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Kira is late. To a party that she doesn’t even want to go to. But Scott said she would have fun. “C’mon, Kira!” He had said to her that Friday afternoon after school. “Maybe you’ll even meet a girl, you never know…” And then he did that stupid wiggly eyebrow thing.
So here she is, in a soft orange sweatshirt with a chibi fox decal, ripped black jeans, and matching boots. She even put some effort in her makeup an hour earlier, almost stabbing her eyes multiple times as she tried to do her eyeliner. (It’s less than perfect, but whatever.)
Kira’s fisted hand hovers over the doorbell, and before she can chicken out, she squeezes her eyes shut and raps on the door in three quick knocks. It swings open, and a gust of wind and electronic music frees itself from Lydia Martin’s house.
Stiles stands there with a shit-eating grin, his nose painted black with matching whiskers sloppily marking up his cheeks. He’s obviously had a couple of drinks, and welcomes her in with a jerky hand movement. Kira ducks her head in embarrassment and scurries inside.
The music is deafening, pounding its way through her bones, and while the lights of the grand house are off, strobing colors blind her every few seconds as the sweep through. There’s a faint smell of fruit punch and sweat wafts through the air.
Kira just stands there for a second, a bit overwhelmed by all the sudden change in environment.
“Uh, Kira? You good?” Stiles asks behind her, snapping the girl out of her trance. She spins around shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket.
“What? Yeah, no, I’m fine. I’m just gonna--” She gestures awkwardly behind her. “Um, bye, Stiles!”
The boy gives her a confused look and half a wave, then remembers he has a drink in his hand, from which he happily takes a sip.
Kira tries not to look too panicky as she darts in between drunk teenagers and couples making out. She finally ends up in the kitchen, a much less chaotic room compared to the living area. Well, at least the lights are on.
Rolling her sleeves up, she grabs a red plastic cup and pours a vibrant pink liquid from a pitcher. She takes a cautious sip, then nearly chokes on the strength of the alcohol. Classic Lydia, trying to poison everyone with alcohol. She swallows the liquid and it burns its way down, warming her up from the inside out.
She spends the next few minutes people-watching and taking occasional sips from her cup before she feels the effects of the alcohol take her back to the living room.
It seems foggier now. The lights seem less intense, the pounding of the music softer than before. She floats her way through the living room and into the backyard, where less drunk people mill about, casually chatting.
Kira spots Scott, his arm around Allison, his girlfriend, as they double over and laugh at something Stiles says. Allison is in some sort of dark huntress getup while Scott is clad in a ripped shirt and equally destroyed pants, with scratches on his face and wolf ears for an extra splash of creativity. Allison’s idea, probably.
Sure, Kira’s friends with them. After all, they were the first people to talk to her after she moved to Beacon Hills, but she just never felt… included. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve all known each other since Kindergarten. Maybe it’s the fact that Kira’s just an introvert. Whatever the case, the girl doesn’t seem quite comfortable to intrude on their conversation. She turns around and heads back inside, towards the blinding lights.
She’s been to Lydia Martin’s house before, during a group project that required them and a few other kids to research something for her dad’s history class. It didn’t seem important at the time, but now Kira silently thanks Lydia for giving her a house tour a few months before as she tries to sneak upstairs. No one notices her nearly tripping on one of the stairs.
She shuffles quietly through the never ending hallway, past numerous doors as she tries to remember which door led to the bathroom.
After her third try, she manages to find the safe zone. Kira closes the door behind her and slides down the wall, sighing in relief. She closes her eyes and feels the bass-boosted music under her, then tries to find her happy place.
A few minutes later, she’s bored of just sitting there. Kira tries to take a sip of punch from her cup, but then realizes she’s not holding it anymore. Whatever. She crawls on the tiled floors and climbs into the bathtub, which is somehow sparkling like new. It seems sanitary enough. She drapes her legs over the edge and leans her head against the edge, and her head pulses in sync with the remixed music.
Someone decides to barge in Kira’s safe haven with a slam that jolts her from her reverie. She yanks her legs back into the tub and all but falls into a fetal position at the bottom, adrenaline from the shock buzzing in her veins.
“Ugh,” A girl groans as she closes the door behind her. Kira peeks over the edge of the bathtub and is surprised to see a semi-familiar brunette lying on the ground, spread eagled, with her eyes closed. Malia Tate. Kira doesn’t know her that well, but she’s hung out with her and her friends more than a few times. In fact, isn’t she dating Stiles? Whatever. Kira sinks back down into the tub, then silently wills the other girl to leave. She doesn’t.
Five minutes pass. Then five more. Kira starts to get restless, then tries to move around as quietly as possible.
Oh no. She needs to sneeze. The girl tries to hold it in, but it escapes with a weird choking sound.
“What the hell ?” Malia springs up, then leans on the counter for a bit of support. She spots the Kiral curled up in the tub, her face flushed red from embarrassment, no doubt. Oh my god oh my god oh my god . Kira thinks.
“Kira? Holy shit, how long have you been here?”
The raven-haired girl sits up, squeezing her eyes shut and cringing.
“Um, I can explain--”
Malia sighs.
“No! It wasn’t creepy or anything like that! I just-- I wanted to come up here, and then I was in the bathtub, and then you came in, and I didn’t want to bother you or anything so I kind of just stayed here? And now that I’m saying this out loud, I totally sound like a stalker. Which I’m not ! I promise--”
“ Kira . It’s okay. Really.” Malia gives her a reassuring smile, which practically makes her melt. Kira curses her gay thoughts and tries to smile back, but it probably looks like a grimace instead.
“Scooch over,” Malia orders with a wave of her hand.
“Wait what?”
The taller girl rolls her eyes.
“Move. I’m sitting here.”
Kira complies, sliding over to one side. Malia climbs in, putting her (long, perfectly tanned) legs over the edge while Kira opts to hug her knees. They sit in silence for a few minutes.
“So why are you here anyway?” Malia asks suddenly.
“Who, me?” Ugh, Kira, you idiot, of course Malia’s talking to you. “Um, parties aren’t really my thing, I guess. Scott made me come. Said it was good for my “hermit crab ass”. Which were his words, not mine.”
Malia giggles, while Kira tries not to blush at the unexpected sound. Malia didn’t seem to be the type of person to giggle, she seemed more like a loud, boisterous laugh-er. The raven haired girl clears her throat.
“Um, what about you? Why are you y’know… locked up in the bathroom with me when you could be downstairs?”
Malia just shrugs and adjusts her ripped shirt. Is she doing a group costume with Scott and Allison? What about Stiles?
“What are you thinking about?” Malia interrupts her thoughts. Kira purses her lips, then decides to ask her.
“What are you even dressed as? As far as I can tell, your clothes are just slightly more distressed than usual.” Kira frowns. The brunette tugs at her shorts.
“Well, you know how Scott asked us to dress as supernatural characters?”
The shorter girl nods. It was a weird request, but she had dressed up as a kitsune from her mom’s Japanese myth book, hence the fox sweatshirt.
“The idiot told me to come in a “were-coyote” costume.” Malia says in a flat voice. Kira can’t help it. She snorts. Malia groans and shoves her shoulder into the other girl’s.
“I’m sorry, I’m just a bit drunk and-- a were-coyote ? What even is that?” She dissolves into laughter again. Malia cracks a smile.
“That’s what I said! And you know what he said back? ‘Well, we can’t both be werewolves, right?’”
“ No !”
“Yes!” Malia insists. “I swear, he’s such a baby sometimes.” They both collapse into giggles again.
“To be honest, I really thought you were gonna match outfits with Stiles.” Kira says suddenly. Malia blinks at her.
“Why would I do that?”
Kira frowns. “Wait, you guys aren’t dating?”
The brunette scoffs good-naturedly.
“Why does everyone think that? I’m not even into guys, girls are more my thing, if you get what I mean.” She gives Kira a terrible wink. “Also, he’s dating Derek Hale.”
Kira tries to seem casual and nonchalant, totally not freaking out because Malia Tate just admitted to liking girls. She focuses on trying to remember who Derek is. Then, it hits her.
“ Oh , the bearded grumpy cat guy!” She says cheerfully. Malia snorts into her fist.
“I mean, that’s one way to put it.”
Malia smiles, sighing, and leans her head on Kira’s shoulder, making her freeze and release a strangled sound mid-laugh. Malia jerks her head away, turning a bit and looking at Kira with wide, worried eyes.
“Um, are you okay?” She asks quietly.
“Yeah!” Kira says a little too loudly. She clears her throat. “You can uh… you can put your head back. If you want.” She adds on quickly, feeling her face get warm again. She is not going to have a crush on Malia Tate. Not if she can help it. Malia shrugs then plops her head back, relaxing and slumping her whole body against Kira’s. She tries not to be weird as she notices Malia’s hair smells like strawberries, then becomes overwhelmed with an urge to run her fingers through her hair, so she does. The taller girl lets out a pleased sigh as Kira gently scratches her nails on her scalp.
“That feels nice,” Her warm brown eyes flutter shut, and Kira admires her long, thick eyelashes brushing across her high cheekbones.
“Hey, Malia?” Kira asks before she can stop herself. The brunette arches her neck to make eye contact with her, and she all but loses it. “Um, I--”
Malia sits up, holding her gaze in an intense yet soft stare. Kira’s gaze flickers down to her soft, pink lips and parts her own unconsciously. She swallows and inches closer to Malia, leaning closer and slightly tilting her head to the side, her heart pounding in her ears. Her eyes flutter closed, and she presses her lips gently to Malia’s, tucking the brunette’s wavy hair behind her ears.
It’s meant to be a chaste kiss, but Malia holds her there, brushing her hands up from her shoulders to her cheeks, tilting her head and deepening the kiss. The taller girl runs her tongue over the slit of Kira’s lips and she parts them in response, letting Malia take control and explore around with her mouth.
God, her mouth. Kira just about melts when Malia sucks on her bottom lip. The brunette suddenly pulls back, and Kira’s eyes snap open, about to protest when she reattaches her lips to her neck, leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses. Kira lets out a shaky breath as Malia kisses all over her collar bone before coming back up and pressing her lips against hers one more time.
Malia leans back, keeping a hand on Kira’s cheek as she looks at her with a new, adoring light in her eyes. Her cheeks are flushed scarlet and her lips are swollen and pink.
Kira gapes at her for a second before finding the words to speak.
“Wow. That was… wow.” She manages to say. The girl lets out a small laugh. “Malia, we did this all out of order! Aren’t you supposed to go on a date before you kiss someone?”
Malia cracks a smile.
“Too late now. So, how about we meet up at the library on Monday?” She asks casually.
“I-- okay, that sounds good.” Kira’s slightly taken aback but to be honest, she’s been pining for Malia from a distance for what seems like a million years.
Malia’s grin grows even wider, if possible.
“Great. Then it’s a date.” And she leans in for another kiss.