#styrofoamtokyo

“It’s not gory, it’s a ghost story from Spain, and it’s been very well reviewed. And also, I wouldn’t want to ‘drag’ you anywhere. In fact, I’m a little offended by the insinuation,” Maura sniffed.

Jane sighed and took gentle hold of Maura’s arm when it looked like she was about to leave the break room. “Hey, I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too. I just thought this could be something fun to do together, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Especially not on our first date,” she added with a smile, getting a laugh out of Jane. “Let’s do something else - I have no qualms about going to a movie alone some other time.”

“Wait, alone? Couldn’t you go with someone else?”

It sounded like Maura had run through these options already: “I don’t exactly have a plethora of friends to choose from. Your mother doesn’t like scary movies, Frost doesn’t like seeing more blood than he has to, Tommy and Lydia won’t see anything subtitled, and I’m afraid if I do something one-on-one with Susie again she’s going to get the wrong idea about my intentions.”

Jane frowned. “If she gets cute, just tell her you’re dating me.”

“Oh? Are we exclusive already?” Maura teased her.

“Oh, I mean…I just meant…I meant, like, you could just say that if you wanted her to leave you be,” Jane stammered, intensely embarrassed to feel herself blushing. “It’s whatever.”

“It’s whatever?” Maura chuckled, not helping Jane’s blush go away. “I’m not used to seeing you this flustered, detective. I think I like it.”

Jane snorted, but at least she was smiling again. “Then you’re a sadist. And speaking of sadism, I can’t in good conscience let you go to the movies alone. I’ll come.”

Maura looked baffled by this line of thinking. “But Jane, I really don’t mind-”

“No, no, my mind’s made up, don’t try to talk me out of it now,” Jane said. Her phone buzzed with an update on their case from Frost; without even thinking about it, she gave Maura a swift kiss on the cheek on her way out the door. “Look up the times for this weekend and just keep me posted.”

Jane couldn’t make it out until late Sunday night, which was probably just as well - the only other people in the theater were an older couple sitting quite close to the front and a woman just a couple of rows behind them. Carrying a soda and popcorn buttered more than Maura would’ve normally been cool with, Jane led the way to the last row of the theater.

“Are we going all the way to the back?” Maura asked.

“I like to think of it more as the top,” Jane said, moving to the middle of the row. “I’m sorry, is that gonna bug you? It’s just that the last time I went to a scary movie in a theater, some jackass behind me could tell I was freaked out and he grabbed my shoulder. I don’t want to give anyone the opportunity to do that again.”

“When was that?”

“Eh, high school. From then on I preferred watching that stuff at home, with the lights on and a bunch of people around,” she chuckled. “C'mon, sit down. Or sorry, would you rather move-?”

“No, don’t,” Maura said, putting her hand on Jane’s shoulder when it looked like she was about to stand up. “These seats are fine, I just feel bad thinking I’ve bullied you into watching this with me. I’m sure we could get our money back if we returned our tickets now; the trailers haven’t even started yet.”

Jane patted the seat next to her. “Maura, its cool. I’m cool. Please, just sit down.”

But things became less cool when the previews began, and each one seemed more horrifying than the next. Slasher movies didn’t affect her much, but she did find it a little strange that some people actively sought out such violence as entertainment. Jump scares aggravated her and there were a number of those in the previews, but she worked hard to keep herself from reacting in a way that Maura would notice and pity. A ghost movie didn’t seem like it would be so bad - and it was a foreign one, which meant it was probably going to be classy, right? And how scary could something classy be?

As it turned out, very.

The thing was, Jane got invested, and as anxious as she felt she wanted to see how the film ended and knew that reading a Wikipedia summation wouldn’t be satisfying enough. Maura couldn’t help noticing that Jane was cringing, though, and not even half an hour into the movie she asked if Jane wanted to leave.

“No, I’m fine,” Jane said tersely. Even if she had protested to this idea at first, she did not like feeling babied, and Maura could sense her pride’s sensitivity.

“Okay, then I’d just like to give you a heads-up.”

“For what?” Jane whispered, tensing up in anticipation of a particularly frightening scene Maura somehow already knew about.

“If it’s all right with you, I’d like to put my arm around your shoulders. Me, not some random jerk behind us in the projection booth or something.”

Jane turned to look at her, and smiled. “Sure, go ahead.”

It was amazing to them both how comfortable this felt. Maura had had her own preconceptions of what Jane would be like on a date, stemming from the conversation they’d once had where Jane had confidently asserted that she’d be “the guy” if she were ever in a relationship with a woman. At this moment, though, Jane was filling the societal expectation for “the girl” on a date at a scary movie - even more so when, after a tense scene, she leaned closer to Maura and rested against her shoulder. A few moments later, Maura’s free hand found Jane’s, and clasped it gently, running her thumb along the back of Jane’s fingers.

“That was … nice,” Jane observed later as she drove Maura home.

“Nice? Ever since it ended, you’ve been talking about how stupid the ending was!” Maura laughed.

“Uh, and I stand by that. I meant the other thing was nice. The you and me, um, thing. That was nice.” Jane’s voice had gotten soft, the way it did when she was trying to lull TJ to sleep. “I was never really um, good at that before. Like, all that girly stuff girls - women - are supposed to… well, I mean I guess it’s not even girly, it’s just like, we’re supposed to lean on the guy and sit on the lap and be the little spoon and all that, and I’ve pretty much always been uncomfortable with that, even with the one guy I dated who I did like. It just seemed like it’d be emasculating to ask them to switch.”

Maura waited to make sure Jane was finished. “Feels nice not to have to worry about egos like that, doesn’t it?”

Jane stole a glance at her and grinned. “Yeah. Yeah, it does.”

“But speaking of egos, I hope you didn’t stay at that movie because you were too proud to say you wanted to leave.”

“That’s rich, coming from the woman who peer pressured me into going in the first place!” Jane laughed. “I mean okay, I was maybe a bit proud. But I wanted to see how it ended. … which of course now I regret.”

“I’m sorry!”

They speculated about possible alternate endings the filmmaker could have chosen for the rest of the ride. When they got to Maura’s place and saw the guest house was dark, Jane wondered aloud if Angela had gone to bed or was still out with Cavanaugh. She immediately regretted this when Maura started teasing her about it. When the laughter died out, Maura noted Jane had a strange faraway look in her eye; she was looking at the guest house, but didn’t seem to be thinking about it anymore.

“Jane? Are you okay?”

The automatic “I’m fine” died in her throat before Jane could vocalize it. She didn’t want to be like the people she’d dated who thought it was macho to keep emotions to themselves; and besides, Maura wouldn’t judge her and wanted her to be honest. “What’d you call that movie? Like, psychological horror? I guess it’s kind of in my head. I was so into what was going on that I wasn’t really thinking about the mood, but um, now I’m thinking about it. I’m thinking about going home to my empty apartment and … I dunno,” she chuckled, getting self-conscious. “That’s stupid, right? Maybe I’ll just put on Netflix and play whatever TJ watched last to change my mood. Or maybe I’ll crash on the couch in your guest house and wait for my mom to get home. That’s not TOO much sadder, right?”

Maura didn’t laugh. “It’s not stupid.” What was stupid was me not considering the effect that could have on you. “Would it make you feel better to spend the night? With me?”

Jane’s heartbeats all seemed to pile up. “I wasn’t angling for that,” she said seriously.

“I know. I’m still making the offer. And I’m not angling for sex. Just a peaceful night’s sleep, hopefully.”

“So like…sleeping together, you mean? Like, in your bed?”

“We’ve done it before.”

“True. Um, I didn’t bring anything to wear, though.”

Maura smiled. “I already know you wear your shoes and regular clothes to bed.” When Jane just affectionately rolled her eyes, Maura added, “I’ve got some lounging clothes you could borrow, and an extra set of toiletries.”

“Well, you make it hard for a girl to say no!”

“You can if you want to, you know. I won’t be offended.”

“Yeah, I know. And I want to. I mean - I want to stay.”

The initial awkwardness passed quickly. Jane changed and got ready in the guest bedroom, and waited for a text from Maura to signal that she was clear to come in. Jane thought she could’ve used more of a heads-up when she walked into the master bedroom to see Maura in a gold silk nightie.

“This is the longest one I had!” Maura said. “Look, it almost reaches my knees. My flannel is in the attic, and the pants I sometimes wear are dirty and because I wasn’t anticipating you spending the-”

“Maura, honey, it’s fine,” Jane chuckled, getting under the covers and feeling remarkably drab in a tank top and pajama bottoms. “It’s fine and you’re fine. Fine as hell. Ooh, shouldn’t have said hell. That just reminded me of that scene in the movie in the furnace room.”

“Shhhh, lets not think about the movie,” Maura said, turning on her nightstand lamp and switching off the overhead light. She got into bed next to Jane. “Let’s talk about something else, okay?”

“Okay,” Jane whispered, reaching over and cupping Maura’s face. “But for the record, I don’t regret going to the movie. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t make out with you during it.”

That got an honest laugh out of Maura. “How randy!”

“Did you just call me randy?” Jane chuckled. “What a grandmotherly word. I guess that balances out my teenage maturity in wanting to make out with you in the back of a movie theater.”

“I wouldn’t have stopped you,” Maura said with a subdued smile.

Jane propped herself up on one elbow, brushing Maura’s hair behind her ear. “Funny thing. Being scared in that movie meant I didn’t have time to be scared about being intimate with my best friend. It makes my nerves now feel like… feel small. Insignificant.”

She paused, waiting for Maura to say something or in any way indicate that she didn’t want Jane to continue in this vein. All she got were eager eyes and then soft lips meeting her own. Jane moaned into the kiss, breaking it off with a shudder when her hands traversed down Maura’s body, from the sleek skin of her arm to the smooth silk.

“God, that’s sexy,” she murmured, lying back down and pulling Maura to her. She kissed her neck and Maura’s breath caught. Jane felt electrified at the sensation of feeling and hearing Maura’s every reaction, no matter how minute. Maura shifted one leg between Jane’s but felt no urgent need to take more drastic action beyond that. This felt so, so nice on its own.

“What’s your endgame, here?” Maura breathed after what might have been several minutes. “Should I turn off the lamp?”

“I just want to make out with you all night long,” Jane said with adorable sincerity. She smirked. “Does that scare you?”