#allisonericakira

Sighing, she leaned forward to rest her forehead on faer shoulder. “It’s Allison. She was supposed to be the one who modeled this for me but yesterday she was showing me how to use the hand loom and then out of the blue, she freaked out and ran off.”

It was odd, to say the least. Erica and Allison definitely had a history, to say the least, but the two of them had been working past it ever since Allison had walked into Erica’s Fibers and Fabrics class.

And Erica had been working on her own fears for years. She still got nervous about being in small rooms or in basements, but she was fine, mostly. Allison’s presence had stopped scaring her after about the second week of classes.

(Kira had a hard time imagining Allison back then. When fae met Allison, she’d been hardened, but passionate and protective. Hurting people didn’t seem like her, and it definitely didn’t seem like her now.

Allison had told faer about it once, when they were still in high school. “It was a really bad time for me, and I hurt people who didn’t deserve it.”

Of course, back then, they still thought Erica was dead. Things change.)

“Did she get a phone call, maybe?” Kira wondered. Allison’s dad still regularly called her with updates about her grandfather, who was inexplicably still kicking. It baffled them all.

“No,” Erica huffed. “I don’t know. It’s like touching me made her immediately need to wash her hands, the way she ran out of there”

“I’m sure that’s not it,” fae said, frowning. Allison wasn’t like that. Frequently withdrawn, but not rude.

But she wasn’t listening. “And now today, she didn’t show up. She was supposed to be here an hour ago and now I’m panicking because I have to finish this, and you don’t want to model for me and it’s not fair!”

“It’s fine, babe, I don’t mind--” fae starts to protest. It’s disconcerting but fae wouldn’t let Erica get a bad grade because fae’s nervous.

“Why doesn’t she want to be around me? Did I do something wrong? Is it because I’m a wolf?” She had dissolved into crying at this point. She started to pull at the stitches again.

It made a little more sense that Erica was upset if she thought Allison was falling into old feelings of resentment towards werewolves, but Kira couldn’t believe that was the case. She wasn’t like that any more, and hadn’t been since Kira had met her all those years ago. For Erica to jump to that indicated some deep problem. Maybe Allison had had a bad day and taken it out on Erica--it just seemed odd, in general.

Just then, someone pounded on the door of their shared apartment.

Kira can picture Erica looking at faer in confusion, and fae shrugs. “Do you want to get it? Whoever it is might think I’m a serial killer.” Fae gestured to the yarn bomb still covering faer head. Fae imagined fae resembled Scarecrow, or maybe Oogie Boogie. But purple.

“God, I’m sorry,” Erica mumbled, but her hands dropped from Kira’s neck and her presence vanished.

Fae shrugged and held still. Fae didn’t want to mess up the yarn work, even if Erica had left faer standing helpless in the middle of the room.

Across the room, Erica opened the door. “Allison?” She sounded surprised.

“I’m so sorry,” Allison said immediately. “I totally forgot I was supposed to come model for you.” She sounded fairly panicked. She probably had flushed cheeks and windblown hair, too.

“It’s ok,” Erica replied, though it definitely didn’t sound like it was okay. She sounded...wounded.

“Oh, my god,” Kira whispered. It was so clear now. Erica wasn’t upset because Allison didn’t like werewolves. She was upset because she liked Allison and didn’t think she had a chance.

This was unexpected. So very far from expected. Of course fae knew that Allison was very pretty and sweet--very likable. Fae would be lying if fae said she’d never thought of Allison in a non-friendly way. And Erica was poly--she’d dated Boyd and Cora during senior year of high school.

It was just that Kira had never considered being poly faerself. Fae wasn’t sure fae could even handle the idea of Erica dating Allison, too. Fae wasn’t even sure how poly relationships worked--fae knew that Boyd, Cora, and Erica had all been dating each other. Was fae supposed to date Allison, too? Would Allison even be interested? Did fae want Allison to be interested?

It was all so confusing. And fae was still wearing a mask of purple yarn and standing bereft in the middle of the living room while Erica and Allison made up.

It was so obvious, now. Fae wondered if Erica knew what she was feeling--and if she did, why hadn’t she told faer? Was she scared of how fae would react? And, god--how was fae going to react?

Dimly, fae was aware of Allison and Erica undoing enough of the stitches to remove the yarn from faer head. When fae could finally see again, fae realized fae had tears pricking at faer eyes, and so fae mumbled something about peeing and ran to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, fae did pee, but then fae sat there for a while and just thought about everything. By the end of five minutes, fae had a to-do list, and number one was talking to Erica. Because the most important thing in all of it was to keep dating Erica. Kira loved her, even if she kept this from faer. Maybe because of it--maybe Erica knew Kira would react this way and was trying to protect faer. She was wrong, but hey, she tried.

But whatever they decide to do about Allison, Kira wanted to be with Erica. And maybe fae could try being with Allison, too, if Allison was interested.

(That was number two. Talk to Allison. Actually, number three was talking, too, about setting boundaries and making the relationship clear. A lot of talking was involved.)

They would do this, but together. And honestly. That was what mattered most--no more secrets or hiding feelings. Everything needed to be out in the open.

-

“Ah, hey, you moved,” Kira complained.

Allison shrugged. “Adjust your drawing. My leg got stiff.” She’d been posing for quite a while, so Kira couldn’t really blame her for being uncomfortable.

It wasn’t that big of a deal, anyway. Fae was just practicing, and there were never too many artistic renderings of nude Allison, as far as fae was concerned. Erica would probably pin this one up, too. She was always complaining about how she never got to draw Allison, and Allison was always offering, but anytime they started, Erica ended up getting bored. It often devolved into making out.

It wasn’t necessarily that Kira had more patience than Erica--it was just that Erica worked better with crafting--fibers and clay were her mediums, whereas Kira preferred to paint or sketch.

This way, Erica could still have the picture of Allison and Kira could still practice. Like most things in their life now, It worked out.

Erica came out of the bedroom wearing a t-shirt and no pants. She yawned a little. “Did you start without me?” she mumbled when she saw Allison sitting on the couch. She smiled at Kira and came over to kiss faer sweetly. “What are you working on?”

Fae showed her the sketch. Allison’s face was forming slowly, knitted in concentration. Her body was already fairly developed--all fae really needed to add were a couple defining muscle lines.

“That looks really good. Your figure drawing is a getting so amazing,” Erica said, smiling at her. She cuddled up in the chair next to Kira, taking care not to jostle faer drawing arm.

“Thanks,” fae said, smiling up at her.

They had argued at first, when Kira asked Erica about liking Allison. Erica had insisted she didn’t, until Kira said it was okay and she didn’t need to feel guilty. It had come out then, Erica feeling awful for not saying anything and feeling horrible because she thought Allison hated her. It had been obvious to Kira that that wasn’t the case, but for Erica, still so nervous about how others perceived her, it hadn’t been so simple. The only way the two of them had even made it through the conversation had been with plenty of reassurances (from both of them) that no love was lost and that they weren’t upset with each other.

And the truth was, Kira wasn’t upset. Sure, at first, fae had been hurt, and a little afraid, but it was more that Erica had kept it a secret from faer. And the more they’d talked, the more fae had understood how scared Erica had been, that fae wouldn’t understand or be willing to be with someone who wasn’t monogamous. Her fears weren’t even misplaced--Kira had needed a lot of guidance from Erica and the internet in order to understand what being in a poly relationship would take, but by the end of their several-day-long discussion, fae wasn’t worried any more.  

“Where are you, Kira?” Erica murmured, drawing faer out of faer thoughts.

Looking down, fae realized fae’d been drawing Allison’s left eyebrow repeatedly, and now it looked too big. “Oops,” fae murmured, and started to erase it. “Sorry. I was just thinking about us.”

“In what context?” Allison asked. When the two of them looked at her, she was wiggling her eyebrows.

Kira giggled. “Not like that. Although--nice. No, I was just thinking about how we got together and how well it’s all gone.”

“Good thoughts,” Erica said, and curled an arm around Kira’s waist. “I feel really lucky to be with you two.”

Fae cuddled into Erica, setting her pencil down. The drawing was done enough, anyway. “You can move, Allison,” fae said, smiling. “I think I’m done for today.”

She stood up and crossed the room to stand in front of them and looked at Kira’s drawing. “Another flawless rendition,” she said with a smile.

Allison was easier to talk to than they’d thought. She hadn’t ever dated multiple people at once, but apparently she and Isaac had discussed it at length before Kira and Scott had started dating, funnily enough. And now…

“Can you come back to bed and cuddle with me?” Erica asked, pouting prettily.

Kira grinned.