Overland Park, KS, Monday Afternoon

[vanillajello]

Saturday had seen a very weird trip to the mall, and as a consequence, Sunday had been pretty quiet. Tara had woken up as herself again, and everything was a little awkward. It wasn’t as if Tara’s condition was a big family secret, but it was out now, and it affected the mood in the house. Everyone tried to do their own thing, and conversations revolved around trivial stuff. Kate’s family, in an effort to make light conversation, asked questions about life in Fandom and where Leto was from. They didn’t know how much editing went into answering them.

And today the house was empty apart from Kate and Leto. Max had gone to work, Tara had gone somewhere with Charmaine, and Marshall had gone to visit his best friend. It seemed like they were all maybe slightly running away, glad to put the weekend behind them.

Kate was holed up in her room for the moment. She had taken a shower, and after getting dressed and blowdrying her hair, she rummaged around her desk drawer until she found a lighter and a near-empty packet of cigarettes. She took one, and after opening her door a little to signal it was okay to come in, she went to smoke the cigarette by the open window.


[For the boy. NFB due to distance.]

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[vanillajello]

Kate sighed, turning her head a little to give him a weak smile. "I seriously don't even have words for how well you've been doing. And I'm happy if you think that about them."

[future_sandworm]

He entered the room and walked over to stand next to her by the window. "You were concerned your mother's condition would upset me," he said, not bothering to phrase it as a question.

[vanillajello]

She looked at the trees outside, and nodded, taking a drag out of her cigarette and blowing the smoke out before saying anything. "I should've warned you. I don't know why I thought that maybe none of this would happen. Of course it was going to."

[future_sandworm]

"It doesn't matter, Kate." Leto reached out to take her hand. "It surprised me, yes, but I have certainly had worse surprises." There was a tiny smirk. "In fact, I think your father's attempts at embarrassing us all was almost as confusing."

[vanillajello]

"My family eats confusion for breakfast. And apparently also serves it too," Kate remarked with the tiniest of grins, taking his hand and going to twine her fingers with his. "And I guess-- no, I know it coulda been a lot worse. I just feel dumb for having misplaced optimism in the first place."

[future_sandworm]

"Let's just say that had I invited you to meet my family things would have been worse."

Ghani would have behaved, and probably Irulan too, but Alia wouldn't have bothered to be polite, and as for his Fremen relatives, they would have confused her just by being themselves.

He squeezed her hand. "Remember, my concept of normalcy doesn't match yours, and even in my world my family is anything but normal."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I guess that's something we have in common," Kate smirked. She looked at him again. "How is your family weird by your world's standards?" He knew her weirdness now, so she felt comfortable asking.

[future_sandworm]

"My father was the Duke of Atreides, and became the Lisan-al-Ghaib, the prophet, of the Fremen, With their help he won the Lion throne from the Padishah Emperor. His sister Alia, my aunt, was Pre-Born - awakened to conciousness in the womb and possessing all the memories of her ancestors." He looked out the window. "As are my sister and I. Our mother consumed too much spice during her pregnancy, which led to her death."

[vanillajello]

Unsurprisingly, a lot of that went over her head. Names and words she didn't know or understand. Some things were easier to understand than other, though.

"Your mother's dead?" she asked. She had already suspected it from something he had said on movie night. "I'm so sorry."

[future_sandworm]

"She's dead, but she lives on inside me and my sister." He smiled. "Although more strongly in my sister. I am closer to my father, and although I haven't met him in life since I was an infant, I know all that he knew and remember all that he experienced."

[vanillajello]

"That's... weird," Kate said, and smiled. "But, you know, not as weird as it could be. I can't imagine what that feels like, but then again I can't imagine what DID feels like, either."

[future_sandworm]

"No," Leto replied. "And neither can I. But you see why it's very hard for my to accuse someone of being too weird." He shot her an amused look. "In my world, many would like to see me and my sister dead for what we are."

[vanillajello]

She frowned. "Well, there's prejudiced assholes in every world."

Finally done with her cigarette, she carefully put it out on the window sill, and made a few waving gestures to get whatever smoke was still in the room to go out.

[future_sandworm]

"Tobacco does leave a rather heavy scent," he laughed.

Leto then turned quiet for a moment, his expression a little more serious as his gaze turned to the window. "Can I ask you something else?"

[vanillajello]

"And I'm not supposed to smoke, and especially not here," Kate replied, getting rid of evidence by putting the cigarette butt in a piece of tissue and pocketing it.

"Sure, ask away," she shrugged, taking note of his expression.

[future_sandworm]

"I thought about your father's comments," he said, shooting Kate a glance. "Is it assumed that I would not have asked to go with you unless I had intentions other than that of being your friend?"

[vanillajello]

"Dad thinks like that. Mom probably kinda assumes it too, but she's better at hiding it." Except for the part where she turned into T, which Kate thought was probably partly an act of protecting her. She'd already done it to Marshall once, too.

"It's kinda hard for parents here to avoid assuming that when you're a girl and you bring home a boy."

[future_sandworm]

"And what is your assumption?" he asked, smiling at her.

[vanillajello]

"Oh, I don't make assumptions," she smirked. "Assumptions are dangerous."

[future_sandworm]

"They are," Leto agreed, amused by her response. "But I ask because I've been told I fail to respond as expected to people's assumptions regarding love affairs, and I don't wish that to happen again."

Kate was not as naive as Dinah, though.

[vanillajello]

"How do you fail at that?" Kate asked, curious because she herself had encountered a few cases in the past six months where a description like that would have been suitable.

[future_sandworm]

"I tend to express attraction as well as friendship in a way that have made some people expect a monogamous arrangement," he said. "I will have to make a political marriage when I ascend the throne, and I'm not going to make any promises before that. And so I'm seeing someone, but it is not exclusive."

[vanillajello]

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Huh. Well, that's definitely something that you have to be upfront about. Otherwise things can get messy."

[future_sandworm]

He smiled. "So I've learnt the hard way," he said.

[vanillajello]

"But I bet you've never had anyone break into your house because they thought you were crazy in love with them and wanted to run away with you," Kate said with a slight smirk.