insteadofwords | (no subject)

It's been a few days and Keys feel like he's at least sort of starting to settle in. His apartment is still pretty sparse, but he's bought a few things to make it feel cosier, more like his. He still misses his place in Seattle, misses how like him it had felt, but it's not like he can blame the apartment in Dimera for still feeling like it's someone else's, not when he's been in it for less than a week.

His wardrobe is also still feeling pretty basic. He'd bought a week's worth of plain t-shirts in black, white, navy, as well as a couple of pairs of jeans, a few sweaters, a hoodie, socks, boxers. His wardrobe in Seattle hadn't been anything to write home about, honestly, but there are a few things he'll miss. He found a decent pair of combat boots in an army surplus store, which helps with the weather.

He's met a few people so far but really the only person he can think of as a new friend is Rapunzel. She's been checking in regularly and he's thoroughly grateful every time his phone lights up with a text. They text a lot, not about anything in particular, and it's been pretty much the only thing that's stopped Keys from spiralling into just feeling desperately, completely alone.

When Rapunzel invited him over for dinner, Keys had a brief panic about what he should bring with him. His parents raised him to be polite, and he knows that it's good manners to not show up empty handed. So, when he shows up at her door, he's wearing the coat she helped him to buy, a hat pulled on over his hair, and he's got pie and he's got wine.

He's doing his best, anyway.

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From:

insteadofwords

"Well, if neither of us have a date, we can go together?" he says. As soon as it's out of his mouth, he wonders if he's misspoken, when she just mentioned her ex, who hasn't even been gone for a year. He reaches for his glass again, taking a sip. He likes Rapunzel, already likes spending time with her, but how much of that is the loneliness of being dropped a world away from anything he's ever known?

From:

fatesdesign

At the question, Rapunzel looks over at Keys with mild surprise. She hadn’t really been expecting that, but she doesn’t think that he means it like a date. He’s still so new, and Rapunzel has been showing him the ropes so far. Why not at a party, too?

“Sure, we could do that,” she says with a smile, nodding a little. “It’d be a good opportunity to introduce you to people like us. People that were brought to Darrow, I mean. Most of the locals are lovely, but they all seem to think this place is just a normal city.”

From:

insteadofwords

"It's going to get really tedious for you if you remain the only person I really know," says Keys, fiddling with his wine glass, idly wishing he'd thought to bring two bottles. "I have met a couple of people who live in my building. Oh, and there's apparently a guy who looks just like me? His girlfriend was pretty embarrassed when she kissed me by accident."

From:

fatesdesign

“Oh, I’m sure that I won’t be for long,” Rapunzel assures him as she stands up and gathers their plates. Keys seems like a good guy, if maybe a little shy, but she can’t imagine that he’ll have too hard of a time meeting people.

His story makes Rapunzel giggle in delight, nose scrunching, and she keeps on laughing as she takes the plates into the kitchen. She made a cake for dessert, but she grabs some plates and Keys’ pie instead, since he was thoughtful enough to bring it.

“Here for less than a day and already kissing girls,” she teases, thinking that it might make him blush. “Do you want something else to drink? I could open another bottle of wine.”

From:

insteadofwords

Keys drains what's left of his wine and then looks at the empty glass thoughtfully. "I don't have to drive or anything so, if you're happy for me to stay for a while longer, that would be great." She giggles and it's kind of amazing, actually. He does blush when she teases him, but he's smiling, too.

"And she absolutely kissed me," he says. "I'm a totally innocent party here."

From:

fatesdesign

"Well, you can't just eat and run," she teases, ruffling his hair again before heading back to the kitchen. She doesn't have a lot of wine on hand, but she does have a bottle of sparkling that she's been meaning to try, so she carefully pops the cork and brings it out to the table, pouring them each a glass before sitting back down.

"That's very funny," she admits, laughing again as she cuts and serves them each a small piece of pie. "I have someone who looks just like me too, apparently. Aside from the hair, of course. Hers is a reasonable length."

From:

insteadofwords

"No intention of it," he says. She ruffles his hair and he's so touched starved that he almost leans into it and purrs, it feels so good. He takes a deep breath, trying to get a hold on himself as she moves around in the kitchen.

"I'll keep that in mind," he says. "Reaonable hair." He pushes his own back from his face. "Your hair is very pretty, by the way."

From:

fatesdesign

"Oh. Well, thank you," Rapunzel replies, pleased by the compliment. She reaches up to run her fingers through her hair, pulling it back from her face, and she feels the sudden urge to tell Keys all about it-- why it's so long and golden and what it can do, but she doesn't. It isn't as if he's done anything to make him seem untrustworthy, but she's gotten so into the habit of not telling people about her magic just to keep herself safe. Too many people have tried to hurt her because of it, and it doesn't seem like magic existed where Keys is from. He's already processing enough as it is.

"It takes a lot of work, but I'm used to it," she tells him. "It's-- it's very important to me."

From:

insteadofwords

"It must be if you've spent that long growing it," says Keys, once again thinking of the story and thinking how baffling it is that he didn't make the link right away. He must have been in shock or something. He sips his wine, the bubbles fizzing pleasantly when he swallows. "Mine kind of just...is. I spent most of my life trying to stop it standing straight up, to be honest."

From:

fatesdesign

"It does seem to have a life of its own," Rapunzel says with a fond laugh, pulling herself to her feet and holding her wine glass in one hand as she steps in front of him, reaching out to run her fingers through his hair, combing it back and to the side. "I don't really have any hair products because mine hates it, but maybe you could try some of that wax stuff?"

She's a little tipsy, so that's probably why she keeps playing with his hair, fluffing it up and then tucking some behind one ear before she realizes just how much that she's touching him. She blushes a little and then giggles before sitting back into her chair. "It's good hair, is all I'm saying."

From:

insteadofwords

"Pretty much always has, yeah. It used to drive my dad crazy." She stands in front of him, ruffling her fingers through his hair and Keys is suddenly intensely aware of how close she is, how good she smells, how much she's touching him. And, when she bends forward a little, he can definitely see down her shirt. He quickly averts his eyes, blushing.

And there's that giggle again.

"Good is a strong word," he says. "At least I'm not in any danger of a receeding hairline."

From:

fatesdesign

"Neither am I," she replies with a musical laugh, setting her glass down so she can take a bite of her pie. It's not as good as hers, if she's being honest, but she'd never say as much. It's still a good pie.

"Getting a haircut seems like it would be very nice," she muses, sucking on the tines of her fork before setting it down. "I wouldn't know, obviously. But they wash your hair, right?"

She lifts her hands to make little clawing motions with her fingers. "Massage your scalp and all that? That sounds wonderful."

From:

insteadofwords

Keys takes a bit of his pie, glad he went for strawberry because it's pretty good. The question makes him kind of sad, actually - that she's so wistful for something she's never experienced.

"Yeah," he says. "It's pretty nice. Except for when you've got someone with, like, pincers for fingers or something."

From:

fatesdesign

"Well, no," she replies with a grin. "In that case, I imagine not."

Once they're done with their pie, Rapunzel gathers the plates and takes them into the kitchen with the others. The dishes can wait until later, maybe even tomorrow.

"Let's move back over to the sofa." She picks up her glass and the bottle on the way by, setting the latter down on the coffee table before sitting down on the middle cushion, legs tucked underneath her. "I was going to get your measurements, but I'll do that another time. When I've had less wine."

From:

insteadofwords

She sits in the middle of the couch so Keys tucks himself into one end, back against the arm, one knee folded up on front of him so that his leg touches hers. He takes another sip of his wine.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," he says. "Don't want to go to the trouble of making me a suit that doesn't fit right, right?"

From:

fatesdesign

"It's more that you probably don't need me drunkenly crawling all over you with a measuring tape," Rapunzel admits with a laugh, tossing her hair back over one shoulder a resting the base of her wine glass on his raised knee, slipping the stem between her fingers to hold it in place.

"Hm, what should we do?" She taps at her chin with her index finger and then laughs a little. "I'm not always that great at entertaining, as you can probably imagine."

From:

insteadofwords

Keys nearly says something about her crawling all over him not sound so bad, but he manages to bite it back at the last moment. Of course, she's gorgeous, and it's been a while since he was with anyone, but she's also pretty much the only thing he has approaching a friend here, and he is not about to fuck that up.

"Talking is good," he says, tilting his head, smiling a little when she basically uses him as a table; something about it makes him feel settled and comfortable, somehow. "But I did bring my glasses in case of movies or whatever."

From:

fatesdesign

"I do like talking," she admits, smiling over at him and then realizing how close she is to him, practically leaning against him with her wine on his knee. She sits up a little and removes her glass, biting her lip shyly. "If I'm touching you too much, just tell me."

Rapunzel is always a little prone to rambling, but it's made easier by the wine, and the good company. "I used to hug everyone, like all the time, because I went so long without anything like it, you know? But one day a friend sort of blew up at me. He said not everyone likes hugs, or being touched, and I shouldn't just do it. I try to think about it more now, because I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable."

She laughs a little self-consciously and tucks her hair behind her ear, not quite looking at him. "Almost eight years out of the tower and I feel like I'm still learning how to be a person."

From:

insteadofwords

Well, that's heart-breaking and, when she sits up, he can't help but feel a little bit disappointed. Keys lives alone and, when he'd lost Millie (through his own stupidity, really), he'd also lost the only person in Seattle who really touched him with any regularity. Sure, there had been hookups, a few short-lived girlfriends, even, but nothing regular. Nothing that lasted. He hates the thought of someone making her feel like that.

"I think we're all kind of learning how to be people sometimes," he says, and he reaches out with his free hand, brushing his knuckles against her upp arm. "You're not making me uncomfortable. Honestly."

From:

fatesdesign

"Okay, good." Rapunzel smiles at him and while it was a little embarrassing, she's glad that she asked. It's better to know for sure. When she lost Peter, she also lost most of the physical affection that she'd gotten so used to. Not just sex, but hugs and cuddling-- being able to put her head in someone's lap after a tough day. She'd gotten so used to that, and then suddenly it too was gone, and she was left so lonely and so cold that it felt like being locked away all over again.

She puts her hand back on Keys' knee with a shy smile, hair spilling in her face as she looks up from under her eyelashes. "I guess there's no one way to be a person. Everyone's just doing their best."

From:

insteadofwords

"That's pretty much my experience, yeah," says Keys, brushing his fingers over the back of her hand before he takes another sip of his wine. "I always try and remember that when I write characters, anyway. That way they don't all end up feeling the same, like they've been made with a cookie cutter or something."

From:

fatesdesign

Rapunzel understands very little about video games. She's never really played them, and her only real exposure to them was watching Peter play them sometimes. As someone who grew up without electricity, video games always seemed a little beyond her.

"So, it's like you're writing a book, but it's a video game?" She asks, curious and confused and slightly tipsy. "Like a choose your own adventure book."

From:

insteadofwords

"I like to think of myself as being like an author, sort of," says Keys, brightening visibly, leaning forward a little. "Except, instead of words, I use numbers - zeroes and ones. Words will let you down, right? People use words to lie to you, all kinds of stuff. But numbers? Are cool as shit."

From:

fatesdesign

"I don't really understand how computers work," Rapunzel admits, whispering loudly as if she's sharing a secret. But Keys looks so excited to talk about it, so Rapunzel puts her hand on his knee and rests her chin on it, gazing up at him curiously. "How do ones and zeroes become a video game? I think it might just be too complicated for me. My shop doesn't even have a website."

From:

insteadofwords

"Websites aren't super my area, but I did do some web-design as part of my degree, so if you ever want something putting together, I could probably do it," he says. She leans in, and he settles back a little, still beaming all over his face. "So, the zeroes and ones make up the code. And code is how you build the game."