#oitnbedit

You had known Poussey for around six months now, meeting when you were assigned library duty after things became too much to handle for Poussey on her own.

Since then, you spent a lot of time together, bonding over your love of reading, books and keeping the library organised. You both hit it off immediately, she was always there for you and you there for her, it was the perfect dynamic.

Currently, you were both on the library floor, Poussey with a book in hand and you lay with your head in her lap, playing idily with the hem of her grey sweater - fiddling with the stitching.

You both love moments like this, being able to do your own things in each others presence. From time to time, Poussey’s attention would divert from her book to you, playing with your hair and moving it from your face before going back to the chapter, the silence and unspoken intimacy was nice.

It took a while for Poussey to finally finish in a place she could pay attention to you, using a shoelace as a book mark and placing the book beside you both, quickly bringing her hand to your face and gently comforting it - caressing your cheek softly.

You like this, so take her spare hand and place with in your own, fiddling with her fingers and occasionally bringing her hand up to your lips with a smile.

It was silence, until Poussey muttered your name, making your attention move from her hands and to face, “yeah?” You asked, smiling at her sweetly.

“I uhm…” She began, as if unsure whether or not it was right to talk. You thought it was because she, too, was enjoying the silence. You had no idea she’d spent the last hour deep in thought, not really ready, instead thinking about things, thinking about you, flipping the pages idily.

You had no idea of the feelings you involuntarily evoked from Poussey, how nervous you could make her and how hard she would fight for you. She didn’t want to ruin that, but she felt she had to make her feelings clear to you.

“… I think I love you,” Poussey finished, still playing with your hair, finding comfort in it, focusing on you as your expression changed to a bright smile, now looking at her hands again.

“I love you too.” You countered, sitting up and placing a kiss now on her cheek, a territory neither of you had yet crossed, pushing a large smile to Poussey’s face as she did the same.