Lion Parmi Les Hommes

III.

"Se réveiller était une cruauté quotidienne, un affront, et elle l'a évité en ne dormant pas."

~Gregory Maguire, Lion Parmi Les Hommes

Marthe and (Y/N) hadn't ever fought before. They didn't have reason to as they hardly saw each other outside of the confines of the little bookshop, and for the most part up until this point their relationship had revolved around relatively superficial things such as what flavor tea (Y/N) wanted that day or Marthe's opinion on a book that (Y/N) was reading. That's not to say that they began now, at least not in any serious sense. The storm continued on outside while they watched the television set, and eventually (Y/N) rested her head on Marthe's lap, the other woman, combing her fingers absentmindedly through (Y/N)'s hair. (Y/N) had almost fallen asleep as the hands of the grandfather clock in the corner neared midnight, and she would have drifted off if it wasn't for Marthe pulling her hand back from (Y/N)'s hair, only tucking a few stray strands behind her ear before shaking her shoulder a bit, "(Y/N), babe, you asleep?", she realized that that was a bit of a daft question once the girl sprawled across her lap groaned and shoved Marthe's hand from her shoulder, whining and turning over so that her face was now buried in the taller woman's stomach and she could feel the vibrations of Marthe's laughter which made her none too happy because she was tired and it wasn't funny. Marthe just smiled in a way that could not be described as anything other than fond and smoothed her palm, flat in between (Y/N)'s shoulder blades, "C'mon and get up for me, you can't sleep here, you'll get a back ache". (Y/N) whined even more pitifully and went to roll back over although in her exhaustion she miscalculated the amount of space on the couch that she had and ended up rolling right off and thudding onto the floor and she sat there disgruntled whilst the taller woman laughed at her before standing and offering her a hand up, "I've put out the spare toothbrush in the bathroom for you". (Y/N) nodded at that and stumbled her way drowsily to the little bathroom down the hall, feet dragging under her and she didn't do much besides blink tiredly at her reflection in the mirror, all but giving up on the tooth brushing once she she couldn't find the toothpaste out in plain sight. Marthe popped her head in a few minutes later, raising an eyebrow, "Hey, you done yet? I need to brush my teeth too", and she laughed when (Y/N) shook her head, holding the spare toothbrush in one hand and using the other to rub at fatigued eyes. Marthe grabbed the tube of toothpaste from one of the draws and (Y/N) took some of it once the other woman had had a chance to put some on her own toothbrush. (Y/N) just went straight to brushing which left Marthe looking at her flabbergasted, "You didn't wet your toothbrush at all, you're a psychopath, absolutely mental", she snorted then and set about brushing her own teeth, only pausing to blow her cheeks out and make ridiculous faces in the mirror once her cheeks were full of foam, if only so that (Y/N) would have to look away to keep from spitting out or choking on her own toothpaste in her fits of giggles. Once they had both rinsed their mouths, (Y/N) headed back towards the living area, to which Marthe raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?".

(Y/N) paused and turned around, giving the taller girl a confused look, "Ehm...to go to sleep?".

Marthe shook her head at that, gesturing with her thumb over her shoulder, "Bedroom is that way, babe". She thought that that would be the end of it. Marthe was tall and most of the girls who spent the night here were intimidated enough to just do what she asked, although most of them knew her only on a physical level. The issue was that (Y/N) knew Marthe too well, she knew that under the slicked back hair and raised eyebrows, the leather jacket and tattoos, Marthe was nothing but soft.

Because (Y/N) knew this, she was quick to retort, "I know that you aren't insinuating that I should take your bed and have you sleep on the couch because that would be ridiculous as this is your flat, and I am the one intruding. Besides that, I'm smaller. You're too tall to be sleeping on the couch, M.", and when she was finished talking, (Y/N) plopped right down onto the couch and snuggled down into the cushions, shutting her eyes and allowing for now further argument from Marthe.