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It was hard not to feel dirty dealing with thoughts of her ex-girlfriend while Becca had a perfectly sweet, caring girlfriend at home. Nothing had happened to make her unfaithful, but dealing with thoughts of straying was enough to leave Becca wracked with constant guilt.

Maybe she needed the chance to finally just get her problems off her chest. It helped having friends around to support her and remind her she was not a terrible person or bad girlfriend. She was busy looking forward at her knees when Serena came in to hug her, the squeezing catching her by surprise with an, ”Oh!” before she reciprocated. She felt the comforting hand on her back from Juliette and supporting words from all three women assuring her they were here to support and not judge.

Looking to move the evening forward, Cosmo was being proposed, which Becca could get behind. Feeling her guilt receding, the idea of slowing her drinking down was a smart one.

Sarah came over and Becca politely skootched forward to give her new friend some space behind him. She smiled brightly when she realized she was volunteering the space so Sarah could braid with or play with her hair. ”Thes. Thes Ah approve ay.” It did not matter who did it; Rebecca was a sucker for someone playing with her hair, and braiding was close enough as slender fingers ran through to part her wave of red hair.

Becca was not the only one with concerns about her current love life situation it would seem, as Sarah admitted her own issues. ”Hoo unfair tae keep somethin' loch 'at frae ye!” It was her initial reaction, because if she was in Sarah’s shoes, she knew she’d react poorly to finding out her lover had withheld something like that.

Maybe she was not the only one being unfair. She had a habit in the past to quickly get upset by undisclosed information, a la Age of Sebastian Agnes, but that had been a mistake. She had to be reasonable and remember people had their reasons for making decisions, even if she disagreed. ” Sorry. At leest he tauld yoo; 'at is important,” she added, appreciating that Sarah’s mystery man came forward to her willingly. The whole situation reminded her of a recent re-addition to her teaching staff. ”Jules an' Ah wark wi' a bloke fa turned himself in fur things he did. He's back noo, an' he's actually an alright bloke. Hot, tay,” she added absentmindedly.

Returning into the moment, she spoke over her shoulder, ”Ah guess Aj’m sayin’ mebbe yer bad boy micht nae be sae bad?”

”You know, I could totally build you an actual gaming PC. Just say the word.”

Becca looked up from her laptop, snapped out of the trance the screen often put her in by the low voice of Nessa sitting at the foot of her bed. ”Oh? Ah mean, Ah’m nae playin’ games; just lookin’ ower comments tae see whit fowk want advice oan.” Becca’s advice vlogs were some of her most popular videos, and her fans knew she would look through comments to find out what they wanted her to talk about. The channel was a conversation and a community; that was well known as one of her philosophies for Pixelbecky.

Nessa, who was a gaming channel girl and whose idea of “community” often meant hopping online to play games, rolled her eyes at the extra effort that went into such a personal blog. ”So many feelings!” she joked, falling back on the bed to sit next to her girlfriend. ”What do the masses want to hear about from Pixelbecky?”

Running the fingers of her free hand through Nessa’s short brown hair, Becca looked over some of the comments with the most likes. ”Looks loch… ‘Hoo tae teel a girl ye loch ‘er—’”

”Which you suck at,” Nessa teased.

”’Whit tae dae when ye love a straecht girl—‘”

”Do you even know any straight girls—oof!”

Becca lightly slapped Nessa in the stomach to shut up her joking for a moment. ”Ooor… ‘Hoo tae be friends wi’ an ex.’” Once she realized what she was reading, Becca’s voice trailed off into a mumble.

Nessa sunk her teeth into the question, arching her brow and smirking. ”That one sounds perfect for you. You and Agnes seem to be thick as thieves these days. Maybe you should bring her on for an episode,” she teasingly suggested.

The thought was scary to Rebecca, who had been working hard lately to keep her thoughts of Agnes tame and appropriate. At the same time, she did not want to make it sound like something was wrong between the two ex-girlfriends, so maybe she overcompensated. ”Ah mean, it's nae a terrible idea, reit? Ye hink?”

It did not sound terrible, sure, but that did not mean it was an idea Nessa was on board with. Quietly, she had been growing more uncomfortable with how much time Rebecca was spending with her ex-girlfriend lately, but she did not want to come across as a jealous girlfriend. Things were going well between them, and paranoia was a death knell for a happy relationship, right? ”Yeah. Yeah, um, sure. That could be an interesting video,” she agreed half-heartedly.

---

Which was how they ended up here.

Any video had some jitters associated with it, but Becca was genuinely anxious as she worked on setting up her cameras and audio equipment. The two girls had spent time together since the sleepover night, and on the surface, everything seemed normal. She was sure Agnes had no idea what was going through her mind. Becca was being plagued with the ghosts of memories from their former relationship, as well as fresh new memories like the kiss they shared, or the sight of Agnes sneaking into the living room to grab her phone. She feigned sleep, but had not missed Agnes walking out in boyshorts before returning to her bedroom. Becca had to calm down her racing heart and the compulsion to follow her back to the bedroom.

All these thoughts were unfair to the woman setting up Becca’s green backdrop. Nessa had been nothing but a great, accommodating girlfriend since they got together, and here Becca was getting butterflies over another woman.

Add to all that stress the knowledge that her girlfriend and her ex-girlfriend were about to meet, and Becca was dealing with a feeling of dread. She rationalized that having the girls meet each other would make things easier: she could establish her relationship with Agnes as platonic in the eyes of Nessa, and make it clear to everyone (including herself) that Nessa was the woman she wanted to be with. Almost in an act of affirmation, Becca chose a sweatshirt from Nessa’s company’s clothing line for the video.

Her hair was done into loose curls, her make-up was carefully done with products that would not hide her signature freckles (since she had an audience and two women to impress, all of whom enjoyed her freckly visage.) All she needed now was—

KNOCK-KNock-knock…!

Becca jumped at the sound of Agnes’s first loud knock, her nerves already suspect before the introduction of new surprises. The knocking was followed by an apology from the other side of the door that sounded very representative of Agnes.

Before Rebecca could make a move for the door, Nessa almost excitedly replied, ”I’ve got it!” and was on her way to greet the newcomer before any objections could be made.

Nessa opened the door to see her black-haired predecessor standing there, waiting. Before any words were shared, she locked eyes with Agnes, and for a moment she appeared to be in thought. Seemingly realizing how long her gaze was lingering, Nessa’s eyes darted away and she forced a smile. ”Nice to meet you. I’m Nessa.” She offered her hand for a firm shake before moving out of the doorway, welcoming Agnes in with a, ”Make yourself at home,” carrying the confidence of a woman who knew she had the authority to say such a thing in her girlfriend’s apartment.

Becca looked up from the laptop she was connecting her camera’s to, smiling nervously at the new presence in her apartment. ”Hi, Aggie. Ye excited fur yer PixelHearts debut?”

It was refreshing how the whole Mission Team was acting so casually on the X-Jet as they flew to the mission, making it almost feel like they were not on their way to potentially throw themselves into danger. They all understood the premise of what they were doing and the basis of “the plan,” but with so many variables to anticipate, there was no reason to spend the whole flight in their own heads thinking about what came next. Becca was understanding that being an X-Man meant being fine with improvisation in a pinch.

She was familiar with most of the team, with Jorge helping her and Agnes out several times when they were younger, and Mirror as the teammate she saw the most as a personal friend, (not that it would affect how she treated Gawain on the mission.) She had been on a mission with Saph in the “Living Tower,” and it was good to know a team veteran would have her back out there if need be.

Maya, codename Ghost, was the one teammate she only knew in passing. Maya’s situation had been explained privately to Rebecca, which she was thankful for, because if she had met the partially-transparent woman without prior preparation, she might have risked putting her foot in her mouth.

It was Maya that pointed out there was a sixth person tagging along on their mission, which was unexpected. She would have believed any of the kids at the school might have known better than to hide away when the X-Men were going on a dangerous mission.

Of course, that belief did not accurately accommodate for the brat that was Elke. Back when Becca had first met the girl, she was very young and a total brat, going by her nickname, Moose. Now that she was back in the states and teaching at the Mansion, Becca had to deal with Elke as a student, and as it turned out? Still a total brat. ”Ah swear, Ah’m nae sure if ‘Ah should know better’ is e’en in yer vocabulary,” she said, accepting that this kind of acting out was probably inevitable and not worth getting worked up over.

Bigger problems were on the horizon, which was clear when Jorge made it clear he was hearing things.

In fact, it was not just Jorge; Gawain seemed clearly uncomfortable as he admitted to hearing whatever it was the elder X-Man was talking about. This was enough to worry Rebecca, because as far as she could tell, she was hearing nothing but the standard sounds you’d expect in a jet flying over the ocean. ”Okay, Ah’m nae hearin' it.” She paused for a second before looking at the other mutants aboard the jet, trying not to sound concerned. ”Am Ah th' only one nae hearin' it?” At first, she was worried for Jorge and Mirror, but now it was occurring to her that she might have been the odd woman out.

Which was annoying, because she would love to know what was going on that was so creepy. ”...Also, Eh'd loove if someain coods at leest teel me whit ‘it’ is.” A Mirror recon mission sounded like a good idea, because they clearly had a lack of intel coming into things.

Improvisation. The X-Mission spice of life.

Rebecca had a few reasons to attend the “Unity of Arts,” not the least of which being her desire to support a friend. Agnes played a role in the entertainment for the evening, and being there for Agnes was enough of a reason to pick out a nice dress and be social for the evening. As of late, her ex-girlfriend was coming back to the forefront of her mind with growing regularity. They were still working out the kinks that came with transitioning into a healthy, appropriate friendship, and maybe she would be having an easier time of it if Agnes was not the most stunning thing in a black sheer gown Becca had ever seen.

After performing, an attractive blonde woman in a red dress reached Agnes before she could. From a distance, the woman’s face seemed familiar, much like the angry Russian blonde Becca once enraged by accidentally flirting with her French boyfriend. It was for the best that the redhead spotted the women from a distance; Svety (as she remembered Jude calling her) might have still been carrying a grudge, and honestly, it was probably safest for Becca’s heart to keep her distance from Agnes. With Nessa out of town for the evening, being at a Gala with Agnes would begin feeling like a date almost immediately.

Instead, Rebecca spotted another reason she had decided to attend the Gala, Devon Hadden, talking to an older couple. Part of the reason the event was being hosted at all was to build support for a new organization he was organizing called Haven. Support came in many different forms, be they man hours, financial backing, or good press. Rebecca’s time was limited between work and her duties as an X-Man, and her financial situation was stable as long as she was only looking to support herself and her cat.

Rebecca could, however, be a voice of support for Haven if she thought there was merit to the organization. It was surprising she would even be reached out to for an event such as this; new media was still looked at with prejudice by those who mingled with old money. It made sense though; of the voices on the internet, Pixelbecky was well-known as a vocal supporter of mutant rights, mutant equality, and anti-discrimination laws across the board. She was not just a popular face, she was seen by many as an advocate, and atop that, she was a member of the X-Men. As public endorsements go, she could be a beneficial one.

Knowing Devon as the man who “cleaned up Sanctuary,” Becca had been curious enough to see the man’s plans for herself. With her ice-blue floor-length gown trailing behind her heeled feet, she approached the host as he wrapped up his conversation. ”Mr. Hadden, man ay th' hoor, Ah presume?” She offered him her hand in greeting. ”Rebecca Grey. Thenk ye fur th' invitation. Colur me flattered, an' quite curioos tae learn mair ay whit yoo're plannin' haur.”

Becca was filling her glass… again. Wait, was she on her third glass already? This game was dangerous, from both an alcohol consumption perspective and a secret divulging perspective. She was pretty sure as the game went along that the sips she was taking were getting longer with each question, which was a reckless trend to continue.

It was not only the freckled redhead who had wine-reddened cheeks; the whole group was getting red and giggly, almost devolving into the stereotypes of their gender. Juliette groaned at Sarah’s question, shifting awkwardly in her seat knowing she was being called out for her relationship with the X-Leader, but she was not the only one forced to drink. Becca almost felt bad because she was sure this was at least the third time Serena was drinking as penance for kissing her. Meanwhile, Becca drank in memory of her overseas tryst with Gawain, even if she was not going to let the girls know exactly which of the X-Men she knew intimately.

Juliette was calling her out, but for a different answer. Rebecca had been the only one who could own up to loving two people at once, and her friends were calling for story time to begin. Becca groaned, wondering if it was wise to divulge some of her current emotional struggles. ”Mebbe. First, Ah get mah turn, at least. Ne'er hae Ah ever kissed tois people within twintie-fower hoors.” If Becca was going to throw her shame out on the table, she wanted to appreciate that there were still some things on her harlot bingo card she had yet to check off.

Juliette and Sarah both sipped from their drinks, with the latter muttering to herself ”Within an hour honestly, but who’s counting.”

”Mah party girls,” she replied with a grin.

”I mean, I did at least know both those people longer than thirty minutes.”

Becca gasped with faux offense. ”Hashtag-rude,” she replied before giving Sarah an over-the-top wink, which the tanned brunette returned, leading to a back and forth of winks before they fell back to giggling at their own absurdity.

With her turn out of the way, the other three girls were looking to Becca exeptantly, and she knew it was time to come clean with her story. Was relationship talk not one of the staples of a slumber party anyway? The cliché was boy talk, but this was clearly a more progressive party anyway. She sighed but ultimately submitted. ”Sae Ah am nae at th’ point yet whaur Eh’d say Ah loove Nessa. But Ah loch ‘er. Ah really, pure dae loch her.” She knew she liked Nessa, even if she occasionally had to use it as a mantra to make good decisions.

”But… Ah… micht still loove mah ex-girlfriend.” There was a sting in her chest admitting that aloud, and she might have kept it to herself had the encouraging presence of alcohol not aided her forward. ”We kissed again, ‘afor Ah got together wi' Nessa, but Ah almost did it again recently.” The temptation to kiss Agnes again the night she helped her look after a stray kitten was strong, and if it continued to grow, it would be stronger than her.

It was a messy story, but what was she forgetting? Oh, right. ”Also, she’s engaged. Ur maybe nae anymore, we’re nae sure.”

Rebecca took a moment amidst the uncomfortable silence that followed to drink more than half of her glass in one long sip. A fourth glass sounded great.

One round through her first game of Never Have I Ever, and… Becca had gone a solid three for three. Never had she ever thought she would be the type of girl who would hit every criteria of every question in a game like this. The once innocent Scot was going to have to take some time to seriously assess the habits she was picking up.

Rebecca was not oblivious to the look Jules gave her when she took her sip for sleeping with a guy. She was not shy about being bi, but given the one instance where she did indulge in the opposite sex, the fact that she had sex with a man was not one she advertised. Somehow, she doubted that excuse would fly with Juliette, especially after that cute little stunt she pulled, outing Serena and Becca for their meeting on the Mansion bench. (At least that would keep her from having to explain the time she did the same thing with Vicente.)

After Sarah asked a question that would obviously get her, (and herself as well, which Becca was not entirely sure was within the rules, but would not stop a girl from drinking,) Becca was already starting to feel warm. She was not a total lightweight, but red wines were a weakness for her.

At the very least, she had a turn off as the great asker of questions. Glancing around the room again as she nibbled at the potato chips she had pulled from her bag, she knew she had a question at the very least Juliette would have to drink for. ”Ne'er hae Ah ever... dated a bad boy. Ur girl. There's nae judgin', obvioosly.” About the genders, at least, because she was ready for some high-key judging.

Jules was quick to reach for the bottle (probably) jokingly, but Becca lightly swatted her hand away, giggling. ”Yer datin’ choices urn ae excuse tae gie greedy.”

Sarah was the first one to say something, looking as though she were perturbed with someone who was not there with them. "Does it count if I didn't know he was?"

Becca smirked. ”Ah hink ye drink twice if ye didnae know." Sarah laughed and conceded her two drinks.

It was then Juliette that gave the extra rule some thought. ”Do I have to drink twice?”

Becca arched her brow, remembering Jules telling her how her and Sam met. ”Ye mit hem when he cam intae th’ hospital fur a stab woond. Ah hink ye knew.”

”But he said he was a cop...”

“He has an eyepatch.”

Serena was cackling, and Becca and Sarah were adding in with fits of laughter that almost took them off their chairs. Juliette refilled her glass after her drink and defiantly added, ”Well, bad boys are better in bed.”

“You would know, since he’s two doors down.” The final tease was only met with a wink from Juliette and laughter from the rest of the room as they opened a new bottle to refill any glasses in need.