(Untitled)

[curiously_cora]

Coraline awoke in a strange, unfamiliar room. This had happened before to her but the bed hadn't been this uncomfortable and the ceiling hadn't been boring coloured and the floor hadn't been neat or tidy but filled with all the things a ten year old girl would want. Coraline blinked tiredly looking around and rubbing the sleep and tears from her

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[haolehothead]

Danny's got one hand on a spatula, swearing away at the skillet as it burns the pancakes a little too hot. The other is cutting fruit, while he's got his foot at Zulu's chest, trying to keep him from begging for scraps. "Hey, Giraffe," he greets, giving a grin over his shoulder. "C'mon, pull up a seat, relax. Us normal people need breakfast, the ones who don't get up at a ridiculous hour to swim or commune with the water goddess or whatever he's doing out there."

[curiously_cora]

Coraline let out her breath, rushing forward to wrap her arms around him in relief. He didn't have button eyes, he was her Danny. Coraline hugged him tightly and pressed her face against his shoulder. He was her Danny.

"I thought you were-" Coraline began before pressing her lips together. He was her Danny. Coraline shook her head and let go of him. "It's nothing."

Coraline forced a smile on her face moving away and dropping down to the floor to pick up Bobo. Crossing her legs as she sat down Coraline pulled him onto her lap and scratched his ears and hugged him tight. She didn't need to be scared. He was her Danny. "Maybe he's doing something really, really boring and lazy and he's just making you think he's communing with Percy's dad. Poseidon, I mean."

[haolehothead]

Danny settles the pancakes on a plate, adding some fruit to it before he makes his way to the table, putting it in front of her before dropping a quick kiss to her hair, smoothing it when he's done. It's a sleepy morning habit that he's always done with Grace and he does it now without thinking much about it. "You're safe," he promises. "And these? These are not just any ordinary pancakes. These are apology pancakes and they're also a limited time offer. Today and today only, you can ask anything you want and I'll be honest. I mean, you can always ask whatever you want, but I may be telling little white lies."

[curiously_cora]

"I wasn't worried about me," Coraline said both honestly and dishonestly. She was worried but seh'd been more worried that he wasn't- that he was other. Coraline sighed and leaned into the kiss absentmindedly not even fussing with her hair when he smoothed it down. "I've never had apology pancakes before."

Coraline pushed away Bobo's nose as he sniffed at her pancakes. Kissing his ear Cora dropped him down onto the floor where he sat and waited for her to drop him some food like always. Coraline was halfway through a mouthful when she finally decided to ask.

"Whaph shorth ofth- What sort of questions can I ask?" Coraline said pulling off a piece of pancake and dangling it down from her fingers for the puppys. Well, for Bobo but Cora knew Zulu would probably come running.

[haolehothead]

Danny swats at Zulu when he goes running for the pancake, crouching down to pick up the dog so that he doesn't get any wayward treats. It's that, or Steve's going to make good on his promise to watch the dog's waistline and start taking him on runs and that's just cruel to do to any adorable animal. "I dunno, I figured you'd be brimming with 'em, especially after our fight yesterday."

[curiously_cora]

Coraline doesn't mind when Bobo snatches the pancake instead. She takes him on enough walks and runs as it is, if he wasn't like his owner he'd probably be knackered by how much they did. Cat simply slinked off, he didn't do 'exercise' or following quite so much as the puppy.

"I am, I just- you're not going to yell at me, are you?" Coraline asked as she cut up her pancakes to eat them. Coraline bit her lip thoughtfully before asking. "What's kissing with tongues like? How do you know if you like boys or girls? Why do boys act funny if you touch them without their shirts on? What do boys like? In girls I mean."

[haolehothead]

"I may make a pinched face," Danny admits, because while he's going to make an effort to really be honest, there are things that he doesn't want to think about Coraline needing to know. "Kissing with tongues is both gross and fun. It's not really something you do every time you see a person, but it's a nice change if you're kissing with no real goal in mind. You don't know if you like boys or girls until you try or you grow up and you figure it out, boys act funny because they should be wearing shirts and it embarrasses them to know their biology is messed up."

"As for what boys like in girls? Well, when I was wooing Rachel, I loved that she was strong and independent and funny and gorgeous," he says with a fond grin on his lips. "She was...perfect."

[curiously_cora]

"That's okay, Adam made funny faces too. Wait, why is their biology messed up? What does that mean?" Coraline asked after a moment. Coraline still didn't understand why Johnny had acted so weirdly to her when she'd just been trying to help him after the jump into the water. She'd tried touching her own back but she didn't see what was so... um about it. "No one likes me not like that. Well, maybe Johnny. I don't know. He says ummm a lot."

[haolehothead]

"Were you touching him when he wasn't himself, kiddo?" Danny asks, settling the pup in his lap as he sits down. "Cuz, I mean, I was feeling pretty awkward myself and Steve got kicked in the balls for touching me at the wrong time." Well, not exactly, but he doesn't want to tell Coraline the whole story of the why on that one. "People get sensitive when their bodies are being screwed with."

[curiously_cora]

"But he was himself. He was just an older self." Coraline said after another mouthful of food. Bobo was beginning to whine so she picked him up and put him on her lap, once he was happily situated on her lap and therefore closer proximity to her food he settled down. "I was just, we went waterfall diving and he took a breath wrong when we jumped so I was trying to help him. Wait, did you really kick him in the balls? But he's... super Steve!"

[haolehothead]

"Himself or not, he was in a body he wasn't used to. Cut him some slack," Danny insists, digging into his food, shoveling whole forkfuls into his mouth. "And yeah, I really kicked him in the nuts, but he deserved it," Danny says emphatically, not seeing any other way around it.

[curiously_cora]

"I guess, I didn't think about it like that. He just acted really weirdly," Coraline said, though she still thought there was something else that Danny wasn't telling her about. Maybe it was the beyond umming stuff. Maybe she'd never figure out what it was. "What did he do? To deserve the kicking I mean."

Coraline wrapped an arm around Bobo, hugging him close as she ate with her free hand.

[haolehothead]

"Look, Coraline, guys are sometimes weird if there are feelings involved. I mean, my former wife? She hit my car with hers to show me that she liked me. Steve calls me Danno and takes me out on ridiculous dates," he offers as example. "Maybe he just doesn't know what to do with his feelings, especially if there's a physical component involved. You were both grown, I assume he was having a reaction."

Danny pokes at his eggs, pursing his lips slightly. "Nothing, he just, made a suggestion I didn't approve of."

[curiously_cora]

"I can't believe she hit your car," Coraline said, looking up from her plate to smile at Danny. Coraline hadn't thought about hitting Johnny but subtlety Coraline had found with Hiccup hadn't worked well. Maybe she needed to hit him? "What do you mean he was having a reaction? What sort of reaction? A bad one? I didn't hurt him, did I? Only movies never talk about that, they just talk about the kissing and happy ever afters."

Coraline reached across with her fork, stabbing Danny's eggs and trying to lift them over on to her plate. "Did he want to make you wear a dress with bows on?"

[haolehothead]

"Hey, she was a unique woman, what can I say?" Danny says fondly, a stupid grin on his face. Maybe it's distance, maybe it's the lack of arguments about the custody situation, but Danny's actually pretty goddamn happy with his memories of Rachel. "I'm talking about a physical reaction, like when I kiss Steve the way he likes. Okay? It's an adult thing, and you were both temporarily adults. Maybe he liked it and maybe he was embarrassed."

"And no, no dress," Danny says, swatting at her fork with his own. "I wore the dress on my own volition to make Steve make aneurysm face."

[curiously_cora]

"I think I'd like her. I mean, you liked her so she must be pretty cool. I like Mister Steve though too," Coraline said as she stole some more of his eggs whilst he was grinning stupidly. Coraline began to eat them, trying to talk through her mouthful of food before she stopped. "It was a good reaction? But he should have said he liked it, there's nothing to be embarassed about... was there?"

Coraline still didn't quite know what he meant by physical reaction but she'd go and ask him later. He'd probably just umm at her though. "Was he very... ummm at you?"