2019-08-01 - Hindquarter Communication

It's just after midnight, and Magnolia is laying on the couch of her apartment. She's got Archer on, binging through the next season. She keeps glancing to her phone. She's typed in a message like six times not, deleting it each time. Now, she takes a breath, and types it again-- this time she closes her eyes as she hits send.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Hey. You awake?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Yeeeeees. Just. What's up?

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Is your E key broken?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Nope! Just curious if I should change out of PJs.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Lark is having a sleepover at her friend's house.

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Oh! Um. Do you want me to come over?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Wait, was that presumptuous?

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Hang on. Googling something.

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Yes. I really do say presumptuous in text. I'm pretty sure that's a bad thing.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Would you like to Netflix and Chill?

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: What does DTF mean?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: I kind of want to say "It's what I am," but that feels a bit much.

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: I do like to Netflix and Chill. And DTF is Down to Eff.

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Yes, I just said Eff. I don't know why.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: What does that even mean?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Wait, what does what even mean?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Is this Lark?

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Okay. I'm trying again.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Kevin, would you like to come over and get laid?

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: Oh! I thought I said yes already! Yes.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: I'm putting the phone down now. Door is unlocked.

(TXT to Magnolia) Kevin: I promise you, I'm really good at writing.

(TXT to Kevin) Magnolia: Uh huh.

It doesn't take long to get across Gray's Harbor, and so it isn't more than ten or fifteen minutes before Kevin shows up at at Magnolia's door. He knocks once on the door, even though Magnolia promised that it would be open. At least he opens it right after. He's got a light jacket on over a -- for a wonder -- plain white t-shirt, and he apparently didn't even stop to change his pants. He has, however, had an Altoid, because seriously. "Um, hi Lia." Slipping in, he closes the door behind him. He has clothes on, so he's awkward again.

Magnolia did a whirlwind through the apartment just about three minutes ago, picking up whatever she could so it didn't look like two hurricanes lived here. She's stepping into view when he steps into her apartment, and she offers him a quick smile that brightens her features just a touch. She's wearing PJ shorts and her own loose t-shirt sporting some kind of 5K that looks like a running donut is its mascot. Her blond hair has some lasting dampness from her recent shower, and has started to curl and wave. She catches his awkwardness, and it sparks a bit more warmth in her smile. "Um. Hi, Kevin."

With his hands on the doorknob, Kevin takes in the look, and grins, "That's seriously cute, Lia." He draws in a breath, stepping across the room to reach out for her hands, leaning in close to press a slow kiss to her lips, he straightens up again, "Lots of 'um,' or was that just making fun of me?" He adds quickly, "I mean, totally fine if you are. I'm used to it." His hands start to run up her arms, "Couldn't wait until Date 3?"

The kiss is met with a warm noise, and a softening of her mouth beneath his. She's up on the balls of her feet to meet that kiss, and her arms are swept around his broad shoulders. "Just making fun of you," Magnolia points out. Then she is closing her eyes as she presses back up for another kiss while she remains up on her tiptoes. "No. I couldn't." She bites slightly at the edge of her lip. "Is that bad?"

When Magnolia presses up for another kiss, Kevin ducks down, looping his arms under her waist and straightening up. Much better kissing height. Stepping into the apartment more fully, he starts meandering vaguely toward the center of the room. "No. Not bad at all. I'm glad you texted me." He tilts his head to change the angle when he leans back in for another kiss. "I mean, not as glad as I'm going to be, but yeah." Smiling slowly, he slowly slides one hand up her back, murmuring, "Hi. Where should I be going?"

When he lifts her just enough off her feet that she's able to kiss him without all the toe-standing. Then she is lifting her legs, using her arms around his shoulders to steady herself as she twists her limbs up around his waist. Her lips move with his, and there's even some chasing as he breaks away from the kiss to speak. "Bedroom." She nods to the bedroom opposite of Lark's room. The door has a glass inlay, frosted. There's a little marker-colored picture on it that has what looks like a dragon curled around a little sign that reads 'Goodnight, Mommy.' When they get nearer to the door, she glances down at the door knob. She can't reach it, so it will be up to Kevin. Her only hope.

In the wake of their afterglow, Magnolia is murmuring with amusement at his cheek and ear. "I'm glad you answered my text.'

Kevin tilts his head one way and then the other, studying her from different angles, "I'm pretty glad you sent it." He closes one eye, then opens it and closes the other, going back and forth Wayne's-World-style. He even goes, "Camera One, Camera Two, Camera One..." Leaning down, his lips seek out hers again, his eyes closing as he twists into a slow kiss. Lifting up again, he brushes at her hair, "You know you're beautiful, right, Lia? Like, seriously, smashing-hot and beautiful. You've got the tough-girl exterior, so I don't figure you hear that enough."

At the Wayne's World reference, Magnolia snorts and gives his shoulder a little shove. Then she is sinking back against him, melting into the kiss with a little murmured satisfaction. Then she is nuzzling her nose up his as they kiss, and it catches her breath in her chest. The afterglow is blissful, comforting, and exhilarating-- for someone who has had a nil sex life lately. "I know, because you're a newspaper reporter and you would never lie to me." Then she is quieting, letting that seriousness melt away. "Yes, it's good to hear it."

Kevin rocks at the shove, then sinks back over her, "Look, just because I get muzzled by my editor sometimes..." He chuckles, then dips his head to kiss the side of her neck, "Good." Lifting his head again, he watches the blissful afterglow settle in, his own weary, very happy softness curling into a smile, "You should hear it way more often." He pauses thoughtfully, "I take that back. You should just hear it from me. That's it. But still often."

Now Magnolia arches her brows at him, and a little crooked amusement dances across her expression. She presses up onto her elbows before she encourages him to roll so they can be side by side. Then she's got her elbow in the bed, propping up her head. "Was that your hint that you want to be exclusive? Or are you just being cute?"

The expression freezes Kevin for a moment, but then she's pressing up and he rolls back with a shiver. He manages to brace his head in his palm, resting on his elbow, then works his mouth, trying to make the words come out right, "Uhhh..." good start, Kev. "I, um, honestly didn't ever consider anything else. I've never been in a position to be anything but exclusive. But, um, yeah, that was me trying to be cute. I think I failed, didn't I?"

Magnolia's brow arches again, and she keeps her head nestled in her palm. "Oh." She narrows her eyes slightly at him as she considers that un-bespectacled face. "Have I mentioned the whole I haven't dated since I was married, right? I don't know how this works. Are we dating, are we mostly exclusive? Completely exclusive?" Then her lips twitch a bit. "And you are very cute."

Kevin's left hand slips over her hip, his fingers curling over the muscles alongside her spine. "I mean... um..." He looks very serious indeed, "I'm pretty sure that it's way too soon to define the relationship." Beat pause, and then he cracks up, a grin spreading across his lips, "Naw, I'm just screwing with you. Um... if we're going out on multiple dates, I kind of think that by definition we're dating, but I'm good with that." He shifts a little awkwardly, "Um... exclusive... I mean, I don't have any complaints."

"Okay." Magnolia narrows her eyes at him. "Well, I guess I should cancel that date tomorrow with Lincoln." Her eyes flicker shut briefly at his comfortable touch, and then she looking up at his gaze with a little smile tugging at her lips. "Good. I'm glad you don't have complaints. I think that taking focused time to get to know each other like this would be good." Then she is edging in closer so that her lips can find his in a soft lingering touch.

Kevin blinks owlishly, "Who's Lincoln?" Shaking that off, he clears his throat, focusing in on the smile, "I mean, we could talk about that if you, um, if you want something else. But I do like focused time to... like this?" He's slowly catching up to her, but in his defense, the blood is just starting to flow back to his brain. "You mean you want to find more excuses to pawn Lark off on friends and family so that we can have more sex?" Beat pause, "Because I'm totally in favor of this."

"No one." It's a comforting murmur before Magnolia is flopping her head back down, curling his arm around her head so she can use those amazing biceps as a pillow. Then she looks more seriously at him, even while her smile is soft. "Kevin, I'm not really a dates-around person. I had one boyfriend in high school." Kevin can guess who that ones. "And then I met my ex-husband my freshman year of college, and we were married right after graduation. I was already pregnant with Lark, and so when we divorced, there was no way I was in the right frame of mind to date anyone." She nuzzles against his arm, and something unsettles her heart. She thinks back to those months before the court gave her full custody, before she signed the divorce papers, startling her lawyers that she didn't want alimony. She clears her throat. "So, um. I don't exactly have a well-diverse experience with this."

Her reassurance limits some of the squirming -- physical and mental alike -- from Kevin, and he subsides as she starts to tell her story, soaking it up like a sponge, or a well-trained reporter. He can see the shift behind her eyes, and twists his hand, bouncing his bicep lightly under her head. "That's... that's okay. I mean, Lark's a pretty awesome reward for putting up with that, right?" His cheeks pink a little, although the blush fades as he continues, "I mean, it's not like I've had that much experience either. Nothing until like halfway through college, then a couple of girlfriends in Seattle and Vancouver." The pauses, then adds quickly, "Not at the same time. So yeah. I've done the date for six month, a year thing. Nothing since..." his own sourness bubbles up in his stomach, despite the comfortable tangle of naked limbs he is currently enjoying, "...since I screwed the pooch in Vancouver."

Magnolia's head bobs a bit under the influence of his bicep, and then she is smiling up at him with that warm, knock-you-off-your-feet smile. Or at least it knocks most people off their feet. She nuzzles in closer to him and she presses a kiss to his cheek, then his jaw, and then she whispers in his ear, "Hey. You screwed the pooch in Vancouver so you now get to screw my pooch." Oh god, she said it. She's even laughing against his ear, beyond amused by that play on words. Then she's leaning back and grinning at him with warmth. "Look, we both went through whatever we needed to end up here. It's corny, I know, but I'm not about to turn my nose up at it. Tell me about Vancouver."

Luckily, Kevin has already been knocked off his feet, but he can still feel the flood of warmth that the smile incites in him, feel his lips curving into an answering grin of their own accord. He closes his eyes under the influence of her kisses, but the whisper draws them flashing open again, and he laughs, shaking his head in added amusement. His hand at her hip smooths over her skin, and before the words can pass by his brain, he answers, "Pretty sure it was your kitty I was screwing, not your pooch." He shrugs a little helplessly at her admittedly-corny statement, but he still nods -- and then freezes a little at the request. "Um." He licks his lips, glancing down away from her eyes -- which puts his sightline on her chest, which is admittedly pleasant and a great distraction, but not helping matters. That forces his gaze back up to hers, "I had a story. Well, I had a lead, and my editor told me to drop it. I didn't, though. This story... this was big, Lia. Really, really big. Corruption and malfeasance and serious corporate shell games." His brows draw down a little, "And this wasn't a conspiracy theory. I had five sources across two companies. So I wrote the article. I sent it in, and then my editor shut me down again, I pushed it to the website anyhow. Which was stupid as hell. It came down a couple minutes later, and I got fired. I'd already blown it in Seattle, so... I came back home."

"Oh, right... wrong slang." Her smile is light on her lips. Then, Magnolia listens with her head tucked against his arm. She frowns slightly as the story unfolds, and she rubs her cheek a bit against his arm. "Do you still have the story?" It's an honest, quiet question that has a small ulterior motive behind it. "Is it still relevant?"

That little gesture of affection is soothing as Kevin relives some of his least-favorite memories, trying to shake off the scowl that starts to paint his features. He heaves a little sigh, and then shrugs, "Yeah. It's up on my blog." One of the two. "And, I mean, it's a couple of years old now. Old news even if people didn't want it buried. Could probably still ruin a few days if it got legal action or a whole lot of press, but I'm pretty sure that most any paper around here just... doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds it."

"Well, then you did something with it. That's what counts." Her blue eyes regard him with that serious air. Then she sinks forward to press a light kiss to his lips. "Go... clean up. I'll meet you back here?" She starts to sit up away from him, pushing up through her elbows to settle upright.

"I'm stupid and stubborn," Kevin grins, returning the kiss and smiling under the connection. When she shoos him off, he gives a sigh, but goes, slipping his arm out from under her head, reaching across her for his glasses, scooting to the edge of the bed and up. He looks down at her, nodding slowly, and grinning, "You need a bigger bed, Lia." And then he snatches up his boxer briefs and heads for the bathroom to deal with things.

"I also need to pay the rent," Magnolia quips back as he slinks to the edge of the bed. "Do you know how much mattresses cost? I'm lucky I found this one on discount during College Prep week." Then he's leaving her room, and she flops around to unearth the covers, and pull them back so she can slip under them. She draws them up to her chest, tucking in her knees again. When he comes back, she's leaning back into the window sill that acts as her headboard, and she looks up at him with a slow smile.

The bathroom is rather close, all things in the small apartment considered, and so while he flushes and washes, Kevin calls out, "That explains it... but it doesn't excuse it." He flashes a grin as he comes back into the room, "We'll have to get you a..." and then he pauses, his underwear still in his hand, never having been replaced. He glances behind him, down, and back to her slow-smiling features, blinking behind his glasses, "What? Did I forget something?" One hand flashes up to cover his mouth, "Should I brush my teeth?" He doesn't have a toothbrush here.

"Nah, you didn't forget anything," Magnolia says quietly. Then she reaches out toward him to invite him back into bed. "You can brush your teeth in the morning. You don't have draconic breath or anything like that." Once he takes her hand, she invites him under the covers with her.

"Oh." Kevin squeezes his eyes shut like, 'no duh,' and then grins at her, stepping over to the bed and dropping the underwear off on the floor with the rest of his clothes. Taking her hand, he gives a little squeeze, "You were just looking at me, weren't you? And I thought I'd done something wrong. That's such a total Kev-spaz thing." He slips into bed, shrugging a little bashfully, "You're way more fun to look at anyhow." For him, at least.