(originally part of the Femslash Exchange 2014 on AO3)
Jubilee wonders if Blink tastes like bubblegum. She hasn't been able to taste real food in so long that she's almost forgotten it. That's all it is, she thinks. Just idle curiosity. Nothing to do with the graceful way the newcomer moves. The toned muscles that she can see through the thin green spandex, the graceful curve of her neck. The pink, almost purple skin that still glistens from their narrow escape earlier. That bead of sweat that trails down her throat.
Just curious. That's all. She runs her tongue over her fangs. Shogo gurgles and she bounces him in her lap as glowing green eyes meet deathly red ones.
"What's his name?" Blink asks, undoing her braid and letting her violet hair spill over her shoulders. If Jubilee's heart could still beat, it would have skipped one. The pink woman takes a seat on the edge of the bed and leans in, tickling the boy, much to his delight.
"Shogo." Jubes can't quite figure out the expression on Blink's face. Something between sadness and regret. She looks a lot like Jubilee's Blink, but she's not the same, not quite. Neither of them says it, but they both know they know each other. In a manner of speaking. She's sure she's not quite Blink's Jubilee, either. The Vampire thing seems to have been a shock.
"Hello Shogo, it's nice to meet you."
Starting to relax, she hands her son over to the taller woman. If Nocturne had trusted this woman, she could. "Here Clarice, he's about to pull a stinky."
"...what do you expect me to do with his stinky?" She hesitates, then adds. "Call me Blink."
"Got it." Jubilee's grin is toothy. "Change him. I'm gonna go make sure we weren't followed. You made a hell of an entrance." She glances at Blink, and her fingers elongate into claws. "Anything happens to him and I'll rip your fucking heart out."
She watches Jubes disappear out the window, and lets out a breath, more curious than terrified. She looks down at Shogo. "Well, I must have passed some kind of test if I get the duty of taking care of your… stinky." She wrinkles her nose. "What is she feeding you?"
The motel room is barely big enough for one person, let alone two people and a baby, but she's spent many nights in far worse places. Not for the first time she worries about her friends, scattered across the multiverse. Thoughts about her situation occupy her mind as she cleans the boy up and then paces, bouncing him in her arms.
A javelin glows in her hand when the door opens, but it's Jubilee. Blink relaxes, her powers fading away. "We were beginning to get worried."
She gets to study the vampire as she comes in. Jubilee is a mess of contradictions. When she moves, its like a wolf barely tamed. Yet flip the coin and her demeanor shifts. She picks up Shogo and tosses him in the air, acting like a perfectly normal, if hyper young mother. Blink wonders if that's an act, a memory of who she used to be. She wants to find out.
"We weren't followed." Jubes sets Shogo on the floor to play before sitting on the tiny bed and trying to ignore Blink's abs. "Dunno who those guys are. I'm starting to lose track of all the people that want to kill us." She could start counting on her fingers, but she'd run out and need her toes. And Shogo's toes. Possibly Blink's toes.
"I can teleport us farther away tomorrow," Blink promises. She stands in front of Jubilee, and the vampire can hear Blink's pulse. It makes her hungry, and it makes her hungry, in a way she hasn't felt since Laura.
"I'm going to shower." Blink steps away, peeling her costume off as she moves towards the bathroom. She can feel Jubilee's eyes on her, and smirks at the X-Man over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.
Was that an invitation? "Shogo, your mama is in trouble. What should I do?"
He gurgles, and smashes a toy car into the wall.
"Yeah, this is totally wrecking me too." She stands up and tosses her jacket onto a chair. "I forgot how much feeling things hurts."
The shower is probably too small for two people, anyway, and she doesn't want to misread signals and creep in on the other woman. She can hear the water hitting Blink's skin. She can imagine the way it looks pouring down her body. Her pulse, her scent, everything is enhanced to a level that's driving her batty. Jubilee smacks her palm against her forehead and groans. Is this how Wolvie feels every time he's around someone he's attracted to?
When Blink comes out of the shower, Jubilee is still standing next to the bed, her jacket on a chair and her pants half undone. The vampire looks up from her thoughts, and Blink can almost feel the heat of her gaze. She hasn't been looked at like that in a very long time. Not since before Cal died. Her skin flushes a darker pink.
She moves Jubilee's jacket and sits in the chair. "Your turn. I can get Shogo to sleep while you clean up. I think I can make a nest for him so he'll be comfortable."
"Thanks," Jubilee says. She's unable to tear her eyes from Blink's legs.
"I take it you like what you see?"
Jubilee's eyes snap up to Blink's face. "Uh...uhm. Yeah." She's perversely grateful that she doesn't have enough blood in her system to blush with. She's sure her expression is enough.
"Good," she smirks at Jubes, then points at the bathroom door. "If you want to see more then shower so I can put the baby to sleep."
Jubilee moves so fast that her clothing only hits the ground after she's closed to door to the bathroom.
Blink laughs. She isn't sure why she's doing what she's doing, but she's learned over the years to seize her chances when she sees them. She likes the vampire and she likes the way Jubilee looks at her. She's really curious about some other things, too. "Okay kiddo. Lets see if I can turn this chair into a crib."
"Buh?"
She picks Shogo up, and the boy's fingers tangle in her hair. "Jubilee will tell you when you're older."
Once she's satisfied that Shogo is both comfortable and safe, she sits on the bed and waits, fidgeting nervously. She debates taking the towel off, or keeping it on, then settles on taking it off and sliding under the sheets.
Jubes checks on Shogo first, before turning towards the bed and gulping. "Wow." Okay. They're really doing this. Should they be doing this? What if they're attacked by ninjas? They could be attacked by ninjas. But neither Wolvie nor Kitty is around, so ninjas aren't too likely. She gets into the bed, pulling the covers back so she can get a good look at Blink. "Wow…"
Blink's pulse is spiking, and Jubilee can hear the rush of her blood. She can feel it when she places a hand on the teleporter's hip. Her fangs sharpen as she trails her fingertips along a smooth expanse of pink skin. Blink's hand threads behind her neck and she's pulled down into a kiss.
Jubilee's groan is a throaty one, her right hand taking a handful of Blink's breast. She's rewarded with a whiny, needy sound, the pink woman's body moving against hers in response. But the kiss ends too soon. The vampire is dizzy. She's starving. Her lips find Blink's throat, and she licks at the her pulse point.
"Do it…" Blink gasps the words, tugging Jubilee's head against her neck.
"I'll see things." Her throat is so tight she sounds like a frog. She keeps terribly still, afraid that the wrong movement will send her teetering over the edge. "Memories. Usually bad."
Blink massages at the back of Jubilee's neck. She has a lot of bad memories. Sugarman and Sinister in a world ruled by Apocalypse. Losing friends. Losing lovers. But there are good ones too. The X-men. The Exiles. More like family to her than any she'd had by blood. Morph always made her laugh.
"Only usually." She pushes Jubilee back against her neck, and this time the vampire's resistance falters. Warm blood fills her mouth, and Blink's memories are open to her.
Hours later, Jubilee is tracing patterns in the other woman's back. Blink is out, lost in some dream or another. Jubes hopes that it's a good one. She slides out of the bed, walking over to Shogo's little nest and picking him up. If she'd been human, she'd feel a pleasant sort of sore in her legs and back, but she's not, so she has to content herself with the memory of those few moments after. When she could feel physically, and emotionally. She hadn't felt alone, and she hadn't felt like a monster.
She bounces Shogo in her arms, taking him back to the bed with her. The toddler mumbles sleepily and she shushes him. He falls back asleep, snug between the two women. Jubilee doesn't sleep. She hopes that Blink sticks around. She hopes they can explore whatever it is they've started, but she's an X-man. Hope and happiness are never part of the equation.
So she just watches, and she decides that Blink tastes so much better than bubblegum.