KADY ORLOFF-DIAZ + PENNY ADIYODI
PG CUZ THEY’RE SAILORS | COMPLETE
A BREAK FOR FEELINGS DURING THE MAGICIAN’S/HP PARTY
People were exhausting. Just, across the board tiresome. Penny’s view on that subject would probably never change. But these people, the Magicians he’d been through hell with specifically, weren’t all bad. He wouldn’t tell them that, of course. Not on pain of death. But it made it easier to enjoy a party like this one, and for reasons that weren’t just “Kady’s here and there’s booze”.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t worn a little thin, after a number of Eliot’s drinks, and getting “stuck” under the spell of the Wrecking Ball. The last few months had chewed him up, physically and mentally, and he was still recalibrating. Since there wasn’t a real obvious place to hide out for a few minutes, Penny ducked into the laundry room just off the kitchen. Shutting the door dimmed the noise of the party to a thumping bass. There was a sink next to the washer and dryer and he used it to splash a little water on his face and the back of his neck.
Kady hadn't partied this hard in a long, long time. And there was something undeniably different about this party, in that she wasn't drinking her woes away or trying to forget how shitty everything was. There wasn't danger. Except maybe the danger of collapsing after too much drinking and dancing.
She had just finished making herself a full bottle's worth of Hurricane, shaking it vigorously to mix the ingredients together, when she noticed Penny walking away from the center of the action. In good Kady fashion, she peeled away from the party and followed, hardly giving thought to whether Penny wanted to be alone when she walked into the laundry room right after him. Setting the bottle down, Kady spelled the room for sound proofing and hopped onto the washer and dryer while Penny finished freshening up. She crossed her legs and smiled.
"What’s up party boy?"
Literally anyone else walking through that door would’ve gotten Penny’s back up in an instant. Kady, though, just made the tension slip out of his shoulders. Being with her was as good as being alone, maybe better. And that was saying a lot for an introvert angry with the world most of the time. He put a hand on her thigh and squeezed, leaning over to press a kiss to her shoulder.
“Needed a breather. The zombie life is tiring,” he deadpanned.
It was still a little unbelievable to have Penny here, alive and tangible. Sometimes Kady thought this might be some kind of illusion that would dispel as soon as she went to sleep and woke up again, but so far nothing had happened. It was almost enough to make Kady drop her guard. Almost. But Penny didn’t need to know that. She tried not to look too worried when he mentioned being tired, but she did lean away from the wall.
“Wait, are you okay? If you need to lie down or something Eliot won’t mind us occupying his- on second thought maybe we should do that at my place.” Wouldn’t want to block any avenue through which the impending fuck-fest between Eliot and Hot Guy from Jurassic Park might come true.
Kady’s instant protectiveness made Penny smile. Nobody’d ever given that much shit about him and it still hit him just behind the ribs every time. Though it only took a second for that smile to turn cocky too. “Like how you’re immediately trying to get me back into bed,” he joked. Moving around in front of her, he wedged himself comfortably between her legs and rested his hands on her hips.
“It’s not that serious.” He leaned to press his forehead to hers and smirked. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve never exactly been a social butterfly.”
Kady rolled her eyes at how Penny turned it all around, but she had been laughing even before he’d finished his sentence. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him tighter, eyes half closed while she enjoyed the closeness. He had no idea how great this felt; any conversation about what had happened from her point of view hadn’t been that deep, especially not about how it had affected her. And of course she had been trying not to be clingy. But he'd initiated it this time.
“Little different not being a social butterfly and being a tired zombie.” She gently traced her fingers over the side of his face. “Kinda seems the whole people hating thing doesn’t apply to me, though…”
“You’re pretty much the only person that doesn’t exhaust me,” Penny frowned. That was an understatement really, since she tended to energize him. She made him actually want to do shit with his life, which was, well kind of annoying, but great at the same time. Penny bumped his forehead lightly against hers.
“I just…I kinda got the impression things don’t work out so hot for me at home.” He knew he should ask for details, but he just gave a little shrug. “So I figured I better try to make an effort to live some kind of weird, half-ass life while I’ve got the chance? It would just be a helluva lot easier if people weren't so irritating.”
For a second Kady had an endeared smile on her face, but then it was her turn to turn cocky. "Not for lack of trying..."
The sudden change to a much more serious topic made Kady's heart miss a beat. It was both that she didn't want him to worry about what might happen if he ever went back or to know about her downward spiral, but also that she wasn't over it. Somehow, having him here hadn't made her put it all behind her as efficiently as Kady thought it would. She exhaled through her nose and closed her eyes, taking a little while to reply.
"Um... You don't have to change your whole self just to seize the day or whatever." She nuzzled him. "Fuck that. There's a lot of stuff you can do to enjoy being alive that involves a minimal amount of people."
Penny smirked and waggled his eyebrows at her joke. He might’ve made one back about more extended effort, but he was distracted by the way her expression changed. It almost made him wish she wasn’t so good at mental blocks.
“I know, I just—“ Being near death hadn’t made him want to be a different person or anything. In a couple weeks, he’d been giving all these assholes grief about the level of Harry Potter Nerd going on in the next room right now. It was just an adjustment. And maybe taking a second to pause here and there. “I’m not planning on making a habit of this shit, don’t worry.”
He tucked his fingers up under her chin and tipped her mouth up to steal a kiss. “You feel like you’re holding your breath a lot since I got here. You know you can talk to me, right?”
"I'm not worried." She lied. She was worried about a lot of things. "But if anything's not okay you'll tell me, right?"
Kady cast her eyes down and away from Penny when he mentioned her holding her breath a lot. She pushed her forehead against Penny's shoulder and sighed deeply. It was a bitch to have to lie or at least omit half the shit going through her head, but Kady was adamant about keeping Penny away from the shittiest parts of what had happened to them both. "Shit. It's just I'm not used to us catching a fucking break. I keep waiting for something to happen. I'm sorry."
She reached halfheartedly for the bottle she had put down earlier.
“If anything’s not alright, you’ll be the first - and only - person to know,” Penny agreed. Instinct had him reaching to push the bottle out of the way before she got to it though. Instinct and a frown. It wasn’t like he was any sort of sobriety police or good example. But now that she’d opened up a little, he wanted to talk it out a bit. Gods help him. She made him want to talk about feelings.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, though. You know I get that shit. You know I’m right there with you.” He took her face in his hands and smoothed his thumbs across her cheeks. “Our lives are fucked up. But it’s me and you, right? Whatever this place throws at us, we can get kick its ass.”
Brow furrowed, Kady only glanced at the bottle that Penny had pushed out of her reach and listened to him with a faint (maybe sad) smile on her face. After she had failed to save him Kady had decided to tough things out on her own, even after he had shown up in all his intangible glory. At that point, she was very much all-or-nothing, and Penny existing but only being seen (not even touched) when she held a key had definitely not been all. But that had been shitty and hard to commit to then, hence the pining, and if anything happened it would probably be harder now. On the other hand, that wasn't Penny's fault, and she had no right ruining this for him. Kady shook her head, sighing again.
"Okay. Yeah. It's just if-" Kady stopped, setting her jaw in annoyance with herself. Instead of finishing her sentence, she grabbed onto Penny's collar and pulled him in for a kiss. Let's not waste time being angry, Kady, as Penny had told her before. "Fuck it."
Even though he could feel her cut off sentence hanging there, Penny was practical enough to appreciate the turn of events. He’d rather kiss her than make her frown any day. Leaning in, he threaded his fingers into her hair. It wasn’t intentional, but he was gentling the kiss, going for soothing instead of steamy. For once.
He realized it about the time he pulled away and reached for the bottle he’d pushed aside. “Okay. Enough of this emotional bullshit, huh?” He swallowed and held the bottle up. “Wanna go take shots and see if Eliot springs a horrible nineties pop monstrosity on us next?”
The way Penny kissed her made Kady feel like a wave of calm washed over her. For now, anyway. If it depended on him he'd be here for her beyond what was healthy and Kady knew that. It was going to have to be good enough. Plus, she was sick of being a bummer.
"Yeah, no more whiny bitch act for a while." Kady hopped off the machine and draped her arm over Penny's shoulder. She took a drink from the bottle with her other hand, but didn't bother taking it from him. It was pretty good. After licking the mixture off her lips, Kady smirked up at Penny and let him lead their way out.
"All that, plus I wanna see which of the Potter nerds starts wilding out first, too. Seems like it’s the ‘protag’ himself but you never know." She let go of Penny so he'd walk a few paces ahead, and slapped his ass hard enough to make her hand burn. Just so he wouldn't go thinking she'd become a total drag.