Eyes Bright

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Having such a long break was taxing for a person who actually enjoyed going to university. It was far worse when she had a counterpart who didn't have a break except for the one they had just gotten back from a couple of weeks ago. Vermont was nothing like Australia, and Penny was grateful for that fact. The cool air was more refreshing once she had a chance to miss it. Accents weren't nearly as straining, nor were the people. There was, however, something to miss; having her counterpart every day by her side.

Because a workday away from her wife was brutal, only growing worse once she had a taste of a short time without having to worry about it. The apartment was spotless; every corner and crack accounted for as she practically turned their home upside down. Meals were planned, prepared as far in advance as they could possibly be.

For once, Penny went out.

She was sure to return when Lucy was due to be home. The Brit knew her counterpart's schedule practically better than Lucy herself. She was, after all, the more organized of the two. So when the right time came around, Penny waited, sitting on the couch with a book. Though it wasn't long before the sound of a car pulling in caught her attention, forcing her to look up. Within the next moment she was forcing her gaze back down to the text. She didn't always greet her counterpart at the door, and today was a day the Australian had to come to her.

Until then, she kept her head down, running a hand quickly through hair chopped just below her chin.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy had no idea what would be waiting for her when she got home. Her days were relatively booked, and it left no time for leaving early or deviating from her already tight schedule. People were starting to hear about someone in Vermont who could guarantee tattooed perfection, and apparently that was worth making a trip for. She found herself busy enough that taking time off at any point seemed taxing. It was a good thing, but it also carried with it a new sense of loneliness. She missed prior freedom.

But when the day was over she had her love to return to, and that was well worth the taxing day provided to her. She knew her house would be as perfect as the one who maintained it for fun, so there was nothing at all to worry about. Just the time it took to get there.

It was still cold enough for jackets and scarves and beanies and gloves, so even as she drove she found herself completely covered. It helped her for those few steps from her car to the door. She pulled a glove off with her teeth to get a better grip on her keys, unlocking the front door and shoving the glove itself into the pocket of her usual parka. "Fucking snow." She seethed, more to herself as she left the outer world to meet the warmth within her home.

Closing the door behind her, she hadn't even looked as she tore her other glove off. As she wound a scarf back around to draw it from her neck. Toes to the back of a boot to ease it off. When she glanced up, there she was waiting. And there, her hair wasn't.

"Fuck me." The Australian swore in her surprise, refusing to wait to peel her jacket off before she was crossing the distance towards her.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Back straightened, Penny felt the initial ache in her neck as she resisted her instinctual urge to look at her counterpart. Eyes were cast downward at a text she wasn't reading. Her eyebrows quirked up, nose crinkling at the first set of words Lucy offered, though she wasn't surprised to hear them. It was no unknown fact that Lucy hated the bitter chill that came with winter and the snow that often came with it.

However, the next set of words that came forced her to take a useless breath. Her nose still crinkled at the curse, but the way it was coupled with new meaning pushed her pulse a little faster as she finally looked up to find Lucy already taking steps towards her. The book in her lap was quickly pushed aside as Penny stood, because the moment she caught sight of the Australian, the impulse to move to her was too strong to ignore.

But she refused to acknowledge what she was acknowledging. If Penny wanted to avoid a subject, she would. So instead, her hands quickly caught the zip of Lucy's jacket, drawing it down as she stepped closer. Warm lips pressed to those that were significantly cooler due to the weather, but she lingered all the same. "How was your day?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Fighting with her own clothes didn't happen everyday, but it wasn't so far out of left field that Lucy found it odd. But it forced everything to take a little longer; so long that she had already abandoned where she should have stayed at the door to get it all done. At least she'd kicked her boots off. Without the ability to drag mud through the house, she must have been earning some kind of clever points.

And it was hard to sit still when something so magnetic was practically calling to her despite silence. Helpful hands were so fast and so good to work their way through the ink manipulator's jacket, and any kiss was significant from her love.

"Nope, I can't not do this." She replied. As much as she was prone to letting Penny shift a subject for her own comfort level, this felt far too different. It was like fabled jeans on the dress-loving girl she married, but permanent. Well, a lot more permanent than a shift of wardrobe, but nothing akin to lettering on her finger. Before the jacket could leave her form, her hands were raised, rested at either side of her neck before her fingers reached into the significant lack of hair. Up the back of her neck with cooler fingertips before she drew them out, registering the obvious lack of weight where there was usually significance.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It was easy to cause a distraction, which was more for herself than the Australian. Penny wasn't the one to actively seek change. Drawing attention to it could only fluster her, and capturing her attention in different ways could aways be so easy. So she kept herself close, hands breaching the line of her jacket now that it was open. Palms skimmed up the length of Lucy's form up to her shoulders where she snagged her jacket again, determined to take it off.

But she wasn't so easily distracted, and the moment her counterpart stated so Penny couldn't help the harsher breath she let out. Because some things were impossible to avoid, she had just hoped her hair wasn't one of them.

Immediately, she shut her eyes, allowing Lucy the moment she apparently needed. Cool fingertips trailed against her neck as she tried to gently persuade Lucy's jacket off her, though it seemed like little use. She purposefully tried not to look, because Penny was sure she didn't have to in order to know Lucy's response.

"It'll grow out." She reassured quietly.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

With a loss of eye contact, Lucy felt free to stare at the trajectory of her own hands instead. It was good for her given how difficult it was in any given moment to look away from those dark eyes that clearly adored her. Again, she took such a slow trail, from her fingertips dusting the curve of her neck until they disappeared through the lack of hair.

"Well yeah, that's what it does." She replied pointedly, but there was a lighter touch to the words she had used. It was funny. As always with the ink manipulator, she could only see it that way.

And then she moved properly. A little more properly than just playing with something so new. She was leaning inward, eyes closed as she found out just how easy it was to press a kiss to the line of her neck. Quick at first, and then another just a little lower. By the third, she found herself lingering with a usual purpose. "Do you like it?" She asked then, lips brushing against her skin with the simple question.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

With her eyes remaining closed tight, Penny was left to her own judgement and assumptions over the new style she had been pondering for some time. It wasn't like Penny to simply do something on the spot, and while she did mull over the idea for some time, she kept those thoughts silent from her counterpart. Now, she had wished she asked the ink manipulator's opinion before she had a chance to hate it.

When a set of familiar lips found the curve of her neck, Penny hadn't expected it at all. She sucked in a short, useless breath at the initial connection. Palms pressed to Lucy's shoulders, nails dragging through the fabric of her shirt as she craned her neck. There was no denying what the Australian wanted, and what she herself clearly wanted, too.

"It will take some getting used to." Penny explained without giving her own real opinion on it. Clear cut distraction lined her tone, but she still had to ask; "What do you think?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Smaller reactions were those Penny was better known for; the rush of air into her lungs at the initial point of contact had, by proxy, been everything Lucy had expected. She couldn't help the way she had to breathe over the reaction. Seconds in the house and already she found herself fumbling through the most basic interaction available. How easy it would have been to put the thought to rest like she had in every other instance where Penny made any kind of change.

There was success in the distracted nature of her counterpart. It made the situation easier, even if Lucy had to ignore the drive to frown over the way she didn't really answer at all. Surely, it was one of the most difficult things in the world to admit something positive over a change. The words were enough to drag her back; to have her searching for eye contact that didn't exist. So she leaned through the distance to catch her lips instead, and there was nothing brief about it.

"I think that if you like it, that's pretty much the only thing that matters." Lucy replied, easing back a step to curl her fingers into the line of her own jacket in a vague attempt to remove it.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

How Lucy played wasn't fair. The Australian was determined to talk about the cut, but Penny was already finding herself unable to get through an entire sentence without some loss of breath. The last thing Penny wanted to do was actually talk. So when a set of familiar lips caught her own, but Brit had easily reciprocated. Drawn out for as long as she could, breaking away only forced her to try and catch Lucy's mouth again, though she hadn't the time before her counterpart managed a reply.

Penny's nose crinkled as she opened her eyes. It was hardly the answer she was looking for, despite it being perfect in nature. Penny wasn't the type of individual who needed to feel validated by anyone, but Lucy's opinion mattered. It was the only one that did matter.

When the Australian was finally ready to rid herself of her jacket, Penny was quick to place her own hands on the material and help it off. Once past her arms, the Brit placed it aside on the arm of the couch. Not as messy as the floor but still not within its proper place, but she was busy, for she caught Lucy's lips the moment she was free.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy knew her answer wasn't what Penny had been searching for. She must have needed something with more personality; something completely derived from the ink manipulator and her feelings on the subject. Hair might have seemed like nothing, but in perspective it was the kind of fact that could revert someone totheir teenage status in minutes. Lucy caught the difference, just as she figured an easy way to mend any kind of distress.

Her jacket was gone and completely taken from her hands, leaving them as free as they needed to be. She pressed them to her hips instinctively, fingers curling into the material just enough to offer a defined pull; a needy draw in her own direction. Because she was kissing her in such a way that was impossible to deny. Such attention was always wanted. Needed, even.

"Penny," She started, or continued on with a slightly broader smile, "It's nice."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Catching Lucy's lips was the most instinctual move Penny could make. It gave her a moment to back away from the subject she hadn't wanted to acknowledge, but more importantly, she had missed Lucy. She had been gone for most of the day, and the feeling of hands tightening around the material of her skirt still did wonders to push her pulse into her throat.

Her arms looped around Lucy's shoulders, pulling the Australian closer in. She was entirely ready to give the ink manipulator any attention she wanted or needed, but she could feel the way Lucy's smile shifted against her own lips, and it wasn't hard to determine that she wasn't done with this yet.

The nickname that only she could use beckoned Penny in closer, and she couldn't help the hint of a smile that passed her lips. There was no way that Penny would admit aloud that hearing her counterpart's opinion genuinely put her at ease, but the thought still existed, and she kissed her again for it.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Truth be told, nice was never a great word to use for describing anything. It certainly didn't suit the pair who always found pessimism over optimism, unless they were bring sarcastic, in which case pessimism was still supreme. But Lucy had found the means to offer it genuinely.

And it worked in her favour. She could practically feel the way relief sunk into her counterpart's actions. Lucy felt as if there were too few ways to express her revenant interest. The first and foremost way was the very thing that kept her pulse at an unnatural level.

"I do like it." She finally gave against her lips, though she never wanted the concept of a cut to be about her own wishes. Still, she offered the fact as it was.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Approval was never an easy subject when it came to Penny. She hardly cared for an opinion that wasn't her own, and her counterpart was rarely an exception. Yet a dramatic change in appearance put Penny in a state of self-conscious.

"Good." Penny managed against Lucy's lips. Her hands tightened around the Australian, taking the first necessary step to bring them down onto the couch.

After all, it had been hours since she had last seen the ink manipulator. A day of missing her and to see her again and hear her be like this.

So she kissed her again, dragging her nails under the collar of Lucy's shirt.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Despite how approval wasn't something chased or warranted, there was a significant part of this connection that made it feel necessary. It appeared like a residual need; like they couldn't progress until Lucy provided some kind of positive reinforcement to the nature of a dramatic change in hair. There was a reason she was never so drastic in her own choices; the threat of going blonde and Penny had all but argued to disown her so long ago.

Things might have changed, but such opinions rarely moved. She wasn't so sure.

She was relatively certain of the next series of steps as soon as her back hit their couch at her request. It was obvious that Penny had a desired point to prove, but what that was in relation to their current situation was well beyond Lucy. A harsh breath and the point felt entirely hers to make, because words weren't doing well enough, so she was incredibly quick to drag her hand up past the line of her dress to avoid however Penny might fight her for dominance.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

FtB

It wasn't hard to move Lucy. By then, the next few steps were practically those that would be expected. If anyone knew the way Penny thought, it was the woman so close to her. Her love. Her wife. And it was so like her to make such a clever move. It ripped the air from her lungs as she slipped, sitting on top of Lucy, a leg on either side of hers.

She was hardly playing fair.

But hands curled into dark locks, dragging it back from either side of Lucy's face. For something as trivial as a haircut, it was still overwhelming to be accepted without question or concern. It made her hold on a little harder, and without the mindset to consider just how tightly she did so, she couldn't let go.