It's another random oneshot! This one I've had half-written for a year or something mad like that, but got stuck. So, some deletion and the world's oddest ending later, here we are. Completely plotless.

Enjoy!

Hilary flicked a stray piece of museli at Mariam's slumped form.

"Wake up!" she laughed. "It's ten o'clock!"

"Mmph."

"Come on, Mari! It was your idea to go shopping!"

"Mm ... regretting it ... " Disregarding the muesli, Hilary picked up her relatively clean spoon - she had a bad habit of eating with her fingers - and, aiming carefully, threw it at Mariam's folded arms. It hit with a soft, rather disappointing thump. "Ow!"

Hm, not too disappointing, then ...

Mariam sat up and glared blearily at the girl sitting opposite her.

"That woke you up." Hilary gave a smug smile. Mariam stuck out her tongue, a trace of her famously sarcastic smile twitching around said tongue.

"I'd better get a really nice top for this." Hilary pretended to be offended.

"Oh, so you think I'm paying, Sharky?"

"Don't call me that!" Hilary sat back with a satisfied grin at Mariam's outrage. "And yes, you are." Mariam continued, her smile taking on a sour edge. "You get paid more than me, after all."

"Oh, don't start that again!" The two girls glared at each other, the cloying dregs of an old argument hanging heavily in the air between them. Hilary visibly changed her mind about what was going to come out of her half-open mouth, and instead, plastered a bright smile to her face and said, "Well? What are we waiting for? Shopping!" She shot up and began clearing the remnants of her breakfast away.

"Shopping," Mariam agreed cheerfully. "And I want a shirt, a pair of boots, and a new bandana now."

"Oh do you, missy? And just how can you be so sure I'll get them for you?" Hilary demanded playfully, putting both hands on her hips and sticking her chin out aggressively. With a lazy grin, Mariam stood up and slipped her arms around Hilary's abdomen.

"'Cause you love me." she said confidently. Hilary leaned her head against Mariam's shoulder.

"I might do." Mahogany eyes almost closed with the width of her cheeky smile. "And can you afford one teeny tiny new miniskirt for the girl who loves you?"

"Quote, I might do. Go to brush your hair, fuzzball." Mariam ran her fingers lightly through Hilary's short, dark brown curls.

"What? Again? That was the reason I cut it ..." Grumbling, Hilary detangled herself from the warm embrace and went into their bedroom. The sound of drawers being opened and closed in the futile search for her hairbrush echoed loud and clear. Mariam's eyes fell upon the offending article, and her eyebrows rose in surprise before a grin spread across her face and she settled down to wait. "Can I use yours?" Hilary called at last

"You can if you really want, but yours is in here ... in the sink?"

"Oh yeah, I'd just finished the washing-up! I remember now!"

"Washing-up? While brushing your hair?"

"No-o! After!" Running back in, Hilary fished the hairbrush out, gave it a quick rub with a towel, and dragged it through her hair a few times. "Done!" she sang out happily. She gave Mariam a quick, disapproving look. "I'm not taking you out like that! Go get dressed!"

"Yes m'am!"

"I'll "Yes m'am" you, Sharky! In there! Get dressed!" Hilary's voice had risen to an interestingly high pitch, a level of irritation that a certain group of boys would have recognised and backed away from. Wisely, Mariam retreated.

Mariam stuck a booted foot out for approval.

"What do you think?" Hilary scrunched up her face appraisingly.

"Yep, they're lovely."

"Good. I thought so too." Mariam scooped up the pair of chunky brown boots, and hesitated as a thought hit her. "You do remember why I proposed a shopping trip in the first place, don't you?" Hilary blinked at her.

"Um ... no?"

"It's Max's birthday tomorrow."

" ... ah ... " Hilary blinked for a few seconds more, then grabbed Mariam by the wrist and dashed off at high speed. Mariam managed to stop her in the store doorway.

"I'm still holding the boots, idiot!" Hilary gave her a sheepish smile and relaxed her grip slightly, allowing Mariam to slide free and pay for her new footwear.

A few hours later, they had bought Max his present and were heading back, arm in arm. Hilary's mischievous streak was in fine form that afternoon, and she waited patiently until they were in the middle of the high street with people everywhere, then stopped and looked at Mariam with the half nervous, half defiant look that was her special signal. Mariam looked uneasily around, but, seeing the glint of challenge in Hilary's eyes, grinned and kissed her, gently at first, then their mouths opened and their arms went around each other tightly, heads moving for a better, more productive angle.

Hilary moved away first, breathing heavily and pink in the face, casting a quick look around to gauge the reaction caused by their little show of affection. A group of teenage boys, sixteen at the maximum, had been staring open-mouthed, and had been just that fraction too slow looking away to keep her from knowing. She grinned, and watched them sneak looks and turn red when they saw her staring back. Mariam, meanwhile, was looking with narrowed eyes at a gaggle of elderly ladies, who were taking it in turns to shoot the couple disapproving glances and whisper to each other through lips pinched in distaste. Seeing where Mariam was looking, Hilary head-butted her lightly on the shoulder.

"Leave it, Mariam. Who cares?" she said lightly.

"Me," Mariam whispered moodily. "Stupid homophobic society!" She said the last sentence loudly, trying to provoke a reaction. No-one so much as twitched in their direction.

"Leave it!" Hilary said again, her voice shrill. "It's just how it is. You know that." She smiled hopefully at Mariam, and breathed a sigh of relief when she bared her teeth obligingly. "Let's go home, ok? Mission achieved."

Curled together on the sofa that evening in a tangle of limbs, they watched television in contented silence, automatically tensing as the sports news came on -

"Oh, shit," Mariam breathed. Hilary shivered and pressed closer to her.

The news piece unfolded on the screen before them, emblazoned with their names and a full-colour, high definition picture of a single event that had happened while they were out shopping. The two girls looked at each other in horror.

"They'll know."

"What the hell do we do? The sleepover excuse would've stuck fine …"

"Would've, yeah."

"Don't answer the phone this evening."

"Not a chance."

So the two lovers sat and watched TV, simply turning up the volume as Tyson and Max besieged the phone line to try and reach their girlfriends.

Uh huh. Review?

xIlbx