Work Text:
It’s a quiet autumn night, and the stars are as visible as ever. They speckle the clear dark sky, and looking up, you can see a lot of them. But there are also some overhanding leaves in the way. The dangling branches make for an oddly and chaotically beautiful framework.
The campfire’s burning low; shadows dance across the logs and the side of Petra’s face as she leans back against the thick tree behind you, her arms loose over a bent knee. Her other leg is straight out in front of her, boot nudging the pine needles.
Lukas is murmuring something to Jesse, who laughs quietly. You’ve lost the thread of the conversation, something about someone doing something somewhere. But you smile like you’re listening anyway, because tonight is still nice, and you’re perfectly content right where you are. With your friends. With Petra.
She’s been close to you all night. Not in a clingy way; Petra doesn’t do clingy. But in a familiar way.
Her shoulder stays pressed to yours for a while before she shifts, and now her thigh rests just barely against yours.
You’ve had a thing for Petra for a while now. You’ve always figured she didn’t see you that way, but tonight something’s different. There’s a softness to her, although it’s honestly been there since you two became good friends. Petra has always been friendly with you. Where there was always tension between Petra and the others (even Lukas!) in the beginning, you two clicked.
“You warm enough?” Petra suddenly asks, quietly, just to you. It tears through the quiet and nearly jolts you out of your thoughts.
You blink, adjusting your posture. “Yeah…yeah, I’m good.”
“You sure? ‘Cause it’s getting cold. I’ll let you wear this,” she immediately offers, tugging at the sleeve of her jacket.
Things like that. The kind gestures, the checking in. It’s always been there, since the day you two met. You love it more than you want to admit.
“I’m good, really,” you answer gently, your smile sincere. “I’m just tired.” It’s not a lie.
Suddenly, Lukas laughs loudly at something Jesse says. It makes you and Petra glance up for a moment, startled.
Seeing your reaction, Jesse immediately starts laughing too. “Sorry. Ignore him,” she waves her hand dismissively in your direction. “He’s being dumb.”
Lukas continues to chuckle quietly to himself as you turn your attention to Petra. She glances back at you and shrugs off whatever the hell that was, and you shrug back, smiling.
The taller girl then shifts slightly, her side nudging into yours playfully. You let yourself lean back into her. Eventually she murmurs, “If you’re tired, do you wanna head back?” She then adds, a bit more hushed, “I can walk you.”
Feeling a little buzz of warmth at the courteousness, you swallow, trying to sound normal. “Yeah, sure. If you want to.”
Petra lifts a shoulder, her smile lopsided. “I offered, didn’t I?”
You grin despite yourself. “Whatever.”
With a huff of laughter, Petra takes a moment to gather herself before pushing herself up, brushing her hands off on her pants. “Let’s go then. You look about two seconds from falling asleep on this log.”
You hum softly and follow her lead, standing up languidly. You are pretty tired.
Jesse glances up as you two start moving. She nods in acknowledgment, her voice giving away that she’s also getting tired. “You both turning in?”
Glancing over her shoulder, Petra answers before you can. “I’m just walking Y/N. I’ll probably be back.”
“Mm. Well, goodnight Y/N,” she murmurs.
“Night,” Lukas mumbles after her without looking up. You return their farewells with a warm smile before you and Petra finally start the brief trek to your tent.
———
The air cools fast once you’re away from the campfire, the breeze brisk against your skin. Petra stays close. Her hands are in her jacket pockets, her eyes set forward. She doesn’t say anything for the first dozen steps, and neither do you.
But when she does talk, she asks, “You ever stay up this late?”
You glance at her, shrugging. “I mean…yeah, sometimes.”
That gets a quiet huff from her, not quite a laugh but close enough to make you curl an eyebrow. “Could’ve fooled me. You looked about ready to fall over.”
“I was enjoying myself,” you insist. “Although if I did fall asleep, you’d just judge me about it and carry me to my tent anyway. Wouldn’t have been against that,” you tease.
Petra snorts at the half-joke, rolling her eyes. “I’d definitely judge. I dunno about carrying you though.”
“Suuuure.”
Silence settles again, but it’s not uncomfortable. The distance between your arms is practically nonexistent. You think if either of you moved half an inch, your hands would brush. You don’t test it, but the idea makes you blush. It’s not like your hands haven’t accidentally touched in the past already.
You reach your tent too soon. It’s tucked off the trail a bit, where the trees open just enough. You stop in front of the flap and turn to face Petra. “Well, thanks for walking me,” you murmur, meeting Petra’s eyes. The day’s building exhaustion is weighing even heavier on you now, and the idea of laying down becomes more appealing by the second. But you don’t want to part from her just yet.
“Anytime,” Petra answers, although she doesn’t make any moves to leave. Her eyes flick to the tent, then back to you. Then back again. She shifts her weight, staying quiet for a long second. Something is clearly on her mind, but your heart is already hammering and you’re tired and you’re nervous and this girl you’ve had a crush on for ages is standing right there—
“…Get some sleep,” Petra goes on to say, her words impossibly softer. You’ve always been fond of the natural rasp in her voice.
“You too.”
With that, you finally turn to get inside your tent, assuming that the interaction is over. However, Petra’s voice suddenly cuts through the quiet within moments.
“Uh, actually, Y/N—“
You turn back around, perhaps too quickly. Now Petra’s even closer than before, and even if not by much, it still makes your heart skip. She’s looking down at you somewhat blankly, although you can see a trace of curiosity in her gaze, as if she’s trying to read you.
“Sorry,” she eventually says softly. “I…forgot what I was gonna say.”
Blinking yourself out of your thoughts, you huff a quiet laugh, a little breathless. “You stopped me for nothing?”
Petra shrugs, awkward and charming all at once. “I guess. I didn’t mean to, I just…”
She trails off, rubbing at the back of her neck. Her eyes drop to the ground, then flick back up to yours. Her next words are hushed, but not quietly enough for you to miss. “It’s…kind of hard to walk away from you right now, to be honest.”
Her voice is low, with each syllable settling in your stomach like a branding. You blink. Your stomach flips when you process.
You’re sure she hears your breath hitch. Her eyes find your mouth, then stay there a bit too long. You notice, and you feel your pulse in your throat now, in your fingertips.
“I’ve…been thinking about doing something kind of stupid,” Petra suddenly adds, quieter.
Now she’s standing closer than before. You swallow harshly. “Yeah?”
She nods once. “Tell me if it’s too much.”
Then she steps forward, even closer now. It’s the closest you think you two have ever been.
Her hand rises slowly, fingers grazing your cheek. You lean into it without entirely meaning to.
When she kisses you, it’s not tentative at all. Her lips, steady and self assured, slot against yours like she’s thought about this countless times. She presses her hand to your cheek, calloused fingers resting just beside your ear. You lean into the tough and tilt your head, your lips gentle against hers.
It’s perfect.
Her hands quickly find your waist after yours tangle in the front of her jacket, and she hums lowly, breaking the kiss for just a moment before closing the distance once more, gently, lovingly. She’s a good kisser.
Your heart flutters in your chest, and your knees feel like they’re made of jelly. You can feel her curling over you slightly, using her height to her advantage as she gradually slides a hand towards the small of your back.
You break apart again, now slightly out of breath. You don’t pull far enough apart to look eachother in the eyes, but that doesn’t matter. Petra is here. This is real. And there is no way in hell you are letting this go.
You lean back in, and Petra meets you halfway.
The next kiss comes faster, hungrier. Petra tilts her head slightly, deepening it, and you feel yourself forced to push back in order to keep up. But you don’t mind. She exhales through her nose like she’s trying to stay composed, but you can feel the tension bleeding out of her in every movement.
Unexpectedly, her tongue brushes yours within seconds, although it’s cautious at first. The sensation of it makes something violently twist in your gut, and you feel an intense heat wash over you. But you can’t resist the urge to try it, the urge to do something so blatantly obscene with the girl you’ve spent the past year getting close with.
You respond, your tongue meeting hers directly. Petra makes a sound low in her throat, almost like surprise. Like she hadn’t expected you to be this open so quickly. Oh, she has no idea.
Overall, it’s not a long kiss, but it leaves you hot and wanting when you part. Your faces are still close, breaths mingling. Your voice comes out hoarsely when you eventually find it, laced with something heated that you refuse to acknowledge.
“Just come in with me,” you say without much thought, although truthfully, your mind is made up anyway.
Despite what you two just did, Petra’s face goes as red as a tomato at the suggestion. She stiffens instantly. “Wha—uh, really? Is that…” she proceeds to glance around as if there’s an eavesdropper nearby. “Is that really a good idea?”
You don’t answer at first. You just reach for her wrist, and with nothing more than a brief pause as a warning, you tug her closer. She’s jerked towards you and makes a noise of surprise at the sudden movement, eyebrows shooting up.
You make sure she’s looking right at you before you murmur, “It’ll be fine.”
It isn’t taking much to convince her. She’s already blushing up a storm, and if pulling her closer didn’t make her fold, then talking to her in that tone of voice definitely did.
“Okay,” she mutters, undeniably flustered.
Without letting go of Petra’s wrist, you turn around, nudging the flap of the tent open with your free hand. As you crawl in first, you feel Petra duck down low to fit through the entryway. There’s no telling where your night goes when the flap closes behind her.