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Lady kicked the door in, in a bad mood. A very bad mood. Her job had gone sideways, and then the pay was paltry for what she ended up having to do. On top of that, she was ovulating or something because she was way too hot blooded for how annoying the hunt had been.
Which led her to make the, perhaps poor, decision of bothering Dante. She needed some spending money that didn’t feel like hers, and maybe something else…
To her surprise, he was actually sleeping in his bed for once.
He was awake, she knew, but pretending to be asleep. She approached his bed, unsure if she really should bother him. Her poor decision had been tempered by the fact she knew he had a job coming up, which meant he’d be out. And if he were out she could crash in his bed and then bother him in the morning.
“Mmm, Lady,” he muttered, “I would really hate to be woken up by a blow job…”
“You would, wouldn’t you,” she muttered, poking his nose. “I need spending money.”
At the touch, he opened his stupid stunning eyes, and found her in the dark. He groaned, and said, “Lady, this was almost a really good dream, why’d you have to ruin it with talk about money?”
“It still could be,” she bargained.
“I’m game if you’ll do the work.”
“Lazy ass,” she muttered, but started removing her clothes all the same. Shifting to something to get him a little worked up, she crooned, “Does Lover Boy want to be taken care of?”
Dante would never admit that he liked the coddling, but from how it never failed to get a reaction out of him, she knew he did. She stopped joking about mommy issues once she caught that it did bother him, but this wasn’t exactly that. This was more finding one place where he didn’t have to be the one responsible. Not that he acted like it all the time, but the fact was he was one of the few things holding the demon world back as his father had done before him.
“He might,” Dante said, playing into the game, lifting up the blankets so she could join him. He hadn’t even taken off his pants to go to bed, and Lady clicked her tongue as she undid his belt.
She ended up not doing all of the work, but admittedly she liked being in charge most of the time.
Still, she curled up next to him, half wishing she could say all the things in her heart rather than act like everything was transactional. But if he knew how much she cared he might try and push her away more.
No… it was safer to just let him think she was using him a little. She wasn’t sure how much she helped him, but she hoped it was some.
The morning came too quickly, and Lady was woken by the frightened scream of Patty.
“Oh it’s just you Lady,” Patty said, relieved, and then shocked again. “Lady, what are you doing here? Why are you in Dante’s bed?”
Lady blinked. It was easy to forget about Patty now that she was living with her mom. She only stopped by now once or twice a month, rather than nearly daily as she had been. It was part of why Lady had thought to indulge. She was about to play it off as a sleep over, until she remembered Patty was a bit old for that excuse.
Lady didn’t like lying to people, but it was easier than telling the truth… whatever that even was. That a few years ago Dante and her had married on paper for tax benefits? That since then they’d been satiating whatever sexual desire they had with each other? That she was pretty sure she was in love with him, but had no idea if he cared for her more than a friend?
So she lied.
“He’s got a comfortable bed,” Lady said, “I crashed after a job and his place was closer. Is he out?”
Patty nodded.
“Figures,” Lady hissed. That was just like him, get her all pliant and sated, and then sneak out without getting her her spending money. Probably figured that night would tide her over some, put her in a good mood. The worst part was that it did.
“So and Dante aren’t…” Patty started, and ended with, “In love?”
“Dante?” Lady asked, “In love? Only an idiot would fall in love with someone like him.”
She was the idiot.
“In my dramas,” Patty said, as if there were sage wisdom on her soap operas, “Whenever someone says that they usually mean the opposite.”
“That’s just in dramas though,” Lady said, “This is real life, and I can assure you Dante isn’t in love with me.”
Even if the way he talked and looked at her made her wonder. She was surely just mistaking the friendly affection and obvious attraction for romantic love. If he actually loved her he would say that. Right?
“Okay,” Patty agreed, although Lady wasn’t sure how much Patty actually agreed. “It’s just that Dante is always talking about women, but he never seems to actually hang out with any besides you,” Patty said, “Well, and Trish sometimes.”
“He’s all talk,” Lady dismissed, “He wouldn’t know what to do with me if he had me.”
That was a half lie. He often was a bit overwhelmed by her, but he did know what to do with her. He knew all too well.
And he did have her. Legally at least. And last night.
“I always planned on marrying rich after all,” Lady said, once more lying.
…
A week later and Patty had swung by again, this time to witness Lady lean in and whisper something that was mostly incomprehensible, but ended with a clear, “Baby Boy.”
Dante smirked at the term of address, something playing under his eyes, when he noticed Patty.
“Patty,” he greeted, hiding whatever it was under layers of cavaliere attitude, “Long time no see.”
“I would have seen you had you been home last Saturday.”
“Lady told me how you broke in.”
“Only after she broke in,” Patty defended. “But I called and told you.”
Dante shrugged, “I must have been out.”
Lady stood up from the desk and made her way to the door. “Speaking of, I should get going. I have an appointment to make with a client. I’m pretty sure it's just a raccoon, but we shall see. For what they’re paying me I wouldn’t care if it were a king of hell.”
“Maybe you’ll find your rich husband,” Patty joked.
Lady glanced between Dante and Patty before saying light heartedly, “Maybe I will.”
She left after that, Dante frowning and asking, “What sort of joke is that?”
“What do you mean?” Patty asked.
“Lady finding a rich husband,” he clarified, “we both know only someone out of his mind would marry her.”
“Funny, she said the same thing about you,” Patty said.
Dante flipped open his magazine, and Patty thought that he must not be in love with Lady, as what sane man would look at models if he had a girlfriend as beautiful as Lady.
“We were talking about it last Saturday because she was sleeping in your bed, but then claimed you two weren’t together, and that she just crashes there sometimes.”
“She bought the mattress,” he admitted, “said it was sad that I was sleeping on my couch and that since it was her money, she got to pick it out.”
Patty supposed that made sense, even if it was weird.
“But yeah,” Patty continued, “she said she planned on marrying rich.”
“Matches her, greedy bitch,” he grumbled, “I wish she would, maybe then she’d stop bothering me.”
Even if Lady wasn’t his lover, Patty thought that was a clear lie.
“Knowing her she’d keep coming back to me, trying to wring the last drop out of me.”
It was a strange turn of phrase, but Patty, being only eleven, didn’t pick up that normally he would say ‘penny.’
She went to the TV and turned on X-Files reruns, Dante returning to his reading. After a while of Scully and Mulder having far too much chemistry on screen for just being partners, Patty asked during a commercial break, “Why did Lady call you baby boy?”
“When did she say that,” Dante said, playing dumb.
“Just before she left. She called you baby boy.”
“I don’t know, why does Trish call me baby?”
Patty frowned. “Because she calls everyone baby. The same way you call everyone babe. But I’ve never heard Lady call anyone ‘baby boy.’”
Dante glanced over at her over the edge of his magazine. “How about we stop talking for a bit.”
Patty’s frown deepened, but the commercial break ended and she was once more held captive by the mystery in the episode.