Consent was so goddamn sexy.

[ftb]

The couch had been lovely, but there was no replacing a good snuggle under some hella fluffy covers and luxury sheets. Raine hadn't been surprised to find the bed in disarray once they'd made it there (Steph was splitting her time between mom and self and that only left so much time for things like bed making), but she was surprised to find the softest most slippiest non-silk in existence.

If only she hadn't woken up in an absolute tangle of legs and sheets.

She wasn't sure who had woken first, but considering how intertwined they'd ended up, it was impossible to notice that Steph wasn't exactly asleep anymore.

"You couldn't just let me be the big spoon." She grumbled, keeping her voice low. It seemed like a moment that deserved a certain amount of reverence. It was absolutely impossible to be grumpy at the moment anyway because this was... nice.

Oh god don't say that. Don't screw this up.

Raine didn't have time to worry about touching Steph again or what might be too soon or any of that. She was already half on top and half under. Somehow her forehead had found its way to Steph's neck and yet, her shoulder was wedged underneath them both. How? She shifted in an attempted to regain some autonomy, but she wasn't ready to exit the sheets and re-enter the real world just yet.

"What time-?" The light filtering through the curtains looked new somehow and Raine wasn't sure where her phone was. Possibly between the cushions. She resisted sitting up. "I guess we'll hear Malia when she needs help."

Amazing night. Top five nights ever. Not just for Steph, but for the greater history of nights.

Steph slowly faded into consciousness when she felt Raine stir beside her. Well, beside and beneath. Honestly, until she started actually waking up, Steph could barely grasp the way their bodies configured themselves throughout the night. She could tell there was next to no space between them. She liked that part. Her arm was also asleep somewhere under Raine. That part, she could endure.

The way Raine grumbled made Steph smile sheepishly. She felt Raine's hair brushing her cheek and tilted her neck to plant a kiss atop that golden crown of bedhead. "Maybe you'll get it next time, champ." In the half-awake tussle for cuddle dominance, Raine put up a heck of a fight, but Steph was the one with Raine's butt pressed against her.

The night was a wonderful blur of couch kissing moving to the bed and just... fireworks. And peaceful cuddling. And checking on Malia when Steph heard coughing on the baby monitor. And then somehow, another round of fireworks into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.

The time was early. Stephanie never slept in after drinking. The alcohol burned away and woke her up with the dawn, sadly. She took time to bask in the morning until her eyes were willing to open for more than a blurry peek. They were awake and left with the question. "So about that next time." Steph had implied it, and it sounded right in the moment. In the morning light, maybe Raine felt different about the choice they made. Even after a night like that, she did not want to presume. "No pressure, I just... I want to be on the same page."

Steph used her functioning hand to run her fingers carefully into Raine's hair. "How are you feeling?" She left details out of it. Stephanie just wanted to know where Raine's head was at.

Steph dropped a challenge on her and Raine bantered back without really thinking through the implications.

"Okay. You're on, then." Only after a slightly heavier silence had descended did Raine stop and think it through. She was mid full body stretch, definitely necessary and not just an excuse to run certain parts of herself against certain other parts of Steph when Steph really clarified what Raine had just run right past.

> "So about that next time."

Raine opened her mouth to say 'yeah, how 'bout forever' and then slammed her jaw shut with enough force to click her teeth. She probably freaked Steph out, hence the backpedaling from the other woman.

"I- I really want to try." Since this was a conversation better had face to face, she rolled and searched Steph's eyes in a vain attempt to unlock whatever secrets might be hiding there. "I don't want to rush. I want to... do it right, y'know? I feel like..." She was having trouble articulating for long that Steph had to prompt her to try again.

"I feel like we could really have a shot. And I don't want to screw that up by being over eager or something?" An nervous. They were still naked in bed, but talking like this? That was far more revealing. Nerves threatened to shut her down.

The way Raine deliberately chose to stretch her body was not missed, hinted at by Steph biting her lower lip. That could have derailed their entire morning if they did not have a weighty conversation they could only put off for so long. Sex probably could have delayed things, which made it all the weirder when Steph realized she wanted to talk about this.

Raine admitted she wanted to try. Steph was so used to casual flings hoping girls did not wake up with feelings. Today, she felt a rush of relief knowing last night was something more for both of them. Steph would have played it off, but something would have deflated in her if Raine called this a one-time fling.

Face to face in bed, still close enough to feel the warmth of Raine’s body, Steph met those eyes asking for a shot at something more. She faltered, if only for a moment, in her expression. Raine was so good. So deserving of something wonderful. She deserved someone better than Stephanie. If Steph was a selfless woman, she would accept that and cut things off here.

She couldn’t; she selfishly wanted the girl with the soulful blue eyes so badly. She wanted Raine enough to imagine herself as someone better. Could she do that? ”I… Raine, I need to confess. I’ve never done this before. The dating thing. I’ve never wanted to be with someone like that.”

Stephanie paused, taking the deep breath before the plunge. ”But… I want that with you. I really do. If you are willing to be patient with me, and I agree, take it slow. I really… I really want to learn how to be with you.”

She could see it building behind Steph's eyes. The rejection was forming and Raine was already trying to shut down the flutters of panic and put on a strong face otherwise she was going to cry and it was going to be ugly. She was so stupid for reading this wrong...

and felt even stupider when buoyed by the relief of Steph's confession. She was stupid grinning, wasn't she? Raine had to touch Steph on the cheek and trailed her fingers down along her jawline to reassure herself.

"Oh. Is that all? I thought you were going to say you, like, eat babies or steal priceless works of art or something." And as much of a dealbreaker that would be, Raine couldn't help but be pleased that the nerves were mutual. The desire for more was mutual. Because she'd just sort of tossed that out there, trimmed with her heart, and hoped for the best.

Jokes aside, "I think the most beautiful part of being together is being able to grow together. I can see that for me. For you. For a future us, maybe?" But that was her silly idealism talking. As far as Raine knew, there were messy parts of Steph's life she wouldn't be able to handle? Steph seemed to think so, but Raine just couldn't let go of this jubilant moment when everything felt so possible.

She could help shoulder any burden, Raine was sure. And, maybe someday Steph would... a cold finger of dread tried to ruin Rain'e moment as she realized that she hadn't told Steph that she was a mutant, a vigilante mutant. Steph was from the Otherverse. That kind of thing mattered over there. But Malia... But Malia was her daughter and she had to love her, right?

"Any, uh, dealbreakers you can think of?" She not so subtly fished.

It took all Steph’s restraint not to wince at Raine’s joke. The blonde had no way of knowing how hard she hit the nail on the head. That was a confession for another time; Steph could not drop that on Raine yet. She trusted the blonde, but that was a heavy secret. It potentially made Raine an accomplice of all things.

Maybe, instead of confessing, she could see this as a chance to tone down her night activities. She was still getting photography work. She had a nest egg to pull from. Maybe… well, could she try a trial run of a normal life?

Steph’s chest did fill with warmth at the idea of a “future them.” A Steph and Raine, together and connected on that deeper level the lonely thief only heard in stories.

And when they were at that point in their lives, Steph would admit to who she was. She would open up about her powers, which still unfortunately identified her too easily as the Silhouette Raine might have read about in news stories.

Though there was something Steph never admitted to that carried less consequence. ”No dealbreakers I can think of,” she admitted. ”And you? Because I sorta never had the right time to tell you, because it feels like a weird thing to tell people, but… full disclosure.” Well, partial disclosure.

”I used to be in my thirties. Malia and I were de-aged by that weirdo in the news. I don’t know much about who I was,” because it turned out, all evidence of her was on the other side of a closed rift. ”Who knows? I might be a magnet for weirdness, so that’s your fair warning. Also, I am a pop culture dummy.” That part was not her fault; she missed most of the two-thousands and twenty-tens. At least she finally had an excuse for her lack of song lyric knowledge.

Raine tensed for a blow that never landed. Instead, Steph's confession just made Raine feel vindicated in bringing alcohol to a minor. "Hah! I deadass knew you were mature for your age! And now I just get to bring you up to speed on alll the slang. Like no cap. Do you know no cap? Nono, this isn't a bad thing this is a blessing."

Wait. She sat bolt upright forgetting there was no shirt under all that cozy warmth as a horrifying realization hit home. "Wait. AND Malia?" That had come out a bit loud so even Raine winced. "What an awful... she doesn't, like, remember any of it, does she?" What if she was a pre-teen trapped in a baby's body. Oh no. Oh god. She had to, like, go do something or something... didn't she?

The reaction was what Steph should have expected from Raine; supportive and positive. It was a low-risk secret, but the thief needed to start getting secrets off her chest. The big ones might not be so easy, so for now, she would take progress. She would gladly let Raine catch her up with modern pop culture. "Hey, I've learned no cap! I downloaded Clik-Clak and everything! But if you're up for mid-twenty-tens movie nights..."

The mood shifted when the fate of Malia hit Raine, but Steph was quick to ease her concerns. "No, no, no worrying! The de-aging erased memories past the age I ended up. Same for everyone, including her. Woke up with no clue where I was."

Hoping to keep her bedpartner from worrying out of the goodness of her heart, Steph kissed Raine's cheek. "We're starting fresh. I don't know much about who we were, but Malia and I weren't lucky enough to meet you last time. I'll say that's a win for us. If you'll have me."