TITLE: Should've Been Easier By Three
AUTHOR: Faith Alana Alastair
DISCLAIMER: : I'm not Mike Judge, who had the original idea, or Glenn Eichler, or Susie Lewis Lynn either. I don't own any of these characters, (except Scott, Natasha, Caine, Jason, Dayton and Maggie.)
FANDOM: Daria
PAIRING: Daria/Jane, Daria/Lindy, Jane/Lindy, Daria/Jane/Lindy. Also Natasha/Jason(oc's) and Andrea/Scott
RATING: NC-17/M/FRAO
SUMMARY/PROMPT: It's College, Now. Daria decides it's time to live a little, now that she's in college.
SPOILERS: Everything through "Is It College, Yet?"
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm not sure where this came from, but after a Daria marathon, I decided to challenge myself a la NaNoWriMo, and managed it. I actually wrote the 50k+ words in this in 12 days.
FEEDBACK: God, please. I love this fic so much, tell me what you think.
DISTRIBUTION: Want...Ask...Have
WORD COUNT: 51,158
Daria closed her laptop as a knock came at her door and crossed the room, opening it. "Hey."
"Hey," Jane said, moving into the room and closing the door behind her. "What's up?"
"I thought we could hang out here for awhile." She sat on the bed cross-legged and looked up at Jane. "I kind of want to talk to you."
Jane nodded, kicking off her boots and sitting opposite Daria. "Shoot."
"Well the other night when we got high…"
"I said I was sorry, it was an accident." Jane looked down at her lap.
"I'm not asking for you to apologize. I just wanted to know… why you blushed so hard. It brought up some emotions I'm not entirely certain how to deal with." Daria pulled a pillow into her lap and looked at Jane, face open and clear.
"Ever since move-in day I've sort of been thinking about you." Jane did her best not to mumble. "About what it would be like, with you. In the beginning I figured it was just for comparison's sake…"
A memory struck Daria. "So you kissed me. It was just as much for your own confusion as mine," she stated simply, no anger in it.
Jane nodded. "Pretty much, yeah. Thing is, after that I couldn't stop thinking about it. But you and Lindy are so great… I just wanted to be a good friend to you both."
Daria nodded silently, thinking the situation through. "I liked kissing you. It felt natural and familiar. I sort of wish Lindy and I hadn't worked so well, so I could have explored this with you more. Is that horrible?"
"No, it's not horrible. It's called 'What might have been'. But maybe you and Lindy won't last forever. Maybe we'll wind up on some ridiculous hippy commune and it won't matter. It's a little early to play that game."
Daria nodded, looking down at her lap. "I guess you're right." She shrugged sadly. "This isn't fair. I've had a crush on you for a long time, and I only now realize it…"
"Figured out what your physical attraction mold matched, huh?" Jane smiled, at once wry and sad.
"Yeah. I wonder if Trent knew."
"Why not? I did." She shrugged. "I never saw a point to saying anything, I was convinced I was straight."
"I guess I should thank Allison." Daria's tone was dry.
"No, we should both be thanking Nat." She smirked a little, then sobered. "Look, I don't know what to do."
Daria chewed her lip and nodded, then rose up and kissed Jane gently, her own lips kneading hers. She pulled back and sat down hard. "Me either."