Work Text:
“Max, do you copy? This is a Code Red!!”
“Max!”
The grumpy redhead shifts awake.
A scowl quickly shifts onto her face. Why were they bothering her so early?
Her blue eyes squint open and she tries to sit up, but a pair of arms tighten around her.
Max blushes as she registers that El’s form is pressed against her back, face nuzzled into the back of her neck.
Each gentle breath from the other girl made her shiver.
What was happening?
The sleepy redhead can do nothing more but accept her fate as the other girl holds her captive. She yawns. She didn’t mind.
What she did mind was the walkie.
“Code Red, Max! Are you there?”
She lets out a groan.
“El, I have to get the walkie, you’re gonna have to let me go for a moment…” She rubs her eyes, sitting up.
Or, trying to.
Because El’s grip tightens again, a little stronger this time.
Another soft blush coats her face.
Jeez, she was a mess.
Max had been under the impression El hated her and wanted her dead in a ditch for several months.
She supposed she couldn’t blame the switch-up. El didn’t seem to understand her own emotions.
That much was clear, as she won’t free the redhead from her arms.
Max squirms a little. “El, just let me turn it off…” She says with a sleepy voice.
The telekinetic girl only bleeds from the nose a little as the walkie talkie slowly starts to levitate before her very eyes.
The device lands just in front of Max with a small thump, before El is back to focusing her attention on cuddling her.
The droplet of blood rests on the back of her neck.
Jeez.
She blinks. It was easy to forget El had powers like that.
Max swallows nervously, before she turns on the walkie and snaps into it.
“Shut up! And tell Wheeler that El has me held captive in a cuddle trap. Staying here for the day, thanks.”
“Wait, wha-“ She hears Mike’s distant voice.
She switches it off and pushes down the antennae.
She drops it on the bed, just beside her head, and resigns herself to El’s arms again.
After a few minutes, something inside her compels her to squirm and turn around in the grasp, so she could face the other sleeping girl.
El’s sleeping face had a soft blush on it, the bloody nose reminding Max of when she’d first seen her in that punk outfit.
The redhead flushes.
That was a mistake.
Abort mission.
But El’s grip only tightens as the brunette leans forward and nuzzles her face into her neck.
Max’s arms shakily rest around the other girl.
She found herself wondering what her kissing was like.
These weren’t the strangest thoughts to her, she’d always known she’d liked boys and girls.
Of course, nobody would ever know.
But this was doing things to her.
Max’s breathing is quick.
El notices.
The magic girl shifts, mumbling. “Max? Are you okay?” Her legs were locked with the redhead’s for maximum cuddle efficiency.
“F-Fine.” Max stammers.
El gently pulls her head away and blinks at her with those doe-like, curious eyes. “Do you lie?” It’s not angry like it was with Mike. Just… curious.
The look on Max’s face confused her.
Max swallows. She didn’t know how she’d even begin to explain this.
But something about El’s eyes was like a mandatory promise. You couldn’t lie to her. You just couldn’t.
“I’m just… not used to being so close with people.” Max says softly.
It wasn’t a complete lie, that was also part of it.
El’s eyes soften with understanding, and her grip loosens. “Do you want me to let you go?”
Max thinks for a moment.
“No.”
El’s grip tightens again, and they’re back to cuddling.
El can hear her heartbeat.
It’s fast.
“Your heart is too fast. Is this… hurting you?”
Max shakes her head softly, face erupted in red as she realizes the other girl has just been listening to her heartbeat. “No, no. It’s just… um…” She struggles to figure out how to word it. “It’s not a bad reaction. It’s a good one.”
El brightens, nuzzling her neck again.
Oh dear.
Max cannot believe this.
Here she was, falling in love with Wheeler’s ex. He was going to rip her a new one, that’s for sure.
Max and El had only just found solidarity in dumping their boyfriends together and declaring a summer without boys.
This was too fast, wasn’t it?
El’s voice interrupts her thoughts.
“The other day, you asked me if Mike was a good kisser.” She mumbles into her throat.
Max shivers at the breath on her neck, and just shrugs. “I mean, not in like… that way, if that’s what you mean. I just wanted to talk about girl stuff.”
El doesn’t give that a response.
Instead, she murmurs.
“I don’t know if he’s a good kisser, because I do not have any other…” She blanks, looking for a word.
“Experience?” Max finishes for her.
El nods.
Max blushes.
“W-What are you saying?”
El blinks up at her with those innocent doe eyes.
“Max, can I kiss you?”
Max’s face goes as red as her hair.
Now it was her turn for her eyes to blink owlishly.
El said it with just the right amount of mischief that she knows the girl is well aware of what she’s doing. Or she at least has an idea.
Max stammers for a moment. “I—you…”
El just blinks at her and tightens her grip to be as close to the redhead as possible.
Max doesn’t know how to feel, but she decides she wants to just feel and see what happens.
“Yeah.”
As if the brunette had been waiting for a reply, the softest lips are quickly against Max’s rougher, chapped ones.
Max sinks into the gentle kiss.
Oh God.
She eventually pulls away to breathe, scanning El’s gaze.
El just giggles. “Way better than Mike.”
Max finds her usual cocky self seeping back into her body. Since when had her soul left her body? “Of course I am.” She says with pride.
The redhead then squeaks as El leans forward again, this time with the intent of flopping Max on her back so she could rest her head on her chest.
El’s grip was still firm as ever.
Max can’t help but run her hand through the brunette’s hair.
“Wanna do it again?” Her voice is meek, so unlike her.
El blinks up at her with a smile.
Max sits up a little so El can properly meet her lips.
A quick blush hits her face as she feels a tongue poke into her bottom lip.
El was probably just using tips and tricks learned from Mike. She had no idea Wheeler had any knowledge besides ‘put lips together, kiss, woah.’
It was kind of impressive, actually.
Making out was nothing new to either girl, but with another girl… this was new territory.
Neither minded it.
Max keeps a firm eye on her door, but she isn’t bothered, having locked it the night before.
Now it’s Max’s turn to hold her, and she does it with a firm strength, just like El. Her other hand finds the back of the other girl’s head, playing with her hair idly as they both catch their breaths.
“Pretty.” El whispers.
It’s said with such a genuine honesty that makes Max flush again.
El is leaning in for another kiss, and Max finds herself going in to meet her.
And then the phone rings.
Max’s eyes fling open, and she releases a soft growl of irritation, reluctantly untangling her legs from El’s as she storms over to the phone.
She knew it was those damn boys.
“I’m sleeping, go away!”
“This is Mike, do not hang up.”
Something about the way he says it makes her blood run cold.
He then emphasizes that something bad happened, the Code Red was real, and they needed the whole party to meet immediately.
He hangs up on her.
Max steps away from the phone, floored.
“What’s wrong?” The soft voice behind her asks.
Max slowly turns around.
She supposed their kissing would have to wait.