Work Text:
“So...”
“So.”
Ebony eyes met hazel as they sat face to face on the red Ikea sofa. They had sat here in this exact position so many times, not to mention all the other things they’d done there, but Kyne couldn’t stop her heart from racing. This was it. Kiara was finally going to confront her about that stupid drunk text, she’d freak out about it, and kick Kyne out. There was no other possible outcome in her mind. This was the end.
Both girls sat silently, eyes locked in a war to see who would crack and speak first. As much as Kyne was feeling the pressure to stand up and run as far away as her legs would carry her, Kiara spoke first.
“Listen, Kyney, I don’t want things to be weird-”
“Then please don’t finish that sentence.” Kyne looked pleadingly at her flatmate, desperate to agree to forget the whole thing ever happened.
Kiara, meanwhile, looked deflated, shuffling herself further round so both her legs folded comfortably underneath her. “What are you scared of, baby? It’s just me.”
She reached a hand to try and interlace her fingers with Kyne’s, but the shorter girl jolted away, propelling her whole body further up the couch. She rarely saw her friend like this. Cool, confident Kyne was never one to shy away from conversations about sex or maths or gossip; but once in a while, Kiara would return home to find her curled up in her bedroom with the lights off, fighting back tears. She never admitted what left her feeling like that, but Kiara usually put it down to homesickness or a bad test result. This, however, was something new.
“Please just forget I said anything, I didn’t mean it, let’s move on.” Kyne was seriously struggling to keep the floods welling up behind her eyelids under control, she tried thinking about functions and equations, but to no avail. As soon as the first tear breached the surface, she couldn’t stop.
Kiara’s natural instinct was to immediately lunge at the girl and wrap her in the tightest hug she could, stroking her hair and wiping her face and softly whispering words of reassurance. But as she did so, she thought about what Kyne had just said. She remembered well what the text from Saturday night had said, even if it did take her a while to decipher all the drunken spelling mistakes and misplaced emojis. Kyne said she loved her. Kyne said she wanted to be more than flatmates. While Kiara had initially blamed a general lack of sobriety, as she watched the girl in her arms now - her Kyne, so uncharacteristically tiny and fragile - it all made sense. If she were in a cartoon, a lightbulb would have appeared over her head as she finally realised what she wished she had ages ago.
“Kyne, baby, I don’t want to forget it!” She had hoped her tone would come off as happy and understanding so Kyne could have a similar moment of enlightenment, but it appeared to do the opposite of its intended effect as she pulled her legs up to her chest, burying her sobs in her knees.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to do!” She kept repeating her muffled mantra, keeping her head down and flinching if Kiara attempted to take her hands from her shoulders. She had rehearsed everything she wanted to say to the Québécoise thousands of times already, mostly in the shower, and yet she just couldn’t bring herself to say any of it. Her mind was drawing a complete blank, and the only thing she wanted was for Kiara to put her out of her misery and leave her alone. But unfortunately for Kyne, that didn’t happen.
“Oh, tabarnak,” Kiara groaned frustratedly. This was supposed to be a happy occasion, maybe over a nice dinner or during a moonlit walk in the park. Instead, the woman of her dreams was crying uncontrollably in their messy living room. “Kyne, look at me.”
Around a minute passed, and Kyne still hadn’t shifted from her self-protecting position, although thankfully, the loud sobs and gasps for breath had become less frequent. Taking in the scene once again, Kiara was hit with the ridiculousness of it all. She had shouted at the characters in so many movies for not communicating their feelings clearly, which inevitably lead to huge misunderstandings; not unlike the one she was now in. So she bit the bullet, and decided to put all the feelings she’d been hiding for the past year on the table.
“Kyne, I like you. And I mean really, really like you! And I really hope you meant everything you texted me that night, because I want it too.”
Kyne was convinced she’d fallen asleep. Or perhaps she’d died and this was heaven. Were her ears even working anymore? Did Kiara really just say that? Slowly, she lifted her head off her knees to look at the beauty in front of her.
“When you say like…?”
Rather than waste time with more words, Kiara simply took hold of Kyne’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she smiled at the girl in front of her. She felt herself laugh as she watched Kyne’s expression change from doubtful, to hopeful, to shocked as it finally dawned on her. “I mean I really really really really really really like you, you idiot!”
“Oh!” was all Kyne could muster, torn between asking more questions, kissing every square inch of Kiara’s body, or completing the rest of the song lyrics. This was exactly what she had wanted, so why did she suddenly feel like crying again? “I… yeah. I want this. I want you! I like you! I mean-”
She was cut off by Kiara’s lips meeting hers in what was one the smallest and gentlest kisses they’d ever shared. “I need to go to work, baby, do you want to go out tomorrow? Like a date date?”
Kyne had never been in space, but she imagined it felt a lot like the floaty feeling she was currently experiencing. Her stomach was doing backflips and her head felt completely weightless, not to mention she hadn’t actually felt her heart beat for a solid minute. She nearly forgot to answer until Kiara was standing up, placing another tiny kiss on her lips. “Yes, a date date, absolutely, I’ll see you soon!”
The tall girl grinned as she stretched her back, still looking at her flatmate in front of her. While it may not have been the grand mutual confession of love she had fantasised about, it still felt absolutely perfect. “I can’t wait!”
Still feeling like she had simultaneously run a marathon and chainsmoked 10 joints, all Kyne could do was smile back as Kiara skipped out the room. That went well, but what the hell was she supposed to do now?