Work Text:
The light was on in the kitchen when Angela got home. She was used to coming home to silence, dragging the blackout curtains closed, and collapsing, but now she had a roommate, and it was good. For a bunch of reasons.
Emily’s work harness dripped rain water onto the floor. The fabric was still damp enough that the patches denoting her as as a lupine search and rescue worker were shades of dark grey in the dim. Angela parked her shoes in the drip tray, hung up her coat, and headed for the light. She could hear her roommate humming under her breath as she approached.
A pot was boiling on the stove. Angela’s favourite person stood in front of it, reading glasses perched on her nose, poking the water with a spoon. Emily turned as Angela appeared in the door, a grin taking over her face. “Hey. Good morning.” She glanced at the grey window. “Maybe it’s still goodnight? Good something.”
“I think we’ve earned the right to call it morning.” Angela stayed in the doorway of the small kitchen, enjoying the moment. Her roommate was taller than her, dressed in casual clothes that showed off her muscles, good to have around. She’d cleaned up her undercut and bundled the dark strands into a high bun, Angela noted, and the curve of her neck was strong and elegant. “Night shift worker privilege.”
Emily poked the water again. “How was work?”
Angela waved a hand. “Fine. New client, pretty nervous, so it I spent a lot of the time just listening to him talk. Girlfriend experience, you know.” She grinned at her friend. “But I got him in bed eventually.”
Angela had spent her time mad about the fact that most customer service positions wouldn’t take a succubus, but she’d wanted to work with people as part of her day to day, so she’d considered her remaining options. And as it turned out, she was very good at sex work. She liked it, liked being a bright spot in people’s lives, liked figuring out how her clients ticked and what buttons to push. The lack of actual attraction on her part made it easier, the way she saw it, to treat all her clients equally. At this point it was just her job, 9pm to 5am, and paid pretty well. Sometimes people’s reactions sucked, but Emily had only ever treated her the same way before or after she started working, which was part of why she loved her. Angela raised her eyebrows, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “What about you?”
Emily glanced in her direction, smile curving her mouth, and then went back to fiddling with the assortment of food items she had out on the counter. “Kid got lost in that abandoned power plant down by the river, so we were out for most of the time. In the rain. And then the train got delayed, of course.” She nodded to the plate on the counter. “Wanna stabilize my sugars before I conk out. You want something to eat too?”
Angela could picture the wolf picking over broken concrete, slinking through the night. The first time she’d seen Emily’s body tear and warp they had both been terrified fifteen-year-olds and she’d been so scared to know if her friend was still in there. Her voice had cracked when she said her friend’s name, and then Emily had come over and licked her face. Her friend was always kind, no matter the form, and Angela had come to love her shifted or not. Anyone who’d known Emily for any amount of time, human or wolf, couldn’t help but see that she was wonderful. Angela was so lucky to be able to be her friend.
She waved a hand again. “I don’t want to bother you.” Angela picked at her dress. “I need to take a shower, too. I can just go to bed?”
“Not a bother.” Emily went to the cabinet to get another plate. “I’m already here, aren’t I? You go clean up.”
The kitchen smelled rich and sweet when Angela returned, hair wound up in a towel. Emily had another pot out and was wisking something that smelled of—chocolate?
“What are you doing?” Angela laughed. “You—what are you doing?”
Emily didn’t look at her, slightly-pointed ears turning pink. “Thought I’d make hot cocoa.”
And the good kind, there was still a block of broken chocolate out on the cutting board, Angela noted. She leaned on the counter, stealing a few nuts off of one of the plates. Emily had sliced up the eggs and salt and peppered them, next to crackers and cheese and a few nuts. Angela’s plate had honey on it as well. “You can’t eat chocolate,” Angela pointed out.
“Yeah well. You can.” Emily kept whisking, ears turning redder. “I just thought it would be nice.”
Angela looked at her best friend. They’d kept in touch when Angela moved to the city a few years ago. When Emily came out as a lesbian, Angela was one of the first people she’d told. Emily had scrupulously never made a move, whether Angela was dressed for work or sporting oversized men’s pajamas. It had been a consistent source of relief, as Angela grew into her power as a teen, started working, and couldn’t walk down the street without heads turning, that there was never any of that from Emily. Emily had always, always, always been her friend first. Angela had been able to rest with her.
And over time, something had blossomed on her end, but she knew that couldn’t go anywhere. She wasn’t Emily’s type. She was her friend, and that was good. Emily down the street as kids, Emily as a voice over headphones, Emily to go home to now. Angela could live with that and be happy.
But Emily hadn’t made a move on anyone else that Angela had seen, and she was so nice. Angela had done her best to be a good friend and drag Emily out to lesbian bars and events, helped her get her dating profile set up, but Emily had never—done anything.
And here she was—Emily poured hot chocolate into a mug and handed it to her. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” Angela took her plate and cup and went to sit down on the couch, shifting as Emily sat next to her with her plate and tea. The light outside the balcony window was grey. She nodded to it as she made a cheese-nut-cracker stack and put honey on it. “Looks like the rain’s stopped.”
“That’s good, wouldn’t want there to be flooding.” Emily was looking down at her plate as she carefully made cracker sandwiches. “That’s no fun at work.”
“Oh yeah, that’d be—paperwork, right?” What was she even saying right now? Angela stared forward, at the lesbian and demisexual flags that she’d bought when they were setting up the house. Emily had laughed and hugged her and then then produced a set of two keychains that clicked together to form an image of their favourite characters holding hands. It had been so nice to live with her, to hear her voice at the door, to sprawl next to her on the couch and watch things. She trusted her. Angela drank some of her hot chocolate, which was delicious.
Emily looked briefly in her direction, then went back to her plate. “I mean, some. Mostly I report to my supervisor and that guy does the paperwork. That’s why I’m not going into management. Just a—just a search and rescue wolf. Wolfing.” Emily squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, stuffed half a hardboiled egg in her mouth, and then turned aside to drink tea.
“Thanks for the snack,” Angela said. She bit into her stack.
Emily cleared her throat. “No problem.” She picked a fleck of pepper off her plate with a forefinger. “It’s nice when we get to see each other, you know.”
“Yeah.” Angela made a decision. “Do you want to try kissing?”
Emily choked. “What?”
Angela turned to face her, heart pounding in her chest. If this went wrong, she might have fucked everything up, but for some reason she was so certain. “I mean, I am kind of getting a vibe, and I know you like girls, which I am, and I like you, so I was wondering.” She tilted her head to the side, hands going up to stabilize the towel on her head. “If you wanted to try.”
Emily was red. “I’m not—this isn’t about you—your magic. I wouldn’t—“ She swallowed, eyes going to her lap and then abjectly back to Emily. “I’m used to that. You’re my friend, I don’t want to mess it up.”
There was no sheen of magic in her eyes. Angela couldn’t stop a grin from appearing on her face. “Do you want to be more than friends, though?”
Emily’s eyes widened, and then she flattened her hands against her thighs. “You’re ace though. And like—I wouldn’t want to make you do work at home?” She tried a shakey smile. “What kind of capitalist hellscape would that be?”
“I’m demi,” Angela said. “It wouldn’t be work. Not with you. I know you.” She waved a hand, trying to find a way to sum it up. “You’re Emily.”
Emily put her hand over her mouth for a moment. “Look, if you’re open,” she said, muffled, before she snatched her hand away. “I’m definitely open to kissing. And stuff. I wouldn’t mind. That.”
Angela caught her hand and wound their fingers together, watching with interest as Emily went even redder.
You got things like this sometimes with clients who were so unused to touch, but this didn’t feel like that. There was still no magic in Emily’s eyes. Angela was wearing a towel around her hair and oversized pajamas and Emily was still acting like she was something incredible to be around. Emily was seeing her, not the magic. Angela couldn't stop smiling. “Glad the trains were late, so we got to talk.”
“Yeah, I was still in wolf form, so no one wanted to sit by me.” Emily was speaking a little faster than usual. “Wet dog smell, you know. Really makes a girl feel wanted.”
“Well, I want you,” Angela said, just to watch the affect on her friend. And because it was true.
Emily had a very visible ‘you can’t say that’ expression. She put a careful hand on Angela’s face and leaned in.
Angela leaned closer, and then froze and stuck a hand over her mouth. “Shit, no.” She laughed under her breath. “I’ve been drinking chocolate.”
Emily just looked at her for a moment, then pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “We’re really good at this, aren’t we.”
She got to be held. It was like when her friend hugged her, but she didn’t have to let go this time. Angela kissed the side of Emily’s neck and saw her friend swallow. “I mean, we’ve got time to figure it out, right? Year long lease, and we can just—keep going.” She slide a hand up under Emily’s shirt, warm skin and tense muscle under her hand. Emily’s breath caught.
“So I’ve still got some energy before I fall asleep,” Emily said, voice wobbling. “If you wanna take this to a room with a bed.”
Angela pulled back and grinned at her favourite person, her friend who liked her back. Her friend who liked her for who she was, and not anything else. She let her expression go teasing, like work, but for fun this time. “You want me to tell you how to make me feel good?”
Emily sucked in a breath. “Yeah,” she said, voice husky, and then cleared her throat. “Sure, I mean, yeah, sure.”
The sky outside had lightened, the first bits of pink and orange creeping into the sky. Angela kissed her on the nose. “I’ll go brush my teeth and meet you in my bedroom.”
Emily nodded, eyes wide and then a huge grin took over her face. “Alright. Yes ma’am.”