Outside the Kitchens, by the Painting of the Pear

"Yeah, I miss going to matches. Oh, yeah, they're done," Dee said, handing him the teeth spoon thingie so he could finish up the meal. "How many cousins do you have? I don't really have any close ones. I have an aunt, but she's batshit crazy, and she has no kids. We don't talk about her much." She summoned a small wedge of cheese and fed it to Spaghetti, who had been sitting on the counter.

Marco laughed a little, taking the teeth spoon from her. He got two plates for them and scooped out a good portion of noodles before topping it with a couple of meatballs each and a few scoops of delicious red spaghetti sauce. "I've got a massive family. You ought to see the amount of food we have to cook at Christmas. Looks like you could feed a whole army, but it's gone in a few hours. You eat fast at Christmas, or you go hungry. My mum's got three siblings, and dad's got four, and all of them have a least two kids, some of them three or four, so I've got cousins out the wazoo. I'm the only one of my family though. The only only child." He picked up their plates and moved them over to where the stools were, putting one in front of each stool and getting them some forks and glasses of cold water. Handing her a fork, he tugged the stool out a little for her before taking a seat himself. "Dig in."

Dee, ever the epitome of ladylikeness, dug in. "This," she said, after a swallowing a few mouthfuls, "is bloody delicious. I'm inviting myself to your Christmas dinner next year. No big deal or anything." She took a few more bites before saying, "that's a large family, though. I only have one sister, and we don't really get along, so I'd like to think of myself as an only child, but sadly, I am not."

Marco smiled at her, enjoying a few huge bites of his own. "Glad you liked it. And you should absolutely come with me for Christmas. Food like this, except more and even better. They'd hardly notice you were there, actually, since there are so many of us. It would be very fun." He stabbed a meatball, eating it all in one bite. Normally he might have cut it up to try and not be so messy or savage or something, but he felt comfortable with Dee already and didn't have to pretend to be neat and clean if he didn't want to. "But you are definitely invited for Christmas. Just wait until you try my grandmother's lasagna. It will honestly blow your mind."

"Good. I don't think I could stand another Greengrass family Christmas. They're just so boring, and ugh." Dee grimaced and twirled some spaghetti. "Well, now I want some of your grandmother's lasagna," she said with a laugh. She took a bite of her twirled spaghetti, and she didn't even care that she got sauce on her face. She was very comfortable around Marco as well. And besides, he would probably end up kissing it off anyway.

Yes, none of that sauce will go to waste. "You will definitely never be bored at my house. A big manor full of loud and hungry Italians, well that's endless entertainment right there. Maybe I'll make the lasagna for you, that is, if you want to keep hanging out sometimes. I hope you do." He glanced at her sideways, taking another bite of spaghetti, sucking in that one piece that always hung out like a real spaghetti eating pro. Now Pansy really wants some spaghetti, and might make some for breakfast tomorrow. Yep. Spaghetti for breakfast.

People in my native country put syrup on spaghetti, or something. IDK. I've never been home. *tears* I might go over spring break though, so yeah. "Course I do," Dee said with a smile. "I like you. You're a cool guy, and you cook, which is a bonus, so when I hang out with you, I get food. Win win, right? Dee watched him, thinking that he was a spaghetti eating professional. One day, perhaps, she would perfect that art. What up.

YOU'RE AN ELF?! DO YOU STICK TO THE FOUR BASIC FOOD GROUPS?! Marco will teach her the best ways to eat spaghetti, and she'll go spaghetti eating pro in no time at all. "Well good, because I'd love to hang out with you more. And make you lasagna and ravioli and maicotti and cannolis and tiramisu." He ate another meatball and took a sip of water before looking at Dee again. "I like being with you. There's something refreshing about it." He reached over, smiling and using his thumb to slowly wipe a little sauce off the corner of her mouth.

YES, THAT'S TOTALLY IT, PANS. I AM AN ELF. YOU GOT ME. "Cannolis? That's it, we're getting married. I'm proposing to you right now," Dee joked. Dee just really likes cannolis, okay? "I like being with you too." She smiled at him, looking down at his hand as it came close to her face to whip off that silly sauce. She was just saving it for kissing time a midnight snack.

I KNEW IT. Marco laughed at her spontaneous proposal. Smiling at her, he couldn't quite think of the right thing to say, because after being lonely and sad for so long after Katie disappeared, he was finally feeling very happy again. And everything felt so natural with Dee, it was like he'd known her for ages even though it had only been two hours. Instead of speaking, he leaned forward and kissed her again, his tongue moving over her bottom lip, enjoying the flavor of spaghetti sauce that was on it.

MER. SAD DEE IS SAD AND SHE HAS TO GOOOOOOO. I'll be on early tomorrow morning before my flight though, and I will post to you then. AND EVERYTHING WILL BE DECO AND NOTHING WILL HURT. Bye, love!

HOORAY! SLEEP WELL AND I SHALL POST SO IT WILL BE WAITING WHEN YOU RETURN TO US <3 LOVE YOU AND HAVE AN AWESOME FLIGHT AND A SUPER TIME IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC! I SHALL MISS YOU.

AWWW, I WILL MISS YOU TOOOOOOOOOO. *clings forever*

Dee smiled as he leaned back in, kissing him back just as forcefully. Eventually, she pulled back and twirled one strand of spaghetti on her fork. She put it in her mouth and let it hang there while she raised her eyebrows suggestively. Yes, this is Lady and the Tramp. Except we aren't dogs. And Marco isn't a tramp. Hmm...

Marco smirked at her when she left a bit of spaghetti hanging from her lips. He grinned and leaned in, taking the end of the string of spaghetti between his own lips. He slowly drew it into his mouth, inching their lips closer together little by little. Eventually the spaghetti between them grew shorter, and their lips touched, he bit the spaghetti in half, kissing her lightly before leaning back to chew the noodle in his mouth. Reaching up for her face, he smiled and wiped a bit of sauce off her bottom lip with his thumb.

"I wasn't finished with you," Dee informed Marco, pulling him back across the counter as his hand retracted from her face. She kissed him again, much more passionately than the predecessors.


And that is the best I can do at the moment. Sorry, bff.

"Ah, pardon me, Miss." Marco grinned, leaning back in quite happily. He grabbed her face lightly in his hands, tugging her closer until he could weave his fingers through her soft hair a little bit. Marco was really beginning to like Dee, not just for her kisses, but those were very very nice.

I forgive you bff. I MISS YOU DID YOU HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!?!

Of course they're nice. Everything about Dee is just sunshine and rainbows and nice. And bolars too. She kissed him back again for like the millionth time, but that's totally okay, because she was starting to like Marco a lot too, because is very very nice. And very very sexy too. After a little more snogging, which was very very nice, Dee pulled away. "We never finished getting to know each other, you know. It's question time now. When did you start learning English? You're really good."

IT WAS VERY VERY AWESOME BFF. THANKS FOR ASKING. <3333333333

Marco looked at her, quite disappointed about being detached from her cute lips, but happy because now he could look at her cute freckles and her cute eyes. "Fair enough, we didn't finish." He picked up his fork again, because he wasn't done eating and leaving any leftovers was a crime the way he was raised. "Well thank you. My aunt taught me English starting, eh, probably when I was about seven. Still have the accent, but fluent enough, I think. Helpful, seeing as most people couldn't understand me telling them sono dipendente dei tuoi baci."

Dee laughed. "Well, I think the accent is hot, so you should keep it," she said with a wink. "I started learning English at zero, but that's pretty obvious," she joked. She stabbed her last meatball with a fork and ate it in one bite. "Yeah, I don't have any clue as to what you just said. What does it mean?"

Marco smirked at her comment about his accent, glad she liked it. "Well I am glad your parents wasted no time in educating you how to speak." He chuckled slightly as she ate a meatball whole, copying her and having another for himself. After swallowing, he answered her. "Oh, just means I am addicted to your kisses." He leaned over, kissing her cheek. "Shame, really, since we've only just met. Anyway, it's my turn now. Hmm. What's your favorite vacation?"

"It actually wasn't really my parents who taught me. My house elf was the one who heard my first word," Dee said with a shrug. We'll go with a standard pureblood sob story. "I'm surprised I don't have a squeaky accent, to be honest. I'm very lucky." She blushed as he translated into English and kissed her cheek. Cuteness. "Well, luckily for you, I'm addicted to yours too," she said, copying him and kissing his cheek in return. "My favorite vacation," she said, biting her lip as she tried to think of one. "I really liked when we went to France. I know a little French, and I liked being able to use it. How about you?"

Marco smiled and tilted his head a little in interest at her story. "Well even if you were squeaky, I bet it'd still be cute coming from you. And then I could call you Squeaky, which would just be buckets of fun. He smiled even wider when she kissed his cheek back, but when she was thinking and biting her lip, that was all he could look at, all he could think about. Damn it was cute. It made him want to kiss her more, but he sat there like a good boy instead as she talked. "France, yes, France is nice. They have especially good mussel dishes there. Don't tell mum," he told her, leaning closer to speak more softly, "but there's a cafe just outside Paris that serves mussels better than hers." He winked, sitting up again. "You can speak French though? That's very cool. I only ever learned the minimums, bonjour, au revoir, oui, s'il vous plait, merci, on va chez toi ou chez moi?" He laughed at the last one, shaking his head. "I never did use that particular phrase, 'your place or mine'. My cousin tried on several occasions, but I suppose the french girls had higher standards than he stood up to."

Dee pouted. "Being called Squeaky would not be cute," she said, but a smile suddenly overcame the pout. "I like the bread," she admitted, "and crepes. They're sort of the greatest thing ever. And I definitely don't mind a croque-monsieur now and again. That's basically a sandwich. Grilled cheese and ham. And don't worry, I won't tell her." She winked back. "Oui! But only a little bit. Enough to make a conversation. Er... Bonjour, je m'appelle Daphne. J'aime les chiens et toi. Tu es beau."

Marco smiled at her, moving forward until they were nose to nose. "You lost me a little bit. Maybe we could stick to english. Or body language. Got a favorite form of that, perhaps?" He smirked a little, touching the tips of their noses together. He didn't move, wanting instead to wait and see if she liked it all as much as he did. Sure they'd just met, but she was intriguing. Something about her.

"Well, if you really want to know, I said 'Hello, my name is Daphne. I like puppies and you. You're handsome,'" she said, not moving away from his face. "But I don't think you really wanted to know, did you?" she smirked. "And maybe I do have a favorite form of that. Do you wanna find out?" Dee was of the same opinion. She found Marco intriguing as well. She grinned at him and kissed the tip of his nose. "I can go lower, if you want," she said, knowing he'd want it.