Room 511, Late Wednesday Night

[thatsamilkshake]

Text: Dear Mom, sorry I haven’t written much, but I’ve been kind of busy baking cookies and wearing spandex and kissing the person I love most in the world and then having sex with my boyfriend. I think I love him too. Not that I’m sure what that means. Oh, and then kissing the boy my boyfriend Likes. I don’t know what that means either, except we kept saying “confusing” a lot, and then not saying anything at all. But it was all some kind of spell and nothing’s weird between any of us now, so everything’s ok, right? Right. But now He’s gone off with Him to the future, to help a girl bury her father, and I ..... packed them sack lunches, like it was a field trip to the air and space museum. And She’s all of six rooms down the hall but I’m not there talking to her about how thoroughly uncomplicated my life is, even though nothing’s weird at all between us and everything’s ok, right? Right. So, you know, I had some free time to write. Hug Benjamin for me when he comes home to do laundry and tell Dad not to work so late hard.

Love, Francine

Exhibit F: Unsent Letter #459


[Estaaaaaaaaablishy, but open for the roomie or the Tweetybird, if so desired!]

Comments

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine did have to snort at that. "No, no castles." She shook her head. "Radio made way more out of it than it was." Maybe. Probably.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I figured." Dinah grinned, and took another bite of cookie, then remembered something she'd meant to tell Francine, as someone who would Get It. "He offered to 'talk' with Leto for me, if he was, um, how did he put it? Making me uncomfortable?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine frowned, momentarily setting aside the Arthur is kind of adorable yes issue for the more important one. "Is he?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Not... any more," Dinah said slowly, because what she could never say to Tony, maybe needed to be said to someone, and Francine was a pretty good choice there, knowing about The Book and Dinah's level of flail and fail. "I dunno, I'm no good at this, you know that. But he was being all intimate, and subtle, and just-- I'm glad I made that rule? About no touching at all. Because." She bit into another cookie, and swallowed. "He doesn't get stuff. About love. Or getting feelings hurt or embarrassed about sex. He's not a bad guy. He just... doesn't get it." She sighed. "I'm not saying it right."

[thatsamilkshake]

"No, you're saying it just fine." It just didn't sound just fine. What's that you say, completely different standards for how boys needed to behave when her friends were involved? Especially more than one friend, in Leto's case. "He shouldn't push, though. He might not get why, but he'd better get 'no.' "

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"He gets 'no.'" Dinah nodded hard. "I just... end up feeling stupid, when I can't explain why completely. When he asks if me wanting love is about the telepathy, or why I want something more than just sex." She was quiet a minute, then said, "Maybe I wish I were braver. Not just about Leto. About any guy." She shrugged, and took another cookie. "But. He's kissing Fiona now. And maybe bugging Triela. I keeping thinking I was smart to say no, even if it was chicken."

[thatsamilkshake]

"It's not chicken. Sharing things is hard. Sharing a person..." Ouch. "Sharing a person who doesn't even get why you'd want love?" Francine shook her head.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah had a sudden stomach-dropping feeling of relief at Francine's take on it. "Yes. Like that." And there were no words for that, except that it *was* hard, and too much, and reasons didn't enter into it. Just the feeling of unh-uh. "You get another two cookies for that. Thank you."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine grinned, but only reached for one of the cookies. "Humans is strange," she said, and this time she was intentionally quoting Firekeeper, instead of accidentally borrowing her speech patterns.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Very very strange," Dinah had to agree, breaking her cookie in half, and licking the sugar off the top. She gave Francine a considering look. "You think maybe the confusing will fade? In a while? With cookies?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Maybe?" Francine answered naively hopefully. "It has to, right?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"It faded last time, right? After that thing at Beltane?" Dinah frowned. "If nobody's mad, and everyone's talking," and she knew that 'everyone' had to be Francine, Arthur, and Merlin, but couldn't bring herself to ask if Katina had gotten dragged into this again. "Then the surrealhas to fade with what's real. Right?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"Right. Exactly." Sort of. Maybe.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Are you okay?" Dinah asked. "'Cause last time, there was much flailing. And there isn't this time." But still. There was confusion, and that was never fun. Especially when... "I mean. The stuff with Merlin. That's good? Yes? I mean. You were all happy, before."

[thatsamilkshake]

You can't exactly call them colors not found in nature, since Francine didn't paint them on her cheeks, but... "That part's good. ...Really good."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Awwwwwww." Dinah turned pink in response, and smiled at Francine. "Yay." Vicarious relief and joy and gladness there. And only one small question to ask. "Was it-- was it difficult? Did it hurt much?"

[thatsamilkshake]

She'd facepillow but it would just get her a face full of cookie crumbs and after last Friday, that wouldn't help with the blushing at all. Besides, Francine had to admit that she'd be asking the same thing, just with more stumbling, if the situations were reversed.

She just...wished it could be Katchoo she told these things to. Maybe not only, but first. At all. Something. "A bit? But not for very long. The hormones kind of helped, there."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hunh." One more worry put to rest, and Dinah sighed, taking one last cookie. "Thanks. I won't ask about anything else. But I really needed to know that one." She smileda little wickedly. "I'm glad, though. Didn't need the book, did you?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"I think Merlin may be using the book as protection from the dust-kangaroos under his bed." Francine snorted, then added before thinking properly, "Somehow I don't think they included a chapter on warning your partner about glow in the dark condoms before he shorts the lights out with his brain."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"FRANCINE!"

Dinah stared in horror, then cracked up at the sudden mental image, and, "Oh... my... god... The lights? And then....?" Yeah, she'd be a while coming back from that one, judging by the way she fell over laughing.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Shh. You never heard that." Though it occurred to her that given Dinah's powers, it might be more favor than gossip if she added, "...You also never heard that the furniture moved."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was still giggling for a bit when she thought of that, too, then her giggles trailed off into an expression of uh-oh. "Furniture... moved?" She paused, then facepalmed. "Oh god."

[thatsamilkshake]

"It might have just been the hormone thing," Francine offered in an attempt to comfort her if she needed it. "That didn't happen when we, um. The next time."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"That's good," Dinah said. Hopefully. Except now she's remembering how stuff used to move when she got mad, and wasn't paying attention, and... "Maybe the first time I do this should be somewhere with very little furniture. Just in case." She paused. "Second time?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine studied her crumb-covered fingers. "Turns out we don't need crazy magic hormones or extreme denial either. Who knew?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Cookie!" Dinah said gleefully, pushing aside thoughts of sex-induced TK for now, since it so wasn't an issue at the moment. "Yaaay!"

How could things be confused if things were going so well?

[thatsamilkshake]

And the gods said Ahahahahahahahahaha.

"Yay," Francine agreed, though not at Dinah-level bounce.