finchwoodacademy | IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Her skin's on fire as soon as Marina touches it. Kyra feels her skin growing warmer, spreading quickly from her fingertips all the way up her cheeks. Oh god. She tilts her chin quickly down to look for her dog companion, but her fingers entwine tightly around the other girl's. Sunny's waiting patiently at her heels, which doesn't offer enough of a distraction.

She steps close, sensible still at least enough to try at not getting caught. But close means that her hands want to reach out for more. She uses their fingers as an anchor. "Hadlee has to sleep, sometime. No one else...?"

She tries to look beyond Marina's shoulder into the next room. She doesn't hear anyone.

"No one else. Except our furry chaperone," Marina confirms, and with Kyra getting closer, that's a dangerous promise. She can feel it, and yet, when she steps backwards into the room, she doesn't use it as a chance to add some space. It's just fingers on fingers. (And a diminishing space between.) There's no harm in that.. right? She curls her fingertips against Kyra's palm, urging her to follow. It's not fire, but there's still heat, butterflies.

The sofa seems like a good landing place. She hovers near an arm, watching Kyra, careful to take cues from her, even as she dearly just wants to become a tangle of limbs. Talking.. is a distraction, though her question isn't as innocent in its affection as it could be. "How're you feeling, fuzz head?"

Edited 2019-02-10 20:25 (UTC)

Kyra curls on the sofa next to Marina, her body acting without her full permission. She could allow it to do that now, let it be drawn like a moth. She rests her forehead on her shoulder, half to soak her in, half to hide her face. It’s likely still pink. “Fuzzy.”
She admits from the hiding place, and wriggles her fingers so Sunny would know to come up and save her from herself.

This is nice. Just like this. Kyra's always fit nicely against her, but its rarely ever been like this. Curled up. No urgent fumbling of hands, lips. (Not that that.. isn't also very nice. But this is better right now. Safer. Maybe something.. they should do more.)

Sunny comes without hesitation. Marina presses her lips against Kyra's hair and then shifts enough that she can lean over, fighting against instincts to shoo the monster off, and gingerly picks Sunny up, begrudgingly placing him in Kyra's lap and leading her hand to rest in his fur. They could share the attention for now.

"Today was a lot," she concedes. All the training had been worth it, though. A boss. Fighting each other. It could have gone so much worse. She touches Kyra's hair lightly with her hand, brushing her fingers through it. "I'm glad you decided to come be fuzzy with me."

She wants to cry, a little. Kyra's fortifications around her own feelings are high and spiked. Gaps in her armor are rare. People have found them. Marina herself has. Never quite like this. She feels like her heart's been stabbed and flooded with fondness. Something stronger than that. It hurts, it's so potent. But she's comfortable too. Nothing in the world could move her from this.

Her entire spine collapses into gravity, and she allows herself to rest. She scratches Sunny's ears softly, and nestles in to Marina's shoulder, pressing a kiss to her collarbone almost idly. "I could've done better." She says, distant. "But...thank you. For letting me come over. I was lonely."

And it had been overwhelming. All these feelings for so many people. Now that there's only one place for them to go, it works out.

When Kyra's lips press softly against Marina's skin with no agenda, simply there, it's like a pebble getting dropped in water, except all the ripples feel weirdly centered not at Marina's collarbone, but her heart. Everything with Kyra is new experiences. Not just physically, but emotionally. Mo's her security blanket, her best friend and worst enemy, but there had never been any choice in the matter. But she chose Kyra, to the point of feline fixation, and Kyra chose her. Not because she'd won the most matches or proven to her father that she was the most molded in his image, but simply for being her. Vulnerabilities and all.

"This is wholly selfish on my part, I promise," she teases softly, fingers roaming to brush against Kyra's ear, her jawline, whatever soft bits of skin she can reach without risking summoning Sunny's attention to her fingers. Maybe she shouldn't be enjoying this so much. She knows Kyra, knows that she's not normally like this, boneless, completely unguarded. Her teeth worry her bottom lip. "But.. maybe we could do this more. When you aren't feeling fuzzy. Like.. regular girlfriends."

Kyra lets herself relax all the way into Marina. And Sunny. Her eyes close, but she's not sleeping. It would just be too much to have them open right now. This is the first time she's felt safe in a long time. She's not out of it enough to not hear the request, though. On an ordinary day, it would send a pang of guilt through her for keeping Marina at an arm's length for so long. But now, her eyes just blink open, lazy.

"You want to be girlfriends?" She sounds awed. She is, in fact. This perfect girl? She couldn't be this lucky. "Girlfriends with me?"

Guilt rushes Marina at Kyra's dazed tone, and she feels anything but perfect. Too far. Sunny might be keeping Marina's hands from roaming where they shouldn't, but hearts were what was really at danger. Kyra acting like she's the world is intoxicating, from the tone of her voice to the weight of her body against her - fully trusting, loving. Two hearts in perfect sync.

But it's all an illusion. This might be pulling poorly hidden truths to the surface for Marina, but she can't reasonably expect the same of Kyra, not with the remnants of a shadow still swimming in her head. She shifts awkwardly against the sofa arm, words stumbling out at a halting pace. "Hey. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. You're really fuzzy right now."

Kyra tries to shift up, and gather some of her wits back about her. The thrumming in the back of her brain tells her that's appropriate. She's said too much. Or something. There's a magnet drawing her in, but she knows she needs to pull back. So she does, a little, taking one palm and rubbing it over her eyes, kneading sense back into her brain. She shouldn't let this affect her. She should've just gone to sleep.

"No...it's...no." Her words stumble out, halting. "I...come back to that. Later."

Marina relaxes bit by bit as she senses Kyra, the Kyra she knows, fighting back for control. She's not sure what happened, but she could sense that she'd lost her, for a moment there. This is better, even if it's a reminder that the reality is different from the reverie.

"Chalk that up to crazy new ideas that need a pin in them," she agrees with an uneasy, breathless laugh. The danger is past, for now. She tries to focus on that. To settle down again. No need to ruin an incandescent dream over one slip of the heart. She presses her lips against Kyra's hair once more, quickly, stealing what she shouldn't. "It's late. You should rest. I'll be.. quiet." Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny

Kyra & Marina & Sunny