With a deep breath, Katie looked up at Peter as she ended her tale. “I think that’s it, mostly. I was at our version of a hospital for two days. I had some deep cuts, bruising and lost some blood. Magical healing can speed up the process for sure, but sometimes different potions and such require a little more time.” She sighed, completely unaware of how long it actually took her to tell her this story.
So much of it she didn’t have answers too, what she hadn’t already looked up anyway. She couldn’t say for sure what was going on at Hogwarts at the time since she was already out of school. Katie didn’t even realize how much she really did deal with, and it was insane to think Harry and his friends dealt with much worse and for much longer. She shivered, despite the room being at a decent temperature.
“So yeah, we lost Fred and so many others. The anniversary of the battle was on the second and, I guess we don’t get reminders of that here and it just sort of slipped right on past me.” Katie took Pete’s hand. “I felt awful for forgetting, but at the same time a little relieved for not dwelling on it. Is that terrible of me?”
Peter Venkman truly wasn’t one to let silence simmer - but after Katie’s recount of her time at Hogwarts, in more depth than he’d ever heard before, the Ghostbuster found himself at a loss for words. Initially. It was just that… he hadn’t expected a kid’s school of witches and wizards to be so… dark? He drew in a slow, deep breath as he caught up with processing it all.
Thankfully she reached for his hand and he was forced to interrupt his thoughts on curses and deadly battles - which was a lot more than he thought he’d be hearing from his magically inclined girlfriend. “Despite growing up in Brooklyn we had very different school experiences,” he joked weakly before giving her hand a small squeeze.
“I don’t think it’s terrible of you. Everyone pays their respects differently,” Peter assured her. “It’s too easy to forget the problems that are waiting for us back home, and I think a lot of folks here are just as guilty of forgetting.” The guys included, of course. “But if it’s going to eat away at you we can find a way, some strange but meaningful Night Vale way, to remember the day?” Peter offered.
Katie couldn’t help but smile and let out a small laugh. “What, no crazy adults attacking your school?” It was good that she was able to laugh about it, and Peter certainly made it easy for her. Having him here helped her a lot, and it was nice to be able to talk to someone about it that didn’t already know. In a sense, he was a stranger. Katie could get it all out without the fear of hurting someone who knew exactly how she felt. She was thankful she had friends here that could relate too, but also nice having someone like Pete she could lean on.
“Honestly? Just talking about it helps, and I really do think I’m okay. I’m actually glad that I finally got to talk to you about it. I feel like you know me a little better now.”
He mirrored a small smile, glad she could laugh a little after all that. “Just ghosts, as usual,” he insisted - though technically it was years later that his old high school had a ghost problem. Even with the joking though, obviously there was a heaviness in the air still from her stories. Venkman could be.. purposely dense and inconsiderate when he wanted to be, but caught off guard he could manage to be pretty genuine when necessary. Though it helped that he cared about Katie immensely.
“I’m glad too,” he admitted. “I know it was sort of a long time coming, but it’s good to finally get it all out in the open.” Nevermind the fact that he had his own past to disclose at some point.
“And, you know, if anything it all makes me love you more,” he said without hesitation - swept up in the intimacy of the moment and unable to really stop the words from coming out of his mouth. Which was what he would normally do - simply take those wishy-washy fluffy feelings and bury them as quickly as possible. Peter shifted a little, realizing what he said, and cleared his throat gently. “So uh, we might have a case coming up— at least I think it’ll turn into a case—” he began to explain, going into ridiculous detail about the phone call from the elderly local who was sure she was hearing things in her attic.
“At least we have that in common.” Katie laughed. Sure, their worlds had different ideas on how to handle ghosts, but at least Pete had some measure of weirdness.
Katie wasn’t quite sure what she had planned on saying next because Pete’s confession certainly sent Katie’s mind running wildly. In her thoughts, she frantically searched for a time where he may have hinted or said something, but she couldn’t find anything solid at this moment. Hints, possibly, that feeling you get when you know you’re getting close to the stage but she was almost certain this was the first time she had ever heard him say he loved her.
Was it shocking? A little, but did it make her happy? Incredibly. It was why she hoped in that moment she didn’t look completely insane. His ramblings made her cheeks red, she was embarrassed and amused. Katie decided to stop him the only way she could, she leaned over and kissed him and very gently replied. “I love you too, dork.”
The silence was… deafening at first. And was she turning red from the rage building up inside her? Possibly. If he saw a wand he knew he was probably in trouble. But for the moment all Peter could hear was his own voice and while that was normally absolutely fine - he was going into actual science talk that he only partially understood because Ray was right, he rarely studied and that whole saying of ‘fake it til you make it’ only went so far in the parapsychology field…
And thankfully Katie had the sense to stop him before he managed to blow it all up somehow. Pete let himself be silenced with the kiss, his hand dropping to the small of her back. Okay so maybe the whole flushed skin wasn’t from anger - which made it all adorable. Hearing those words back, while not particularly a big deal in his book - still made his heart do something funny for a second. “God, why would you?” Venkman joked teasingly in return with his smile turning into a small grin. “I think you may have taken too many bludgers to the head, and I’m too selfish to suggest you get yourself checked out.”
His other hand found hers, lacing their fingers together if only to keep him from fidgeting. “So that’s uh… out there, now, but I’m trying the whole commitment thing for real this time,” Peter said with a small clear of his throat and decisive nod. “Scout’s honor and all.”
Playfully, Katie narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not always going to make you a list, you know.” She kissed his cheek. “You’ll just have to deal with the fact that I do, deal?” If she wanted to, Katie could come up with a list, but it’d be difficult. Not because Katie didn’t mean it but because she would never be able to find the right combination to perfectly capture her feelings. It was all of it, everything about Pete that made up who he was as a person. All of it, she loved all of it.
“I appreciate that,” she said. “Just so you know, telling each other-'' She paused. “I mean just because we say ‘I love you’ doesn’t mean I’m expecting everything to happen lightning fast. I’m perfectly fine with how we’ve progressed. Just keep me informed, okay? I don’t want to do anything you’re not ready for.” She leaned against him. “Open communication, that’s what I want.”
Peter let his eyes drift closed as her lips lingered against his cheek. “Okay that’s fair, I accept,” he said with a small nod upon opening them, resisting the urge to pull the brunette witch onto his lap. He was content to sling one arm over her shoulders, hugging her against his side. He could do communication - as long as she kept on him to talk. Though it helped that Peter genuinely didn’t want to screw anything up, and had already had the heartbreak of Dana to wake him up somewhat.
“So I guess I should keep the ring in my pocket then, huh?” he questioned teasingly - quickly throwing his hands up. “I’m kidding, there’s no ring. I’m sorry, that was a terrible joke.” A poorly timed attempt to keep things light, but Peter was still stricken with a case of word vomit. “I can’t go diving headfirst into another engagement, I haven’t even shown you how atrociously I can live.” Clothes everywhere questionably clean, dishes not done for days on end, plenty of beer and chips for a college grad party, pointless collectibles and memorabilia.
Katie kept smiling, but her heart certainly skipped a beat. Though she couldn’t quite tell if that was out of excitement or fear, possibly both? Now Katie couldn’t say the idea never once crossed her mind, but she was still happy with knowing it was a joke. Though as she collected her thoughts, his comment did catch her off guard and interrupted her.
“Another one?” She wasn’t angry by any means, more surprised and curious. “Wait, were you engaged before?”
He drew in a slow even breath. “Uh yeah… that.”
Honestly the subject of Dana was long overdue. Venkman was lucky she hadn’t gotten too Google happy about his life apart from the general stuff on the first page. Though knowing Katie she probably thought it wrong and quickly changed her mind from reading about it anyway. “I was,” Peter confessed, his free hand coming up to rub at the side of his neck.
“Dana Barrett, she was a cellist, and started as one of our first clients,” he began to explain - unsure of just how much detail to go into. “I fell hard and fast you know, and, well, basically annoyed her into the idea.” Alright maybe that was a little too much detail. “But I didn’t exactly take it seriously and so after a couple years she left me, broke my heart.”
Katie wasn’t entirely sure how she wanted to take this information. It was a surprise of course, and it wasn’t as if she wasn’t aware that Pete had a past, all of them did. Whenever they did speak, it was all very vague and she could see why Pete didn’t bring her up a lot or really at all.
Not that she was upset, Pete had a life before arriving in Night Vale. Katie had one as well and it’d be a little ridiculous to be upset over that.
But she had to admit she was jealous.
Only a little.
“I’m sorry,” she said genuinely. “That couldn’t have been easy, for an engagement to break off. Love can be pretty intense sometimes, you can’t always help yourself when it hits you.”
“I’m sorry, too,” he admitted a little more somberly than he would have liked. And he was - though both Peter and Dana knew that long gone was the chance to salvage anything from their attempts at a functional relationship.
For him it had just taken a little longer to learn.
“If you ask me it all went a little downhill after she spent some time possessed by a demonic dog named Zuul,” he insisted teasingly, though not joking about the subject matter at all. Peter turned his head to press a kiss to Katie’s hair. “But,” Venkman said, his hand lightly patting her leg, “you live and you learn. And there’s not really a torch or anything left so, you don’t have to worry or anything.”
Katie leaned in against him as he kissed her hair. “I appreciate you being honest with me. Exes can be complicated, and honestly it’s like you said about being serious about committing, you telling me shows that.” She turned her head and kissed his cheek again as she squeezed his hand.
“If it’ll make you feel better,” she added, doing her best to give hima small smile. “I’m a little jealous.” She didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable for sharing and Katie wanted to be supportive. Pete certainly made comments about hot Quidditch players in the past, but here he was sitting on the fact that he was engaged to an incredible woman from the sounds of it.
Given his dating history of… just not having anything close to this sort of talk, Peter was almost unsure of how to react to her being thankful for telling him. Maybe the whole honesty is the best policy thing would actually stick because of Katie? Of course the kiss to the cheek helped make her point.
But it was much easier to latch onto that small coy smile when she admitted to being a little jealous. “She slept four feet above the covers,” he snorted faintly - as if somehow that was a reassurance for Katie not to worry. There wasn’t really anything bad he could say about Dana, not that he would - much of the relationship’s failure had been solely on him. “But now you know a fraction of what I feel whenever we go out and I catch guys staring,” he grinned softly, both hands reaching to give her legs a gentle but playful squeeze.
Not that he blamed them, Katie was gorgeous and nice. Arguably, too nice for someone like Peter Venkman. But Night Vale wasn’t all gloom and doom - at least not when he had her to come home to.
Katie stared at him for a moment and decided that her question would be better suited for another time. She didn’t want to push, and she could now understand why Pete was so protective of her and had a tendency to worry. Not that Katie minded, there was a level of trust there that Katie could take care of herself, and she had to admit that she rather liked it when Peter fussed over her.
She smiled, she wanted to roll her eyes but she didn’t want to make it seem like Peter’s feelings weren't valid or that he was crazy in some way. “They don’t matter to me, just know that. Not when I have this fit bloke right here.” She kissed the tip of his nose. “They’re not even close to being as brilliant as you.”
Peter often missed the mark with reassurances, but the peck to his nose made him pull her in tight. One hand came up to cradle the side of her neck, his fingertips sliding into her hair. Every ounce of him was screaming don’t say something stupid, which was his gut reaction when faced with most things. But he did open his mouth - slightly, to capture her lips in a surprisingly tender kiss.
Katie was an unexpected match for him that he never anticipated finding in this place. She dealt with his personality in stride and played up his strengths - which he sometimes forgot he had. Most importantly, she brought out a gentler, human side of Peter that was often hidden behind chain smoking and sarcastic/crude jokes. “You know, Katherine,” Venkman said quietly as he pulled back just enough to speak. “I could say the same about you,” he told her. And he meant it more than he could possibly express eloquently.