Chapter Text
"So, when are we going to tell the others?" Masha had the next day fully off, so of course they decided to spend it with their favorite basilisk.
"You mean Marcus and Abby?" Vee questioned? "I don't know…"
"Vee, they're our friends too," Masha reasoned. "They were just as confused and hurt about the sudden change in how they were treated when Luz came back as I was. Also they're gonna get suspicious about me always hanging out with you."
"You're right," Vee sighed. "It's just scary, you know."
"I get it." Masha wrapped an arm around Vee. "I know it's not quite the same thing, but I still get nervous about telling people that I'm non-binary, even if I know they'll be 100% accepting. But Marcus and Abby are cool, don't forget that."
"Yeah, you're right." Vee stood up. "Let's go."
"Wait, right now?!" Masha stood up to join their girlfriend. "Girl, we need to make a game plan!"
"Oh, yeah, probably." Vee rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Ok, how about this? You invite them over to hang out like usual and tell them you have someone you want them to meet."
"And let me guess, that someone is a certain blond haired cutie." Masha winked, causing Vee to blush.
"OK yeah, we definitely need to tell them," Vee realized. "I think we're getting as bad as my sister and her girlfriend. Once that happens, there's no hiding this."
"OK, I'll text them and arrange something then." Masha got out their phone and started typing. They then put it away, only to immediately get a notification.
"That was fast." Vee smiled.
"Yeah those two are totally lost without us." Masha smirked. "Wow, they're actually available to hang out this afternoon! You think you can do this on such short notice?"
"Yeah…yeah I'll be fine." Vee psyched herself up. "I need to just rip the band-aid off, you know?"
"That's the spirit!" Masha pumped a fist in the air before giving their girlfriend a kiss on the cheek.
Masha and Vee spent the rest of the day preparing for how they were going to break the news to their friends. Vee wanted to reveal that they were a couple first to buy her some extra time to get her nerves in order. Masha, however, thought it would go over better if they revealed the truth about Vee and Luz first, so that they weren't blindsiding their friends with truth bombs. Revealing that you're dating someone you knew for months and everyone knows would go over better than saying you're dating a stranger before revealing she wasn't a stranger after all, Masha reasoned. Vee relented that Masha was right and that they would go with their plan.
Vee was a nervous wreck as she sat with Masha, waiting for their friends to show up. They couldn't believe this was happening. The past few days have been a blur for the poor basilisk as she revealed her identity to her crush, managed to make them her partner, and now agreed to talk to her other friends about everything. Masha was sitting with her, rubbing her back to comfort her while they waited for the others to show up. Before long, they both heard the knock on the door and Masha got up to answer it.
"Hey Marcus, hey Abby, so glad you two could make it on such short notice!" Masha answered.
"No problem dude," Marcus said. "We're always down to hang out."
"Yeah, just wish Luz would join us one day again," Abby added.
"Funny you should say that!" Vee chimed in. Why did I say that?! Now I have to talk about it now!
"Who's the new girl?" Marcus said.
"So we actually wanted to talk to you about that!" Masha came in to rescue their girlfriend. "See, she's Luz's sister and-"
"LUZ HAS A SISTER?!" Abby shouted.
"Woah, when did that happen?" Marcus calmly stated. "I don't remember her telling us that."
"That's cause she didn't!" Abby threw her arms up in the air.
"And there's a reason for that!" Vee answered. "Hi, I'm Vee and…" Vee took a deep breath to psych herself up. "We've met before." Vee closed her eyes and she shifted to her old Luz disguise.
"WHAT IN THE WHAT?!" Abby shouted.
"Whoa…sick," Marcus responded.
"Surprise!" Vee did jazz hands while giving a nervous smile. "I'm a shapeshifter!"
"...Cool." Marcus calmly reacted while Abby continued to freak out.
"Cool?! COOL?!" Abby yelled. "Well I mean it's kinda cool, but also slightly terrifying?!"
"Look, she's still the same friend we knew at camp," Masha jumped in. "And this explains why Luz ignored us over the summer. That was the real Luz who saw us as strangers. Vee explained everything to me the other day, she's cool, I promise!"
"Masha, she lied to us for months !" Abby pointed a finger at Vee. "Not to mention we don't even know where she's from, how do we know we can trust her?!"
"Because I trust her with my life!" Masha insisted. "Besides, she said she's from the realm Luz has been going to, and I saw the two of them interacting on Jacob Hopkins's security cameras. She's cool, really."
"Well, if you say so…" Abby relented.
"Wait, what did you mean by trusting her with your life," Marcus cut in. "Are you, like, in danger?"
"No, I just…I mean…" Masha stuttered as both them and Vee started blushing.
Abby looked back and forth between the two for a few seconds before a lightbulb went off. "OOOOOOH! Damn, Masha, it's about time."
"WHAT?!" Both Vee and Masha shouted at the same time.
"You were crushing on her so bad at camp, I thought seeing Luz with her girlfriend would kill you from missing your chance." Abby smirked.
"I…but…we…" While Masha stuttered, Vee slowly shifted back to her basilisk form without noticing.
"Wooooah. You're a slug!" Marcus stated calmly.
"More like a snake," Vee and Masha said at the same time.
"HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT EVERYTHING!" Abby shouted.
"It's just, like, whatever, man," Marcus replied.
"You scare me sometimes." Abby glared at Marcus, who just shrugged.
"OK, so like, didn't mean to just shift to my real form on you like that, my bad." Vee rubbed the back of her head. "Anyway, this is the real me! I'm a basilisk."
"Like the things that turn you to stone by looking at you?!" Marcus asked. "Woah, so, like, are we safe cause we're friends?"
"What?" Vee raised an eyebrow. "Is that what humans think of us? No, I have the ability to drain magic from witches and other demons."
"Witches are real too?!" Abby shouted. "Masha, did you wish really hard?!"
"Shut up!" Masha punched Abby in the arm.
Vee shifted back to her human form. "Anyway, this is my original human disguise. I needed one now that I know Luz is going to be coming back and forth between realms."
“What is up with the real Luz anyway?” Abby asked. “She disappeared for months, allowing you to pose as her at camp, then came back with a group of friends and a girlfriend?”
Yeah, so, that’s a long story…” Vee rubbed the back of her head.
Vee ended up filling the other two in on everything she had told Masha. Marcus being Marcus, took everything in stride as he always did, while Abby was freaking out about the existence of a realm full of witches and demons. Also learning that the local town hero is actually a genocidal maniac who murdered his brother and created a bunch of clones of him, in hopes he could make a version that wouldn’t “betray” him was not on her 2022 bingo card. Once Vee had caught them up on everything, she let her friends sit and digest all the information she dumped on them and offered to answer any questions they had. Marcus mostly had questions around how demons related to various human realm myths, while Abby focused on what she thought were the more important questions.
“Luz and her friends are safe, right?!” Abby started with.
“Well, the realm isn’t deadly if you know how to navigate it, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Vee answered. “The problem is, they’re off fighting Belos and the Collector, so we can only hope they’re able to defeat them. But Camila went with them and Luz’s friends are talented witches. I could smell the magic radiating off of them, they’ll be fine, trust me.”
“OK, I trust you, Vee,” Abby said with a small smile.
“So…we’re good?” Vee asked, looking back and forth between her friends.
“Yeah, I think…this is a
lot
to take in, but you’re our friend, Vee,” Abby confirmed. “And you always will be.”
“Yeah, dude,” Marcus added. “We didn’t go through that prison together just to ditch you cause you felt you had to hide your true self from us. And your true form is
sick!
”
Vee laughed. “Thanks, guys. I was so worried you’d hate me for lying to you…and you know, being a magic sucking snake demon from another realm. That’s kinda the bigger elephant in the room, here.”
“Still a sick ass, elephant!” Marcus chimed in.
“Does anything phase you?!” Abby asked while punching Marcus in the arm.
“Not really.” Marcus shrugged.
“So, now that that’s out of the way.” Abby turned to Masha and Vee. “How long has this been going on?” Vee and Masha started blushing again, while trying to talk at the same time, causing Abby to burst out laughing.
“I went over to Vee’s house the other day with the intention of confronting Luz about why she was avoiding us,” Masha started explaining. “Then that led to Vee revealing the truth to me. After some talk, we decided to hang out the next day and, well, one thing led to another and…”
“WE KISSED!” Vee blurted out, before covering her face with her hands. Masha’s eyes went wide, before looking back and forth between Vee and their friends.
“Yeah, uh…we confessed our feelings and also kissed…on the lips…” Masha elaborated.
Abby proceeded to produce a long whistle sound. “Daaaaaaaang, dude, you were busy.”
“SHUT UP!” Masha shouted while Vee continued to hide her face.
“Seriously, though,” Abby continued. “It really is about time. It was obvious you were smitten with her at camp and I knew there was very little chance she’d turn you down!”
“Well, if they asked at camp, maybe,” Vee chimed in, as the others stared at her. “I was still learning how to be a human, I wasn’t really thinking about romance that way.”
“Wait, so when did you start feeling that way about me?” Masha asked.
“...The day we showed up with the rebus,” Vee explained. “It was the first time I had seen you since camp, and that’s when I started to consider how I really saw you. Plus, the way you responded to my
very
idiotic response to try to keep my cover was just really cute.”
“What can I say?” Masha responded. “I like them cute and dorky.” They winked at Vee, causing the girl to blush again. Abby was starting to get concerned about all that blood rushing to Vee’s face so much, but she also didn’t really know how basilisk anatomy worked. It was clear there would have to be more questions later.
“Well, now that that’s all settled,” Abby spoke up, deciding to have mercy and put Vee out of her misery. “You invited us for an old fashioned hangout, and all we’ve been doing is talking!”
“Yeah, where are the snacks?” Marcus asked, before getting elbowed in the gut by Abby. “Ow…”
Masha bursted out laughing at their friends’ antics. “You act like you’ve never been to my house before. You know where the kitchen is, go help yourself!”
Marcus ran towards the kitchen faster than Abby could stop them. She shook her head and apologized for his lack of manners, before quickly going to join him. Masha and Vee shared a look, before laughing and heading to join their friends to grab snacks. The group had grabbed a wide assortment of popcorn, candy, and chips as well as grabbing some drinks to take back to the living room. Once settled, they looked through Masha’s assortment of movies and picked out a good one for them to watch.
It was not lost on Vee and Masha that Abby had picked out a horror movie, no doubt with ulterior motives in mind. She also made sure that Vee and Masha were placed close together, while simultaneously being far enough away from her and Marcus to allow them room to lay down and cuddle. The couple were very much aware that she was hoping for them to get scared and end up cuddling together for safety. Unfortunately for her, Masha is a fan of horror and Vee was tortured for most of her life. Still, they decided to humor their friend and pretend to be forced into a cuddle position; after all, they’re not going to complain about an excuse to enjoy each other’s company.
Several hours, and one movie marathon later, Abby looked over at her friends while giggling, seeing that they were indeed cuddling with their eyes closed. Her laughter stopped, however, when she heard snoring and saw content smiles on her face.
“They…they managed to fall asleep during all that?!” Abby whisper-shouted.
“Makes sense to me,” Marcus whispered. “When have you ever known Masha to be scared of anything?”
Abby sighed in defeat. “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, they found out one of their best friends was a magic sucking snake demon from another realm and their reaction was to go out with her.”
Just then, they heard a giant snore come out of Vee’s mouth. Yeah, she’s definitely not human, Abby thought. Masha winced at the sudden loud noise, before snuggling their head more into Vee’s body, the girl readily accepting her partner into her embrace. Then, something that caught even Marcus off guard, the two saw Vee shift back into her basilisk form and wrap her tail around Masha to add to the hug she was giving with her arms. Masha seemed not only unphased by this, but Abby swears she saw their smile grow wider as they snuggled in even deeper into Vee.
Abby decided to glance down at her watch to check the time. “OH SHOOT!” She shouted, before covering her mouth.
“WHAT WHAT HAPPENED?!” Masha whipped their head up, as they and Vee looked around confused and half awake.
“Sorry!” Abby sheepishly replied. “It’s just, really late. We should head home!”
Masha looked over at their clock and saw it was past midnight. “Oh shoot! Yeah, you two get home before your parents start to worry.”
“Us two?” Abby raised an eyebrow and smirked.
“Well yeah, Mrs. Noceda isn’t home so she wouldn’t be worried about Vee-OH SHUT UP!” Masha blushed as they realized what Abby was implying.
Abby busted out laughing as Marcus and Vee looked on in confusion. “I don’t get it.” Vee looked back at Masha, hoping for an explanation.
“Oh don’t worry, Masha will have plenty of time to give you a…personal demonstration.” Masha threw a shoe at Abby as she closed the door behind her and Marcus, leaving the two love birds to themselves.
“Just…ignore them Vee, they’re just teasing us.” Masha glared at the door.
Vee just shrugged, mentally marking it off as some human thing she hasn’t learned about yet. She’s just happy to have her partner with her to teach her about these things so she can continue to blend in perfectly. Just then Vee yawned, causing Masha to yawn as well.
“We did fall asleep earlier,” Masha commented. “We should head to bed. You OK with taking the couch again?”
“Um.” Vee looked away from Masha. “I was hoping, if it was OK with you, that is, if I could…sleep in your bed…with you?”
Masha’s eyes went wide and they blushed so hard, their entire face was glowing red. “OH! Um…sure…I do enjoy cuddling.”
After getting some light scolding from Masha’s parents about how late their friends had stayed over, as well as permission for Vee to spend the night again, the two made it to Masha’s room. They had to be careful to sneak Vee in there, and had to hope they got up early enough for Vee to sneak back into the living room so they could pretend she slept there the whole night. But that was a tomorrow problem, for now they had some more cuddling to do. Vee turned away so that Masha could get changed into her pajamas, then Vee shifted her clothes to match. Once they were all settled, they got into bed and drifted off into slumber once more.