Take My Mask, I'm Home

this side of you will be the death of me

Lisa was standing in the middle of a forest. She had been chasing something that was always keeping just out of sight, disappearing around trees before she ever look directly at it, but eventually, it vanished. She wasn't even sure what it was. Looking down, she spotted a tiny door at the bottom of a giant oak tree. Crouching down, she found that she was, in the end, small enough to fit through the door. It seemed she'd shrunk, but if it meant getting to the bottom of the mystery, it was all good.

She knocked on the door.

And then she knocked again, the sound echoing loudly through the forest.

The knocking continued, and she groaned, something soft hitting her in the face. Was it leaves from the tree? She pushed at it and opened her bleary eyes, seeing the shape of Jennie above her, kneeling over the bottom of the bed and clutching a pillow in her hands.

"Lisa!" she hissed urgently. "Lisa, wake up!" Jennie whapped her with the pillow again, and all of a sudden she was wide awake. A knock came again at the door, and Lisa looked up at Jennie. Even though Lisa didn't have her glasses on, she could see that Jennie was panicked. She shot up off the sofa, yanking the pillows and sheets off the it, balling them up, and shoving them under the bed, making sure they were hidden by part of a blanket. She grabbed her glasses and put them on, and Jennie quickly made space for her in the bed.

Lisa had half a second of oh what the shit as she hopped from foot to foot at the side of the bed before she jumped into it, pulling the covers up and opening her arms. "Jennie, do you wanna-"

Jennie pulled the covers up around her before looking over at Lisa, alarm gleaming in her eyes.

"Let me hold you? It'll be more believable-"

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Jennie asked under her breath, her tone somewhat nervous. She drew the covers up around her chin and looked at Lisa with wide eyes. If Lisa didn't know better, she'd say there was something different, something wanting, in Jennie's eyes.

"Yes, of course it is, we're meant to be engaged," Lisa said hurriedly. "Just- just let me hold you!" Lisa added, holding her arm out. "Please. Jennie, we don't have much time-"

Jennie huffed, hearing her mumble something like not what I meant while she wriggled across the bed. She pressed herself warmly against Lisa, the reverse of the way they'd snuggled the night before.

"Can I put my arms around you?" Lisa asked, unwilling to push the boundary even though the naked incident yesterday had, well, happened.

Jennie didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second before she agreed with a quick nod and a "that's fine."

Lisa slipped her right arm around Jennie's waist and pulled her close, snuggling them both down against the pillows, and shoving Jennie's book into the hand above the covers. Jennie was just awkwardly opening it as Lisa called out, "come in!" in a voice considerably more relaxed than she currently felt.

The door opened and Rosie popped her head through the door. "Morning, lovers," she said, waggling her eyebrows, and she gave them a little wave. Lisa waved back, then lay her chin on Jennie's shoulder.

"Morning Rosie," Jennie said, smothering a fake yawn.

Rosie nodded at her. "Did I... interrupt something?"

Lisa's eyes went wide. "Why would you think that?"

Rosie gestured towards them. "Jennie's got bed hair like I've never seen, and her book's upside down. Doesn't take a genius to work out that you rearranged yourselves when you heard me knocking."