"So Miss Yumi and I - I mean, Aiko and I, we've decided to… be intimate with one another."

The household had gathered around the dining table for a meeting. Zoey stood at the head, still wearing nothing but Aiko's borrowed white blouse. Under the table, her leg bounced impatiently, giddy to share this amazing new development in her sexual identity. Lillian slouched on one side, drumming her fingers and grinding her teeth on a stick of gum. Behind her, Suki was present in body only. The blonde sat ramrod straight, eyes wide and glazed over as she played with the folds of her skirt. Miss Yumi kicked back opposite them, content to let Zoey take the lead explaining.

"Lil, Suki, I want you both to know that this changes nothing between us. We'll continue to support each other as coven sisters, to resist the patriarchy and celebrate our feminine friendships. It's just that... well, I'll be celebrating a little closer with Aiko."

"A helluva lot closer!" Aiko grinned.

Zoey scanned for reactions. Lillian's fingers drummed on, teeth snapping at her gum. Suki stared ahead, eyes focusing on some distant point on the wall. Wincing, Zoey moved forward on the agenda.

"Also, a quick update to our house rules: I'm revising the policy about 'no masturbating in the common area' to include all individual and group sex acts. If you're needing 'private time', please continue to hang a sock on your doorknob and lock the door. Aiko and I will try to be respectful while you're both present but if we... well-"

"Start knockin' boots?" Aiko offered. Zoey winced.

"If we... succumb to our urges, then we'll put on some music to ensure privacy."

And she demonstrated, queuing up a playlist on her phone. Jimmy Hendrix's Purple Haze blasted over the speaker. She clicked it off and looked again for reactions. The tapping in her legs was beginning to grow nervous.

"Well? Suki? Have you heard a word I've said? Suki?"

The otaku girl startled back to life, blinking rapidly. "H-hai! G-gomen, senpai. I'm... I'm so *hic* excited for you, senpai. *hic* Excited that you've *hic* found your *hic* your special someone."

Aiko gave her an odd stare. "Need some water?"

But the girl waved off their concerns, even as her hiccup spell came faster, as her eyes watered red with discomfort and she was forced to hold her heaving chest steady.

"Suki, are you-?"

"Me? *hic* Steki! I'm *hic* fine." These are *hic*hic* tears of joy, senpai. *hic* This is like *hic*hic* something from a shoujo manga. I'm so *hic* lucky I *hic* get to see it!"

The next hiccup came so violently, Suki had to raise her hands to catch the sputtering cough. Her palms and nose came away snotty and dribbly. "I... I'm gonna go get ready for bed..."

Zoey flinched at the sound of Suki's slamming door. She turned to her remaining friend, once more consumed by her cell phone. "Lillian?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Congrats or whatever. It's just... like, wow."

Zoey beamed. "I know, wow!"

"Like, wow, all that bullshit about being 'demisexual' or 'aromantic' and you spread your legs for the first bitch who pushes you down on a bed. Like, way to blow, haystack."

"Haystack?"

"Umm, The Three Little Pigs? Big bad wolf comes and blows you over?"

"I think you mean 'straw house'."

"Oh, so now you're correcting me too?"

"Lillian, if you're upset about something-"

"Me, upset? Pssht! I totally couldn't give a shit who you bend your bony ass for. Like, do whatever the heck you want, haystack. Hmm, I guess that's whoever you want."

"Lillian!"

"Now if you'll like, excuse me or whatever, I got a sock to hang on my doorknob. Later, haystack. Later, Miss Yu."

Aiko waved her fingers. "Don't forget to curl up for the g-spot, Lilly Pie."

The slam from Lillian's door hit Zoey like a slap to the face.

"Well, that went down like a lead balloon."

Zoey sat on the couch with Aiko at her side, both of them still half-dressed, unkempt and sticky with dried sweat. The term 'hot mess' kept floating through Zoey's mind.

"I guess it was sudden for them."

"Mm, just a guess but I'd say they're pissed at me. Before you came out, I think they were trying to dump me for being a bad housemate."

"What? They tried to kick you out? After all you've been through as a vulnerable minority experiencing homelessness?"

Zoey groaned and held her head. Where do I even start? How could they be so insensitive, so toxic? How could their behavior be so problematic?

Aiko shrugged. "Sure felt like they had it in for me." Then she startled as Zoey clasped her hands solemnly.

"Aiko, as long as we're together, there'll always be a place for you here." The moment broke as Zoey's foot connected with a discarded gray hoodie. "Just... maybe pick up a bit more?"

"Kiddo, I've got a system."

"Y-yes, of course."

"How 'bout you? You okay being in their bad books?"

Zoey looked away. "I'm an independent, sex-positive woman. I don't need their validation."

Though it would have been nice. Lillian's glares and snark, Suki's shell-shocked silence. It unsettled her so. She was making the correct choice, right?

Lost in worry, Zoey didn't realize that her head had sunk against Aiko's shoulder until the ex-teacher wrapped a hand around her chest, stroking her breast. Zoey startled away immediately.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to -" Shit! She'd never discussed things, never actually gotten clear and unambiguous consent to sit this close, to impose so much intimacy on her!

Aiko snorted back a chuckle. "Kiddo, no big deal if you wanna saddle up next to me. I'm down for anything you want." But when that failed to settle Zoey's nerves, the professor rolled her eyes and steadied the young girl's hands.

"Look, let's do it your way: I, Aiko Yumi of the Dark Coven, daughter of Hepate, being of sound mind and body, give Zoey Greene total permission to rock my body, any day, any time. Lips, nips, fingertips and whatever the hell else you wanna grind up against me. We good?"

"It's pronounced Hecate. But thank you."

Zoey sunk back again, taking much-needed comfort from Aiko's warm body. Head and palm rested atop her heart, grounding her energies against the steady rise and fall of Aiko's chest.

The moment was interrupted by a weary sigh - Aiko seizing her wrist and steering Zoey's hand underneath her shirt to squeeze her bare breast. "There we go. Now we're getting somewhere." And then Zoey found her lips seized in another hot and heavy kiss.

So good... She quickly found herself returning the kiss, groping and inhaling Aiko's raw scent like a sorority girl chugging beer. I need this. After the rude departure of her coven sisters, she needed to feel good, to feel close to someone. Zoey fell onto Aiko's lips, groaning into their kisses

"Whoa, someone's got lots of energy!"

"How can I help it, this is all so -" so new but she caught herself before she could finish that confession. "- so good for me."

"Mmh, good is never what I call this. C'mere, you."

Zoey wanted to continue the needy make-out, the desperate embrace but she quickly found herself overpowered and overwhelmed, toppled onto her back with Aiko's heat and weight bearing down on her. Zoey didn't resist as her legs were pushed apart.

While Aiko's mouth worked down her throat, Zoey tipped her head to the side. Her eyes popped: orange and pink, purple and black. The god's eye decorations hanging above the TV glared back at her, judging.

Zoey broke away. "We really shouldn't. If Lil or Suki come out -"

"Oh fuck, wouldn't that be hot? Having them see us?"

Zoey looked deep into Aiko's eyes, searching for the punchline to that joke. She's not serious... is she? "I... I did lay out the house rules."

Aiko huffed. "Fine," and the dark dismissal in her eyes startled Zoey. "Scooch off. I'm gonna hit the bathroom."

"Oh... sure." New as she was to this sort of intimacy, Zoey had no illusions as to what Aiko was relieving herself of.

As she sat and waited on the couch, a door creaked open. Suki, in a Madoka Magica nightshirt, padded towards the fridge with an empty glass. Zoey brightened. "Hey, Suki!"

Like a startled rabbit, the ganguro girl spun on her heel and fled. The slam of another bedroom door left Zoey's head sinking. Hands pulled at Aiko's blouse, trying to stretch the fabric further down her lap, to shake off the shameful feeling of being naked and exposed.

Why can't they see? She and Aiko - both marginalized and racialized women of colour. Both had experienced homelessness and rejection - Zoey from her companions in the Womyn's Center, Aiko from her job and her home. And here, at the end of her rope, when Miss Yumi had been fully dependent on the kindness of a few strangers, she'd opened up to Zoey about her desires; had made herself vulnerable before Zoey. Help me out. Let me do you right.

Supporting Aiko's needs, helping her to live authentically - that's the feminist thing to do, right? Isn't this how we nurture our coven?

Zoey waited for an affirming "hai!" or a "you got this, boss bitch". There was only the distant flush of the toilet.

Aiko flopped back on the couch, her laidback grin refreshed. "Ahh, that's better. Hey, pass me the newspaper? Never finished today's Sudoku."

"Oh, sure."

They sat, Zoey on the far end and Aiko propped on her shoulder, legs stretched across the remaining sofa space. Aiko scribbled in her newspaper and Zoey ducked her face into her phone, stealing glances, wondering if she ought to wrap an arm around her lover or if that would just distract her. Against her fraying nerves, Aiko was the poster girl for 'chill and laid back'.

Zoey tried to emulate her pose - arm hooked over the couch, legs spread wide and lazy but it just made her feel like the worst sort of pretender.

I just need good night's rest. It'll all feel right tomorrow. So Zoey excused herself with a cough. "I should probably get to bed."

"Mmh, me too."

They stood and it startled Zoey when Aiko mirrored her turn towards the bedroom. "What? I figure I earned a cuddle in your bed after that session. Or were you going to send me back to the closet?"

"N-no, of course not."

Grinning, Aiko took her by the hand, leading the side-by-side stroll to the bedroom. She wasn't much taller, Zoey told herself, but the gap between them - so mature, so confident, so natural - made Zoey feel like a child holding mother's hand.

She did her best to play it cool, but with only a sidelong smirk, Aiko seemed to call her out as a fraud. "Relax, kiddo. Not like you haven't taken me to bed before."

In the bedroom, Zoey busied herself mounting a sock and locking the door while Aiko strolled in and made herself at home.

"Phew, still hot. Should probably crack open a window," she joked, shucking off her borrowed t-shirt and kicking off her shorts.

Zoey's heart jumped. Aiko left her lacy thong in place and it only accentuated the cheeky wiggle of her ass as she strutted to the cot. Flopping onto the mattress, Aiko splayed on her side, head propped up in her most alluring Playboy pose.

Zoey grimaced, thinking of her self-conscious website selfies where she contorted her body for hours in search of the perfect pose. It comes so naturally to her. Aiko was fully at ease.

Folding up her glasses, Aiko shook her hair loose and flashed her trademark smile. "Gonna keep me waiting, kiddo?"

Zoey's heart thumped as Aiko patted the empty half of the mattress. "J-just a minute."

Desperate not to seem naïve, Zoey fumbled with her blouse buttons and killed the lights. Her bare chest shivered in the dark. Aiko would still see her silhouette in the moonlight so Zoey did her best to emulate the older woman's hip-waggling strut; to her credit, she only stumbled twice on the floor-strewn clothes.

Aiko's wolf-whistle made her wince. "Neon orange. That's a new colour for me."

Dammit, of all the fresh sets of panties, why had she picked one of her childish, glow in the dark pairs? Zoey lay down on the creaky cot, steeling herself. The heat and presence of Aiko's body made her bed feel so foreign.

Aiko surprised her again, tousling her hair and offering a quick peck before turning towards the wall. "Well, good night."

"G-good night?"

"Fuck, I'm exhausted, kiddo."

"Huh? Oh, okay." Zoey chided herself for not considering her lover's needs, for not checking her privilege and assuming intimacy was on the table. "Um, sweet dreams."

But Aiko was already sawing logs. Feeling like a stranger in her own bed, Zoey curled her arms into her chest and followed the rise and fall of Miss Yumi's bare back. Every creak of the bedsprings felt like another door shut in her face.

Zoey had never thought about this part - lying in bed, sleeping with another person. Literally, just sleeping. Aiko's back loomed in her vision like an impenetrable wall, a fortress cutting her off from intimacy. Zoey couldn't settle her thoughts, couldn't fall asleep. She could only listen to her lover's breathing and wonder why she chose to turn away.

The oppressive silence dragged on an hour, two hours. Finally, Zoey shook Miss Yumi's shoulders. "Aiko? You awake?"

"Mmf... I am now," came the irritated grumble. "What's up?"

Zoey tried to summarize her jumbled thoughts - Lillian and Suki's rejection, Aiko's scowl on the couch when Zoey had called off their make-out; joining her in bed only to turn away from her. "Hey, tonight... it was good for you, right?"

Aiko's entire body heaved in a sigh. "You want the honest answer or you want a feel-good one?"

"Honest, of course!"

Aiko shifted onto her back, starring at the ceiling. It wasn't exactly eye contact but it was a start. "Don't get me wrong, it was exciting. Haven't had a good lay in months so the foreplay was hot as hell. But you're honestly pretty tame compared to what I'm used to."

Zoey had never realized her voice could choke up so meekly. "Tame?"

"Yeah, kinda expected more, seeing as you're a cam-slut and all."

Tame? Zoey retraced how she'd screamed and writhed as Aiko's tongue wrecked her body. She'd given everything she had back to her lover and it was... tame?

A dark vision left Zoey shivering - Aiko cutting ties, Aiko retreating to her closet, Aiko leaving her alone. She found herself grasping at the older woman's shoulders, desperate to hold her, to keep her close. "W-what do you need?"

"Kiddo, you really don't wanna know."

"Tell me!" Like the worst kind of cis-het male, Zoey had been thinking only of her own desires, ignoring her partner's pleasure. "I mean, my website - my viewership's been going down. I could … use some new ideas?"

The irritation from Aiko's frown hit her like a heat lamp. I'm losing her. "I want you to be honest with me."

Aiko studied her carefully, the university professor sizing up a pupil. "I can get... pretty intense. Are you sure?"

That trick question again! "Whatever you need," Zoey affirmed. "I'm here for you."

And to prove her point she scooted chest to chest with Aiko and started kissing her neck, glancing into Aiko's gray eyes after every peck for assurance. Here? Is this where you like it? Maybe here?

The wandering kisses only made the ex-teacher frown. "Turn around," she ordered. Zoey complied, gasping as Aiko assumed the big spoon position, heavy arms dragging Zoey tight against her body.

"So, black panther, wanna take a romp in my jungle, huh?"

A tiny "uh huh," was all Zoey could manage through her trembling jaw. Cold. Aiko's hands fell cold and clammy against her skin, alien tendrils winding around her, black and limitless. Zoey's aquaphobia briefly flared up - a drowning terror, like she was being swallowed by something dark and dangerous, a rabbit under a lion's paw.

Aiko, now a dark silhouette in the corner of her eyes, leaned over her ear. "Well, here's something that really turns me on."

Zoey's eyes widened as the dark whispers tumbled into her. "People... do that? I mean, I've seen that in exploitive, male-gaze centered pornography but..."

"It's the best! You've seriously never tried that? You, a cam-whore?" Being with Aiko never ceased to make her feel small and naïve.

"I mean -" but her words cut off with a squeak. She'd been vaguely aware of Aiko's palm caressing its way down her body, slipping under the elastic of her panties. Now, two fingers slid between her ass cheeks, rubbing, testing. Zoey whimpered.

"Looks like there's a helluva lot I could teach you," Aiko teased. "If you're willing to be a good girl."

"O-okay."

Dissatisfied, Aiko flipped them. Zoey found herself on her belly, dominated by Aiko's heat. "No. Say it like a good girl."

"Y-yes, mistress!" Aiko rewarded her with a nip on the ear.

"See, you're a natural! Okay, first lesson..."

Across the hallway, Suki lay curled in bed, eyes wide open, shivering at the rickety, back and forth creaking of bedsprings.