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Blazer unlocks the door to the sight of Courtney, still in her work clothes, fiddling with their thermostat.
“Oh, hey.” she calls. “I’m just trying to fix this fuckass thermostat to give us a little warmth. It’s supposed to be pretty cold tonight.” She button mashes the thermostat, turning the temperature up until it’s maxed out at 82°F. “See? it’s not fucking working.” She motions at the lack of airflow from the vent above them.
“Hm.” Blazer says. “I could have a look at it?”
“Sure,” says Courtney. “I already called the repair dude, but we’ve gotta wait until tomorrow to get this fixed.”
Blazer carefully considers her options. “Hmm. I think it’s time for percussive maintenance!” she says, gleefully extending her hand.
Courtney swats it away. “Okay, let’s not hit our expensive ass heating with the Blazer superstrength necklace still on.” she says quickly, gently gathering her hair up to sweep it to one side.
Hm. She has to admit that’s reasonable. Behind her, Courtney undoes the necklace and she relaxes, her shoulders dropping down significantly lower. She lets out a tiny, involuntary sound of relief.
“I don’t know how you survived before we were roommates.” she says, placing the amulet in Mandy’s palm before folding her fingers over it. “How do you never remember to take this thing off?”
Mandy does not say that sometimes she does remember, but that’s she just likes the feeling of Courtney’s cool hands brushing over her neck, the gentleness with which she handles her, the way she has to stand on the tips of her toes to reach her neck. Instead, the question reminds her of something she’s been meaning to bring up ever since this afternoon.
Before she does that, though, she’s gotta try and get this thermostat working.
She lays an open-handed slap onto the device. Nothing happens, so she slaps it again, a little harder this time.
It beeps, and then hot air starts flowing out of the vent.
”Fuck yeah!” Courtney cheers. “Okay, maybe set it to…would 68 still be too cold for you?”
”Yeah.” Mandy admits.
Courtney rolls her eyes at her. “What do you want it at, then? We’ll like, compromise, or some shit.”
”Why would you tell me that? What if I just said I wanted it twice as high as I did, so we’d get my preferred temperature?”
”Because you’re so deranged that you can’t set temperatures twice as hot as you want. It would damage the house. Now, where do you want it?”
Mandy sighs. “Honestly, this right now is really lovely. Maybe we compromise at… 75?”
“Fuck, you’re like a reptile, this temperature right now is literally like a sauna. Yeah, 75 works.” Courtney says. Mandy presses the button on the thermostat to turn the heat down.
…Nothing happens.
“Well, that’s not good.” Courtney says, wryly.
Mandy gives it another tap. Then a smack. Nothing happens. “Well, that’s not great either.”
“Eh. At least we don’t have to cancel the maintenance guy.” Courtney says. “Still I guess we just have to deal with being fucking slow-cooked until tomorrow.”
“Are you gonna be okay?” Mandy asks. Courtney really doesn’t like overheating, she knows that. Even though she runs so cold already.
“Yeah I’ll be alright. I’ll just sleep like it’s summer. Shit’s sticky, but I can tough it out for one night.” Courtney says.
Thermostat issue not-quite-yet-resolved, they arrange themselves so they’re sitting next to each other on the couch. Mandy starts the conversation.
“So, we need to talk about something. Or, I need to talk about something with you, I guess.” She says.
Courtney sighs. “Look, I’m sorry about snooping in on conversations in your office again, okay?”
“What? No, not that. I mean, it would be great if you stopped doing that, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” She says.
Courtney looks apprehensive, but nods. “Hit me.”
Mandy takes a deep breath. “Look, you’re… so important to me, okay? You- I heard you say that you thought I was just making those cuts because I didn’t want you as my roommate anymore, and I need you to know that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Courtney suddenly looks like she’d be anywhere else. “We don’t need to fuckin’ talk about this shit. I get it.” She says.
Mandy groans. “But you obviously don’t, because if you knew how important you are to me, you wouldn’t have even considered it.” She looks into Courtney’s eyes, begging her to understand.
“It’s just… I don’t fuckin’ know. You do so much, and I’m just…” Courtney trails off. “I mean, I’m not giving you much in return, besides my shitty personality.”
Courtney’s looking increasingly uncomfortable, but meets her eyes as she keeps talking.
“Fuck, I don’t really get why you even keep me around at all. You’re doing more than me around the house, and I know you’re paying the utilities and shit.” she says, motioning to an envelope sticking out of the bin.
Oops. Mandy really thought she’d hidden that better. Oh well.
“Hey.” She starts. Those big brown eyes stare back at her, and she’s so, hopelessly gone for this girl. “You’re my best friend, you know that? I love you, and not just for what you can do for me. God, just being around you makes my life happier. Okay?”
Courtney flushes. It’s adorable. Even her nose has a little colour to it, just on the tip.
“Okay, okay, I get it. Just don’t get all gushy about it, c’mon-“ She says moving out of Mandy’s grasp to retreat to her room.
Mandy has had enough. “We are communicating whether you like it or not, you little-.” she growls, wrapping her arms around Courtney’s tiny waist and yanking her back onto the couch.
She lands with a yelp, and Mandy takes the time to flip them over, her legs bracketing over Courtney’s thighs.
Courtney looks away. Mandy holds her by the chin, moving her gaze back onto her. They’re both breathing heavily, and Mandy puts her full weight on top of Courtney’s twitching thighs so she can’t wriggle away again.
“Hey. Eyes on me.” She says. “Even though what you do for me isn’t the point, I’ll tell you exactly what you do for me. Because it isn’t nothing. You make me feel… safe. This house, our home- it’s one of the only places I feel like I get to be Mandy, instead of Blonde Blazer. I lived alone before you, and I kind of struggled to swap between them both, but you just make it so easy. I need you to know that if I could be your roommate for the rest of my life, I would”
Courtney’s defensive front cracks, just the tiniest bit. “Okay, yeah. I get it, or whatever. It’s just- I’m- kind of overheating right now. Sorry.”
Mandy looks up at the air vent, which she’s pinned her directly under. Oops. She swivels around, so that Courtney can move if she needs to, but she just stays there, dazed.
Her flushed skin has transformed into a full-on blush, terracotta across her cheeks, the tip of her nose, and down her chest.
Mandy wants to see how far down that blush goes- so, so badly.
She gently manhandles Courtney out of the way of the vent. “Is that better?” Courtney nods a little, eyes wide. “Good. Don’t overheat tonight, okay?”
Courtney looks up at her, a dazed, unfocused look coming over her eyes, before nodding again. “Uh, yeah. Goodnight, I guess.”
Good. Well. Mandy’s pretty sure she got what needed to be said across.