His simple praised was enough to have her huddling close as her cheeks blossomed with red, a happy smile on her face. When he wasn’t being upset with her over villain shenanigans he was really very sweet and it made her stomach do flips. If she were a cat she would have probably purred.
Yet with her ear so close to his stomach she could hear the gurgling noises it was making and her shoulders shook as more giggles escaped her lips. She wanted to enjoy and soak up the calm before the storm as much as possible. “Well..I suppose I should f-feed you then as soon as possible so you can forget all about that horrible food.”
Hearing the timer go off in the kitchen as she perked up, she carefully got off him and jogged into the kitchen to set everything up so they could eat, the small table they could fit in the kitchen set with dishware and even a flower and scented candle she had managed to scrounge. She hummed as she worked, filling the plate with lasagna and some vegetables and putting drinks in their cups to go along with it.
“O-Okay all set!” she called softly, hoping the food really tasted as delicious as he hoped.
Jack would have been happy to help her set up, but he saw quickly that Katelynn had things under control. And more than that, she’d arranged this especially for him; she wanted him to enjoy it properly.
He took his seat at the table, and had to nudge Roxy and Stella (mostly Stella) aside when the dogs promptly came begging. “That’s enough, okay? If you’re good, we’ll save you something.”
Taking her own seat at the table and poking her food, she giggled at the antics of the two. “Just not the lasagna since it has cheese…don’t want Roxy causing the apartment to be s-smelly after all,” she reminded him, thinking back to the day Jack had confessed his feelings for her when he had first warned her. She tried to fight back the blush that rose at the thought of the past. How long ago it seemed now – as if living with Jack and being his fiancee was the most natural thing in the world.
Looking at him from over the table as she took a bite of her food, Katelynn decided she’d wait to tell him about the past events until he was well rested and could handle it better. Though he had told her to tell him when things happened she just couldn’t at the moment. She just prayed he would understand why she had waited.
“You always dreamed of going to New York…it was your dream vacation spot and the fact that you went because of your art becoming so big..I’m really proud of you, love,” she whispered, free hand sliding across the table to take his gently. “You’re getting the resignation you deserve.”
As he tucked into his own meal, Jack watched Katelynn eat hers. In the weeks before he’d left Metro City, she’d gotten better about not missing meals, and he’d hoped that she would continue to be okay while he was gone. She looked healthy, at least – tired, and stressed by something, but not painfully thin anymore. It was a great relief.
“Thank you,” he said softly, clasping her hand in return. “New York was … it was nice. B-but I didn’t really get a lot of time to myself,” he admitted. “They wanted me to go to meetings, and galas, and I kn-know some p-people enjoy that, but I’m n-not one of them.” His stammer came back as he remembered how nervous he had been during so many of those functions. It was nice to get so much recognition, but when he was there in person, being shown off by his manager, there had been a lingering unease in the back of his mind – did people want his art because they thought it was good, or because they wanted the novelty of having art done by a blue-skinned alien?
“They don’t n-need me there in person for the tour,” he went on. “I’d much rather be home, where I can w-work on my own time.”
Jack Maple 