I sat up; slowly, so as not to wake Lisa, and immediately regretted it. It was so cold! I rubbed my hands along my arms. Why was it — wait. I frowned, and looked down at my body. I wasn't wearing a shirt. Or even a bra. What? I yanked back the bedsheet to reveal my lower half, which just so happened to be equally naked. My brain ground to a halt. I never slept naked. And I'd certainly never do so when I had a... friend... over...
With jerky movements, I turned to look at Lisa, still covered by the bedsheet. I reached out a shaky hand and pulled back the sheet all the way. She was naked, too. And there were many wet patches on the lower sheet that covered the mattress.
Memories flooded back to me. Of what I'd... what she'd... what we'd done last night... Oh god.
I jerked backward — not a smart thing to do on a single bed, especially one currently occupied — and ended up falling to the ground, pinwheeling my arms in vain. I shrieked. I couldn't help it. Though I wasn't sure if I shrieked because I fell, or because last night I'd apparently lost my virginity by having lesbian sex with my best friend. Several times. Or does lesbian sex not count?
Either way, I hit the ground with a heavy thump, and knocked my head against my bedside cabinet.
Lisa woke with a jolt and shot upright, her head snapping about the room for a few seconds before she relaxed. "What?" she said, rubbing her eyes and focusing on me. "Taylor? What's happening?"
I stood — or hunched, anyway — trying and failing to cover my nudity with my hands. I also failed miserably at keeping the blush off my face, and at ignoring her nudity, though it seemed like she hadn't quite noticed yet. Or maybe she just didn't care. I figured I should say something, regardless. "I — "
The door slammed open, bouncing off my wall and swinging back until it was stopped my dad's outstretched hand. "Taylor?" he said, taking in the entire room in a moment. "What's wro — "
I shrieked again, and dropped to my knees, turning at an angle to avoid flashing anything at my dad.
"Wha — " He finally seemed to notice I was naked, and jerked his wide-eyed gaze away from me, to the side. In Lisa's direction, of course. He stared at her for a moment, his mouth working soundlessly. If this were a cartoon, his eyes would have been the size of dinnerplates. Lisa finally seemed to notice she was naked, too, grabbing the bedsheet I'd pulled off her and yanking it up to her chest. "Oh!" He spun around to face the hall fast enough to give himself whiplash. "Shit, sorry, I didn't — uh, I mean, I didn't expect, uh — "
"Dad!"
"Uh, right." He nodded his head absently, still staring fixedly at the wallpaper in the hall. "Sorry. Um... I mean, uh... I just... I heard the scream, and, uh... is everything alright?"
My cheeks were on fire, and I didn't trust myself to say anything that wasn't completely stupid. Luckily, Lisa came to my rescue. As per usual.
"Uh, we're fine, Danny," she said, glancing at me. "Taylor just... fell out of bed, is all."
"O-okay," my dad said, drumming his fingers against the doorframe. "Well, uh, sorry, like I said. Um... breakfast will be ready in ten — uh, fifteen minutes. I'll... I'll make another serving, for Lisa. Um... sorry, again." He closed the door without looking back, and now that I was listening, I heard his footsteps going down the stairs.
I glanced at Lisa. She glanced at me. Then she started laughing. She collapsed onto her side and buried her face in the mattress, muffling the sound, but I could still see her shoulders shaking. I flushed and glared at her, but she didn't notice. Then I started laughing, too. Her attitude was infectious.
A few minutes later, when our laughter had slowed to periodic giggles, I grabbed two pairs of clothes out of my closet and pulled one on, throwing the other pair to Lisa. She pulled on a pair of my panties and shorts, and one of my shirts, though they were all a little big on her — the shirt especially. It looked absolutely adorable. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if she knew what I was thinking. I giggled once more, then sat beside her on my bed and took a deep breath to calm my frayed nerves.
"S-so," I began. "Just to be sure I didn't, uh, imagine it... did we — "
"Yes," Lisa said.
"We had s-sex."
She nodded, biting her lip.
I exhaled through my nose, slowly, to give myself time to think. "Okay," I said, blushing a little. "I... well, for one thing, I didn't know I was into girls."
"Neither did I," Lisa said with a wry smile. "So much for being a know-it-all."
I giggled again. Stupid nerves. "Err, do you mean you didn't know that I was into girls, or that you were into girls?"
"Both, I guess." Her cheeks reddened a little. "I mean, I've, uh, admired your, uh, physique a few times, and I've seen you doing the same to me, but I never really..." She rubbed her face with one hand and sighed. "I guess I never really put two and two together, somehow. I'm such an idiot."
"H-hey," I said, putting my hand on top of hers, "you're not an idiot. I — I didn't figure it out, either. I always thought I was straight as an arrow. I mean, I had a crush on Brian when I first joined the Undersiders, remember? And Rachel told me to just, err... jump his bones?"
Lisa snorted a very unladylike snort. "I remember. I vividly recall my crushes from middle school. All boys." She paused, tilting her head. "Although, in retrospect, I suppose the... admiration I had for some of my female friends were probably actually crushes, too."
"Hmm. This definitely casts a different light on playing doctor with Emma as a kid."
Lisa snorted again. "I guess we're both bi, then."
"And neither of us knew it until now?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "That seems... awfully coincidental. I mean, what are the chances of that?"
She shrugged. "No more coincidental than any other two people meeting on the street and hitting it off, I think."
"I guess." I scratched at my nose. "So, uh..."
"What now?" Lisa supplied.
"Yeah."
"Well..." She pursed her lips. "I guess we should talk about it?"
"Okay."
"Okay. So, uh... how did it feel?"
"It?"
"Yeah, you know. It. The, uh, sex."
"Oh." I flushed. "Um, it felt... really good. Nothing like when I, uh... do it on my own."
Lisa blinked at me, then giggled. "I meant emotionally," she said, her own cheeks flushing red to match mine.
"Oh." I shifted. I probably looked like a ripe tomato right about now. "Um, well, my other answer still stands, I think. It felt really good. Like, really good. I don't think I've ever felt better." I blinked. "Uh, emotionally, I mean. Though it felt great p-physically, too."
"Hmm," Lisa said. "I... I feel the same way."
"C-cool. So, uh... should we, uh, try k-kissing?"
Lisa raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. "That wasn't very subtle, Taylor."
I blushed.
"But... okay," she said.
She leaned forward, tilting her head slightly to the right — her left. I leaned in as well, tilting my head in the opposite direction, and closed my eyes as our lips met in a soft melding of flesh. We opened our mouths in sync, and sent out our tongues to dance together. It wasn't a chaste kiss, but it wasn't intense, either, like the kisses last night were. It was just... passionate. We tasted one another, savouring the moment. It kindled a warmth in my chest that radiated out to my limbs and cleared the cobwebs from my mind. It felt... good. It felt like what fairy tales made real kisses seem like. It felt like what I imagined love would feel like, if it were condensed. It felt like comfort. Like acceptance. Like safety.
We pulled apart, our lips still slightly parted, a small strand of saliva joining us. I licked my lips. I wanted to do it again. But I didn't say that. Instead, I said, "That was... nice."
"Yeah," Lisa said.
"So... does this mean we're dating?"
"I... don't know." Lisa looked down at her feet. "Do... do you want to be my girlfriend? Do you want me to be your girlfriend?"
I thought about it.
I didn't have to think hard.
"I think I do," I said, squeezing her hand.
Lisa smiled. "Then I guess we're dating," she said. "Now we just have to tell your dad."
I groaned, dropping my head to her lap, and she laughed.
Dolls And Medicine
(Автор: TheDivineDemon)
An old snip for how Parian and Panacea could start dating
* * *
She hated hospitals.
It seemed like her family was in and out of one or another over the last few months, until they hadn't. Until they lost the one thing that drove them to go there over and over again.
The day she lost her father was the worst day of her life.
And, because of that, her life changed.
She had her Trigger event, or at least that's what the Parahuman wiki called it.
The worst day, the worst moment of her life, and she felt so selfish for it. Because she didn't get it because her father died.
No, that was just the cherry on top of her crappy day.
And she felt so selfish for it. That the worst moment of her life wasn't because her father died but because a boy wouldn't take no for answer. He'd just keep calling her, texting her, following her, never understanding that she wasn't interested.
When she finally snapped and yelled at him, demanded that he left her alone, she was labeled a bitch by those she thought were her friends. No one backed her up, not one of her friends were on her side with the situation and she didn't dare bother her family with such trivialities with her father's waning health.
Feeling isolated on all sides and the tremendous loss of her father, a corner stone and constant she took comfort in, she triggered alone in what was just another night filled in fear and sadness.
And now she had no idea what to do with herself or where to go, or probably more important, what to do. All she knew is that she didn't want to fight. She didn't want to join the Protectorate, she didn't want to rob banks, she just wanted to be Sabah.
There had to be more options out there for her than the black and white sides she see on TV.
Which was why she was at St. Mary's hospital, shifting nervously in her sear in the waiting lounge as she waited for the one parahuman that she knew didn't fight.
The hospital staff kept on giving her looks, most likely because she had been sitting there for nearly two hours waiting now and that was sending warning signals to their minds.
But that didn't really matter to her, what did was when her target came walking out the elevator.
Sabah was instantly on her feet at the sight of Amy Dallon and made a near immediate b-line towards the famous healer, mentally repeating her preplanned lines in her head as she approached.
"Excuse me." Sabah called out as she got closer to the freckled girl.
Amy, Panacea, let out a sigh as she squared herself and turned to face Sabah. "What can I do for you?" She asked as pleasant as possible.
Nerves and words failed Sabah for a moment, long enough for an awkward pause and for Panacea to ask, "Are you hurt anywhere? Sick? A family member maybe."
The questions sounded either prerehersed or repeated so much that they might as well have been, making Sabah feel just a bit more guilty about wasting the younger girl's time.
Still though she was here, she was going to do it. "No, I'm fine... I just, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit?"
Panacea gave her a dry look, one that said she had better things to do than talking to some strange girl. Though she did voice it a bit more friendly as she started to walking away, "I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment. Maybe some other time." The "some other time" obviously being no where in the foreseeable future, pushing Sabah to pursue the issue all the harder.
She needed the help, she needed the direction.
"Please wait." She said, jogging a bit to catch up to the healer. "Just a few minutes, please."
Amy glanced at her obviously irate over the whole thing but she decided to give in at the imploring look in Sabah's eyes. "Fine, I need a coffee anyway."
* * *
Coffee in hand and a relatively private seat in the hospital's cafeteria Amy waited for Sabah to explain why she was so insistent on talking with her. If Amy was going to be perfectly honest one of the major reasons that she even decided to sit down with the girl was that she was cute, and that accent was more than pleasant to listen to.
A more than welcomed distraction from her usual taboo daydreams.
For a moment all the girl did was fiddle with a napkin and open her mouth a few times to say words that never came. Eventually she just bit down on her lip and held the napkin in front of her like she was showing Amy something grand.
And apparently she was.
Amy watch with a bit of wonder and unease as the paper cloth twisted and turned into a little man who started to walk around the table in lazy laps.
Clamping down on her nerves as best she could, a hand under the table reaching for her phone helped with that, Amy elegantly replied to the display with a "Oh"
"Its been a little over a week since I've been able to do... this," She explained gesturing to the little man who simply stood around without any other greater orders. "And I don't know what to do with it."
"What?" Amy asked, confused.
"I don't know what to do with my... powers." The older girl explained. "I don't want to fight and I'm pretty sure joining the Protectorate means I would be forced to fight and I don't want to be a villain so... what can I do?"
That question came out almost desperate in tone, so much so Amy was slightly taken aback and causing a silence to fall on their table as she tried to regain her thoughts.
It was obvious that the girl across from her had just recently triggered, even if she hadn't mentioned it, by just how confused she was, Trigger events seemed to do that to first generation capes, leaving them disoriented for a long while after the event.
A good number of new capes seemed to handle the disorientation by lashing out, but this girl seemed to just burrow into herself if anything.
Amy could relate.
She could also relate to the third option that wasn't mentioned, not using her powers. Ever.
Not an easy task.
Once you had powers something in you craved for you to use them, even if it was just in small ways they had to use their powers. And the media and PRT really didn't help with the whole "Be a Hero or you're a Villian" mentality that was being spread for the last few decades.
Luckily there was a new option, a small one but it was growing phenomenon that the New Waves members were looking at in interest. As it may be the only way for the kids in their group to ever hold a solid job.
