Work Text:
When Nicole was back in high school she believed she had no future so she never tried with her grades or to maintain lasting relationships. It was a miracle she was able to even get a girlfriend at all but the first one with Ari didn’t last that long.
Then Emily came along and they sort of clicked. Were they healthy for each other? Fuck no. But she honestly thought the both of them would die before they reached their twenties. That would have been her goal when she was at her most depressed and suicidal and her crazy girlfriend didn’t exactly help her mental state.
Turns out that living long enough to become an adult makes her wish she did try harder.
She has not one but two girlfriends now and she would consider herself lucky. Especially since Jecka was the one to bring stability to their relationship when before Nicole would never have tried to talk things out.
It would just be an endless cycle of breaking up with Emily, having awesome make up sex and then hating each other’s guts the next day.
Her GPA and SAT scores were in the toilet so going to college now is probably out of the question. Even still she managed to somehow get a two bedroom apartment with her two girlfriends.
It wasn’t easy at first, once Nicole turned eighteen her mom had enough of her attitude and kicked her to the curb. She and Emily had scrounged up enough change with Nicole working shitty minimum wage jobs and Emi dealing drugs to afford a place.
Jecka in the beginning was hesitant to join them even though the apartment was closer to her college campus. She had been there when it was just the two of them dating and had to witness how toxic they were for each other.
She wasn’t sure if she could put up with them fighting and the awkward fallout that would come if they all lived together but that is what the second bedroom was for. In case someone needed time to cool off or just have some alone time in general.
She’s come to find out that relationships are tough work, especially if there are three people involved. Even if they have a loving partnership they can still get sick of each other sometimes so this was their solution.
It honestly worked, they have been living together now for a couple of months and there has been no petty fighting. Things were perfect, until they weren’t.
They function well as a group and when that balance is broken well… It can get a bit chaotic.
“Jecka! Wake up!”
The blonde girl’s eyes flutter open and she stares up into the face of her other blonde girlfriend, who is giving her a venomous look like she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
“Emi? What?”
She yelps when the blankets get torn off of her and Emi bears down on her in a threatening manner.
“Where is Nicole?!”
She blinks. It is way too early to deal with this girl’s delusional outbursts right now.
“Um, I don’t know? I just woke up so can you relax?”
Evidently that was not a satisfying answer to the manic blonde girl and she snarls at her, shoving her down onto the bed by her shoulders roughly and pinning her to the mattress.
“I woke up and she wasn’t here! She always sleeps in late on Sundays but you’re still here and she isn’t so what did you do with her?! Are you hiding her somewhere? Trying to save her all for yourself, slut?”
“Emily, we’ve been over this. I’m not trying to steal Nicole from you.”
She tries to rationalize calmly but it falls on deaf ears. It’s hard to deal with Emily when she gets like this but she quickly realizes that her girlfriend is having an episode.
“Don’t fucking lie to me! Let’s see how pretty she thinks you are when I take one of your eyes out!”
Oh and now she has a fork in her hand. Great.
“Get off of me!”
She brings her leg up and kicks the skinny blonde girl in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and rushes out of the room, screaming bloody murder while Emily is hot on her trail.
She has enough time to grab her phone off the counter before locking herself in the bathroom with Emi pounding on the door and yelling threats at her.
Instead of doing the sensible thing and calling 911 she decides to call Nicole instead.
Nicole is standing at the airport gate with a pair of ridiculous Mickey Mouse ears that her brother gave her from the souvenir shop.
Her group gets called up to the gate and she hefts her luggage up but then feels her phone vibrate in her pocket.
It’s Jecka calling her and she sighs, mentally preparing herself for the conversation she’s about to have before answering.
“Hello?”
“Nicole where the fuck are you! I woke up ten minutes ago and Emi told me you were gone!”
“Right… So I’m actually going on a family trip to Disney world. I forgot it was an annual thing we did so I had to quickly pack this morning and leave.”
“You didn’t think of telling us first?! Also I thought you hated your family!”
“Shit you know I’m not good at saying goodbyes. I thought it would be nice to spend time with my family. You said it was a good thing to repair relationships so… Yeah.”
Plus most importantly she doesn’t want to get kicked out of her mom’s will.
“Besides I think it would be good if you and Em spent more quality time together. How is she doing, by the way?”
She winces and pulls the phone away from her ear when she hears a scream and glass shattering in the background.
“You need to come home now! Emi is having an episode and she’s gonna kill me!”
“Now boarding group C. Please have your flight tickets and ID ready.” A calm voice says over the intercom.
“Oh don’t be so dramatic. Just give her some treats and plenty of pets. She’s a little grumpy is all.”
“What is she, a pitbull now?!”
“My flight is boarding so I gotta go now but I’ll be back in a week. You got this babe, I believe in you!”
She hangs up, abruptly cutting off Jecka’s protests on the other side.
‘They’ll be fine.’
Although she’s not totally convinced of that herself. At least she’s going to the happiest place in the world so she will worry about it later.
Hopefully she doesn’t return to a double murder suicide back at the apartment.
Yeah she might have fucked up big time.
It’s the early hours of the evening and things have settled down somewhat. Jecka had remained locked in the bathroom for a couple of hours listening to Emily tear up their apartment.
The silence that followed after her screaming fit was unsettling but she must have worn herself out since she hasn’t heard a peep in the last 30 minutes.
Deeming it safe enough to leave she unlocks the door and steps out into the hall. She goes into the kitchen and spots Emily in the room adjacent to it, curled up into a ball on the couch.
She has no idea what to do. Maybe she should comfort her? But she doesn’t want to get too close if Emi is still feeling volatile.
She decides to give her some space for now and opens the fridge up to get a glass of water and make them both dinner.
Emily doesn’t even acknowledge her presence as she turns the stove on and starts frying up some vegetables in a pan to make a stir-fry.
She can hear her slightly mumbling to herself, in her own little world and worry grips her heart.
Once dinner is finished she takes her plate up to her room and leaves one for Emily without saying a word to her. She didn’t have the courage to approach her in such a state so she left her a note reminding her to eat, drink water, take her medication and most importantly that she loves her.
They don’t talk for the rest of the evening.
It’s late at night and Jecka is making use of that separate bedroom that mostly goes unused. It’s not like she thinks Emily is gonna murder her in her sleep but she might still sleep with one eye open.
If she was really concerned for her safety she could have stayed elsewhere. She had considered a hotel for the week or staying at her dad’s place but that last option was only if she was really desperate.
But she didn’t want to leave Emi all alone. If she ended up hurting herself and Jecka wasn’t there for her she would never be able to forgive herself.
She sighs and closes the book she was reading, removing her reading glasses she puts them on the nightstand and turns off the lamp so she can get settled in for bed.
It’s going to be a long week.
Two hours later Jecka gets startled awake by the bedroom door being kicked open. She had locked it for good measure but had forgotten that Emily can pick locks.
The skinny blonde girl stands in the doorway with a blanket and pillow in her arms, hair messy as if she was tossing and turning in bed for hours unable to fall asleep.
Oh who is she kidding? Of course Emi wasn’t able to sleep, she’s always clinging to her or Nicole like they’re a stuffed animal when they all sleep in the same bed together.
Emily walks over to the other side of the bed and throws the blankets and pillows down on it, grumbling under her breath the whole time as she settles next to Jecka and tries to get comfy.
Jecka watches her cautiously, too scared to move or speak so she just lets Emi do what she wants.
Emily turns her back to her and it’s silent between them, Jecka holds her breath but relaxes a little when there is no surprise attack. She tries to fall back asleep but hears a small whimper next to her.
“I miss Nicole…”
Her narrow shoulders tremble with small sobs and it makes her heart hurt so she finally gives in to the urge to comfort her girlfriend.
She rolls onto her side and throws an arm around Emi’s tiny waist, pulling her in closer so that she can spoon her from behind.
“You’re such a crybaby.” She huffs, her warm breath heats up the back of her neck and she buries her nose into her hair.
Emily tenses for a brief moment but then sniffs and settles her weight back into her girlfriend’s warmth.
“I’m sorry about earlier, I don’t exactly remember what happened but I panicked when Nicole was gone. I thought she abandoned me… Abandoned us.”
She squeezes her tighter and presses a soft kiss to the back of her neck.
“Shhh it’s fine. You know Nicole wouldn’t do that, right? She will be home soon but in the meantime we should talk about… us.”
“You’re not gonna break up with me, are you?”
“No no, nothing like that.” She quickly reassures her.
“Don’t worry about it right now, we can talk about it in the morning. Goodnight Em, I love you.”
“Night, Jecks. I love you too.”
She holds her protectively in her arms the rest of the night, hoping to chase away any lingering doubts in Emily’s mind.
When the week is up Nicole returns home and takes a deep breath before unlocking the front door.
Stepping inside she is pleasantly surprised that the apartment isn’t covered in blood. In fact it looks cleaner than usual which is a good sign.
“I’m home!” She calls out, putting her luggage down by the entrance.
“Where are my girls? Still alive I hope?”
She can hear footsteps rapidly approaching and gets tackled by Emily in a fierce hug with Jecka trailing behind her shortly after.
Her face gets peppered in kisses so fast that she can hardly breathe. Her girlfriend is like an excitable puppy.
“Aw, did you miss me?” She already knows the answer to that but has to ask anyway.
“Yes!” Emily shoves her nose into her neck and inhales her scent, hoping to imprint it into her mind so she never forgets.
She’s relieved that Emi doesn’t seem to be upset with her but notices Jecka hasn’t come to greet her so she might not be out of the doghouse yet.
The blonde folds her arms and glares at her.
“Actually you could have fucked off for longer. Me and Emi were getting along just fine without you.”
“Aw c’mon. You don’t mean that.”
“How would you like it if we just randomly disappeared on you? What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Uh, I’m glad you’re both not dead?”
“I hate you.” She shakes her head with a hopeless sigh.
“Yeah yeah, love you too. Now stop being a bitch and get over here.”
The brunette waves her over frantically and Jecka pouts but decides to give in for the time being because even if she’s mad, she still missed her too.
She knows she sucks with words so once her girlfriends are properly secured in her arms she gives them both a kiss as an apology.
“Nicole, I’m happy you’re back but if you ever leave like that again without warning me first I will hunt you down and break your legs.”
Emily pulls away to give her an unhinged smile and Nicole shrugs.
“Good to know.”
She took a big risk leaving them alone together but it paid off since her blonde girlfriends seem closer than ever.
Despite their differences, somehow things always work out for them. They make a good team and she’s worked hard building a relationship that can last.
Even if she’s still bad at communication and messes up sometimes, she’s miles better than when she was a selfish teenager and only cared about herself.
None of them will ever be alone again as long as they have each other.