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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

Charmaine gave her empanadas (or what was left of them) an amused smile. "Boy, you are so whipped." Kate gave her a warning look. Charmaine didn't care. "What? It's totally true."

"It's true," Bod said and smiled over at Kate. "We had this discussion about who was the boss and you remember who won that one. You're a better boss than I am and I'm happy to be whipped."

Charmaine raised her eyebrows theatrically. "Kinky," she told Kate. "I don't want any of that happening in my house."

Kate rolled her eyes at that little joke and didn't bother replying, so her aunt just laughed. "Word of advice, kid," she said to Bod. "That's the one thing you don't want to say around her dad."

"I think I might just let Kate do all the talking when we see her father," Bod joked, nodding. "One of the last times I was here, I was actually just giving Kate a cuddle and I thought he might throw me out of a window."

"Max wouldn't do that," Charmaine assured him, then reconsidered. "At least I think he wouldn't do that. Though he did beat up that contractor last year..."

"So not helping, Charmaine," Kate replied. "Seriously, Dad's okay."

"I know, Kate," he said and reached around to give her back a rub this time. "I don't honestly think he's going to hurt me but I still want to show him respect. Your family's been so nice to me and I want to repay that."

"I know," Kate sighed, picking at the last of her meal, rolling her shoulders a bit in reaction to his touch. "Respect is fine. It's a good thing to have."

"All right," he said, unsure if she was upset now or not. He took his hand away and turned his own attention to his food, falling quiet as he did.

And Kate wasn't sure how to show that she wasn't upset when they weren't alone, because she was sure he was wondering about that now. She continued eating in silence.

Charmaine, watching them, raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

He was wondering about that and was questioning whether he'd done something wrong or inappropriate while he scooped a forkful of the stir fry into his mouth.

He glanced over at Kate briefly before smiling (or trying to smile) at her aunt.

Charmaine gave him a brief, faint smile back, then inclined her head towards Kate with a quizzically raised eyebrow.

As if he could tell her what the random awkward atmosphere was about.

Bod wasn't sure himself, actually. It happened every so often where she'd become suddenly distant and quiet and Bod never really knew how to handle it. Bod leaned over towards Kate and kissed the side of her head lightly.

"Are you all right?" Yes, he was going to do this in front of her aunt but he wanted to make sure. "Do you need to go outside and get some air?"

Kate breathed a quiet laugh and glanced over at him. "God, I know I ate a lot but not that much," she joked, hoping it was as good a way as any to signal she was fine, really. "I'm fine."

That worked too.

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