because I kinda had the sudden urge to revisit this universe post-season three...
a continuation of chapter 16 [M... ish RATING]
It's a very easy thing; falling in love with Piper Chapman. Falling in love with Alex Vause.
It's an easier thing taking their relationship from one definition to another.
They'd fallen for each other hard and fast, but grew with a slow burn.
.
She sees a future with Piper.
It's a thought that Alex thinks should terrify her. And she's a little confused when she finds it doesn't. She'd never been one to think about the future. But she catches herself thinking of it in increasing frequency anytime she's around the blonde. Permanent fixtures she erects in her life, things she's never done for anyone else, pieces of herself she's never had the urge to give; it all tumbled freely with Piper. She'd promised herself early on that she'd never be the kind of woman who got tattoos for other people. She'd shake her head and scoff when her friends told her they were thinking about adopting pets together. She'd never envisioned herself inviting another person to share her living space, however much she might like them. And she'd balked at the idea of marriage and children and being tied down when there was a world full of unexplored potential.
She'd been a lot of things before Piper Chapman.
And she's surprised to find she doesn't so much mind the change.
.
Eventually Alex gets a new tattoo.
She calls it a birthday gift to Piper.
Another girl. Another flower.
"Y'know for someone who once vowed to never settle for something as boring as 'a flower', you sure are racking up an impressive personal collection," Piper breathes against her lips, fingers dancing idly against the roses blooming across her bicep as the faintest of touches brushes along the newer garden of her thigh.
"I've been having a bit of an easier time noticing that intricate beauty lately," Alex murmurs back.
And Piper pulls away from her lips with a growing grin, slowly sinking to her knees as she drops a gentle trail of kisses down her body. She spends the rest of the night mapping out Alex's various tattoos with her tongue, and showing her just much she appreciates her new birthday gift.
Alex shows up two months later with another "gift".
Piper's in her own shop, back facing the door when the bell jingles and Alex sidles silently up behind her. Leaning easily into the casual embrace as Alex's arms snake around her waist, Piper tilts her head towards the older woman's smirking mouth to receive a quick closed-lipped kiss.
"Did you finish all your highly secretive errands?" She murmurs.
"Mmmhm," Alex hums, dropping another quick kiss to her shoulder.
"Are you gonna tell me what they were?"
"Mmmmm..." Alex hums again, pressing the side of her face against Piper's, "I got you something."
"Mm! Is it another tattoo?" Piper teases gently.
"Better."
Setting aside her tools, Piper brushes off her hands, finally turning within Alex's embrace to properly face the older woman. "What is it?" She asks softly, sliding her own arms around Alex's waist. Grinning giddily, Alex slowly opens her mouth, allowing her tongue to slither leisurely out from between her lips. Piper gasps as a singular shiny stud glistens at her from the center of the brunette's tongue, "you pierced your tongue!?" She exclaims.
Alex pulls back, laughing, and Piper's hand flies up from her waist to grip her jaw, holding her still as she rolls out her tongue once more. "Did it hurt?" she murmurs, and Alex chuckles at the familiar question.
"Eh." She shrugs.
"Okay..." Piper murmurs, gaze still locked on Alex's mouth, as if entranced, "the tattoo I understand. Flowers. Intricate beauty. It's a sweet gesture that means something to us. But how in the world is this for me?"
And Alex pulls away, bobbing her eyebrows playfully before murmuring, "I'll show you in a few weeks."
And three weeks later when Alex rolls that cool stud against her nipples Piper arches with a gasp. And when Alex works that hard little ball against her clit Piper shudders with a guttural moan. And when Alex laughs quietly, asking her if it was a worthwhile present, Piper starts to think that maybe there is something to all these piercings after all.
.
They keep their relationship to themselves for the most part.
They're private people by nature, and take solace in the easy quietness of their contained existence. A handful of Alex's friends know. And Piper's younger brother and best friend know. But for the most part they choose simply not to mention it. Not that there's any attempt to keep it a secret. They just don't see the point in advertising a private thing.
Alex learns early on the nature of Piper's relationship with her parents, and she never pushes her to for any information or asks to be included in that area of her life. She knows what kind of blessing her relationship with her own mother had been. And she learns what she needs to through the monthly hushed and strenuous phone calls, when Piper finally finishes up and snuggles a little closer, clutches a littler tighter, burrows a little deeper. She's clingy by nature (something that Alex had never before found quite so adorable), but it always seems to triple after she's spent a night in the company of her parents.
"Hey," Alex murmurs, gently patting the singular bare leg poking out from under the covers, one particularly lazy morning. Or, mid-afternoon, if she's being totally truthful, "c'mon, up n'at'em."
There'd been a semi-annual Chapman family checkup call the night before. In which Piper's parents had announced they'd be in the city for the weekend, and expected their daughter's presence for a formal dinner the following evening. Tonight. She'd rolled her eyes, bemoaned her luck, and told Alex to make sure she went ("or I'll never hear the end of it") before tumbling into the bed after one another for the next however many hours of the night until sleep claimed them.
"Mm-mm." The mass of blankets shifts slightly as the leg disappears beneath it's confines. Alex can't help biting back a soft chuckle.
"Yah. C'mon, babe. Time to get up."
Piper's voice is petulant, muffled from the pile of comforters and pillows, "no."
Suppressing another chuckle, Alex disappears from the room, leaving the blonde to snooze for a little bit longer.
Piper's vaguely aware of her movements, moving from room to room, occasionally passing through the bedroom. She makes an effort to crack an eye open anytime the brunette gets close, watching her lazily as Alex busies herself with this and that.
"C'mon, Pipes," she murmurs gently, lowing herself to sit at the edge of the bed. "You parents are expecting you in a couple hours. You gotta start getting ready."
Piper's eyebrows furrow and she contemplates another childish "no" before gentle fingers begin swimming slowly through the hair at her temple. Letting out a quiet sigh at Alex's soft ministrations she burrows deeper into the blankets, nuzzling against Alex's hip. "I don't wannaaaa..." she whines quietly.
"You gottaaaa..." Alex coos, smiling as a blue eye blinks open once more and fixes her with a look that sends her insides melting. And fuck, if we ever had kids those eyes would be my downfall she thinks. Her hand pauses just briefly, as she contemplates the nature of that fleeting thought. Piper pouts.
"Why'd you stop?"
"Because you need to get up."
"I can't go," a cough, "I'm sick."
"You're not sick!" Alex laughs, leaning over her to pull down the comforter, "come on. You need to take a shower. Start getting ready."
"Take a shower with me." Grabby hands appear from the confines of the makeshift cocoon and Alex laughs again as she dodges their clutch.
"Oh no. We need to get you moving. And we both know that is never going to happen if I step into that shower with you."
"I'll behave." Lazy fingers are still searching fruitlessly and Alex can't quite fight the pull of those eyes anymore as she allows Piper's gentle grip to curl into her shirt.
"Yeah right." She teases, following the pull of insistent hands and leaning in for a soft kiss. It's enough to appease the blonde for a moment, humming contentedly as Alex pulls away. "Shower." She whispers, a soft command that she feels send a slight shiver down Piper's spine.
"Maybe if I go smelly my parents will leave sooner."
"My god, you are worse than a child!"
"You are." Piper mumbles.
"Ooh and just about as clever as one too." Alex teases before leaning in for another kiss, "come on. It's just dinner. The sooner you get it over with, the sooner we can laugh about all the horrible, out of touch things they've said."
This thought finally seems to have an effect on the petulant blonde, and she slowly begins to wriggle herself free from her cocoon of warmth. Pausing to fix Alex with one more pitiful look that has her chuckling and pressing another kiss to her pouting lips. She makes it to the doorway of the bathroom at a lazy shuffle before stilling once again and throwing the older woman an indiscernible look over her shoulder.
"Are you sure you don't wanna take a shower with me?"
Shaking her head and sucking in a slow lung-full of air, Alex mouths, "GO" and releases a quiet sigh as she hears the water kick on.
Piper reemerges some twenty minutes later, clad in nothing but a towel and makes a slow show of getting dressed, occasionally throwing Alex veiled looks from various stages of preparation. When she's finally dressed she checks the time and sighs, moving back towards the bed and the reclining brunette.
"I hate that I told you to make me go to this." She grumbles, sinking the brunt of her weight to her knee, propped against the bedspread, as the older woman sits up to meet her, hands sliding to cradle the small of her back as they settle against each other.
"It's gonna be fine. Just a few hours of dull conversation and you're free." Alex whispers, pressing a kiss to the underside of her jaw, "and afterwards..." another kiss against the arch of her neck, "you can come right..." her collarbone, "back..." the center of her chest, "here." She completes her sentence with a kiss against Piper's lightly pouting lips.
"Mmm..." Piper whines, "It's probably going to be late. I don't want you to have to wait up for me."
"I won't have to." Alex whispers, and Piper fixes her with a questioning look.
"What do you mean?"
She waits in patient silence a moment as Alex shifts, pulling something from her pocket and holding it up between them. She says nothing, simply waits for Piper to acknowledge the item before her and what it means.
"A... key?" Piper murmurs, reaching out a tentative hand. Her hand stills just before reaching it, hovering hesitantly over Alex's own.
"Mmhmm... to my apartment. For you. To come and go anytime you please."
She eyes the brunette before in a dazed sort of wonder, fingers lowering to curl gently around the cool metal, "really?"
A soft short breath of laughter escapes Alex's lips as her previously serious expression melts into something tender and warm. "Yeah," she murmurs, "really."
Piper's eyes alight with a shining sort of emotion Alex can't even begin to explain as her attention flicks between the key in her hand and Alex's own shining eyes. She's overwhelmed, Alex can tell, and she tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear as the girl comes to terms with the wave of emotions she's swirling in.
"Alex..." she murmurs, locking their gazes and exhaling with something between a laugh and a gasp.
And before Alex can formulate a response soft lips are upon her, and she's grinning wildly into a sloppy kiss.
"Thank you," Piper murmurs, lips brushing with every syllable as she refuses to pull away from the woman before her, "thank you."
She's not so reluctant to leave after that, giddy at the thought of her new gift.
"I'm going now," she grins to Alex a little while later as they pause in the threshold of her apartment door, "but I'll back be." Holding up the key and failing to hide a beaming smile and overflowing excitement, "Don't wait up, I'll let myself in."
And Alex has to bite her lip to contain her own gleaming grin as she watches the blonde disappear down the hall.
She'd thought she'd be too scared, giving the girl full uninhabited access to her space, was almost sure she'd regret it. But nothing in Alex Vause's life had ever felt quite so right as seeing Piper Chapman's radiant smile, and knowing that she herself had been the cause of it.
.
There's a stray cat that takes to hanging around outside their shops (which Alex takes to feeding).
She tells Piper it's an old habit picked up from Greta, who used to casually care for any wayward animal looking for a place to stay the night or a meal to fill their belly. The blonde's skeptical at first, having been raised in a manner that suggestion street animals are dirty and ridden with disease. But slowly the part of her childhood spent aching for a pet wins out and soon they're both caring for the charming tabby.
It's Piper who eventually gives the animal a name (Alex having been more than content to just call it Cat). And before either of them really realize it they suddenly seem to have adopted a wayward sort of pet.
"Hey Bandit," Piper coos to the purring tabby winding it's way around her legs as they open up for the morning.
Alex scoffs at the sight, shaking her head, as the three of them file into Piper's shop, "unbelievable. I basically had to convince you you weren't gonna catch some sort of wild disease from interacting with a street cat and now somehow you're the favorite." She turns, leveling the cat with a betrayed look and outraged finger, "all those months of me feeding you and convincing Piper not to throw you out and this is the thanks I get!?"
"Awww..." Piper pouts, pouring out a small amount of cat food in the base of an unused pot, "is someone feeling jealous?"
"More like scorned." Alex grumbles as she watches the cat hop up onto the counter and begin eating. "Betrayed..."
"Unappreciated?" The blonde has come around the counter now, and eases her arms around Alex's waist as she moves to lean into her.
"A little." The brunette lets on, raising a solitary eyebrow.
"Anything I can do to fix that?"
Struggling to keep up her irritated facade, Alex turns her face away, studying the other end of the room. She has to bite back a small grin when she feels Piper's gentle lips descend on the slope of her neck, imparting a trail barely-there kisses.
"Poor Alex," she coos, voice low, "feeling under appreciated and sad. Whatever can we do to show her our appreciation?"
A squeeze on her rear brings the grin Alex had been so valiantly fighting to her face and Piper matches it with a beaming smile of her own.
"Don't start anything you won't be willing to finish," She murmurs, leaning so that their lips brushed just barely with every word.
"Who says I won't be able to finish?" Piper drawls, pressing forward in an attempt to capture lips as the older woman pulls her head back.
"Um, we have had sex in my place of business thirteen times now and every time I try to even the score you come up with some inane excuse as to why we can't."
"You've got couches," Piper mumbles, directing her attention to the pulse of Alex's neck, "all I've got is dirt and empty pots."
"Oh please," Alex scoffs, tilting her head to allow better access, "we were doing perfectly fine with the counter over there three weeks ago before you cut me off right as it was getting exciting. Just because I don't have balls doesn't mean blue balls isn't a thing."
"You're being dramatic." Her teeth scrape the sensitive skin of Alex's neck, tongue darting out for the barest of tastes, "I can't help that Bandit walked in."
"He's a cat!"
"It's weird!" Piper exclaims, pulling away from the small bruise she'd begun to paint across Alex's creamy skin, "animals pick up on that sort of thing!"
"Oh my god," Alex mutters, "you are ridiculous. Until you get over this weird fear of fucking in front of the cat, there will be no seduction within the walls of your domain, yah little tease." Extracting herself with a wave of her hand and soft grin, she begins heading towards the doorway.
"Alex" Piper calls whiningly after her, "It's like having sex in front of our child!"
But the only response she gets is Alex's deep echoing laugh as she disappears through the door.
(Though she does manage to make that thirteen a fourteen several hours later.)
.
"Hey," Piper breezes into the shop one morning, hands full of mail for both her store and Alex's, "Polly's got an emergency meeting across town so she's bringing Finn by later, but I've got a huge order I need to fill by five so do you think you could keep him entertained for an hour or so until I finish up?"
"Hey," Alex purrs, pulling the rambling blonde to a gentle halt and leaning in for a quick kiss. She'd met the boy on a handful of occasions and, much to Piper's utter delight, had hit it off immediately, "that's fine. My last appointment's at three, I'll swing by when I'm finished."
"Thank you," Piper smiles, returning her attention to sorting through the collective mail, "I shouldn't be more than an hour, it's just they need it by five and the delivery guy can't make it with the last pieces until three, so..."
"I keep telling you to hire some help," Alex scolds lightly, trailing absently after the blonde.
Piper leans briefly into her as Alex's hands crawl across her hips, her nose dropping to trail lightly across her shoulder, "and I keep telling you, I like having the place to myself. I can't fathom having to tell a bunch of kids how to cut this and where to trim that. It just sounds like too much of a headache. I'm perfectly fine working alone. I get things done."
"I know you do, babe," Alex murmurs, dragging her lips up the blonde's neck in a deliberately slow trail of kisses, "but a little help would let you relax more. You work yourself to the bone sometimes. I just want you to make sure you're not overexerting yourself."
"Well thank you," Piper murmurs, turning to face the brunette at her back and dropping a slow kiss to her lips, "I appreciate the concern. But really. I'm fine." Another kiss, "I'll see you around four?"
"Mmmm..." Alex hums, a lazy smile stretching across her face as she watches the blonde retreat towards her own shop once more.
Her meeting wraps up around 3:45 and she ducks out the door and into Piper's shop the second she's free. Finn's sitting patiently atop a stool, asking Piper question after question about the arrangement she's currently preening. Alex smiles softly as she listens to Piper patiently answering each one of the boy's inquiries.
"What're you too good to say hello to me now?" Alex calls, grinning as the boy's head whips towards the door and the sound of her voice.
"Alex!" He calls eagerly, scrambling off the stool and propelling himself towards her.
"Hey there, kiddo!" Alex laughs, "you wanna head over to my shop while aunt Piper finishes playing with her boring flowers?"
"Yes!" He exclaims, excitedly grabbing Alex's hand and tugging her towards the door. She barely has time to toss a quick goodbye over her shoulder as the boy pulls her out the door and out of Piper's sight.
The shop is quiet when Piper lets herself in through the locked door an hour later, and she takes her jacket off slowly, listening for any signs of life in the still parlor. Muffled giggles drift down the hall and she smiles to herself, depositing her jacket on Alex's desk and moving further into the shop. They're sitting together on the floor in one of the back rooms when she finds them, heads drawn close, ignoring whatever cartoon it was that prattled softly on on the TV before them.
She lingers in the doorway for a moment, watching them silently. She'd been somewhat hesitant, the first time they'd met. Nervous about how Alex might react to the the presence of a child hanging around them for the day (in hindsight she realizes the ridiculousness). The first meeting had been an accident. Still rather early in their relationship, as they were both still tentatively feeling out what exactly they were doing here, in this new physical aspect of it all. It had been a Sunday, a day off for both of them spent free from their places of business, when Alex showed up at her apartment unexpectedly.
"Alex!" Piper exclaimed in quiet shock upon opening her door, "wwww... what are you doing here?"
"Aha..." Alex chuckled haltingly, "I... was in the area, and thought I'd swing by? If this is a bad time..." An uncharacteristic nervousness seeped across Alex's form and Piper suddenly realized what the older woman must be thinking.
"No! I mean. It... I'm just..." a sigh, "my friend Polly recently moved to the city, and... I'm watching her son for the day."
Alex's eyebrows had jumped in quiet surprise as the tension left her body, "oh. Um. Well... I can... go?"
"No," Piper reached out, hesitates, "I mean... you can stay... if you want... I just... didn't really think children were... your thing."
Alex husked out a low chuckle at Piper's stumbling words, "Well I don't spend a lot of time around them. But... it doesn't mean I have anything against them."
And, of course, Finn had taken to Alex instantaneously.
By the time Polly showed up to collect him, Piper thought she might have to pry the two apart. Polite introductions were made, thankfully aided by Finn's unending testament about how amazing Alex was. And Polly begrudgingly whispered a soft "okay, I can see the appeal." just outside Piper's door as she and Finn waved their final goodbyes.
Closing the door gently behind her, Piper bit back a giddy grin as she leaned against the cool wood, studying Alex quietly for a moment, a gentle touch of fondness in her eyes. "Hey..." she eventually murmured, losing the fight with her budding grin as Alex murmured another soft hey back. Pushing off the door, she slowly began making her away across the floor towards the waiting brunette, "so..."
"So." Alex whispered in return, making her own lazily calculated trail towards the blonde in the center of the hall.
"Are you gonna sleep over?" Piper asked quietly against her lips, when they meet, arms winding slowly around Alex's waist.
"Do you want me to?" Both of them biting back grins now.
"Yes."
It wasn't until much later in the night, as they lay quiet and spent, tangled around each other and the sheets of Piper's bed, that Alex murmured, "I had fun today."
And Piper couldn't fight the smiles that bloomed wildly across her face as she leaned in, capturing Alex's lips with her own and showing her just how much the soft declaration meant to her.
She doesn't know how long she stands there, leaning against the doorway, watching them color. She's lost in her thoughts until Alex turns and fixes her with a gently imploring smile.
"What're you doin'?" She asks softly, catching Finn's attention, as his little head whips around to fix it's gaze on Piper.
"Nothing," she murmurs, shaking her head slowly, and moving into the room to join them.
They don't say much else as she settles down beside Alex, who curls an arm around her shoulders, tucking her into her side. She listens as Finn prattles on and on about whatever it is they'd been discussing, breathing deeply against Alex's shoulder and filling her lungs with the sweet scent that was uniquely her. And I could get to used to this Piper thinks before she can quite catch herself. It's a thought that gives her pause, a soft sort of apprehension pouring over her. But it only lasts a moment before Alex's husky laugh vibrates through their connected bodies and her warm eyes turn to meet Piper's.
And suddenly it's a thought she thinks they both might be okay with.
"I like him." Alex murmurs later that night, settling between Piper's legs. Her hands slowly push Piper's t-shirt up her ribs and she drops a slow lingering kiss just under her naval before whispering, "we should have our own someday."
Piper's head tilts, eyes dropping to regard the brunette at her overly casual admittance.
"Are you serious?" She asks, hesitantly, fingers threading through Alex's hair as she begins to work on ridding Piper of her pants.
"I'm always serious." Another kiss. This one between her thighs. "I think we'd be good at it," Piper's jeans hit the dresser somewhere behind her, "or... you'd be good at it. I might suck." Hands returning to Piper's hips, her fingers slide beneath the material of her panties as she slowly begins to draw them down the blonde's long, firm legs, "you're good with him. He's good with you. I wouldn't mind... one of our own... one we wouldn't have to part with at the end of the night... one who's... us. Me and you. Together."
Her arms snake around Piper's thighs, pulling her down the bed until she's settled and waiting under the brunette's gentle gaze, "not now I mean. Obviously there's still a lot we'd have to settle before bringing a kid into this mess."
Alex's eyes sparkle as they meet Piper's blue, and she can't help trailing her fingers through those dark tresses once more, hand skating gently down to cup the older woman's cheek.
"Someday though," Alex murmurs, turning to kiss Piper's palm, "I think I'd like to with you."
They stay like that for a bit, locked in the moment and one another's gazes. A silent conversation. A million unspoken words. Piper's thumb brushes just so across Alex's lips before the older woman grins, return her attention to the treasure before her.
"Besides," she murmurs casually before leaning to drag her tongue through Piper's folds in a single long, smooth stroke, "you'd make such a hot mom."
Whatever protests Piper prepared die in her throat as Alex buries the rest of her laughter between her legs, pulling away briefly only to say "total MILF."
She barely feels the halfhearted slap Piper lands on her shoulder, already too lost in the sensation of Alex's mouth to do much more.
"You'd make a good mom too," Piper murmurs against the cusp of sleep some hours later, when they're both naked and sated.
Alex falls asleep with a smile on her face.
.
"So what'll happen if you ever take any of them out?" Piper asks one night as they're nestled atop one of Alex's couches. They'd ordered dinner in, as Alex finished up some work before closing up, Piper settling in idly, half-watching some indie movie playing on the pay-per-view channels, before their attention had diverted to lazy fooling around. They lay intertwined in various states of undress; Piper's jeans unbuttoned and hanging open having been thoroughly ransacked by Alex's wandering hands, and Alex topless and warm beneath her.
Piper's fingers trail absently over her nipples, pausing to dance around the hard nubs of the piercings. She's never quite lost her initial fascination with them.
"They'll close back up." Alex murmurs, fingers trailing gently through Piper's golden locks as she flirts with sleep.
"Hmmm..." Piper hums, falling silent, and Alex sleeps a little closer to that delirious edge.
She's somewhere in the hazy reality of half-sleep when Piper's wandering fingers retract, and she sighs for a moment at the loss of the gentle ministrations. Abruptly though, the absence of Piper's fingers is replaced with the warmth of her mouth, causing Alex in inhale sharply and arch her back. Humming low and deep in her throat, she settles into Piper's new ministrations. The fingers that had fallen lax within her blonde tresses tightening gently.
She loses herself in the sensation of Piper's soft suckling, caught up in the confusing haze of sleep and reality, losing all sense of time as the night stretches quietly on around them and the forgotten movie flickers patterns of dancing colors across the dark walls around them.
Eventually pulling back with a contended sigh, Piper murmurs, "I hope you never decide to do that."
Leaning forward, she places a final kiss upon each of Alex's straining nipples, "I'd miss them too much."
.
She eventually convinces Piper to allow her to fill in the outlines of her tattoo.
Appearing at the entrance of the flower shop with a quiet knock she pauses, hanging through the half-open door, "C'mere," she murmurs softly, "I wanna show you something."
Dusk is setting in, and she knows the blonde had been preparing to close up and head on over to her own domain, but she can't bring herself to wait any longer. She'd been practicing for months now, patiently going over the motions again and again until she got them just right. Just perfect.
Casting her a confused gaze, Piper brushes the last of the dirt from her hands and makes her way to the door, "everything alright?"
"Yeah," Alex whispers, smiling softly, self-consciously, "I just... I wanna show you something."
They walk the short distance between the shops in relative silence, and Alex holds the door open invitingly as Piper eyes her in poorly contained interest. She leads her to the back room, where a stretch of pigskin lays splayed across a table and Piper furrows her eyebrows in confusion. It's unlike Alex to practice on such an expensive canvas, and Piper knows this.
"I wanted to make sure I got right." Alex explains cautiously, as they approach the makeshift canvas.
She waits nervously as Piper's eyes take in the scene before her, gasping softly as she realizes the familiar design. "Alex..." she breathes, stepping a little closer as if to trail her fingers over it, hesitating in the last moment. "It's..."
Before her lies a perfect replica of her own tattoo, the one Alex had convinced her to get, the flowers her grandma had taught her to grow, the one she still catches herself looking at anytime she's naked or alone. Except, there was color to this one, a brilliant splash of twisting hues.
"Watercolor." Alex murmurs, "I've been practicing for months. I thought it'd be... nice. For coloring. I mean." She's nervous, rambling slightly under Piper's silence, a rare occurrence that comes out anytime she's put a lot of time into something. Anytime she's put effort in something for Piper. "I know we'd talked about adding some color before, and that it was all mostly a joke, you obviously don't have to or anything, but I thought... it deserved a coloring worthy of it's canvas... beautiful."
"Beautiful." Piper whispers back, gaze lingering on the image for a moment longer before she tears herself away, turning back to face the brunette, "Alex... I love it."
"You do?" Alex asks softly, her brow furrowing hopefully.
"Yes." Piper murmurs, crossing the room to take the older woman's face within her hands, "it's beautiful."
A soft breathless laugh escapes Alex's lips before Piper captures them with her own.
It takes her nearly fifteen minutes to convince Piper to wait until tomorrow. Insisting that she wants to take her time with the several hour long process and that she's already made sure to clear her schedule for the following day anyway. The blonde eventually relents, though buzzes with excited energy for the rest of the night.
"Lookit you, kid." Alex murmurs as they settle into her bed a couple hours later, "not even a year ago and I could barely talk you into getting a tattoo at all. Now you're chompin' at the bit for a new one."
"It's not a new one," Piper murmurs, burrowing into the blankets and Alex's warmth, "it's... a revisitation."
"Oh?" Alex hums with a soft chuckle.
"Yeah... reacquainting with an old friend," her voice is slow and thick with sleep as she fights off a yawn, "it was this tattoo that finally brought us together, y'know?"
"Yeah..." Alex murmurs, "I know."
"So... the outline was just the foundation... and the color is all the good stuff that comes after."
She considers teasing the tired blonde for a moment, poking gently at her wax-poetic ways as she slowly drifts to sleep. But something about those words catch inside Alex's chest, and she lingers in them for a moment, turning them over in head. Piper's asleep by the time she lowers her lips to her temple, exhaling a soft kiss, and quiet "yeah."
She thinks she knows exactly what Piper means.
.
They're a little over a year into their relationship when an old friend comes to visit.
The bell above the door rings as she steps into the small shop, idly taking note of the small changes and comforting consistencies. She can hear voices coming from the back and patiently waits for the brunette to appear. It doesn't take long for Alex to swing into the hallway, laughing warmly at something over her shoulder, and Greta watches her distracted approach quietly. A contented sort of happiness seems to radiate from her and Greta finds herself wondering just what's gotten into the girl to make her so uncharacteristically exuberant.
"Well. Aren't you a sorry sight for sore eyes."
Alex's head snaps up at the familiar tone, eyes alighting with a new sort of elation, "Greta!"
Her speed picks up and Greta finds herself chuckling warmly as the younger woman pulls her into a quick embrace before she can stop herself, "good tah see ya, Vause."
"What are you doing here?" Alex asks giddily.
"Family's in town for a bit, thought I'd come up with 'em. Visit some old faces n' familiar places."
A quiet chuckle slips from the brunette's lips as they stand with their hands still resting atop one another's shoulders, "god, it's so good to see you. You haven't aged a day," she winks, and the older woman finally pulls away.
"Ah, that familiar Vause charm I've missed so much."
"How long're you in town for?"
"Just a few days, thought I'd swing by and see how the old shop's doin'. Damn girl don't even have her open though."
Something sheepish passes over Alex's face, and before Greta can comment on it another voice drifts down the small hallway.
"I hope you have no sentimental attachments to this shirt, because it is unequivocally mine now."
Popping an eyebrow in silent question, Greta's initial curiosities are confirmed as the sheepish grin returns to Alex's face with a vengeance.
A blonde haired woman appears from the lip of the hallway, attention focused on the long sleeves of the large flannel she was currently tucking her fingers into, "seriously Al, this is like the most comfortable thing I've ever worn..." her gaze rises to meet the two women, words slowly tampering out as she pauses. "Oh... um... hi," she fumbles and Greta's eyes flick to take in Alex's soft admiration as she watches the blonde.
"Pipes..." Alex smiles, amusement dancing in her eyes, "this is Greta."
"Ah, so you're the young thing that bought up my shop," the woman gruffs, smirking softly, "how ya doin', Blondie?"
"Greta! Wow! It's so good- um, great to meet you! Face to... face... I mean. Um... yeah, fine, I'm good. I, uh... mm..." the two older women watch her amusedly as Piper stumbles awkwardly before Alex lets out a soft laugh and pulls her into her side.
"Didn't take you very long, did it?" Greta chuckles as Alex drops a quick kiss to the blonde's temple.
"Look at her! She's just too damn cute, Gret," Alex grins, "I mean, can you blame me?"
A warm chuckle rumbles from the older woman's lungs as she studies the couple before her, "ay, I supposed I can't."
They chat idly for awhile before Piper excuses herself, telling Alex she'll call her later and Greta that it'd been a pleasure to meet her again, and the two older women decide to grab a six pack from the store down the street before moving their reunion to the roof of Alex's shop. A old routine that they find themselves following on instinct.
It doesn't take long for conversation to steer back towards the blonde.
"Would you believe me if I said she's kind of my best friend?" Alex murmurs, thumb flicking idly at the slowly peeling label of her bottle.
An uncharacteristic hesitance coats her words and Greta studies the girl for a moment before murmuring, "I would."
A slow, contained smile stretches thoughtfully across Alex's lips at the older woman's soft words, and she lets out the faintest hum of a chuckle, "it didn't even start out with any sort of underlying intentions, yknow? I just kept seeing her around and... I liked her. And then she started coming around... and then I started coming around. And I think I sort of fell in love with before I knew..." Alex's fingers still atop the soggy label, words dying on her lips. She pauses for a moment, sifting through her thoughts, then whispers, "before I knew what was happening."
Greta says nothing, eyes lingering upon the thoughtful brunette before turning towards the city before them and taking a long pull from her drink. "Have you told her?" She eventually murmurs, once she's sensed Alex's rolling thoughts have settled.
"Yeah," she breathes with a quiet grin.
They fall silent once more, slowly draining their beers as night descends upon the city.
Alex drops Greta off at her family's hotel, waits until the older woman has made it through the doors, and heads to Piper's.
The blonde's door is unlocked, something that normally irks Alex, but tonight squeezes gently at something within her heart. And Piper's curled in bed and fast asleep when she strips herself of her outer layers are crawls up behind her. Her arms weave deliberately around the blonde's waist, pulling until her back is flush against Alex's chest, and Alex begins to drop a barrage of kisses against her exposed neck. Letting out a quiet hum, Piper shifts contentedly in her arms, slowly pulling herself from the grips of sleep.
"Did you have a nice time?" She murmurs, fingers threading with Alex's own against her stomach.
"Yeah." Alex breathes, burying her face against the slope of Piper's neck and drawing a deep breath, "move in with me."
"What?" Piper asks dazedly, turning to watch the brunette from over her shoulder.
"Move in with me," Alex repeats, locking eyes with her and holding her gaze.
"I... are you sure?" Piper shifts, attempting to face the older woman more fully, but Alex's arms lock, holding her in place.
And she lets out a delirious and quiet laugh against Piper's shoulder blade, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. Pipes. Move in with me."
"Okay."
"Yeah?" She laughs softly again, almost disbelievingly.
"Yes."
.
She sees a future with Piper.
And it's a thought that Alex thinks should terrify her.
Except.
It doesn't.
Not at all.
Not even a little bit.
She'd been a lot of things before Piper Chapman.
But she'd never been in love.
And Alex Vause finds she doesn't so much mind the change.
Because before Piper Chapman life was like an unfinished tattoo, and now it's a garden of screaming color.
so I hate the phrase "well it's AU so out of character behavior doesn't matter" and honestly it makes me sad to see so many people fall back on that particular line of thought. I think when you're choosing to write characters who aren't your own, characters who are already established, you have a certain obligation to uphold them for who they are. and I think as a writer, if you're accepting remarks saying they didn't feel like the characters you were attempting to portray "but who cares cause it's AU" you're choosing not to grow. you're not interested in bettering yourself. and that's just something that makes me sad.
these are just things I've been thinking a lot about lately. as someone who writes almost entirely AU. it just feels very sad to see people abuse the medium of AU as a way to excuse anything goes. it kind of makes me start asking what the point of putting any effort into AU is then.
anyway the original Tattoo Shop/Florist chapter was the second highest reviewed chapter (first if you don't count sequel chapters), so it felt like a story that deserved a little more. also, like I said, it felt good to dive back into one of my happier universes following season three (this chapter has technically been in the works for a long time, I know). it kinda feels like all I can write anymore are photographic-snippet, moment-driven pieces. I'm trying to dive back into to actual more fleshed-out stories but I can't seem to make myself lock them in & it's kind of frustrating. I feel like I'm losing my touch. Hence the super long delay between each chapter & the slow decline of quality. but I hope y'all enjoyed this followup & that it lived up to it's predecessor in some way :)