Chapter Text
It starts with a bottle of wine.
A bottle of wine, plus a good year of simmering tension, and flirtatious touches, and the occasional playful kiss that neither of them will admit is some sort of test.
But it all officially starts on this night while they wash dishes after dinner, red wine coursing through their veins and making their cheeks flush pink, Alex leans over towards Kelley and kisses her softly, like it's something she's done a hundred times before. This time it's not playful, and when Alex pulls her lips away, questioning everything all at once, Kelley drops the pot she was rinsing back into the sink and reaches over to pull Alex's lips back down onto hers.
The next kiss is urgency mixed with tentativeness. It's a gentle clash of lips and tongues, and Kelley's soapy hands pressed into the nape of Alex's neck, the water running a path beneath the collar of the forward's shirt, trailing between her shoulder blades and down her spine, pooling at the waistband of her jeans.
Kelley comes alive beneath Alex's lips. She's eager to take charge, pressing Alex's back into the edge of the countertop, one arm wrapped around Alex's torso, the other reaching to turn off the still-running faucet behind them.
Alex can't help the smirk against Kelley's lips. She hears Kelley mumble something about being in a drought, but the words get lost against her mouth, and Alex forgets everything when Kelley's hands slip under her shirt.
Alex had been scared to pull away too quickly, worrying that a moment of pause might let rational thoughts creep into their heads and they'd realize what a potential disaster making out with your roommate/teammate could be. But eventually Alex does pull away, lips swollen, breath quick, neck sore.
Kelley's breath is hurried on her neck, her eyes dancing wildly across Alex's face. She smiles. It's Alex's turn to take charge, maneuvering Kelley until it's her back against the counter, and then Alex is grabbing Kelley by the hips and lifting her up onto the counter.
"Holy shit," Kelley laughs.
"You're too short."
Neither of them have resumed kissing the other. Alex takes a breath, "Do you want to stop?"
Kelley licks her lips, and shakes her head slowly.
It's Alex on the tips of her toes this time, just enough to reach Kelley's mouth. And it's like they never stopped, never questioned it. Hands are back on necks, and ribs, and underneath shirts. Kelley hooks her leg behind Alex and pulls her closer.
Alex's hand is brushing over the clasp of Kelley's bra when they hear their roommate walk through the front door.
"Fuck."
It's a scramble back to the kitchen sink, with Kelley flinging herself off the counter, the plastic cup that comes with her bounces loudly across the kitchen tile. Hands are off of hips and pulse points and the clasps of best friends' bras, and back in the soap water, the two of them desperately trying to appear like Alex wasn't about the slip her hand under Kelley's bra.
Tobin drifts into the kitchen, back from wherever it is that Tobin disappears to from time to time, and immediately starts picking at the leftovers with her fingers.
"Hey," Alex calls out over her shoulder, still facing the sink as she swipes the back of her hand across her lips, begrudgingly wiping away any trace of Kelley.
"What's up with you guys?"
"Nothing," Alex's attempt at casual comes out rushed and high-pitched.
Tobin bends over to pick up the plastic cup that's still rolling around the kitchen floor, "Kelley's been washing that same pan since I came into the kitchen."
Alex looks over at Kelley, and she's staring off into space, dragging a washcloth in slow circles around the inside of the pan, over and over and over. She hasn't heard a word Tobin has said, and when Alex nudges her gently, that pan goes crashing back into the sink for the second time that night.
"What?" Kelley spins around to look at Tobin, "Sorry, what?"
Tobin just shakes her head, and Alex tries not to read too much into Tobin's knowing grin. "I'm going to bed. Roomie surfing sesh in the morning? Waves are supposed to be good."
"Yep."
"Yeah." They both answer quickly and over the top of each other. Alex bites at her lip. Totally casual.
"Wow. You guys are weird. I'll catch you in the morning."
Tobin heads for her bedroom and the kitchen is suddenly, overwhelmingly, quiet.
Kelley goes back to doing the dishes, and Alex knows that look on her face. The glazed over eyes, the way she chews at the inside of her lip, the occasional pause and deep breath. Kelley's working things out in her head. Alex wants to give her space.
"Kell, I'm gonna go to bed, too. I'll see you in the morning?"
There's a part of Alex, a large part, that wants Kelley to forget the dishes and kiss her again, or to at least talk about the kissing, but Kelley doesn't.
"Yeah, ok. I'll see you in the morning."
On her way out of the kitchen, Alex reaches over to squeeze Kelley's forearm, her gentle touch drawing Kelley's eyes towards her.
"Night, Kell."
"Goodnight, Alex."
* *
There are still wet marks on the back of Alex's shirt and she wonders if Tobin noticed, and what Tobin might have put together if she did notice. The shirt is cold against her skin, but she doesn't change out of it before she slips off her jeans and climbs into bed.
She's sober now, almost painfully so. There's a lot of staring up at the ceiling, her eyes tracing patterns in the shadows, because when she closes her eyes she's tracing patterns in the freckles that dust the tops of Kelley's shoulders and trickle down her arm in flecks of imperfect pigment. There's a cluster of freckles near her left elbow that Alex likes to press her finger to when she's teasing Kelley.
The water stops running in the kitchen and she wonders if Kelley is still standing at the sink, wrinkled hands from absent-mindeded soaking, still trying to process feelings and fears.
Then the door to Alex's bedroom creaks open, light from the hallway spilling in, backlighting Kelley as she pauses in the doorway.
"Al, are you awake?"
"Yeah."
The door closes with Kelley on the side that Alex wants. She pads softly across the carpet, and Alex is surprised when Kelley pulls back the blankets and climbs into the bed next to her.
They do this sometimes, share a bed. It started in London when they were roommates, both of them so exhausted from training they'd both collapse onto the bed that was closest to the door. They'd wake up hours later, muscles tight, Kelley's arm usually draped over some part of Alex's body to keep them both from falling off the bed. Now that they're roommates for real, Alex will sprawl across Kelley's bed while they watch Keeping Up With the Kardashian's in shameful secret, and wake up the next morning tucked under the blanket next to Kelley.
They still pretend it's innocent.
Alex finds Kelley's hand on top of the blanket and she gives it a quick squeeze, a gentle reassurance that they'll be fine, but Kelley doesn't let go. Her other hand is fumbling around on the nightstand, and then the tv is turned on. There's an infomercial playing, some kind of miracle juicer. Kelley doesn't change the channel, just turns up the volume a few clicks.
Alex's heart starts to race.
It's needy and urgent the first time, a race to get out of clothes with shaking hands and hurried breath, the two of them learning as they go. Kelley's still half-dressed when they finish, her shirt pushed up under her chin.
The tv is still flickering in the background, but Alex can't hear anything over the sound of her pulse thumping rapidly in her ears.
Alex wants to say a million things, but she can't actually form any words. She looks over at Kelley, and watches the quick rise and fall of her chest, and the content look on her face when the tv flashes bright.
She wants to say a million things, but all she can manage is a silent gesture that she hopes will say enough. Alex presses Kelley's hand to the bare skin over her rapidly beating heart, letting the defender feel the effect she has had on her.
The second time is slower.
* * *
There's a month of sneaking around.
They take turns tiptoeing into each other's rooms almost every night, and then slipping out before the sun, and their roommate, rises. There are stolen glances, and teasing touches, Kelley kissing Alex in the car when they run errands together.
It's a thrill, the sneaking around, until it starts to feel like a lie.
Tobin's in New York for a week, so Kelley wakes up to the sun on her face and Alex's long frame curved around her side. The forward's face is pressed into the warmth of Kelley's neck; the slow, even breaths on her skin persuading Kelley to stay in this spot for as long as she can. Her fingers trace along Alex's forearm, mapping out the scars around her elbow, leftover from hard tackles on turf and training fields.
Eventually, Alex stirs, rolling away from Kelley and onto her back, and it's ok because Kelley needs coffee anyway.
She's antsy while the coffee brews, pacing the kitchen in bare feet, tugging at the pair of shorts she'd swiped from Alex's drawer as they hang a little lower on her hips than their original owner's.
Kelley knows why she's antsy. It's not a mystery as much as it's an attempt at denial. Kelley liked waking up next to Alex, and that scares her a little bit. She also knows that they're going to need to tell Tobin, and that scares her a little bit, too.
Her mind starts to wander just as the coffee finishes brewing. She fills the mugs too full and as she maneuvers back down the hallway the hot liquid splashes over the rims and onto the top of her bare feet.
She's cursing to herself when she makes it back to the bedroom, coffee still dripping down the sides of the mugs as she sets them on the nightstand. Alex is still sleeping, spread out across the bed like she tends to do, an arm draped across the spot vacated by Kelley.
Despite the hot liquid splashed on her feet, Kelley is cold standing at the foot of the bed in shorts and a t-shirt. When she climbs back into bed, she lifts Alex's arm and slips beneath it, letting the heavy weight across her shoulders try to tempt her back to sleep.
It takes a few minutes for the coffee to stir Alex awake.
There's a kiss pressed to the spot behind her ear, and then Alex is stretching the sleep from her muscles, her voice huskier with the morning when she turns toward Kelley. "This is different."
"What?"
"You still being here when I wake up," Alex says, rolling onto her side and wrapping a long leg around Kelley's lower half. "You're super cute early in the morning."
"You're just saying that because I made you coffee," but the compliment makes Kelley blush, and she tilts her head up to give Alex a quick kiss. For a brief moment Kelley wonders what it would be like to wake up like this every morning, then she pushes the thought away.
Alex moves to sit up against the headboard, gripping the cup of coffee like it's the last one on earth. It's the same way Alex holds onto every cup of coffee. Kelley moves up next to her and turns on the tv, flipping through the channels until she lands on CNN.
It's a quiet morning for awhile. They catch up on the news, and then some Sportscenter, and Alex is on her third cup of coffee by the time they hit the Top 10 plays from the night before. Every time Alex leaves the bed for a refill, then climbs back in next to Kelley, it gets harder for Kelley to accept that they only get to play house like this for a few more days.
Alex clicks off the tv, tossing the remote towards the foot of the bed. "What do you want to do today? I was thinking we could hit they gym, get in a lift, then beach cruisers? I need to ride a beach cruiser, Kell."
"I think we need to tell Tobin about what we're doing."
There's a beat before Alex leans over to set her coffee cup on the nightstand. "What exactly do we tell Tobin that we're doing?"
Alex looks over at Kelley, her face suddenly serious and forgetting all about beach cruisers and the gym, and it's what Kelley really wanted all along, to be having this exact conversation.
"This thing that we're doing, is this casual to you? It's been five weeks, and this is the first conversation we're having about it."
"Kelley, I was with Servando for almost six years. I don't even know how to do casual."
"This is different though. I'm a girl, you're a girl. We're teammates and roommates. Have you ever slept with a teammate before?"
"No."
"Well," Kelley stutters. "Yeah, that's good to hear, actually."
"Kelley, it doesn't feel different to me because you're a girl, or because you're my teammate or my best friend. It doesn't feel different at all, that's my point. I kiss you because I want to kiss you, not because it's something I'm trying out. Being with you isn't some kind of experiment to me. The two of us together feels natural. After everything we've been through together, it feels inevitable."
Alex's words are simple, but they mean everything to Kelley. When she leans over to kiss Alex, it's like a promise written across both of their lips.
"You know that was my way of saying this isn't casual, right?"
Kelley laughs against Alex's mouth, and she gets her wish when they waste the rest of the day in bed.
* *
Tobin comes back from New York tanned and happy. Alex and Kelley are waiting for her in baggage claim, and they let the midfielder wander around the crowded space searching for them before they finally yell her name loudly and hold up their handmade sign, Tobin's name surrounded by painted hearts. Tobin tries to hide her enormous grin with a shake of her head, but Kelley runs up to hug her anyway.
"We missed you, Tobs."
They have dinner together, burgers at their favorite spot, and then a jet-lagged Tobin heads straight to bed when they get home. Alex and Kelley hang out on the couch for a while, watching tv and trying to keep their hands to themselves. With Tobin back they'd agreed to be hands off until they could tell her what was going on. Kelley is regretting that decision when Alex drags a teasing finger up her thigh.
"That's not fair," Kelley grunts, swatting Alex's hand away.
"That was an accident. Try to control yourself over there, O'Hara." Alex tosses the remote in Kelley's direction. "I'm going to bed. Alone. You'll probably miss me a lot"
"Doubtful. Now I won't have to worry about someone stealing the blankets and invading my side of the bed with their freakishly long legs."
"You'll miss me." Alex looks back towards the hallway, and then swings her head back and gives Kelley a quick kiss on the lips. "Night, Kell."
* *
Friday night roomie dinner happens over Kelley's homemade lasagna. Tobin has the first forkful halfway to her mouth when Alex meets eyes with Kelley and then clears her throat.
"Uh, Tobs, Kelley and I have something we want to tell you. We don't want it to change anything, but we know that it might and..."
"Is this about the two of you sneaking into each other's rooms every night?" Tobin doesn't look up from her lasagna, but Kelley knows she's grinning like an idiot because she's ten steps ahead of her nervous roommates.
"How did you know?" Kelley is genuinely surprised, and she wonders what her face looks like at this exact moment.
"You guys aren't really as quiet as you think you are. Especially Kelley."
Kelley can feel the fire rise and bloom across her cheeks and up to the tips of her ears. She buries her face in her hands, and through the spaces between her fingers she sees Alex trying not to laugh in slack-jawed amusement.
Tobin continues to eat her lasagna, smugly, but Kelley can't really be too sure. She still has her hands covering her face. Alex is the one who manages to gain her composure first.
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner, Tobin. We were just taking our time figuring everything out. Are you ok with this?"
"Yeah, I'm cool with it. I've been expecting this to happen for a while, like since we got back from London. You guys are so weirdly flirty. I can't believe it took one of you this long to make a move. Pathetic, man." Tobin looks over at Kelley and laughs. "Dude, your face is still so red."
"Shut up."
"It's fine, Kell. Don't be embarrassed. I bought some ear plugs a week after you two started hooking up."
"Oh my god."