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perfectworrytitle: Charity
verse: Cactus Flower (Jazz Remix)
word count: 453
prompt: Advent Christmas Fic 2012: Day 4
rating: PG13
summary: Aya invites Mariel home for Christmas.
notes: none of the characters in these AUs should be assumed to have any relation whatsoever to their canon counterparts. just sayin'.
"You sleep here?" asked Aya.
Her eyes were wide as she looked around the empty speakeasy. It looked different by day, smoggy sunlight filtering in through the windows. The dance floor echoed with their steps.
"It's cold outside," said Mariel. She stood with her hands jammed in her pockets, staring out the window to the busy streets beyond.
"You should -"
"I will not sleep in a soup kitchen like a beggar, Ms Scarlett," snapped Mariel, the heat rising to her face. "I may not have any money, but I do have some pride left."
Mariel threw herself down into a polished oak chair. Her face burned with shame despite the chilly December air creeping in through the drafty windows, and her hands shook as she tried, and failed, to light a cigarette.
Aya held out a hand to help, but Mariel turned away and stuffed the matches back in her coat pocket.
"That wasn't what I was going to say at all, sheik." Aya spoke softly, as though afraid to break the cavernous quiet of the empty space.
"Well then spit it out," snapped Mariel.
Aya huffed, and Mariel dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands.
"I wanted to invite you for Christmas," whispered Aya, once she had calmed herself. This was not how she had imagined inviting Mariel to spend the holidays with her family. Tears welled up in her eyes and she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, hugging herself for warmth in the cold room.
"I'm not a charity case, Ms Scarlett!"
Mariel couldn't bring herself to look at Aya. She regretted raising her voice immediately, and buried her face in her hands. Aya had done nothing wrong, only cared for her, and she repaid her kindness with a biting temper?
"I meant as a friend." Aya's voice was barely audible above the sound of Mariel's heart pounding in her ears, and dust motes swirling in the winter sunlight, and the echoes of laughter and clinking glasses from last night's party.
Mariel winced and looked up at Aya through her trembling interlaced fingers. Aya crouched before her so that they were eye-to-eye. She pulled Mariel's hands away from her face and kissed her firmly on the lips in a decidedly too-friendly manner that left no room for doubt in Mariel's mind regarding the nature of their relationship.
"Ms Scarlett," she whispered, when Aya broke their kiss. "I may sleep here, but please, not in public."
"Not in public, then," laughed Aya, dancing away. "My bed is much softer than yours," she added, a whisper in Mariel's ear that made her blush furiously. Her whole face burned, but with a different kind of shame.
verse: Cactus Flower (Jazz Remix)
word count: 453
prompt: Advent Christmas Fic 2012: Day 4
rating: PG13
summary: Aya invites Mariel home for Christmas.
notes: none of the characters in these AUs should be assumed to have any relation whatsoever to their canon counterparts. just sayin'.
"You sleep here?" asked Aya.
Her eyes were wide as she looked around the empty speakeasy. It looked different by day, smoggy sunlight filtering in through the windows. The dance floor echoed with their steps.
"It's cold outside," said Mariel. She stood with her hands jammed in her pockets, staring out the window to the busy streets beyond.
"You should -"
"I will not sleep in a soup kitchen like a beggar, Ms Scarlett," snapped Mariel, the heat rising to her face. "I may not have any money, but I do have some pride left."
Mariel threw herself down into a polished oak chair. Her face burned with shame despite the chilly December air creeping in through the drafty windows, and her hands shook as she tried, and failed, to light a cigarette.
Aya held out a hand to help, but Mariel turned away and stuffed the matches back in her coat pocket.
"That wasn't what I was going to say at all, sheik." Aya spoke softly, as though afraid to break the cavernous quiet of the empty space.
"Well then spit it out," snapped Mariel.
Aya huffed, and Mariel dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands.
"I wanted to invite you for Christmas," whispered Aya, once she had calmed herself. This was not how she had imagined inviting Mariel to spend the holidays with her family. Tears welled up in her eyes and she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, hugging herself for warmth in the cold room.
"I'm not a charity case, Ms Scarlett!"
Mariel couldn't bring herself to look at Aya. She regretted raising her voice immediately, and buried her face in her hands. Aya had done nothing wrong, only cared for her, and she repaid her kindness with a biting temper?
"I meant as a friend." Aya's voice was barely audible above the sound of Mariel's heart pounding in her ears, and dust motes swirling in the winter sunlight, and the echoes of laughter and clinking glasses from last night's party.
Mariel winced and looked up at Aya through her trembling interlaced fingers. Aya crouched before her so that they were eye-to-eye. She pulled Mariel's hands away from her face and kissed her firmly on the lips in a decidedly too-friendly manner that left no room for doubt in Mariel's mind regarding the nature of their relationship.
"Ms Scarlett," she whispered, when Aya broke their kiss. "I may sleep here, but please, not in public."
"Not in public, then," laughed Aya, dancing away. "My bed is much softer than yours," she added, a whisper in Mariel's ear that made her blush furiously. Her whole face burned, but with a different kind of shame.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-05 06:41 am (UTC)