vanillajello | Overland Park, KS, An Afternoon in May [Friday Fandom Time]

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Overland Park, KS, An Afternoon in May [Friday Fandom Time]

Big surprise, Kate had run away from Fandom to Overland Park again. It was starting to become a thing with her, but she didn't care, sometimes it was good to be elsewherer. She'd been here since Wednesday night – or, they had, since Bod had come along with her, but right now he was on his class-and-diner trip back to Fandom. Or getting takeout, if you looked at it from the official OP standpoint that was oblivious to portals.

And Kate? Kate was glueing lace and fake gems and sequins to headbands, because Charmaine had decided that was going to be her new business. Making tiaras and selling them on Etsy. Generally, Kate might have mocked the idea (even if she was pretty sure it came from when she'd shown off her own prom queen tiara) but right now it was just kind of nice to be working with her hands.

And when she watched Charmaine and her big belly out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't help thinking a little about Alice. Not that she got very far with those thoughts, because Char was in a chatty mood. "-- and I don't want you turning this place into a den of sin," she was saying. "With your James Bund of a gentleman caller."

Kate snorted. "What?"

"Well, you know," Charmaine said, with what Kate assumed to be her best trying-to-be-an-adult voice. "There's going to be a baby in the house in a few months. I don't want you corrupting her."

"The baby you got pregnant with while dating someone who wasn't the father?" Kate checked with an eyebrow raise. "Tell me you're joking."

Charmaine deflated. "Okay so I don't really give a rat's ass what you two get up to as long as it's in your room, I was just trying to be, y'know, assertive and and authoritative and motherly. How'd I do?"

Kate just snorted again and shook her head.

[ooc: NFB, but open for calls/texts, and that guy.]

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"Logically, I know that," Bod admitted, letting Kate pull his hand away and hoping his cheeks only looked pink now instead of bright red. He gave Charmaine a smile and laughed at himself. "I'd just rather not give any of Kate's family a reason to dislike me considering that I love her and wouldn't want to complicate things."

Again, Charmaine's gaze slid to Kate for a reaction. Sorry, Bod, but at least her words were really good. Even if it was just the one.

"Keeper," she said.

Kate looked down at her plate and hid one of those kinds of smiles Charmaine had probably never seen on her before. "Yeah," she said almost softer than she meant, then looked up again, trying not to seem like she'd just been mushy. "So, Bod, um, anything in particular you wanna do today?"

Bod wanted to ask about that particular interaction but it seemed like a good thing since Kate was hiding smiles and her aunt wasn't laughing at him.

"Nothing in particular, no," he answered, taking a few bites of his food. "Kansas is your territory so I put myself in your safe and assured hands."

"Well, I guess we could take the car," Kate mused. "And just drive around for a while to see if anything catches our interest, not that I'm holding my breath for that to happen."

"Or you could go do my grocery shopping?" Charmaine suggested, helpfully.

"We could do that," Bod said, nodding. Of course, he didn't know if Kate wanted to do that but he didn't really want to see her hugely pregnant aunt having to do anything that was too strenuous. It couldn't be good for her.

"Guess we could," Kate shrugged. "Would take us out of the house for a part of the day anyway. I'm pretty sure Mom said something about wanting us all to come over for... snacks or something, in the evening and --"

"Is Neil gonna be there?"

Kate raised her eyebrows at her aunt. "How the hell should I know? Text him and ask."

Bod didn't know much about Neil so he just stayed quiet before adding, "Snacks sound good. I'm sure we could pick up something at the local store if we're to bring anything. I now know what good snacks are because of Kate."

Hey, he'd thought celery was a good snack previously.

Oh, if only he'd have said that out loud. The staring would've been quite epic.

"Bet that's not the only thing she's taught you," Charmaine remarked, idle but teasing. Kate gave her a look, and shook her head. "Well, it's a really educational relationship."

Poor Bod hadn't been expecting that and choked on what he had in his mouth. He ended up coughing several times and turning red (again) before thinking to reach for his water to try and stave off the coughing.

"Educational," he croaked, nodding. "Yes, indeed."

Charmaine snickered – not unlike how her niece tended to do in similar situations – whereas Kate reached to briefly rub his back. "No tormenting the boyfriend, Char."

The accused held up her hands and laughed some more. "Hey, I didn't even mention the bed!"

"I apologize for that," he said, rubbing his back and giving Kate a grateful look for the brief back rub. "I'm rather easily surprised and apparently, I can't properly chew my food either. I apologize for that."

"Don't apologize," Kate said, wrinkling her nose. "Auntie dearest here isn't gonna apologize either. Are you?"

Charmaine snorted. "No. I'm pregnant and gross, you are my entertainment. Besides, it's nice to know he has flaws."

"Oh, I've plenty of those," Bod said easily, nodding. "Before I met Kate, I thought celery was a good snack."

See, now they'd get to mock him plenty.

And he'd get to compare the snickers, because Kate was doing that now.

"I'm sorry," Charmaine said, wide-eyed in an amused way. "I thought you just said you thought celery was a good snack."

"I thought it was!" Bod exclaimed, spreading his arms. "I like celery quite a lot. I ate it a lot back in England. My mum grew it in the garden. What's so wrong with celery?"

"There's nothing wrong with celery, per se," Kate replied, amused. "It's just that you're a teenager and should be sneering at vegetables as snacks."

"Foreigners are weird," Charmaine concluded.

"I enjoy both vegetables and non-vegetables," Bod decided, laughing. "If that makes me weird, well, it won't be the first time I've been called that either. My name is Bod Owens and I like celery."

"Freak," Kate snorted, going back to picking at the food on her plate. "Weirdo."

"Well, I think it's good," Charmaine decided after a sip of Coke. "I mean, not selery because selery is disgusting. But I think it's good someone liked vegetables. I hope my baby does too."

Without thinking about it, Bod reached over and gave Kate's ear a little flick since retaliation was in order for her name calling.

"I hope your baby does too," Bod agreed with a light smile. His thoughts went briefly to Dorian before he brought himself back. "Does Kate living here mean she's a readily available babysitter?"

"Yes," said Charmaine. About the exact same time as Kate (who'd been about to retaliate for his retaliation) said, "No."

They turned to look at each other, both with a single eyebrow raised.

And both of Bod's eyebrows were up, wondering who was going to win this time. He was just going to take a few bites of his food and wait this one out.

"You moved in to help me out," Charmaine pointed out, but Kate frowned at her. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can assume I'll just be around the babysit whenever."

"Well are you gonna go to college in the fall?"

Kate wrinkled her nose. "No."

"Well, then you'll be available, right?" Charmaine deduced.

"Ugh, don't you think I'm gonna have a life of my own?" Kate asked, shaking her head. "Why don't you make Neil your go-to babysitter? I mean, it's his baby for Christ's sake."

That seemed to shut Charmaine up, at least mostly. She went back to eating, and muttered, "No. I'm doing this by myself."

"I'd babysit, if needed," Bod volunteered to break up the silence. "Children seem to like me and I'm harmless. If it's needed, I'll babysit."

He thought about asking Kate about college in the fall but held that until they were alone.

"Thank you, Bod," Charmaine said, glancing up at him. Kate rolled her eyes, but spoke in a slightly less annoyed manner when she added, "And I didn't mean like I won't be at all, just that I'm not gonna wait on you hand and foot or anything."

"Doesn't matter, she hasn't even been born yet," her aunt replied with a little shrug, and it seemed that subject was over. "This is some good food, Bod."

"Thank you," Bod said, sounding pleased. "I was happy to do it. It's the least I can do for letting me stay in your house, of course. Though, I'd probably sleep outside if it was wanted of me."

He was...so stupidly in love. So stupidly. And he knew it.

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