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“I can smell how nervous you are,” Malia mentioned, quite unhelpfully if Kira had a say in it. She glared over at Malia over her shoulder and groaned as Malia just shrugged carelessly.
“Not helping,” Kira responded as she eyed the breaker box again, pretending she had any idea what power each wire held.
“Hey, you can do this,” Malia confirmed, resting a hand on Kira’s arm causing her to jump in surprise. Her nerves were even more haywire than she had thought they were if even a simple touch caused that kind of reaction. She realized when she glanced up at Malia, that maybe it had nothing to do with their current situation. Kira shot her a desperate look and Malia sighed and continued, “It's just like we practiced, remember?”
Like Kira could forget embarrassing herself in front of the girl she was halfway in love with.
“You mean like when I caused a major blackout?” Kira retorted, scoffing as Malia sighed defeatedly. Kira looked nervously down to her combat boots, rubbing a hand over her face to wipe away the anxious sweat already forming there.
“Not like that, no,” Malia muttered. It was then that Kira noticed Malia hadn’t let go of her arm and that must have been the reason the tingling in her skin simmered. Malia had always calmed her, steadied her in a way no one else had, and it wasn’t a coincidence Malia was the one with her for the task.
“Ten seconds. Nine. Eight….” Malia began. Kira groaned and hovered her hands over the breaker box once more.
“Will you stop counting?” Kira asked, shooting another glare over her shoulder. Malia shrugged innocently and tilted her head toward the breaker as if urging Kira to focus. Kira did so, turning back toward the wires and wrapping her hands around them delicately. She felt the electricity burning inside of her and she knew that one wrong move could be detrimental to their plan. She was momentarily annoyed that Scott trusted her more than she trusted herself.
“Why isn’t it working?” Malia asked, leaning over Kira’s shoulder to take a look at the wires. Kira closed her eyes, instantly relaxing at the closeness, but unable to push away the frustration she had at herself.
“Because I have no idea what I'm doing!” Kira shouted desperately, her head falling as she tried to regulate her power a little at a time. She wished she could’ve had more time to learn to control it. The situation was too risky and her anxiety was too high to control her power and--
“Kira, nothing’s happening,” Malia pointed out, once again unhelpfully.
“I'm aware of that!” Kira spat before sighing hopelessly. “I don't want to lose control because I'm scared I might fry the entire system,” she explained, hoping Malia would understand.
“You need to find something to-- to anchor you,” Malia stuttered, her eyes widening as if a lightbulb went off in her head. Kira could almost see it floating when she shot a questioning look in Malia’s direction. “When Scott was teaching me how to control my coyote, he said I needed an anchor. My anchor was Stiles and when I thought I couldn’t control myself, I thought of him,” Malia explained, a shyness in her voice that Kira didn’t understand given the circumstances.
“Was?” Kira asked. It wasn’t what she meant to say, but the past tense use of Stiles as her anchor was news to her. She had thought Stiles was the only reason Malia hadn’t gone completely feral on the daily.
“Was,” Malia confirmed with a slow nod. “I-- My anchor is someone new, but that doesn’t matter, Kira. You need to think of your anchor; the thing that calms you, centers you, makes you feel like everything you were meant to be,” Malia coached but all Kira could think of was the woman in front of her.
She gazed into Malia’s eyes, her own glowing golden and her hands lighting up blue with foxfire, and focused only on Malia. Kira thought about the sarcasm that always seemed to drip from her lips, her eagerness to learn and be a better person, the way she helped Kira at the drop of a hat even though she didn’t have to. She was so focused on Malia that when the machines started powering down and the lights flickered around them, she barely noticed. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Malia’s even as hers glanced around the room excitedly.
“Kira, you did it! Oh my god, you--” Kira wasn’t sure if it was the power that continued to flood through her or the final string of her resolve breaking, but she let go of the wires to hold Malia’s face in her hands precisely. A small gasp of surprise left Malia’s mouth, but it was muffled by Kira finally pressing their lips together. She kissed Malia as if it was the only thing left to do and the power that surged through her was nothing compared to how Malia’s mouth felt against hers.
When she pulled away, Malia stared at her, stunned, her eyes glowing bright blue that matched the foxfire that continued to surround Kira’s form like a protective layer. Before Kira could panic too much, Malia threw her arms around her neck and kissed Kira again, even more passionately now that they were both prepared for it. Kira held her tightly, ignoring everything around her in order to revel in the emotion each of them was pouring into it. That time, Malia pulled away, breath heaving out of her lungs as if she had just run through the preserve and a wide smile on her face.
“Stiles was my anchor, but now it’s you. You’re the only one that it could be,” Malia whispered, resting her forehead against Kira’s and huffing out a laugh. Kira giggled back and nodded quickly, biting down on her lip to try and contain her grin.
“Apparently, you’re mine, too.”