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"Ah~ I haven't been on a real bed in ages!" Taco exclaims. Laying back on Microphone's bed.
"Real? Where did you sleep then?" Mic questions, listening to her talk while she got something from her closet.
"On the ground. Sometimes on a stump!" She laughs at her own misfortune.
This would be Taco's first official night in the Hotel. Everything that happened the past few months had finally subsided enough for Microphone, Taco, and OJ to have a real conversation about Taco staying in the hotel. OJ reluctantly agreed but claimed there were no empty rooms for her at the moment, since everyone was starting to spread out to individual rooms. While Microphone didn't believe it for a second, she said Taco could stay with her then.
So Taco was going to sleep in Microphone's room. But first that girl needed a bath!
Taco had been in the same, very few clothes she owned, for almost four years. And when she did bathe or wash her clothes, it was in the nearby lake. And there was no way Mic was going to let her stay like that.
She was currently drawing her a bath and getting towels and extra clothes for her from her closet.
"Hm... My clothes might not fit you....." she says pulling out spare pajamas. Realizing her size compared to Taco's. She was a bit bigger than her and quite a bit taller.
"Oh, it's fine." Taco flails her hand dismissively.
"I think the bath is done. You can just throw your clothes anywhere, I'll pick them up later."
"So soon?" She reluctantly hops off the comfortable bed. As she reaches the bathroom door, she looks back at Mic, half expecting her to protest.
"Go on. There's soap and shampoo already there. Just call if you need anything." She then picked up a book and sat on the bed opposite of the one Taco was just on.
Taco went in the room, took off her clothes, and stepped into the bubbly bath.
"Huh." She'd never had a bath with bubbles before. Or maybe she had and she just couldn't remember. It was rather fun. Made her feel like a kid.
As time past and she soaked in the bath, the anxieties in the back of her mind began to get louder. She was alone with her thoughts again. Just like the thousands of nights she spent in the woods. Or in the homeless shelters, or her foster homes, or the orphanage..... She never did have a good part of her life, did she?
It was always sadness, stress, and loneliness. Since the day her parents died when she was three. It was downhill from there.
....
Taco looked down at herself. Her lower body harder to see because of the bubbles. She had scars all over her legs and arms, a few from stab wounds on her stomach. Her hands were calloused and scrapped. Her feet looked raw.
She stared at her reflection in the water. She gently caressed the scar on her eye. She expected it to disappear after her recovery, but she knew that's not how life works.
None of her scars will ever go away. Even the ones no one can see.
They never really bothered her before. But now that she was trying to be a normal person again, they were reminders of who she really is.
All her human insecurities started to come back. Her scars, her height, her weight. Though she knew there was nothing she could do to change these, she still hated it about herself.
God, she hated herself.
With or without her body issues, she hated herself as a person. The things she said to Pickle, the things she did to Microphone. She was an awful person.
And she will always be an awful person. There was no changing her. She didn't deserve Microphone's kindness. She should just drown herself in the bath now.
She slipped her mouth under water.
But she knows Mic doesn't want her dead. She imagined her face when she finds her dead in the tub. She shudders. No, she couldn't do that to her.
She reluctantly sat herself back up.
Taco knew she couldn't stay there by herself for much longer. Her mind was cruel, and she couldn't help but listen.
--------------------------------
Microphone was laying on her bed, blanket up to her waist, book in hand. She was reading a cute fantasy book. It was quite compelling.
"Microphone!" She heard Taco call her name. She didn't actually expect her to call her. She wondered what she needed.
She left her book on the bed and headed to the bathroom.
"Yes?" Mic cracked open the door, staring at the ground to respect Taco's privacy.
"Can you.... stay in here with me?" Taco awkwardly asked, "I .... um, don't want to be alone..."
Microphone seemed surprised by both the request and her change in demeanor from earlier. "Okay." She said, "let me grab my book."
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Microphone sat next to the tub with her book in her lap. Her curiosity quickly getting the best of her. "Why don't you want to be alone?" She basically thinks out loud.
A silence fell over them as Taco debated what to tell her. Mic realized maybe she shouldn't have asked such a personal question.
"I just..... need a distraction right now." Taco eventually says.
Microphone hummed a small response. "Do you want to talk?"
"Sure." Taco sunk in the bath more.
"About what?"
"Whatever. I really don't care."
"....This book I'm reading is really good."
"Oh really?" Taco engaged half-heartedly. All her previous energy being drained by her dark thoughts.
"It's about this girl, she meets this other girl in the woods and they become friends. But then, she discovers that her new friend is actually a monster!"
'Sounds familiar', Taco sarcastically remarks in her head.
"But she doesn't want to leave her. See, she's fallen in love with her. And even though everybody wants her dead, and she's done a lot of bad things, she still loves her and wants to be with her."
"What an imbecile." Taco comments.
"Why would you say that?"
"If this monster is so bad that people want her dead, wouldn't the girl have a better life away from her?" She inquires.
Mic laughs, "She's not a bad person, not really. She's just misunderstood."
Taco scoffs, "That's what they all say, Mic. Then they get their hearts broken because they trusted a beast. What will she do when the monster betrays her, huh?" She rants, aggressively.
Mic looked down a bit from Taco's sudden hostility. "I ....haven't gotten to that part yet."
The room was silent again.
"This.... isn't about the book, is it?" Taco meerly grumbles a response.
"Are you... stressed? I know moving can be difficult." Taco didn't answer.
"Do you want me to wash you?"
Taco's face became red, "What?"
Microphone's face soon followed, realizing what she said. "No! I meant like wash your hair because that can be a good stress reliever I didn't mean to sound weird and of course you don't have to if you don't want to it was just a suggestion....." she trailed off, burying her face into her book to cover her embarrassment. What an idiot, she thought.
"Sure. The hair, that is." Taco smirked. She honestly thought Microphone's little slip up was quite cute.
Taco turned her body to face away from Mic. She hugged her knees close to her chest, to half-conceal the rest of her body. Mic set her book down on the sink and began to wash Taco's hair.
"You have sticks in here."
"Do I?" She knew she did.
They sat in a comfortable silence for awhile. Taco began to doze off. Microphone enjoyed doing hair, it was a calm thing to do with her hands.
When she finished she was about to yell, 'done!' But she realized Taco had fallen asleep. She smiled.
She moved around to get a better look at her friend's sleeping face. She looked so calm. But she didn't want her to accidentally drown or anything, so unfortunately she had to wake her up.
She gently nudged her shoulder. Taco woke up startled. She quickly stood up in a defensive stance, ready to attack whatever woke her.
Microphone was caught off guard by her reaction and fell back a bit. She instinctively blushed at Taco. It happened so fast she didn't have time to turn away.
Taco stood there for a few moments before calming down. She quickly retracted back into the water. "Sorry."
"It's- no, I'm sorry! I shouldnt've...." Mic lost what she was saying. She was flustered and embarrassed.
'It's not that big of a deal' she repeated in her head. She was so embarrassed, she shouldn't have looked.
Taco was embarrassed too. More than that, she was ashamed. Moreover, because of how she felt about her own body. She really didn't want Microphone to see her like that. God, she was so tired.
Taco couldn't help but cry. She tried not to, she really did. But she was so exhausted from everything. Now this was even more embarrassing.
Microphone was getting ready to apologize again when she heard quiet sobs. She looked up to see Taco curled in a ball in the tub, crying.
"T-Taco...? Oh no, what's wrong?" She quickly kneeled down at the side of the bathtub, but she couldn't quite reach her.
Taco continued to sob until she began to yell instead, "ARGH! I HATE THIS!!"
"W-what? What happened?"
"THIS!" She gestured to herself, "ME!! I'M SO- AWFUL!!"
"What are you talking about!?" Mic didn't know how to respond.
"I HATE MYSELF, MIC!" She was too tired to lie, and was too angry to stay quiet. She was at her breaking point. She didn't realize till now how much she'd been bottling up. "Everything about me! My fucking scars! My height! I can't even gain enough weight to not feel so fucking small!! I'm just feel.... doomed.."
....
"I'm sorry that you're friends with me....."
Microphone reached over and grabbed Taco wrist. She shuddered. She really didn't like being touched with out a warning, but she knew she meant well.
"Don't say that." She said firmly. "I think you're beautiful."
Taco looked away again, ".....I'm sorry."
"Please stop apologizing."
Taco gently waved Mic's hand off. Microphone waved Taco closer, she reluctantly scooted over.
She wavered her hand over Taco's eye. "Can I...?" Taco nodded and closed her eyes. Mic very gently and carefully caressed her scar with her thumb. Taco's tear stained cheeks, wetting Microphone's hand.
Her hand naturally moved from her eye to cup her cheek and chin. Taco looked up and rested her head in Mic's hand. Her emerald green eyes sparkled with left over tears from her breakdown.
Their faces slowly, instinctively began to move closer to eachother. Their eyes closed as their lips gently pressed together. They interlocked carefully.
In this one small moment it felt like an explosion in their chests. Microphone has done this before, kissing, all of it. But she's never felt like this before. Her heart beat wildly as her face became hot.
But Taco? Taco had never done anything like this before! She's never been in love like this, and she's certainly never kissed someone before. She's had a simple child's crush before, but this? This was.... something entirely new. Something she couldn't even describe. But she knew she didn't want it to stop.
They pulled away to catch their breaths. A string of saliva still connecting them. They stared into eachothers eyes before Taco brought her back in.
It was a moment of pure euphoria. It was as if time stopped and they were the only two people to ever exist.
As their passion naturally began to die down, however, they moved away from eachother. A pass of silence went by. Comfortable, loving, not awkward for once.
"Oh um.... I-I should probably let you finish your bath hahaha...." Microphone's flustered voice couldn't help but giggle. She smiled as stepped out of the room.
As soon as they were alone, both women paralleled eachother. Both burying their faces in their pillow and hands. They couldn't believe that just happened. They felt like teenagers again, butterflies in their stomachs.
Taco knew those thoughts still won't go away that easily. But Microphone was a nice distraction.
She finished washing and soon changed into the PJs Mic laid out for her. They were indeed too big for her, but she didn't mind.
She walked out of the bathroom to find Microphone reading on her bed. She looked up and her face lit up.
"Taco! Come here." She patted the side of the bed next to her. Taco took the offer.
Like she said before, the bed was so comfy. She sunk in, more than ready to fall asleep in it.
Mic stared at her like a puppy waging it's tail. Taco leaded her head on her shoulder. "Tell me more about your book." She said softly.
Microphone gladly obliged. And Taco fell asleep to the sound of her voice. In a comfy bed, next to the person that she loved.