AN: Hi all! This chapter is a bit shorter, but I have a feeling you will like it ;) Leave a review to let me know your thoughts!
When Sara got back, she took note of the equally wet manes on Aura and Tegan, indicating they had showered together, because otherwise one would have been drier. Any other day, she would have teased them just to irk her sister for the sake of irking her sister, but Tegan's red, puffy eyes quickly dispelled any playful thoughts.
"Hey, how is Jess doing?" Tegan asked, letting her sister know that she didn't feel like talking about it right now.
Aura went out to the balcony. Tegan was the type to talk through all her feelings to process them, but Aura needed to be alone with her thoughts, which had sometimes strained them both. It wasn't anywhere near a degree that would cause real issues in the relationship, but it did take a longer adjustment period than most other things when they first started dating. A few misunderstandings and sincere apologies since then, and Tegan knew not to follow her outside, at least not immediately. Glancing back at the twins discussing their friend, or perhaps something else, Aura sent thankful waves to Tegan for her understanding.
About an hour later, Aura was still staring out over the city with her heels on the edge of her seat, resting her chin on her knees and hugging her legs. The sound of the sliding door opening and closing brought her out of her thoughts, but she was surprised to see Sara.
"Hey," Aura spoke and smiled softly.
"Mind if I sit?" Sara pointed to the other chair.
"You don't have to ask, but sure." Aura turned her head to rest it back on her knees but facing Sara now.
"Tegan told me...what you two talked about," Sara started hesitantly. Aura just nodded slightly, so she continued. "Is that really how you see it?"
"Yeah," Aura smiled more fully. "Does that mean I said the magic words? I was really racking my brain to figure out a, you know, seventeenth way to word it." She hoped the joke would help ease Sara, who was clearly struggling. Sara shook her head, but the edges of her lips curled the smallest bit. "I know there's no switch to flip, and none of this is going to feel better overnight. But even if you can't believe it right now, do you think you can maybe believe that I believe it?"
Sara bit her lip, looking out over the city. The sun was lowering, but it was still going to be up for a couple hours. It twinkled off the windows of buildings and then blurred. Tears dripped slowly from her eyes again. Everything she had told herself for so many years was being tossed aside by Aura, and it was...nice. She wasn't sure if she trusted it yet, but it felt like a single pound of weight had lifted off her shoulders. With the extra room, she took a deep breath.
"I'm trying," Sara whispered. She felt her hand being held, so she looked down at it and then back up at Aura.
"That's all anyone can ever ask," Aura said. She reached with her other hand to wipe the tears from Sara's cheeks. "Now come on," she stood, pulling Sara up with her. "Let's get pizza and make fun of a bad movie."
Sara and Aura ordered the food and were sitting on the couch, scrolling through Netflix to find something to watch. A knock at the door announced the pizza had arrived, so Sara answered it while Aura grabbed some beers from the fridge. Determined to find a beer that Aura liked, Tegan had made her taste test many different kinds just two months ago, and they figured out that she liked Guinness because 'it tastes like coffee'. Tegan thought Aura might have had a concussion when she said this, but she made sure to keep Guinness in her fridge after that.
The knocking had woken Tegan from her nap. Crying always gave her a headache that only sleep would cure. After allowing herself a few minutes to gather her bearings, she walked out to the living room and saw Aura and Sara on the couch, sitting with their legs crossed under them and making fun of whatever was on the TV. Then she noticed a pizza and two beers on the coffee table, which explained why Aura was sitting in the middle: less distance to reach for food. Deciding that pizza and beer sounded like a fantastic idea, she went to the kitchen to grab her own. Walking back into the living room, Tegan paused when she saw that Aura had moved to the far side of the couch, leaving open the middle seat instead of the one opposite Sara.
"Come sit, Tee. Have some pizza," Aura offered, as though there was nothing at all strange about having just moved.
Tegan gave the shortest glare to Aura, while Sara just stared at the TV and ate her pizza with one eyebrow raised, ignoring the whole situation. With a sigh, Tegan sat on the couch, making sure she was a couple inches closer to her partner, and took a long swig of her beer. Whatever point Aura was trying to make was probably going to make Tegan need the liquid courage.
Close to the end of the movie, one leftover pizza was in the fridge, three partial bottles sat on the table along with nine empty bottles, and three women had reasonably passed a simple buzz. Between the nonsensical film and the alcohol, tension and caution had been significantly eased. They all sat slightly closer to each other, having shifted from many animated jokes at the film's expense.
Since getting to know the sisters, Aura had noticed that both shared her drunken habit of becoming more handsy around anyone they were comfortable with. Personal bubbles shrank, arms over shoulders were more prevalent, and inhibitions faded. Currently, her hand was playing with the ends of Tegan's hair behind her head, while Tegan had her own hand on Aura's knee. They were angled toward Sara, who was telling another heavily gestured joke, slightly angled in her seat toward them. When her hands came down, one landed in her lap, but the other landed on Tegan's upper thigh, which was tilted on the couch, making the hand very close to a place it had never been.
Aura watched as Sara absentmindedly stroked her thumb along the seam, but the other two didn't seem to realize what was happening, instead watching the movie for the next bit to tease. With a bit more alcohol in her veins than she was used to, Aura decided to test something. Her hand moved forward a bit to the nape of Tegan's neck and began playing with the hair there, gently brushing her skin. It didn't take long of having two sensitive spots stimulated before Tegan's breathing faintly increased in pace.
Forgetting who was on which side and just drunk enough to not think to check, Tegan just assumed the hand on her leg belonged to Aura. Turned on from the touches and beer, she reached her left arm around 'Aura' and leaned in for a kiss. Tegan caught her bottom lip and quickly licked it to request entrance. The silky tongue sliding on her own just tasted like beer and pizza, but there was something a little bit different to the way it moved.
Puzzle pieces clicked in both minds at the same time, and Sara and Tegan parted slowly with dropped jaws and wide eyes reflected back to each other. Looking down, Tegan saw the hand on her inner thigh was Sara's, which was pulled away slower than it would have been earlier in the day. Before things could go a different route, Aura made another decision. Her hand was still on Tegan's neck, so she pulled her into a tender kiss. Standing, she wandered past them as they watched and waited.
"I'm tired," Aura said through a forced yawn. "I'm going to hit the hay, but you two stay up. Watch another movie. Or something." She walked down the hallway as she spoke to prevent any arguments and closed the bedroom door behind her.
Tegan and Sara turned their heads from the hallway to each other. Sara's hand was still midair from being removed, and Tegan's arm was still around Sara, but both just blinked for a moment.
"Did...did she just..." Sara trailed off. Her mind wasn't able to really sort through what had just happened, but also it wasn't really able to bring up her usual shame in any coherent manner.
"I think she just did," Tegan somewhat slurred with her thoughts at a similar capacity.
Sara's hand finally fell, but it landed back on Tegan's thigh. They both looked down at the connection and back up again. With muddled thoughts, their lips crashed together again. Tegan's hand that had been on her girlfriend's knee moved tentatively to her sister's knee, and the alcohol was continuing to dull the feelings that would have typically stopped them.
Thing got heated quickly. Long established rules started to be broken as hands roamed more than ever before. They had previously restrained themselves to the middle of the back and above the neck; now they were learning many new dips and curves. Tegan's head was spinning, and she pulled Sara closer but just kept going back. To avoid breaking their kiss, Sara brought herself onto the couch on her knees, and Tegan straightened out her legs. A hand found a breast, and they froze. Realizing their position, they scrambled apart, sitting back up normally and trying to calm their lungs and hearts.