what_big_teeth | Eleanor's Voicemail.

Ok. That was a strange response to her earlier message.

So she sent a text back:

Look, you have a great body and everything. We all know that. I don't need to see it to believe it. This has nothing to do with your romantic feelings and my previous text.

Well, that was going to keep Eleanor internally flailing for a while now, good job, Kamala!

When Kamala got THAT MESSAGE she immediately started to flail.

I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT!

Which oddly might make sense with Eleanor's other message.

Because when a message Kamala kicked off comes full circle then so should this one.

After class, Kamala might have had a bit of revelation and anxieties unleashed.

Thanks Navaan.

So there was a very rushed text sent off to Eleanor.

“Hey! Quick question… apparently I’m very into quality time and I like to show off. That’s not a dealbreaker for you is it?”

And Eleanor general blinked at her phone in surprise whenever she got a text message, but this one was quite possibly the blinkiest.

No. Absolutely not. Why would it be?

Kamala Khan, 'I ate a kid' and 'I almost killed the last girl I liked' weren't deal-breakers on your side of the fence; who was Eleanor to hold...spending time with each other and being able to do cool things again her??

The fact that Kamala had even texted her at all was honestly sending Eleanor over the moon at that moment, pretty sure those things had been dealbreakers.

Look. Navaan had a way of getting into your brain. So now Kamala was convinced she was boring. And a show off.

It made sense in Kamala’s head.

But Eleanor’s text was putting her at ease.

So you won’t think I’m boring?

Mostly.

That response was not at all helping with Eleanor's confusion, wondering what could have possibly have inspired this. She started to wonder if it was one of those traps she never really saw coming because she could never really get a grasp on normal social skills, but, just as she sometimes couldn't help what she said outloud, she was already typing a response before she could stop herself.

I don't think you could be boring even if you tried.

Yes, Eleanor acknowledged that she had a very firm bias on that, but she still felt plenty of people would agree.

Or that, if they didn't, clearly they were just wrong.

And with that statement from Eleanor, not only did her anxiety vanish but Kamala’s heart melted a little.

Awww! You’re so sweet! Sorry. My professor made us take a quiz and it messed with my head. Hey, would you be up for a movie night next week?

When Eleanor looked into it a little, this whole exchange would start to make a little more sense, but, at the moment, she just couldn't help but really, really wonder what type of quiz that could have been.

And, at the moment, she was much more distracted by the latter part of the last text than the first, with both a flutter in her chest and a brick dropping into her stomach.

The response was a little delayed, as Eleanor agonized for a few moments on exactly how she should probably response.

All that agonizing, just to end up with:

Sure. I'd like that. When were you thinking?

Not to worry about the Delay Eleanor. Kamala had already hit the T&C and gotten another Squishy on the way back from class while she waited on a response.

Tuesday? Wednesday? Whatever works for you really.

And then as an afterthought:

And we can wear our favorite shenanigan outfits if you’d like!

And Eleanor almost thought to herself that, yes, this, here, was where Kamala showed her hand. Where she made a revealing move on the chess board, in shining a light on the trap. She would convince Eleanor to show up in one of those ridiculous outfits, but no one else would, leaving her mortified and the laughing stock of the entire rest of the summer.

Almost. Because, no, she didn't have to think hard at all to remember Kamala at the shenanigans and how this was a young woman who genuinely loved some of those costumes. And as paranoid and hurt as Eleanor had been in the past, even she couldn't see anyone playing that long of a game for just one dumb prank.

I don't know how I could possibly pick a favorite.

Oh, the tragedy of the doible-edged dryness inherent in the statement being lost to the medium of text!

But maybe Wednesday is better. Just in case the outfits are good enough to blow all the previous ones out of the water.

There might have been a little happy dance as Kamala went up the stairs to her room.

Awesome! You, me and ~~meta-for~~ Shrek. Perfection

Dropped off at Eleanor's mailbox in the dorm was a box with her name on it.

Inside was a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies (the secret ingredient is nutmeg), a batch of nan khatai cookies,mix mithai and... six pairs of athletic socks.

Along with a note:
Eleanor,

We thought you might need a little something to make your day. (Also everyone needs socks) From our family to yours!

-Muneeba Khan

To say that Eleanor was surprised to come back to the dorms to find a package waiting for her was an understatement, and she would have thought maybe it had been meant so someone else if it weren't for the fact that the note was addressed specifically to her (and she had checked several times, as well as trying to think of anyone who might have a name similar to hers that it might have been mistaken for).

But, no. Kamala's mother had really sent her a little box of treats.

And socks.

And Eleanor didn't have even the first clue what to make of it.

Was it a trick? A threat? QWas there a catch? By accepting it, was she agreeing to some sort of social contract she had no knowledge of or context for? What if they were poisoned? What if she didn't like them? Had Kamala talked to her parents, about them dating? Was this a sign of their approval? An opaquely veiled sign of disapproval? Were they just being nice?

Of course they were. She'd met them, when Kamala invited them all out to Jersey for Eid. And she'd met Kamala. And while Eleanor's family had been the literal monsters on the mountaintop, Kamala's was an ever rarer breed than that: genuinely good, kind people.

It was weird, and strange, but she could try and be a good, kind person back, which was why she then sat down to write a thank you letter back to Kamala's mother, in her best, neat little Catholic school script, and then realized the box didn't have a return address for her to send the letter to.

Which she supposed unlocked the door of whether or not she was going to say anything to Kamala about it now, or just bring it up maybe in class tomorrow.

And so, a text:

Hi, Kam. It's El. Can I get your parents' address? I think your mother sent me a box of treats

And SOCKS, Eleanor! Don't forget the SOCKS!

and I wanted to send her a thank you note. Do you think that would be okay?

Kamala who had mostly been on autopilot most of the day couldn't help but smile at Eleanor's text.

That's so sweet! My parents would love that!

She sent the contact information for her parents in the next text.

I hope you enjoy the cookies! The chocolate chip recipe is from my father's BFF. The rest are my mom's. Don't ask me about the socks. She probably got them on sale at Costco.

There was a little, excited, nervous flutter in Eleanor's chest, at the idea of leaving a good impression on Kamala's parents; she was already planning getting up a little early to swing by the post office tomorrow morning to make sure it get sent out.

Well, she was right. I did need some socks. The cookies are all really great, though! I'm trying really hard not to eat them all so that I can enjoy them all throughout the week. It was really nice of her to send them.

Now Kamala was flopped on her bed and just enjoying the text conversation. And probably oversharing...

Well I guess the socks work then! Yeah, my Ammi is always thinking about my friends. She always looks out for other people. I love that about her. BTW... I did tell her I was dating you. I hope that's okay. It was a weird conversation that they thought I was hiding something from them? So I told them about you. Which they were really cool with (they want to get to know you better!) Turns out they were worried about a class I was taking. So. Oops? lol.

What class are you taking that they were worried about?

Eleanor found it much easier to just focus on that part of everything Kamala had sent, since everything else involved knots forming in her stomach about wanting to leave a good impression on her parents and how Kamala had told, which made it more weighty and real, and just wrapping her head around someone not just looking out for themselves and what was theirs, but for other people beyond that tight-knit sphere, as well...

Which was a lot. Should she tell her family, too? She could already see the look of derision on Luma's face. So maybe only if it weren't come up, or something like that...

And now Kamala was both texting and feeling awkward! But as usual she powered through it.

... Yeah, okay, don't laugh but I'm taking that Romance course. I didn't sign up for it. The moose added it to my schedule.

And because she doesn't know when to stop she added:

That's the class which made me send you that text I sent you last week. The professor basically called me boring.

Well, that professor clearly doesn't know what they're talking about.

Which probably doesn't bode well for the material of the class.

And now Eleanor was awkward, too, because did that mean Kamala might go and try to apply the things she learned in that class to them? She liked the idea of that, especially since she didn't exactly know what she was doing, either, but she also felt as though it was a little embarrassing, wasn't it? Liking the idea of what Kamala might learn in her Romance class to woo and court her and sweep her off her feet.

What do you even learn in a class like that, anyway?

Well the teacher is that crazy vampire from the clinic? So not as much as you would think

And yet that vampire was a little too insightful for context.

So far we made "romance outfits" and I'd wear a shenanigans outfit before I wore that. And also I learned that my "love language" is spending quality time. No actual romance has actually been taught

And because she couldn't help herself..

Is there something I should learn?

It took a little while, for Eleanor to answer, mostly because she wasn't sure how to answer, at first. She hardly felt as though she was in any position to make suggestions, she didn't know the first thing about this sort of stuff, either, and, furthermore, she still had trouble believing that this was a conversation she was even having right now.

So it took a while, because she didn't even know what to say. Until she did, and then she couldn't help but feel like it was kind of perfect.

I think that's something we'll both be learning together.

Do you think that's accurate? That your "love language" is spending quality time?

THAT felt like something that would be useful for Eleanor to learn.

Kamala had meant to send the text as just a way to tease Eleanor but the response made her heart Mel and literally say “Awwwwww!” aloud. So first she replied directly to that with a giant “♥️”

After that she looked at the quality time comment and tried to think of a good answer.

I guess it is? I’m going to be honest: this is new territory for me. I’ve never done this before.

Edited 2024-07-23 00:15 (UTC)

Eleanor's Voicemail.

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