Looking For Light In The Dark

“That’s true” agreed Kitty. “I always feel like movies leave so much out.” At Maria’s next words, Kitty nodded. “Thank you for telling me” she said. “I wasn’t sure if it was something you were okay talking about.” She felt a bit embarrassed about how she’d been tiptoeing around her fiancee’s past. She should have known Maria was stronger than that. “And for what its worth, I think you’re just fine when it comes to interactions.” She gave a small smile.

Maria shrugged.  “I’ve got my good days and bad days with it, but I’ll always be open about it, especially with you.  I understand the discomfort though, even if I in no way hold you accountable for a different vampire’s actions.”  The wolf looked at Kitty seriously, hoping she knew Maria wasn’t nervous around her.   Blushing a little, the wolf acted on impulse at the reassurance, leaning closer and kissing the other woman gently only to quickly back off.  “I..well..Um..thank you.”  She blushed darkly looking at her hands

“The books are better, but the movies aren’t bad” said Kitty. She frowned, wondering if the reason Maria had never seen the films was because of her time in captivity. “I have all of them on DVD, if you ever want to watch” she offered.

“Books are almost always better.”  Maria smiled at her, though the frown on the other woman’s face made her pause.  It was an expression she’d seen before, with members of her pack, and she didn’t like that Kitty had it.  “I might be a bit sheltered...and I may be completely misreading your expression, please forgive me if I am...but I am alright talking about my high school years as a personal pet.  It’s why I haven’t seen a lot of things and am terrible with interaction, but...I’m not too traumatized.  We don’t have to ignore it if a question comes up I mean.”

“Sam is amazing” said Kitty with a grin. “I love how he was so loyal to his best friend. If it wasn’t for him, Frodo would have totally given up.” Kitty was a fan of Lord of the Rings. “I take it you’ve read the book?” she asked. “Or have you just seen the movies?”

“Crazy loyal, and smart, even if he was a little skittish.”  Maria smiled, glad Kitty had approved of her choice.  She did pause a moment before looking at the woman. “Just the books...Never seen the movies.”

“This is true” said Kitty. “But then, vampires are deceptive by default.” Its not like they could go around advertising their real age to humans. Not if they wanted to avoid being hunted down by a mob of angry villagers. “If I could be a comic book character, she’d be my choice” said the vampire with a grin. “What about you? Who is your favorite fictional character?” She knew Maria didn’t have as much knowledge about pop culture as she did, but she didn’t seem completely clueless.

“Just cause you have to be.”  Maria nodded, certain Kitty wouldn’t lie just because she wanted to and more because she needed to.  At Kitty’s question Maria was silent for a long moment, thinking it through for awhile before answering. “Sam.  From Lord of the rings.”

Kitty smiled widely. “I’ve been told once or twice that I’m deceptively young-looking” she agreed in a joking manner. But you were only as old as you felt, right? And Kitty certainly didn’t feel old. Especially not in the company of vampires who were so many centuries older than her. She thought about Maria’s question for a moment. Then she said “Do comic book counts? Cause if they do, its definitely Kate Kane.” Batwoman had been her go-to Halloween costume for years now. “I mean, she’s a badass redheaded lesbian. What’s not to love?” She winked again.

“I don’t know if it’s deceptive,...you are a vampire after all.”  Maria giggled a little, rather pleased her fiance looked so young.  It helped her feel like she looked less of a child.  “Comic books definitely count!   Badass red-head lesbian huh?  I’ll have to look her up!”  Breaking out her phone she added the name to a long list on her notes of things she should figure out.

“I do look for that a lot” admitted Kitty. “I think its cause there weren’t really any characters like that for a long time.” So now that she was able to see people like her on TV, in movies, and in books, she embraced it. It made her feel less like an outsider. “I think I always have. But I wasn’t born aware of that” she said. “I’ve been with men before, but it never felt right to me. For reasons I couldn’t explain for a long time.” She knew now that she was attracted to women exclusively. “What about you? Have you always known you liked both men and women?”

“That’s true.  I forget how much older you are than me sometimes.”  Maria laughed a bit, nodding. “So that must be really great, seeing people like you in books and movies and such that weren’t there before.”  The young woman smiled, making a mental note to pay more attention to queer people in media for her fiance.  At the question, Maria thought for a moment before shrugging. “I mean....I didn’t ever really pay attention to it?  I would check out both guys and girls, but I was focused on school, and then...well, then he happened and it was just him for a few years, and when I was with the wolves I was too busy learning new stuff and figuring out a future to worry about it so...I guess always?  I’ve had crushes on both.”

Kitty was glad her fiancee was an agreeable sort of woman. She could have been paired with somebody really stubborn, who hated her taste in TV shows. That would have been a disaster. It was yet another reason she found herself falling for Maria more and more. “I do like it a lot” she said. “Not in the least because it features a wide variety of queer female characters.” Kitty had realized she’d liked women decades ago, back when there was little tolerance (let alone representation) for individuals like her. So now she made a point to try and watch as many shows with LGBT+ characters as possible.

Maria looked over at Kitty, just liking to watch her talk.  The wolf loved her enthusiasm, and how opinionated she was.  Sometimes she questioned whether she’d started that way and had just been beaten down into someone without strong opinions, or if she’d been born agreeable. But on nights like tonight she didn’t care either way, just happy to feel that Kitty might really like her back.  “Queer characters?  That’s cool...do you look for that a lot?  Have you always liked women?”

Kitty saw Maria blushed, and was once again struck by how adorable she found the werewolf to be. While Kitty had dated women before, most of her relationships hadn’t been very serious. Certainly not engagement-level serious. So she found her constantly surprised by how much she’d come to care for Maria. “Its a wonderful show, even if some of the storylines are ridiculous” she said. “And its not afraid to touch on issues that are seen as controversial.” As a vampire, Kitty was mostly removed from the problems of the human world. But that didn’t mean she didn’t still care about what happened in the world. “And if it turns out to not be your thing, we can always watch something else” she added.

Maria listened to Kitty as she explained the tv show, the werewolf just liking to listen to her talk.  She was fine with whatever they watched, just wanting to be around her wife-to-be.  “I’m sure it’ll be good!  It seems interesting, and you seem to like it alot.  Ridiculous storylines always make tv shows and movies more fun after all.”

“Then I’m glad we can watch it together” said Kitty. “Its one of my favorite series, even if some of the characters are awful.” She still didn’t understand how Piper was the series lead. “And spending time with you is always a major plus” she added with a wink. She’d found she’d come to care a lot for her betrothed ever since they’d first met.

Maria settled happily into the couch, looking over at Kitty as she explained about the show.  A soft blush tinted her cheek at the wink and comment about being together, the wolf finding that she craved the vampire’s company more and more. She was beautiful, and kind, and Maria had become quite attached. “Spending time with you is always the best part, but I’m excited!  I’ve heard people talking about it before.”

@timid-maria​

Kitty hung up her cellphone and turned to face the woman who sat next to her on the couch in her hotel room. “The pizza place says our food will be here in about 40 minutes” she said. “Which gives us just enough time to finish this episode of Orange is the New Black.” The new season had just come out, and Kitty had decided a re-watch was in order. Especially because she hadn’t been sure whether he betrothed had ever seen it. “Thanks for coming over and watching with me.” She always found shows more fun to watch with someone else than by herself.

Maria had been very pleasantly surprised to hear from Kitty inviting her over, the young woman getting comfortable but making sure to look cute before she ended up sitting on her wife-to-be’s couch.  “Awesome!  Perfect timing.”  She was now settled into the comfortable piece of furniture, smiling at the vampire.  “Of course! I’ve never seen it, and I’ll always jump at spending time with you.”

“I guess.” Teddy replied softly. It was true that he was significantly less afraid of Vampires than Wolves. He looked up startled when she stood up in front of him. Compulsively he stood up as well. Her words were sweet and typical of Maria, who was so fundamentally kind, “No one could be more insecure than me, they wouldn’t leave the house.” he replied with a bit of humour. Then he looked at his closet and sat down on the bed again with a sigh of defeat.

“Okay, then you need to work on boosting that.  Cause things aren’t nearly as bleak as you think they are.  And you’re not even giving your handsome vamp a chance!  What if he does like you and you turn his feelings down cause you refuse to accept them?  Or call him a liar or something?”  Maria lifted an eyebrow at him before she set to sorting through the clothes, tossing options onto the bed.  “We’ll make you super handsome.”

“No you don’t understand. I still get scared when you come over and it is you. You’re my Maria. And him, he’s like terrifying and beautiful and I can’t breathe. There is no way he is going to love someone like me. I’m just going to marry this guy who is going to be cheating on me before the honeymoon is over and I can’t ….” Teddy looked back at his closet, “And I have nothing to wear.”

“But he’s a vampire, and vampires are better than him being a wolf right?”  She rubbed his arm a little, looking at him for a moment before she stood up and face him, crossing her arms.  “Alright, you’re gonna listen up.  I don’t think you’re gonna listen but I’m gonna still stay it.  You are amazing.  Really.  You’re the best witch I know, you’re cute, and sweet, and you care more than anyone ever.  If he doesn’t fall for you he’s a dumbass.  And how could this possibly work if you’re already writing him off?  Maybe he’s as insecure as you are, no matter what he looks like.”  Looking at his closet she sighed.  “You’ve things to wear.  We will make you your full blown, handsome self.  But it’s not gonna matter if you are walking into this assuming he’s a let down and that you’re not great.  You are great Teddy.”

Teddy was seated on the floor of his closet, surrounded by his clothes. “I have nothing to wear. I just have to stay in and die alone.”

Maria had to take a moment and take everything in before she stepped in close, taking Teddy’s arm and gently lifting him to sit on his bed.  “you’re not going to die alone.  You’re going to die happy with your hot husband to love you.  Come on, look at me, and we’re gonna breathe for a bit.”