Plotting Against Ourselves.
(My first proper attempt at writing a romance story. I hope you enjoy it. ❤️)
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The first time Riley met June, she laughed so hard she snorted coffee through her nose.
It was an undignified beginning for what would become the happiest relationship either of them had ever known.
"Oh gods," June wheezed between giggles, handing over a handful of napkins. "Please tell me you're keeping that in."
"I'm pretending it never happened."
"You're a terrible witness."
"And yet, somehow, you're asking me out."
She paused just long enough to let Riley panic.
______________________________
Six months later, they were sprawled across Riley's apartment floor, assembling miniature figures neither of them had gotten around to painting.
June held up a tiny dragon.
"Why do you own so many of these?"
"You have... seventy-three."
"They have personalities."
"My ex used to say exactly that."
Riley looked up from her paintbrush.
"...Your ex sounded like a nerd."
"I would've bullied them."
Neither of them noticed Riley subconsciously arranging the paint pots in perfect colour order.
Or that June absentmindedly lined up all the brushes by size.
Their third wheel, Avery, noticed.
Avery noticed everything.
She'd known both of them years ago, before either had transitioned, before either had changed names, wardrobes, voices, or learned how to smile without forcing it.
She also knew that the dragon currently sitting in June's hand had originally belonged to...
She wasn't thinking about that.
"You two are disgustingly cute," Avery muttered.
"I was talking about the miniatures."
______________________________
One rainy Friday, armed with takeaway noodles and two glasses of cheap wine, the conversation drifted somewhere neither of them had expected.
"My ex was kind of awful," June admitted.
Riley groaned dramatically.
"Oh thank goodness. Mine too."
"My ex left mugs everywhere."
Riley pointed dramatically.
"They'd start seventeen hobbies and finish three."
"Mine bought a bread maker."
"...Mine bought a cheese-making kit."
There was a brief awkward silence.
"Maybe we dated siblings."
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke
Across the room, Avery made a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone choking on a spring roll.
"They'd hum while fixing things," June continued thoughtfully. "The same four notes, every single time."
Without even realizing she was doing it, Riley softly began humming the little tune that always seemed to escape whenever she was relaxed around June. It was quiet, almost absent-minded, the kind of melody that simply happened rather than something she chose to sing.
Riley blinked. "Like what?"
"That little tune you always hum." June smiled warmly. "It's almost exactly like my ex's... except yours is cuter."
Riley felt warmth creep into her cheeks.
"I... I only really hum when I'm comfortable."
June tilted her head, unable to suppress the grin spreading across her face.
"I guess that explains why you're always humming around me."
"You've been humming for the last thirty seconds."
Riley opened her mouth to argue, only to realize she was, in fact, still quietly humming.
June laughed, the kind that crinkled the corners of her eyes.
"Y-you're adorable..." Riley muttered before she could stop herself.
The words hung in the air.
June's face immediately flushed a brilliant shade of crimson.
"...You think I'm adorable?"
Riley buried her face in her hands.
"I walked right into that one."
A bashful silence settled between them before Riley peeked through her fingers.
"I mean it, though. I think your smile's adorable... and I think it's sweet that you noticed."
June smiled so brightly it made Riley's heart skip.
"...I don't even realize I'm humming," Riley admitted. "It's just... a reflex, I guess. When I feel safe. Or when I'm around someone I..." She fidgeted with the sleeve of her hoodie. "...someone I really like."
For a heartbeat, neither of them spoke.
June slowly lowered her own face into her hands, trying and failing to hide just how red she'd become.
Across the room, Avery looked up from her book, took one long sip of her drink, and sighed with theatrical exhaustion.
"You two," she said, shaking her head, "are unbelievably gay."
Neither Riley nor June denied it. They were both far too busy smiling at each other.
Avery wanted to say something.
Every fiber of her being screamed to blurt out, "*Girls, your exes are literally sitting across from each other."*
But every time she opened her mouth...
"...She used to organize paint bottles by colour," June said fondly.
Riley snorted. "Mine did that too. Gods, nerds are all the same."
"Did your ex also make tea and then forget where they put it?"
"Mine always left little dragons on random shelves."
At this point, she wasn't sure if she was preserving a beautiful romance...
...or witnessing the universe commit the funniest practical joke it had ever conceived.
She settled for taking another sip of her drink.
"I'm either the world's greatest friend," she muttered under her breath, "or I'm enabling the most elaborate slow-motion train wreck in history."
______________________________
The revenge notebook started as a joke.
Operation Mild Inconvenience.
Rule One: Nothing illegal.
Rule Two: Nothing genuinely hurtful.
Rule Three: Maximum confusion.
"I think," Riley announced, "we replace every family photo with pictures of ducks."
"Hide tiny Bluetooth speakers around their house."
Riley wiped tears from her eyes from laughing.
Avery watched them with the haunted, almost melancholic expression of someone watching two people unknowingly assemble a jigsaw puzzle upside down.
She knew the picture on the box.
They simply kept fitting the pieces together, smiling every time another one clicked into place, never realizing they were slowly rebuilding something they had once broken.
June said something that made Riley perk up instantly.
Avery smiled despite herself.
*You two still know exactly how to make each other light up*, she thought.
*You just don't know why anymore.*
June broke the comfortable silence, and Riley immediately looked up.
"...You know," June said softly, "I've always wondered what happened to my ex."
Riley was quiet for a moment before offering a small, thoughtful smile.
"...I hope they're doing better."
June blinked, caught off guard.
"I was angry for a long time."
She glanced down for a moment before looking back at the woman beside her.
"But... people can change."
June's smile was bittersweet.
"...I hope mine did too."
Avery quietly excused herself and slipped away to the bathroom.
She wasn't laughing anymore.
Because she knew something they didn't.
The people they were talking about...
They just hadn't realized it yet.
______________________________
Three weeks later, Riley proposed properly to June.
June didn't even let her finish the question before saying yes.
______________________________
A week before the wedding, Riley was searching the attic for spare fairy lights when she stumbled across an old storage box tucked into the back corner.
Inside were faded photographs.
A tiny dragon miniature with chipped green paint.
June wandered in a moment later, muttering to herself about ribbon colours before wrapping her arms around Riley's waist from behind.
"I... don't actually know."
Together they sifted through the box.
At the bottom lay an old photograph.
A younger version of herself smiled back from the picture.
...was someone with an unmistakably familiar grin.
Then back at the photograph.
Then back to Riley again.
The way she leaned ever so slightly to one side.
Riley reached into another envelope.
They knew exactly who they were looking at.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was so utterly, impossibly absurd.
Riley started laughing too.
"Oh my gods..." she managed between breaths. "We've spent almost a year planning revenge against ourselves."
"And we almost replaced our own family photos with ducks."
"You wanted Bluetooth goat noises."
"They deserved Bluetooth goat noises."
"...We deserved Bluetooth goat noises."
The laughter slowly faded.
June looked down at the photograph again.
June reached out and took Riley's hand.
She looked at the engagement ring.
"...I'd never do those things now."
Riley squeezed her fingers.
"I don't even recognize that person anymore."
Riley gently touched the old photograph with her thumb.
"I spent so long hating my ex..."
She looked up, meeting June's eyes.
"...that I never imagined she'd become the woman I wanted to marry."
Tears welled in June's eyes.
"I kept hoping my ex had changed."
"I didn't realize I'd already fallen in love with the proof."
Riley leaned forward until their foreheads touched.
"I don't love who you were."
"I love who you fought to become."
"And I'd choose this version of you..."
Outside the attic door, Avery had arrived to help decorate.
They'd turned the puzzle over.
It had always been the right picture.
