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“Take your shirt off and lay down.” Caitlyn instructed as she walked over to the nightstand pulling open the drawer searching for a moment, a snort behind her made her pause for a moment.
“At least buy me a drink first cupcake.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes, feeling the corners of her mouth twitch upward slightly. "I'm flattered, but don't get your hopes up.” She retrieved a small bottle of lotion from the drawer, holding it up for Vi to see.
Vi was laying on the bed her head laying on the side looking at the woman with a vague sense of bemusement as she propped herself up on her elbows. "You sure that's not some kind of secret concoction to knock me out cold?" She teased, her grin wide and devil-may-care.
“No, Vi, I can assure you it isn't.” Caitlyn retorted, uncapping the lotion so Vi could smell the natural, herbal ingredients. “It's a muscle relaxant. Your back has been hurting you for weeks. It's high time something was done about it."
Vi raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. “You know you don’t have to.” She said feeling the bed dip and the woman sitting on her legs.
"Yeah, I do,” Caitlyn muttered looking down at the woman’s back, her fingers tracing a gentle path across Vi's knotted muscles before they continued on tracing the intricate tattoo designs that snaked across her shoulders and down her spine. If Caitlyn was being honest… god she loved this woman's body - the strength, the resilience, the raw toughness that she wore like armor - but also the softness that lay hidden beneath it all.
Her heart fluttered as she poured a decent amount of the lotion onto her hands, warming it up before gently applying it onto Vi's tensed shoulders. Her strong fingers began to knead into the hard muscles, eliciting a contented sigh from Vi.
"Damn," Vi murmured dreamily after a while, sinking deeper into the mattress with each kneading motion.
Caitlyn smiled at the satisfaction she heard in Vi's voice. She continued to work, moving her hands lower to massage the areas around Vi's shoulder blades and spine, finding particularly tense nodes and working them out slowly.
“Ow... easy!” Vi suddenly winced, her body jolting underneath Caitlyn’s touch. Her hands had found a particularly tight knot buried deep into the muscles.
Caitlyn immediately loosened her grip, mumbling an "I'm sorry" before continuing with a gentler touch. She felt Vi relax once again, her breathing growing more steady and rhythmic as Caitlyn worked on the knots at the base of her spine.
“You’re really good at this...” Vi murmured after a while.
“Is this you finally admitting I’m good with my hands?”
Vi chuckled, her voice a low rumble in the silence of the room. “Never said you weren’t cupcake… your hands are quite the miracle workers," she admitted, shivering slightly as Caitlyn's fingertips worked their magic over another tense knot at the small of her back.
"Why do I feel like that's tied to a punchline?" Caitlyn asked with a muted smile, her fingers dipping lower to tease out the knots on Vi's lower back, her voice a soft lullaby in the otherwise quiet room.
Vi smirked into the mattress. “Believe it or not, cupcake, I can appreciate your talents without there being a punchline involved.”
Caitlyn hummed pushing both hands up Vi's back, feeling the muscles relax under her gentle but insistent touch. The feeling of Vi's relief under her hands was somehow intensely rewarding. "Well, it's mutual," she finally confessed softly. "Your strength amazes me."
“I’m not that amazing...” Vi mumbled lazily into the mattress, each rolling knead of Caitlyn's fingers lulling her further into a peaceful stupor.
“Don’t be modest," Caitlyn replied, her voice taking on a soothing timbre that echoed the rhythm of her kneading massage. “Does your back hurt all the time like this?" She inquired, concern rippling through her words as she continued to apply pressure to Vi's back.
“A little bit, not always...” Vi murmured, her words barely audible. She was nearly asleep, lost in the bliss Caitlyn's skilled hands were creating throughout her body.
“What happened that made it so bad?” Caitlyn asked, her words mere whispers now as she continued to massage Vi slowly, her fingers working in tandem with the rhythm of Vi's steady breathing.
Vi didn’t say anything for a while, the rhythmic rise and fall of her back the only sign that she was still awake. Caitlyn, for a moment, thought she’d drifted into sleep. She had almost decided to stop and pull a blanket over Vi when a low, soft voice broke the quiet.
“When I was younger I was near an explosion and… a metal door fell on me. It was heavy... really heavy," Vi continued, her voice a mere whisper that was barely audible amongst the gentle sounds of the room. “When I got taken away to Stillwater… they didn’t exactly help or treat it properly. I guess it just never healed right. Along with the fact that the prick of a guard provided beatings quite regularly… It didn't help either...” The words faded into the air, leaving behind a silence that seemed heavy with pain and memory.
Caitlyn's hands stilled, one resting gently in the small of Vi’s back, a silent offering of comfort. She waited quietly, letting Vi’s words sink in. She didn't offer platitudes; she knew well enough that it wouldn’t do much good. Instead, she replaced her words with the soft touch of her fingers, continuing her gentle kneading motion where she had stopped.
“I’m sorry you went through that…” Caitlyn murmured after a long silence, trying to keep the resentment from seeping into her voice.
Vi chuckled softly, the sound bitter and hollow. “It's past,” she said simply, but there was an undercurrent of sadness in her voice that squeezed Caitlyn's heart.
"Yes it is," Caitlyn agreed finally, keeping her voice as steady as possible amidst the emotional turmoil raging within her. “But it’s left its marks.”
“Marks can fade.” Vi murmured back.
Caitlyn paused momentarily at that comment before she let out a soft sigh. She shifted up slightly so that she was sitting cross-legged by Vi’s side instead of atop her legs. She ran her lotion slicked hands over the expanse of Vi’s back once more, whispering a soft “I wish I could take your pain away.”
At this, Vi turned over to look at Caitlyn fully, a half smile playing on her lips despite the tiredness creeping into her eyes. "I know, cupcake. But you can't erase some pains. They're like old friends, you know?" Vi grinned wryly, the lines on her face deepening. "Besides, these scars are part of who I am. They don't define me but they remind me where I come from."
Caitlyn reached out to gently tuck a loose strand of hair behind Vi's ear. Her gaze was soft, melancholic almost. "I know," she murmured back. "Scars make us who we are.” She felt Vi’s hand rest on her cheek, her thumb resting over her left eye and tracing the eyepatch she had on.
"Like your scar?" Vi asked, softly. Her voice barely rose above a whisper, but the implication was clear.
"Yes," Caitlyn admitted after a moment's pause. "Like my scar."
A heavy silence fell over them then. It threatened to swathe the room in its somber clutch, but Caitlyn gently wrested control. She leaned into Vi's touch before deciding to take their conversation back into more calming waters.
"Would you like me to continue?" Caitlyn asked, her hand falling onto the woman’s arm giving it a small squeeze , a silent promise of comfort in her touch.
Vi seemed to ponder that for a moment before letting out a small, contented sigh. "Please," she murmured, turning back onto her stomach and easing herself into the softness of the mattress.
Caitlyn let a small smile gently pull at her lips as she adjusted herself, settling back onto her knees at Vi's side. She resumed where she'd left off, allowing her hands to glide over the expanse of Vi's back with ease - each movement slow and deliberate.
Vi hummed appreciatively into the bed as Caitlyn applied just the right amount of pressure to break up an obstinate knot of tension nestled somewhere deep within her muscles. It was a small victory, but one that filled Caitlyn with a sense of quiet satisfaction nonetheless.
“Whenever you’re hurting Vi, don’t hesitate to tell me,” Caitlyn murmured, pouring more warmth into her voice than she thought humanly possible. “I may not be able to erase your pain… but I’ll do my damndest to alleviate it.”
“And ruin my tough image? Can’t have that,” Vi grumbled back, attempting levity despite her weariness. She felt a small pinch as Caitlyn pinched the skin at the comment but only grunted in response.
“I’ll keep your secret,” Caitlyn playfully promised, placing a kiss at the curve of Vi's shoulder blade, leaving a gentle, comforting warmth in the wake of her lips. "Your tough image is safe with me."
“My hero.”