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Kate hopped the gap between the rooftops, nearly shouldering Crane and frowning at the back of his head for standing too close to where he knew she would jump. No notice was given to her as the man in question gazed out, over the roof's edge and at whatever it was he cared about. Kate wasn't sure, he hadn't been very specific about the details of his request. But she had agreed as a return of favour to him, and now that they were at least forty five minutes from her apartment there wasn't much using in demanding clarification. Good thing it was only the afternoon or there was a chance she wouldn't have made it back in time.
"We're here. Just the next building over." Crane declared, not even offering her a glance before he moved forward. Kate had noticed that he seemed pretty single minded about the whole ordeal thus far. Something serious, maybe.
She followed him to the opposite edge, regarding as much of the building as she could from its side. She could see that at the front a little line jutted out, detailing the presence of a sign, but its contents were lost at her angle. Instead she let herself drown in curiosity and made the little leap over to where Crane was already tugging at a square of metal on the surface of the roof. A few hearty tugs at the thing gave little cricks and cracks of taunting while Crane muttered at it under his breath. Knowing she couldn't be much help Kate instead moved for the building's front and observed the streets below, taking in the idle swarm of biters that doddled around on the scorching concrete. They didn't notice the two adults swooping through the skies, or maybe at this point they just realized that they couldn't touch anything not at ground level and decided to ignore them instead. Regardless, Kate zigzagged her gaze through them until they came to one of the city's endless supply of abandoned cars, deserted at a slant on the street and catching the light just right for her to see a reflection in it. She tried to convince herself that it was just reflected at a funny angle when in it showed the same letter, repeated three times on a dead neon light board.
'XXX.'
Kate coughed up a curt chuckle at her mistake and moved closer to the roof's edge, leaning forward to try get an upside down view of the sign's real contents. Even when it showed the same thing, it took realizing that no other buildings on the street had any signs for Kate to consider believing it.
"Hey, Crane?" she called, blinking her eyes a few times and praying that what she was reading would suddenly change.
The lazy grunt in place of an actual word made her turn her head to the guy still battling with a chunk of meal.
"Are you sure this is the place?" she wondered.
"Oh yeah, this is the place alright." Crane answered. Kate did not care for the little chuckle and slyness in his voice.
"Come on. Last time y-"
The little hatch lost the fight and cracked open with a creak of protest, effectively quieting Crane. The corner of his mouth pulled into a smirk before he hopped down without any concern for Kate's unsettled state. A moment later her own feet hit the floor inside, welcoming her to an upstairs balcony, reasonably well lit with the afternoon light fighting through a set of thin curtains. Crane was already halfway down the square staircase that was pressed into the walls when Kate hissed his name. He only slowed down while he looked up to her expectantly, never stopping his descent.
"Crane, why the hell are we in a porn store?!"
"Porn store?" Crane echoed, the ruffled brown mess on top of his head disappearing under Kate's feet while he moved to the store's front.
"Who calls it a porn store?"
Kate spluttered with indignant annoyance and shuffled to the stairs, hastily skipping down them and barely ghosting her hand on the rail. One unchecked placement had her inches from flattening her nose against the wall, and she quickly rectified the lack of proper handrail usage for the rest of the journey. The only open door of the three in the little entryway was to her left, and she ducked in, blinking in surprise at the scene. Rows and rows of little boxes lined the two sided shelves about the place, along with a few of the same built into little cabinets on the walls. A few steps closer revealed them as a collection of DVDs that Kate would rather not have inspected any closer.
"Hey." Crane stole her attention.
He stood behind a desk with a register on it, leaning on a metal cabinet and watching Kate with far too serious an expression for the situation. She approached and watched as Crane turned again to the cabinet and tapped his index and middle finger on the left door.
"C'mere." he ordered.
When Kate complied, he locked eyes with her and jabbed the same fingers against a slim space where the doors separated.
"Alright, here's the deal. Left door is loose. Get your fingers in and ease it open so I can grab something."
Kate stared at him.
"What's the matter?" he demanded.
"You want me to help you get some porn?" she murmured, challenging his impatient stare with one of incredulity.
Suddenly his eyes crinkled at the sides and his mouth pulled itself into a smirk.
"Aw, you embarrassed to be in here with me?" he crooned.
"I'm embarrassed to be on the same planet as you right now."
Crane scoffed and shook his head, looking off to the side while the skin on his cheek bulged behind his tongue. By the time he looked back to her, he carried a brazen look in his eyes and shrugged.
"Look, I'm a guy, I've got... needs. Would you just-" he finished his confession by giving the door of the cabinet a little rattle and jerking his head to it encouragingly.
Kate sighed profusely and shook her head, sliding her fingers into the little slot. Completely ridiculous or not, she was already here, and she had a promise to fulfill. The sooner she did so, the sooner she could bury the memory deep within the recesses of her mind. She bent her knees and pulled, feeling the door give way ever so slightly, increasing with continued efforts that made her muscles whine.
"Come on, put a little elbow grease into it." Crane egged her on.
"Why-" Kate tried, pausing to grunt a breath and pull harder.
"-aren't you doing this?"
"My hands are too big." he explained matter of factly, finally shoving his own hand in and starting to rummage.
"You've got lady hands."
Kate scowled at him, feeling a little righteous on behalf of her trembling 'lady' hands prying a metal door open.
"Keep talking if you wanna lose that arm." she strained.
Another few moments of burning muscles and Crane extracted a DVD box, his features raising into a pitifully excited smile.
"Nice. Check it out!" he exclaimed proudly, turning the DVD to Kate who snapped her head away and glared at the wall in a display of defiance. She felt no need to explain herself and eventually Crane relented, returning the case to his body.
"Prude." he muttered.
Kate didn't care if his fingers were still present when she let the door crack shut again. She shook her own hands off from the strain and looked back to the shelves lining the floor in front of the counter out of dim interest.
"How are you even going to watch that?" she wondered, sliding along the shelves until one in the furthest corner caught her interest; Books.
"Who said anything about watching?" Crane's voice was entirely too sly again.
"It's got a cover, hasn't it?"
"Oh, Christ." Kate groaned.
"Front and back." he continued.
She abandoned the sleazy little man and moved instead toward the shelf of interest. Thankfully, there was no clomping of his heavy footsteps behind her.
"Uh, yeah, good idea. Let's look for some supplies." he agreed, apparently only now feeling a little ashamed if the way he hardly spoke above a mumble was any indication.
She reached the shelf, peering over as he made way for the exit and disappeared into the entryway before surveying the available titles.
"Wet Dream; The First- Nope." she shook her head and moved on.
"Lapdog Libido. Catchy."
"How To Train His Dragon. Nice."
None of the books made the cut until the first that didn't sound ludicrous met her eye.
"Nine and a Half Weeks. Hm."
She picked up the thing, turning it over in her hands a few times and abandoning her shame while she opened it on a random page and scanned the first sentence to cross her gaze.
"The searing pain is an inextricable part of a wave of excitement; every cell in my body is awash with lust."
An eyebrow graduated halfway up her forehead and her fingers clutched the book just a little tighter.
"Having fun there?"
Kate's skeleton attempted a daring escape from her skin and her neck threatened to snap at the speed she whipped around to Crane.
He wore a cocky grin, the skin on his forehead wrinkling when he saw Kate's cheeks heat up ferociously and the poor book bend in her clutch.
"Embarrassed to be on the same planet as me, eh?"
"Shut up." she hissed, her face somehow darkening even more.
Crane chuckled quietly, shaking his head once more.
"Guess you're glad you came to this porn store after all."
Kate's jaw clenched as she tried to glare his mouth closed.
Crane wasn't going to let her forget this for a long time.