."

[vanillajello]

"Kate draws too," Tara shared. "And paints, or at least she used to. When you go up to her room, and there are all these pictures on the walls? Those are all hers." Her smile was a little amused again. "I'm not sure she'd tell you that."

"I think I'm gonna go check on Kate," Marshall said, once he'd finished putting all Tara's groceries away, and headed for the door. "If you'll excuse me."

Mostly, he was going up to warn her that her boyfriend and her mother were talking without her there. It didn't always go so well.

[therewaslife]

And now Bod was alone with Kate's mother. This was some form of cosmic payback for being late and leaving her alone with his undead parents. He could do this. He knew he could.

"She's very talented in a variety of areas," he said sincerely, smiling a little as he said it. He couldn't help himself. "I'm not really one for the arts. I leave that to others with more talent. I'm better at admiring."

He took a quiet breath and relaxed a little further.

[vanillajello]

Being alone with Kate's mother was still better than being alone with Kate's father. ...And Kate would probably find it only right if that happened too.

"I'm sure she likes that about you, at least if you remember to admire her from time to time," Tara said with a little laugh. "By the way, I'm a little curious... How did you guys meet? Is there a story to it? Kate hasn't really told us much about you."

In fact, all Kate had ever really said to her about him was 'oh by the way I'm bringing my boyfriend his name's Bod and he's English gotta go love ya byeee'. So she was more than a little curious.