Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The house looked haunted. No matter how Kit spun it, it looked old, dirty, and haunted. The exterior seemed decent and mostly well kept, except for some flaky paint here and there and a few small cracks and splinters on the end of the wood boards; unfortunately, with how often it rained in Wildwoods, that meant Kit had to fix the cladding sooner than later if she wanted to be comfortable in her new home.

She had inherited the house from her godfather Boorman, who had sadly passed away a couple of months before from a terrible car accident. He had always been like a father to her ever since her own dad left her when she wasn’t even capable of asking why. Sure, he was annoying at times and always had the worst perfumes known to man; he knew all types of products for hair and skincare, and sometimes Kit wondered why he never made a career out of it; he liked drinking and women way too much, but so did Kit when she was old enough for both. In a way, they were more alike than she cared to admit.

As she unloaded her suitcases from the taxi and dragged them to the front porch, she took in the disastrous conditions of the garden: weeds everywhere, the grass so overgrown it almost reached Kit’s knees, and dry brown patches everywhere. More stuff to do, great.

She never thought she’d be living in a small town on the other side of the country, but Kit quickly learned that life has a funny way of upturning your entire existence. One moment you’re laughing with your family at the dinner table, and the next one daddy’s gone and mom can’t bear to look you in the eyes without crying. First you beg for the universe to show you a different path outside your stupid, boring life, and the next you get a call from the police saying that one of the most important people in your life suffered a terrible accident by the hand of a reckless driver.

Standing on the patio, Kit assessed her situation: three suitcases that she would have to carry upstairs to where the bedrooms are likely to be, plus six boxes full of all her stuff – records, shoes, various toiletries, her precious stuffed animal she can’t sleep without, that one sword-shaded lamp Airk had gotten her from Berlin –, and she had to carry it all on her own. She hoped the cold weather of mid-February would prevent her from sweating all day, but given the hard work ahead, she wasn’t convinced she would be that lucky.

Finding the key among the ones on her carabiner proved to be more difficult than expected, and really, was there anything easy about that new accommodation? If the house weren’t so far from her hometown, she would have already sold it for whatever amount the first buyer offered and flown somewhere in Europe.

“Fucking finally,” she muttered when she found the correct key, then inserted it into the lock. The door opened with a loud shriek that gave Kit chills, and if the house looked haunted before, this definitely wasn’t helping change her mind.

To Kit’s surprise, the inside of the house wasn’t falling apart, and although it smelled moldy in most of the ground floor, the kitchen and living room were adequate. The decoration was horrendous though, with crazy wallpapers and mismatched sofas, old furniture and even older curtains, gadgets that Boorman recollected during his travels around the world along with books on self-help and how to make homemade beer. It was a lot, but Boorman had always been a lot .

She had never been here despite them being so close – a thought that was only now coming as a realization to Kit. Why had she never been here? He had moved here when Kit turned sixteen, and after that only came back to Tir Asleen on Christmas to visit the family. She had always assumed he was looking for some quiet, same as her now, but why not invite your family over just once? Or at least invite Kit, who would’ve happily drunk eggnog in silence in front of the fireplace with him.

I could’ve helped pick a better wallpaper , she thought as she walked down the hallway on the first floor, a hideous flock of birds adorning the walls around her. The floor plan was quite simple: an entrance, a living room and a hallway that led to the kitchen on one side and a small bathroom and a studio on the other. To the right, a staircase leading upstairs, where three bedrooms and a bathroom occupied the space. It looked cozy, despite everything. Quiet, even.

The kitchen had a nice wooden island at the center, and despite not being too big, it was enough space for one person, and with all the takeout food she was going to order, it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. All she needed was a fork and a microwave, which (she checked) was there.

In the corner of the room was a backdoor leading to what Kit presumed was more weeds to remove. Great. This house was turning into a black hole for money, and with all the people she would have to pay for fixing it, she was lucky if the money she would make from the sell was enough to cover the expenses. She was so focused on assessing how much profit (if any) she was going to make that she didn’t hear the scream until it was too late.

A person charged towards her and threw her onto the grass with all their body weight. Kit tried resisting, but to no avail; the person was strong, and Kit was caught off guard, fully not expecting someone else to be there but her. Her butt hit the ground so hard that she could already picture the purple bruise she’d have the next day.

She brought her arms in front of her face to protect herself, eyes shut closed in fear and heart pounding so fast that if she wasn’t going to die by the hands of this stranger, then it would definitely be because of a heart attack.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” The person yelled, too close to Kit’s face for her liking.

She opened her eyes cautiously, and the first thing she saw were garden shears pointed at her; the second was a face so full of freckles that it felt straight out of a fantasy movie. No person has that many freckles , Kit thought, studying her attacker. Except she did, they were as real as the reddest hair Kit had ever seen, pulled back in a ponytail that resembled a halo more than an actual ponytail.

“I asked you a question and I have a weapon. Speak!”

Is that a British accent?

“Yes, um – hi. I’m just checking out the place, see if it needs some work.”

“Why?”

“I’d rather talk over coffee, maybe? But if you must know, well. Place is mine.”

The greenish brown eyes staring at her shot wide for a second before narrowing, and the grip on the shears got tighter. “That’s impossible. Now tell me why you’re really here. If you’re trying to steal something, you’re out of luck – the house is full of trash.”

Although the sun was shining high in the sky, it was still cold outside, and Kit had taken off her jacket when she entered the house. Now, the cold ground was starting to wet her flannel shirt, and she hated the feeling against her skin.

“I told you, the house belongs to me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to change into clean clothes thanks to you,” she said drily, trying to shake out of the girl’s strong grip, and only then did it occur to her that the girl was straddling her, knees firmly planted onto the damp ground. If she weren’t so cold, she’d be turned on.

The angry girl raised her voice. “Hey, pretty face, look at me! If you don’t leave my property in ten seconds I will use this ,” she nodded towards the shears, and Kit noticed a smudge of dirt on her cheek, “and trust me, you won’t like it one bit.”

The threat worked wonders on Kit, who shot up on her feet as soon as the girl removed herself from Kit’s body. “Ok fine, whatever, I didn’t like the house anyway. I’ll call my lawyer to get you removed from my house, and while I’m at it I will press charges for trespassing, how’s that sound?”

“Peachy.”

“Great, it’s settled then.” Kit rubbed at her clothes to check how wet and dirty they are, and okay, it wasn’t that bad, but who shoved another person onto the ground like that anyway? She was allowed to be dramatic about it. “Fuck, Boorman never mentioned crazy ass farmers ‘round here, otherwise I would’ve sold the house directly instead of coming all the way here.”

The girl dropped the shears at her feet, an unreadable face staring at Kit. “You said Boorman?”

“Yeah, he was my godfather, I got the house from him.”

The girl shook her head and took one step closer. Now that she had no weapon in her hand, Kit had no reason to fear her; yet, she still took one step backwards. “You’re wrong.”

“Pretty sure his will says otherwise.”

“No, he –” she breathed once, twice to calm her down, “He promised the house to me.”

Kit shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell ya. I have the photo of the will on my phone,” and she pulled out her phone to show it to her as proof. Kit Tanthalos could be many bad things, but a liar wasn’t one of them.

The girl read the entire will, page for page, scanning every word so carefully that Kit got bored and went to sit on the step of the deck, eyes up to the sky to look at the clouds.

“A-ha! Right here!” The girl yelled after a while in an annoying gotcha tone, like Kit was dumb enough not to read the will that gifted her a whole house. Of course her lawyer had read it. “It says: ‘I, Thraxus Relaxus Boorman also leave the house I own in Wildwoods to my beloved sister-in-law Jade Claymore’ – that’s me – ‘who has loved it almost as much as me. Hopefully, by the time I die, you will already be living here, but if not, I hope it will help you find love as it helped me with my Scorpia.’ See?”

Jade? Scorpia? Who the fuck were these people?

“Let me see.”

She stole the phone from the girl’s – Jade’s – hands, and read the same paragraph. Sure enough, a couple of pages after Boorman left his Wildwoods house to Kit to, there was the sentence that Jade had just read her. How did her lawyer miss this? He saw that the house Kit was going to move into had to be shared with a stranger, and he didn’t bother mentioning? For how much her mother liked how professional Allagash was, his consultation fee was way too high if this was the kind of service he was providing his clients.

“Fuck, this is...”

“Yeah.”

Kit couldn’t believe it. Boorman was absentminded most of the time, but she never blamed it on him. He lived his life as carefree as possible, and Kit almost envied him for that; that’s why she was always around him whether she’d like to admit it or not – she aimed to be free, just like him. He had them as a family, but wasn’t bound to them; he cared, and that was enough. Now, nothing made sense anymore. He had found love with a certain Scorpia? And who was this Jade who knew how to hold a weapon and had such a charming accent?

Surely it was all a big mistake. He probably made several edits to the will, to the point where he forgot to delete certain things here and there, and fate got to him before he could set on a final version. Yes, that must have been it. Kit decided to call Allagash the next day to ask if there was an original version of the will, and if she could question the validity of the last version.

“What’re we gonna do?” Jade asked after neither dared to say anything out loud. Kit turned to her and saw the same panic she must be having painted all over her face.

“Listen, I flew all the way here from Tir Asleen and I’m pretty tired, I need a shower and I’m freezing out here, so I think I’m gonna go upstairs and pass out for a good twelve to fourteen hours. You do whatever.”

“So you’re just gonna move into my house?”

Kit didn’t like the know-it-all attitude that this Jade Claymore kept showing. After all, it wasn’t her fault that Boorman screwed up badly even after his death, and like it or not, she was a co-owner of the house just as much as her.

“Actually, I am staying at my house. You’re the one overstaying her welcome.”

With that, Kit disappeared through the kitchen backdoor to get her stuff. She felt Jade’s presence like a shadow behind her, following her back to the main entrance. Kit assumed she wanted to get her stuff to her room upstairs, but when she turned to her with a box to hand her, she saw her slayed onto a sofa, a big grin on her face.

“Aren’t you gonna help me?”

“Why would I? It’s your house, innit? Surely you can take your stuff upstairs,” she said with such sarcasm in her voice that Kit’s hand itched to slap her.

She wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of winning though.

“I can. I just wanted to check if you were strong enough to help.”

Kit thought she had it in the bag, but Jade stood her ground and shook her head. “Oh, I could never. Help yourself, princess.”

She was clearly enjoying poking fun at Kit, making her mad about the whole situation. Maybe she was trying to wear Kit out so that she would leave the house voluntarily, but Kit had never met anyone as stubborn as her. She won that epic fight against Airk in seventh grade on who deserved to get the bigger stall at their mansion’s stables; she convinced her mother to let her live on her own after years of begging; she even got a car for half its price, and nevermind that she sold it not even a year later because it was too tall for her, the point is that she won that.

“Actually, it’s Kit!” she retorted once she arrived at the top of the staircase, thankful that she hadn't tripped and fallen despite the big suitcase she was dragging.

“Sure, princess!”

Fuck her.

If Jade wanted the house, she had to get ready to fight for it.

Chapter Text

- Three weeks before -

Watching Boorman’s house for the first time in over a year, Jade felt heartbroken. Boorman had moved out to be with Scorpia in England, but never had the heart to sell it, and while Scorpia thought that paying for two houses while only living in one was a waste of money , Jade could understand. She had many fond memories of visiting with her sister, helping Boorman grow a nice garden and even grow some vegetables in the back (she always suspected he only did that because she was a gardener and he wanted something to bond over, but he never admitted it); sleeping in the spare bedroom and filling it with her books, until one day Boorman said it could be her room forever; deep cleaning the kitchen after that the pressure cooker exploded and cabbage soup went everywhere (the smell was foul and they had to avoid stepping into the room for almost a week). How could he give all that up?

Now that Boorman was gone, it was her responsibility to care for the house.

In the weeks that followed, she removed all the cobwebs, wiped the floors, dusted the furniture and removed the dead plants from the garden. There was still a lot to be done, but she was optimistic. She wanted to make this place her permanent home, and she had all the time in the world to do so.

- Present day -

Jade was running out of time. She still had less than two hours of daylight to collect firewood in the forest around the house before it was too dark and cold to venture outside. She had found a good amount for the night, and the house also had electricity, but there was something about a lit-up fireplace that warmed her heart along with her hands.

She had had a hard time falling asleep the previous night – with a stranger sleeping in Boorman’s room, that was to be expected –, so she thought having a familiar setting would help her mind relax just enough to fall asleep. It was incredibly cold, after all.

The whole day, Kit had been in Boorman’s room yelling over the phone with who Jade assumed was her lawyer. She didn’t like eavesdropping – she had too much work to do to roam around twiddling her thumbs, waiting for some gossip from the other side of the country –, but it wasn’t hard to hear Kit’s entitled yelling from behind the door. “You don’t know who you’re talking to!”, she’d say, followed by a “I’ll sue you, for fuck’s sake!”, and a thousand different shades of insults that Jade would find funny if they weren’t coming from a nutcase sleeping on the other end of the hallway.

She had locked her bedroom last night for a reason, and she was going to again tonight. Better safe than sorry.

She rushed to pick up another two logs from the ground, checked if they were dry enough to combust, then hurried back into the house from the backdoor, her muddy boots promptly left in the entryway.

Her steps were light onto the wooden floor, and there was a blissful silence all over the house. She liked it that way – silent –; it calmed her mind, like she had it all under control. She could choose whether there was sound or not, she had the power.

She lit the fireplace, allowing only that comforting crackling to mitigate the silence, a lullaby after a tiring day. She felt sleepy right then, and if she closed her eyes for a moment or two, nobody would judge her. She was working so hard to turn the house into her perfect haven, but it took so much time and energy and she just needed some rest after last night’s restlessness –

“So who’s Scorpia?” Kit’s deep voice at the top of the staircase pierce through the silence, and Jade couldn’t say she was excited to hear her.

She didn’t reply right away, unsure whether to trust this person who had barged into her life a little less than twenty-four hours before. She began stacking the firewood, hoping that Kit would leave her in peace, but of course Kit made her way downstairs before standing awkwardly behind Jade, waiting for an answer.

“My sister,” Jade gave in. “Half-sister, actually.”

“Where’s she now?”

“Home, near London.”

“Cool,” and with that, she disappeared into the kitchen. She’s weird , was the only thing coming to Jade’s mind. Who in their right mind would actively choose to share a house with a stranger, when there are a few hotels and B&Bs in town to stay at? They were going to sort this out in a couple of days max, and then she would have to leave anyway. Better just to not unpack at all.

Once she was done, she grabbed a couple of logs from the top of the stack and stoked the fire. It felt nice against her cold skin, a little tingling that reminded her she was alive.

“Here.”

Kit reappeared at her side with two glasses of wine in her hands, one stretched out towards Jade.

“Is it poisoned?”

Kit took a sip from both glasses and gave her best salesman smile, a dimple appearing on her right cheek. Cute.

“Gross,” Jade replied instead, focusing on the unnecessary exchange of saliva that she was now exposing herself to.

Kit sat down a few inches apart from Jade, her back leaning against a couch, and stared at the fire in front of them. In that red light, her blue eyes seemed to soften.

“I spoke to my lawyer and apparently the will is rock solid, I cannot challenge it. Boorman wrote it and signed it, and who cares if he left the house to two or twenty people – his word is final.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck.”

“So how can we solve this?”

“He says the only thing we can do is one of us gives up her claim on the house.”

Jade’s heart stopped beating. Give up the house? She couldn’t imagine doing that after all the hard work she had been putting into fixing it. She had her own bedroom, she had planted basil and tomatoes and carrots in the vegetable garden, she was going to fix the plumbing in the downstairs bathroom next Monday... There was so much to do and she wanted to be the one to do it.

“I won’t leave. Sorry that you came all this way just to turn back, but this house is mine. I’m not leaving it.”

Kit didn’t seem surprised at the answer, which almost reassured Jade that at least she wasn’t going to be kicked out that night.

“Well, I won’t leave either.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Why not? You’re not the only one who gets to stay,” Kit retorted matter-of-factly as she sipped her wine. Technically she was right, she had the same right to live in Boorman’s house (which infuriated Jade even more), but also, she wasn’t being practical. How were they going to make it work? Were they to split the house in half?

“So what? We’re gonna – we’re gonna be roommates in a house that we own ?” Her mind was spinning at the ridiculous thought, and she gulped down the rest of her wine in hopes of a stroke of genius. She couldn’t believe that this piece of heaven that was Boorman’s legacy would have to be shared with an entitled brat who clearly didn’t understand the concept of personal space.

She drew her attention to the fire crackling in front of her, the sound so relaxing as the flames danced lazily that it soothed her brain, although only momentarily. She wondered if Boorman ever lit the fireplace when he was alone, or if he only did that when she and Scorpia visited during the winter because he knew how much they hated the cold.

“Fuckin’ Boorman and his shenanigans,” she muttered mindlessly, half amused and half annoyed at how comically Boorman this whole situation was. “He was the worst.”

“Yeah,” Kit whispered, “he was the best.”

Jade’s eyes prickled at the memory of her and Boorman drinking in front of this very fireplace after he asked for her blessing to marry Scorpia. She had been so excited for them, and rejoiced in knowing her little family was going to get slightly bigger. Now, all she had was a heavy heart.

“You okay?” She heard Kit ask her.

She hummed, doubting that her mouth was able to form coherent words with the wet knot she had in her throat.

“Alright, you know what? How about a toast?”

Jade looked at her with a puzzled expression. A toast?

“To what?”

“I don’t know, our new house? Your new stunningly gorgeous roommate?” Kit said, wiggling her eyebrows. “To Boorman?”

Jade swallowed. It felt strange to drink at his house without him, but she had to learn how to do everything without him if she wanted to live here, and what better way to do that than with a toast in his honor? She took a deep breath and raised her glass.

“Okay, here it goes: to Boorman, who was like a big brother to me – definitely annoyed me sometimes like one – but always managed to make me laugh after a good cry. It’ll be hard to cry now, I guess, but – yeah. I love you, always will. I’ll take care of Scor for you too.”

She brought the glass to her lips and nothing came out of it. Shit, she had drunk it all. “Fuck,” she muttered as Kit tried to stifle a laugh – although Jade would argue she didn’t really try, because not even a second later she was fully belly-laughing, tears at the corners of her eyes and all. Jade watched her, more amused at the carefree laugh than at her own forgetfulness, and soon a smile was forming on her own face too.

“Well, that was a beautiful toast,” Kit said while wiping away her tears.

“Shut up.”

“No, really, I mean it. Too bad you didn’t stick the landing.”

Jade rolled her eyes at Kit’s roguish grin, and only then did she notice that her new roommate had a little dimple on her right cheek. Had it always been there? Well, for course it had, but she was so focused on being angry at this girl that she had completely missed how beautiful she was. Her eyes looked gray in the orange light of the fire, but Jade remembered them to be blue (why she already remembered the color, she had no clue). She was gorgeous.

Jade needed more wine.

Chapter Text

Kit hated Jade.

Well, hate is a strong word, but why was Jade waking up every morning at 5:30 am and immediately starting drilling ? What was she even drilling?

Kit had been waking up to her roommate's strange routine every morning for the past four days now, and every time it felt like being drilled into her skull.

Not only that, but her roommate was obsessing over every tiny aspect of the house: first, it was the bugs, which, fair ; then it was the hole in Boorman’s window that she had temporarily sealed with plastic sheeting, but needed a more permanent solution; yesterday, she was complaining about the fifth step of the staircase creaking, and just an hour ago, it was the water pressure in the upstairs bathroom. Kit was glad that she was taking care of all the handy work that she herself was never going to do, but she was borderline obsessed with it. There was no rush to fix everything, given that both owners acknowledged the state of the house and still decided to live inside, so why drill at 5 am?

She groaned as she went to the kitchen for breakfast, her morning already ruined by the loud drilling coming from the adjacent bathroom. Kit wouldn't even consider it a bathroom per se, given that it only had a toilet and a non-working sink, but Jade insisted she could squeeze in a small shower for when she came back inside from gardening in the spring. Whatever, Kit concluded, if Jade wanted the downstairs shower so bad, she would have to build it on her own.

She made some scrambled eggs and toasted a slide of bread, silently thankful that Jade kept the pantry and fridge well stocked. Kit had no desire to roam around a supermarket with a stupid list, checking every expiring date, loading the cart only to unload it later at the checkout and then reload it again into bags and re-unload it at home. She had brought it up a couple of days ago – “ I always had my groceries delivered at home in Tir Asleen, why can’t I do that here too? ” – but Jade had been unyielding – “ I need to make sure the fruit is ripe ” –, and that was the end of it. It was probably for the best though, since if it were for Kit, they’d go on weeks relying on fast food delivery.

Once she was done eating, she went to wash the pan and her plate in the sink, mindful of the scolding she received her first night at the house when Jade reprimanded her for using the dishwasher for a single plate. As she opened the handle of the faucet, she immediately noticed something was wrong: not only was the water barely coming out of it, but the handle was also pretty heavy. Weird. It was probably Jade who was playing with the water pressure in the bathroom, Kit assumed as she resumed scrubbing the pan.

She was almost done doing the dishes, and really she just had to rinse them all before drying them with a dish towel, when the tap water first stopped, and then exploded from the cabinet under the sink.

To be completely honest, Kit hadn’t dealt with many plumbing emergencies in her life, so when she opened the cabinet to see where the leak was coming from, the water shot right into her face with such unexpected pressure that she almost fell backwards.

It wasn’t Kit’s proudest moment.

“Jade!” She yelled as loud as she could while her hands tried to close the hole to prevent more water from coming out. “Fuck fuck fuck! Jaaaaaaade!”

Jade appeared like a vision from the doorstep and promptly crouched down next to her. “What did you do?”

“Why are you assuming I had something to do with this?” Why was Jade trying to pick up a fight in a clear situation of emergency was beyond her. “If you had let me use the dishwasher like I wanted to, this wouldn’t have happened!”

Jade rolled her eyes, and fuck, if Kit’s hands weren’t busy, she would have gladly hit her know-it-all attitude out of her. Who did she think she was? Just because Kit hadn’t spent her life renovating houses or whatever, it didn’t mean that Jade could treat her like she was inferior or stupid.

Jade shifted her eyes from Kit to the leak to Kit again, then nodded. “Keep your hands on the hole, I’m coming back.”

She ran out of the kitchen before Kit could bat an eye and came back less than a minute later with a toolbox she had probably retrieved from the bathroom next door. Kit was entranced by the competence shown by her roommate as she started to fix the leak with a masterful dance of wrench and tape measure and screwdrivers. Frankly, now that Kit could let the hole go and her eyes wander, she couldn’t help but think that what Jade was doing, all wet and in shorts and a sports bra, was hot . The way her arms were flexing and her abs were glistening (sweat or water, Kit didn’t care) were making her heart race and an all-too-familiar heat grow between her legs.

Finally , Jade managed to fix the leak. She turned to Kit as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm, and grinned. “A shower downstairs would be pretty useful now,” she teased, and fuck if Kit didn’t need a cold shower now .

She darted her gaze as far away from Jade as possible, her legs moving on her own accord out of the kitchen. “I’ll – I’ll get us a towel. Two! Two towels.”

She got upstairs in record time, closing the bathroom door behind her for good measure (not that Jade was following her, or that she was hoping she would), and searched for two clean towels. What was that?? Ogling her roommate like a horny teenager who had never seen boobs? She was starting to lose it in that house, and being away from civilization wasn’t helping. She needed to socialize with someone who wasn’t a control freak, and probably needed a good fuck too. God knew how long it had been since the last time someone had been between her legs...

She groaned frustrated, her steps heavy while descending the staircase and returning to the kitchen where Jade was of course patiently waiting for her.

“Thanks,” Jade said as she dried her abdomen. “Please don’t touch anything ever again, deal?”

There’s the Jade she knew – not the hot handywoman with insane muscles, but little miss perfect who couldn’t resist making Kit feel stupid at every given moment. Kit wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing her upset. “At least if anything else breaks, you’re already here to swoop in and save the day. I bet you love doing that.”

Jade raised her eyebrows, her hands stopping their motion. “I’m sorry, what? I love fixing all the shit you break?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then, next time you fix it yourself,” she snarled, rapidly putting her tools away inside the toolbox and getting to her feet, “and use your own fucking tools!”

“Great!”

“Great!” Jade yelled right before slamming the door behind her.

–––

Kit kept replaying the argument she had had with Jade that morning for the entire day. She couldn’t focus on her phone or the records she put on to distract her. She even went for a walk, which her mother had always said was good for thinking but only made the words scream louder in her mind.

Next time you fix it yourself – the arrogance was staggering. And use your own fucking tools ? As if Kit Tanthalos could have any. She had brought many things from Tir Asleen, and none were helpful in case of house renovations. No, Jade was obviously trying to make her look like a fool who had jumped into this project blindly, like a naive little girl from the city who didn’t know how to live in a country house like this one.

And sure, this was the first time Kit was living on her own, but how hard could it really be? Once she found a cleaning lady to come clean every week and a gardener to attend the garden, she would be thriving. Too bad she had to share everything with miss what-did-you-do-Kit.

Jade has been helpful, she couldn’t deny that, with so much work already done when Kit had arrived.; but if the choice was entirely up to her, she would kick her to the curb right now, Boorman’s will be damned. Jade could find love elsewhere – or whatever he had written. She couldn’t do that, of course, but imagining it was satisfactory enough.

They couldn’t keep this up for long. Pacing around her bedroom, the only place where Kit felt safe to hide, she resolved to talk to Jade over dinner. Maybe if she explained the peculiar situation she was in, she would help buy off Jade’s part. After all, how was Kit supposed to learn how to live on her own if she was not living on her own? Kinda defeated the whole purpose.

Sorsha Tanthalos picked up at the ninth ring and already sounded annoyed at being interrupted at whatever she was doing. “Hello?”

“Mom?”

“Kit, hi. How are you doing in Wildwoods? Good?”

Kit knew her mom wasn’t really interested in her answer, so she gave her usual reply, “Yes, all good.”

“Good.”

“Actually, that’s why I’m calling. I need a favor.”

She held her breath waiting for Sorsha’s reply. “Do tell,” she said plainly after a few beats, and Kit had to take a deep breath.

“I’m at Boorman’s house, right? Well, it turns out he also left the house to this other girl who’s apparently his niece or something, and I need money to buy her half so that I can stay here.”

“His niece?”

“M-hm.”

“That’s not good.”

“Nope.”

“You know what that means?”

“That we need to fire Allagash?”

Kit heard the keys of a computer on the other end of the line. “That too, but also that this girl has a better claim on the house than you. She’s blood, and you’re not.”

Kit had to sit on the bed, her legs suddenly weak. “But that’s not fair! We spent more time with Boorman than anyone else!”

“These things don’t matter in front of a judge. If the niece took you to court and contested the will, she would have a better chance of winning, thus kicking you out.”

“That’s why I need the money!” Kit was starting to get frustrated at the mess she had found herself in. How was this possible, and how had no one seen it coming?

“Kitty, breathe please. What we are going to do right now is nothing , you’re keeping your head down and you’re not paying anyone. Understood?”

“But mom –”

“We’ve already been through this: you must get a job. That house is old, you need to sell it sooner rather than later before the prices drop significantly. Selling was always the plan, except now you already have a potential buyer.”

Kit couldn’t breathe through the knot inside her throat. “Please,” she begged in a whisper, her voice shaky, “not Jade. Anyone but her.”

“I don’t care who you sell it to – keep it, sell it, I truly do not care. What I sent you there to do is learn how to stand on your own two feet, so that’s what I’m going to do. The decision is yours. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for a meeting with my staff. Goodbye.”

Kit lied on her bed for what felt like ages, skipping dinner altogether and falling asleep with wet cheeks. Knowing her own mother had the means to help her and just decided not to was a new level of heartbreak she couldn’t recall experiencing before. Sorsha could have bought a random apartment for her daughter – hell, Kit would have rented too if it meant going away from home –, but no, her mother had to teach Kit a lesson. She had to let her daughter choose to live at her beloved godfather’s house and then stopped caring completely, because now that Kit was a free bird, so why should she care? She had wanted to live her own adventure, and Sorsha was making sure every aspect of her new life felt like the worst of the adventures in hopes that Kit would crawl back to her sobbing and begging to be taken back under her protective wings.

Kit would rather die.

But now, under a roof that was only half hers and with a roommate next door that she thoroughly disliked, Kit couldn’t help but feel utterly and completely alone.

Chapter Text

“Please don’t drill tomorrow. Anything but the drilling,” Kit begged while munching on her burger, fingers sticky with the extra ketchup she always added on her fast food.

Jade groaned, and if she stabbed her salad a little too violently, Kit pretended not to notice. “Why?” she asked exasperated.

Kit swallowed her bite. Why was Jade getting upset over this? “Well, I need to sleep and you’ve been waking me up at like, fucking 4 every morning. I’m tired!”

“Okay, first of all, I start at 5:30. Second, I’m working for our house, since apparently I’m the only one that wants to actually improve the place, so really, you’re welcome.”

“Sorry if I’m not Bob the Builder or some shit. I have other talents.”

Jade didn’t look fazed by that comment; instead, she chewed her salad slowly, her eyes sizing Kit up. Kit liked getting women’s attention, but not like this . This felt the Inquisition deciding whether she was a witch or if she was allowed to continue to live. What was Jade thinking about behind those long lashes?

“Okay,” she said after what felt like ages.

“Okay?”

“Yes, okay. You want to contribute to the manual labor that this house required, right?–”

“Not really.”

“– Of course you want to help! That’s great news! So Ill drill and you’ll clean the windows tomorrow morning, how’s that sound?”

Fuck you.

“Great plan.”

“Cool.”

“Perfect.”

Jade’s straight face made Kit nervous. She couldn’t tell whether Jade was joking or if she truly wanted Kit to help her out, but either way, Kit never backed away from a challenge. Scratch that – she thrived in it.

“Just to know when to set my alarm and all – when you say tomorrow morning you mean...?”

“Seven. Sharp.”

Kit almost choked on her burger. “ What ??”

“Got a problem with that?”

And there it was: that hint of mischievousness quirking up Jade’s lips. She was playing with Kit like a cat with a mouse between its paws; the problem was, Kit had never been the mouse, and she sure as hell wasn’t starting to now. If Jade wanted a challenge, she had met her perfect match.

She put on her best, fake smile as she replied confidently: “None.”

–––

“First you scrub the glass with this mop here and then you squeegee the water left to right. I'll soak the mop, you do the cleaning. Got it?”

Kit was still half asleep, it was too early to even be hungry enough to have breakfast, and she was already dreading the amount of sweat she was going to be in by the end of this. In short, this day already sucked and it was only 7:12 am.

“Yep, thank you. Easy.”

She grabbed the mop and moved the step tool under the first window in the entrance. Jade had decided to go clockwise on the first floor, then the second, first inside and then outside, for a total of four, horrible mornings. Kit was already exhausted just by thinking about it, but she couldn't let Jade win on this. She was stubborn, but Kit was worse. All her life she had done nothing but getting things her way, and she wasn't going to stop now because of a stuck-up construction worker or whatever.

“Don't forget the corners,” Jade reminded her as she handed her the mop.

Kit pretended she didn't hear and began wiping across the pane. It was relaxing in a way, the repetitiveness allowing Kit to find some solace beyond the chaos that usually reigns inside her mind. Jade also went quiet like a helpful robot assisting its master on an important task. Truth was, when Jade wasn't making Kit feel stupid or small, she was almost nice to be around.

“You forgot a stop, right there,” Jade said with her finger pointing at an invisible spot on the living room window.

“I can't see shit,” was all Kit said after inspecting it from different angles.

Jade huffed and snatched the mop from Kit's hands, shoving her down the step stool before stepping onto it herself.

“I’ll do it. You're not being very helpful anyway, with how many dirty spots you're leaving behind.”

Jade mopped the entire window again, used the squeegee, then redid it all for a third time. When she started wiping every inch of glass with strenuous intensity, Kit felt that this was going a bit too far. The window was immaculate, yet Jade was obsessing over it.

“I think it's clean now, we can move onto the next one,” she tried bringing some sense into her.

It didn't work.

“Jade?”

No reply.

“Please stop.”

“You don’t get it,” she burst out, “you're always complaining and complaining and complaining, but you can't – you don't get it.”

“Then help me understand.”

Jade scoffed bitterly, and it was becoming clear that she was having some sort of mental breakdown. Kit saw her stretch her arms out to now wipe the upper corners of the windows, the step stool wobbling dangerously.

“Be careful up there Ja–”

“It was his house, okay Kit? Before it was mine or, for some crazy twist of fate, yours , it was his! And since you won't help me–”

“I do help.”

“– now I have to fix everything alone ! Fuck, if only Scorpia were here, she'd help–”

“Jade, the step stool.”

“Don't distract me, you've done enough alread–”

She was falling before she could finish the insult, which Kit supposed was the only positive side. Jade moved too far to the left and lost her balance, promptly landing on top of Kit who hit the floor with a loud thump. 

It took a long, infinite moment to realize she was still alive (not that it would have killed her, but still – Kit had never had a person fall onto her). Before she even opened her eyes, she felt Jade's body wincing against her.

She was crying.

“Hey, you okay? You hurt somewhere?”

Jade tried to hide her tears as she shook her head, but there was already a tiny stain on Kit's shirt. Kit's hand almost went up to wipe those sad tears away, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Sometimes, all someone needed was a good cry, and coincidentally enough, it was Boorman who had taught her that.

She placed her hand on Jade's arm instead, to let her know she was there for her.

“Boorman?”

“Yes,” Jade replied, her mouth wet. “That's what he would’ve wanted.”

“Wasn't he, like, the king of messy?”

Jade chuckled for a split second, like a ray of sunlight cutting through the clouds. It was warm, as if her mind was taking her back to a specific memory. “Not when we came over, he wasn't. He'd clean up for us, because he cared so much . He cared, so now I have to show him I care too.”

She didn't know how to make her feel better, and maybe she didn't have to, not now at least. Maybe, her obsession over the house was her way of grieving, or not grieving , and she still needed to process the loss.

“Jade,” she said softly, “he’s gone.”

Jade finally looked at her with big, sad eyes full of tears, and it broke something in Kit. “I don't want him to be,” she whispered between sobs.

As Jade let her guard down and sank her full weight into Kit, her arms around Kit's neck as she cried her soul into it, Kit wanted to let her know that she was allowed to be mad for losing someone she loved. She had been mad too when her dad left, and last year too. She had spent her whole life grieving for people she had lost, so much that she didn't know how to live without that weight.

So she did the only thing she could: she held her as she cried, and kept holding long after she had calmed down, until their stomachs growled and it was time for lunch.

–––

Jade could see how long of a day it had been for Kit, a rich kid who wasn’t used to working her ass off to get something she wanted. It was probably the first time she ever did some sort of chore, but all in all it hadn’t been a disaster – although it did take longer than Jade had hoped. Plus, she had helped her during her breakdown, and, as embarrassed as she was, Jade was also grateful to have had someone to hold her through it.

Sometimes all she needed was to be held like she assumed her mother had done when she was little.

So, she decided to cut Kit some slack. It was getting late anyway, and the weight of the day was also heavy on her shoulders.

“It’s enough for today,” she said as she picked up the bucket full of dirty water and all the other tools, “I’ll go wash these downstairs.”

“You sure? I can help,” Kit said with a strange softness, like she didn’t want Jade to be alone. Jade knew she was only doing it out of worry for the mess she had witnessed a few hours earlier, and knowing it was still echoing in Kit’s mind made her uneasy. They weren’t friends, so Kit wasn’t supposed to care. She had her life, and Jade had hers; just because Jade had cried in her presence, it didn’t mean she had to suddenly take care of her.

Jade was grateful that she wasn’t alone in that moment , but out here, in this house? Kit Tanthalos was no friend of hers. Hell, she was the only thing standing between her and the full ownership of the house.

“Thanks, but I’m good,” she replied coldly. “You should go shower, you stink.”

Kit scrunched her nose as she smelled her armpits, following with a gag sound that sounded almost comical.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she muttered in protest, but she left the studio and headed upstairs anyway.

As she cleaned thoroughly all her tools before putting them away, Jade stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were still red and puffy, and the bags under her eyes were darker than ever. She looked exhausted . Renovating an old house was no joke, and perhaps it was taking a toll on her; she needed to be mindful about her efforts, or she risked doing more damage than good, especially being all alone in this.

When she had decided to fix up Boorman’s house, she was well aware of how much work she would have to do; she just hadn’t anticipated how fatigued her entire body would feel afterwards. She needed a full-night sleep. Heck, maybe she was going to take the morning off tomorrow too – who was going to tell her no anyway?

Her feet dragged her upstairs with a sluggish gait, every step falling heavy on the wooden surface. She wished she could just lay down on the floor and fall asleep, but she knew her back would never forgive her, so she kept going until she was standing in front of the main bathroom.

She assumed that Kit was already back to her bedroom, since the noise of the water running in the shower had stopped some time before Jade could finish cleaning her tools. She should have known better. After all, if there was one thing she was learning about her new roommate, was that she loved taking her time with everything, be that doing the dishes or making her own bed.

So, when Jade opened the bathroom door and found a naked, still dripping wet Kit in front of the mirror lazily fixing her hair, the first thought that crossed her mind was why is she still in here when I’m about to pass out on my feet?

The second thought being, of course, that Kit was standing naked in front of her.

If Jade’s eyes landed on areas they shouldn’t have landed on in the fraction of a second it took her to realize what she was looking at – if they noticed how full Kit’s breasts were or how her nipples were almost brownish in color, if there was a drop of water running down her back or if they spotted a hint of brown curls between Kit’s thighs –, well, nobody would blame her, right? It wasn’t her fault that Kit had basically claimed the bathroom for herself without any warning for the past twenty minutes. She could have said so and Jade would have waited outside for her turn. Besides, the key was always inside the keyhole, so really, if she didn’t lock herself in, then it was on her.

“Fuck!” she yelled just as Kit’s eyes on the mirror found hers.

Jade couldn’t have slammed the door fast enough, the shaking of the wooden panel still reverberating in her hand.

“I’m so sorry,” she yelled from behind the door, “I didn’t know you were still there.”

There was silence for a second, and then... Kit laughed.

Jade was confused. Was she laughing out of the embarrassment of being seen naked by a stranger, or was it to make Jade feel less stupid about her rookie mistake? God, she was going to have to dig a hole in the morning and bury herself there. She definitely wasn’t going to be able to look at Kit in the eyes tomorrow – how could she, when all she could think about now was how soft Kit’s skin seemed? How warm it would feel under Jade’s lips? How smooth under her touch?

She tucked herself into bed and didn’t even try to find a comfortable position, too scared to move. She couldn’t have these thoughts about Kit, the same girl who was fighting to steal her house from under her nose, but somehow she couldn’t stop. She wasn’t going to masturbate, because ew , not the brat living next door, but still the thoughts were flowing inside her mind like a flood.

Jade tried to focus on what she was supposed to work on the next day, and it was probably the windows again and no, Kit wasn’t going to help her again, not after what had just happened, but maybe she could do something else like watering the seeds outside, the hose is already connected to the outside tap so they’re good and even if the hose is a little leaky because it’s old, Kit can still water the garden, who cares if she gets a little wet– fuck she’s back to thinking about Kit.

This was getting ridiculous. She had seen some of her old teammates naked after their games while showering all together, and not once had she had any issues with it. What was different now?

It took her some time to fall asleep, but eventually the exhaustion from the past few days caught up to her, lulling her into a long sleep. She had never had sex in a shower, but that didn’t stop her brain from fabricating the most vivid dream about wet bodies and salty skin on her tongue that night.

Chapter Text

Kit’s phone had been ringing non-stop for the past six minutes, and it was driving Jade crazy. Of course Kit didn’t have her phone on silent, because she’s Kit and she always had to be the loudest one in the room, and of course she had been so stupid that she didn’t take it with her while going on a walk into the woods alone.

Jade tried burying her head into her pillow, closing the door of her bedroom and putting her headphones on, but all to no avail. The rock music blaring from Kit’s room was inescapable, and Jade couldn’t even form a coherent thought because of how loud the ringtone was. If whoever was calling didn’t stop right then and there, she was going to drown the phone into the toilet, princess and her complaints be damned.

Suddenly, the ringtone stopped and the house returned to its peaceful silence that Jade appreciated so much. Thank God the caller had given up – Jade was going insane from the noise, and since she had no idea where Kit was, she didn’t know how long it would be before she came back to put an end to her misery.

Then, just as suddenly, the phone resumed ringing.

“Argh, fuck it!” she screamed, storming into Kit’s room, privacy be damned. The phone was in the middle of Kit’s bed, screen alight and ringtone so deafening that the ceiling light was shaking.

It was the first time that Jade entered the guest room since Kit moved in. She figured that she’d need her own space, same as her, and, given that she was also an adult, that she would clean up her own room. As she looked around, Jade found out she couldn’t have been more wrong: unmade bed, clothes everywhere, empty water bottles scattered all over the floor... it was a mess like Jade had never seen before.

She stretched over the bed to grab the ringing phone and looked at caller ID: a photo of a generic white dude and a name, ‘Airk’. Who was this guy? Long hair and expensive clothes didn’t seem like Kit’s type. Were men even her type? Jade had wondered if they played for the same team, so to speak, but the topic never came up and she would rather die than flat-out ask her roommate if she also liked girls.

Not that it made a difference anyway.

The guy in the photo was hugging a younger Kit, and although his face was partially hidden behind big sunglasses and flowy hair, it was clear that they were having fun together. It stirred something inside Jade.

She was about to decline the call when a hand snatched up the phone, and as she looked up, she saw Kit standing there, angry like Jade had never seen her.

“Sorry, the ringtone was killing me,” Jade tried to justify her intrusion into a space that wasn’t hers. Kit didn’t bulge, instead staring at Jade so coldly that it made Jade even more uncomfortable. If she wasn’t supposed to be here, Kit wasn’t making apologizing any easier.

She made a beeline for the exit before Kit could stop her. “I’ll be on my way now, sorry again!”

Just as she crossed the doorstep, she felt the air move around her as Kit violently slammed the door.

Damn. Who was this Airk and why did he have such an effect on Kit?

–––

“What the fuck, Airk? I told you to stop calling me!” Kit yelled at the phone, “Don’t let me say this again – Back. off.”

The man on the other end of the phone sighed. He sounded tired, but so was Kit, and unfortunately the walk into the woods to scream in solitude hadn’t been enough to release the nervous energy in her body.

“I’m sorry, but you won’t answer any of my texts and I’m starting to get a little worried. We all are.”

“ We ? You and mom?”

“She actually-”

“Oh please, save it,” Kit said. She was done with their mother’s excuses.

“Kit, I’m serious – we miss you. We get it, okay? We know how much you loved Boorman – we all did –, but it’s time to make a choice before you drag this out any longer. Mom knows you won’t sell the house but says you’re not looking for a job either, and honestly, I think she’s done waiting.”

He didn’t get it. She didn’t know why it was so hard for him to grasp how much Kit needed to stay here, where Boorman built a life on its own. Her mind went back to that summer before eighth grade when Boorman taught her how to cheat at pool – she had used the trick at every house party since. She missed his dad jokes and his boring tales; she missed his disgusting aftershave that was so distinctly him but then Airk started using it too so she had to ban it from the house; she missed the big guy with the best hugs that were always ready for her after her dad passed away, even at 2 am, no questions asked.

“He was there for me when dad died,” she managed to say, her voice strained, like she was saying it more to herself than someone else.

She heard Airk readjust on his bed, his mind probably taking him back to those same memories Kit had just revisited. “I know he was, and I’ll always be grateful to him for that. I wasn’t in the best place either and I’m sorry if I’m not always the best brother, but wasting time in Wildwoods with a stranger when you have a whole life here is stupid.”

“What is this life I’m throwing away, huh? Graydon and – and the fucking company I was never interested in running? Or maybe mom will stop forcing me to become like her?”

She wanted to punch the wall, but the last thing she needed was little-miss-perfect snooping around her family business.

“Mom isn’t forcing you to do anything, you know how she is,” her brother pointlessly tried to reason, “She just needs you to either get a job there or here back home. She’s just doing what she thinks is best for us.”

“How’s getting married to a man the best for me?”

“She’ll get over it, just give her time.”

“I’ve given her plenty,” she cut short before ending the call, her eyes already prickling with tears.

God, she hated feeling powerless, and her mother was the champion at that. Nobody could stir up all of Kit’s insecurities and fears like that woman. Sometimes, all she needed was a hug from her mom , not a life lesson from her mother . Sorsha didn’t know how to be both, so Kit grew up with a lot of anger inside of her.

She wanted to cry.

Not again.

She needed a drink of that nice whiskey bottle Jade was guarding in the cabinet downstairs.

–––

Jade was just done pouring some hot chocolate into her mug when she heard Kit storming down the stairs. She was going to let her be, truly, because she still had to make up for going into Kit’s bedroom and looking at her phone, but then she heard the noise of glass clinking against glass, and she had to look. Peeking out the kitchen door, she spotted Kit moving around Boorman’s spirit bottles in the cabinet below the record player.

“Kit? You okay?”

“Of course,” Kit replied rather unconvincingly.

Jade went back to the burner to check the saucepan and, yup , she had definitely gotten the quantities wrong. “I’m making hot chocolate and I fear I made too much,” she yelled to her roommate, “You want some?”

Kit appeared with Boorman’s precious whiskey bottle in her hands and flopped onto the counter stool next to Jade’s. Jade was going to say something about not wasting Boorman’s spirits on such an insignificant occasion, but the worn-out look on Kit’s face stopped her. If Kit seemed to have cried before joining her in the kitchen, Jade pretended not to notice.

Instead, she poured the rest of the hot chocolate in Kit’s mug and put the saucepan in the sink just as Kit added the whiskey.

“So,” Jade tried to make small talk, because the whole Cold-War situation between them was starting to take a toll on her, “the guy calling you earlier – is he your boyfriend?” she asked nonchalantly as she could.

“Why’d you ask?” Kit bit back, and okay, maybe it was the wrong thing to ask.

“He’s... cute, I guess,” Jade tried her best to compliment him, though she knew a photo couldn’t do much justice to anyone. Also, she was a huge lesbian who couldn’t care less about men’s aesthetics.

Kit took a long sip from her mug, unbothered by how steamy hot the chocolate still was.

“He’s my brother,” she said eventually.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Wants me to come home.”

Jade bit her lip. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he just wanted to let me know once again that I’m wasting my time here,” Kit explained, now playing with the handle of her mug. It wasn’t hard to spot the sadness in her eyes, and it made Jade’s heart break. As much as she thought Kit a spoiled princess, she was also somewhat nice to have around.

“Are you considering going back home?” Jade heard herself ask, and when Kit looked up at her with a puzzled look, she hid her blushing behind a sip from her own cup.

“Not really. I mean, you don’t exactly make it easy – sharing the house and all –, but it works , I think. You fix the house and I empty Boorman’s cabinet. We’re the dream team, right?” Kit flashed a big, flirty grin, and why was Jade’s heart skipping a beat?

“How about helping me with the expenses instead?” Jade said, trying not to think about it. “At the rate you’re drinking, we won’t have any more alcohol by the beginning of summer, which means you won’t have your favorite pastime either.”

Jade drank her hot chocolate. She couldn’t understand what the appeal was in staying at home all day twiddling her thumbs. One must occupy their time, do something productive, or else how would they feel satisfied by the end of the day? Not that she was a workaholic, because she also preferred relaxing at home than busting her ass in the summer heat, but this? It felt pointless. Kit could’ve done whatever this was in the coziness of her hometown, without having to move across the country and share a bathroom with a stranger.

Kit didn’t reply immediately. Instead, she reached over to stroke at the corner of Jade’s lips, her thumb gentle in its movement as it brushed Jade’s bottom lip. Jade sucked in her breath, her body unable to function. When was Kit even doing? Her pupils looked dangerously dark and focused on the freckled lips in front of them, and Jade was almost certain that Kit was going to kiss her with how close she was leaning in.

“You had some chocolate there,” Kit cleared her throat as she pulled back.

Of course. Jade had a smudge of chocolate on her lips and Kit was cleaning it off, no ulterior motive. Why was Jade suddenly thinking that obnoxious, lazy Kit would want to kiss her? It made no sense. They were too different, came from two different worlds, had different lives. They wouldn’t mix well.

“Thanks,” Jade said quickly, raising to her feet to finish the hot chocolate by the sink that now worked perfectly.

–––

Back in the safety of her room, Kit let herself slide down the door and onto the floor, her brain too foggy to be able to make it to the bed.

What had just happened? Why had she touched Jade like that? She hadn’t meant for it to happen, truly, it’s just... Kit saw a smudge of chocolate on her face and her hand was already moving on her own accord. Was it her fault that the smudge was partly on her lip too?

It was an innocent touch, nothing more. If she felt Jade’s breath catch as she wiped her tremendously soft lip, if her hand still ached to touch her...

She pushed away the thought. She couldn’t let herself do this, not with a stranger she’s supposed to kick out.

Selling was always the plan, except now you already have a potential buyer.

If Jade wasn’t going to sell her half of the house to Kit, maybe the threat of a potential new owner to share the place with would shake some sense into her. Either way, this arrangement was getting riskier the longer it lasted, and Kit feared the day she’d make a false step. She couldn’t let that happen, she couldn’t let herself get comfortable with Jade, sharing her spaces, her meals, acting like they were friends... They were nothing. Nothing more than an obstacle to the other.

She reached for her phone and opened her last calls.

“Hello?” a male voice asked.

“Hey Allagash,” she replied, “I need you to send Graydon over here tomorrow. I gotta sell the house.”

Chapter Text

Jade was already in her pajamas and ready to go to bed when she heard the doorbell ring a few times. As she opened the door, an awkward guy wrapped in an obscenely long scarf was waving at her.

“Hello,” he squeaked like a mouse.

“Um, hi? Are you lost?,” Jade asked, ready to hit the guy with the water bottle in her hand.

“Where’s Kit? I texted her an hour ago that I landed.”

Just like magic, Kit appeared behind Jade looking half asleep. “I hoped if I ignored you, you’d go to a hotel,” she said pointedly, squaring him up and down, “but clearly you didn’t.”

Jade wasn’t sure if the mouse guy was pretending not to hear Kit or if he knew her well enough not to take it to heart, but he extended his hand towards Jade, smiling. “I’m Graydon, by the way. I guess you’re the housemate.”

She shook his hand. “I’m Jade, and yes I am. Please, come inside,” she said, stepping out of the entrance as Graydon followed her inside with his trolley. As he took his coat off, Jade shot a deadly glance at Kit, because just because she couldn’t reprimand her out loud, didn’t mean she wouldn’t at all. Kit looked almost annoyed at the whole situation, like she couldn’t wait to leave Jade with a stranger and go back to bed. Weird.

Jade had never been a nosy person, but having a stranger inside her house was not a comforting thought, and since Kit didn’t seem too pleased either, she needed to know who this guy was and why he had shown up at their place at such a late hour. “Soooo,” she continued, “are you two like, together or something?”

Kit’s gag reflex couldn’t have been quicker. “Ew, god no! Do I look like I could ever date him-”

“Thanks, Kit.”

“- or any man? Fuck no! Honestly, I kinda feel insulted.”

So Kit is a girl kisser.

“Well sorry if I’m curious about why there’s a man standing in my house this late,” Jade insisted.

Kit rolled her eyes dramatically. “You mean our house,” she clarified in such a petulant manner that Jade wanted to turn on her heels and leave her alone to deal with her unwanted guest.

Graydon seemed to catch up on the tension between the two girls, because he raised his hand like a schoolboy on his first day and said: “I’m an old friend, Kit and I go way back to kindergarten. I’m actually here to see the house, I have found a po-”

“Aren’t you tired, buddy? ‘Cause I know I am!” Kit interrupted him, making a scene of a simple yawn, arms stretched and all, “We should all go to bed and we can tour the house tomorrow, yeah? I’ll bring down some blankets and a pillow and you'll be sleeping like a baby in no time.”

Wait. Was Kit seriously suggesting Graydon sleep on the couch? The guy might have been just a friend , but he was still their guest, and unlike Kit, Jade was raised right. “You can have my room,” she said, “I’ll empty a drawer for you and change the sheets, just give me ten minutes.”

Graydon shook his head. “Oh, you don’t have to – couch’s fine.”

“Nonsense,” she replied, “decision’s already made, and I would probably fall asleep on the couch anyway with my reading. Please, feel free to rest or have something from the kitchen. Make yourself at home,” and with that, she made her way upstairs. She tried not to pay attention to the way Kit crossed her arms and mumbled something, mostly because she didn’t care. If Kit wanted to be rude to her guest, so be it, but Jade was not going to be the reason someone’s friend doesn’t come back to visit.

Once in her bedroom, she emptied two drawers (one more for good measure), dividing her stuff among some empty shoe boxes under her bed, and changed the sheets, rolling the used ones in a huge ball that she brought back to the living room.

As she started making her bed on the couch, Graydon walked by, waved goodnight and dragged his trolley up the stairs, bumping it at every step. Kit followed behind, but stopped close to the couch with a puzzled look. When she heard Graydon close the bedroom door behind him, she turned around to glare at Jade. “What the fuck was that?,” she asked.

“I’m sorry, is being kind not an option anymore?,” Jade countered, furious. “I mean, what even is your endgame here? You say you wanna live here and share the house, yet you never help me, and now you invite a stranger without asking me first? And – and you’d let him sleep on the couch? Who the fuck raised you?”

Ouch .

Kit averted Jade’s piercing gaze. “He’s a boy scout, he can handle it-,” she tried to justify, but Jade saw it right through her: she was a spoiled brat who thought she could do whatever she pleased.

“Fine, whatever,” Jade shrugged, tired of always having to fight someone with no hint of common sense. She resumed her bed-making.

“Jade, come on,” Kit whispered, “I wasn’t gonna kick him out or anything. We just have this... atypical relationship, this is how we act towards each other.”

“Doesn’t seem healthy.”

“We don’t come from healthy environments.”

Jade didn’t know what to say, so she focused on stretching out the wrinkles on the pillow. They didn’t go away, so she swiped her hand over and over again, but to no avail. It was bothering her, this one wrinkle, because the sheet wasn’t falling in the right way and now Jade was going to obsess over it instead of falling asleep-

Kit grabbed Jade’s wrist, stopping her obsessive motion. “Sleep with me tonight,” she said.

Jade’s eyes shot wide at the indecent suggestion. Ugh, like she’d ever consider-

“No, I mean,” she tried to explain, scratching the back of her head as her cheeks went red, “You can’t sleep down downstairs, it gets too cold at night with that little draft we have by the entrance. I um- I have a queen size, so there’s enough room for both of us. I won’t be of trouble.”

Jade couldn’t believe her ears. “So now we worry about being of trouble with each other?”

Kit huffed, and Jade knew not to push it further if she wanted to avoid the cold living room tonight. “Okay, thanks,” she cut short, leaving the wrinkle behind as she followed Kit to her room.

–––

She knew it was dumb to worry about what Jade might think of her bed – after all, she had come here a few times when Boorman was still alive, so it was safe to assume that she might have tried this bed at some point–, but Kit kept biting her bottom lip as Jade settled under the dark grey covers. What if the mattress was too firm and Jade woke up tomorrow with back pain? Should she offer her another pillow, or is the one she never uses soft enough? And when the fuck was the last time she washed her sheets-

“Are you gonna stand there all night or will you eventually lie down?,” Jade grumbled as she set her water bottle on the nightstand. Kit had offered her to choose which side of the bed she wanted to sleep on, and Jade had picked the one closer to the window. “I like the sunlight,” she had said, but Kit hadn’t complained; in fact, she was happy that Jade was taking that side because Kit would have hated giving up the side closer to the door.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” she said, shaking the worries out of her head and threading her bare legs under the covers. As Jade kept twisting and turning every two seconds, Kit stilled, her body squeezed to the very end of the mattress, praying to fall asleep in that weird beanpole position to avoid touching Jade’s body by mistake.

After a while, Jade threw her arms out of the covers and grunts, exasperated. “How are you half naked and emanating so much heat?,” she complained, “You should be freezing.”

Kit shrugged, even though Jade couldn’t see her. “Sorry that I run hot.”

Jade chuckled and took her socks off, throwing them somewhere on the floor.

Now chiller, Jade’s breathing grew slower and more regular. Kit had been nervous to be this close to her housemate , but, once she forced herself to relax, she found the presence comforting and the cadence of the breathing like a lullaby; it loosened her muscles and made her eyelids heavy.

She wished to be held until she fell asleep.

She couldn’t ask Jade to.

So, she imagined a world where two strong arms held her close to a soft chest, and fell asleep like a baby.

–––

Waking up, Kit took a while to pinpoint what was wrong that morning. She wasn’t drunk, she had all her clothes on, the sun wasn’t shining per se but it was up in the sky nonetheless. She looked around the room to help her memory, but her things were all in order: pills, records, empty water bottles, socks-

Socks??

Kit turned towards the other side of the bed, expecting to see familiar red curls peeking from a head wrap – but the bed was empty. Jade had left before Kit was awake, forgetting her socks behind.

It stung. Kit would never admit it, but a dagger punched a hole inside her chest the moment she realized Jade hadn’t wanted to wake up with Kit. Not that there was any meaning behind it, but it was rude , especially because they were supposed to be on good terms now… Right?

‘Who the fuck raised you?’

Jade’s words hurt her. She hadn’t expected Jade to see through her, not when she had worked so hard to not let anyone through. She had built her walls so high that she never had to prepare in case someone climbed over.

Except now, looking at the abandoned socks, Kit was beginning to see how Jade wasn’t just anyone . She made her stomach act weird and her palms get sweaty; she wanted her to be impressed by her, and seek her out when they weren’t in the same room. She wanted Jade to see her, the real her, and maybe she already had.

Just then, the door opened slightly. Kit whipped her head at the creak, and spotted Jade’s eyes checking to see if Kit was still sleeping.

“I’m awake,” she said, “you can come in.”

Jade pushed the door open, her face almost embarrassed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t.”

“Oh, okay. I just,” Jade said as her eyes darted around the room, looking for something, “I was looking for my socks. I think I left them here.”

Kit pointed at them at the same time that Jade spotted them. “There,” she said, then plopped back under her covers to steal another ten minutes.

“Aren’t you gonna go downstairs and, I don’t know, talk to the person who came here only for you?,” Jade reprimanded her, her tone harsh, “Thank god I already made breakfast for him too or he’d starve waiting for you.”

Graydon .

“Fuck!,” Kit yelled, jumping out of bed.

“Yeah, fuck,” Jade said, rolling her eyes.

She had forgotten she was supposed to discuss the sale of the house, or that Graydon had flown here to help her close the deal. Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

“I'm sure you have a lot of things to discuss with your friend,” Jade continued, gripping at the handle of the door, “I’ll be in the back sanding the porch swing.”

That’s hot.

“O-okay. Thanks.”

–––

“It’s basically done,” Graydon said, slamming his hands on the oak desk at the center of the studio. It was a lovely day outside despite the cold, and Kit wished she was anywhere else in the world right now but here, surrounded by papers that seemed to be written in English but had so many new words that Kit doubted it was meant for her to actually understand the content of it.

She couldn't leave, though. Not now. She had asked (no, she had begged ) Allagash to send Graydon so that she could leave this property behind, close this weird chapter of her life and move on. So now she was going to stay put and pretend that she understood all this legal blabbing that Graydon was giving her.

“Don't you see?,” he continued, “We have the deal. The couple we found just wants to get a little tour of the property, but the photos and the promise of a fix-up was enough to convince them.”

“All done this quick?”

“Graydon shrugged. “They have a baby on the way – due in the summer if I remember correctly. They need a house by then, and if your roommate keeps up with the pace of the reno, the house will be done by early June at the latest.”

“She's fast,” Kit agreed.

“Yeah, especially being the only one working on it,” he says, unaware of Kit's attempts at helping Jade out. “You can move out whenever you want – just say you have a family emergency or something –, and then we will send her the proposition for her half. If she's smart, she'll sell her share too; if not, it's not our problem anyway.”

Kit read a couple of random lines from the contract, and once again understood absolutely nothing. “And the family's okay with only owning half?”

Graydon scratched the back of his head, his face only slightly worried. “I mean, I mentioned this small issue but they're fine with it. They're sure Jade will move out once she hears the baby cry.”

A baby? Nice technique. Unconventional, but probably effective.

“Cool.”

“Indeed,” Graydon said, noticing the way Kit dangled her leg nervously. Kit stopped then, but it was late. “You okay?,” he asked.

“Course I am. Can’t wait to leave this hell.”

Graydon raised his eyebrows. “I mean, you have a nice roommate who probably cooks for you and washes your laundry. Is it that bad?”

Pff .

If only it were that easy.

“I already have a maid back at home in Tir Asleen, I don’t need another here,” she joked, but there was no humor in her voice. “It’s not bad bad, I just – I don’t see myself living with her for the rest of my life. It’s either her or me in this house.”

Graydon stared at her, puzzled. Kit didn’t know the reason, but he didn’t seem entirely convinced. It made Kit uneasy, because aside from Airk, Graydon was the one that had known her the longest; they weren’t exactly friends , but they did hang out on occasion, and he shared Kit’s complicated family dynamics. Eventually, he shook his head, putting aside whatever question was roaming in his mind, and stood up to recollect his papers. “Well,” he said, “I scheduled a house tour for tomorrow at 11 am, so you better make up your mind soon.”

Chapter Text

The next morning, Kit learned the hard way that waking up next to Jade wasn’t that bad. In fact, it might have been the only good thing about still living in Boorman’s house.

The soft light coming through the window was hitting Jade’s head just right, making her red curls more golden and her freckles stand out more. She wanted to count them, but was afraid that Jade was going to wake up to find Kit draped all over her face with a finger tracing an invisible line separating the freckles she had already counted from the ones she hadn’t. She couldn’t afford that – it would be embarrassing –, so she settled on staring for a good ten seconds just to make an estimate (probably around sixty? eighty?), then turned to the other side and tried to fall back to sleep.

Having a half-naked woman in bed didn’t help.

“I don’t wanna wake up drenched in sweat like a pig again,” Jade had said when she showed up in Kit’s room last night wearing nothing but a tank top and boxers, “and you’re like, a fucking furnace .”

Which, fair .

But being basically naked in Kit’s bed and looking like a goddess even while you’re sleeping? Not fair .

So not fair, and Kit couldn’t wait to get this over with. Better, she could start packing up her things after the house tour. She checked the time on her phone, and there was still an hour of sleep before the alarm; she closed her eyes, forcing herself to think of anything else that wasn’t the annoying whirlwind in her stomach until she fell asleep.

–––

As Jade slowly woke up from one of the best sleeps she had had in weeks, she felt warm . It was a nice warmth though – not the sweaty heat she had felt the morning before, sticky and uncomfortable –, and it sparked from her right side. She turned her face to the source, her eyes adjusting to the sunlight until a brown mop of hair came into view. It was so close to her face that a strand of hair was stuck to Jade’s bottom lip, and the scent of Kit’s shampoo – some kind of forest scent – filled her lungs.

Moving her arm to reach for the loose strand, cold fear ran down her spine at the realization that not only was Kit incredibly close, but she was also draped all over her. One of Kit’s arms was splayed across Jade’s body like she was trying to reach for something on the other side of the bed, and half of her chest was sinking into Jade’s. If she focused hard enough (which she didn’t ), she could feel Kit’s boob against hers.

God .

She still didn’t know why she had accepted Kit’s proposal of sharing a bed, but she was sure as hell regretting it now. Being this close to her, feeling her body – it wasn’t good for her. It wasn’t healthy. Not when she was supposed to hate Kit for refusing to leave her house.

Kit was nothing but a spoiled rich kid who had never learned to take a ‘no’ for an answer, and being hot as fuck wasn’t going to change how Jade felt about her being in her space out of spite.

Kit wriggled slightly, her face nuzzling into Jade’s neck with heartbreaking tenderness. Jade shouldn’t have liked it as much as she did, but maybe if she didn’t tell a single soul how it was making her feel, she could pretend it never happened.

The alarm started blaring then, causing Kit to jump away and almost fall backwards. Jade reached her hands out, stopping the fall just in time. “Gee, Kit, do you wake up like this every morning?,” she asked as Kit reached out to turn the alarm off.

“Only when I have to wake up early because of you,” Kit scoffed.

Jade rolled her eyes at Kit’s melodramatic tone. “It’s 8 am, I wouldn’t call it ‘early ’ ,” she said dryly. “May I remind you that I gotta go get the groceries for the both of us? Or would you like to get your own stuff yourself?”

Kit flinched at the suggestion, but something about the way she averted Jade’s gaze told Jade that it wasn’t about the groceries themselves. She didn’t want to ask though, not if Kit was going to keep being secretive and not let her into her life.

“Whatever,” Jade continued, “I’ll be out of your hair in twenty. I’ll get breakfast on the way so you can go back to your beauty sleep.”

She left the warmth of the bed so quickly that the cold of the house hit her bare legs like a sword. She hid the discomfort the best she could, grabbed the clothes for the day that she had prepared the night before on her nightstand, and retreated behind the sturdy safety of the bathroom door before Kit could come up with a comeback.

–––

Jade’s car hadn’t even left the driveway yet and Kit was already in the shower, rushing to get ready for the house tour before Graydon called dibs on the hot water. She washed her hair too, for good measure, then dived into her wardrobe to look for something that said ‘ I’m a trustworthy adult who’s making a good financial decision by selling her house’ . In the end, she opted for a blouse and clean pants.

The couple was exactly as Kit had imagined the day before: young, nice looking, sickeningly in love. And straight.

Kit would have puked if Graydon wasn’t killing her with his look as they let the couple inside. “Shall we?,” she said instead with her best customer service smile.

She hadn’t realized Graydon would give the tour. She assumed that, since she was the one living there, she was going to have to talk about the house; but when Graydon lead the group into the backyard first and started describing all the renovations that had been done recently, Kit was surprised by his meticulous study of the history and the layout of the house. She was right in asking Allagash to send him to her rescue, and the couple seemed more and more convinced of the sale as the tour went on.

Maybe selling was the right choice. After all, these potential buyers seemed nice, and they’d sure take good care of the house. It might not be the level of care that Jade was putting into it, but not everybody has a history with the previous owner of the house they buy.

Boorman would be relieved to know his mistake in the will was fixed.

And Kit would be the one to fix it.

Then why does it feel so wrong?

She swallowed the bitterness she was suddenly feeling in her mouth and followed the group back downstairs to conclude the tour. The couple looked satisfied with what they had seen, especially with the three bedrooms available upstairs, and Kit forced herself to look just as pleased.

“Do you have any more questions for me?,” Graydon asked once they were all back in the living room.

The woman caressed her belly, smiling. “No, I think that's all. Brandon and I are so thankful for this opportunity, it's truly a blessing.”

The man – Brandon – kissed her partner's head. “Yeah, there's not that many houses with this price in the city. We promise we'll take good care of your father's house.”

Kit held back a laugh, not wanting to be rude and blow the sale. “No no, he wasn't my dad , he was more of a-”

The words died on her lips as the front door opened and Jade walked in, hands full of grocery bags.

Oh no.

No no no .

She searched for Graydon's eyes and found them just as panicked as she expected hers were.

Jade dropped the bags to the floor and stared at the scene in front of her. What did it look like they were doing? Could Kit salvage this? Given the house plant in Graydon's hands, that was unlikely.

Jade was the smartest person Kit knew.

“Hey Jade,” Graydon stretched his hands out to grab a bag, “let me help you with these. We were finished anyway.”

Jade stood there, body still and eyes twitching from Kit to the couple and back to Kit.

She knew .

Graydon ended up raising both bags with some difficulty, and pulled Jade away from the entrance with the only free finger, and they both disappeared in the kitchen.

Kit scratched her neck and led the couple to the door, wishing that they disappeared like magic and never came back. No, she wished that they had never set foot inside her house. She needed to talk to Jade, explain what was happening.

Then what?

Then Jade would… forgive her? Did she even want her forgiveness? She wasn't doing anything wrong – just getting an outside perspective on a potential sale.

As soon as the front door closed behind the couple, Jade stormed out of the kitchen with a sheepish Graydon tailing behind.

“What the fuck, Kit? Like. What the actual fuck? I leave the house for a few hours and you put it on the market?”

Shit, she was mad mad .

“Look, let’s all calm down and talk-”

“Oh, you wanna talk now? Okay, let’s talk ,” Jade said, her hands clenched into fists by her sides. Kit had never seen her this angry, this close to losing control. She was used to being the unpredictable one, and she didn’t enjoy being on the receiving end of someone else’s unpredictability. “Let’s pretend for a moment that the sale is going through – not that I’ll allow it, but let’s play this game. You sell your half of the house, then what? What about me, huh? I assume you have a plan?”

“Jade, I don’t wanna do this-”

Kit’s words fell to deaf ears. Jade was restless and clearly needed to lash out on Kit, and honestly, deep down Kit knew she kind of deserved it. “I still own half the house,” Jade continued, “ half . Surely nobody in their right mind would want to share a house with a stranger.”

“Hey!”

Jade rolled her eyes. “Case in point.”

Kit shrugged, as if this whole fight wasn’t hurting her like multiple stabs in the heart. She hadn’t expected it to be this difficult. “Actually, we already have a buyer.”

“This soon?”

“Yes,” Kit said, pointing to the door behind her. “Those two from before. Price is too good to pass, they say.”

“Well duh, it’s only half of its worth!”

“Actually, if I may,” Graydon interjected with his hand raised like they were still in high school, “you could sell your half too now, get a decent sum of money and move somewhere nicer where you won’t have to see Kit ever again.”

The words made Kit want to vomit on the carpet below her.

“I won't allow it,” Jade said after a moment. Her face was dead serious, and Kit had a feeling Jade would rather chain herself to the house than move out. They had spent weeks sharing this house, but Jade didn’t seem affected by the hardship of it – she loved the building, its history, and what it meant to her. She couldn’t give that up, and the pain of that possibility was evident from her sad eyes. She was clearly hurt by Kit, someone she had trusted when she welcomed her into her home, and now Kit couldn’t take it back.

She would though, in a heartbeat.

She hadn’t imagined feeling this bad about Jade, but she could hear the cracks in her heart going deeper than expected. Kit was a disappointment.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything to alleviate the pain she was causing Jade. “We could find some sort of deal, right Gray? Like, maybe you could build a guesthouse or something in the back, so you could feel close to Boorman without-”

“Don’t. Fucking mention his name.”

Kit sealed her mouth, embarrassed. Could this get any worse?

Jade brushed a hand through her hair, deep in thought, then sighed. “Here’s what we’re gonna do, and that’s my final word on the matter. Keep pursuing this sale and I will ruin your life, got it?,” she said, waiting for Kit’s nod before continuing. “I will get back to my bed tonight . I don’t care where your buddy here sleeps, I don’t care where you sleep – from now on, it’s every woman for herself. You cook your own food, you clean your own shit. Do that or leave.” Then, she turned her deadly glare to Graydon. “And you will leave first thing tomorrow morning. You don’t have a plane ticket? Get one. You could be living at the airport for the next month for all I cared – as long as you’re getting out of my house, and that is final.”

“O-Okay,” he muttered, head low.

“And don’t you dare steal breakfast from my pantry tomorrow. I’ve seen your clothes – I’m sure you can pay for a coffee at the airport.”

“Yes m’am.”

Chapter Text

March’s arrival brought milder hours during the day. It was still cold, but the longer hours of sun promised a kinder weather to those who waited.

Jade knew how to be patient.

She had managed to avoid Kit like the plague for days, waking up early in the morning and keeping herself busy with the renovations all day. Kit didn’t pry; instead, she spent most of her time in her room, leaving only to collect the many food deliveries from drivers.

The house was quiet – maybe a little too much sometimes, especially in those late hours of the night when she used to hear Kit playing either loud movies or even louder music. Jade would never say it to her, but she sort of missed it. It made her feel less alone in that big space outside the city.

She didn’t regret what she had told Kit, not one bit. It was fair and long overdue. She wasn’t Kit’s nanny or maid, she wasn’t her sister, and she most definitely wasn’t her friend. Whatever was going on between them wasn’t friendship and it ended before it even had a chance of finding its label. No, Kit had caused its ending, with her snake attempt at kicking Jade to the curb when she knew how much the house meant to her. Jade had cried in her arms, for goodness’s sake, and Kit scheduled a house tour.

It was evil, and Jade resented her for it.

Her phone dinged once, then twice. As she checked who the texts were from, she spotted a name she wished she could forget: Lily.

She sat down and read them.

Lily: heyyyy

Lily: how u doing

Lily: i know its been a while or wtvr but im in town if u wanna see me

Lily: i know ur living in boormans house now

Lily: btw sorry for not making it to the funeral 

Great , Jade thought, the last thing she needed was the cheating ex who was looking for a hookup. She could smell the stench of sad loneliness from here.

She was about to text back some excuse when a Kit in pjs bolted downstairs to answer the door just as the bell rang, she grabbed what Jade supposed to be her dinner, then darted back upstairs, but not before meeting Jade’s gaze. It was a mere fraction, but it stung nonetheless.

Maybe a night away from this tension was exactly what Jade needed. She didn’t have to meet that cuckoo Lily, but maybe Elora could get her a couple of free drinks to help her forget that mess of a situation with Kit. So, she texted her if she was bartending that night, and as soon as Elora said yes, Jade went back to her room to find something nice to wear.

–––

Kit was refilling her bottle for the nth time that day when she spotted Jade with the corner of her eye. She was trying not to stare at her whenever their paths crossed those past few days, but it was hard not to look for a familiar face in a house that still didn’t feel like hers. Jade was all she had to keep her grounded, and every time Jade looked away, the knife cut her deeper.

To say that she looked gorgeous would be an understatement. With a dark blue suit, her hair pulled up and gold earrings framing her face, Jade looked like she was ready to take on the world. She looked like what Kit was going to dream that night, for sure.

“You look pretty,” she said out loud, unable to stop herself. Jade turned around, and Kit could see her in all her glory. She was blatantly staring. “Where are you going?,” she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

Jade seemed to ponder what to reply, then simply said: “On a date.”

Oh.

“Oh,” her mouth produced the sound, but Kit didn’t register she was speaking. “Okay.”

Jade stalled for a split second, then waved goodbye and headed downstairs. It wasn’t until the door locked behind her that Kit realized the water had spilt outside the bottle in her hand and all over the sink. It took her half an hour to clean it up, her mind stuck on Jade going on a date and the way she looked .

Who was she going on a date with?

Was it a first date?

Had Jade ever mentioned someone special, or had Kit simply not paid enough attention?

A knot formed in her stomach, and in the end, she had to throw the last bits of her burger into the trash can for how long she left them out in the open air. She hated how nauseous she was feeling, and even her pills didn’t seem to be working.

She kept checking her phone, expecting a text from Jade asking to come pick her up, to please save her from that nightmare of a date. She almost texted her to ask if everything was okay, but then deleted it at the last second – Jade wouldn’t want that, not now that they weren’t even on speaking terms. She would just get more mad .

After what felt like ages and was in reality only three hours, Kit heard the front door open. She forced herself not to look, because that would be too much even for you , but she couldn’t exactly close her ears, so she listened. She waited for any sign of two people walking upstairs instead of one, any sign of kissing , of clothes thrown hastily on the floor , and she hated herself for how desperate it made her feel. She couldn’t bother herself with the why of it all – the anticipation of what could be on the other side of her door was clouding her brain.

When she heard none of the painful noises she was half expecting to hear – when Jade finally went to bed alone – Kit relaxed under her bedsheets, at last able to close her eyes and replay the image of Jade in that blue suit over and over until she fell asleep.

–––

Jade wasn’t nearly halfway done with her daily sudoku when Kit walked into the kitchen, startling her. Not that the sudoku was going to get finished any time soon, with how unfocused Jade was. Truth was, her mind was elsewhere – back at the bar last night, with the lights too dim and the music too loud.

Elora had started worrying at the fourth beer she ordered, and pulled Jade aside to ask what that was all about. Jade couldn’t lie, partially because alcohol was involved and partially because she was making an effort to build long-lasting friendships, and Elora was the only person in line for that.

“Morning,” Kit mumbled, and Jade couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under her sleepy eyes.

“Hi.”

Kit opened the fridge and grabbed the bottle of milk she had opened three days ago. It was nasty, is what it was, but Kit’s stomach had seen worse, so Jade wasn’t surprised when Kit chugged it down so casually. “So,” she said after she was done, “how was your date?”

Crap, she had forgotten she had told Kit that she was going on a date last night. It had been a stupid decision, really, but she didn’t want Kit to know why she was going out. She didn’t want her to know that she had been so torn ever since they shared that bed, and more so after discovering that Kit wanted to get rid of her. Giving up Boorman’s house was painful enough, but learning that it was Kit’s idea – that Kit didn’t want to share her life with her – was too much. Something had clicked inside of her, and she needed to drown it down in alcohol.

“You hate me.”

It’s not an accusation; Kit states it so plainly, so matter-of-factly that it disorients Jade for a moment.

“I don’t hate you, Kit,” Jade says, “I could never hate you.”

“I get that what I did was shitty, and I’m sorry.”

“I know that.”

Kit’s chin dipped down. “Sorry if I ruined your date too.”

How could Jade tell her that there had never been a date to begin with, because the only reason she left the house was because she was scared she was developing a crush on Kit?

“You’re not mad at her.”

“I am, Lor, but it’s- it’s complicated.”

“How? She wanted to kick you out and your first thought was to make up a fake date to make her jealous.”

Jade downed the last of her beer and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “I’ll have you know that was not my intention.”

“Dude, you have your boobs sticking out for who then? Me?” Elora shook her head, amused at how drunk Jade was. “Just admit it so we can all move on, my boss’s been staring at me for the past ten minutes, I need to go back to work.”

“Go on then.”

“Not until you say it out loud.”

“Wha-”

“That you like her. You want to bite her head off at how careless she was with you and the house, yet you like her.”

Jade sighed. “I don’t want to say it – then it’ll be real and I don’t want it to be.”

Elora grabbed the empty glass and patted on Jade’s shoulder. “You’re pining over the bitch that was gonna make you homeless. It’s already real I’m afraid.”

“I waited for you,” Kit said, bringing Jade back to the present like a slap in the face.

She had waited for her.

“You didn’t have to,” Jade tried to downplay how monumental that was, but Kit lifted up her hand to stop Jade from continuing.

“No, I know that,” she said, “but it was late and I wasn’t sure you were coming home sober. I wanted to be there for you in case you needed me.”

“You were worried about me?”

It was stupid, asking that, and the answer would probably hurt either way, but her heart had taken the lead. She needed to know if Kit cared for her, if maybe there was some hope at the end of the tunnel.

If there was, she’d wait for Kit. As long as it took.

“Yes,” Kit said softly, “I was.”

And while Jade bit down a smile, her heart was racing.

–––

Things got better after that conversation. They weren’t perfect, not in the least, but Kit was genuinely trying and Jade appreciated the effort.

They divided the house chores evenly, with Kit leaving the gardening to Jade and taking on dusting and mopping; everything food related they split, and they came up with turns for the washing machine that would optimize the loads. Kit even offered to help sand the outside walls and, since she wasn’t afraid of heights unlike Jade, she got on the roof on a warm day in mid-March to clean out the gutters from all the leaves piled up there.

If Jade squinted hard enough, she could see a future where her and Kit were still living together as friends. The road was long and uphill, but Kit seemed happier, more relaxed. It seemed like she had finally given up the idea of selling and made peace with sharing Boorman’s house with Jade.

No, not Boorman’s house.

Theirs.

When Jade realized this, she found a nice slab of wood, wrote “Kit & Jade’s home” with some left-over paint, and hung it at the beginning of their property. Her heart was racing as she showed it to Kit – maybe it was too much too soon, or maybe it was too cheesy, and who were “Kit & Jade” anyway, if not mere roommates ? Why was she trying to impress her roommate? Did their idea of a home even match?

But standing there in front of the sign while the sun was setting, Kit cried happy tears like she had never before. “I’m home,” she said, and the tight hug she gave Jade made all doubts disappear.

She had a big, fat crush on Kit, plain and simple.