Carmilla

You refused to acknowledge the fact that you were caught snuggling up to your incredibly cute suitemate in the early hours of the morning by none other than the nosy science nerd that ran the place with the other annoying housewife you called home for the past month and a half. You refused to acknowledge that you enjoyed it, that you wish you could be in that position now. You refused to acknowledge the fact that you haven't slept as well as you did that night, curled up in Laura's arms, your body pressed intimately into hers. You cursed your body for gravitating toward her in your sleep, without your conscious mind's consent. And now, you curse yourself for being as childish as you have been, but it's for your own good, you think. You've been waking up at the ungodly hour of four am, just so you can avoid any and all of the other people that occupy the same living space.

You say 'waking up' as if you've actually been going to sleep. You haven't been. Or, at least you wouldn't consider what you've been doing ' falling asleep '. Coming home at nearly two am every night, after making sure everyone is asleep and promptly landing face first onto your mattress and closing your eyes until your alarm goes off at four doesn't count as sleeping, in your book.

It's unhealthy, you know, but it's also better than seeing Laura's face. Or Laf's. Plus, you kind of justify not sleeping during the night by taking naps wherever and whenever you can, during the day. Like in the coffee shop two blocks from the house, where you fell asleep for what you could have sworn was only a couple seconds, but the cute barista insisted was almost three hours. She gave you her number on the side of the coffee she made you, free of charge. You threw it away in a garbage can halfway down the street after you left a $10 tip in the tip jar when she wasn't looking. You never took a sip and you didn't bother saving the girl's number. You found a new coffee shop to nap at after that.

After one particularly long all-nighter, you found yourself on a train with a plan to visit Will for the weekend, but you fell asleep and ended up three hours north of where your original stop was. Will sent Kirsch to pick you up at the train station in some podunk town because Will had classes to go to. Three hours in Kirsch's beat up piece of shit wrangler that's as old as you are, forced to fear for your life and make conversation with the frat boy was enough to regret everything and reconsider your current plan of avoiding Laura at all costs. (You ignored the fact that you considered Kirsch your best friend after that accidental road trip. You also ignored the fact that the conversations the two of you had were far from boring or awkward. You may have even laughed at one of Kirsch's jokes. But you wouldn't admit to it if anyone asked.)

After that weekend you forced yourself to consider taking up a regular sleeping schedule. And you kept that promise when Kirsch dropped you off at the house before noon on Monday. He insisted he walk you to the door because he wanted to " meet the other hotties you live with ". You slapped him upside the head for that, but let him come in with you nonetheless. The house was eating breakfast when the two of you walked in. Laura, Danny, and Betty were eating Choco Crunch at the island. Laf, Perry, and JP were at the table with hardboiled eggs and hot sauce in front of them. And SJ, Mel, and Natalie were all standing around near the sink, washing their dishes. You ignored them all when they immediately stopped what they were doing to look at you and the beefcake that trailed behind you. You mumbled what you hoped was a coherent "this is Kirsch" before grabbing two bowls from the cupboard and two spoons and handing them to Kirsch before taking the box of Choco Crunch and half-gallon of soy milk from where they sat on the island counter in front of Laura.

Laura, who was watching you with such curiosity. Laura, who you made eye contact with for a brief, but what felt like forever, second. Laura, who had milk dribbling down her chin in a way that should have been disgusting, but you found endearing. Laura, whose eyes you could feel boring holes in the back of your head when you turned around with the cereal and milk and made your way to the opposite end of the table from Perry, Laf, and JP, Kirsch sitting down to your right. You stayed completely silent while you ate and tried to focus on anything but the honey brown eyes staring at you from across the kitchen.

The quiet was unnerving. You hated it, but you weren't about to break it. Instead, Kirsch did. His charm and child-like personality was natural and your housemates loved him. And you were never more grateful for the giant dork of a puppy you called a friend for distracting them from you. Even if he had no clue he was doing it.

When you finished eating and left the bowl and spoon for Kirsch, or whoever , to take care of, you went upstairs to your room. Kirsch didn't follow, instead choosing to continue to talk the other's ears off about how he knew you and several other things you chose not to pay attention to. Apparently, he stayed until after lunch, texting you when he left that he should visit more often and that he was glad you invited him in because he had a great time "chillin' with the gals, and bro, and the totally rad scientist". Then he mentioned he got Danny's number and wouldn't shut up about it until you told him to. You tried not to throw up at the thought of the sasquatch and your best friend being a thing .

That night you fell asleep at a normal time. Well, normal for you. Sometime around midnight to be exact. You fell asleep on the couch in the game room with a book in your hand. When you woke up, the sun was threatening to come up and your eye caught a glint off something attached to the wall that didn't look like it belonged there. Your eyes focused a bit in the dark and you made out the outline of a practically invisible door. Your curiosity got the best of you and you silently made your way over to it, tripping on a plant that you didn't notice on the floor and landing against the spot in the wall you discovered. It immediately clicked and you pulled back after bracing yourself. The door opened a little and you had to brush away several cobwebs before you were able to walk through it, but you made sure to quickly grab the book you fell asleep reading and made your way into the dark room, making sure to close the door behind you.

There was a light switch on the wall to your left and upon flicking it on, you were immediately mad at yourself because of the fact that you hadn't found this place sooner. There were stairs in front of you that headed down, to where, you weren't sure, but there was another set of stairs beyond the light switch that you climbed with caution. The stairs led to an attic of sorts. There wasn't anything in it, but a dust covered floor and a large window that overlooked the front property of the house, and a door in the corner of the room with a lock on it. You'd have to explore that some other time. Right now, you were distracted and enchanted by the view of the distant stars from where they shone through the window. The sight was beautiful.

You made sure to turn the light off before settling in on the windowsill under the window with your book. Your knees drawn to your chest and a slight smile on your face.

You don't remember falling asleep, but when you woke up to the sun high in the sky, you found yourself covered in the blanket from your bed, a familiar smelling pillow under your head, and your book with a piece of paper in it closed on the floor next to you.

Laura

Yeah, maybe you were a little surprised when Carmilla barged into the house and actually ate breakfast with all of you and maybe you wanted to be mad at her and yell at her for disappearing for what felt like years and maybe you were a little disappointed that she seemed to be playing it off like nothing ever happened between the two of you, but you couldn't help it. You were surprised. You did want to yell at her. You were disappointed. But when you went up to the attic through the passageway in the pantry to clear your head because you couldn't sleep with all of your Carmilla-filled thoughts and you found none other than Carmilla asleep on the windowsill with a book on her chest and quiet snores coming from her mouth, you couldn't help yourself when you unlocked the door across the room and snuck down the stairs that led to the closet in Carmilla's room and grabbed her blanket and your pillow and a folded piece of paper that you saw her using as a bookmark one time. She was still asleep when you made your way back up the stairs so you took a minute to just look at her. She looked young, like she was 18 again. Her features were completely relaxed. There was no stupid, sexy smirk on her lips. Her eyebrows weren't furrowed or raised in the annoying way she sometimes addresses you. She was just Carmilla . And you thought she was the most beautiful being you had ever come across.

You had originally planned to get her attention by simply annoying the shit out of her like she annoyed you most of the time. You had it all thought out. You were going to move her stuff around in the bathroom, hide your pillow so it didn't miraculously end up in her bed, use her favorite coffee mug instead of your Tardis one, eat her food, use her milk. Your plan was foolproof. What you hadn't anticipated was that she would find your hideout and use it as a reading nook, in which she fell asleep. And you definitely didn't anticipate the way the moon shone on her skin to make your stomach flutter like it did. Or the way her hair looked so smooth that you wanted to run your fingers through it until she was sighing into your neck, contentedly. You didn't anticipate the way her lips were slightly parted to make you feel things . Things like an annoying urge to softly place kisses to them until she woke up.

You didn't know what was wrong with you.

Actually that was a lie.

You did know.

You knew because you hadn't stopped thinking about how it felt to hold her since the morning you woke up with her in your arms and her head on your chest, but you didn't want to acknowledge that little incident if she wasn't.

That's what you were calling it now.

The incident.

Because it was. An incident. But that's all it was.

Except that was a lie too.

It was so much more than an incident to you.

So, you did the natural thing and came up with another plan. A plan that included things that you knew Carmilla would pay attention to.

Things like:

Not closing the door when you showered.

Wearing skirts to work without tights underneath, instead of your usual dress pants and dress shirt.

Parading around your room in just your bra and underwear with the bathroom doors open.

These were sure things to get Carmilla's attention. And yes, you were aware that you were using your body to get what you wanted, but could anyone blame you? Carmilla was avoiding you. And it hurt. And you didn't want to talk about it. So, actions would have to work. You were taking a page out of Carmilla's book and stepping up the sexy -factor. Because it certainly worked when she walked around in just her robe for a week straight after she found out it made you blush uncontrollably.

Your plan wasn't that complicated. The complicated part was waiting for the right moment when you knew Carmilla was in her room and not in the attic, where she seemed to be spending most of her time lately.

On your second attempt at showering with the door open, Perry walked in to restock the linen closet with clean towels and almost had a heart attack. The embarrassment alone was enough to force you to make sure you locked the doors every time you showered.

On your fourth day of wearing a skirt to work, your cubicle mate, Jared, told you the creep in the cubicle at the end of the walkway was constantly checking you out. You stopped wearing skirts to work and went back to your dress pants and button ups.

Carmilla didn't see you once.

The first time you decided against wearing clothing while relaxing on a Saturday, you forgot to close the blinds on your window and that happened to be the day Kirsch decided to come back to visit. He saw you through the window and profusely apologized when he eventually paraded into the house. That was the last time you did that.

Carmilla wasn't even home that time. Apparently she got a job at some bookstore a few blocks away and was working crazy hours.

When Carmilla finally did notice you, it was a complete accident. You had given up on your plans and just gave up in general. If she wasn't interested, she wasn't interested. If she was, you were putting that into her hands. Thankfully, that was exactly where you fell.

You were late for work. Jared was covering for you, but he could only hold off your boss for so long. Your alarm didn't go off because your phone died in the middle of the night. Apparently you forgot to plug it in. So, you were running around like a madwoman trying to put your shoes on, button your shirt, drink your hot chocolate, and swallow the bagel sticking out of your mouth, all at the same time.

That was the same time Carmilla decided to grace the house with her presence. Which you thought was weird because you normally never see her before noon on a weekday. Or a weekend, for that matter.

You were walking (more like running, or sprinting if you want to get technical) through the kitchen to the hallway with one arm in your cardigan, the bagel still in your mouth, your hot chocolate in your elbow, your shoes in your left hand, your helmet on your wrist, and you weren't watching where you were going because your shirt was halfway undone and that took precedence over direction. Or that's what you thought. Before you ran into Carmilla. And then ended up on the floor of the foyer, your hot chocolate soaking into Carmilla's t shirt. Apparently it was still hot, judging by Carmilla's squeal of ' ow '.

You tried to apologize. You swear you did, but the second you opened your mouth was the same second Carmilla moved her hips to try and get you off of her. The sound that came out of your mouth was not human and the look Carmilla gave you couldn't be described as anything less than predatory. Before you knew what you were doing, you were leaning forward and crashing your lips into hers, or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, you were kissing her. And she was kissing you back. With so much want you could hardly keep up.

You barely registered your hips moving against hers or the noises coming from her throat, or the shrill, panicked voice of Perry at the bottom of the stairs to your left. Carmilla clearly registered it just fine because within the next second you were flat on your ass and Carmilla was on the other side of the foyer.

Your eyes were glued to Carmilla. She was breathing heavily, her lips were swollen, and her hair was completely out of place from where your hands found their way into her dark locks.

Looking at her then, was the first time you noticed that she wasn't wearing any pants.

For some reason that put everything into perspective.

You were incredibly turned on. Your shirt was still unbuttoned. You were now covered in hot chocolate from Carmilla's shirt. You were sure your lips were just as swollen as Carmilla's. And you were positive you were breathing just as heavily.

When someone cleared their throat, you watched Carmilla turn around and head towards the living room where you heard her run up the other flight of stairs, two at a time.

If this entire situation didn't scream deja vu, you didn't know what did.

At least she finally noticed you.