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All Lilia wanted to do was enjoy her cup of tea, curl up under a blanket, and watch the latest episode of Jeopardy in peace… was that too much to ask?
Oh, who was she kidding.
Whatever peace she used to have went out the front door the moment Agatha walked into her life. It wasn't a bad thing, necessarily, just a fact, because she adored her two idiots wholeheartedly.
Questioned half of the problems they created; Ignored just about every other antic under the sun. Joined them rarely.
Though she did learn to keep one of Jen's moonlight potions and a first aid kit on hand at all times… for Agatha, not Rio.
Rio was the least of her worries.
The perks of being a cosmic entity, she supposed. Can't die. Doesn't feel pain as severely. Heals in mere seconds.
One less thing for Lilia to fret over— and come to think of it, it was usually the opposite; Rio hovered over her constantly, even more so when age slowed her joints and her mortality became apparent.
A knock on her door pulled her from her musings.
She was met with a cloak draped Rio. Not a strange sight— the woman enjoyed popping in at odd hours of the night, and needless to say, Lilia certainly relished in those visits.
Only, Rio wore a grim expression— one that held promise of trouble. "Don't tell Agatha." She mumbled.
Lilia paused. "Don't tell Agatha, what?"
At first, her partner grew still, adding to the growing unease in Lilia's chest.
"Rio?"
The cloak Death wore disappeared, showcasing a short, weeping gash in the meat of one hip. Lilia damn near slammed the door on her partner's face from reflex alone. That had to be an imposter on her doorstep.
Rio didn't get hurt.
"How?!" Lilia hissed, hustling Death inside.
The woman flopped into the nearest chair. "Funny story—"
"I highly doubt that."
Rio waved her off. "You know how people tell their kids not to run with scissors?" She began, fiddling with a loose thread on her pants. "So I was running…"
"You tripped, didn't you." Lilia moved through the space with hurried strides, one arm full of bandages while she sought out a clean towel.
Rio's lack of response was response enough.
Yet the woman didn't meet her gaze at her approach. "On my dagger." She whispered.
Lilia studied her critically for a moment, before kneeling down with a practiced ease. The wound wasn't big, but from the way it bled, even she knew that it was deep. "Why didn't you keep the blade in?"
"Reflex." It was stated so nonchalantly, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
Any other time, Lilia would've rolled her eyes.
But not now.
Never, now.
Instead, she pressed a towel into the woman's grasp, leading Rio to quell the bleeding herself; She was unable— even holding onto the other's hands, her own trembled uselessly.
As if sensing her turmoil, Rio's free hand swiped the stray hairs from her face; A familiar gesture, it still did nothing to help.
The blood had already soaked through the towel.
"It's fine…" Rio reassured. "I'll heal in a day or two."
"A day or two." Lilia echoed, her eyes searching her partner's. They shone with nothing but assurance.
Lilia released a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Her hands found a rhythm then, threading a needle to bring to Death's skin. The woman didn't even flinch.
She worked in silence, aside from the occasional hum of the fridge. At the last tug of the needle, her eyes finally met Rio's. "Am I supposed to keep Agatha in the dark for days, then?" Lilia asked.
"Will you?"
"No."
"But—"
Lilia cut her off. "No, Rio." If anyone thought Rio was protective, then they hadn't met Agatha. That woman would level the whole earth if it meant her family remained safe.
Needless to say, keeping secrets from her was an automatic 'no.'
"I just don't want her to worry." It was a consolation prize if Lilia ever heard one— a blanket statement.
"So you come to worry me instead, is that it?" She snapped.
"Yeah, but you're used to us—" Rio countered.
Lilia quickly cut her off.
"I'm used to you both fighting for foreplay's sake. That's a love language I've learned to accept." Her eyes bore into Rio's. "But you are not like me. Like Agatha. You do not get hurt in the same way. But of course… show up like this and prove me wrong."
Her knees creaked in protest at the speed in which she got up.
Towel in the trash, she scrubbed furiously at her hands.
"Lilia—"
"What next?" She called over her shoulder, before turning to face her partner. "The injuries will be worse next time? I'll have to learn that Death herself can fucking die?"
Rio shrank in her seat, "Everyone—"
"Don't you 'everyone dies' me." Lilia cut her off again. "You don't die."
She grew silent, then. Any fight she held on to disappeared in a blink. "Just—" Her arms fell uselessly at her sides. "You don't."
Neither person moved. Neither regarded the other either.
Until Rio stood, hands out in surrender, as if Lilia was a wild animal to be tamed.
"I'm sorry." Rio kissed Lilia's forehead, pulling her close.
But she didn't sink into the hold, her arms crossing at her chest like armor. "I won't keep this a secret from Agatha…" She whispered.
"Alrig—"
"Let me finish." Lilia leaned to stare at the other. "I won't keep it a secret, but… it can wait until morning." She amended.
It was a conclusion as good as any… at this point; And she finally allowed herself to relax into the embrace.
Until, "Would it make it better if I told you I tripped over a tree root?"
The laughter snuck up on Lilia before she knew it, leaving her to tuck her face into the crook of Rio's neck to stifle it.
Yet the woman laughed with her, as if nothing had been wrong in the first place.
"Yeah, ironic, isn't it?"
<><><><><><><>
The morning was greeted with a back-to-back buzz of notifications… and a whirlwind of purple smoke.
"Rio Vidal what do you mean you fucked up?"
Lilia barely had time to sit up properly before Agatha rounded the couch. "Let me see it." The siphon's fingers were already tugging at Rio's shirt.
Even Lilia could see the blood that stained the woman's bandages. "Who the hell managed that?!" Agatha demanded.
Rio raised a hand sheepishly.
Agatha wasn't having it. "Explain."
"I tripped."
"She tripped over a tree root." Lilia added, leaning back against a chair with a sigh. Agatha just stared.
"She—"
"Landed on her own dagger. Yep."Just like that, the shock melted off the siphon's face completely, all to be replaced with a fond, lopsided smirk.
"You're a dumbass, you know that?" Agatha's smirk grew bigger.
"Yep." Rio wore the same fondness like a badge.
Before, "This isn't the first time?"
"Nope."
"Idiot."
Lilia closed her eyes again. Her idiots.