Hey guys, this idea sprang into my head a few weeks ago and it's been dying to get out. I'm not the most knowledgeable about this topic so if anyone has any corrections for what I've written, tell me and I'll correct them. Also, I want to write a few more AUs of this length, so if anyone has an AU they'd like to see, leave it in the reviews or in my inbox, I'll try to write it. Feel free to check out my other story, DHS, which I'll be updating as soon as I can. Enjoy!
Delphine walked into the lecture hall, she wanted to sit as close to front of her animal behavior class as possible. She looked towards the front and saw that there was only one seat left, and it was next to two girls who were talking animatedly, moving their hands rapidly. The one whose face she could see was laughing at something the other girl had said. Delphine took a deep breath, hoping they wouldn't carry on like that for the entire class.
She made her way down and sat next to the two girls, leaning over and pulling her supplies out of her backpack. When she leaned back up, the girl who was facing away from her made an especially dramatic hand movement, and the back of her hand hit Delphine in the face. Delphine flinched and took her earbuds out, preparing to lay into her accidental assailant, whose head whipped around, looking mortified. The girl was surprisingly pretty, she wore glasses, and had a small hoop nose ring; her hair hung in neat dreadlocks and she wore a look of absolute mortification. Before the girl could say anything, her friend spoke on her behalf.
"Oh my god! Are you okay? I am so sorry about that. We were getting a little rambunctious. It won't happen again." The other girl apologized. Delphine looked her over, she looked a little uptight, she wore her hair in a ponytail, her bangs cut straight along her face, and she somehow looked even more mortified than the girl who had actually hit her. Before Delphine could respond, the professor entered the hall and the bangs-girl hurried up to the front to greet them. Delphine turned back to her things and a few minutes later, the class started.
Delphine took notes diligently, hardly looking away from the spiral she was writing in. It was during a brief lull in the lecture when Delphine saw a piece of paper enter her field of vision. The glasses-girl had slid her a note. Delphine looked at her a second, the girl looked at her and then back to the note. Delphine picked it up and tried to unfold it as discreetly as possible,
Sorry for hitting you in the face, I get a little excited when I talk.
Delphine picked up her pen,
It's okay. I'm sure it was an accident. She passed it to the glasses-girl, who read it, smiled, and focused back on the lecture. The professor started speaking again, but Delphine had trouble concentrating. She looked at the girl in her periphery. She was taking notes without looking at her paper, staring at the front of the hall with unparalleled attention. Delphine followed her gaze, her eyes landed on bangs-girl, who was standing at the front of the hall, about six feet to the left of the professor. It took a few seconds for Delphine to key into what she was doing. Was she—was she signing? Delphine looked back to glasses-girl, she was watching bangs-girl's hands closely, writing down what they said.
She's deaf. That's why she was gesturing so much, she was signing. Delphine realized. Satisfied with the conclusion she had reached, she turned her attention back to the lecture.
Forty-five minutes later, the lecture was over, and Delphine felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned to see glasses-girl smiling meekly. She gave little wave,
"Hi, I'm Cosima, I just wanted to say I'm sorry again. Totally my fault." She said, signing along with her words. She seemed comfortable in her communication, her hand movements were enthusiastic, fluid. Her voice was deeper and throatier than Delphine would have expected, she spoke a little bit louder than normal. Delphine smiled,
"It's no problem, I'm not mad. I'm Delphine, by the way." She stuck out her hand to shake Cosima's. The girl shook back, cocking her head to the side,
"You have an accent. Where are you from?" She asked. Delphine was a bit surprised that Cosima had picked up on it.
"Yes, I'm French. How can you tell?" She asked.
"I can read lips, yours form words differently." Cosima explained, "And rather attractively, might I add." Her grin grew even more. Delphine blushed, the girl was undeniably charming. By now, bangs-girl was standing beside Cosima, she introduced herself to Delphine,
"Hi, I'm Alison, Cosima's friend."
"I'm Delphine, it's nice to meet you. Are you deaf also?" She asked, Alison shook her head,
"No, I've been friends with Cosima for a while, I interpret for her in a few of her classes." Alison explained. She turned back to Cosima, signing something. She responding by putting a finger up, signifying 'one second.' Cosima looked to Delphine again,
"I still feel really bad about hitting you, do you mind if I take you out for coffee as an apology?" She asked. Alison grinned, apparently used to her friend's charm. Delphine found herself blushing again,
"I'm starting to think that you did this just to ask me out." She joked. Cosima laughed,
"No, I normally just hit on girls figuratively." She said, smiling even wider.
"I would love to get coffee, with you, Cosima." Delphine said.
Five months later
Delphine woke up, squinting a little. The sun was shining through the bedroom curtains and right into her eyes. She turned to look at the person sleeping beside her, the girl looked even smaller when she was asleep. Delphine inched closer to the girl and hummed gently into Cosima's shoulder. The vibrations woke her up, she rubbed her eyes and looked at her girlfriend, smiling sleepily. Delphine smiled back, Cosima was cutest when she was waking up.
'Good morning.' Delphine signed. Cosima could read lips, but it felt wrong to interrupt the peaceful silence of the room. Delphine immediately took it upon herself to learn as much sign language as quickly as possible, she didn't want to rely on passing notes, and she felt a bit useless when Cosima read her lips all the time, especially after the shorter girl admitted that sometimes following along and keeping up with Delphine's accent was a bit taxing. She was miles better than she used to be, but she still struggled from time to time. Cosima was unbelievably patient with her, helping her with words and correcting her form whenever Delphine asked.
'Good morning.' Cosima signed back. 'What do you want to do today?' Delphine thought for a second,
'Nothing.' She answered. Cosima chuckled and rolled back over. Delphine draped an arm around her and the two fell back asleep.