for Sherry

[formoftherapy]

Kite made it to Christmas break alive, which still feels like an accomplishment. (Sunnydale habits are hard to break.)

She's using the time to get through the rest of her grandmother's journals and the bar seemed like as good a reading room as any. Kite has laid claim to one of the couches, legs sprawled across the cushions and a coffee mug on the floor beside her.

Comments

[if_inconvenient]

"And Tony loves him all the same," he continues softly, "because Tony is Tony."

[formoftherapy]

"Fuck."

She's going to look away from his throat. She is.

(But she can still remember the way his ring would be a spot of cold against her throat as her vision tunneled.)


"Has Tony seen these?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Not yet, no. He will likely be annoyed with me when he does. Whatever his troubles with Obadiah, it was never his intention that I should seduce the man."

[formoftherapy]

"I bet not.



Don't--" She catches her lower lip between her teeth, starts over.

"Why did you do it?"

[if_inconvenient]

"I wanted to know what would happen," he says.

That's what it boils down to. Everything else is just added complications.

[formoftherapy]

She laughs, a little weary and a lot unsurprised.

"I should have known."


It's why she did it, after all.

[if_inconvenient]

A little more quietly: "I wanted to know he would be safe for Tony."

[formoftherapy]

Kite's expression closes off.

"He's not safe for anybody," she murmurs, voice tight.

[if_inconvenient]

"He managed not to misbehave too badly with me, despite my every effort."

[formoftherapy]

(Something's bound to break, her arm or the mirror--)

"He must have had himself on quite a leash."

[if_inconvenient]

He shrugs slightly.

"I can only conclude that he is both capable of restraining himself and willing in this case to do so."

[formoftherapy]

"For how long, though?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Indefinitely, under the right circumstances."

[formoftherapy]

"Fingers crossed, then.




You okay?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Perfectly," he says, which is a blatant lie.

[formoftherapy]

"The fuck you are," she replies mildly.

[if_inconvenient]

"All right, then, I am not remotely okay but I don't see any point in worrying about it further since there is very little about the situation I can change without making something worse."

[formoftherapy]

The corner of her mouth lifts.

"That's more like it."

[if_inconvenient]

"I am glad you think so," he says dryly.

[formoftherapy]

She rolls her eyes.

"You know what I mean."

[if_inconvenient]

"Yes. It is reasonable to appreciate honest news even when it is unpleasant."

[formoftherapy]

"And I have my moments of reasonableness."

[if_inconvenient]

"Only moments?"

[formoftherapy]

"I'm hesitant to claim more than that."

[if_inconvenient]

"Wise of you."