Marina/Stefanielle ONE-SHOTS

Tiggering Call (stefanielle)

| Danielle's pov

I was home, waiting for Stefania. She had been on set all day long, so I knew she would come back exhausted.

"Hey... I'm home, Bambina." She said, opening the door.

"Hi, baby! How was your day?" I replied, getting closer and giving her a kiss.

"It was fine." She answered, looking away and heading to the couch, with me following close behind. "Can we just cuddle for a bit, please?" She then asked with watery eyes.

"Yeah, of course, love." I said, lying down and having her buried in my chest as soon as I did so. "Are you sure you're okay, princess?"

"I'm fine." She answered, with an annoyed tone, after taking a deep breath, taking in my scent.

"Alright, but if you wanna talk, you know I'm here."

She nodded into my chest and closed her eyes, while I caressed her back beneath her t-shirt. I knew something had happened, but I also knew I wouldn't get anywhere by pushing her to talk, so I would just let her come to me on her own terms. Until then, I could continue to make sure she felt loved.

She ended up falling asleep on me and I decided not to move her, knowing how bad her insomnia could be when she was anxious or overwhelmed, which was definitely the case. Even though she kept moving in a restless sleep, it was better than nothing.

After a while, I was taken out of my thoughts by Stefania's phone ringing. She woke up and immediately tensed up, realizing where the sound came from.

"You okay, baby? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"Y- Yeah..." She replied, clearly shaken up, tightening the grip on my sweater. "Can you- Can you see who it is?" She asked in a broken whisper, hiding herself in my body.

"Baby, what is it? You're worrying me."

"Just check who it is! Please, Bambina." She repeated desperately.

I slowly grabbed the phone and read the name on the screen "Barret."

Stefania let out a relieved sigh, before gesturing for me to answer it.

"Hey, Barret!" She greeted her, still not leaving my embrace.

"Hi, Stef! Just making sure you're alright. You left running earlier, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah... I was just tired..." She replied, trying not to let the panic show in her voice.

"Are you sure? I can come over, if you want. Are you home alone, or is Danielle with you?"

"I'm fine, Barret. I'm with Danielle, she's right here." Stefania confirmed, looking at me.

"Hey!" I said then, making my presence known.

"Hi, D! All good?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking, and for checking on Stef." I replied. It made me happy knowing people cared about her.

"Alright Barret, we need to go now." Stefania said, ready to hang up.

"Okay, bye, girls. Danielle, make sure she's alright, please."

"I will, don't worry. Bye!" I assured and Stefania hang up right after. "Okay, baby, are you gonna tell me what happened, now?"

"Nothing, I've told you, I'm fine." She replied, hiding herself further in my body and not letting go of the grip she had on my clothes.

"Okay, my love, I get it if you don't wanna talk. I know it's hard for you to open up." I said, caressing her hair. "But clearly, you're not fine. I know you; I know how you grip my shirt strongly and the way your body tenses up when you're anxious. I know how you run from people and try to hide yourself from the world when you can't get out of your head. I know how you breathe in my scent and how your breathing gets trembling when you feel insecure. I know you don't like it when other people touch your hair. I know you feel loved with physical touch, but you also feel extremely uncomfortable when someone you don't trust touches you randomly. I know what each one of your rings represent and how you play with a different one, depending on what you're feeling." I wiped softly the tears coming down from her eyes, as she finally looked at me. "I know it all, baby, and I love it all. It's okay if you just need me to hold you tight in my arms until you're ready to talk, but I just want you to know that you don't have to pretend with me, you don't have to wear that mask, saying you're fine. You can cry, you can be weak, you can feel scared, you can just want to be comforted, you can be excited... Whatever it is, I'm here for you, forever, yeah?"