According to her phone, it was 3:15am. It turned out that the sofa, which was so comfortable for sitting on, was just this side of uncomfortable for sleeping on. Lisa was just too tall for it, so her knees and legs were aching from the multiple strange positions she'd contorted herself into while trying to sleep.
She'd played several different games on her cell, read several chapters of her book, and channel-surfed through the TV, in between attempts at going to sleep. There was just no getting around the fact that she just didn't fit on the sofa, but she didn't want to go up and sleep in Rosé's bed because she'd told Jennie she'd be on the sofa. What if Jennie needed something? Lisa doubted that Jennie would think to head into Rosé's room.
She hoped Jennie was sleeping much better than she was managing to do down here. Jennie had moved around her room for a few minutes earlier, before she'd padded to the bathroom and back. There'd been no more sound after that.
Lisa was also simply very aware of Jennie's presence in her home. The thought that Jennie was actually in her bed was enough to chase any semblance of sleep away from her entirely, and she gazed at the ceiling, her fingers steepled in the near-dark, listening to the sounds of the occasional car as it passed on the street. Dimly, she wondered whether sometime in the next few months, she should try to organize a book signing by one of her favorite LGBT authors. Now that Pride was over, she needed to schedule some events in the bookstore for the summer.
She was just contemplating which authors she should try to invite when she heard the door to her bedroom creak open extremely slowly. Lisa didn't have to strain her ears to hear Jennie creeping across the hallway and down the stairs; the house was very quiet, and Lisa was alert to any movement. Jennie snuck into the kitchen, took a glass out of the cupboard and moved towards the tap. Belatedly, Lisa realized she hadn't told her that the kitchen tap had been on the blink for the last few weeks, spraying water like a fountain at the slightest provocation. Just as she flung the blanket off her knees, she heard a stifled yelp from the kitchen along with the hiss of the tap and the sound of water cascading onto the floor.
Skidding into the kitchen, Lisa found Jennie hurriedly turning off the tap and looking around for a towel to mop up the mess. Lisa was about to announce herself when her words died in her throat- Jennie had dispensed with the jogging bottoms. She was wearing only the hoody which was luckily long enough to cover her modesty, because Lisa didn't have any idea whether Jennie was wearing any underwear. Jennie's pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight shining through the window as she moved through the kitchen, giving her an otherworldly look. Lisa was taken aback by the wave of desire that washed over her as her eyes traveled up Jennie's bare legs, so much so that when she realized what she was doing, she stepped backwards and knocked into the door, making enough noise that Jennie startled and crashed into the worktop. Thankfully, she didn't have the glass in her hand, otherwise Lisa was sure she would've had to spend her night cleaning up glass shards.
"Shit!" Jennie exclaimed, clutching a hand to her chest. "Lisa! I'm really sorry! I- the tap just... well, exploded for lack of a better word. Damn," she said, as she stepped into a puddle. "I'll clean this up. I made a huge mess, at least, I think I did. I can't really see."
Lisa chuckled to herself and turned on the nearest lamp, illuminating the fact that Jennie had indeed made a huge mess. Luckily, she seemed to have borne the brunt of the water rather than the floor; the front of her hoody was soaking. Lisa moved over to the kitchen towels, pulling a ream of them off the roll and then ducking down to mop up the mess. She felt, rather than saw, Jennie step away from her, and heard her yank the hoody down. Ah, so she'd remembered her state of... undress. Lisa kept her eyes averted this time, concentrated on cleaning up the mess, and then dumped the wet towels into the bin.
"The tap is broken at the moment," Lisa said in a stage-whisper. "I'm sorry, I should've told you. Here, let me get that for you," taking up the glass Jennie had left on the side and filling it for her. "Is that okay?"
"That's- that's great, thanks Lisa. I'm really sorry if I woke you up," Jennie said as she took the glass from Lisa.
"No, no, I was awake anyway. It turns out that the sofa isn't that comfortable to sleep on," Lisa replied, then immediately wished she hadn't said anything as a guilty look lodged itself on Jennie's face. Cutting across Jennie as she was about to speak, Lisa continued, "and that hoody is soaking. I'll show you where I keep them, so you can just get another one to change into."
She headed up the stairs, leaving a bemused Jennie to follow her. As she entered her bedroom, she was surprised to see the bedside lamp was on with more than one book on the nightstand. Jennie had clearly finished the one from the bath earlier, and pulled a few off Lisa's shelves before deciding on... what was that... a biography of Audrey Hepburn?
Jennie sidled into the room behind her. "I haven't been sleeping either," Jennie supplied in a tired voice. "I only got back from Romania two days ago and I'm still jetlagged. It's-" she looked at her watch, "10:30 in the morning there at the moment. I nearly fell asleep in the bath earlier, and I feel quite tired now actually, but I've been reading for the past few hours."
Lisa nodded. "I've never been more than a couple of timezones away from home, so I've never experienced jetlag the way other people do," she said, as she moved towards her closet and opening the door. As she looked through her clothes, she tossed a glance at Jennie over her shoulder. "Do you want another hoody or do you want a t-shirt or something? It gets kind of warm in here."
"Oh, a t-shirt and some... shorts like you've got on I guess, would be great. Thanks Lisa," Jennie replied quietly.
Lisa looked down at herself and her tiny shorts covered in unicorns and her clashing orange tank top before sighing. What a great impression I'm making, she thought to herself. She searched her drawers until she came up with a similar pair of sleep shorts, this time covered in tiny cartoon puppy faces and a t-shirt that proclaimed that she was the one who had killed Jenny Schecter. She handed them both to Jennie, who took them silently before looking back up at Lisa.
"Um... could you turn around for a sec?" she asked.
"Oh! Sure," Lisa said, jumping and facing her closet with a hand over her eyes. She heard the wet thud of the hoody on the floor and the shifting of clothes as Jennie dressed herself, and finally the rustle of the duvet as Jennie climbed back into bed. "Okay now?" she asked, and turned back around at Jennie's noise of affirmation. Jennie had one arm behind her head, the covers pulled all the way up, and she was looking at Lisa with an amused expression and sleepy eyes. "What?"
"Lisa. I heard you say the sofa wasn't very comfortable. Just get into bed. It's big enough for both of us anyway," Jennie said, her voice wavering only slightly before she let out a cracking yawn. Lisa hesitated, and Jennie huffed before flipping the other side of the duvet down. "Come on, Lisa. We should both get some sleep, and I don't bite."
Lisa swallowed. "Are you sure?" she said, twisting her fingers together.
"Well. I don't bite much," Jennie said, a sultry tone creeping into her voice, and she laughed at the look on Lisa's face as the joke registered. "It is your bed. I'd rather you got some sleep than lie awake on the sofa all night." Jennie cleared the bed of the books, piling them up neatly on the nightstand, her dark hair hiding her face.
Lisa took the opportunity to edge towards the bed, indecision rampant in her mind. She was tired, and she knew she would sleep better in her own bed. The problem was, her own bed had a very beautiful and sleepy Jennie Kim in it. Her bed. Jennie. "Are you really very sure?"
Jennie gave her an exasperated look, but smiled to take the edge off it. "Yes, Lisa. Now come on, I want to go to sleep."
That was all the encouragement needed for Lisa to slide into the bed; she lay on her back and stretched out, keeping her eyes shut, but she could feel Jennie shuffling around on the bed as she made herself comfortable. Jennie turned the light off and rolled over to face her in the darkness. Lisa glanced over and could just about see Jennie's eyes. Christ, what am I doing? She wouldn't be surprised if Jennie could hear how fast her heart was beating.
She jumped slightly as Jennie slid her hand gently into Lisa's. "Relax, Lisa," she murmured. "It's supposed to be me that's stressed, not you!"
Lisa felt nervous laughter bubbling up in her throat, and squeezed Jennie's hand. She closed her eyes again. "Goodnight, Jennie," she said in a voice that sounded much steadier than she felt.
"Goodnight, darling," Jennie whispered, before letting go of her hand and turning over onto either her back or her side, Lisa didn't know. She was so tired that despite the extraordinary circumstance she found herself in, she was asleep before she could look over at Jennie once more.
-----
Lisa woke up slowly in the morning, the sunlight shining through a chink in the curtain directly into her eyes. She screwed up her eyes against the light, wondering why it was so bright. It took her a second to remember why she was in her bed and not on the sofa, and her eyes shot open. All of a sudden, she became very aware of four very specific things.
First, Jennie was still fast asleep, pressed up against Lisa's back, and she was breathing softly into her neck. Second, Lisa was using one of Jennie's arms as a pillow, her right hand on Jennie's elbow. Third, Jennie's other arm was thrown across Lisa's waist, her hand falling down towards the bed, and the fingers of Lisa's left hand were tangled with Jennie's. Fourth, they must've got hot in the night and thrown the duvet off, but Jennie had clearly got a bit chilly... or something else, because her right leg was pushed between Lisa's thighs.
Internally, Lisa groaned to herself. She was pretty sure this was torture of the most exquisite kind. Everywhere Jennie was touching her, she was soft. Lisa couldn't pretend that she hadn't dreamed about this. Sleepy mornings were one of her favorite things about sleeping in a bed with someone, but she and Jennie... they hadn't even...
For Lisa, sharing a bed with someone wasn't something she did lightly. The soft, sleepy cuddles the morning after were intimate in a way that made Lisa think things like long-term and anniversaries. Lisa was pretty sure how things would've gone had she been able to go up to Jennie's hotel room that time, and that spoke volumes about how much she liked Jennie. And she did like Jennie; she was aware of that fact. But they were already having sleepy cuddles, even if Jennie wasn't aware of it. Unless she was...
Jennie shifted slightly and pushed her leg up higher, pressing into Lisa in a way that left her in absolutely no doubt as to what her body felt about Jennie being curled around her. She needed a cold shower and now. But first she had to extricate herself. Slowly, slowly, she eased her hand out of Jennie's, and lifted her leg gently to move closer to the edge of the bed. She was almost off the bed without having woken Jennie up, but she didn't have time to feel proud of that. Just as she put her feet on the floor, she slipped on the hoody that Jennie had been wearing the night before and she felt herself overbalance. That dread feeling you get when you know you are going to fall shot through her, and she grasped at nothing as she fought to stay upright, to no avail.
She skidded forward on the hoody and her legs went out from under her. She turned in midair to avoid landing on her back, but landed on her side instead, crashing into the floor heavily and loudly.
Jennie jerked awake. "Lisa?" She peered over the side of the bed, her hair hanging messily.
Lisa waved at Jennie from the floor. "Hi."
"What are you doing down there?" Jennie asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"I... well. I thought I'd test out how soft it was if you fell on it. Turns out," she groaned as she got up, "not very."
"Okay, um, I- yeah, what time is it?" Jennie mumbled to herself, looking around for her cell. Lisa decided that Jennie when she was still half-asleep was adorable.
Lisa pulled her own cell out from under the pillow. "It's- shit, it's midday!"
Jennie stared at her, groaned herself, and fell backwards against the pillow. "Well. At least I slept half the day away. I'm sorry Lisa, did you have something you needed to do today?" she asked, her cat eyes full of apology as she looked at Lisa.
"Nope!" Lisa replied, before remembering that today was Monday and inventory and stock day, and that really, she should go to work. "I did a huge order last week right before Pride, so I don't need to go in today. Umm, what do you eat for breakfast?"
"Fruit, Greek yogurt, bananas?" Jennie smiled, and then burst out laughing at the look of utter horror on Lisa's face.
"Jennie," Lisa burst out. "That's not breakfast! Ugh, okay. Just, stay here," she said, grabbing clothes out of her closet while Jennie watched her. "I'll be back in about twenty minutes with real breakfast."
"Yes ma'am," Jennie said, lying back down with a heavy thud and a salute, and then immediately followed it with a cringe of embarrassment. Lisa grinned. Jennie was a dork.
Pulling her clothes on as she hopped through the kitchen, Lisa dashed out to Hyori's diner and ordered several stacks of both pancakes and waffles, with different toppings on each of them, including one stack of pancakes with Greek yogurt and blueberries just to appease Jennie.
She carried the teetering pile of boxes back home and let herself in, carefully dodged the bike, and laid everything out on the breakfast table near the kitchen. Neither she nor Rosé usually used the table, so it was normally covered in medical journals or piles of books that Lisa was planning to read before adding to the bookstore. But today it would be full of pancakes and waffles. Just as she was pulling knives and forks out of the drawer, Jennie came down the stairs, still dressed in the same pajamas. They were a little big on her, but they just made her look cute and softened the sharp angles of her face.
A face that looked agog at the array of sugar that Lisa had laid out on the table. She stepped up to it, glancing up at Lisa and then back down in shock. "Have I missed something, or are we having company for breakfast?" she asked.
"Nope," Lisa said, accentuating the p with a pop. "It's just us. I wasn't sure what you wanted, but I did get you at least one vaguely healthy one," she pointed dubiously at the box that contained the Greek yogurt and blueberry pancakes. Jennie opened it and smiled.
"Thank you," she said sincerely, walking around to squeeze Lisa's forearm. Lisa pulled out a chair for Jennie and passed her the cutlery, before making them both a coffee.
They ate their breakfast, Jennie eating all of hers before branching out to try the others that Lisa had bought. Lisa was secretly pleased, and when Jennie had eaten more than a few bites of the maple syrup-soaked waffles, she pushed the box towards her. "I won't tell anyone," she said conspiratorially, at which Jennie grinned, and she tucked into the waffles.
After they tidied up their breakfast, easily stepping around each other in the kitchen, Jennie excused herself to go and call her team about the events of yesterday. Lisa got some clothes out of her room and went to take a very long shower in order to give Jennie the privacy she probably needed. She performed a few show tunes while in the shower, and took her time getting dressed afterwards.
When she headed back downstairs, she could no longer hear Jennie's voice in the lounge, and the house was quiet. She wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not, but she made sure to walk around fairly loudly in order to announce herself so that Jennie knew she was around. To her surprise though, Jennie came out of the lounge as soon as she heard Lisa come downstairs. Lisa raised her eyebrows at her.
Jennie's face held some residual anger, and her eyes were sad again. "They haven't been able to bury it yet, although they managed to get it removed from YouTube. I'm not sure how widely everything has been circulated, but the photos definitely hit the tabloid papers," she said, slapping her cell face-down on the kitchen counter so hard that it made Lisa wince.
"Are you alright?" Lisa asked hesitantly.
"I'm... it's not as bad as yesterday. At least it's not on YouTube," Jennie said, but she sounded very despondent. "There's not a lot I can do about it right now. I just have to wait for more news, but it's... quite depressing. I'm sorry, Lisa, to impose, but would- would it be alright if I stayed another night?"
Stay forever, Lisa thought. "Yeah of course Jennie, for as long as you want to."
Jennie's eyes darkened a little at that. "You may regret saying that," she said, her voice sounding slightly seductive and making Lisa's mouth go a little dry.
Lisa cleared her throat. "So, um, what do you want to do today?" she asked, sounding exactly as flustered as she felt.
Jennie smiled knowingly and indicated a thick wad of paper on the kitchen counter that Lisa hadn't noticed before. "Would you be able to help me run some of my lines for the next film?"
"Oh wow, sure!" Lisa burst out. "Golly, I've never done that before. Well, not since high school anyway."
"Okay, my character is Evie, and you'll be reading the part of... um, everyone else," Jennie said, flipping through the pages and laughing.
"Just so you know, I'm doing all the different voices!" Lisa exclaimed, looking at the working title page, before bursting out into hysterical laughter. "Space Pirates?! Are you kidding me right now?" she asked when she was able to get a breath.
Jennie was watching her with what could only be described as a delighted look on her face. "I had almost passed on the role when a friend sent it my way. But then a certain reporter from YG convinced me that it may be a good idea. And look," Jennie added, pointing at the character list. "There's a young girl in it. I think Ella would be perfect for this role. You met her briefly. What do you think?"
"I think it's perfect!"
Lisa and Jennie spent the next few hours going over the script, and Lisa, true to form, invented different voices for all of the other characters that she was providing the words for, pantomimed any obvious actions from the script, and Jennie spent more of her time laughing at Lisa's antics than memorizing her lines. Lisa, for her part, was just happy to see the light back in Jennie's eyes. She felt almost silly admitting it to herself, but she had missed how her cat eyes sparkled. Jennie was almost the same person she'd been at game night, and on their date; radiant. Lisa felt her stomach swoop when they caught each other's eyes.
They were still at it when Rosé came home, laden down with bags and bags of groceries that she'd thoughtfully gone out to buy after Lisa had text her to tell her Jennie was staying another night. Rosé dropped the bags on the breakfast table and gave them both a wave when they spotted her.
Jennie dropped her script on the worktop. "Hi again, Rosé," she said, laughter still in her voice as she shook Rosé's hand. "Your sister is helping me with my lines for my next film. I'm thinking we should cast her just for the comedy value alone!"
"I never knew Lisa was so funny," Rosé quipped as she looked over at Lisa with a smile, and a slightly more hesitant one at Jennie. "Hey again."
Jennie's own smile faltered a little as she caught the way Rosé looked at her. She moved instinctively a step closer to Lisa, her face settling into a look that was marginally more professional than friendly, and was clearly unsure of Rosé's wary look. "It's nice to see you, Rosé. You've got a great sister here," she said, her voice strong. "I'm going through a... fairly rough time at the moment, and she's been good enough to not throw me out on my ass despite what happened the last time I was in New York."
Rosé glanced over at Lisa while Jennie was talking, silently checking on her. When Lisa nodded discreetly, she looked back at Jennie and gave her a more genuine smile. "That's our Lisa for you," she replied. "Always caring more about other people than herself."
Jennie frowned at that, as if she wasn't quite sure whether Rosé was being kind about Lisa or having a slight dig at her. Lisa thought it was honestly a little bit of both, but Jennie didn't know Rosé well enough to know for sure, and for that, Lisa was relieved.
"So, Jennie's next movie is going to be about space pirates!" Lisa burst out, hoping to diffuse any tension that may develop.
"Space pirates?" Rosé asked. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun."
"It is," Jennie grinned. "I don't begin filming until next week, over in Utah, but they're going to let me do my own stunts and although I'm sure that Lisa will be disappointed that it's not a musical, it's going to be pretty great!" Jennie looked absolutely thrilled at the thought of it, and Lisa couldn't help feeling like she'd had a slight hand in this.
"Will you manage to get Ella on board?" Lisa asked Jennie, loving the ways her eyes were sparkling.
"I'll absolutely try! I'll talk to the director; they haven't cast the character playing my daughter yet, so with any luck... I can already tell this is going to be... not exactly a serious film," Jennie mimed weighing things up in her hands, "but certainly a good laugh."
They chatted about the film a little more, Jennie telling them who else would be starring with her and getting both Lisa and Rosé interested in what goes on behind the scenes on a film, while they put the shopping away. Rosé had decided to cook a large lasagna with garlic bread for dinner, and she set about preparing it while Lisa poured them all a glass of wine. The discussion turned to the bookstore, and Lisa eagerly launched into her ideas about having well-thought of LGBT authors come in to do readings of both their own and classic LGBT novels, writing competitions, and fundraisers for local LGBT charities. Jennie asked a lot of thoughtful questions, showing good business acumen, and suggesting several ideas that had Lisa reaching for a notepad and pen. Rosé shared a few funny stories about strange things she'd seen at the hospital in the last week, and soon they were all shaking with laughter.
Once the lasagna was ready, they all moved into the lounge, steaming piles of food balanced carefully on their laps as they made themselves comfortable. Jennie was now in her customary spot on the sofa, and Rosé took the armchair. Lisa sat herself down as close to Jennie as she could without elbowing her, a fact not missed by either Rosé or Jennie; Rosé gave her a knowing smirk, and Jennie giving her a shy smile and her cheeks blushed a pretty pink. Rosé jumped carefully off the sofa, put in the Walking Dead, and winked at Jennie before settling back down.
It was very clear to all of them that they each had different ways of watching the show. Rosé liked the action and the horror aspect, while Lisa enjoyed the changing human relationships. Jennie, on the other hand, loved to pick apart the survival strategies, was more interested in the psychological aspects of the show than the emotional ones, and loudly exclaimed what she would do differently if there was a global catastrophe. When Rosé challenged Jennie over the scientific aspects of post-apocalyptic survival, she was pleased to be told Jennie had a degree in engineering biology, and after that, Lisa couldn't get either of them to shut up about current scientific research and recent discoveries, settling for propping her chin on her hand and idly observing their animated faces and voices. Jennie clearly kept up to date with the scientific world despite her family and her job, and Lisa was happy to see that she'd lost none of her enthusiasm. This isn't exactly what she thought her sister and her... Jennie would be bonding over, but she'd take it.
When they all started yawning, Lisa sent them both upstairs, Rosé to shower and go to bed, and Jennie to bath before... shit, they hadn't discussed the sleeping arrangements for tonight. Lisa tidied up and then washed the dishes more aggressively than she might otherwise have done as she tried to control the adrenaline coursing through her hands, remembering the way they'd woken up that morning. Leaving the dishes to try, and attempting to swallow her nerves, she headed upstairs.
Jennie was already out of her bathroom and propped up in bed with her dark hair flowing over her shoulders, the ends still damp, and glasses on her nose. She was reading yet another book, this one entitled Gulf Breeze by Gerri Hill, and had a few more new ones piled on the nightstand.
"That's a good one," Lisa squeaked, prompting Jennie to look over at her amusedly. Lisa cleared her throat. "Do- I mean, we hadn't discussed- what, I mean, wow. Where am I sleeping?" One of Jennie's eyebrows rose slowly but steadily up her forehead while Lisa babbled at her, and her grin stretched across her face. Lisa felt her face turn hot with embarrassment, but Jennie just kept on smiling at her.
"Well Miss Manoban, I presumed you'd just sleep here. This is your bed, after all, isn't it?"
Lisa almost choked on nothing. "I'll just... shower and stuff," she stuck her thumb over her shoulder and pointed at the door. "Be right back!"
Lisa didn't think she'd ever showered as hurriedly in her life. Luckily, Rosé was already done. She dropped her razor twice, the soap once, and had a minor fantasy about dropping the soap around Jennie before she mentally slapped herself out of it. She stepped out of the shower and toweled off, before heading back to her bedroom. Jennie hadn't moved, and was still reading, although she put her finger in the book to keep her page as she looked over at Lisa.
"Is it okay if I just... blast my hair quickly with the hairdryer?" she asked. "I know it's a bit late but-"
"It's fine, Lisa. Honestly, I still have a bit of jetlag so I'm not on the edge of sleep just yet," Jennie replied, before scooping up her cell, presumably to check for any update reports from her team. Lisa handed her a bookmark from the shelf, and Jennie accepted it gratefully, slipping it daintily between the pages before laying the book carefully down on the duvet before turning her full attention to her cell. Lisa felt weirdly touched that Jennie took such good care of books. Picking up her hairdryer, she tried to dry it as swiftly as she could, tousling it to speed the process. She wasn't looking at Jennie, and so she didn't see that Jennie's focus was no longer on her cell, but transfixed on Lisa's shoulders and her arms as they performed their task, the muscles flexing around the movements.
When Lisa looked back over, Jennie's eyes had darkened visibly even in the low light, and she made no attempt to pretend she had been doing anything other than admiring Lisa. Lisa blushed once again, and Jennie held her gaze steadily, even as heat tinted her cheeks before she cleared her throat and looked back down at her cell.
Lisa blew out a breath and hesitantly climbed into bed, not sure what that look had meant exactly, but knowing what she hoped it meant. The bed felt warm from Jennie's body heat, and Lisa immediately felt cozy and must more comfortable than she had last night. Despite her raging hormones, it was nice to lie in bed with Jennie while she read a book. It felt... nice. Lisa shuffled around a little bit, accidentally elbowing Jennie in the side, who jumped and looked at Lisa with a mock-affronted look.
The problem was that Jennie looking down her nose at Lisa through her reading glasses put certain sexy librarian images in Lisa's mind, and Lisa groaned. "Jennie..." she started, and then bottled it. "Sorry," she mumbled to Jennie instead. "I'm a bit clumsy."
"I had noticed," Jennie said, clearly wondering what Lisa was going to say before she changed her mind. Sighing, she put her cell on the nightstand and plugged in the charger, before lying back down and facing Lisa.
"Any news?" Lisa asked.
"No, not yet," Jennie replied, shifting a bit.
"How do you feel now, I mean, now that you've had a day to... to um-"
"To get used to the idea?" Jennie cut in quietly. "It's not the easiest thing to do. I trust my team, though. Hopefully they can keep the video away from the media because I- it was a private moment. That someone I trusted would betray me so badly is bad enough, but complete strangers being able to- to... that's a part of my life that should always be private," Jennie finished, her voice forlorn. Lisa didn't hesitate before finding one of Jennie's hands with both of her own, slipping her fingers between Jennie's and the other stroking her wrist. Jennie let out another quiet sigh at the touch.
"I wanted to say thank you, Lisa. No, I mean it," she said, when Lisa opened her mouth to insist that she didn't need to thank her. "I need to say this. First of all, for your assistance yesterday when I all but threw myself at you. I know you were still angry at me about Jeongyeon," she murmured, her cat eyes searching Lisa's face for any disagreement, finding none. "But you held me up anyway, and for that I'll always be grateful. And today has just been... lovely. It's been- I feel... this may sound silly, but when I'm with you, or around you, I feel more like myself than I have done in a long time. I've told you before that I'm just a person, but I'm so many different people to so many people, whether that comes from me or their own ideas of me. And today, with you, laughing with you..."
Jennie rolled onto her back, taking Lisa's hands with her, and with her other hand, stroked Lisa's skin gently with her fingertips. "You don't expect anything of me, or for me to be someone. You never have. You appear to... enjoy my company, even when I'm nothing or nobody special." Jennie spoke to the ceiling, her voice low and vulnerable, and Lisa didn't interrupt. "Debating with Rosé about theoretical situations in a TV show, talking about science... I've felt more like myself in the past two days despite everything than I have done in a long time. And that's thanks to you, Lisa." And finally, finally, Jennie looked at her, her cat eyes shimmering with tears. "It's like I'm being reminded of who I really am. And... and I- well, I hope that it's someone you like."
"Jennie," Lisa breathed. "You have far too little faith in yourself. You're one of the most interesting, courageous women I've ever met. And," she whispered, sliding a little closer to Jennie, "for the record, I've liked you ever since you came here the first time. Since I first saw you wearing my clothes." Lisa reached over and touched Jennie's face, brushing away a single tear that was making its way down porcelain skin.
Jennie smiled, her eyes shining. "And for the record, Lisa Manoban, I've liked you ever since you told me your favorite band is NSYNC."
Lisa laughed then, and so did Jennie, the tension of their conversation melting away as they looked at each other in the low light. Lisa continued to stroke Jennie's cheek with her thumb, and Jennie held Lisa's other hand in both of hers, wrapping it in warmth.
"Jennie?" Lisa asked quietly.
"Yes?" Jennie replied, just as quietly.
"May I..." she started, propping herself up on her elbow and looking down at Jennie, her gaze dropping to Jennie's lips before looking back up and into the most beautiful cat eyes she'd ever seen.
"I think I'll just die if you don't," Jennie whispered.
Lisa leaned down gently and cupped Jennie's face in her hand, running her thumb across Jennie's lips, before touching her lips to hers. It was a soft kiss, slow and gentle, and Jennie reached up to pull Lisa down closer to her, keeping her hand in Lisa's hair, her other hand still tangled with Lisa's beneath the covers. Jennie deepened the kiss, her tongue brushing against Lisa's bottom lip. Lisa sighed against Jennie, allowing her the entrance she wanted. Jennie tasted of mint, making Lisa smile. Jennie's kiss was tender, still slow, her tongue gently probing, her lips moving cautiously against Lisa's. Lisa slipped her hand back into Jennie's silky hair, before increasing the pressure of her lips and moaning slightly.
Kissing Jennie again was everything and nothing like Lisa remembered. Jennie was at once softer, gentler, than she remembered, and yet, as Lisa's hand left Jennie's face and came to rest on her waist, Jennie groaned in a way she'd never heard before. In a way that made Lisa only kiss her harder.
Lisa was desperate to touch Jennie's skin, to find out whether it was sensitive, to know how it would taste, to pull sounds from Jennie that she knew would leave her breathless and wanting more.
When she felt Jennie's hands start to play with the hem of her pajama top, Lisa broke the kiss, pulling only scant millimeters away from Jennie, resting their foreheads together as they tried to get their breathing under control. Jennie kissed her once more, briefly, and lay back, pulling Lisa with her.
Lisa went willingly into the embrace Jennie offered her, pulling the duvet up to cover them both before wrapping her arm around Jennie's waist. She smiled happily into Jennie's collarbone, inhaling the clean scent of her. Lisa could feel Jennie stroking her hair and her fingers on her shoulder, and Lisa busied herself by running her thumb against the skin at Jennie's waist where her top had ridden up slightly. They didn't feel like they needed to fill the silence, and neither pushed for any more contact than they already had. Eventually, Lisa yawned and felt herself grow sleepy.
Jennie dropped a kiss to Lisa's forehead. "Goodnight, darling," Jennie murmured.
Just before she dropped off, she wondered momentarily about Jennie's jetlag, which she surely must still have, before deciding that if holding her was what Jennie wanted to do with her time, then she would let her. For the good of humankind, but especially for Lisa.