Heather and Vicky sat on the couch in Vicky's apartment, watching some inane TV show about a sponge and a starfish.
"So..." Heather began as she looked over at Vicky.
"Yeah?"
"The kids are downstairs playing video games..."
"Yep."
"...Wanna bang?" a devious smile appeared on Heather's face.
Vicky's face now took on a wonderful shade of crimson. "Excuse me?!"
"C'mon... I've seen the way you look at me..."
"I don't-"
"And you've seen the way I look at you..."
"You're mistaken, I may have... 'entertained' those thoughts a few days ago, but I'm not..."
"Vicky." Heather began creeping across the couch toward Vicky. "There's nothing wrong with you liking me, just like there's nothing wrong with you liking Timmy..."
"I- I never said there was!"
"Alright then, so you don't mind if I-" Heather leaped at Vicky like a cat would a mouse, pinning her to the couch. "-do this?"
Vicky said nothing, but her blush darkened slightly. "Get off..."
"We're both about to..."
"I'm serious! Get off!"
"Or what?" Heather challenged, while lowering herself dangerously close so that her and Vicky's faces were centimeters apart.
"I'll..." "You'll what? Make her get off you and continue to lie about what you want?" "I don't want this..."
"Sure you do..." Heather replied, unaware that Vicky was talking to her thoughts, not her.
"See? Even she knows you want this, just give in, you know Timmy would if he were in your shoes... Hell, he probably is right now! Him and Tootie, alone downstairs... all that sexual tension..." "Grr... shut up! He wouldn't..." "Alright fine, maybe he wouldn't, but that doesn't mean you have to be a prude and not take advantage of the opportunity before you!"
Heather patiently watched the girl beneath her have a silent war with her thoughts, doing her best to contain the laughter that was bubbling up at the spectacle before her.
Finally Vicky sighed. "Fuck it."
"Fuck wha-?" Heather was thrown backwards as Vicky lunged forward with the strength she was known for and crashed lips-first into Heather. "Oh, I see."
Heather returned the kiss with equal fervor, they clearly both wanted this, Heather just didn't realize how much Vicky wanted it. With all her denying, she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever get her chance, but it seemed that Fate had conspired in Heather's favor, for once. Well, Fate and Timmy, to some extent.
Vicky pulled away, her blush beginning to fade, and looked down at herself to see that she was now without a shirt, as was Heather.
"Ooh... lacy and black, it really compliments my lacy and white, don't ya think?" Heather asked.
"How- How did you even manage that?"
"Got magic hands, just ask your sister..."
"Don't make this weird... bedroom?" Vicky glanced over to her bedroom door.
"See, now you're speaking my language..." Heather got up and grabbed Vicky's hand, leading her into her own bedroom.
"I know where my bedroom is..."
"Hey, I'm trying to be all romantic and junk!"
Vicky merely rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be pulled along, she was going to be bad, to live a little... there was nothing wrong with that, right?
Downstairs...
"What do you think they're up to?" Tootie paused the game and looked over at Timmy. She had heard a strange noise a few minutes earlier that sounded like someone bumping into the couch.
"Beats me. I'm a guy in a house with three women, I know better than to try to understand how you all tick. No offense."
"Careful, all this estrogen might make you turn into a girl!"
"I hope not, Vicky making me wear a dress when she babysat me was terrible, I don't know what I'd do if I actually started to enjoy the idea..."
"I'm kinda curious to see you in a dress now..."
"You can go ahead and bury that thought right now. It ain't happening."
"C'mon..." Tootie scooted closer.
"No."
"Please? For me?" she leaned in close now, her breath tickling his ear.
"Tootie?"
"It wouldn't be so bad to mess around a little... just as friends?"
She was using his logic against him now. After their little tickling incident, where Timmy stated it was 'platonic' tickling. He should've known it would come back to bite him.
He felt Tootie press her lips to the corner of his mouth and an idea sprang to mind. "I have to know if I have feelings for her. Otherwise, this... whatever it is, it'll only cause problems between the four of us..." Pushing rational thought away, Timmy turned his head so the kiss was a real one, not a 'corner of the mouth-maybe-I-like-you' kiss, but a full his lips on hers 'this-might-go-somewhere' kiss.
He wrapped his arms around her small frame and pulled her flush against him, causing her to squeak in surprise and return the kiss as best she could.
The first feeling he felt from the kiss was not the one he expected, he had been kissed by Tootie before and back then he felt something. The barest hint of like, not love, but he pushed the feeling down and away back then, he was afraid of the feeling, afraid of Tootie and the way she treated him, like her prisoner, or someone she already had. This feeling was nowhere to be found now, it was replaced by guilt. He felt guilty, for betraying Vicky? That seemed to be it. He was betraying her trust by kissing Tootie now. Would she betray him? If she did, was what he was doing right? No, two wrongs don't make a right, he knew that.
The other feeling was... nothing. Those times before, when Tootie kissed him, it was like they never existed. He felt nothing for Tootie from this kiss, it was what he wanted to find out, if he did feel anything for her, but he didn't. They were friends, and it seemed that finding their own relationships had caused whatever was between them to disappear. Now all he felt was guilt for doing the very thing he was afraid Vicky would do with Heather, for all he knew, what she really was doing with her.
After an undetermined amount of time, the two separated and looked at each other, no flushed color on either face.
"I- I didn't feel..."
"Anything?" Timmy interrupted her.
"No..."
"I thought so... this thing we had between us..."
"It's gone."
"Yeah..."
"I'm... sorry. For kissing you. I know you and Vicky..."
"Don't be, at least now we know. It was gonna drive us both crazy if we didn't sort it out..."
"So... is this gonna be awkward? All our interactions?"
"Not if we don't let them."
"Friends then?"
"Best friends."
"Corny."
"Perhaps."
"I know I've I said this, but..."
"I know. You love me, and I love you."
"How do we...? I mean... what we've done... and been through... together..." the look of confusion on Tootie's face was priceless.
"Well... maybe I was wrong. 'Friends' doesn't quite fit with what we have..."
"No..."
"When... the time comes... I'd be happy to call you my sister... in law."
"Who you just kissed."
"Way to make it awkward."
"So you really do love her then?"
"...I do."
"And from what you just said, you plan on marrying her one day?"
"Yes."
"Then why are you down here?"
"Because you need me."
"But she's up there with Heather right now, and I'm pretty sure we both know what might happen."
"Like I told Heather, Vicky's a big girl, the last thing she wants is someone telling her what to do."
"So you're okay with her cheating on you?"
"I didn't say that, I said- You... you don't think she would, do you?"
"Why? Is that why you left her alone with Heather?"
"Well... Heather thought she'd get some 'alone' time with Vicky, I just figured Vicky wouldn't..."
"You have a little too much faith in her, sorry to say. I'm pretty sure we've both seen the way they look at each other."
"I have made a terrible mistake."
"Unless you want her to cheat on you."
"No! Of course not! I just- I don't know how to tell her when I'm not really comfortable with her doing things..."
"Well, you need to start. If you're gonna ever have a real relationship with her, you need to grow a spine, Timmy."
"I have a spine..."
"Then go up there and tell her that you aren't okay with the two of you having an open relationship. If you're a 'one woman kinda guy' like you say, then tell her that you want her that she needs to be the same!"
Timmy opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, leaped off the couch, and ran out the door, leaving Tootie alone in the apartment.
"What an idiot..."
Back upstairs...
"Ooh! What's this?" Heather had interrupted Vicky's planting kisses on her neck upon seeing a small gift wrapped box on the bedside table.
"Um... a gift from Timmy..."
"Oh? Birthday gift?"
"Yeah, I haven't gotten a chance to open it yet..."
"Why not now?" Heather looked up at Vicky from her position of being pinned on the bed.
"'Cause we're... in the middle of something?"
"Well, we can get back to it in a sec, but I wanna see what's in here!" Heather moved Vicky off of her with her foot and handed her the box. "I think you should do the honors."
Vicky groaned out a word that sounded like 'fine' and began undoing the wrapping paper. As much as she was curious as to what exactly Timmy had bought her, she really wanted to get back to what she was doing several seconds earlier.
"Are things okay between you two?"
"Yeah, why do you ask? Things are great." Vicky didn't bother to look up from unwrapping the gift.
"I dunno, just seems odd that Timmy doesn't care if we... y'know..."
Finally she stopped and looked up. "What now?"
"Yeah, I asked him earlier, while we were at the mall if he was okay with me coming up here."
"Well... he probably thought we were just gonna hang out..."
"I made my intentions fairly clear." Heather had moved to the headboard of the bed, folding her arms back to rest her head on her hands. "If he didn't know my reason for coming up here, then he really is dense."
"Wait, you came up here to get in my pants?" Vicky looked at Heather incredulously.
"Duh."
"At least she's honest..." "You can be really impossible to figure out, you know that?"
"I like to have an air of mystique about me."
"What else did he say?"
"He said he trusted that I wouldn't hurt you, that you were big enough to make your own decisions, that he wouldn't dream of trying to control you... Sounds to me like he really loves and trusts you."
While Heather spoke, Vicky took the opportunity to finish unwrapping her gift. It was a small, black velvet box. Opening it revealed a small, folded up piece of paper, beneath which sat a crystal pendant, pink, cut into the shape of a teardrop and attached to a silver chain. Setting the box aside, Vicky unfolded the note and read it.
Vicky, I know you said I didn't have to get you anything on your birthday, but I had to. It didn't feel right to not get you anything. I saw this at the mall and the color made me think of your eyes, I'm not very good at poetry type stuff, so I'm not gonna get all sappy here, but when I look into your eyes and I see the love in them... well, it makes my heart feel all fluttery. Guess that must be the whole 'butterflies' thing people who are in love talk about. No one has ever made me feel this way, not ever. Anyway, I don't want this to run on for too long, sorry I didn't think to get you a birthday card, I hope this makes up for it. Happy Birthday Vicky, I love you, -Timmy.
"My boyfriends an idiot... and so am I..."
"Huh?" Heather watched as Vicky left the bedroom and went back into the living room. Noticing the paper she left behind, Heather picked it up and read it, then looked over at the box holding the pendant. "Shit..."
Heather left the bedroom to find Vicky sitting on the couch, now fully dressed, with a blank look on her face. "Um..." Heather grabbed her shirt and put it back on, then sat down on the couch with Vicky, farther away than before. "We..."
"Don't."
"We almost really screwed things up between all of us back there, huh?"
"And the award for understatement of the century goes to..."
"You don't have to tell him. We didn't really do anything that bad... it'll just stay between us."
"I have to tell him, this- this is important, I almost..." A few tears fell from Vicky's eyes. Which she quickly wiped away. "He'd tell me if he did something like this... it's why I don't deserve someone like him..."
"Don't forget, he told me he was okay with it!"
"Because he thought I'd turn you down, be a good girlfriend, or maybe he's just too scared to stand up to me because of our past, which is also my fault..."
"I guess things between you two were pretty bad once, eh?"
"Worse than bad. I was horrible to him, tortured him, blamed him for things I did, kept him from his friends, made his parents think he was horrible... and after all that, he forgave me, he loved me like those things never even happened. And I... I took it for granted..."
"...You want me to send him up?"
"You're going?"
"I need a cold shower now... and I think you two have to work things out." Heather made for the door. "Y'know Vicky, we're only human, sometimes we make mistakes. I'm sure he'll forgive you, but will you forgive him? For testing you?"
"..."
"Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I let my own desires get in the way, and I nearly ruined things for you two. I'm truly sorry..."
"Hmph... it would take more than what you did to keep us apart. Like you said, we're only human, don't worry about it."
"...Thanks." Heather opened the door... and was met with Timmy crashing into her. "Hey dude, Tootie okay?"
"Wha?! Um... yeah, Tootie's fine. I think she'll be okay..."
"Good! Maybe she'll be interested in my proposition!" Heather quickly left, shutting the door behind her.
"I don't think she's that okay yet!" Timmy shouted after her, but she was already long gone.
"She's gone, Twerp."
"Yeah..." Timmy directed his attention at Vicky. "So... anything... interesting happen?"
"You could say that."
Timmy could tell by the tone of her voice that something was wrong. "I-"
"We need to talk." there was a slightly dangerous edge to her words now, Timmy knew he was in trouble.
He moved to the couch and sat down next to her.
"What was the big idea that you and Heather concocted?"
"She wanted to come up here..."
"She wanted to sleep with me!"
Timmy winced at her raising voice.
"Did you know?"
"I-"
"Did you know?!"
"Yes! I knew! She told me what she intended to do!"
"Then why did you go along with it?! Some sick little fantasy of yours?!"
"No! You know it isn't like that! I figured you'd make the right decision and-"
"What, you were testing me?!"
"I-"
"That's a pretty low fucking trick to pull on your girlfriend!"
"I wasn't trying to trick you, I just wanted to know if could trust you alone with her and..."
"And?!" Vicky could barely contain her rage,it felt like all those years ago, when she used to yell at him because she was stronger, she was older, she was better.
"I was stupid, okay?! I screwed up! I should've trusted you... but I was afraid. Afraid that if I tried to tell you what to do, you'd leave me... We both know that you're a free spirit, that you don't want to be controlled by anyone... I just- I don't even know..."
"...Well, rest assured, you can't trust me."
"Huh?"
"I screwed up too. We nearly did... it..."
"Oh..."
"You should've trusted me. And I should've been trustworthy. We both fucked up..."
"Well I'm not much better..."
"Why's that?"
"Tootie kissed me."
"She did?"
"Yeah, I guess she wanted to take advantage of the situation..."
"So why are you 'not much better'?"
"I kissed her back. I wanted to know if there were still feelings between us..."
"Well, seeing as how you rushed back pretty quick-"
"Yeah, it's... gone. Whatever spark there once was between us..."
"You're not just telling me what I want to hear, are you?"
"No. I screwed up, I screwed up big time. I know you probably think I'm horrible, and if you don't want to forgive me I-"
"Like I have much choice? We both know that you'd forgive me, Hell, you probably already have..."
"Damn she's good." "I-"
"Look, I need some time alone, to think about things, me, you, ...us." she stood up from the couch and made her way to the bedroom.
"Wait! Vicky..." he followed her to the bedroom door, where she stopped to turn around and look at him, a sad look on her face.
"What?" she snapped at him, not really meaning to.
"Are we okay?"
She could hear the fear in his words. It took every fiber of her being to keep from pulling him into a hug and telling him they were okay. So, with no small amount of effort, she shut the door in his face and locked it. Leaving a very downcast Timmy staring at the door. She had to be strong, to have resolve, even in the face of the one she loved.
He spent the night tossing and turning on the couch, not because it wasn't comfortable, but because he was so used to sleeping in his bed with Vicky that the couch felt alien, out of place. When sleep finally did take him, it was a dreamless one, or if he did dream, he couldn't remember them. Maybe he deserved it, after what he did. He certainly didn't expect her to forgive him anytime soon.
Waking up, he felt stiff and cold. You never really realize how much you need someone until they aren't there anymore, even if it's just because they're in another room, fifteen feet away. He brought his hands up to his face and groaned into them. "Maybe I should apologize again?"
He was shaken from his thoughts by the bedroom door opening, Vicky stepping out dressed in her regular sleeping attire and heading for the kitchen. He heard her open the fridge and take something out, then a glass, followed by a gulping sound, and then the glass being put in the dishwasher.
He waited several seconds before seeing her again, this time leaving the kitchen and heading back for the bedroom. "Vicky, wait!" she stopped and headed for the couch to stand next to it. "Vicky, I-"
She silenced him by lying down on the couch with him and pulling him into her, one leg draped over his. "Shut up..." there was no maliciousness in her voice, just a hint of amusement, before she kissed him on the cheek.
He looked over at her to see that she was grinning at him, though her eyes were sleepy. "Maybe she didn't sleep so well either?" He then noticed that she was wearing the nearly forgotten birthday present he bought her. "Yeah... we're okay..."
Sleep took him again, along with Vicky.
A/N: Ugh... this one felt like it took forever, I blame writer's block and Final Fantasy.