Against the Waves

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope Blaise was a creature of habit. She disliked change on most occasions, and it was why she kept a tight schedule she followed. With it came order, even while living with a person who often didn't know the definition of the word. Still, certain things never changed. Awake by six, and at the end of the day she found herself in bed by ten. But sleeping? That was hardly something she could seem to control on a routine basis.

Tonight was no different. In bed by ten, and pulling her counterpart with her along the way. With her back against the sheets, the Brit pressed a burning kiss against the Australian's collarbone. Once, then again, and despite her troubled breathing, the third connection lingered.

Or, it did. For a while. For as long as her lungs would allow it before she gave in to a much needed shot of air. Her palm pressed into the mattress, memories searing her skin as her free hand crossed over a heavily tattooed arm. Whether or not she noticed it, Penny averted her attention for only a moment. Long enough for dark eyes to catch the clock on the bedside table.

They were quick to return to Lucy, as they always were. She leaned in again, catching Lucy's lips with a quick, but purposeful kiss.

"We need to get up."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Even before they had completely moved in together, Lucy had been practically living with Penny. Doing so in the dorms where they used to live had allowed her to learn many things before she found herself where she was today. She knew there was a routine, and she knew the likelihood of having to stick to it in tandem. Though she didn't wake up early unless she absolutely had to - or was woken up by her impatience - finding herself in bed at ten wasn't something to complain about. It was practically flattering to know her presence was wanted.

But getting up? That didn't make sense. Lucy immediately wanted to complain; she dropped her jaw with the very thought, but she couldn't really determine just what to say in such a confusing moment.

So she laughed; a short breath of humour at the very suggestion. And her hands refused to ease in the pressure that worked to keep her love exactly where she was. "No way." She replied, and she laughed again at the idea that Penny might try to pursue the thought.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Getting Lucy into bed could be considered relatively easy for the psychometrist, just as easy as it would be for the ink manipulator to do the same in reverse. Leaving that space now that they were in it? Certainly a harder feat to manage. Penny knew it would be before the words left her lips, but hearing the humored response she received was incredibly enthralling. Distracting, even.

She rolled her shoulders under the pressure of familiar palms against her back, fighting the clear cut desire to give into her counterpart. Instead, she raised her eyebrows in an attempt to look surprised, or possibly annoyed. She wasn't sure yet.

Even through it, she smiled. How could she not? Lucy Serrano was intoxicating in every day life, let alone in the privacy of their own bedroom in their own home. "Yes way." She argued shortly. Still lingering in a dangerously close proximity of the Australian, it made drawing out her point difficult. "It will be worth it."

Despite the way part of herself wished to stay, she applied greater pressure against the mattress, pushing up against the hands that held her down, if only enough to make the importance of the moment clear.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It wasn't like Penny to actively leave the bed once she had gotten there, especially when the ink manipulator had followed so willingly. Lucy looked at her counterpart with expecting eyes, because surely an explanation would follow if she put up even a small fight.

When this was proven false, she managed to retain her humour. Something about being dragged to bed just to be dragged out of it was undeniably funny, and Lucy couldn't ignore that fact. The small inklings Penny then offered provided no information, but if nothing else, it made the need seem remotely serious. Or perhaps just important.

"What do you need?" Lucy asked her instead, fingertips running the length of her back at either side, "I'll get it for you."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

There were better ways to handle a moment with Lucy, all of which involved not leaving the comfort they had found in bed. It would have been far easier to just give into her counterpart. She knew it was strange to wish to get up after settling down for the evening. Drawing herself up and out of bed, as well as her counterpart, and getting dressed without explanation was hard to pull. She herself likely wouldn't have agreed were the roles reversed.

But the question asked and the offer that followed put a raise to the Brit's eyebrows while fingertips put arch in her back. "A book." She explained, tongue crossing over the length of her bottom lip as she paused briefly. "Out of your car. I had left it there this afternoon."

Was that true? Entirely. Although possibly with critical information lacking. The text had been purposefully left behind in a dire excuse to use it if it were needed. In this case, her counterpart happened to play into it before she could put it into play herself. The tip of her nose brushed lightly against Lucy's as she leaned forward again. "You said you'd get it." She confirmed only just what her counterpart had said, as if she needed the reminder.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy had immediately considered that for whatever reason, her counterpart needed something minor. Her mind tripped on the thought of a glass of water; easy enough and hardly more than a few steps and a few seconds away. But what she got instead was something she didn't expect at all. And immediately, confusion filtered through her features.

"You're gonna read now? Really?" She asked, scrutiny in her tone as she highly doubted a book was destined to get any use after the way things had already progressed.

But it was exactly as she said; she had offered. And it hadn't dawned on her to deny the request in the slightest. So a second had passed before she was working to try to move. Before she would dare to drag herself away, she caught her lips lightly. Then she pressed an elbow to the mattress in order to force herself up to the best of her ability.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy's tone was practically urging the psychometrist to argue, or perhaps Penny was just determined to hold some sort of point to win the moment over. Either way, they both knew she wasn't going to read. Any attempt to possibly do so would be quickly derailed by anything Lucy could throw at her. Admitting such was entirely different, even harder when her mind was barely focused on the object she requested her counterpart to fetch.

But before she could offer anything to oppose, familiar lips caught her own, and Penny couldn't stop herself from moving with them. Reciprocation was entirely natural by then, she didn't really have the means to not reciprocate any affection that radiated from Lucy.

Fortunately, she didn't have to. The ink manipulator shifted under her own form, and even then Penny was a little reluctant to move herself. Between the surprise that she was so willing to do even the most mundane of requests and the natural desire to be close, she had faltered. It was hard to stop, but she slowly moved off of her counterpart and to her own side of the bed.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Though Lucy might have cursed the stupidity of the request, she kept a majority of the thought internal. Resistance was met immediately by the way Penny simply didn't seem to want to move, but eventually she felt the weight shift off her own form. Then, there was distance. And distance wasn't something either of them knew how to handle all that well.

Dark eyes caught sight of her love before she made another move, despite how dangerous such a decision was. As she forced herself to sit up, she was already reaching for Penny again, a hand circling around the back of her neck to drag herself inward. Another brush of her lips before she actually forced herself away from the bed.

But now she needed clothes. At least, just to feel covered enough to head for the car.

Eyes quickly filtered through the array of clothes strewn across the floor; the things she has worn earlier that day that hadn't made it to a hamper in the prior rush that had stripped them. She twisted her mouth to the side, hauling her shirt over her form in a quick instant. In the next, she was gathering the remnants up over her arm in order to put them in the hamper where they belonged.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Distance was never something Penny enjoyed putting in place, and she knew she could say the same for her counterpart. A magnetic draw kept them practically inseparable, and with that Penny felt the physical pain of settling on the empty half of the bed. So when Lucy cut through that distance again, she lost her breath against the lips that pressed to her own. Those that left her too quickly, despite how she had been the one to force a separation in the first place.

With the distance, however, came the ability to look. To stare. By then, dark eyes had no issue over connecting with the form she knew to love. From bare shoulders moments before they were covered down the curve of her back and to the king that lived on the back of Lucy's thigh.

But her eyes were quick to drag upward again once she realized what Lucy was doing. It was a well known fact put in place between them that Lucy simply didn't clean. She didn't try to help, and Penny liked it that way. She didn't mind scrubbing the kitchen tiles or vacuuming. Nor did it bother her to be the person that picked up the clothes that never made it to the hamper the previous night. But now, there she was, doing the most simple of tasks, but the most appreciated all the same. It put a kick in Penny's pulse as she pursed her lips, just staring.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy never had the active desire to clean or help do so in the slightest. It had always been the case, even before the course of their relationship. It had been Penny who first straightened the ink manipulator's dorm room, and Penny who made the conscious effort to keep it that way.

And that was the point. Picking up clothes now hadn't been a concious choice by Lucy. She simply did it; even now, the thought that it truly was strange hadn't crossed her mind.

She still hadn't looked at Penny as she threw those clothes into the hamper. And she didn't look as she procured a set of leggings and dragged them on, too. Just enough - or perhaps more by her standards - to leave the comfort of the apartment they shared in order to get what her counterpart claimed to need. When she did look, she felt a magnetic pull inward, and the feeling didn't surprise her in the slightest. There wasn't hesitation as she crossed towards the bed again, a knee to the mattress as she eased through the distance to kiss her again.

"I'll be back." She reasoned lightly, as if to remind her that it'd only take a minute at most.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Dark eyes remained fixed on the Australian, and without her gaze to catch her own, Penny's own was free to wander. And it did. Following the line of material shifting up Lucy's legs before it covered her entirely. At the very least, Lucy wore something, despite how thin the layer was. Her lips parted, genuine thought to say something crossing her mind before she forced them closed again upon catching sight of her counterpart turning back to her.

Because a magnetic draw forced her to lean forward, catching Lucy as she came closer. Again, she almost pulled Lucy closer. Her fingertips dragged across the length of her jaw lightly, exhaling against her at the first sign of a break. Why did she have to make this so hard?

"I know." Penny replied with a nod, rolling her shoulders as she leaned back. Every sign to make it known she herself wasn't planning on moving, and was waiting for her counterpart to get back. "I'll be here."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

There was no way Lucy could leave theit bedroom without catching her counterpart again. The draw inward was undeniable, and so she had followed the form to steal her lips again. It was only designed to last for a lingering moment at most, but doing so was never easy. There was nothing simplistic about affection when it came to Penny.

There was a strained reassurance to Penny's response, comfort in the way she seemed to settle in their bed. There was no reason to believe otherwise when it came to the idea that Penny would be here when she got back.

She kissed her again, though this time she did her best to make it quick before she drew herself away from the bed entirely. Out the door and down through the cooler connotations of the night to retrieve a book from her car despite how useless she was sure the errand was. Without a second thought or a spare glance for anything around her, she found the book she needed and headed back up to the girl she had only just left behind.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

A second connection might have been shorter, but still left just as much of an impact. Something to let linger against her lips while she waited for the ink manipulator to return. Or, at least, what she might have thought. The moment Lucy was out of sight, and therefor she herself was out of sight, the Brit pulled the covers off of herself, swinging her feet over the side of the bed as she stood up. There was only so much distance between a their room, the car, and back again, and in turn Penny had to work quickly.

She procured herself a pair of sweatpants, dragging them up before finding a second pair for her counterpart. A shirt was quick to follow, as was a jacket, and a thicker one for her counterpart who was more sensitive to the weather than herself.

It was perfect timing, or almost, as she caught sight of the door just as Lucy was stepping through it. "You'll need something warmer." She pointed out, as if it were obvious. An arm extended outward, offering the thicker clothing to the Australian as she crossed the distance over towards her.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Through the door and Lucy raised her head instinctively. Immediately, her eyes were coloured with genuine surprise; the last thing she expected to see was her counterpart. Fully clothed. And holding clothes for the ink manipulator, no doubt.

Her eyes had dropped to the jacket, tilting her head at the sight of it. Eyebrows lowered with confusion as her attention slowly travelled upwards. Extra layers might have been something the Australian was prone to in cooler months, but she was past the point of needing them now as she stood stagnant with a book still in her hand.

"More clothes is like, the opposite of what I was thinking." She replied, taking steps in to hand the book towards her.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Although Penny rarely let her ego get the best of her, there was something satisfying about knowing she had caught Lucy by surprise. It read in her features, and in turn Penny simply raised her eyebrows with feigned innocence. She kept her arm held out, offering the clothes that Lucy simply stared at.

And while the book was handed to her, she reached for it with her free hand, immediately setting it on a shelf close by. After all, it was only a prop in the grander scheme of things. Of course, when she returned inside, it would be put in its proper place. As for now, Penny pulled her arm back, taking the jacket by the shoulders and holding it out for Lucy.

"You didn't even notice it, did you?" She asked, still refusing to offer any information she didn't immediately have to. Exhaling a sigh, she stepped forward. "Come on."