ofi

That got Trinity’s attention. She sat up too and fixed Victoria with a concerned gaze.

“Because you’ve been ignoring my calls! I came over to check on you, and you’re gone! Now, where are you?”

“I’m, uh… I’m at the- the farmer’s market,” Victoria said, rubbing her hand over her face. “I had to get up early, or all the good stuff would be gone.”

“Oh, okay, I’ll come meet you there.”

“What? N-no, you don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. I want to talk to you. I’m heading over right now. I’ll see you soon, honey.”

“Okay, bye. See you soon,” she sighed, before hanging up and dropping her phone in her lap. “Shit.”

“Wait a minute, what is your mom doing?” Trinity asked.

“Meeting me at the farmer’s market, apparently.” She climbed out of bed and began searching for her clothes, despite the whine of protest from her girlfriend. “She went to my place to check on me because I’ve been dodging her calls, and now I have to race across town to make it there before her, or she’s going to find out about us!”

“Oh, shit.” Trinity got out of bed to help her make sure she put on a shirt that was actually hers. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, your mom always drives the speed limit, right? The farmer’s market isn’t too much farther from here than it is from your place. You can totally beat her there.”

“I sure hope so,” Victoria said, pulling her hair up into a messy bun and grabbing her keys. “I’m sorry I have to rush out like this. She’s totally ruining our plans.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be here when you get back. Good luck,” Trinity smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her. Victoria leaned into her for just a moment. She couldn’t let herself linger.

“I’ll see you soon. Hopefully.”

And that was how Victoria found herself behind the wheel before 7 AM on her day off.

Thankfully, she made great time and was somehow able to find a parking spot right by the entrance. She had just enough time to run in and find a booth to look busy at before her mom showed up. But before she could even get out of the car, she noticed an empty feeling in her pocket.

“Shit! Shit shit shit, shit.” She pulled out her phone and called Trinity, bouncing her leg anxiously as she waited for her to pick up.

“Hey, babe, what is it?”

“I forgot my wallet!” she cried. “I need you to bring it to me. If I don’t buy anything, my mom will get suspicious.”

“I thought the point of all this was so she doesn’t find out that we’re dating. Wouldn’t me bringing you your wallet kinda ruin that?”

“Well, don’t tell her! Just pretend you’re here on your own and you just happened to run into us, and then you can hand it to me when she’s not looking.”

“Y’know, I never considered a spy mission for a date before, but I’m into it,” Trinity joked. “I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you!”

She hurried inside, scanned the crowd, and made her way to a flower stand when she didn’t see her mom. She made herself look busy, leaning down and inspecting a bouquet of gardenias and red roses, and tried to force her heart to stop pounding.

“There you are!” Dr. Shamsi said, walking up behind her. Victoria plastered a smile on her face and turned to her. “Are you getting a bouquet for someone special?”

“What? No!”

“Really? It seems like you’ve been busy lately. Are you sure you haven’t been spending your time with a boy?”

“There’s no boy, I swear. I’m just looking at flowers because I like flowers, okay?” she said exasperatedly. Her mother looked unimpressed.

“Good. I’d hate to find out you’ve been staying at some boy’s place all this time. Where are your things?”

“My what?”

“The things you bought. You said you’ve been here a while already. Why aren’t you carrying anything?”

“Oh, I, uh… I put it all in my car already. It was too heavy to carry around,” she smiled weakly. Her mother nodded.

“Were you buying groceries?”

“Yep. I’m stocking up on all the good produce.”

“Good. You need it, your fridge was almost completely bare.”

Victoria’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? W-why were you looking in my fridge? Why did you go into my apartment?”

“Because I was looking for you! And I have a good reason to be worried, there was a whole pile of mail on your doorstep! It looked like you hadn’t been home in days! Now tell me, sweetie, what is going on with you?”

“Nothing. I’ve just been… I’m just really exhausted and stressed when I get home from work, so I haven’t been keeping up with stuff like that. But I’m here getting food now, so I can set myself up to have a better week next week. It’s no big deal.”

“Oh, honey, if you’re struggling, then you need to talk to someone! I’ll let Kiara know, and she can set some time aside for you during your next shift-”

“No, don’t bother Kiara! I don’t need to talk to her.”

“Well, you need to talk to someone! You can’t hold all of this in. It isn’t good for you or your patients.”

“I’m fine, Mom. Really."

"Are you?"

"Yes, I am. I have been talking to someone, okay?”

“Who?”

“A friend.”

“What friend?”

Victoria sighed. “Trinity.”

“You mean Dr. Santos?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’ve been hanging out after work lately and checking in with each other. Nobody better to talk to about how hard it is to be a doctor than another doctor, y’know?”

“Oh, that’s good,” Dr. Shamsi smiled. “I’m glad you’re helping each other. I like her, she’s a very good doctor.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“And what do you know? Speak of the devil, I think that’s her. Dr. Santos!”

Victoria turned to where her mother was waving and saw Trinity poking absentmindedly at a cactus a few booths over. When she looked up to see who was calling her name, her expression of surprise was so convincing, Victoria almost forgot she’d asked her to come.

“Dr. Shamsi, it’s great to see you! And Dr. Javadi, hi! What are the chances, huh?”

“We’re not at work, Trinity, you can call me Victoria,” she said, shooting her a look that said don’t overact. Trinity grinned at her, equal parts cheeky and reassuring, and she finally felt the weight lift off her chest. Trinity always made her feel like everything was going to be okay. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was just looking to get another little cactus. I have a whole collection at home,” she said cheerily. Victoria knew she didn’t, but she tried not to let it show on her face.

“Ah, well, we were just talking about you!” her mother said.

“Really?” Trinity glanced at Victoria with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“Yes, Victoria was just telling me how you two have been checking in with each other after work. I’m grateful to you for doing that for her. Taking care of your mental health is very important.”

“Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah, getting together with Victoria after work and talking things out, and taking the time to, y’know… decompress. It’s been great for my mental health, too.”

Never mind, Victoria’s heart was pounding anxiously in her chest again. But thankfully, her mother didn’t seem to notice the suggestive lilt in Trinity’s voice.

“That’s wonderful,” Dr. Shamsi smiled. “I’m glad you two have become so close. You know, Victoria has always had trouble making friends.”

“Mom!”

Trinity snorted and gave her a sympathetic glance. “I’ve always had trouble keeping them, so. I’m really glad we’re friends, too.”

They smiled at each other, and Victoria’s heart swelled with affection.

“Well, we don’t want to keep you. Have you been here long?” Dr. Shamsi asked.

“Oh, no, I just got here. I’m not an early riser like Crash here. At least not when I don’t have to be.”

Victoria shot her a glare, and Trinity smirked at her teasingly. Her mother narrowed her eyes at them.

“You know what, I’ve never heard the origin of that nickname,” she said suspiciously. Victoria opened her mouth, but thankfully, Trinity swooped in and saved her from having to come up with something to say.

“Oh, it’s just a dumb joke from our first day. Honestly, I don’t even remember where it came from.”

“Yeah, me neither,” she chuckled, a little too enthusiastically.

“We all have silly nicknames like that. Us and Dennis and Mel, the four of us that started that day. It’s just a little thing that helps lighten the mood sometimes.”

“Oh, that’s nice. And what’s your nickname, Dr. Santos? I don’t think I’ve heard.”

“Well, as it turns out, Victoria is the one who gave me my nickname,” Trinity said, turning to her with a smirk. Victoria’s eyes widened, and she felt the tips of her ears beginning to burn.

“R-right! Yes. Yeah, I, uh, I-I call her… Pony.”

Trinity raised her eyebrows slowly, and her smirk grew into a shit-eating grin. Victoria refused to meet her eyes.

“Uh-huh. And where does that nickname come from?”

“I-I don’t remember that one either. I mean, it was such a busy day, and it was so long ago-”

“We had a patient named Penelope, and I misspoke and called her Pony by accident,” Trinity explained with a shrug, as if she’d told this story a hundred times. “Everyone makes mistakes on their first day, you know?”

“Yes, that’s true. I’m glad you’re able to have a sense of humor about it.”

“Well, they do say laughter is the best medicine,” she said, and Dr. Shamsi nodded. “Although my patients usually prefer morphine.”

“Oh, you are funny!” Dr. Shamsi laughed. “I can see why my daughter likes you.”

“I sure hope she does,” Trinity replied, giving Victoria a knowing smirk. She rolled her eyes at both of them.

“Clearly. And you might not be the only one she likes. Do you happen to know if Victoria has a boyfriend?”

“Mom!”

“What? You were acting so jumpy when I asked you earlier. I just want to know!”

“Not that I’ve heard,” Trinity said, her shit-eating grin growing wider still. “Do you have a boyfriend that I don’t know about, Victoria?”

“No,” Victoria growled. “Not that it would be any of your business if I did.”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I’ll stop prying. I just want to know what’s going on in my daughter’s life.”

“Yeah, and I didn’t know either, so. Just asking.” Trinity held her hands up in surrender. Victoria glared at her and scoffed.

“Okay, I think it’s time we let Trinity go now. I still have a few more things I need to buy.”

Trinity gave her a quick nod and put her hand in her pocket.

“Yes, of course. It was lovely talking to you, Dr. Santos.”

“Great talking to you too, Dr. Shamsi. And I’ll see you tomorrow, Victoria.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

“Oh, and it’s not my thing, but I saw a booth over there that’s selling like every flavor of scone you can imagine. You’ll love it.”

Victoria took her wallet back from Trinity when her mother looked to see where she was pointing. Their fingers brushed, and Trinity winked at her with that smile that always made her knees feel weak. She gazed into her eyes, but she had to tear herself away a moment later when her mother spoke again.

“Oh, that sounds good! Thank you.”

“Of course! You two have fun.”

“Bye!” Victoria called, waving as Trinity walked away. She turned and waved back with a fondness in her eyes that she reserved only for her, and suddenly, Victoria was struggling to catch her breath. But her mother didn’t let her dwell on how that was still possible. She was already heading toward the scone stand, muttering something about hoping they had coffee too. She hurried after her, already making a mental list of all the things she’d supposedly already bought, and prayed that this would all be over soon.

Half an hour later, she sank into the driver’s seat of her car with a sigh. Her mother had followed her around the farmer’s market, and after watching her buy nearly every kind of fruit and vegetable they had, she’d finally been satisfied and left her alone. Now her day off could finally get back on track. She could finally get back to Trinity.

My mom finally left, but I ended up buying a ton of groceries. Do you want to just come to my place?

Victoria yawned as she sent the text, then pulled out of her parking spot. The drive home was much less stressful than the rest of her morning had been, and by the time she got home, she felt relaxed again. And she did actually appreciate that her mom had put the stack of her mail on her kitchen counter for her.

A few minutes later, she heard a knock on her front door before it creaked open. She wasn’t worried this time, though. She’d left it open on purpose.

“Honey, I’m home!” Trinity called out in a singsong voice. Victoria smiled.

“Hey, come on in! I’m almost done putting these groceries away.”

“I got you something,” she heard from behind her. She turned around to see Trinity holding up a bouquet of gardenias and red roses.

“Ooh, those are so pretty! Thank you, you’re the sweetest.” She leaned in and kissed her, and Trinity grinned at her and shrugged.

“I wasn’t going to go all the way to the farmer’s market and not buy anything,” she said as she got out a vase to put them in.

“So you didn’t get a little cactus?”

“Nope, not this time,” Trinity smiled. “I used to keep them, though. Back in college.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Up until my first year of med school, when one of them died in the middle of finals week. I had a mental breakdown, because how could I ever save anyone if I couldn’t keep a stupid plant alive? There was like an hour or two when I almost gave up on being a doctor.”

“Oh no,” Victoria chuckled.

“Yeah, so I don’t keep them around anymore. They’re triggering,” she said jokingly. “But these are supposed to die soon, so I won’t feel bad.”

“Ha ha.” Victoria rolled her eyes.

“…And speaking of things that might be triggering,” Trinity said, pulling out one of the kitchen table chairs and sitting down. “Your mom showed up at your apartment unannounced?”

“Yeah, she did,” Victoria sighed. “I’ll talk to her about it. I should’ve expected that she’d do something like this after I kept ignoring her calls, but I didn’t think she’d actually go inside and snoop through all of my stuff.”

“Wait, she came inside? Like she broke in? Are you serious?”

“She didn’t break in; she has a spare key,” Victoria said. Trinity raised an eyebrow at her. “She insisted on having one when I moved out. She said it was for emergencies, and… i-it made sense at the time. But yeah, I’ll get it back from her.”

“So does that mean that every time I’ve been here, she could’ve just… walked in on us?”

“I said I’ll get the key back!” Victoria snapped. “Or I’ll… maybe I’ll just change the locks, that might actually be easier. But I’ll handle it. I’m not going to let her ruin anything.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. We’re good. Nobody’s ruining anything,” Trinity said gently. “Nothing your mom could say or do would change anything between us.”

“Thank you,” Victoria breathed. They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes for a few moments, and time seemed to stand still. Then Trinity smirked.

“Yeah, nobody’s gonna ruin anything… except for maybe this mysterious secret boyfriend of yours.”

“Seriously?” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, your mom does know you pretty well. If she thinks you have a boyfriend, then she might be onto something. Just making sure I have nothing to worry about.”

“You are my boyfriend,” Victoria said, sauntering over and leaning against the chair, her hands on either side of Trinity’s head. She heard her gulp and saw her eyes widen, and she grinned.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” She straddled Trinity’s lap and sat down, then brushed her hair from her eyes and cradled her face in her hands. “I will never want anyone else. You are my one and only, Trinity.”

“You’re damn right I am,” she grinned. Then she leaned in and kissed her deeply. “You’re my one and only, too, Vicky.”

“Yeah, I know.” She kissed her again, and again, and again. But she didn’t want to let them get too carried away just yet, so she pulled away when Trinity started kissing her neck. “My mom did almost find out about us today, though. You were cutting it way too close.”

“Oh, please, she didn’t suspect a thing. I was just having fun! I can’t help being this charming,” she smirked, and Victoria raised an eyebrow at her. “Besides, I wasn’t the only one having fun. I’m not the one who came up with… Pony.”

“Okay, that is not fair! You put me on the spot! It was the first thing I could think of,” she exclaimed, and Trinity giggled.

“I mean, you were riding me like one last night, so…” Victoria slapped her chest playfully, and she laughed louder. “I think that was the closest we got to blowing our cover.”

“Yeah, until you saved me. You came up with that explanation so fast, it was insane!”

“Yeah, like I am with many, many things, I am great at lying,” Trinity bragged. Victoria rolled her eyes again and smiled.

“You know I’m going to have to start calling you Pony at work now, right?”

“What?”

“Yeah, now that my mom knows about it, if she sees us working together and she doesn’t hear it, she’ll get suspicious. And I have to say it around everyone else so they’re used to it, or else they’ll question it and tip her off.”

“You devious bitch,” Trinity scoffed, but the love in her eyes betrayed her. Victoria shrugged dramatically.

“That’s just karma, baby. You never should’ve started calling me Crash.”

“Hmm. Well, I guess having my girlfriend call me a stupid nickname isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

“Considering I’ve had to deal with it for a long time, even before you were my girlfriend, no. No, it absolutely isn’t.”

“Just shut up and kiss me, Crash,” Trinity smiled, shaking her head. Victoria wrapped her arms around her neck and leaned in as close to her as she could.

She's been staring for a solid few seconds when her higher brain functions kick back in, and she realizes that she has, in fact, been staring straight at Mel's tits.

Shit. She didn't mean to do that! Or did she? No, she didn't.

The machine splutters to life with a hiss.

"Ava, you want coffee?" Mel asks.

Ava, that's her! Mel knew she was there, staring at her, the whole time.

"No, thanks," she blurts out and panic-phases out of the room.

Back in her bedroom, she has what one might call a very mild crisis. Not an identity crisis, not a sexuality crisis per se. Last week, she bought a set of Pride-themed face paints. The set contains pink, purple, and blue. She still hasn't managed to work up the courage to use them, and today is the big day. Big parade, New Avengers float, people and press and pictures. The skin around her nails has seen better days.

Before she can change her mind, she grabs the little face paint kit and phases back into the kitchen.

"Changed your mind about the coffee?"

"No. I mean, sure, I'll have coffee." Ava fidgets with the plastic in her hands. "Can I ask you something?"

Mel grabs a second mug. "Sure."

"Would you help me with this?" Ava places the little box on the kitchen island.

It takes Mel a second to understand what Ava wants from her. It probably takes Mel a second to figure out what exactly Ava has just presented her with. She could have probably been clearer about the favor she's asking.

"Sure," Mel says again and picks up the face paints. "Come sit down."

Ava slides onto one of the stools at the kitchen island.

"Where would you like it?" Mel asks.

"My left cheek?"

"Okay." Mel steps closer. "What do you want me to draw? Just the flag? Or maybe a heart?"

"Just the flag."

Mel gently takes Ava's chin between her thumb and index finger, and Ava stops breathing. She tries to hold still, tries not to stare, because Mel is pretty and way too close.

Of course, Mel has always been pretty—Ava has eyes—but seeing her out of her drab office uniform has somehow turned her into a real girl.

Mel turns Ava's face to the side, and Ava closes her eyes. With a few quick strokes, Mel draws a little bisexual pride flag on Ava's skin.

"Looks cute," she tells her, turns Ava's face in the opposite direction, and presses her lips to her other cheek.

Ava's eyes fly open.

"You should keep that," Mel says.

She gives Ava a smile and a wink, and Ava doesn't know what Mel is talking about until she looks at herself in the hallway mirror and spots the red lipstick. It makes her knees go a little wobbly as a wave of something unexpected hits her right in the solar plexus.

She doesn't wipe the lipstick off.

When Walker sees it later, he does a double take and grins at her. "Hey! Who'd you kiss?"

the concept of kate kissing yelena right before her dramatic fall back and both of them feeling so thrilled is sooo 🛐🛐🛐 and you know rooftop kisses became their thing 👀

this was inspired by olivia rodrigo's song drop dead. highly recommend hallucinating bishova scenes to it

"kiss me and i might drop dead" -> "kiss me and i might do i really cool drop off the building to show off??"