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“What?” Dom is blinking at them, completely stupefied.
“You’ve seriously never done this before?” Darlene quirks an eyebrow at her. Somewhere behind them, Elliot is setting the timer on his microwave. Flipper is patiently sitting next to him, her tiny tail excitedly thumping against the floor.
“No.” She laughs out of disbelief. “It sounds gross.”
That was not the right thing to say, apparently, because both Aldersons are gawking at her now, their large eyes somehow growing even larger. Dom has no idea how to react, so she does the first thing that comes to mind, which is laugh nervously. “What?” She repeats herself, gulping when Elliot shakes his head in disappointment.
“Okay, that’s it.” Darlene throws her hands up. “I think I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”
It’s Dom’s turn to gawk. “Wait. You’re not serious, are you?”
“We are.” Elliot affirms. “We have very strong opinions on this.”
“Clearly.” Dom scoffs. “What’s the big deal, anyway? It’s just popcorn.”
Strike two. Elliot and Darlene are staring at her like she suddenly grew a second head. “Wow,” Darlene laughs and steps away from her. “Okay. Get the fuck out.”
“What the hell,” Dom’s laughing again as Darlene starts to push her towards Elliot’s front door. “You invited me here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Exactly.” Darlene grits her teeth; Dom just grabbed onto the nearby couch to ground herself, making it impossible to push her any further. “You’re - holy shit, Dom, let go - y-you’re a guest, and you just violated house rules, so out you go.”
“Give her a chance to her try it first.” Elliot suggests just as the kernels in the microwave start to pop; Flipper immediately begins to wiggle out of excitement. “If she likes it, she can stay. If not, well…I guess that means you’re single again.”
Dom, who still can’t believe what she’s hearing, laughs a third time. “That’s fine with me. Maybe I can finally hook up with that goth hipster from the bar.”
Darlene stops pushing; she looks genuinely offended. “You wouldn’t.”
“Who knows - she could be my soulmate.” Dom shrugs, and Darlene rolls her eyes. Elliot is still awkwardly standing by the microwave, his brow furrowed in confusion. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“Yeah, well maybe you can bond over your terrible taste in movie snacks.” Darlene grumbles before heading over to her backpack, which is hanging on the hook rack by the door. She unzips it and pulls out a package of M&Ms.
The microwave beeps, indicating that the popcorn’s ready. When Elliot opens the bag, the entire apartment is engulfed with the overwhelming smell of butter. “Ready?”
“Hell yeah.” Darlene is eagerly shaking the M&Ms as her brother steps closer with the popcorn. Flipper trots alongside him, sitting directly underneath the bag. Something in Dom’s chest melts when she watches the siblings giddily mix the two together with huge, childlike grins on both their faces; it feels like they’re letting her in on a secret of some kind. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t make her feel special.
When Darlene finishes pouring the M&Ms into the bag, Elliot holds the concoction towards Dom. “You should do the honours.”
Darlene makes a face. “Why? She was just shitting on this a few minutes ago.”
“Yeah, but this is her first time. The first time is always the most important.”
Dom warily stares at the bag, particularly at the mound of M&Ms sitting on top of the popcorn. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You gotta shake the bag.” Darlene lets out an impatient groan. “Damn, Dom - this is, like, Eating At The Movies 101. Did you ever go to the movie theatre as a kid?”
“Obviously.”
“Bullshit.” Darlene immediately fires back, and Elliot stifles a laugh while Dom rolls her eyes. “You haven’t truly been to the movies if you haven’t eaten popcorn this way.”
“Seriously, guys,” Dom hesitantly takes the bag from Elliot, still staring at it like it’s the most disgusting thing she’s ever seen. “It’s just-”
“I swear to God,” Darlene narrows her eyes. “If you say it’s just popcorn one more time, I will throw your ass out.” She gestures to the bag. “Now, shake it.”
Dom glances at Elliot, who gives her an encouraging nod. “Trust me, it’s the best way to have popcorn. You’re gonna love it.”
“Okay…” She draws out the second syllable as she half-heartedly shakes the bag once. Only a couple of the M&Ms separate from the rest of the group and integrate with the kernels.
“Seriously, Dom?” Darlene’s laugh is sarcastic, incredulous. “You call that a shake?”
Elliot is gentler, as always. “Don’t listen to her.” He heads over to his TV and starts to set everything up. “You gotta shake it a little more. They have to mix evenly with the popcorn in order for it to taste good.”
Dom sighs. “This is so stupid.”
“You’re stupid.” Darlene grabs her by the back of her shirt and tugs her over to the couch, forcing her to sit down next to her. Flipper plops down by Darlene’s boots, hopefully blinking up at her with large black eyes. “Okay, fine. I’ll help you.” She places her hands over hers, and Dom gulps at the contact even though they’ve officially been together for months and they’ve touched hands billions of times before. For some reason, this just feels different.
“‘Kay,” Darlene’s lazy drawl pulls her back to the present; her hands are still on top of hers, and they’re holding the bag between them. “You just shake it, like so.” She jostles the bag, her smile gradually getting wider as the M&Ms trickle further into the bag. Dom starts to laugh at the absurdity of it all, and Darlene can’t help but join in. After a couple more shakes, Darlene is finally satisfied with the popcorn-to-M&Ms ratio, and finally lets go of the bag and Dom’s hands. “Now for the best part.”
“There’s more?”
“Uh, yeah.” Darlene scoffs. “You eat it, duh.” She pats her on the knee. “Well? What are you waiting for? Do I have to feed you too?” She sticks a hand into the bag and grabs a fistful of food, inching closer towards Dom’s face. “Here comes the airplane-”
“Stop-” Dom splutters with laughter, leaning away just as Darlene leans in and pulls the bag from her hands, setting it on the floor before scrambling on top of her. This forces Dom to kick her feet up so she can lie down, taking up the whole couch, and Darlene steadies herself by digging her elbows into the cushions on either side of Dom’s shoulders. She hovers over the redhead, using her free hand to brush a few stray hairs away from her face.
“Open up.” Her voice is husky, demanding. Dom has no other choice but to do as she’s told; the second she opens her mouth, Darlene pops in a few kernels and some M&Ms. She can’t help but feel a little self-conscious as Darlene watches her chew, and when she finally swallows Darlene immediately hits her with:
“So…what’s the verdict, Agent DiPierro?”
Dom looks pleasantly surprised. “It’s not bad, actually.” She reaches for Darlene’s hand and pries it open so she can grab some more.
“I fucking knew it!” Darlene exclaims, bolting upwards so that she's straddling Dom's hips, and triumphantly punches the air before shoving whatever’s left in her hand into her mouth. “It’s impossible to hate the perfect movie snack.”
“I will never doubt your taste in snacks ever again.” Dom chuckles with amusement, stretching out an arm to grab the bag just as Flipper’s about to push her nose into it.
Darlene lowers herself back down, folds her arms over Dom’s chest, and rests her chin on top; her grin is infuriatingly mischievous, but also so enticing at the same time. “Don’t ever doubt me, period.” She bumps the end of her nose against Dom’s, and the redhead gets the message; she lifts her head slightly to touch their lips together, humming with delight when she can taste the saltiness of the popcorn and the sweetness of the chocolate. It’s the perfect combination.
The sound of Elliot obnoxiously coughing into his fist forces them to pull apart. He’s standing between them and the TV, his expression half-embarrassed, half-annoyed. This obviously isn’t the first time he has to remind them that they’re not the only ones in the room. “We’re good to go.”
“Sweet.” Darlene shimmies up a bit so she can fit her head into the side of Dom’s neck. Realizing that neither of them are moving, Elliot heaves a sigh and sits on the floor, leaning back against the couch. Dom hands him the bag, her expression sheepish, and he throws her a small smile before he takes it. He carefully inspects a few kernels, making sure there isn’t any melted chocolate sticking to them, before feeding Flipper.
“So,” Dom shifts a bit to make herself more comfortable; her hands easily rest against the small of Darlene’s back, her fingers idly toying with the frayed hem of her worn out sweater. “You guys do this every Halloween?”
“Yup.” Darlene’s eyes are half-closed as the opening scene of The Careful Massacre of the Bourgeoise starts to play out in front of them. “It’s tradition.”
“But the popcorn thing is what we do for every movie.” Elliot tacks on. “That’s a different tradition - which is why Halloween is really important, because we do both.”
“Am I allowed to ask why?”
There’s a bit of a pause; she isn’t sure if it’s because they’re hesitating to answer her, or if it’s because they’re trying to figure out who should explain it.
Darlene finally speaks up, lifting her head a few inches off Dom’s shoulder so she can make eye contact with her. “It’s one of the few things we don’t hate about our childhood.”
No further explanation is needed, and Dom raises her head so she can briefly kiss her. The person she was one year ago would’ve never thought to be openly affectionate with anyone, especially in front of their siblings - but look where she is now. In fact, all she wants to do nowadays is be around Darlene, to touch her, to taste her, to breathe her in, to just be next to her. She craves her almost as much as she craves lollipops. It’s an addiction, maybe even a vice - one that she’ll gladly indulge in whenever she finds the opportunity to do so. “I remember when I watched this for the first time. My brother Jerry showed it to me; he thought I’d like it for some reason.”
“I didn’t believe Darlene at first when she said you knew what this movie was.” Elliot chuckles before stuffing his face with another handful of popcorn and M&Ms. “We thought we were the only ones.”
“Well, we tried to get Angela to watch it a few times, but she couldn’t get into it.” Darlene’s fiddling with the collar of Dom’s blue and white striped button-up, pinching it and smoothing it out with her fingers before moving slightly downwards so she can play with the top button. “She was such a buzzkill.”
“Nope. Definitely weren’t the only ones.” Dom shakes her head. “It takes a special kind of wacky to want to watch this every year on Halloween, though.”
“Well, consider yourself the wackiest, because you’re officially in on the tradition.” Darlene cuddles closer, nuzzling her head into her neck. “You’re doing this with us every year now, whether you like it or not.”
Something warm and riveting inflates inside of Dom’s chest. She tightens her arms around Darlene and drops a kiss to the top of her head.
“Glad to be a part of it.”