Patterns are like that, you know?
You fall into them because they feel comfortable, they feel safe (even when they are so not), they tickle those dormant senses and suddenly all the parts of you that you thought you had locked away…
…they just wake up all over again, stretching and yawning after such a long damn rest, and so Piper is grinning when she should feel like shit.
And she does feel like shit actually, but Alex has a way of making the worst situations seem not so bad; she did it with drugs and near-disasters, so it is not a huge shock that she can do it now - taking sadness and anger and turning it into a joke that the two of them can share.
It shouldn't work - not for one fucking second - but patterns are like that, you know?
And there are buttons that only Alex knows how and when to push. And there are experiences that only Alex knows about and can understand and so prison is just another tick in their ridiculous relationship-that-never-fully-ends box.
And there is a smile that only Alex can bring about (it sneaks up from behind and settles on the lips before it can be shoved away) and Piper shouldn't feel so okay when everything is falling apart…
…but patterns are like that, you know? They keep on happening until you learn better…
And fuck if Piper knows which way to go now that all the roads have been washed away, but Alex is laughing and Piper is smiling and so some things never, ever change.
…or until you learn to just let them be.
(end)