what? and then trinity registers there’s a hand down her pants and takes it out, heat rising in her neck. no, i’m not — i mean sort of, but not like that.

baran rounds the couch and sits down, skeptical.

do you not do that? trinity asks, and baran raises one eyebrow in that way she does. oh my god, trinity groans. it’s like comforting. do Not look at me like that.

i’m sure it is comforting.

baran.

trinity. and she’s fighting a smile now.

i promise you, it’s really relaxing. i’ll show you, trinity says, trying to win back some of her dignity by settling them down into the couch, curling up next to baran with her head on her shoulder, and sticking her hand down her girlfriend’s pants. it’s so innocent and stubborn, and baran inhales slowly with her arm around trinity, holding her against her side.

baran tries to focus on the documentary they’re watching, she really does, because trinity is so relaxed. but her fingers are raking through the hair between baran’s legs — never dipping lower, shockingly respectful for the situation. when they first started dating, baran would keep it trimmed, but trinity kept hers natural, and she loved it when baran stopped shaving. so, she just doesn’t anymore. which apparently gives trinity more to just absently tug and swirl. and she just rests there, hand cupping her, boneless and seemingly unbothered against baran.

and baran can feel trinity breathing against her as she draws careful circles in her upper arm, tilts her head down to kiss trinity’s hair, rest her lips there, her nose. it takes a lot of willpower for baran not to let the muscles in her abdomen tighten, to not spread her legs just a fraction wider. she thinks she’s going crazy when trinity finally hums and glances up at her.

see, relaxing, right? trinity is smiling softly, eyes hazy, and baran is hazy for a completely different reason. god, baran loves her. she can’t come up with a single thing to say to encompass how she’s feeling, so she grabs trinity’s wrist instead. pushes her hand — finally — lower.

trinity’s fingers are met with slick, swollen heat. baran’s lips part, eyelids flutter slightly, breathing slow and careful.

oh, trinity says, genuinely surprised and maybe a little embarrassed that she didn’t anticipate this.

oh, baran repeats, breathy and low.

do you want me to… trinity trails off, some of her usual smugness returning.