The Magpie Emporium, Monday [10/07]

[giveittoyoursister]

If Vi was in a more subdued mood than usual at work today, well, your girlfriend's dead-but-not unrequited high school crush who one potential version of her named your possible future kid after showing up for a weekend then leaving again was a vibe.

It was a hell of a vibe.

[Open.]

Comments

[drumsticksandd20s]

Would it help if Steph came up quietly to just hug her? Because honestly Steph could use the hug too.

[giveittoyoursister]

Yes, yes it would.

Vi clung to Steph like a drowning woman. "How you doing," she murmured softly.

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph whose player naturally ended up asleep or horrendously busy for the entire weekend because OF COURSE all but sank into the hug, curling into Vi's arms and pressing her face into the side of her neck.

"I'm here," she rasped.

No point in pretending otherwise, not with Vi.

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi whose player had been in much the same position, oddly enough smoothed her hands over Steph's back. "I'm here for you, you know that."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph nodded against Vi's shoulder, not quite muffling a sniffle.

"It's bullshit," she said after a few moments. "It's not fucking fair. Why Rachel, and why should I be the one who got to see her?"

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi turned her head to kiss Steph's temple. "I know," she said, voice still soft. "But life is shitty and unfair, just sometimes it's in our favour."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"I wish it hadn't been," Steph replied, hugging her a little more tightly. "Not like this. If anyone should've had the chance to see Rachel, it should've been Chloe. She's the one who always said Rachel saved her. They were... I don't even know what exactly they were, but it was intense."

[giveittoyoursister]

"Maybe it needed to be someone less intense," Vi suggested, not letting up on returning the hug. "The idea of loosing someone twice..."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Not that anybody Chloe-adjacent would know anything about that, surely.

"That's true," Steph admitted. "If it had been Mom, I..."

She took a deep breath, her whole body tensing, then blew it out as she shook her head.

"God, that would have been fucking horrible, and hard. But part of me still feels like it would have been nice to not remember her last words to me as being over the phone, and sounding so scared."

[giveittoyoursister]

"I know," Vi said, voice fierce despite its softness. "Believe me, I know, and you deserve that. Better than that, even."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph raised her head and turned to kiss Vi with an equally fierce sort of desperation and gratitude.

"I hate that this is even something I have to think about."

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi pressed their foreheads together, hands sliding up to cup her face. "It's some fucked up bullshit," she agreed.

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Yeah." Steph wrapped her arms loosely around Vi's waist, still leaning into her. "Are you okay? This has been weird for you too, I know."

[giveittoyoursister]

"I don't know," Vi replied honestly, thumbs stroking along Steph's jawline. "It was really fucking weird."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph closed her eyes and made a soft noise as she relaxed into the motion and the contact. "Right? I feel like Rachel was... I don't know. Not the person I remembered, exactly? I'm not sure how much of that is because I've changed and she never had the chance, though. It just feels like everything I thought I knew about her was off, somehow."

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi nodded. "It wasn't like with Alex," she said. Where she'd been terrified of losing Steph even though she didn't have to be. "But some version of you named our kid after her, that's kinda huge."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"I guess some version of me wanted her to sort of..." Steph chewed on her lower lip. "Not 'get a second chance,' exactly, but something kind of like that, you know?"

[giveittoyoursister]

"Yeah, I know," Vi said, leaning in to kiss her, soft and sweet. "Love you."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph cupped Vi's face in her (slightly shaking) hands as they kissed.

"Love you too. I don't know what I'd do without you right now, actually."

[giveittoyoursister]

"Well you don't need to find out, because I'm gonna be here for you as long as I can help it," Vi promised.

[drumsticksandd20s]

"So if I say I want to go off island to a rage room tonight and smash shit, are you in?"

Did it make it weird that Steph asked that while looking at Vi with a completely sappy, adoring expression? If it did, she didn't care.

[giveittoyoursister]

Only if it was weird that Vi had an equally sappy, adoring look on her face as she nodded and said "I'll smash shit with you any time.".

[drumsticksandd20s]

"It's a date then," Steph replied, and waggled her eyebrows as she added, "We're going to smash so many things."

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi laughed and hooked her fingers in Steph's waistband to keep her close. "I can hardly wait."

[drumsticksandd20s]

The fun kinds of smashing would have to wait until after the cathartic kinds of smashing were done, though.

"Nobody else I'd rather fuck things up with," Steph said warmly, stroking her thumbs over Vi's cheekbones.

[giveittoyoursister]

Well, it'd be rude to do the fun kind in the rage room.

Vi leaned into the touch. "Same."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Fine, it was probably reasonable to think other people might want to use the room after them.

"Nobody I'd rather do a whole list of things with," Steph added, and tried to lock eyes with Vi. "It's not that my crush on Rachel ever went anywhere in the first place, but if anything? Seeing her again made me feel pretty fucking extra convinced that I ended up with exactly the right person."

[giveittoyoursister]

Were you prepared for the earnestness in those eyes, though, Steph?

"No pressure, huh," Vi joked softly. "I don't know what my life would be like without in it, but it'd be worse. A whole lot worse."

[drumsticksandd20s]

Not really. She always thought she was prepared for it, but that earnestness rocked her every time.

"No pressure at all," she assured Vi. "Seriously. Just keep being your usual amazing self. That's the person I fell in love with."

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. "I think I can do that," she said softly. "But you also need to stay your amazing self."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"I'm not trying to change who I am for anyone else's sake, ever," Steph promised her, lingering close after the kiss. "Tried it once, and it fucking blew."

[giveittoyoursister]

"Good, because I like you just the way you are," Vi said, then added, teasing. "Dork."

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Your dork," Steph reminded her, like such a reminder was even necessary, and stretched up to kiss her again.