When Auriana texted her the simple, flat 'get in', Praxina assumed she was in trouble.
After getting into the car, however, she was struck with an even more fearful idea- she wasn't in trouble, no, there was something much worse going on.
They were going shopping.
Praxina groaned and threw her head back dramatically.
"Oh stop it!" Auriana rolled her eyes, drumming her nails on the steering wheel. "It's for your own good. How long have you had those ripped tights?"
The older girl glanced down and picked at a spare thread. "They… weren't ripped when I bought them."
"Praxina!"
"Don't judge me!"
"Babe, I'm judging you."
Praxina sighed and leaned against the window this time. "This is why I don't tell you things."
"No, this is exactly why you should tell me things!"
"Why, to judge me?"
"To judge you, then fix it for you!"
"But what if I don't want you to fix things for me?"
This was an argument they'd had before.
But Auriana flicks on her blinker and glances towards her girlfriend through her eyelashes, a curious tilt to her eyebrows.
"Prax?"
"Hm?"
"Just let me do something nice for you."
It was hard to disagree when Auriana used her soft voice.
Praxina groaned as if it were a burden to do so, but ended it with a smile. "Fine, but you know my limits. I don't like skirts unless-"
"They're tight?"
"You got it."
Auriana leaned over to pat her thigh, and Praxina bats at her hand. "Keep your hands on the wheel!"
"But it's so hard, you're so much prettier!"
The older girl rolled her eyes and leant back in her seat. "So, how's Lyna?"
"Lyna?" Auriana glanced at her. "She's good, still getting over that boyfriend of hers."
"Doesn't she know better than to date boys?" Praxina shook her head. "Boys are just trouble."
Auriana shrugged. "As if. But she's on my couch and eating all my lucky charms, so as soon as she figures something else out it'll be fine. How's your brother?"
"Ugh, also working through a trainwreck." She rolled her eyes.
Together, they repeated the lament: "Boys!"
Praxina giggled and leaned away. "But he's also good, other than that. As long as he's got his friends and me, he'll keep his head on straight."
"Well…" Auriana glanced at her.
"You know what I mean! Just because neither of us are straight doesn't mean I can't straighten him out."
Auriana pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center, giggling. "Sure, sure." She looked at her out of the corner of her eyes. "If I unlock the door, will you try to run home?"
Praxina pointed down. "Are you kidding me? I'm wearing eighty-dollar heels. I'm not running for shit, babe."
"Ah, shoes, the one kind of shopping you DON'T hate." Auriana rolled her eyes.
"Good footwear will never fail me." She tapped Auriana's nose as she undid her seatbelt.
They both slid out of the car, nice, though a handmedown from one of her older sisters, as the girl seemed to bemoan often. Praxina just thought it was nice that she'd gotten a vehicle so easily, as her and Mephisto were currently both saving up to get transportation. A pair of bikes that purred and made them feel comfortable, better, that's what they wanted. One in red, one in green.
Simple goals.
They walk together, slowly, locking hands sometime around the handicapped parking spaces and sharing a secret smile as they entered the building.
Praxina was the taller of the two, definitely helped out by her rockin high heels, but Auriana had never minded. It was nice to be the shorter one, to have to pull the other girl down for a kiss, to smile and lean up onto her tiptoes and-
Okay, maybe that was too much PDA for the mall. Auriana pulled back, giggling, and Praxina rolled her eyes as if she didn't love it.
They wander for a bit until the shorter girl sees her favorite store, and she tugs on her girlfriend's hand.
"You know that store has like, way too much pink, right?" Praxina's eyebrows went up.
"Don't you wear pink sometimes?"
"Please, I'm not Iris."
Auriana giggled and dragged her in anyways.
There's a few minutes where Praxina pointedly admires a hoodie that they both knew her brother had at home before Auriana manages to drag her away.
They find a few unoffensive red shirts, varying in brightness and cuts, until Auriana sees something.
"Is that… a red leather jacket with butterfly buttons?" Praxina asks, very quietly.
Auriana stepped towards it, running her fingers over the buttons to make sure they were real.
"Whoa. This is like… you, embodied." She glances back to her girlfriend.
Praxina flipped through the sizes and pulled out a large, a smile coming to her lips as she looked it over. "Okay, maybe shopping today was a good idea."
Auriana fistpumped, though she nearly punched the other girl in the face on accident.
"Sorry sorry!" Auriana pulled Praxina down to kiss her nose, then scanned the rest of the clothing section. "Hmm…" Her eyes narrowed. "One more thing…"
Praxina's eyebrows rose.
Auriana flipped through some shirts for a moment before rolling her eyes and stepping towards the racks of jeans.
Praxina stared at her. "You're not buying me pants, Ri."
"What, don't want me to get you out of those ripped tights?" The shorter girl reached over and ran a finger over the bare skin.
Praxina yelped and batted her hand away, cheeks coloring. "Oh, shut it!"
Auriana giggled and went back to flipping through until she found something she liked, then settled for one of them, hanging it over her wrist.
"So what now? We check out?" The taller girl pointed vaguely towards the counter and its bored-looking teen.
"Are you kidding me?" Auriana grabbed the belt loop of Praxina's shorts and practically dragged her to the changing rooms.
This was where Praxina's nose scrunched up. "I don't like this."
"Oh calm down," Auriana glanced around to make sure no one was looking before she opened one of the doors, ushered her girlfriend inside, then slipped after her.
"Aren't you not supposed to be in here?" Prax's eyebrow rose.
Auriana rose to her tip toes and pulled the other girl down. "Please, as if I wouldn't be here for the part of this you hate most."
Praxina smiled into the kiss, gentle and sweet, the clothing falling from her arms to pull her girlfriend closer.
Maybe she didn't hate shopping as much as she'd thought… she just hated shopping alone.
Being with Auriana always made things better.
The kiss deepens and Auriana's warm fingers wander under her shirt to push it off, Praxina muffling a gasp at the colder air around them, the freezing wall to the changing room.
Without any warning, suddenly the shorter girl was gone and everything turned red.
Praxina made a grumbling noise as she fumbled to get her arms through the holes, her head through the neck of the shirt.
When she popped her head back out, Auriana was smiling.
The shorter girl rested a palm on her ribs under her chest, rising up again. Praxina met her in the middle.
Another kiss, shorter and sweeter this time.
"You're beautiful." Auriana whispered.
Praxina couldn't help the smile as she pulled the other girl closer to her.
"Thank you."
AN: just a cute, fluffy oneshot of a pair of trans girlfriends shopping and making out :) comment any fic/ship requests, but no nathaniel/iris or talia/mephisto please!