Thanks so much to everyone who commented/faved/generally enjoyed the first part; this is the concluding second chapter. Enjoy!
Days pass, and Patsy and Delia find a way of cuddling up on the sofa in the communal kitchen that works quite well; despite Patsy being taller, Delia works better as the big spoon and sort of pulls Patsy onto her lap. Winifred deliberately avoids looking at them (much less talking to them) when they are cuddled together, giving Trixie and everyone else plenty of reason to keep this charade going.
As Delia absently plaits her hair into pigtails, Patsy can't think of a reason to complain.
"There's a varsity women's football match on this weekend," Delia announces to the room; everyone is in the kitchen, making assorted dinners. "Dinners" is a loose term; Barbara is feeding pop-tarts into the toaster and Cynthia is making extra of her casserole to feed Trixie, who has the base ingredients for every cocktail imaginable, but no actual food.
"I'm only on reserve, but if anyone wants to show some uni pride and come along, you're all more than welcome."
"I'll come and watch," Barbara says brightly.
"I don't have any plans," says Winifred.
Patsy supposes that attending football matches is the sort of thing a girlfriend would do. "Of course I'll come along."
Patsy has never really taken much of an interest in football – it certainly isn't the kind of thing that is ever watched at home – but the girls are all wearing very short shorts, and there's an awful lot of touching going on. Patsy understands the basic rules, and Barbara has been filling her in on bits like the offside rule as they've come up, and she's been cheering along even though Delia hasn't appeared on the pitch yet.
But with ten minutes to go, the coach makes a substitution, which means that Delia is on the field. The little N-block crowd erupts into cheers - Cynthia bought a university-striped scarf from the Student Union and she and Winifred are enthusiastically waving it - and Delia happily salutes them all from the pitch. Patsy feels unaccountably proud.
Delia in action is lovely. Patsy watches with great interest as Delia runs up and down the pitch, working almost seamlessly with her teammates, even though she's only been on the team a matter of weeks. With moments to go, Delia passes the ball to the captain, who punts it into the opposing goal, winning the game.
The crowd, which is pretty big for an early-season game, erupts into cheers, and Patsy gets caught up in the excitement, jumping up and down, cheering for her girl. When they meet Delia after the game, Pasty greets her with a kiss (it would be a shame to let the practicing go to waste, after all), to wolf-whisles from Delia's teammates. It feels amazing.
Saturday night is movie night in N-block, and is traditionally observed with takeaway pizza and watching a DVD in someone's room; tonight it is Delia's turn to host. As usual the film is a suggestion from Winifred, who favours classic movies – usually black and white and/or musicals. As the movie gets underway, with everyone crowded onto Delia's small bed to watch the laptop, Patsy grows drowsy. It has been a long day and the room is dark and warm.
She rests her eyes for just a moment.
A noise from outside – a drunken student stumbling home – jolts Patsy awake. The clock on the nightstand says it is 2.34am, but as soon as Patsy registers the fact, she realises that it's not her clock. Or bed. And the person curled up against her, arms wrapped around her middle is-
Delia. Of course.
There's absolutely no way to extract herself from Delia's grasp and sneak back to her own room without waking her. And then what? She'd have to explain why she wasn't completely comfortable with Delia holding her so close, her breath tickling the back of her neck-
There's nothing for it. Patsy decides she has to – somehow – get back to sleep and deal with this in the morning. Maybe things will make more sense then.
It takes a while.
Delia's room is next to the kitchen, which makes sleeping in a lot more difficult than in Patsy's room, at the other end of the corridor. As Patsy drifts awake, she can hear that Cynthia has put on Radio 4, Winifred is making banana bread, and Trixie is ranking her male lecturers from best to worst.
Patsy is not only still caught in Delia's embrace, but her hands have somehow managed to move beneath her shirt over the course of the night, pressed against Patsy's bare stomach. She can feel the whole of Delia's body against her in the single bed, down to where their feet are tangled together. The covers are more off than on, but their combined body heat mean it isn't really a problem.
Delia's breathing is still pretty regular. How can she still be asleep? Someone in the kitchen – probably Barbara – drops a pan. Still nothing. Patsy feels guilty for enjoying this; she should just get up, go back to her own room -
Just a minute more. Then Delia will probably wake up on her own and give Patsy an idea of how one is supposed to behave in this situation.
Finally, finally Delia stirs. Which would be great, except Delia is demonstrating her consciousness by moving her hands, which are stroking Patsy's stomach. Patsy holds her breath and hopes Delia can't feel her heart pounding.
"You awake, Pats?" Delia mumbles, her breath tickling Patsy's ear.
"Um-"
"Sleep well?"
"Uh-"
"Wha' time is it?"
"Just gone ten."
"Right." Delia finally pulls back, rolling away from Patsy, and sits up and stretches. Patsy shifts in the bed and is treated to the sight of Delia's stretch, which is both completely adorable and pulls her top up, revealing a lot of skin. Patsy tries not to stare.
"Morning, gorgeous," Delia says with a grin, appreciating Patsy's bed-hair.
Patsy is struck by how much she wants to wake up like this every morning, and doesn't know what to do with the thought. "Good morning."
"Ready for your walk of shame? I don't think the crowds out there will die down anytime soon."
Patsy clearly looks horrified, and Delia laughs. "Don't worry about it. I'll make us some tea."
Still in her pyjamas, Delia gets up and heads into the kitchen. Patsy, in much-rumpled yesterday's clothes, sneaks back to her own room after her, but Trixie catches her eye and gives her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Delia's tea is much appreciated.
As she showers – as if cleaning her body will rid her of impure thoughts - Patsy considers how it was never meant to go this far. The whole situation could have been completely avoided if Patsy had the guts to say "no pretending necessary" the moment Trixie had suggested her ridiculous plan.
It just… isn't easy. She's incredibly fond of her friends in N-block, and she should be honest with them, but attitudes like Winifred's still aren't uncommon, and she likes to keep her private life just that – private.
But now her cowardice has gotten her a fake-girlfriend who she's (she can at least be honest by herself in the shower) fallen very much in love with, and when the charade is over or Delia learns the truth – whichever comes first – Patsy will be heartbroken.
Weighing up the options, Patsy decides it is definitely better to just wait it out. After all, there's no reason why they wouldn't all stay close friends, and three years of celibacy can't be that difficult, it's not like Patsy knows how to ask a girl out anyway. If she just continues as normal – focusing on her studies, not getting too close – nobody will ever know.
"I just don't understand why they have to rub it in our faces." As they return from their human physiology elective, Delia grabs Patsy's hand and pulls her back. Winifred is in the kitchen, clearly airing some grievances. They hide behind the door and listen in.
"They're not being any more overt than Trixie is," Cynthia explains gently.
"Yes, but- don't they have any shame?"
"They do, Winifred. I understand your discomfort with public affection, but there's no reason why Patsy and Delia should be less affectionate than a heterosexual couple."
"But..."
"They love each other." Cynthia says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Patsy's sadness at Winifred's attitude is suddenly replaced with a hyperawareness that she and Delia are still holding hands and are pressed together as they huddle to snoop on the conversation. "They make each other happy. Doesn't everyone deserve that?"
If Winifred responds, it is too quiet for Patsy to hear.
"C'mon, come back to my room," Delia whispers, sensing Patsy's discomfort.
"Are you sure-?" Patsy allows herself to be led away from the kitchen.
"What can I do to cheer you up?" Delia asks.
If Patsy's eyes flick down to Delia's lips, it is entirely unintentional. Patsy is not a slave to her hormones, and besides, she likes Delia for a million reasons other than-
"Wanna make out?" Delia suggests with a sly grin.
Practice-kissing is, like so many events that have spiralled out of Trixie's scheme, both terrible and wonderful.
It's so easy – far too easy – to be so comfortable with Delia, as she smiles into their kisses, peppers Patsy's face with little kisses, and makes happy little sighing noises between kisses. Patsy tries to pretend that this isn't all she's ever wanted, and can't believe that it's not screamingly obvious to Delia, and to everyone else, that she's not pretending. At all.
However long they're going to pretend for, Patsy's not sure she can stay the course.
"Was Winifred all right earlier?" Patsy asks casually, as she and Delia join Cynthia, Barbara and Trixie in the kitchen.
Cynthia looks up from her book. "What do you mean?"
"We sort of overheard you talking before,"
"Oh, I see." Cynthia nods, "Yes, she's fine. We had a chat, and I think she might have an apology for you."
"That's great," Barbara says excitedly, "the plan's working!"
"What plan?"
"Oh, you don't know," Barbara says, "Delia and Patsy are pretending to be together to try and make Winifred be less... you know, homophobic."
Put like that, it sounds like a rather horrible idea. Cynthia looks extremely surprised, and Trixie looks completely horrified – it takes a moment for Patsy to realise it's because she's spotted Winifred in the doorway, who has clearly heard every word.
"Is it true?" Winifred demands.
"Is what true?" Patsy says, stalling for time.
"That you've been just making this up, all of it, to make me look like an idiot? Is that what you all think of me?"
Winifred has tears in her eyes, and Patsy realises that while she's been scared of losing Delia all this time, she doesn't want to lose Winifred, either. Cynthia is looking anxiously between Winifred and Patsy.
The best way to avoid losing anyone, Patsy decides, is probably to be honest.
"I'm not pretending," Patsy says, aware that she is shaking, "this is how I am, and how I feel about Delia. And I'm sorry, I never wanted to make you feel like an idiot."
Everyone in the kitchen stares in stunned silence, and Patsy rushes past Winifred and into her room.
Patsy is trying not to cry on her bed like a child when Delia knocks on the door. "Can I come in?"
Hastily wiping her eyes, Patsy sits up, "if you want."
"That was some acting," Delia says, giving Patsy an out.
Patsy refuses to take it. "You know it wasn't. I'm sorry I deceived you, I understand if-"
"Hey, hey," Delia says, sitting next to Patsy and drawing her into a hug, "please don't apologise. The last few weeks have been amazing."
This isn't really going how Patsy expected.
"And if you're agreeable, I'd very much like to finish what we've started."
"I love you, you know." Patsy says. Delia looks delighted and Patsy decides that honesty really is the best policy. "I think I did before all this, and I definitely do now. No pretending."
"No pretending," Delia says, softly pressing her lips to Patsy's. "I love you, too."
When they return to the kitchen, the atmosphere has calmed down substantially; Trixie has made everyone tea, and Patsy feels a little embarrassed about her dramatic exit.
"If you're interested, the LGBTQ society meets every Tuesday," Barbara reads off her phone, "maybe you guys should go."
Delia looks sheepish. "You already go, don't you?" asks Patsy.
"Yeah, I kind of signed up in fresher's week. I've been to a few meetings; everyone's been nice, but nobody caught my eye like you did."
Barbara looks up from her phone. "Good god, you two are gross."
"Maybe you should go, too," Cynthia says quietly to Winifred, "I know quite a few people from the Christian Union who go. It's a very safe space."
Winifred nods mutely, not looking up from her mug.
Trixie looks absolutely delighted with events, as if this had been her plan all along. As she pours Patsy and Delia some tea and joins everyone at the table, Patsy wonders if it was.