fandomtownies | The Magpie Emporium, Monday [25/11]

It was fine, because Steph was around to help Little Bot out and reorganize the game library with only minimal exasperated grumbling (at the state of it, not at Vi), and it had been hard for her not to notice the shift in Vi's mood. She'd been concerned by that lingering ominous feeling, and was very relieved that it seemed to have abated.

So she just came by to cover Vi with the throw blanket she kept in the office and give her a quick kiss on the forehead, content to let her have her not-quite-nap while she took care of getting the store back in order.

That was an excellent plan on Steph's part, except for the part were as soon as Vi felt her lips on her forehead she was reaching up to pull Steph down to join her.

"Hey."

Steph yelped in surprise and promptly collapsed into the pillows (and onto Vi) like a sack of nerdy potatoes.

"Damn you and your high passive perception," she said in an incredibly fond tone.

Vi was utterly unrepentant as she wrapped her arms around Steph in a hug. "There, that's what I needed."

Steph laughed. "You didn't get enough cuddles before we left the house?"

Which she asked while also hugging Vi back, because she already knew the answer was "never."

"Where did we even get all these pillows?"

"Nope," Vi replied drawing out the o sound.

She sat up enough to glance around the store before flopping back down again. "Not sure, but they're handy."

Steph laughed and surrendered to the inevitable, rearranging herself next to Vi on the pillows and tugging the blanket up over both of them.

"I thought the extras disappeared but I guess Little Bot must have had them stashed somewhere," she said, idly reaching up to play with a lock of Vi's hair. "Works out for you, so I won't complain."

For both of them, really, since now they were all settled into a nice little pillow nest. Good thing for everyone that it was a fairly slow day -- people must have worn themselves out being little all weekend -- and Little Bot was just fine doing all the cleanup himself.

Also luckily for everyone, Vi was mostly interested in cuddling right now.

"I mean, we've got pillows and blanket and each other," she said, leaning into Steph's touch. "What else could we want?"

Steph smiled at her, brushing her thumb over her cheekbone as she studied her face.

"I mean, you seem to be a little less tense than you have been, so honestly, I think we're good, yeah."

Vi smiled back, letting her eyes drift halfway closed. "I don't know, these past few weeks I've just been feeling like I've been on the edge of some kind of precipice," she said softly. "Or not even that, like I'd already leapt and then realised the landing wasn't gonna hold, like I just knew something bad was gonna happen and all I could do was brace for it, and I couldn't even figure out why. But that feeling's just... gone."

Steph leaned in and tucked Vi's head in against her chest so she could nuzzle into her hair.

"It sucks when you just have that feeling and don't really know why, and I've been worried," she said, running her fingers through Vi's hair in slow, even strokes. "But I could tell, this morning, that you weren't feeling as tense as you have been, and I'm really glad. Is it a relief? Or are you not really sure yet?"

Vi focused on the sound of Steph's heartbeat under her ear, strong and steady. "I think it'd be more of one if I could explain why it stopped, I don't know, maybe I was worried we'd turn into kids again, or something," she said. "Sorry, I worried you."

"What are you even apologizing for?" Steph pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, running a hand soothingly up and down her spine. "Of course I was going to worry. Comes with the whole loving you package."

She hummed a few bars of the song she was writing for Vi that she'd been slowly poking at for months.

"I'm just glad you're feeling better." It had been frustrating not knowing if there was even anything she could do to help relieve that tension. "Kind of not sorry we missed out on the being kids thing, though."

"I'm supposed to be the one worrying," Vi said, knowing Steph would consider this a wholly inadequate argument.

She tilted her head to listen to Steph hum, with a little half-smile. "Yeah, you were a a cute kid, but once was enough."

Here they were, curled up together in a pile of pillows and blankets on the clock like true professionals. Then again, it did make Steph feel slightly less conflicted about contributing to the capitalist system.

"I'm sorry?" Steph paused in her humming to poke her lightly in the side. "Nobody gets a monopoly on worrying in this relationship, thank you."

She kept her hand resting on Vi's hip, absently running her thumb along her waistband.

"You were cuter, but I feel pretty good about not needing to repeat that experience, yeah."

Remembering what Vi had been like as a little kid still kind of broke her heart if she thought about it for very long.

Vi squirmed dramatically in reaction to the poking. "That my boss or my girlfriend talking," she asked, teasingly before letting her head fall back against Steph's chest.

"It was weird, after, realising how I should have been looking for Powder and then I just didn't," she said, resting her hand on top of Steph's. "Not like after Mom and Dad died, when I needed to know where she was all the time, especially if Vander had to leave us, but even before that we didn't really spend much time apart."

"Yes," Steph said, kissing her head again in blissful ignorance of the venomous look Saffron was shooting her way. "Though I feel less like your boss and more like you're my business partner these days." At some point, she realized, she'd entrusted Vi with sharing just about every responsibility to do with running the store.

She made a soft thoughtful noise.

"And then all of a sudden you were here and playing with me and not thinking it was all that weird."

If Snuggle Human wanted in-store cuddles that was what Saffron was for!

And if Steph felt weird about running a store, just wait until Vi realised that.

"Oh, do I get fancy cards for that," Vi joked, then looked up at Steph. "Yeah, strange, fancy place, no Powder, no Mom, no Dad, no Vander, another kid who didn't belong there. Even then, even before I understood just how messed up and dangerous the world can be to two little kids, I should have been trying to get us out of there, trying to find Powder, then Mom, or Vander, or Dad."

And yet were they even aware she was right here for the cuddling, as was her duty and right?

"If you want fancy cards, we'll get you fancy cards," Steph said, kissing her head.

She listened soberly, nodding her head, hugging Vi harder when what she was saying made Steph's heart twinge again: with sadness at another reminder of how rough Vi's life had been, and with a powerful rush of affection because every glimpse of how fiercely Vi loved made her fall a little bit more in love.

"Except it wasn't dangerous, not here... and it doesn't seem fair that you got to have that for a couple of days, but she didn't."

No, they were so busy with their nesting they'd completely forgotten about her.

"The finest in the land," Vi added, trying to keep the mood light.

She swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. I know you don't like it when I talk about myself this way, but sometimes it's hard not to feel like I've stolen something she deserves."

"I'll start designing you something later today," Steph replied, and she absolutely would, too, whether or not they decided to actually have them made in the end.

She kissed Vi's forehead. "No, I don't like it, but I also totally get why you feel that way. There's no question that she deserves it just as much as you, but that's on the people who separated you. You haven't stolen shit, and I know you'd have her here in a fucking heartbeat the second we could figure out how to get to her."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Vi told her, slinging her arm around Steph's waist.

"You're right." She sighed hugged Steph a little tighter. "Doesn't change the fact I'm here and she's not." Much as she liked here specifically.

"Already trying to figure out if I want to work some of your tattoo into the design," Steph said, curling in closer to her. "Next step, a catchy slogan for you."

"No," she added with a sigh, "it doesn't change that. I wish it did, and we could really get that place we've been talking about for her and us, but --"

She sighed again, voice cracking with frustration.

"This is something I can't just imagine into existence no matter how hard I try." And she'd been trying, maybe harder than she was willing to admit.

"I'm sure you'll think of something good," Vi said, looking up at her.

She reached up to cup her jaw, expression soft and earnest. "I don't blame you, if anyone could've done that, it'd be you."

Steph cupped her hand over Vi's and leaned into her touch.

"You don't think I believe you'd find a way to make a connection back to your world exist if it was possible, too?" she asked, shoving down the stray nagging thought that if they ever did find that connection it would be a one way trip and she'd lose the one person she wanted to hold onto forever. "You're not failing Powder, Vi. The fucking universe is."

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