Show Yourself

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

March 5th

Penny's birthday was always a big thing for Lucy. It was far bigger for the ink manipulator than it ever really was for the psychometrist, and it was always the same when the situation was reversed. There was nothing as great as the first thing she had ever created for the girl she grew to marry, but every instance since then was to at least be wrapped in the same care, even if a room-turned galaxy was such a place to start. She knew pointedly that her counterpart didn't want a big deal to be made. She was the exact same way.

But this was different. She'd let the entire morning go by without mention of the day they both knew they were settled into. Falling on the weekend made it that much easier to get time with the Brit who wasn't rushing off to a class. A day off work. Perhaps devoting an entire day to her love would have been enough for her to be content. Happy, even.

She was careful in the middle of the day to catch her counterpart in the study. The second she stepped in, she knew she didn't need to speak to make herself known. She rested her hands against her shoulders the second she got close enough, leaning down to press her lips against the top of her head. "Okay, that's enough." Enough work on a non-work day. Lucy might have given her a little leeway for her birthday, but at a certain point she had to step in.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny knew going into her birthday wouldn't be as simple as she often hoped it would - Lucy was far too invested in the day to let it slide by. More - the Australian had signs. From the way she stayed awake in the early hours of the morning before the sun would rise, and from the way she carried herself days before. It was something Penny tried her best to ignore - or at least pretend to be ignorant to, but it was a task not easily done.

Yet the day of was surprisingly quiet, enough where the Brit who refused to acknowledge the day of her birth was starting to slip into something of a relaxed state. She wasn't entirely on edge, and Lucy had even gone as far as letting her slip away in order to work on a high priority assignment while she - Penny assumed - played video games.

She was aware of her counterpart's presence before those familiar hands pressed to her shoulders, but they forced her to sit up a little straighter the moment she felt them. Tilting her head back, she looked up at Lucy, a smile instantly taking over her expression the moment her eyes landed on her.

"I only have a page and a half left." She tried regardless, but her tone was borderline accepting of Lucy's announcement due to sheer proximity. It'd only been an hour, but she had missed her.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy looked down at the expression given to her, reeling back a touch to ensure she could correctly see the smile as it was handed out. They weren't rare anymore; two birthdays down and now on their third, and there was little to learn about Penny that she didn't already have insight to. It still forced her own mouth to take the familiar curve and wear it in her own way. After all, there was no way to stop when she saw a brighter expression on her counterpart's face.

But she had to frown immediately at the answer given. Lucy was practically nice to let her go off on her own without any kind of a fight. After all, it was a day for her despite how things seemed to twist in Lucy's own excitement.

"That your way of asking me to go?" She asked, raising her eyebrows once at the words used. And in turn, she slowly raised her hands, holding them to the level of her eyes as she slowly took a single step away.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It was a known fact that Penny had a dry sense of humor. Really, she didn't actually know how to be funny at all. An attempt at a joke was quick to turn against her when Lucy's smile disappeared. When those hands pulled themselves away. Dark eyes widened the moment Lucy called her bluff, and she turned in her seat to face Lucy, hands immediately reaching out to grab those that had tried to slip away.

"No." Penny replied pointedly, fingers curling into Lucy's palms as she beckoned her closer. While she remained sitting, she had no desire to actually let the Australian slip away. After all, even though she had a page and a half left of her essay, she knew she was lucky to get any work in that day. The Brit had even gone as far as planning out her week so she didn't have to do any schoolwork, if not for herself, but for the person who was more excited about her birthday than herself.

She dragged one of Lucy's hands to her mouth, lips pressing against her knuckles gently as she looked up at her. "I'm finished for today."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy watched the way Penny almost immediately reached for her. The attention given was enough to remind her that she wasn't to leave despite the information at hand. She let hers be taken with ease, eyes drawn to the comforting expression her face seemed to take the moment Lucy stepped back inward.

She brought herself as close as possible when one hand was drawn towards her lips. Dragged to the point where she could practically press herself against the form that still chose to remain in her seat. "That's good." Lucy pointed out. She had already grown to miss her counterpart, but selflessness and birthdays went hand in hand.

"Do you want your birthday thing now?" She asked, trying her best not to let her smile grow on instinct.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It hadn't taken much to pull Lucy back in, and there was a definite curve to Penny's lip over that fact. She could only know how much Lucy had missed her in the same was she had been missed. To the point where Penny no longer had the option to stand because she stood so close. So while she kept hold of the hand at her mouth, the other let go to allow her fingers to curl around the back of Lucy's thigh.

And there, finally, it was. Mention of her birthday. Penny was aware it was only so long before Lucy would bring up the day, and she had been surprised she had made it well into the afternoon before doing so. She didn't have to look to see the way Lucy fought off a smile, but she did regardless.

"Isn't that more your call than mine?" Penny asked with a raise of her eyebrows. As much as the day was there to celebrate her birth, it was really only celebrated because she wished it so.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The response given had Lucy on the defense already. She knew how easy it was to push the pressure onto someone else. She could make decisions too. A hand at her thigh worked to provide a kind of distraction she knew incredibly well. She took a slow breath inward, because she could surely maintain this.

"No." Lucy replied instinctively. It might have been a very well known fact that birthdays seemed like they were more for the opposite than the individual in question, but she wasn't about to take over.

Because she had a point to make. Lucy let her own expression grow as seconds passed; "You gotta be ready for it." Funnily enough, they both knew just how Penny worked when Lucy could be overwhelming. And as records went, birthdays were where she was at her best.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Pushing responsibility over to her counterpart was something of a rarity. Penny was a control freak by nature, but when a day carried more importance to her love than herself, she had to make the offer. She was far more prepared for this than Penny could ever possibly be, though she tried, because Lucy was nothing short of overwhelming during every day occurrences, let alone those days that had a defined meaning attached to them.

"I believe I'm as ready as I can be." Penny offered, tilting her chin up as she squeezed Lucy's hand. In honesty, she never believed she'd be as ready as she needed to be. Not when she was kept up for the better part of the nights preparing for this day.

But she sucked in a breath and smiled. Penny couldn't deny how intoxicating it felt to be adored with unwavering affection. To be loved so completely.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

There might not have been much confidence in the way Penny spoke, but it sounded so right all he same. Lucy even doubted any more time could prepare her for the inevitable way things were going to progress between them. Still, she chose to offer for a reason. If there was the slightest strain of doubt she wanted to catch it sooner rather than later. All she could do was take the concept given and run with it. They were going to be fine. Better than fine, surely.

"Okay then, c'mon." She said. It would have been foolish to walk in here with anything she needed on the off chance that she had been told to wait. So easily, she had to lead her out. Pressure from her hand and a step away gave her the strength to start a motion.

Pushing the door open, Lucy took the leading steps through their apartment to get them both to the living room. It wasn't hard to catch that all her tattooing gear was there. Set up and in plain view. She stopped in her footing then and there, turning to catch her expression.

"So..."

A drawl, and then she stalled with parted lips.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

With a prompt from the psychometrist, Lucy took the lead. Penny followed her with ease, out of the study and away from the homework that had called for her attention over the past hour. She held Lucy's hand tightly, anticipation building up for a surprise Penny very suddenly felt like she wasn't prepared for despite the way she had tried to play the part of it.

When they reached the living room, Penny immediately recognized the tools set up in place. She'd been under that gun before, and sight of it put her heart into her throat. She wasn't sure if she felt the ink on her finger shift to its own accord or if it was simply her pulse pushing the blood through her veins so rapidly.

There was no explanation, even if Lucy attempted one before stalling entirely. She looked towards her counterpart, but she'd already come up with her own conclusion as to why it was there. She wasn't one to often take on large, unexpected plans without prior consideration, but she also held a great deal of trust in the Australian. "Do you know what you're going to do?" She asked.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

There was obvious surprise. That was a given. Lucy watched it with the growing sense that she shouldn't be looking at her at all. It was a little too much, surely. Eye contact was a dangerous killer between them, and it was always hard to see where the line was for it; when it was useless or when it was perfect.

The air she held passed her lips on a single breath. A single shot of a laugh.

"Actually, it's what you're doing. On me." She managed, and she took the next series of seconds to breathe in. It was a slower kind of draw, because it was distracting enough. It gave her just a few more splinters before she had to continue.

But when she tried, she couldn't. Again.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

The first tattoo she had gotten had been a surprise, except she had surprised her with the news. It lead to two little words that lived on her finger, second from the left. She allowed Lucy to choose the placement and the ink itself, and she couldn't be more grateful for what it had grown into.

And it wasn't as if she had never considered getting a second one. Penny would never be as covered as her counterpart, but what had once been an impossible idea grew into something much more solid. Likely to happen, even.

Except that wasn't what she had in mind.

Penny's head snapped towards Lucy with a look of genuine surprise. Her eyes were wide, sure that she had misheard just what her counterpart had said. "What?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

That face was the only face Lucy could consider receiving. In her mind, she had planned this out in a much more articulate way. There were deeper explanations and lengthy shots of reassurance from her mouth. She was supposed to do all the talking - with dirty, direct charming - and resolve an issue before the started.

But she lost it. And she didn't exactly have a point for reference.

"You're doing me." She amended, though she happened to choose the most potentially compromising way to try to explain herself. But at the very least, she spoke with a defined kind of confidence that expressed how unwilling she was to change her mind on this.

Still, she absolutely expected an argument. At least a conversation where she had to talk her into such perfection.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It was a simple question in theory. A request for clarification, because she was positive she had misheard the Australian. And while clarification did come in a phrase that put color to Penny's cheeks, she still struggled to accept so easily. Her expression didn't shift towards anything calmer, but rather a shot of nerves started to put her into a more anxious state.

Lucy had to be kidding.

Penny gave herself a few moments. Enough time to allow those words to settle and insure that Lucy was not, in fact, making some sort of joke out of it. Even then, she had trouble accepting it.

"I'm not qualified." Penny pointed out immediately. It was probably the most obvious, but crucial fact about her counterpart's plan.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Admittedly, that look was something Lucy did expect. It wasn't just surprise, but it was mixed with a little shock and a slight edge that the Australian could only assume was a look of judgmental stupidity filtering through her eyes. After all, it was completely known that she felt Lucy had stupid ideas. The way this sounded was exactly that. Who asked someone with no experience to tattoo them?

Someone who could assure no faults, surely? That had to be the primary reason behind the madness.

"I don't care." Lucy replied, the words falling on a relatively useless breath. At least she had figured out the means to argue, though it was a pretty weak attempt in the beginning. Lucy squeezed her hand quickly then, like it could speak volumes where she simply couldn't. "It's not about how good it's gonna be. It's not about perfection. It's about you. You being you and me being so stupidly and maybe even ridiculously dedicated to you being you."