It seemed like support was exactly the thing that Rebecca needed. She couldn’t imagine what she must’ve been experiencing, all things considered. Guilt, worry that she would be angry, confusion. All those emotions crossed Juliette’s mind as she was reminded of personal experience, but she stayed silent, wanting to give Rebecca the chance to explain them all herself.

With her friend somewhat consoled and on the road to speaking, Juliette took the opportunity to dip a marshmallow in the bubbling chocolate. It looked too good to ignore for long. On the way out of the bowl, it was almost lost to Gavin, who made a mad grab for the gooey treat, but he was fended off by Juliette, who was ready for him. The cats had been working in cahoots for extra food of late, so a watchful eye was necessary in that apartment.

Rebecca had begun to recount how exactly things between her and Agnes had spiralled into a full-blown affair. It had started with a kiss, and then they found themselves unable to stop. Juliette had a very difficult time judging her for that one; she knew from experience that there were just some times that all sane decisions and rational thought were thrown to the curb in favour of chemistry and desire. She imagined that Rebecca and Agnes were one of those cases.

Juliette knew that Rebecca had broken up with Vanessa already, but she didn’t know why until that point. She sincerely hoped that she hadn’t strung her along for too long, but again, she wasn’t in a place to judge or to bring it up. It was a conversation for later.

Agnes, on the other hand, couldn’t leave her fiancée. Rebecca didn’t give a reason, and Juliette didn’t push her to. She silently felt bad for River, but she didn’t have all the details and she didn’t know what it was like in her shoes.

The redhead finally reached a crossroads in her tale. Things in the affair had been going well until that night, when things obviously went quite sour. Juliette furrowed her brow and let out a small sigh as she looked at her friend. ”What happened tonight?” she prompted softly.

Rebecca slid off the sofa so she could sit on the floor, her back against the front of the furniture. Her legs slid under the table. It felt like a logical place to sit, because it brought her closer to the precious chocolate cauldron. She was enjoying the meetings for midnight chocolate with her roommate; they took heavy things and made them easier to digest. Rebecca was still upset, but she was feeling herself loosen up so she could return to a more casual, relaxed mental state.

”Tonight Ah slipped up. Ah had told mah ma whit was happenin' atween us, an' agnes….” Rebecca sighed, taking a sip of her wine to return more easily to the turning point of her night. ”She jist looked sae betrayed, Jules.” It hurt to realize she inflicted such a pained expression on a woman she loved with all her heart by choosing not to keep their secret.

”Efter 'at, River called. 'En she sent a... weel, a photae.” Rebecca hoped she could be spared from explaining the type of photo, because she was not in the mood to picture River’s vivacious body on a screen, wearing nearly noth—and she was picturing it anyway. Perfect. ”Ah asked when she was gonnae lae 'er. She said she cooldnae yit. An'... Ah hink part ay it is 'at she worries Ah'll lae again.”

Plenty of things had gone wrong at dinner, but that one was giving Rebecca a pit in her stomach. ”Ah’m worried Ah’ve bloon aw mah chances wi’ ‘er a lang time ago.” She punctuated the comment by shoving a chocolate-covered bit of shortbread into her mouth.

As the sweet taste faded, a warm presence was could be felt that had nothing to do with chocolate. And suddenly, Rebecca was smiling weakly, despite all the troubles on her mind. ”Jules… Ah dinnae hink Ah can move noo.” She gestured under the table to her legs. Bijou had nestled on her lap, his body filling the space that dipped to where her thighs met. How was she supposed to ever get up if she had been chosen for the honor of being a kitty bed?

A slip of the tongue had led to all the issues of the night; Rebecca had revealed to her mother that her and Agnes’ relationship was something that had to be done under the radar. Juliette blinked at that information and nodded, digesting it and what it meant for a moment. Agnes had felt betrayed and Rebecca had felt bad for letting it slip. Perhaps it was Juliette’s natural bias toward supporting her friend, but she couldn’t help but think of how unfair it was for Rebecca to have to keep that secret while being strung along by a woman still with her fiancée.

Again, the fiancée played a role in the evening. A photo that Rebecca shouldn’t have had to see had come into play, and was now causing issue. Juliette didn’t know Agnes at all, but already, from what she was hearing, she didn’t care for how her friend was being treated by her. She knew that it was wrong to assume the worst of someone, but her protective walls were up, and she was on high alert for the possibility that Agnes didn’t have Rebecca’s best interests in mind.

Next, Rebecca shared her fears. Juliette nodded, her stomach twisting for her friend as she took the information in. While she thought it over, she took a strawberry, dipped it in chocolate, and nibbled away at it with her hand held under it to catch any drips.

As if he knew the perfect moment to comfort one of the two girls, Bijou appeared and took up residence in Rebecca’s lap, nestling himself between her thighs. Rebecca had been chosen, which meant that she could not move until he decided to move. It was a huge honour.

Juliette chewed the last of her strawberry and set the skewer down on the table for a moment. She reached down and scritched Bijou on top of his head while she considered everything that her friend had told her. She felt defensive of her and, frankly, wanted to give Agnes a piece of her mind, but she knew that wasn’t the time. She needed to be supportive and caring, not judgemental or vindictive.

”I think… you might just have to show her that you’re not going to leave, Beck,” she suggested lightly. ”I mean, if you’re still involved after everything, then clearly you haven’t ruined your chances with her. There’s clearly something between you. You… might just have to make it clear that you intend to stick around through it all.”

She hated that she was suggesting that Rebecca put in the effort when she’d already been the one to end her relationship, while Agnes was still juggling the two of them. Sure, she only had pieces of information, but what she’d heard wasn’t promising. Still, if Rebecca loved her, then she needed to be supportive of that choice. She would save any harsh feelings for the possibility that something went wrong.

Juliette listened to Rebecca’s explanation of the evening, looking pensive as she munched on her strawberry and gave Rebecca’s new lap-cat head scritches. Her eventual response made sense. There was little Rebecca could say to prove she was going to be around through thick and thin, because she had used words before. All she could do was seek to prove herself through actions until hopefully, Agnes realized she was in it for the long haul.

She dipped a marshmallow into the chocolate and looked at it for a moment. ”Okay. Ah’ll apologize tomorrow fur hoo tonecht went, an' 'en... Ah'll jist... nae laeve?” She sighed, feeling suddenly stupid. ”Ah guess when ye say it loch ‘at, it seems obvious…”

Rebecca could see the moment in Juliette’s eye. She was in best friend mode, ready to protect a person she was close to from someone who was hurting her. Rebecca had to get a lot off her chest, but it was important not to leave lasting effects on her best friend, tainting her opinion of a woman she wanted to be with forever. ”It’s jist messy. Aggie’s trying. Ah’m trying. Things ur jist... gonnae be complicated til they arenae. But it'll be worth it, Jules. Agnes is mah person.” Rebecca did believe that everyone had more than one potential person, but eventually one person would click. Agnes was the one who clicked.

Finally eating and chewing her marshmallow, Rebecca took stock of the moment. She was around her coffee table eating chocolate-covered treats. There was a beautiful cat on her lap and another resting on the top of the loveseat behind Juliette’s head. She was with her best friend, who was supporting her implicitly in a time of need. As hard as the night with Agnes was, she still had so many good things in her life, and many of them came from Juliette living in her apartment.

The realization spurred her to start a conversation she had been considering for over a week. ”Hey Jules? Ye really ur an amazing friend. Havin' ye aroond has pure made a warld ay difference. Ah was wonderin… hoo has yer apartment search bin gonnae?”

If Rebecca truly believed that Agnes was the person for her, then, dammit, Juliette would try to make herself believe that too. Rebecca was really the best friend that she could possibly ask for, and whatever she could do to repay her for taking her in and letting her impose on her life, she would do. Especially if it involved that much chocolate.

”You’ll get through it, Beck,” Juliette said soothingly. It sounded sort of stupid when she said it, but it was something that she actually believed. Kismet or fate and all that. She was a hopeless romantic that still counted on the universe to ensure that things that were supposed to happen, would. ”If it’s meant to be, then it will be.”

Looking back, she had come to terms with the fact that she and Sam were not meant for one another. There were things working against them that she had ignored until they had all piled up so high that there was no way around them. She was okay with that fact, though. It meant that there was something better suited for both of them out there somewhere. It would take a bit of time.

From the sounds of it, though, Rebecca had already met her person. Juliette was getting the end of a bad night, so she knew that her assumptions about Agnes might not be fair or correct. For all she knew, the hurtful Agnes could actually be the sweetest person in the world and she was just hearing the one side. She did her best to push any judgements down and give her the benefit of the doubt. 

>>”Hey Jules? Ye really ur an amazing friend. Havin' ye aroond has pure made a warld ay difference. Ah was wonderin… hoo has yer apartment search bin gonnae?”

The first comment had made her smile as she put a piece of banana on the end of her chocolate stick and dipped it in the bubbling pot. Living with Rebecca really had been a blessing for her, so it was good to hear that it went both ways.

The second comment had given her pause. She had spent some time searching for a new place to live, but not as much time as she really should have. In truth, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to live on her own again just yet. It had been fine when she’d first moved to the city and didn’t really know anyone, but so many things had changed since then, and she didn’t want to go back to that old way of living. Still, she felt bad about overstaying her welcome there.

She sat back, chewed the banana for a second and thought of what to say. ”It’s… it’s going. Nothing in my price range and target area is really catching my eye, you know?” she quickly made excuses for her own unwillingness to leave. ”I’ll put in more time, though. I can even ask other people - maybe Sarah - if they have room for me if you’d like to speed things up.”

She watched as Gavin carefully made his way down from the back of the loveseat to where Bijou was sitting on Becca’s lap. The two cats touched noses quickly before the one moved along to his next destination. It would be sad when they would eventually have to be parted again. Maybe they could plan cat dates or something.

It might have sounded like a cliché, but Juliette was right: whatever would be, would be. Que Sera Sera. Rebecca was convinced Agnes was the woman she was meant to be with, so she had to have faith that if she did not run away, things would work out and they could finally be happy together after so many years.

With Juliette’s advice in hand, Rebecca would put aside the pain of her night and move to the future. In the meantime, she had been meaning to have a talk with Juliette about their living situation and it finally felt like the right opportunity. She was still nervous, which was silly, because whatever choice Juliette made, Rebecca would be happy and they would still be friends. It just felt like such a big question.

As Rebecca guessed, Juliette was having a hard time finding a place that would suit her needs. Housing in New York City was a notorious challenge and the city was one of the most expensive places in the world to live. It had to be frustrating to apartment hunt when she was in an affordable, comfortable place for the moment.

Then Juliette took the question in an unexpected direction. It was Rebecca’s fault for not being clearer with the intent of her question. She watched, wide-eyed as her friend assured her she could get out of her hair soon if necessary, apparently thinking Rebecca saw her as a burden.

”Jules,” she started, trying to calm things down. She followed her friend’s gaze down to her lap where Bijou and Gavin were giving each other kitty kisses. The sight made it hard not to chuckle as she spoke. ”Jules, that’s nae whit Ah meant. Ah was tryin' tae ask... if ye waur interested, Ah mean... if ye wanted tae jist move in proper. Stay mah roommate.”

Rebecca sighed, having finally gotten the offer off her chest, before looking back to their felines in love. ”Ah mean, Ah’d hate tae break up th’ boyfriends.”

It had come time for Juliette to figure her life out on her own and do what she had been dreading since she left the mansion: live on her own again. She munched almost nervously on a chocolate-coated marshmallow as she considered her options. Her laptop was in the other room, but she could go get it if she needed to start looking again that night. She wouldn’t have blamed Rebecca in the slightest, either. It was her apartment, and Juliette was just an intruding temporary resident. She had to go at some point.

Or, at least, she assumed that she did. What she hadn’t anticipated was that Rebecca would want her to become a permanent resident there and take up the mantle of her actual roommate. The idea hadn’t even occurred to her, but it was definitely something that was exciting to hear.

Juliette blinked as she digested the idea. It would change her plans entirely, but decidedly in a way that was for the better. She loved living with Rebecca, and the idea that it didn’t have to and gave her hope. Midnight talks with chocolate and wine could become a regular household tradition.

Still, there was some part of her that felt like she was imposing on the redhead. That or make her feel like she was required to offer her a place to stay just because she was having a rough month or two were the last things she wanted to do to such a good friend. She loved the offer, but she didn’t want it to be a forced one.

Rebecca didn’t sound like it was causing her any pain to offer it, and it had been her idea to say anything, after all, so Juliette allowed a bit of a pass at that. It was good to double check, but for the most part, she didn’t have to feel bad about saying yes. It wasn’t something that she was forcing on a friend.

”I mean, if you’re willing to keep putting up with me on a regular basis, then I would love that, Becca. Really. Thank you,” Juliette said earnestly. She took a deep breath and reached back for her wine, taking a sip before adding. ”Are you absolutely sure, though? I mean, it is your apartment, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this, because you don’t. At all. I don’t mind looking for somewhere else.”

All things considered, Rebecca was winning all the friendship awards. Whatever she ended up deciding, Juliette owed her a lot.

It was an exciting, nerve-wracking prospect to invite her best friend to live with her. Rebecca’s experience with roommates was limited. She had a brief stint with a roommate at Xavier’s, followed by a move into an apartment with her girlfriend, Agnes. She had one flatmate when she got to London, but when her videos started bringing in actual money, she found a place of her own to rent until her Master’s was completed. Vanessa never moved in, regardless of how many nights she spent at the apartment during their time together.

And now she would live with Jules, her gorgeous best friend. Yes, their friendship started as a crush Rebecca had on the brunette, but they really evolved into true friends over the months. It was always dangerous to move in with a friend because it meant seeing new sides to them, but they had shared the apartment for weeks and they were handling things fine. Rebecca was certain she was ready for the next step.

Juliette agreed, though she seemed less certain about the plan. She was clearly still concerned with being taken on as a burden or a pity case, when that was not the point in the slightest. Becca smirked, shaking her head. She dipped a strawberry into the chocolate pot and said, ”Ah’m absolutely sure. An’ Ah dinnae hink yer listening tae me, coz Ah’m pretty sure...”

Rebecca lifted her skewer from the pot and quickly brought the strawberry-topped tip to Juliette’s cheek, leaving a chocolate imprint on her tan skin. ”Ah jist made thes our apartment.”

The redhead’s mood was positive for the first time in hours because she knew she had important people in her life. Juliette was going to be there for her, regardless of how things with Agnes went. She was luckier than most to have a friend like that around. She giggled and munched on the strawberry, swallowing before she spoke again. ”Welcome home, Jules.”

Yes, Juliette was alright with looking for somewhere else to live. She was alright with it, but it wasn’t what she wanted to do. What she wanted to do was keep living there with Rebecca and watching their cats fall quickly in love. It was the perfect situation, or, at least, it would be if it were permanent. 

Except, permanent was exactly what Rebecca was offering. She was giving Juliette the chance to move in with her and become her official roommate. It was almost too good to be true, which was part of the reason that Juliette was a little aprehensive about accepting the offer right away. She wanted to make sure that Rebecca knew exactly what she was doing when she let the brunette become a permanent leech on her living situation.

As the warm chocolate pressed against her cheek, though, she knew just how real it was. She opened her mouth and squealed in shock, automatically sticking her hands out and her leg up in defence. That was a low, chocolatey blow.

”Was that my initiation?” Juliette asked with a joke, wiping the chocolate off of her cheek with her pointer finger before licking it off. Chocolate was too good to waste. While she appeared distracted, she flicked her own skewer over, touching the chocolate-covered marshmallow to her friend’s forehead. ”Happy to be home, Becca,” she said through a giggle.

---

The Third MC: Feelin' Good

Cloud nine was a wonderful cloud. A wonderful, fluffy cloud that Juliette was certain she could spend forever on. Well, she could if she kept having nights like the one she’d just had, anyway.

Booker B. Bookman had gone from the guy that she felt bad for catching feelings for, to the guy that she shouldn’t have kissed, to the guy that could maybe be something, and finally, he had become the guy that definitely was something. Their second date had been… well, incredible. It had lasted just long enough, and now Juliette had to come down from it.

She’d come home to an empty apartment, so, without anyone to talk to, she’d just gone to work. Work breezed by, and before she knew it, she was at home again, and Becca still wasn’t there. She needed a good, healthy dose of girl-talk, but to do so, she needed her girl. With an easy motion, she took out her phone and shot a quick text to Becca.

Hey, can you pick up some chocolate on your way home?

It’s for a good reason this time 

The second text had been sent a few minutes before for clarification. Chocolate late at night had become their tradition for when things went wrong, but there was no reason that it couldn’t also be a time for celebration. Chocolate was always good for celebrations.

While she waited for the redhead, Juliette puttered around the kitchen, pulling things out for them to dip in the fondue. A bottle of red wine sat open on the kitchen counter; Juliette had poured herself a glass a while ago and was holding it loosely as she moved about the kitchen.

It was a typical night of patrol. Rebecca had more time to put into patrolling New York in the Summer, with a quieter workload on the teaching end of her career path. Unexpected free time was being split between the X-Men, video making, and social life time. She was giving Agnes her space, doing her best to not overthink the gap between her last text to the woman and the present day. They would figure things out, and if not… well, she would find a way to live. Jules assured her of that.

It had been a few days since their last “Midnight Chocolate” and the official designation of Juliette as a true-blue roommate. They had even celebrated by shopping for ways to add touches of Jules throughout the apartment. When they walked through the door, it no longer felt like “Rebecca’s place with one extra guest.” It truly felt like “that apartment Rebecca and Juliette share.” She liked the change.

Rebecca was looking forward to her return to the apartment, because New York was surprisingly quiet. It made her feel uneasy, like something big was coming. There was no reason for a metaphorical “eye before the storm” to exist, but she could feel it in her bones. Then again, with the nerves she was dealing with from other aspects of her life, she was surely just overthinking things.

The masked vigilante was sitting on a rooftop looking over Madison Avenue from above. Until something came through over the radio in her ear, she had time to kill. She tried not to intervene in the middle of basic policework, but at the rate things were going, she might have to respond to a call just to keep herself from getting bored.

The silence gave her the chance to recognize a buzz at her hip. Pulling her phone from the pocket on her belt, Rebecca read over messages from her roommate. The first one caught her by surprise; Juliette was calling a Midnight Chocolate. There was a pit in her stomach, because the first MCs were called because of Juliette’s breakup and Rebecca’s fight with Agnes.

Fortunately, a second message followed quickly to ease her concerns. Rebecca was actually thrilled; the MCs were becoming a special thing between her and Juliette, but they were going to be depressing if they were only called when problems arose. Rebecca triggered voice-to-text because her gauntlets were not ideal for typing on a touch-screen.

I can totally grab chocolate. Can’t wait, roomie :*

It was funny to think of how casually she could talk to Juliette now that they lived with one another. Even a kissy-face emoji was just something silly and playful rather than flirty. They had come a long way from Rebecca having a massive crush on the gorgeous brunette.

Of course, almost on cue, reports of a mutant trying to rob a bank with “bog powers” came over Rebecca’s comm piece. She acknowledged the call and hovered off the roof, wondering what “bog powers” were.

---

Bog powers were bad. Rebecca was not a fan. The mutant was apprehended, but she ended the scuffle soaked in mud and bog water, reeking to high-heaven. The officers she coordinated with felt so bad for her, one of them willingly went into a grocery store to pick up chocolate for her. The other offered her a towel and a sweatshirt, which was all they had on hand and more than enough for her to change into. Her costume was more or less useless; she had a spare at the Mansion, but she was one bog monster away from being a costumeless vigilante.

Rebecca entered the apartment with her hair still tinged with lingering black hair dye and the stench of a swamp. She was wearing the sweatshirt, which stretched just far enough to cover her bottom. She eyed Juliette pathetically, dropping the bag filled with chocolate on the table before muttering, ”We can start th’ MC in a few. Ah… Ah need a shower.” She was sure from several feet away, Juliette could detect her scent. A fifteen minute shower was going to be necessary before either of them could enjoy chocolate.

---

Finally satisfied with her level of cleanliness, (after most of a bottle of shampoo and half a bottle of body scrub,) Rebecca emerged from her room. Her hair was towel-dried, so she still had the “fresh out of the shower” look to her. She wore an off-the shoulder oversized top and cotton shorts. With a sigh, she plopped down on her spot on the couch, reaching for her designated wine glass. ”Okay. Ah’m ready. Ah call thes Midnight Chocolate tae order!” she joked, savoring a sip of her drink as she sunk into the cushions of the couch.

With the MC set into motion by Rebecca’s willingness to pick up some chocolate on her way home, Juliette set to work getting the other things together that they needed. She chopped fruit, poured wine, got out the fondue pot, and gathered little bowls of things for them to dip into chocolate. Before long, there was a carefully arranged array of things on the coffee table, just waiting to be eaten. The only thing that it was missing was some melted, bubbling chocolate.

There was nothing else to set up for the experience. That was it. It was all on the table, and there were only so many times that Juliette could rearrange the bowls or knock a kitty paw away before she had to relent that there was nothing else that needed to be done. So, she sat down on the couch for a few minutes, obsessively switching between her messages and different social media apps. She really needed something to do with her hands in order to occupy herself.

After about ten minutes of that, she gave up on sitting and waiting. Instead, she began to clean. She was developing a bad good habit of cleaning whenever she was nervous or had a bit of time on her hands. Things were getting to the point where there wasn’t all that much left to clean, so she was doing things that she’d already done days before. The living room would never be dusty on her watch.

>>”We can start th’ MC in a few. Ah… Ah need a shower.”

She was leaning over a bookshelf, dusting a shelf when Rebecca walked in. It was clear that she’d been… actually, it wasn’t clear what she’d been doing, but she looked absolutely miserable. The MC would have to wait. That was alright with Juliette, actually. Couches were difficult to clean. ”Yeah, go for it. I’ve got things set up for when you’re ready,” Juliette called after her, watching her make her way to the bathroom down the hall. At least she would have the floor to clean while she was waiting.

Fifteen minutes later, Rebecca emerged, smelling far better and generally looking to be in better spirits. Juliette had mopped and dried the floor after putting the chocolate in the fondue pot to warm and melt. By the time that they were both sitting on the couch with their respective wine glasses, the smell was intoxicating. It was hard not to want to just eat it all right off the bat.

>>”Okay. Ah’m ready. Ah call thes Midnight Chocolate tae order!”

”Midnight - well, nine-thirty - chocolate is in order,” Juliette agreed with a raised glass. 

She’d been waiting for a long time for her roommate to come home so that they could talk about what had happened the night before, but now that she was here, Juliette didn’t know where to begin. It was so surreal that she wasn’t even sure if all the memories were correct, so instead, she focused on something else at hand.

”So… uh… where were you?” she asked casually, nodding her head toward the door instinctively. It wasn’t every day that she walk in smelling like a sewer without any explanation. 

With both women finally settled, they could call their session of indulging in chocolate to order. Juliette pointed out the inconsistency with the timing, but Rebecca rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine. ”Ah mean, we can either wait tae eat an’ talk fer three hoors, ur we can say it's basically Midnight an' enjoy. yer choice,” she teased, skewering one of the neatly cut chunks of banana.

As the one who called the Midnight Chocolate, it was expected Juliette would lead things off. She had something big to share with her friend that warranted a girls’ night. Instead of jumping right into the matter at hand, though, Juliette asked about Rebecca’s day. It was sweet, but Rebecca wondered if she was motivated by entirely altruistic reasons or if she was stalling.

Chewing her chocolate-covered banana, Rebecca considered the question. ”Ah was oan patrol when ye’ texted me. It was boring richt up til then, bit Ah got a call fer a robbery nae long after. It was a mutant whose body was basically made ay swamp mud an’ bog water.” She almost gagged recounting her fight with the mutant criminal. It seemed like a gross but harmless power at first, but when he revealed he could lob sticky, slimy globs of himself at her, she quickly rethought her opinion. ”That micht hae been th’ first time Ah’ve regretted bein’ a superhero,” she joked.

Rebecca loved what she did, but being an X-Man was no picnic. Some days you had to deal with a mind-torturing telepathic tyrant and other days, you had to destroy all your clothing to remove all the filth of your last fight from your life. It was rewarding, but that did not stop it from occasionally being miserable, just like any job.

”Sae…” Rebecca swirled her glass of wine, trying to subtly probe for Juliette’s big news. ”Hoo abit ye? Did ye hae a guid day while Ah was it fightin’ human muck?”

”Ew,” the brunette grimaced as Rebecca described her day. Bog powers sounded absolutely horrible, and from the looks of Becca, they were absolutely horrible. There were mutant powers, and then there were… well, unfortunate situations. If Juliette had been born with swamp powers, then she wasn’t all that sure that she would have the good graces to stay on the right side of the law either. It wasn’t always sunshine (literally) for the rest of the mutant population.

”Well, you’re home now and we have chocolate,” Juliette pointed out sympathetically as she passed the throw blanket from the back of the couch over to her roommate. There was something about being home, wrapped in a blanket after shivering in cold water all day that Juliette cited as one of the best feelings in the world. Once Rebecca was suitably covered, she leaned over and stabbed a strawberry with a skewer and dipped it into the chocolate. ”The only super that you have to be here is a super-spider-squisher.”

The conversation was promptly shifted over to what Juliette had been doing with her day, which was to be expected, since she’d called the MC into order, after all. She’d just been nervous about sharing the news, since she wasn’t sure if it would jinx how amazing things had been. She knew that it couldn’t possibly be the case, but saying out loud somehow made things different.

She chewed her strawberry for a second as she tried to think of the best way to tell her closest friend about all the butterflies in her stomach. ”Well… you remember library guy? I had a date with him last night, and… well… it went really well for the most part, and... he makes really good breakfast...” She flushed red at what she was implying, drawing her lips in as she looked at her friend with anticipation. Being with Booker felt good. So good, especially after the s*** few months that she’d had before that, so she hoped that her friend would approve. She was happy where things were, even if they had started in a bad situation.

Rebecca loved being able to return home to Juliette. It was not the same as living with a girlfriend, which was an experience Rebecca also enjoyed back in the day, but it was still a wonderful change from living alone. Gavin was not going to empathize with the X-Man’s mucky plight as well as Juliette could. Even after a shower, the cat was still approaching Rebecca cautiously, sniffing near her leg to see if he could detect the remnants of the smell.

Wrapping herself in the throw blanket, Rebecca was already eyeing the fruits laid out, begging to be dunked in melty chocolate. Juliette truly knew how to take care of her. ”Thenk ye, luv. Thocht, hoo Ah ended up as our designated spider-squisher, Ah’m still fuzzy oan.” Rebecca was by no means a fan of spiders, but between her and Juliette someone had to be the one to vanquish arachnid intruders.

Looking to enjoy something unique for her first serving, Rebecca skewered a large kiwi chunk, submerging it in the bubbling pot as Juliette filled her in on recent events. The Midnight Chocolate was her own, after all. Rebecca listened intently, smiling excitedly when Jules mentioned a date with her Library guy. After the breakup with Sam, Rebecca wanted Juliette to be happy, whether that meant taking time to be single or pursuing the man she was initially dealing with feelings for near the end of her relationship. Their origins were not the neatest, but Rebecca was in no position to judge. She was just glad her friend was pursuing her feelings.

And then Juliette subtly slipped in the big bomb of the conversation. Rebecca had just popped a chocolate-covered orange slice in her mouth as the breakfast comment hit her. Her jaw hung loosely and her eyes widened. ”Oh mah—” She stopped herself so she could quickly chew and swallow the fruit in her mouth, not even taking the time to savor the burst of flavor. ”Oh mah God! Jules!”

With a smile beaming from ear-to-ear, Rebecca flung herself from one couch to another, still cocooned in her blanket. She wrapped her arms around her friend and squeezed tightly. ”Look at ye, makin’ it happen,” she teased, playfully. A younger, more naïve Rebecca might have thought they were moving too fast, but life had taught her that not all romantic situations were built equally and there was no formula for what should happen when. ”Nae wonder ye got ‘at glow an’ ‘at cute grin gaing.”

For a second, Juliette was worried that Rebecca wouldn’t understand why they’d moved as fast as they did. She and Booker’s relationship did not start in a way that was typically considered okay by most people, and she still regretted that they would now have to carry that fact with them, but things felt right with him. Nothing felt forced or uncomfortable, and it only made her wish that she’d been able to see the cracks in her relationship with Sam earlier than she had.

Luckily, Rebecca’s true blue friend title stayed golden. Juliette let out a squeak as the redhead launched at her, giggling happily as her friend pulled her into a hug. It was nice to have support like that. Not a single inch of her regretted moving in with her friend.

As Rebecca complimented her grin, it only grew wider. Juliette was happy. As stupid as it sounded, she really did feel like she was glowing. She hadn’t felt like that in months; her previous relationship had so many fault lines that she was surprised it hadn’t erupted sooner (she could see that with distance), and everything before that point with Booker had come with skeevy feelings. It was nice to be over that hump.

Still, there was always some kind of drawback, since life couldn’t possibly let them off easy. No matter how amazing the night afterward had been, there was nothing that could make her forget her conversation with Booker’s overprotective sister. Booker’s overprotective sister who also happened to be Rebecca’s ex-girlfriend.

”But,” Juliette said slowly, taking a pause as she backed up slightly from the hug. There was always a but, wasn’t there? ”I swear that I didn’t know this when we met, but… he’s Vanessa’s brother…”

She stopped there, trying to look at Rebecca’s face to see how she would react. Things with Vanessa had been messy, and they really hadn’t ended well between the two of them, and she would understand if Rebecca was uncomfortable with the connection. She wasn’t sure how she would react if the redhead wanted her to end things with Booker, but she would cross that bridge if it appeared.