Glory And Gore (5H AU)

Chapter 17 - Promises

Camila really isn't the emotional type.
Like, really.
But she knows crying is something people need to get out, they need to do it to feel better, and she acknowledges that. So she lets Ally cry into her shirt for what feels like forever, eventually petting soft circles into the girl's back. Ally pulls away, wide-eyed as she looks up at Camila.
"You can't tell anyone," she tells her hurriedly, a panicked look in her eyes. "Ariana can't know that you know."
Camila pouts, looking down at the shorter girl. "Ally, I don't like to lie to my-"
And then things take a turn for the worst.
"Wait, what the hell is this?" The older girl practically shrieks, taking a step back from Camila to break their contact.
The younger girl furrows her eyebrows in confusion, wrinkling her nose. "What is what?"
"This memory," Ally informs her, crossing her arms over her chest. She shakes her head in disbelief, looking at Camila with wide eyes like she's trying desperately just to figure her out. "You kissed Lauren."
The pyrokinetic instantly panics and shakes her hands, trying to downplay the severity of the thought that Ally had just seen. "It was a mistake-"
"Oh my god, Camila," the blonde sighs, taking in a sharp exhale as she rubs at her eyes. "Do you realize what you've done?"
"I didn't mean to-" Camila starts, before Ally cuts her off and goes all mother bear on her.
"Yeah well you did it. And you need to go set things straight with her before she ends up ruining herself. Lauren feels things, and the way she feels them is really, really powerful. If you did this to her, I know she's got to be very confused right now."
The brunette nods in understanding, chewing on her bottom lip. She meets Ally's gaze with her own and offers a proposition. "I won't say anything to Ariana if you won't."
"You've got my word," the telepath assures her, reaching forward to give the girl a soft, reassuring rub on the arm. "It's not my secret to share."
"Ally, I've opened a giant can of worms here and I'm trying to put the lid back on," Camila sighs, letting out a groan as she realizes just how fucked up her situation is. "Please, please don't say anything."
"Mila, I promise," the older girl coos, letting her head rest on the taller girl's shoulder as the two look out at the serene night, illuminated by a sliver of the moon's light.
"Can I stay with you and Mani tonight?" Camila asks quietly, finally getting hit with the full force of just how messy she's made things.
"Yeah," Ally nods, wrapping an arm around Camila's waist and bringing the taller girl in closer for a hug. "I think that'd be good."
Normani doesn't even show up to the dorm until both Camila and Ally are dead asleep. She doesn't ask any questions about why her teammate has decided to join them that night, if anything, she welcomes the girl and offers her an extra toothbrush once the trio all wake up and Ally cooks them breakfast.
Mani lets Camila borrow a pair of shorts and Ally offers her a sweatshirt, which already is a basic Camila outfit. She thanks her friends for their hospitality and follows them outside, eagerly awaiting their first class until she spots a particular brunette and remembers exactly why she spent the night away.
Ally gives her a knowing look and takes Normani inside the building, leaving the captain and the pyrokinetic to handle things on their own.
"Lauren."
The green eyed girl looks up from her pager and spots her roommate, awkwardly avoiding eye contact until she knows she has to look up. "Oh um, hey Camila."
"What did you think that night meant?" Camila asks bluntly, not bothering to build up to the question or anything of the sorts. She's always been the type to barrel into things headfirst, and whether or not it's a good thing is insignificant to her.
Lauren's disposition changes immediately, her voice turning almost bitter as she folds her arms across her chest. "I don't know. I mean, I don't usually kiss people for the hell of it, but that's just me. I don't know if this means that we should be-"
"Friendly," Camila quickly answers for her, clarifying everything that the situation requires. "We're friends."
"Just friends?" Lauren repeats, her steely green eyes meeting Camila's determined chocolate orbs with a broken, heart wrenching gaze.
"Just friends," the pyrokinetic nods slowly. Every word she adds is just more salt in Lauren's wounds, but the captain doesn't have half a heart to be able to tell her that. "I made a snap decision that was obviously the wrong one. I'm sorry if it gave you the wrong idea."
Lauren purses her lips and shrugs, forcing a weak smile. "I guess friends is better than nothing, right?"
"I thought you'd see it my way," Camila beams happily, a bright, satisfied grin overtaking her features.
Lauren lets out a soft sigh and laughs, doing everything possible to mask the complete and utter disappointment in her voice. "I always do, Princess."
"We can't keep sleeping together," Camila quickly tells her, holding up her index finger. "Rule #1."
"But then you won't be able to sleep at all," Lauren points out, crossing her arms over her chest with a confused tilt of her head.
Realizing the valid point, Camila furrows her eyebrows in thought, before snapping her fingers with the obvious answer. "You can just sing to me again."
"And why would I do that?" The captain challenges playfully, arching a thick eyebrow down at the shorter girl.
"Because you're Lauren, our kind hearted leader who will do anything for her teammates," Camila replies cheerfully, nudging the captain in the arm. "It's your greatest strength, remember?"
The minute bell rings, indicating the eminent start of class. Camila motions for the captain to come along and proceeds to bounce happily towards the doors, heading towards the classroom as Lauren trudges along behind her and lets out a longing sigh.
"Yeah," she mumbles, her eyes following the brunette's figure every step of the way. "It's my greatest weakness too.
-
"Nice work today ladies, you should be ready for graduation in no time."
After an unnaturally sunny day of class, the girls were taken to the obstacle course by the lake to train today, basking happily in the warmth of the Seattle sunlight. Jojo nods as she watches the girls emerge from running laps around the quad, admiring her work and how she's whipped these nobodies into shape within months.
"Don't we have like a final exam or something?" Normani asks anxiously, remembering the headmaster's words from their first meeting as a team.
"Cowell changed his mind about giving you guys one this year," the trainer answers easily, taking a sip from her iced tea. She breaks out into a proud grin, as she begins to list just some of the accomplishments her girls have made this year alone. "I mean, with your multiple Breaker records, unbeatable simulator trials, and a multi-nominated captain for the Captain of the Year award, he thinks you guys have proved yourselves enough."
And while the three older teammates talk about what they should expect for their last week of school, the two younger ones are (unsurprisingly) messing around.
"Mila."
The pyrokinetic doesn't turn at the sound of Dinah's voice, continuing to light individual blades of grass on fire just for her own entertainment. "Yes, Terminator."
"Look at this butterfly."
Furrowing her eyebrows together, Camila turns to find a massive winged insect resting on her friend's forehead, with all the calmness in the world as the younger girl simply stares at it excitedly. Camila chuckles at the was Dinah holds her body completely and entirely still, trying not to move a muscle and scare off the pretty creature.
"That's a moth."
"It landed on me," Dinah replies, now deciding to whisper. "Pretty."
"We might have to quiz Dinah," Jojo continues to inform the older girls, "but that's just to make sure that she's fine."
"She'll pass that quiz no problem," Lauren tells her confidently, turning to motion to the savage killer beast. "Right, Meat-Head?"
The four are met with a 16 year-old girl with a moth perched on her face.
"Shh," the hybrid whispers. "You'll scare away Lolita."
Lauren rolls her eyes and groans and Normani just laughs, with Ally pinching the bridge of her nose and mumbling something along the lines of "a giant five year-old." Jojo marches over and shoos the insect away, much to Dinah's unhappy protest.
"Dinah's understanding of human interactions is crucial for her role as an agent, do you guys understand that?" The trainer tells them, standing next to the youngest member and addressing all the older ones.
"She's assimilated flawlessly into the average human lifestyle," Camila informs the woman, coming up to stand besides Normani. "Dinah has no problems with social interactions."
"She's a little quirky, but otherwise she's great," the shapeshifter smiles.
"Dinah will be fine," Ally assures the trainer.
Lauren snorts and goes up to the hybrid, messing with her hair playfully. "If you're saying you're scared Wolf Girl over here will chase a bird on a mission or pee on a fire hydrant, you're grossly underestimating her."
"How sure are you about that?" Jojo challenges the girls, crossing her arms over her chest with a questioning glare.
The captain puffs her chest out, smirking at the trainer. "Pretty confident."
"Let's see, then," Jojo answers, pulling out her pager and typing in a few things before showing the tallest girl a picture of a person. "Dinah, who is this?"
"The President," the girl answers easily, after a quick glance down at the screen.
"And who is this?"
She squints a bit this time around, but answers just as quickly. "The Syrian Prime Minister."
"Political figures are her favorite," Ally gloats.
Camila grins proudly at her teammate's good work. "She's got them nailed."
Jojo sends an impressed nod at the hybrid's quick reactions, before looking up someone else and flashing another challenging grin at the captain. "Cultural icons?"
"She can do them in her sleep," Normani boasts, having been the one assigned to train Dinah on pop culture. She comes up next to Lauren, pointing at the screen. "DJ, who is this?"
"The one with the cone boobs," Dinah grins, instantly recognizing the woman's face. "Madonna."
"And this?"
"Mick Jagger," she answers easily.
"Last one. Easiest there is," Lauren sing-songs, before looking up at their trainer and giving the woman a playful slap on the arm. "See? You have nothing to worry about. Dinah, who is this?"
The hybrid glances over the picture for a few moments, taking a little bit longer than she probably should have, before she breaks out into a massive smile and recognizes the figure.
"God."
"Haha, real funny," Lauren chuckles, before taking the pager from Jojo's hands and holding the screen closer to the girl's face. "Who is this?"
Dinah furrows her eyebrows, trying to re-explain her answer. "Our lord and savior. Mani says she's a divine entity."
Jojo gives Lauren an unamused glare, tucking her pager back into her pocket. "Beyoncé is not a religious figure. Get yourselves together, you graduate very soon."
"Yes ma'am," the girls answer in sync, slightly embarrassed by the fumble. Jojo dismisses them with a wave of her hand, grabbing her binder and her bag and leaving the girls on their own.
The shapeshifter, who had been slowly backing away with her head down, did not escape the wrath of her teammates.
"You convinced her that Beyoncé was her own deity?!" Ally shrieks, sending an invisible force field for Normani to run into and keep her in place. The girl bumps her head against it, wincing and applying pressure to the area as she turns around sheepishly.
"I didn't think she'd be serious about it..." The girl tries to explain.
"Honestly, Normani," Camila groans.
The shapeshifter tosses her hands up defensively, pouting at the attack. "It was a joke!"
"Whatever, it's over now," Lauren steps in, motioning for the girls to all calm down and let it go. "Get to bed. We need all the sleep we can get in these last few weeks."
Camila lugs her bag over her shoulder and waves to the rest of the girls, stretching her arms out above her head. "Night, guys."
Ally gives Normani shit the entire way back, laughing and poking fun at the girl relentlessly until they're both laughing so hard, they nearly pee heading up to their dorm. The older girl cooks them a solid southern dinner and they chat about what graduating will mean for the team, about what might change and what might change them. After they each shower and say their prayers, they wish each other goodnight as Ally immediately passes out, leaving Normani to read her textbook in complete silence.
That is, until her pager begins to vibrate under her pillow, and the caller's voice makes her heart pound.
"Mani. Come over."
She doesn't ask a single question before heading to her closet for a jacket, slipping on some sneakers. She whispers back as quietly as possible, trying to keep from waking her roommate. "You don't want to spend the night with Ally? What if she sleepwalks again?"
There's a sigh on the other end of the line, and it makes Normani's heart wrench. "Ally's avoiding me."
"What'd you do?" She asks, heading out the door and locking it before hurrying down the stairs and out the Delta-Epsilon building towards the Omega Boarding House.
"We kissed," the hybrid explains, before taking a short pause. "I think I was bad at it."
Normani clicks her tongue in disapproval, hiding to avoid the night guards as she makes her way across the campus. Her voice is still low, but she speaks with conviction. "Dinah Jane Hansen, if there's one thing I know you're good at, it's kissing."
She can practically hear the younger girl perking up, her compliment working wonders on Dinah's incredibly touchy ego. "Yeah?"
"Mhm," Normani hums. She ducks out of the line of view of one of the guards, hurriedly bolting behind a bush next to the dorm building before waving up at the window. "You're exceptional."
Moments later, Dinah drops down from the two story window, landing on the ground with a thud. Normani tucks her pager away before giving her friend a quick hug in greeting. Considering this is a moderately frequent occurrence, the two have this habit down to a science. As a cautionary measure, the Omega dorm has their doors locked at night to prevent its inhabitants from leaving at night.
Dinah's clever way of working around this is simply to use her window.
Normani wraps her arms around the hybrid's neck and hops onto her back, Dinah lifting her easily and securely. She scales the tree by her window quietly, avoiding the brittle branches that might snap and alert the guards. She flings their combined weight off the branch, landing in her dorm room without a single struggle.
The older girl sheds her jacket and tosses her shoes into a corner before collapsing into the bed, watching as Dinah flops down besides her and furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Then why did she run away?"
"Maybe you overestimated her interest," Normani shrugs, lacing her fingers with the younger girl's as they both stare up at the wooden ceiling. "You have feelings for Ally, but she might not have them for you."
Dinah's voice softens, into a vulnerable murmur that causes Normani to wince as the words leave the younger girl's mouth.
"Am I not good enough for her?"
"Maybe she's not good enough for you," the brunette counters, feeling her fist clench around Dinah's hand at the idea of Ally being stupid enough to not reciprocate the hybrid's feelings.
"She's good enough," Dinah replies quietly, coming to the defense of her favorite person, just like she had promised to always do. She takes her lip between her teeth, closing her eyes as her voice lowers even more. "She's perfect."
Normani turns on her side, using her new leverage to admire the details of the younger girl's features, soft but intense all at once. "Obviously she's not, if she ran away from you."
Dinah mirrors the girl's movements so they now face each other head on, her gaze narrowed as she tries to make sense of everything going on around her. "Would you run away from me, Mani?"
"You kissed me once before and I didn't run, did I?" The shapeshifter smiles, reaching out to caress the hybrid's face softly in her palm, tracing her thumb against the edge of her strong cheekbone. "I even promised to help you with Ally."
Chocolate orbs study Normani's figure like a book, trying to use her expressions and her body language to gauge how she should approach the situation.
She doesn't know how pointless it is, the studying and the tentative questions.
She doesn't know that Normani is an absolute fool for her, so blinded by her own infatuation that it hurts. So ruined by her affection that she puts herself in a position of pain, watching the girl she wants chase after her roommate. Going so far as to help her, just to avoid the idea of losing her.
The irony would destroy Dinah if she knew. Because Normani lives in a world where a life without Dinah is more painful than a life where she can't have her, and that in itself says a lot.
"If I did that again, would you run?" The hybrid asks quietly, a ferocious intensity coming over her eyes as she looks for something, anything, of a sign to let her know what her teammate is thinking.
The older girl is caught off guard by the question, so sudden and abrupt, but after a moment of consideration, she simply stares into Dinah's eyes, the answer rolling easily off her tongue. "No."
The answer seems to encourage Dinah's next question, which she asks just as carefully and quietly as if to not frighten the girl in her bed. "If I did it the way I did with Ally, would you run?"
Normani's answer remains unchanged, her pink tongue darting out to moisten her plump lips as she shakes her head, eyes closed. "No."
And then Dinah asks one last question, her confidence building up to allow her to give one more daring request, that makes Normani's heart jump into her throat.
"Can I do it again, maybe just to learn?"
Normani lets out a soft laugh, realizing just how far in she is and how there's practically no way of turning back. Her crush is probably much more than a crush, but none of that matters because Normani would do anything for the hybrid.
"Dinah, I'd kiss you even if you didn't ask," she admits sheepishly, causing the younger girl to grin happily.
"Great," she hums, slowly rolling over until she can hover over Normani, planting an arm and a leg on either side of the girl's body and leaning on her elbows to keep herself up. Her lips begin a soft trail along Normani's collarbone, ghosting and light and so gentle, so full of adoration, it makes the older girl's heart flutter. She murmurs clear words into the girl's skin, her kisses making her way up just below the shapeshifter's ear. "Because I'm gonna kiss you, and I'll keep kissing you until I get it right."
Normani's hands find themselves roaming the hard planes of Dinah's back, relishing every valley and every peak of the strong, clearly defined muscles beneath her shirt. She cranes her neck to the side and lets out a low, throaty exhale as Dinah continues her gentle exploration of the girl's throat, her lips doing something magical. Charcoal eyes flutter shut, her mind running with one thought that eventually surfaces in the form of a question. "Would you run from me, Dinah?"
The younger girl stops her actions and pulls away, eyebrows knit together as she stares down at the girl beneath her. Normani wants to take it back, she wants to beg Dinah to forget the question and just ignore it, but it's much too late for that. Dinah is thinking of her answer, and Normani knows that means the end of whatever this was.
But then she's met with a heart-melting kiss, a pair of soft lips brushing up against her own and making her head spin. The kiss is gentle, a loving peck that makes her feel safe and secure and like she could stay there forever. There's nothing hot or lusty or rushed about it, their two lips moving against each other in perfect sync. It's innocent, it's meaningful, and it's the action to back up the words Dinah murmurs soon afterwards.
"I'll never run away from you," she finally responds, letting their foreheads lean against each other as Normani's hand comes up to caress the hybrid's cheek. "I promise."
That night, as she falls asleep in the hybrid's gentle arms, Normani finally admits to herself that yes, yes, she's hopelessly in love with Dinah Jane Hansen.
-
Things between Camila and Lauren smooth out almost too well the next day.
Camila was right, about everything she had said, because even though the girls ached to fall asleep together again, Lauren willingly sang to the younger girl until she had completely passed out. They exist together as if nothing had happened, as if Camila hadn't changed everything or as if Lauren wasn't bothered by it. They live like fire and ice, wary and careful of the other, but different enough to keep the other balanced.
The way they interact nearly blows Ally's mind, when she sees them the next morning at breakfast. They tease each other, they banter, they argue like Camila and Lauren are known to do, but they do it all in a way that's almost too playful. It's a strange thing to consider, but the only way their teammates can now describe their relationship doesn't involve the words "hate," "irritating," or "want to kill each other."
Camila and Lauren resemble... friends.
And what's even weirder than that?
The fact that they resemble... best friends.
They mess with each other the way they mess with their own closest friends and their other teammates, with a dynamic so easygoing and playful that even Dinah is confused. Things sort of go back to normal  when Lauren freezes Camila's orange juice solid and the pyrokinetic responds by setting Lauren's fruit platter on fire. And yet instead of ending in a giant argument where Camila storms away, she simply hisses a bitter "I hate you" at the captain and laughs it off.
They're being friendly, and it's a very obvious change in the team dynamic.
They're heading to practice that day after class when all their pagers beep in sync, a message from their trainer telling them to meet her in her office. Normani laughs and rides on Dinah's back the entire way across the quad, leaving Camila and Lauren to banter and mess with Ally.
By the time they arrive, Jojo flicks a snack at each girl as they come through the door. Dinah catches the apple between her teeth, and Lauren's slow reflexes means she drops hers, but the majority of them settle down easily in the seats with a treat in their hand. Not that she'd ever admit it, but their trainer has been extraordinarily nice to her team as graduation approaches. The same trainer who had put them through hell is now feeding them like a soccer mom, and it makes the captain laugh at the woman's evolution.
"Today is more paperwork than fighting," Jojo informs them, handing them each a form. Lauren motions for Dinah to switch spots with her, making it easier for the left-handed hybrid to write without bumping against anything or anyone in case they'd have to write.
"Why?" Normani asks curiously, watching as the woman plucks a pen from her desk and twirls it easily within her fingers.
"We need to establish emergency situation contacts," she tells them, her voice then dropping as she lets out a soft, almost inaudible sigh. "In case something abhorrently terrible happens to one of you."
"Wouldn't that information be dangerous if it gets out?" Camila questions, narrowing her eyes at the trainer.
"If you died in the line of action, the world may not find out, but I think your parents would appreciate it," Jojo finally tells them, more directly than before. "Family and close friends who know your line of work."
"It's for um, closure," she adds, letting out another, much louder, sigh. "I think it'd help."
The energy in the room changes as the girls are made painfully aware of their situation. It's obvious that their trainer doesn't want to have to do this, but there's a very real chance of something happening to them once they get assigned to real, more dangerous missions. The world is not a simulator, and mistakes are no longer allowed at this point.
Lauren clears her throat, being the first to step up and set the example for her girls to follow. Jojo pulls out a form from one of her folders and begins to fill it out as the captain speaks.
"In order, my mom, my dad, my brother, and lastly my sister. That's who I want to be alerted should anything happen to me," she tells the trainer, before deciding to add her best friend outside the team. "Also add Celine Polenghi, for good measure, I guess."
Ally goes next, listing her parents and opting to leave her brother and friends out of the list. Normani follows and lists her parents and sisters, adding Harry and Sydney as her go-to friend options.
Camila is the next to go. She seems a little more uncomfortable about her list, but considering that everyone now knows about her past, she feels more confident in not hiding it. "Uh, Jade Thirwall. Demetria Lovato. Ariana Grande."
Jojo nods painfully before continuing down the line. When the next girl remains unusually quiet, the trainer prods her on encouragingly. "Dinah, your emergency contacts?"
Fiddling with the apple stem, the hybrid doesn't bring her gaze up to meet the trainer, an unfortunate realization coming over her.
"I don't have anyone," she explains quietly, twisting the stem of the fruit with gentle hands.
"Bullshit," Camila instantly hisses, tossing her head back angrily before jabbing a finger at the paper on the desk in front of their trainer. "Put Jade down, put Zendaya down, hell, put Austin down if you have to. And put me as her #1 contact."
Jojo brings her gaze up to shake her head at Camila, trying to explain the rules. "Teammates should not be-"
"If Dinah dies in the line of action, I want to be told through my earpiece the moment it happens. I know you guys might try to be strategic and not tell me so I don't compromise whatever mission we may be on, but Dinah has been the closest thing to family I've ever had," Camila all but growls, instantly protective of her hybrid best friend. "She knows what it's like to have nothing. We have nothing, together, so we need each other."
Bringing her head up, Dinah nods slowly yet confidently, giving the trainer a reassuring look. "I want Camila to be my #1, and I want to be hers too."
Jojo glances between them hesitantly, obviously ready to debate or even deny the request, but the blatant passion Camila has in her eyes, burning and determined, paired with the pleading loyalty just radiating out of Dinah is enough to get her to glance down at the paper and read it off to Camila.
"In case of any emergency requiring consent from next of kin, immediately notify Dinah Jane Hansen first."
She then turns to Dinah, as if to check and make sure that this is exactly what they want.
"In case of any emergency requiring consent from next of kin, immediately notify Karla Camila Cabello first."
The hybrid nods confidently, leading the older woman to sign a few more things before sliding the sheet back into the Team 5 binder.
"Thanks for your help, ladies," she tells them, almost painfully at the thought of ever having to use these contacts. She waves them off, setting the pen down. "Dismissed."
They begin to file out of the door, ready to head out and do their own things until Lauren is the last one left in the room. She approaches the woman's desk, lowering her voice so the hybrid can't hear them through the wall.
"I'll be their emergency contact too," she tells the trainer, referring to the two orphaned members of the team. "I mean, after you've gone through everyone on the list. I don't want to hear if something happens to my teammates, it'll definitely fuck up my concentration, but I want one more person on their list."
Jojo fills out the sheet almost proudly, adding Lauren's name to the bottom of the list for both of the younger members. She looks up at the captain, arching an eyebrow. "Same for Ally and Normani?"
Lauren debates it, before remembering the entire reason why she added her self to their lists in the first place. "Uh, no, don't do that actually. Just DJ and Camila."
"You've got it, Captain," Jojo hums, signing off on all the sheets as the younger girl nods appreciatively and heads out the door. The team is already outside, grouped by the door and waiting for their captain by the time she comes out. Lauren feels the slightest bit guilty at leaving the girls in the dark, so as Camila and Dinah race through the grass, the captain tries to explain herself to the two older girls.
"Mani, Ally, don't-"
Immediately sensing Lauren's guilt, Ally just reaches out and taps her shoulder, instantly connecting herself into Lauren's train of thought and watching the memory of a few minutes earlier play out in her head. Seeing the story for herself, she reaches out to wrap her fingers around Normani's wrist, allowing her to see the picture as well.
"You did something for those who had no one," the taller girl realizes, pulling her hand away as soon as she's done seeing the vision put out for herself.
"We're not offended," Ally assures the captain, smiling up at her kindly. "It was selfless of you. They don't have families to go back to. We have other people, they just have each other and now you. I know what it's like to not feel wanted, or needed. It was sweet of you, Lauren."
"Al!" Camila shrieks, drawing the group's attention farther up to where she's sitting on Dinah's shoulders. "We wanna see if we can stack three people and you're the perfect size to practice with!"
So the eldest member runs off and joins the two youngest ones, trying to lighten the mood and goof around with them. Normani's eyes never leave Dinah's figure, a dreamy look over them the entire time as she watches the hybrid laugh her head off with the other two girls.
(This does not go unnoticed.)
"Hey, Mani?"
Not even then does the shapeshifter bother to look away. "Yeah, Lo?"
Lauren smirks, nudging her friend in the ribs as she continues to observe the curious behavior. "What's up with you and Meatloaf? You guys have been awfully cuddly all day."
Normani doesn't even try to fight it, simply letting out an intense sigh and letting her eyes flutter shut as they keep walking. "Lauren, I don't even know what's going on myself. I just want to let it happen, you know? If I don't try to control things, maybe they'll finally work out in my favor."
"Nice. I knew you two would happen," Lauren beams, instantly putting two and two together. "Just a matter of time."
The older girl rolls her eyes and opts to change the topic before her friend continues to press on about it. "You and Camila were different today."
"You noticed?" The captain asks curiously, arching a thick eyebrow at her teammate.
"We all noticed," Normani chuckles, rolling her eyes. Not that the new dynamic was bad, she just knew there had to be some underlying cause that had shifted the tension. "Fix things, Lo."
"Maybe I didn't break them," Lauren replies, her voice softer as she looks out at the root cause of all her emotional turmoil. "Maybe it's her turn to try."
Normani, sensing the captain's distress at the situation, reaches out and takes the pale girl's hand, locking their fingers together in an attempt to comfort her friend.
"She can't try if you don't ask her to."
-
It's nearly 2 AM when these words come back to her.
The night is particularly cold, indicating the fact that December has definitely arrived. What had started as rain that morning had turned into the first snowfall of the year at night, and for some reason, insomnia was rampant. Lauren had tossed and turned a million times over, she had hummed a million songs, she had done a million different things to try to get herself to sleep
But she knew there was only one thing that would work.
"Camz?"
She had thought the younger girl was dead asleep as well, so when she's met with a pair of wide brown eyes turning over to face her, it's a very pleasant surprise.
"Yeah, Lauren?"
"I know you said we can't sleep together, but is it the same if we just sleep in the same bed?" The captain asks feebly, voice soft and coarse. "We don't have to touch."
Camila takes a plump lip between her pearly white teeth, clearly debating the situation before finally nodding. "No um, that works. That's fine. We're not technically sleeping together."
Lauren gives her roommate an appreciative look and quickly huddles over to the other bed, plopping down besides the pyrokinetic and shuffling down beneath the covers. She's met with an instant blanket of warmth that makes her eyes instantly droop in response, which begs the question: how the hell has Camila not fallen asleep yet?
Fire and ice, together, had never been a safe combination. They face each other in the bed, drooping eyelids and heavy breaths, trying their very hardest to meet without touching. Something about the proximity had made their brains fuzzy, clouding their thoughts and making their words flow freely from their lips.
(But these words were once intimate thoughts, and those are always the most dangerous of them all.)
"I work hard for you, you know that?" Lauren murmurs softly, clenching her eyes shut as if she were in pain. "I work really hard for you."
They shouldn't feel free to be this close, they shouldn't be comfortable talking to each other like this. They should acknowledge their situation and try their very hardest to let each other go and leave it at that.
But if Camila is fire, Lauren is melting, and there comes a point where she can't fight it any longer and instead just embraces it.
"I know," the younger girl whispers back, her voice cracking as she tries to find the words to beg for forgiveness, to ask for another chance, to apologize for putting the older girl through this.
"I wish you'd work harder for me," Lauren admits, refusing to open her eyes as the sleep begins to overtake her body.
Camila's fingertips come up to trace dangerously close along the contours of Lauren's features, ghosting along the angles of her face but never once letting herself touch the porcelain skin. "I can start now."
Even in her hazy state, this gets Lauren's attention. Normani's words come flooding back to her, as well as a memory from many weeks back that had been a turning point in their relationship. "Promise me something."
"What is it?" Camila questions, furrowing her eyebrows as she watches Lauren's face twist up in pain.
"You have to promise," the older girl pleads, clamping her eyelids even harder to avoid the chestnut gaze boring into her. "I do so much for you, you have to just promise me this one thing."
Against her better judgment, Camila caves in and lets her fingertips gently move along the captain's smooth skin, along her eyelids, across her cheeks, tracing across the lips that had put them in this situation in the first place.
"I promise, Lauren, I promise."
And at hearing these words, the girl's voice turns hard with determination.
"Promise me you'll leave her."
Camila purses her lips, her hazy state making it difficult to process exactly what Lauren was asking of her. "What?"
"Ariana. She won't be safe when we go to HQ. You can't string her along," Lauren tells her harshly, eyes closed as Camila's fingers continue with their gentle exploration. "If I didn't get to keep Tori, you can't keep Ariana."
And yes, she has an infinite amount of different arguments to make, but the few points Lauren has made are enough to stop her. She swallows down a lump in her throat, nodding as she lets her eyes flutter closed. "Okay."
"You promise?" Lauren prods on, orbs of molten steel finally opening to meet Camila's gaze with her own.
"I promise," the girl whispers, letting the pad of her thumb trace innocently along the contours of Lauren's soft pink lips. "I'll break up with Ariana."