Saturday morning, Sylvie felt the odd urge to put on makeup and pick out a cute outfit for when Loki got there at 11. Originally, she'd been planning to greet him in her fluffy pj pants, hair in a little bun. They were at that point of friendship, right? Where she could be totally casual and not care how she looked in front of him? Of course they were. Especially so early on a Saturday. But for some unknown reason, she found herself getting up at 9 o'clock in the morning to get ready for his arrival.

She couldn't be too done up or it'd be weird, so she settled on slouchy jeans and a green tank top. Comfy. She did the light 'model off duty' makeup, that she thought would be a good balance of looking cute, but not looking like she was trying too hard, and kept her hair down, but styled the bob a bit. Looking herself over in the mirror, she nodded her approval. "Perfect," she muttered, just as the doorbell rang. Perfect. She wouldn't have any more time to question why she cared so much about how she looked for Loki.

Sylvie raced down the hall to open the door, pausing half a breath to take him in before asking, "Is that a sweater vest?"

Loki looked down at his choice of attire. Black jeans, white button up, and a green and silver plaid sweater vest. "What? It's a babe magnet," he answered with a faux innocence.

Sylvie couldn't help but laugh. "Is that a Fairly Oddparents reference?"

He laughed too. "Absolutely," he answered, grinning at her.

"Okay, Cosmo," she rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Are you wearing eyeliner?"

"Did I come over here to get judged on my fashion choices?" he laughed.

Sylvie shook her head, as she waved him inside, shutting the door behind him, and then leading the way to the kitchen. "I'm not judging, I'm just acknowledging. It looks good on you," she smiled up at him.

"Thanks," he smiled back at her. "I was just…feeling more feminine today is all," he shrugged.

"Oh, are you non-binary or something?" she guessed.

He seemed to pause at that before speaking again. "Um, well…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said quickly. "I don't mean to pry."

"No, no. I don't mind you knowing, I just…haven't told many people yet. I'm genderfluid," he admitted, still looking uncomfortable.

"Oh, cool. Let me know when to use she/her pronouns," Sylvie shrugged.

"Well, um, today that would be nice," Loki answered, and Sylvie swore she could detect a bit of a blush.

"No problem."

The kitchen was clean, with modern appliances, but the décor seemed to be in desperate need of an update. The cabinets were a slate blue, with navy and cream striped wallpaper that was peeling at the top corners adorning the walls. The floor was faux white tile vinyl, but at least it seemed to be in good shape. It wasn't what Sylvie would have picked, but seemed to fit the decorating taste of the rest of the house. Resting on one of the countertops were a few boxes next to five different bottles of flavoring syrup, still sealed tight.

"Wow, did you buy everything off the list I sent?" Loki asked in surprise.

"Yep," Sylvie answered.

"That's…expensive for a high schooler to buy all at once. Do you have a job or something?" she asked curiously.

"No, but I get a pretty good allowance from my aunt," Sylvie shrugged. Clearly they weren't hurting for money if they had a nice, large house in this neighborhood.

However, Loki frowned at this. "If you don't mind me asking, where is your aunt anyway? Wanda comes over all the time and has never met her. She wasn't here when we brought you pancakes early in the morning. Does she work a lot or something?"

Sylvie didn't talk about her aunt much for a reason, and while she was growing to like Loki more and more, didn't particularly want to have this conversation. "I know we're only fake dating, but don't you think it's a little too soon to be wanting to meet the family?" she teased, hoping to guide her away from the line of questioning.

Unfortunately, the person she was fake dating was Loki, who was too smart for her own good, and caught onto Sylvie's ploy. "You can just tell me if you don't want to talk about it, you know?"

"I don't," Sylvie answered, more firmly than she intended to.

"Alright," Loki gave her a small smile. "Not a problem. So, coffee machine." She started unpacking the box, showing Sylvie how to set it up as Sylvie got out the little rack for the pods and started popping them into place one by one. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed. "I forgot something on the list. I have this mat thing that I have under my coffee station, makes it so much easier to clean if one of the syrups leaks or something."

"That's okay, just send me the link later," Sylvie shrugged. She felt weirdly awkward now, standing next to Loki. She'd been so honest about something so personal, something she admittedly didn't want just anyone to know, and yet she'd trusted Sylvie with it. And here Sylvie was, keeping all her secrets so close to her chest that they felt restricting, like a straight jacket of her own making. But what if that straight jacket actually kept her safe? What if it wasn't restrictive, but protective instead? Was it better to be alone?

But…she wasn't alone, not anymore. This place wasn't like the others, with fake smiles and empty promises about how she'd be here forever. That things were going to be different this time. This time, they really were different. She was going to stay at this school, stay with these friends. Friends. She had real friends this time. Including the person standing next to her, someone she'd punched on the first day because she'd judged him wrong, and yet, Loki was still here helping her. She'd brought Sylvie pancakes when she was sad. Ran lines with her when she was nervous she wouldn't be able to memorize them in time. Wrapped Sylvie in her blanket when she'd been cold. Been honest about who she truly was, even if she hid parts of herself from the outside world. Maybe…maybe Sylvie could be honest this time.

Sylvie reached out and rested her hand on Loki's wrist, stopping her from continuing to set up the machine. "My aunt is dead," Sylvie admitted, but didn't make eye contact. She kept looking at that little coffee machine instead.

Loki stopped and straightened up, Sylvie could tell she was looking at her with pity in her eyes. "I'm..I'm so sorry. I didn't…"

"I know you didn't," Sylvie sighed, finally looking up at her. "It's okay. I never knew her."

"But then why…?" she trailed off.

"Is the Nespresso ready yet? I could use a pumpkin spice latte for this story," she said, trying to inject a little humor in her voice, but it didn't quite sound right even to her own ears.

"Of course. Here." Loki showed her the process of making the beloved drink, but Sylvie knew she wouldn't remember by the end of the explanation. Her mind was running too fast with things she didn't like to think about. She thought Loki could probably tell, but she made two delicious pumpkin spice lattes and gently led Sylvie to the table in the corner of the kitchen.

Once she was seated, Sylvie took a long drink from the warm mug in her hands. She felt like she could breathe again after the warm liquid slid comfortingly down her throat, it was grounding in a way.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," Loki told her softly.

"I know that. I want to tell you," Sylvie said. She took a deep breath, and began the stupid sob story, "My whole family died in a car crash when I was six. Mom, dad, big sister. All of them."

"I'm so sorry," he muttered, eyes wide with that same horrible emotion: pity.

Sylvie continued on. "I was still in a car seat, so somehow I survived. I thought I didn't have any extended family, so I went into the foster care system. Turns out, I did have someone, she just didn't want me." Loki reached out to hold one of her hands across the table, giving it a light squeeze. "I spent years of my life not knowing she existed. Not until she died, anyway. She didn't have any kids of her own apparently, so..I got everything. The house, the car, the bank accounts. I had to get legally emancipated to take it, but fuck letting a cent of it go to some stupid foster family. So…here I am." Sylvie took another long drink of her latte once she was done, almost finishing the whole mug. She was still holding Loki's hand.

They both sat there in silence for a long minute.

"Good," Loki said firmly, surprising Sylvie a bit. "I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you got all the money from that selfish bitch. How dare she leave you on your own like that?" the pity had been replaced with a righteous anger that Sylvie hadn't expected.

"You…really think so?"

"Absolutely," Loki nodded, her eyes still burning.

Sylvie felt an ocean of relief flood her insides. The worst thing would be pity, she hated pity, but that wasn't what Loki gave her. Instead, she gave a righteous anger Sylvie hadn't thought to feel, but she was right. How dare her aunt not want her? How could this woman leave her own family out in the cold like that? When she was six?

"I…thought it was my fault, but…." Sylvie realized slowly.
"It wasn't," Loki agreed firmly.

Sylvie looked from their entwined hands up to Loki's eyes. "Will you help me redecorate? I want to make this place my own."

"Absolutely," Loki grinned, standing up from the table and reaching in her pocket for her car keys with her free hand, the other still clasping Sylvie's. "Let's go get some paint swatches."

Leaving her almost empty mug on the table, Sylvie let Loki drag her to her car, but she stopped right before they'd have to let go of each other to get in opposite doors. "Loki?" she asked.

Loki turned, stepping back closer to Sylvie. "Yes?" she asked.

"Thank you. Really. Thank you."

With that, Sylvie pulled Loki into a soft kiss, feeling a warmth rush through her insides and a flush stain her cheeks as Loki kissed her back.

A/N: If you need to get some sleep, now's a good time to pause and come back later.