vanillajello | Overland Park, KS, Early Wednesday Evening

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Overland Park, KS, Early Wednesday Evening

It was kind of funny how weirdness never stopped being weird, no matter how much you were exposed to different types of it.

Kate had felt weird since the complete disaster that was Monday night. She'd felt weird through Tuesday's family breakfast, and the stuff they did during the day, and the dinner with the gay neighbors and Charmaine and Nick (which Kate and Marshall and Bod hadn't even attended), and through whatever random crap they'd done today. She could barely remember. It was all kind of hazy. But at least she was pretty sure she'd kept her inner confusion hidden pretty well, for the most part.

She hadn't spent all that much time actually alone with Bod, though. That could've led to talking and she didn't want to do that, so she didn't.

And tomorrow, they'd be back in Fandom. Some other kind of weirdness would take this weirdness' place and this would be forgotten. Hopefully.

Right now, though, they were still in Overland Park. Kate was lying on her stomach on her brother's bed with Bod sitting beside her, Marshall's latest yearbook from glamorous Butterworth Senior High open in front of her, and a black marker in her hand. Marshall himself was currently standing on his bed on Kate's other side, fixing a lamp he had hanging from his ceiling.

Kate drew horns on some random freshman's picture and blacked out his eyes. "I don't miss any of these people."

[For the boooy. NFB due to distance, contains stuff nabbed from USoT S02E01 'Yes'. ETA: Warning for discussion of suicide.]

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It was there and he was seeing it and it was incredibly difficult to see. He didn't turn away though. He kept looking at her, kept trying.

"I don't want one mistake to haunt us," he said, quieter now. "It was one mistake and it shows that we're human. We weren't thinking clearly and it happened on a night after a traumatic event. After months of dealing with trauma. I want you to stop pushing me away like I'm not who you want. I want us to forgive ourselves."

And he stopped talking there, just unable to find any more words that he hadn't presented already. Instead, he covered his mouth and looked briefly pained before casting his eyes down at his feet so she couldn't see his hurt.

It didn't matter, she still knew it was there. It still added to hers.

But she broke out of her frozen stance, now. Pushed herself away from the closet door and took unsteady steps towards him, one hand clutching at her towel to keep it up. Her legs felt weak, she felt weak.

Her voice wasn't much better. "I want you to forgive me."

Bod had been a little too focused inwardly to realize she'd come closer so her voice surprised him. He glanced up though and dropped his hand from his face.

"Forgive you for what?" She hadn't let him ask for forgiveness so he had to ask why.

She still felt like she had done more to feel guilty for. Couldn't help it.

"For... trying to push you away."

Kind of felt hard to even admit that was what she'd been doing, and she looked down.

"Do you want to be with me?" he asked. He had to check. After everything, after getting pushed aside, he had to check just for his own peace of mind.

She looked up. "Yes," she said, standing in front of him, feeling about as miserable as she ever had. "I do. I love you."

"I forgive you," he said immediately, nodding. "I forgive you. Don't push me away. Be with me, instead. I love you too. Please."

"Thank you," she breathed, like a complete idiot. At least she felt like one.

That might have been a factor in why, after saying that, she just stood there, awkwardly. It was probably okay to touch him but right now she didn't really know how.

Bod took the initiative there. She was standing there, still wet from her shower, wearing only a towel and looking emotionally wrecked.

Bod reached for her face, cradled her cheeks between his hands and leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers, breathing in the smell of soap and water on her skin.

Cherries. Kate smelled like cherries now, like the soap she had here for when she came to visit. No point in lugging stuff like soap around between Overland Park and Fandom.

She closed her eyes and let out a ragged breath that could've been a sob, could've been a tiny bit of laughter. Even she didn't know. It was just a quiet sound.

Bod rubbed his thumbs up and down her cheeks, almost like he was re-familiarizing himself with how she felt.

"Come here," he said, reaching to try and pull her against him for a tight, overdue embrace.

Kate didn't resist, just let herself be drawn closer into his embrace without saying a word.

She wanted to be there, she really did.

And he'd let her stay there for as long as she needed. He didn't say anything either, just held her and kissed her still wet hair and smelled the cherries on her skin and kept her close.

After a moment of just leaning against him, she got her own arms around him too. Clinging. Clinging hard.

A few more tears joined the ones already on her cheeks and on the top of her chest. It didn't matter.

"We're all right," he whispered. Even if it wasn't completely true because of the still raw emotions, he knew they would be and that was what was important.

"You smell good," he added idly and kissed the top of her head again.

"Cherries," she muttered, her voice rough.

First normal thing she'd said to him in two days.

He nodded and just stayed close to her, quiet again. When he spoke again, his voice was low, just for her ears only.

"Do you want me to take care of you right now?"

She wasn't sure what that would entail, but that, too, fell in the category of things that didn't matter to her a whole lot. She trusted him. That was enough.

"Yes."

"All right," he said, keeping his arms around her and shuffling them closer to her bed so he could encourage her to sit down. He could tell when someone was mentally exhausted and she was there. "Sit down. I'm going to get you some clothes."

Normally, Kate would've voiced some snarky concern for him dressing her like a clown, but she didn't now. Because a) she was too exhausted, and b) she didn't even have any stupid clothes anywhere.

"Okay," she said as she sat down heavily.

Hey, he wasn't going to dress her in something she didn't want. He was going to give her options. She'd get to pick and then he'd take it from there. He'd probably need the help since he was a trousers and button up shirts sort of guy.

So, with her sitting down, he wandered over to her closet and started looking through her clothes for something that looked comfortable, worn in, and light weight.

That was... a whole lot of her closet, really. Even though it was half empty, it still held a lot of clothes, and a whole bunch of them were comfy shirts in all shapes and sizes and colors, from snug tank tops to slightly oversized t-shirts.

Her selection of pants in this particular closet was way more skinny jean oriented, but a few pairs of shorts could still be found. And some skirts. And extremely worn-looking hoodies.

And a bunch of her way gothier stuff with skeleton prints was stuffed in a corner.

Meanhwile, she just sat, watching him, and rubbed at her eyes a little.

Bod was never going to stop being amazed at the amount of clothes she had in comparison to hers. He could probably fit the entire contents of his room into her closet and still have room to spare.

He pulled out the first pair of shorts and one of those darker hoodies he came across and turned towards her. "What about these? Do they match? Are they all right?"

See. Options.

Kate gave him a faint, faint smile for that. "They're fine." Also, she didn't particularly care. But they didn't clash, so that was good.

"All right." He draped the pieces of clothing over his shoulder and shut her closet before wandering back over. The shorts and hoodie got dropped beside her and he reached for the towel, pulling at it gently so she'd take it off.

"I won't look," he said, closing his eyes to prove that. He'd seen it...plenty of times before but he still tried to give her some privacy now.

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