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When the bathroom door suddenly opened, for a second Taylor was ready to dogpile the wannabe killer with her swarm of insects she always had nearby. After all, very few could get close to her unnoticed even among capes... But it was, of course, Lisa, who probably just came from her working place – judging by her home clothes, this day did not require the presence of Tattletale.
Taylor wasn’t sure at what point she allowed Lisa to get so deep into her heart that even Skitter’s infamous paranoia would not pay any attention to her. Just now she felt that Lisa had a couple of flies on her, with which Skitter usually unconsciously marked all the people in a certain radius around her, but... Not that she really cared.
Perhaps it was foolish to even think about it: after all, for some reason or another, Taylor had nothing left to hide from her girlfriend – and she was sure that it was mutual. The details of their powers, trigger events, regrets about the past, dreams, plans for the future, traumas and nightmares...
Taylor didn’t even change her posture, only slightly turned toward Lisa and continued looking at her heavily scratched arm. She saw Lisa’s interested look slowly and carefully examining her naked body, still covered in water droplets, and didn’t even think to be embarrassed. As Lisa once said, “Been there, done that enough times for me to remember the smallest details”. And that was also mutual between them, although, naturally, Lisa had to work with stitches, bandages and pills much more. Taylor was used to giving her a massage or just protecting her from anyone and anything that might have made Lisa’s migraines worse.
“I remember when Sabah accidentally went into the bathroom while I was there, she spent five minutes trying to apologize,” Taylor said calmly with a brief smile.
“What can I say?” Lisa shrugged her shoulders. “Our friends, even Aisha, mostly respect your privacy. Unlike me, of course.”
“I’ll let you know if I need you to start doing that.”
“Nah, you won’t.” Lisa smirked and went inside. “So?” Obviously, Lisa didn’t believe for a second that the problem was only in Taylor’s hand.
“...Took a bad fall,” Taylor said quietly. “Well, I mean, not really bad, but…”
“Tay.” Their eyes met in the mirror.
“My upper back is aching. But I couldn’t see anything. Doesn’t feel like a fracture.”
Lisa looked down and delicately touched Taylor’s back with her fingers. After Taylor had taken a deep breath through her teeth, Lisa nodded to herself and started asking her power.
“Yep, probably not a fracture. But very soon you will have an incredibly huge bruise on your back.” Lisa lightly patted her girlfriend on the shoulder.
“Not the first time, not the last.” Taylor shrugged. Her lips twitched upward when she felt Lisa’s cold face against her neck.
A year ago she would have flinched, but now she was used to always keeping a poker face. Besides, Lisa had done it many times.
“You forgot something,” Lisa muttered, gently hugging Taylor from behind – probably because of her injury, even if she knew that it would not be a problem for Taylor. Her hands were clasped under Taylor’s chest, pulling her closer.
“Do I need to?..”
“Yes,” Lisa said firmly. “I don’t care that our promises never come true, that they can’t possibly come true, that we both will never change and all that stuff. Indulge me.”
“Always do…” Taylor chuckled quietly. “Fine, I promise to be more careful. And not to fall on my back for the next... well, week.”
“Good enough.” Lisa snorted, then shifted from foot to foot and nuzzled Taylor’s dark hair. She heard a deep breath.
“I don’t think I smell good even after a shower,” Taylor said thoughtfully. “Today was quite busy.”
“You smell like yourself. That’s all I need.”
“Like strong coffee?” Taylor covered Lisa’s hands with her own, enjoying the softness of her sweater sleeves and the warmth of her body.
“And smoke. And a little bit like gunpowder.”
“Ah, yeah, one of the bandits had a machine gun. Didn’t hit me, but there were a lot of bullets flying around. By the way, I also found a phone with some interesting messages, they swore that they were from someone from the Elite. I think you will enjoy digging through it.”
“Mmm, I love you, Tay. You always have such romantic gifts,” Lisa murmured.
“...Sure, of course.” Taylor nodded a little uncertainly. “But Alec still says I need to take you out on a normal date sometime.”
“Why?” Lisa asked, not moving away.
“Honestly, I don’t know. ‘Cause it’s, like, the proper thing to do? Dresses, makeup, wine, food at five times the normal price…”
“You’d look stunning in a dress…”
“I would really not.” Taylor snorted.
“Maybe you’re right. I do like your current look better.”
“Obviously. Shall we go to bed?”
“Carry me?”
Taylor smiled unwittingly. Probably any living thing besides her, including even their cactus, that heard it, would be intimidated by Lisa into silence forever. After all, Tattletale’s reputation that Lisa cherished was at stake, and she cared about it probably more than any other Undersider. And though Lisa Wilbourn was a good and loyal friend to those she herself considered friends, they never saw the girl who was once called Sarah. They never had to wipe the tears from her face and hold her in a strong embrace after a sudden nightmare about all her possible and absolutely hopeless fates in Coil’s hands.
Sometimes Taylor wondered what their relationship might look like if they were both a little more… normal. Just a little more like other completely ordinary people. Even if it sounded more like a joke.
By the time of their first meeting, there was little left of the real Taylor Hebert and Sarah Livsey. Taylor Hebert and Lisa Wilbourn’s relationship was half-built on little and not so much lies and mutual secrets. The relationship between Skitter and Tattletale, the criminal queen and her right hand, started in the flames of catastrophes and grew among ashes, blood and bitter taste of disappointment in their mouths. And the relationship between Taylor and Lisa was... somewhere deep down in their shared pile of pieces of everything that could – and could not – come true.
“Less thinking, more doing,” Lisa said quietly, planting a fleeting kiss on Taylor’s neck.
“I thought you like it when I think about you.”
“I don’t even need my power to know that you’re not thinking about something happy.”
“Do I ever think of something happy?” Taylor asked with surprise.
“Sometimes in the morning, when we wake up in bed together,” Taylor easily noticed a note of displeasure in Lisa’s voice, which was always about Taylor’s habit of going on patrol early. “And after sex.”
“I have no choice but to,” Taylor flushed a little, “think only of you in those moments.”
“But you choose to do that by your own will as well.” Lisa smiled. “You know, it’s nice to have a well-read girlfriend: they know a lot of non-trivial adjectives to describe... things they like.”
Taylor turned around, kissed Lisa quickly on the nose and easily picked her up in her arms. After Lisa hugged her tight around her neck and put her head on her shoulder, Taylor started slowly walking into their bedroom.
Even though their new apartment was bigger than the old house of Heberts, Taylor’s journey took only about half a minute. Was it worth it for Lisa to spend several seconds to make herself comfortable in Tay’s hands and close her eyes for such a short time? Probably a year ago she would have called it a silly cliche from some stupid romantic comedy. But much has changed since then – first of all, Lisa’s criteria for assessing the importance of things. Tattletale back then surely would not have lost a whole evening of work and possible profits just for a brief kiss from a girl covered in insects...
It was already dark outside, but Taylor didn’t turn on the bedroom light: one thing was when it was needed for something, but in general they both have long been accustomed to the darkness.
Also, maybe Tattletale never had a problem with public displays of their love, sometimes even setting them up just to show off, but Lisa often preferred to make do with only the sensations of touch. Sometimes, as Taylor guessed, because of her powers, sometimes... Lisa probably felt happy knowing that even in the complete dark she was safe – that she was safe with Taylor. Without her trusty pistol on the bedside table, without a knife picked up by Lily a few months ago in her boot and without the usual multi-stage plans in her mind.
Taylor carefully seated Lisa on the edge of the bed and began to crawl under the covers, knowing that Lisa almost always preferred to deal with clothes alone – including Taylor’s, but today, of course, she didn’t get the opportunity.
Waiting for the sweater, pants and underwear to fly off in the direction of the chair, from where tomorrow she would have to pick them up and put them in their closet, Taylor moved closer to the other end of the bed, making room for her girlfriend.
“You’re pretty... clingy today,” Taylor said in a warm voice as Lisa snuggled up to her and unabashedly put her head on her chest.
When Lisa didn’t answer immediately, Taylor raised her head, looking at her worriedly.
“Hmm... I guess I am. And lie down, damn it.” Lisa sighed. “Everything’s fine. At least so far. I was just... thinking.”
“About anything specific?” Taylor managed not to let herself make the joke that this is what Lisa did twenty hours a day and seven days a week.
“Even though we’re not a really big organization and even though we don’t quite fit the standard description of villains, we’re still a pretty painful thorn in the PRT’s side. Not only because we are dangerous in battle. And the… recent events have proved it to them once again.”
“You agreed with my proposal,” Taylor reminded her.
“Hey, I don’t argue that Vista is a valuable ally.” Lisa shrugged as much as she could in her position. “And she deserves our help. But it was the considerable controversy that her decision caused that has drawn the PRT’s attention back to us. And we have to be ready. Who knows, maybe right now they’re choosing how to deal with us. Even I don’t know, though I already figured out the three most possible options.”
“Let them come,” Taylor said sharply.
“And as much as I expect it, this is the kind of behavior that can lead to us all – me – losing you.”
“Lisa, I…”
“I said I expect it,” Lisa forcefully repeated, touching Taylor’s hand with her own. “That is who you are. I fell in love with this version of you. So I will always have your back, even if we don’t stand a chance.”
Taylor, with a sad sigh, interlaced their fingers and clung to Lisa closer. She wondered if Lisa would be that honest about their chances with the others. Though, maybe, she would just choose to let their friends go for their own sake.
“We have some chances, of course, and we’ve all done our part, but, you know...”
“I risk my life every day, Lis. And the PRT is much less of a threat these days.”
“Do you think I have plans for war only with the PRT?” Lisa asked calmly, arching her eyebrow.
“...No,” Taylor replied gloomily. “Of course not. Yet I’d like to believe that I can talk you out of starting a war with anyone.”
“You can talk me out of almost anything.” Lisa grinned. “It’s just that in that case you won’t be around to do it.”
“You promised me, Lisa.”
”No-no-no, back then I only said that you changed my life forever and motivated me to be a better person than I really am.” Lisa gently touched Taylor’s chest with her lips.
“That’s less than a promise, I take it?”
“Just correcting you.”
“But you know what I mean.”
“Naturally. But I would like to point out that ‘protecting people’ and ‘fighting with the PRT’ are not mutually exclusive things. You have proven it yourself.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you striving to be better than me, too.” Taylor smiled briefly.
“I never will be, Tay,” Lisa said quietly, closing her eyes.
“Then I have no choice but to believe in you.” Taylor slowly began to rub Lisa’s back with her other hand.
“Yeah, you’re very much into making risky decisions.”
“...Perhaps.”
“You know, sometimes I think it’s better if I die when it’s a choice between us,” Lisa said calmly.
“Lisa…” Taylor sighed heavily.
“Even though our friends are equally valuable to us, they will most likely be able to reach out to you in case something happens. Even our new girl, after all, you and Vista seem to get along just fine. But will I listen to them? Now that’s a great question…”
“Enough, Lisa,” Taylor said firmly. “We’ve been through too much to die now. I will not leave you, whatever or whoever will be standing in my way: the Protectorate, gangs, the Nine, civil war, apocalypse – doesn’t matter. I’ll never leave you.”
“I almost believe you,” Lisa muttered. “I must have got infected with naivety from you.”
Taylor kissed her on the top of the head and made herself comfortable.
“...And I also promised to make Brockton Bay better. And I will, Tay. Even if…”
“I love you, Lisa.”
“I love you too.”
“What, even without the usual ‘more than you can imagine’?”
“Recently I had this very silly and strange thought. You know, that you might actually be able to imagine.”
“Well, I think,” Taylor laughed quietly, “at least, I know a lot more non-trivial adjectives to describe our love than you.”
“Fine, you win,” Taylor heard the very heavy exasperated breath that usually meant Lisa’s inability to handle her feelings silently. “Now shut up and kiss me properly.”
“You gave up too fast today, Lise.”
“Taylor, I want you.”
“Careful, my back hurts…”
Taylor couldn’t hide her big smile when Lisa, making a sound of obvious discontent, threw away their blanket and sat on top of her.
“How hard it can be sometimes to convince you that the serious part of our conversation is over, and I just want to forget about all this bullshit for a while.” Lisa crossed her hands over her chest, trying to pretend she was upset, but in her eyes there was an obvious challenge.
“It’s just that you often lie to yourself about whether it’s over or not,” Taylor sighed. “But yes, I’m sorry.” She reached for one of Lisa’s hands, pulled it to herself without any resistance and gently kissed her fingers, absentmindedly noting how tense they were – probably because of all the paperwork that Lisa was usually doing. “If there’s a way I could make it up for you...”
Their eyes met for a moment, before Lisa grinned, leaned over sharply and, stroking Taylor’s cheek tenderly, covered her lips with her own.