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Nico sat down on a chair as far away from everyone as she could get, the events of the day were still hard to process.
She knew their parents were murderers. She had seen them take someone’s life and Nico couldn’t even start to think about the others they haven’t heard about yet. Still, watching Molly cry over Gracielas’s body had shaken her more than anything else in the past 72 hours, which was a big thing considering said last 72 hours.
Nico was feeling tired, so very tired and not only physically. Needing to wrap her head around the fact that those people she had known her whole life and had been her heros and inspiration for so long, were actually the type of people she despised the most, was complicated.
Besides, the fact that their parents were always one step ahead of them when they tried to intervene was no help. Nico never felt more like child. A useless, tired and lost child.
“Hey”.
“Hey”. Karolina’s voice brought Nico back from her spiral- down- thoughts. But even the girl’s presence wasn’t enough to make her feel much better.
Karolina complimented Nico’s attitude about the funeral, but Nico still couldn’t feel like she was doing enough. All she had done was come up with a way try to give Molly some closure, but everything still seemed too wrong and out of place for her liking. All thanks one certain group of people from PRIDE.
“They are our parents. How they could be such monsters?”. Nico asked. Her eyes full of frustrated tears, but she refused to let a single one break free. She didn’t understand how Karolina could be so optimistic, especially when it came to fix everything PRIDE broke, but the way Karolina’s eyes were shining and full of hope made Nico let herself believe a little bit too. Soon enough Karolina’s lips on her own making her heart feel less heavy.
Up until now, Nico wasn’t sure kissing could mean something more than just enjoying the pleasure it gave. Still, kissing the blonde in that moment was like a breath of fresh air after being confined into a small room for too long. She felt comforted. And when Karolina didn’t try to make anything else out of it, when confort her was all the girl seemed to want to do, Nico could feel herself falling a bit harder for Karolina right there.
Not wanting to lose sensation the kiss gave her, Nico rested her head on Karolina’s chest, and when the girl held her tightly, Nico let herself be a little more vulnerable than she ever wanted to since Amy’s death.
Only because it was Karolina’s arms around her.
They remained like that until Nico heard Alex’s voice. Nico picked up a tent without many words and Karolina followed her to a far away corner with barely no questioning.
Luckly, it didn't took too long for everyone to put the tents together, Nico already felt exhaustion taking over her since earlier, she didn't know how long her feet would be able to keep her standing.
It was only after a few minutes of laying down on the cold, hard floor that Nico registered that she was alone, she gathered the last of her strength to go look for Karolina, who she found sitting awkwardly a few feet away, trying and failing to get comfortable in a broken chair.
“What are you doing out here?”. Nico asked, though she sort of already knew the answer.
Despite having kissed twice, Nico noticed that Karolina was still… Hesitant around her, always trying not to stay one step too close and avoiding to look into Nico's eyes for too long when they weren't alone.
But Nico only got completely aware of Karolina's hesitation earlier in that morning, when Gert made the comment about them developing a certain chemistry. Karolina had looked everywhere but to Nico… or Alex.
She watched as the girl in front of her struggled to come up with an excuse, her cheeks becoming pinker with every passing second.
Nico smiled a bit at the cuteness.
“I.. hmm… I’m feeling kinda restless. Gonna stay here for a while”.
Nico huffed, not buying it at all. “Yep. Not happening. Come sleep with me”. She held Karolina’s wrist and turned to walk back to the tent but the other girl didn’t move. When Nico looked at her, Karolina seemed like a deer caught in the headlights and only then Nico’s brain processed her last words.
She shook her head trying to apologise to the girl. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just really tired and would feel better knowing you’re there with me and not out here. Alone.”
Karolina smiled and indicated the other homeless people in the camp. “Kinda hard to be alone here”.
Nico only grabbed her hand and guided them both inside the tent.
After several minutes of tossing and turning, Nico started to think she wasn’t going to get any sleep that night. Karolina didn’t seem to have any luck either.
The girl was on the far left of the tent, trying not to touch her and giving Nico as much space as she could. This didn’t really make much sense. Nico sighed.
“Hey, Karo”.
“Hmm?”.
“Why didn’t you want to sleep in the tent with me?”
Karolina struggled again to come up with an answer, but when Nico met her eyes, the girl seemed to give up trying to compose any excuses and decided to be honest.
“ I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable”. She admitted, the light pink of her cheeks turning red and spreading out to her ears and neck.
“And why would I be uncomfortable?”
Karolina shrugged clearly embarrassed. “I… I know we kissed, but… I didn’t want to assume we would be... sleeping together, as in, in the same closed space?”
Nico could only be amused at Karolina’s antics. She also started to understand where all the hesitation was coming from. Not that she ws going to blame the girl. Between fighting their parents, being kidnapped and running away, they didn’t really had any time to discuss what they were to each other, still, Karolina only tried to be as respectful as she could, a trait that Nico was starting to admire more and more.
“You know that we already did sleep close, right? Back in the van?”
Karolina shook her head. “That was different. We didn’t have other options and, if I remember correctly, there were at least three other people there with us.”
Nico nodded. Girl had a point.
“What did you think it was going to happen then? That I was going to sleep with Alex?”. She asked joking, but Karolina’s silence told her those were her exact thoughts.
Nico felt her heart skip a beat. Karolina was still very insecure with their relationship. Maybe she hasn’t even realised Nico wanted it to be an actual relationship.
It wasn’t her fault, of course, but it only made Nico want to make things clearer. She wanted to be together together with Karolina and she was going to make her point across as soon as possible.
“Karolina, look at me”.
When the girl did, Nico didn’t waste any time and closed their lips together. She felt Karolina gasp in surprise, but not a second later, she was kissing Nico back.
Taking advantage of their little privacy, Nico moved her body to hover over Karolina, one leg in each side of the blonde’s waist.
“Is this ok?”. Nico asked parting their lips slightly and feeling Karolina’s elaborated breath on her skin.
“Yeah”.
“You sure?”. Nico wanted to confirm. She backed away from Karolina a bit more, just enough to look her in the eyes. They were shining brighter than she had ever seen.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”. Karolina said with a growing smile on her face.
At this, Nico closed the gap between them again, her tongue sliding across Karolina’s lower lip, asking for permission to deepen the kiss and making the girl shudder under her. They only separated again when air became a necessity.
“I like you a lot. Did you know that?”. Nico asked as she positioned herself on her own sleeping bag again.
“You do now?”. Karolina threw the question back at her barely moving and eyes still closed, like she was still not believing that that kiss actually happened.
“I do. I have had a crush on you for a while”. The blonde full sat up at the new information. Nico, taken aback by the sudden movement, couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “What? You thought I had my awakening only after you kissed me?”
Karolina didn’t say anything and Nico stared at her, refusing to break the eye contact until the girl said something.
“I… I haven’t thought about that yet, to be honest.” Karolina let out a small laugh while she laid down again, this time much more closer to Nico. “But how come you never said anything?”
It was Nico’s turn to laugh.
“Say what exactly? That I had a huge bisexual crush on the perfect church girl?”.
Nico didn’t fail to noticed how her heart skipped another beat. This time in a much more happy setting, because she could swear the sound of Karolina’s full blown laughter had something holy about it.
“...Yeah. That might have not been the best idea” Karolina said after calming down.
“You don’t say.”
Nico’s hand found Karolina’s not a minute later, her thumb making small circles on the other girl’s skin.
“Maybe we should get some sleep”. Karolina declared as the tiredness threatened to win them for good.
“You’re probably right. But I still want to talk about some other stuff tomorrow”. Nico said laying on her side so she wouldn’t let go of Karolina’s hand while sleeping.
“What? You’re gonna ask your big bi crush to be your girlfriend?”.
Nico knew Karolina was only trying to tease her, it was clear on the way the girl whispered the words, but since that was exact what Nico was planning, she couldn’t stop her cheeks from becoming a light shade of red.
It was even worse when Karolina started to giggle and all Nico could do to handle her embarrassment was close her eyes and groan a little in frustration.
“You are really cute when you do that, you know?”. Karolina mentioned right before kissing her forehead and Nico smiled almost immediately. The girl already seemed a bit more confident with whatever this was between them, and Nico couldn’t wait to enjoy more of this side of Karolina.