So Stunning, Start Running

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Middle of the day.

Middle of the week.

Lucy Serrano had a class to be at, and she knew it. For the most part, it'd been a relatively wavering start to the semester as it was. Her attendance was a fragile subject; a specimen with unpredictable patterns and trajectories. She lost interest. She got distracted. And sometimes, she just didn't go.

But this wasn't new. Why would it be any different in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week?

Stretching her arms over her head, the ink manipulator wandered the dormitory halls. The moment she'd breezed past a monitor, she expressed that she'd left a necessary book in a bedroom, and she really needed it before she made that next class. Believable as it was, it was believed, and she pushed to her own door until they were out of sight. Then she kept walking up.

Gliding into the common room of the second-most familiar dorm to the Australian, she kept herself quiet. True to form, she figured the high schoolers who lived there were actually in their classes. And so she walked right to Penny's door and - in a rare moment of boldness when faced with that particular door - she didn't knock. She just opened it. And she froze. Because it was surprising.

Not because Penny wasn't wearing a dress. As of late in particular, Lucy was relatively sure she'd seen her out of one more than in. Today, she was faced with neither.

The Brit was in jeans. Precise, black and skin tight; just as the ink manipulator favoured them.

"Fuck, me." She dropped the statement faster than her mind could catch her mouth as her gaze fell with it.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Adapting to a different schedule felt quite strange. Penelope Blaise had taken to the same school schedule for several years – the only exception being a fifteen minute alter in her morning routine. Getting used to a university schedule was quite strange; there wasn’t class every weekday. Even with the increased workload, the Brit found herself with an excess of free time.

Time she couldn’t spend with one Lucy Serrano.

Today – in the middle of the day, middle of the week – Penny found herself in a pocket of time with little to do and nobody to distract her. She hadn’t realized how much of her free time she spent with her until she didn’t have the option available to her.

It was offsetting. However, the Brit managed to keep herself busy and entertained.

Penny upright on her bed, back resting against her backboard with ankles crossed and a book propped in her lap. Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen. Four chapters left of the novel; she was sure she’d be finished before the Australian was finished with classes.

However, she came into her dorm at that precise moment. Penny’s dark eye tore from the page of the book and moved straight to the Australian. Without a knock to warn her, her eyebrows immediately shot up in surprise and confusion. There was nothing wrong of Lucy to come in without making herself known first, but she so rarely made such a move.

And her eyes only widened more at the statement Lucy provided.

With her free hand, Penny’s fingers brushed over the freshly changed sheets of her bed, the previous set having been a great distraction for the psychometrist, in search of her bookmark. Once her fingers curled around the string of yarn, she placed it in the book.

“Pardon?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Rare as it was, Penny's expression was actually lost on Lucy. Her gaze had travelled down her counterpart's form and was deftly settled on her choice in attire. Even when Penny spoke to her, her attention didn't waver. Not at first. How could it?

"I said fuck. And I said me." Lucy repeated, raising her eyebrows with a little awe. Not because she asked, but because of what she was looking at. Instinctively, her teeth sunk into her lower lip. "It's Australian. It denotes surprise, too."

Unknowingly, she left the door slightly ajar as she stepped towards her. At first she stood as close to her as she absolutely could before she leaned in to kiss her twice. Because really, once was never enough, especially as she reached down to run her nails along the seam that tracked the length of her thigh.

"How long've you had these?" Lucy asked, inching away a little to catch her expression.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny was well aware of the choice of words Lucy used, so when they were repeated back to her, the Brit pressed her lips into a hardened line. However, the slight annoyance of her answer was quickly forgotten when Penny caught sight of the way Lucy bit down on her lip.

Without realizing it, Penny held her breath. Because that was unfair; Lucy didn’t even explain and she was doing that.

Had the Brit not been distracted, she would have made some sort of comment about how only Australia would use such a phrase to indicate surprise. And as Penny pressed a hand to the bed, she moved first. She didn’t have time to notice the door, because the moment Lucy kissed her she reached up, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck to draw her in.

Yet Penny broke the kiss with a sharp inhale as she felt nails track down the seam of her jeans. The question took a few moments for the Brit to process, not having thought of her attire when Lucy came in. “Before I met you.” She replied, eyebrows furrowing together as she tried to read her expression. "Why?" Penny knew that she didn't choose to wear jeans often, but she hadn't the slightest idea it'd bring out such a reaction from Lucy.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Truthfully, Lucy didn't need the hand at the back of her neck to draw her in; to beckon her closer to the one person she could hardly ignore at the best of times. It wasn't as if she ever wanted to. Still, the encouragement was always anticipated, and most definitely welcome.

Before she met Lucy. So they were talking years. So for the duration she'd known her, this was a thing, and she'd never experienced it before. Lucy lowered her eyebrows, both in confusion and mild irritation.

Choosing not to answer her question, the ink manipulator instead opted to lean in to kiss her slowly. It seemed impossible to resist the urge to in that moment. There was something intriguing about Penny's evident oblivious nature. Really, there always was, but this was different. She struggled to make another move to draw away, and even when she did, she breached the distance this time to leave a small, quick kiss against her lips for good measure.

"So they're not mine." She joked lightly, refusing to stop dragging her nails lightly along the seam she'd never seen her wear before. It was distracting. And somehow, it was more enthralling than the usual way she could simply feel her skin. "Boycotting dresses for a reason today?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

As Lucy kissed her, Penny wasn’t bothered by the lack of response. It was far too easy to get caught up in how she chose to kiss the Brit. She was curious about just why wearing jeans seemed to draw such a reaction out of Lucy, but pressing on about the subject seemed like a second priority as she pressed her hand into the bed and pushed herself up to meet the Australian’s second kiss.

“Do you see any paint on them?” Penny countered in her own joking manner. Although it was hardly a joke; her counterpart clearly had the ability to remove such stains from her clothes, but paint always managed to find its way onto Lucy’s clothes. Tight black jeans included.

However, the lightness in her tone was lost as nails continued to drag down the seam of these jeans. Such a simple movement, but completely unfair. Penny already felt the way air struggled to fill her hollow lungs – the way her back began to arch at her touch.

She almost missed the question handed to her completely, and even then she considered not answering it in favor of kissing the ink manipulator again.

And she did.

The hand placed to the back of Lucy’s neck drew her in closer as Penny met her half way to kiss her slowly; just as slowly as the nails trajectory up her thigh. “I felt like wearing them.” When the psychometrist finally could reply, it was breathless. “Is there something wrong with that?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy had to laugh at the answer she gave; the way Penny chose to volley back her statement with a joke was almost as enthralling as her new choice in attire.

As much as she thought she should, Lucy struggled to move herself and her hands away. But the unfamiliar feeling of denim under her fingertips on her body was something she couldn't deny. It was something she couldn't ignore, even if she wanted to.

And she really didn't want to.

Penny applied further distraction in the way she kissed the ink manipulator. Precise; just as she was when it came to everything in her life. When she drew back to talk, Lucy was completely - physically - drawn in. She dragged herself down to sit at the edge of the bed, leaving the distance at a minimum.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Unless you're actually trying to make it difficult for me." She crinkled her nose at the mere thought.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy’s laugh caused Penny to raise her eyebrows, and although she didn’t laugh in response, the twitch of her lip showed her amusement. She couldn’t help but to express such when Lucy laughed, especially when she did so willingly when teased.

The hand on her jeans was incredibly distracting; feeling the material between Lucy’s nails and her thigh was borderline torture. The Brit briefly wondered how she could ever stand such a thing. Penelope knew well of the frustrations that came with skinny jeans, but she never considered how irritating the material barricade would already.

“I’m not trying to make anything difficult.” She breathed, a hand moving to Lucy’s hip as she sat at the edge of the bed. She pressed her palm against the ink manipulator in an attempt to bring her onto her lap. Closing her eyes briefly, Penny took in a quick breath, jaw clenching briefly as she tried to maintain some sort of composure. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy took her response as something of a bold faced lie. She had yet to factor in that Penny didn't expect her presence. She felt the pressure to her waist, and it didn't take a genius or even a graduate to figure out what her counterpart wanted her to do. So with a push to the bed, she kicked off her boots and shifted onto her lap.

And she quickly moved to lean in, until she was halted by a question. She always had to be so linear. "Yeah." She replied, though she knew it wasn't a legitimate question. Penny knew her schedule better than she did. "But how can I when I know you're right here?" And how was she supposed to leave when the Brit was suddenly so keen on dressing differently in the assumption that she wouldn't see Lucy?

"Aren't you supposed to be-" Lucy started, but she paused. She wasn't sure what the right word was to describe where Penny was; somewhere in limbo between Hammel and life outside, "-Colleging?" She asked, raising her eyebrows before breaching the distance to kiss her lightly, "Psychometring?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

There was something to be said about the way Lucy explained her absence from class. Between the two of them, Penny was the far more responsible one when it came to these sort of things. She was supposed to tell Lucy that she needed to go back. That this was a poor start to the school year if the Australian didn’t want to fail. Again.

But she left because Penny was here. The Brit couldn’t deny the ounce of smugness she felt from knowing such.

Penny raised her eyebrows as Lucy tried to turn the question around on her. Her nose instinctively crinkled at the poor attempt at verbification. Still, she kissed her back willingly, and after her second attempt, she breached the distance to kiss her again.

She wasn’t sure if she should be more concerned with the way her counterpart hacked at the English language or the fact that Lucy was, in that moment, skipping English class.

Really, though, the Brit didn’t give have the ability to give it much thought. Because Lucy was right there. And as Penny brought her other hand to the ink manipulator’s side, she knew she couldn’t let her go.

“No,” She explained regardless. Fingers trailing along the hem of her shirt. “I have a free day.”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy's use of language had drawn a small reaction from Penny, but it was clear nevertheless. Because she felt the way she crinkled her nose at the verbs Lucy offered, and the fact that it clearly irked her to some extent had the Australian smiling again.

She felt her expression grow when Penny announced that she wasn't busy at all today. That simple statement completely sold it for Lucy as her arms circled around her counterpart's neck. Anything to show she had little to no interest in leaving. "Mm." She mused, twisting her lips to one side. She lowered her eyebrows in clear confusion.

"So why would I leave?" Lucy asked her, tilting her head up once with an ounce of smugness to her expression.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

“I don’t—“ want you to leave. It was right there, but Penny forced her sentence to a quick stop as she pressed her lips into a hardened line. Because as much as she wanted Lucy there – and she really did – the Australian was supposed to be in class.

She could do this.

But she really couldn’t. Penny made the mistake of glancing down to her counterpart’s lips. The smug curve of her smile was enough to break down the already fragile front Penny tried to put up. She sucked in a short breath, but it did little to stop what was inevitable.

So Penny breached the distance between them and kissed her.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

There could have been any number of ways to finish that fragment of a sentence. Penny could have told her she didn't want to distract her. That she didn't want her to fail, or start failing. Or she didn't want to be the reason Lucy's attention wavered so clearly. But as she took a breath and faltered over it, the Australian became acutely aware that none of these things were options.

Especially when she kissed her like that.

However she might have finished that sentence didn't seem to matter any more, and so the potential ends filtered through Lucy's mind. She was far too focused on reciprocating the connotations behind her counterpart's lips, though she did so slowly. Despite the evident intention behind the singular move, she dragged it out.

"Don't make me go." She breathed against her lips, crinkling her nose at the mere option of continuing with such a dead end class.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It hadn’t mattered how Penny might have finished her sentence; because it felt obvious what she intended to say. And the Brit was far too focused on the way her counterpart chose to kiss her back. Slowly, and in turn Penny responded similarly. A hand tucked under Lucy’s shirt, fingers running along the band of her jeans before pressing her palm into the small of her back.

She just needed her closer.

And as she pulled away, Penny realized she was already short of breath.

“I’m not letting you go.” She replied before kissing her again. She leaned forward, easing her back away from the headboard of her bed to bring her free hand into the dark locks of her Australian counterpart. Just as she had, Penny drew out the kiss. There wasn’t a need to rush because class wasn’t a concern in that moment.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The response Lucy was given was everything she needed and more. And really, she didn't actually need Penny to say anything - the way she was moving the quintessential thing about it all. How she drew herself in even closer, as if that were an actual possibility. The connotations behind the way she kissed the ink manipulator in return.

For someone so focused on schoolwork in the past - and likely the present and future still - Penny was providing one hell of a distraction from it.

"So don't." Lucy stressed, a hint of newfound irritation to her tone. Considering she'd been the one to drag this out in the first place, it was suddenly more and more difficult to even consider. But she knew Penny, well enough to know that ordinary tactics never suited when she knew she had the proverbial upper hand.

"Please." The Australian offered the single, incredibly rare word against her lips before opting to kiss her again.