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“That’s my seat.”
The voice comes from her left, sharp, snapping at the rather large, tall, muscly man who’s squishing her and slowly stealing more and more of her side of the chair.
Rio keeps her head down. She’s flying back home after spending the holidays with her family in Miami. It was nice seeing her folks, her nephews and nieces but she missed her peace and quiet.
She feels movement beside her. The man in the middle seat finally gets up, muttering something under his breath, and in his place a rush of air hits her face, followed by a curtain of thick black hair almost in her eyes.
“Oh sorry.”
The woman mumbles as she slides into the seat next to her, already tugging a bag under the chair in front of them.
Rio finally lifts her head to adjust herself too, glancing sideways and… oh.
That’s… one beautiful woman.
Gorgeous blue eyes. Sharp features. The kind that look like they belong to someone who knows exactly how to use them to hurt your feelings. Which tracks, considering the way she handled the situation less than a minute ago.
Rio doesn’t realize she’s staring until—
“Can I help you with something?”
The woman doesn’t even look up from her phone as she says it, thumbs texting someone across the screen.
Rio flushes instantly and looks away. “Sorry no. All good.” A beat. “I’m Rio, by the way.”
That gets her attention.
The woman tilts her head slightly, finally studying Rio in a way she can’t quite decipher. Assessing, maybe. Curious.
“Huh.”
Then, “Agatha.” She nods toward the bag under the seat. “Hope you’re fine with Scratchy. He’s in a crate down there, won’t bother anyone.”
Oh.
So that’s what the bag is. Rio bites back a smile and lets out a quiet chuckle.
“Cat?” she asks.
“Rabbit,” Agatha replies flatly. “I’d introduce him properly, but he hates strangers, and I really don’t feel like getting sued again if he bites your finger off.”
Rio laughs. “That happened before?”
“Twice,” Agatha says without looking at her. “So. Hard pass.”
She then switches to swiping through the screen on the seat in front of her, scrolling through the airline’s selection. Rio watches absently as they wait for the plane to take off, until she notices Agatha pause on a show called Pluribus that Rio is particularly fond of.
“Great show,” Rio says, trying and failing to sound casual.
Agatha hums. “Yeah? What’s it about?”
“World gets infected with a virus,” Rio says, warming up now. “The main character is an immune lesbian, and the whole thing’s an allegory for lesbian loneliness. So..” she shrugs slightly, “I don’t know if that’s your thing.”
Was she trying to sus out if this woman is gay too? That’s up to the invisible audience to decide.
Agatha glances over at Rio, her mouth twitches like she’s holding something back. Then she looks at the screen again and snort laughs.
“Sounds fun.”
Oh she’s so fucking intriguing.
“I love your laugh,” Rio says before she can stop herself, slipping out like she didn’t mean to say it out loud at all.
Agatha stills for half a second. It’s subtle, but Rio catches the way color creeps up her cheekbones before she schools her expression back into something cool and unimpressed.
“Buy me a drink first before you try to get in my pants, Rio.”
“Oh—no—” Rio rushes in, mortified. “I just meant it’s unique and I thought—” She cuts herself off with a breath. “Never mind.”
Agatha’s mouth twitches, like she’s fighting a smile.
“I’ll get you that drink though,” Rio adds quickly, a nervous chuckle slipping out. “For… bothering you since you sat next to me.”
Agatha shrugs and swats a hand in a no bother gesture. “Eh, it’s fine. I suppose it’s better than sitting next to a sticky kid who does headstands to get his mom’s attention.”
“Oh, I can do a headstand if that’s something you’re into,” Rio says, entirely unfiltered. It seem only realizing what she’s said after it’s already out seems to be a pattern of her acquaintance with this gorgeous woman.
Agatha lifts her brows, a slow smirk curling at the corner of her mouth. “That’s two drinks now.”
Almost on cue, the drinks cart rattles up beside their row, the flight attendant smiling as she asks what they’d like.
“One cup of coffee and a water bottle, please,” Rio says, already pulling out her credit card. She gestures toward Agatha. “And whatever she’s having, on me.”
“Diet Coke and a bag of chips,” Agatha says easily, leaning back in her seat like Rio’s her wife and she wears the pants in the relationship, not a stranger she just met.
The flight attendant hands Agatha her Coke and chips, then passes Rio only a cup of coffee.
Agatha notices immediately.
“She asked for a water as well,” she snaps, sharp enough that the flight attendant startles before apologizing and reaching back for the bottle.
Rio doesn’t understand the way her body reacts to it. To Agatha’s sudden defensiveness, to how quick she is to correct the flight attendant in her honor. Something warm settles low in her chest, unfamiliar and grounding all at once.
It feels absurd.
She feels like they've known each other for years.
Like she was Agatha’s to defend.
Rio glances at Agatha, who’s already back to pretending nothing happened. She takes the water bottle from the flight attendant and passes it to Rio.
“Here,” she mumbles.
Their fingers brush as Rio takes it, just for a second. A quiet spark, a sharp tingle that shoots up both their spines before either of them pull away.
Rio’s mouth hangs open for a few seconds, snapped out of it only when she hears a very pointed, very fake cough from the flight attendant, who’s now holding out the credit card machine expectantly.
After that, they lapse into a quiet, companionable silence.
Rio keeps herself busy with what’s already in her hands, a tiny crochet dinosaur she’d been working on, green yarn looped around her fingers. She focuses a little too hard on counting stitches.
Agatha, on the other hand, is fully online. Laptop balanced on her thighs, fingers moving fast over the keyboard, jaw set in concentration.
Rio keeps sneaking glances at her.
She wants to know what she’s doing. What her job is. Where she lives. What kind of life produces someone like her.
But she swallows the questions down, keeps her mouth shut. She doesn’t want to come on too strong. Not yet.
Two hours into the flight, the plane starts to get bumpy. The pilot’s voice comes over the intercom warning them about incoming turbulence.
Rio’s fine with it.
But when she glances beside her, she sees it immediately, Agatha’s shoulders tense, her jaw tightening.
Rio doesn’t ask. doesn’t wanna push.
Instead, she slowly turns her left hand palm up on the armrest between them, leaving it there, open.
A few minutes pass. The turbulence grows rougher. Agatha snaps her laptop shut and leans back, eyes closing like she’s bracing herself.
Rio has the sense that Agatha isn’t the type to accept help easily. So she offers it again, softer this time.
She shifts her hand just enough for her fingers to brush Agatha’s arm.
That does it.
Agatha opens her eyes, finally clocking what Rio’s doing. She doesn’t take the hand right away though.
The plane jolts harder, the rocking more violent now, and Agatha’s breathing turns shallow, uneven.
After one particularly rough drop, she moves fast, slamming her right hand into Rio’s and lacing their fingers together, squeezing like she’s anchoring herself to something solid.
Rio glances over at her, searching for something, anything else she can do. Agatha must sense it.
“I’m fine,” she says quietly. “Flying’s just… not my favorite activity.” She lets out a low chuckle, but it comes out a little shaky.
“Huge metal box in the sky isn’t anyone’s favorite activity,” Rio says gently. “Don’t worry. I get it.”
She pauses, then adds, “I’m scared of driving, if that makes you feel any better about this.”
Agatha cracks one eye open and side eyes her, still squeezing Rio’s hand.
“How the hell do you go to work every day, then?”
Rio smiles. She welcomes the distraction for Agatha’s sake, but maybe for hers too.
“My job’s a ten minute walk from my apartment,” she says. “So I walk. Unless a friend feels generous enough to drive me.”
She chuckles softly at herself. Useless lesbian. Of course she has no license.
It seems to amuse Agatha too.
“Well, I enjoy a good drive with loud music and flipping off men on a quiet Tuesday night,” she says. “That’s my idea of a spa day.”
Rio laughs out loud. “What do you do for work if you need all that just to decompress?” She finally gets the chance to ask.
“I’m an architect,” Agatha replies. “Long days. Not a lot of travel. So I’m not really used to flying.”
As she says it, her thumb starts to move, slow, absentminded, rubbing softly over the back of Rio’s hand.
Rio shivers, and she hates how instantly noticeable it feels and what it makes her feel.
There’s something about Agatha that she really likes and wants more of.
The plane settles after that. With six hours still left in the flight, Rio goes back to her crochet. She can feel Agatha’s eyes on her hands as she works on the tiny dinosaur.
“Who’s it for?” Agatha asks. Then, a beat “Um… your kid or something?”
Rio chuckles. “I am the kid.”
Agatha gives her a teasing look, head tilted and brows raised, clearly not satisfied with that answer.
“No kid,” Rio adds. “I just like making these. It’s relaxing, but—”
She finishes the final stitch, looping it off.
“Here,” she says, attaching the keychain to the little dinosaur and holding it out. “Keep it. It’s yours.”
Agatha freezes. Just for a second. Then her expression shifts, soft, surprised, a little stunned.
“Oh… um. I love it. Thank you.”
It’s the first genuinely unguarded smile Rio’s seen from her since they met, and it makes her chest feel strangely full.
“No problem,” Rio says, grinning. “Consider it a good luck charm for all your future flights. For when you get nervous.”
Agatha’s eyes soften even more. And then she just leans into her space and presses a light kiss to her cheek.
Rio’s entire face goes red.
Agatha snorts, amused at Rio’s reaction to the kiss.
“No one’s ever made me something before,” she says quietly. “Thank you for this. I’ll hang onto it.”
“Of course,” Rio whispers, her voice coming out huskier than she expects, like the kiss is still lingering.
They fall quiet for a moment as Agatha clips the keychain Rio made onto the carabiner on her jeans.
“Wanna watch a few episodes of this show?” Agatha asks, gesturing to Pluribus, still open on the screen in front of her from before.
“Yeah, sure.” Rio reaches into her bag. “I’ve got wired earbuds we can use.”
She plugs them into the screen and hands Agatha one side, then scoots a little closer to tuck the other into her own ear. Their shoulders brush as Agatha presses play on the first episode.
The cabin lights are dim, and the flight stays smooth after the turbulence, leaving them curled into their own little bubble as they watch the show.
Agatha pauses it every few minutes to ask Rio something about the plot, which Rio happily explains each time.
“So her wife fucking died because of a technicality?” Agatha huffs, frustrated. “What the fuck. These writers are cunts.”
Rio chuckles, amused. “Well, imagine if she didn’t die and Carol had to deal with the fact that her wife is still there, but not really. And if she wants to have sex with her, she’s also having sex with the entire world.”
Agatha goes quiet for a few seconds.
“Good point,” she admits. “Still. That shit’s cruel. What the fuck.”
Rio senses there’s more behind it than just annoyance. Something closer. Something personal. But she doesn’t wanna ask at the moment, doesn’t seem like the right time.
Instead, she shifts her left hand and rests it gently on Agatha’s thigh, a quiet, grounding touch.
They make it through four episodes before Rio feels Agatha’s head tip forward, then settle against her shoulder. A soft snore follows.
Rio glances down.
Yep. Agatha’s fully asleep.
She smiles to herself, fond, watching the tension drain from her face. Agatha looks peaceful like this. Soft. Almost unfairly adorable.
She likes her. Like… a lot.
She hopes Agatha wants to stay in touch after this flight like she does.
She really hopes.
Rio distracts herself with her phone, half scrolling through social media for an hour until the breakfast cart starts rolling closer down the aisle. Somehow, as if summoned by it, Agatha begins to stir.
Rio feels the change immediately, the shift in her breathing, the way she lifts her head just slightly.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Rio murmurs. “Breakfast is here.”
Agatha smiles sleepily. “Sorry for the drool. You’re very comfy.”
“Oh?” Rio laughs, glancing down at her shoulder, and yeah. Looks like Agatha did, in fact, drool a little. “I don’t scare easy. Don’t worry.”
Agatha chuckles just as the food cart arrives, the flight attendant handing them each a tray stacked with breakfast foods.
Rio opens hers and immediately notices, the fruit touching the bread. Instant ick.
She knows she’s picky, it’s not hot or a great look... She won’t say anything.
But Agatha’s already noticed apparently.
Without comment, she reaches over, takes Rio’s piece of bread, and swaps it with her own. “It’s fine,” she says casually. “I don’t like airplane bread anyway.”
She says it like it’s nothing. Like this is normal.
…Are they married? why does it feel like they’re fucking married for 20 years.
Rio snorts softly, catching herself.
“Be cool, man,” Agatha says dryly, already digging into her food.
Rio lets it go with a shrug of her eyebrows, smiling to herself as she eats her now safely isolated bread and butter like the neurodivergent she is.
Finally, the pilot announces they’ll be descending soon. The food trays are collected, and they buckle their seatbelts again.
Agatha leans down, peering under the seat to check on her rabbit, slipping him a bit of food through the crate like she did every few hours.
“He’s bored,” she says. “Thank God we’re landing, or he would’ve chewed through his bag and escaped.”
Rio smiles. “Is your rabbit always a menace?”
“That’s why I adopted him,” Agatha replies easily. “Like mother, like son.”
Rio laughs. “I don’t know. I think he’d like me. Animals always gravitate toward me.”
Agatha huffs softly, amused. “Yeah… I can sense that about you.”
“You a bit witchy or something?” Rio teases.
“Oh, very much,” Agatha says, clearly pleased. “My friends tell me I have chaotic magical energy all the time. Scared yet?”
“Nah,” Rio replies easily. “That’s kind of hot. I like a powerful woman who can curse me.”
Agatha blinks. Once. Then her mouth curves into a slow, dangerous smile.
“Careful,” she says. “I might take you up on that.”
Rio laughs and pulls two pieces of gum from her pocket, offering one to Agatha as the plane starts its descent.
Without either of them making a big deal out of it, Agatha reaches for Rio’s hand again, grounding herself as the plane lowers.
They sit like that until the wheels hit the runway.
Once the seatbelt sign switches off, they stand, gather their bags, and fall into step behind each other toward the exit. No rush. No awkwardness.
They walk to baggage claim together too. When Rio’s bag comes out first and Agatha’s doesn’t, Rio stays without question waiting beside her, again like this is normal. Like this is what they've always done.
When Agatha’s suitcase finally appears, Rio pulls it off the carousel for her and starts rolling it alongside her own.
“I can—” Agatha protests.
Rio just shrugs. “Same exit anyway.”
Agatha watches her for a second, then exhales with a small, nervous chuckle.
“So… I’ve got a driver waiting outside,” she says. “If you’re staying somewhere nearby, I can drop you off.. if you feel safe enough to take me up on that.”
Rio realizes they never actually said whether they live in the same city or not.
“I live around Waverly Place, actually.”
Agatha’s expression lights up instantly, like a quiet worry has just been lifted.
“My place is ten minutes away from yours,” she says, a little too quickly. “I’ll drop you off, as a thank you. It’s no trouble.”
Rio smiles at her, warm and genuine.
“Yeah,” she says. “I’d like that. Thanks.”
They step outside and find what turns out to be a huge ass limo, which immediately makes Rio realize.. oh.
Agatha is rich as hell.
“Why the hell were you in economy,” Rio asks, glancing around the interior as they settle in the car, “when this is your ride?”
Agatha cracks up. “Last minute booking. No seats left in first class.” She shrugs, then adds, almost casually, “Didn’t mind it, though. i like unpredictable days.. you tend to meet the best people in these situations.”
She doesn’t look at Rio when she says it. Which somehow makes it worse. Softer.
“You’re something else, Agatha,” Rio says, shaking her head as the car starts moving. Then, quieter, more hesitant, “I.. um.. I don’t usually do this, but… can I get your number? Or your Instagram. Or whatever you’re comfortable with. It’s okay if you don’t—”
Agatha cuts her off with an eye roll.
“Hand me your phone.”
She takes it, opens the contacts app, types in her name and number, then hands it back.
“I don’t usually do this either by the way,” she adds.
Rio smiles, feeling her heart slip a little further out of her control.
As they get closer to Rio’s place, Rio clears her throat.
“So… I know we just spent the whole day together, but we didn’t finish Pluribus. And I kind of really want to see your reaction when the lesbians hook up.”
Agatha lets out one last snort laugh for the night.
“I don’t have anything planned,” she says. “Text me when you’re free. I’ll send you my address.” A beat. “Come over. We’ll watch the rest.”
The limo slows to a stop in front of Rio’s place.
She reaches for the door handle, then hesitates.
“Hey,” she says, glancing back.
Agatha turns toward her and before she can say anything, Rio leans in and presses a quick, gentle kiss to her cheek.
It’s soft and a weirdly familiar act by now.
When Rio pulls back, it’s Agatha’s turn to freeze. Color blooms across her cheeks, her mouth parting just slightly as she blinks like she needs a second to recalibrate.
Rio smiles, warm and a little shy.
“I’ll see you in a few hours, Agatha” she says. “Once I’m refreshed and better rested.”
Agatha exhales a quiet laugh, still flushed. “Can’t wait,” she says, softer than usual.
Rio steps out of the car, shutting the door gently behind her.
She drops her bag by the entryway, kicks off her shoes, and exhales like she just came home from an enchanted ball where she met a princess.
Her phone is already in her hand as she shoots Agatha a text, unable to wait any longer to get in touch with her.
Rio: I’m home.
Rio: Hope Scratchy’s settling in okay.
Agatha: He survived.
Agatha: Remi the dinosaur is safe too.
Rio: Remi?
Agatha: I named him.
Agatha: And well you created him.
Agatha: So… we have joint custody now.
Rio stares at her screen, smiling like an idiot.
She’s in love. To say the least.
Later that night, after a hot shower and a long, much needed nap, Rio finds herself walking toward the address Agatha texted her.
They finish Pluribus. They laugh. They drink. They eat greasy pizza until the sun comes up.
And it’s funny, really. How one flight home for Rio, and one last minute booking for Agatha, led to them meeting the best thing that could’ve ever happened to them.