Wide Awake

[Lucy Serrano]

Every little reaction was overwhelming for Lucy. Composure was weakened by the second, and she felt the way she dropped a harsh, hot breath against the space she just kissed. Wanted was an understatement, but she didn't have the strength to explain that.

So she reeled back. Just for the moment. To catch her eyes before she leaned in to threaten a real, genuine kiss with proximity alone.

"Most people live their entire lives without a purpose," Lucy explained. But she knew this woman was smart enough to reach that conclusion on her own. It wasn't difficult, but it was different when someone else said it, "To have yours at such a young age is, honestly, remarkable."

She could even be jealous, had she not landed in the position she had. Had a life not been mapped out for her already.

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny could feel that heater breath practically burn her skin like it was being branded. Like she truly belonged to the thief she kept such a secret. If only she could allow herself to humor the thought.

But before she could get truly lost in the connection, she had felt a stint of distance put in place. Her dark eyes opened wide, immediately clashing with those that stared back at her.

And then she was kisses with a kind of passion she wouldn't dare recognize. But she fell into it nonetheless.

When Lucy pulled away, Penny was almost brave enough to chase her. But instead genuine praise was offered to her. The first she'd been really offered on the entirety of her career. She was at a loss of words for once. And though the thief had a sliver of control, Penny pressed forward to take her lips.

[Lucy Serrano]

Truthfully, Penny deserved every nice thing Lucy could say about her. She considered the line of work she was doing to be noble in its own way, if at least misguided. There was much more that could be done on the streets, in her own eyes; the legal, political route was impossible. Improbable. A waste of time.

But she never had to say any of that. She didn't get a chance and she wouldn't have wasted her time on that kind of inevitable argument. Lips pressed to her own with the obvious intention that Lucy had been dragging out so painfully. Apparently, she was done waiting.

So her hands applied pressure, nails digging into her skin as she used the force to take steps backwards. At least she could leave marks where no one else would ever see.

[Penelope Blaise]

A kiss was the best way to silence the thief. It was effective, and everybody won in the end. Though in part, Penny wished to keep talking of her work and how she was truly trying to make a difference, when someone so understanding look at her like she did, it was impossible not to get so caught up in the moment. Pressing her lips to the Lucy's felt almost like second nature by then.

And so suddenly, she was taking charge. Like the senator had given up her power with the pressure of nails against her skin. And in truth it was enthralling. So she moved in compliance with the way her counterpart did, backwards steps bringing them closer to the bed.

Her hands tightened on the thief's shoulders, unable to help the way her nails threatened her skin with the same kind of pressure. Though Lucy couldn't say a name, at least those marks would show she was taken. So she held on tighter, sure to make the new red lines stay for longer than the mark on her own neck.

[Lucy Serrano]

Lucy was a little surprised to be free of the door. She thought for sure that after such an impactful kiss, the senator would be so reluctant to give up the strength she had. But there it was, handed to the thief like she were the only person in the world capable of taking it. Or having it given to them.

Fingers dragged on her shoulders to the point where Lucy was sure she had pierced the skin. It was nothing more than a seething sound past her own lips for the pain, but she never denied it. She never asked it to stop or change.

At the edge of the bed, Lucy was reluctant to let her go at all. Hands had to shift upwards with the coarse nature of nails, hooking around the band at her waist before she finally made the effort to rid her of the rest of her clothes. Once she was free of it, she was working to ease her back for however long she had any kind of power to do so.

[Penelope Blaise]

The moments where Penny let go of her power were certainly rare, but she allowed herself to be moved. For the remainder of her clothes to be drawn away almost roughly. With her own impatience, she stepped out of them with haste, those harsh nails insuring that when her back hit the sheets, she would follow.

Penny was always in control, and something about relinquishing that now was as overwhelming as the person she handed it to. Though there were always moments she couldn't help but to try to manipulate to her advantage. The arch of her back pressed her more tightly against the thief, if it were impossible to at all. The unknown strength behind her nails must have broken skin by then.

"Lucy." She breathed, voice dropping a register with the lack of air backing it.

[Lucy Serrano]

Just as Lucy had no intention of leaving any distance, those hands were fast to ensure it would be so. She intently pressed her body up against her own, like the thief needed reassurance that she was wanted. Perhaps on some level, that was the whole point.

There was her own name, but it was so incredibly rare. Very few people in this world had the privilege of knowing it, let alone calling her it without resistance and without fail. She was known by that name by this person.

She didn't fight the pain that tracked her skin. She did her best not to react negatively at all. All she could do was exhale what little air she had left so harshly.

"Yes?" So she answered. Genuinely. Like she never would had almost any other person called that name.

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny likely knew more about the thief than most; at the very least, more than anyone else in this neighborhood did or ever would. She had a name. A real name. One that passed her lips so easily, despite how hard it was to speak at all. And she had answered, even while Penny had no intentions on saying anything more.

There was pleasure in just saying her name. True to form. Like there wasn't a disguise here in this room.

But she had an answer. One that was a little to dangerous, even for the bold senator. Surely it would be too much to state she had actually missed the thief, and only after a day? "Nothing." She replied instead, tilting her chin up to catch the thief's lips.

[Lucy Serrano]

For a brief moment, it looked as if there was something more elaborate planned for the follow of her own name. Very few people actively called the senator out when they had the chance, so Lucy couldn't waste hers. She wanted to know whatever could be tacked to the end of that name, and she stared at the person beneath her as if she could actually catch it.

But there was nothing. Literally the word nothing. And before she could fight her she caught her mouth.

What she offered was an instinctive groan against her lips. It was unfair to have the conversation stop just because she willed it. It was always the way with Penny, but she didn't have to be so shy of her feelings on the matter. In turn, she tracked her nails down the length of her form slowly, past the break at her waist where she barely stalled.

The second she breathed as heavily as Lucy knew she would, she finally spoke; "Tomorrow?"

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny knew how to silence the thief, though in truth Lucy Serrano could never truly be all that quiet. It was proven even by the way Penny felt her groan against her lips. Yet nothing spoke as loudly as the way she still fell into the way she was kissed, and for it, the senator considered it a win.

A single worded question only deserved a single word in response as an answer, but clever hands had made it impossible to offer even that much. Had she not broken the thief's skin yet, she certainly did with the desperate way she held on now. Relinquishing control came with a tighter grip. A more struggling breath.

Pain was just a reminder that none of this was serious, surely. Except, of course, when those hands lost the strength behind them as their trembling slowed. Where nails had made their marks, fingertips were almost gentle in their replacement. Penny nodded, breathlessly. "Tomorrow."

[Lucy Serrano]

There was never anything wrong with the pain that seared her skin just as perfectly as every useless breath. Lucy was almost sure her skin could burn under the weight of each weak attempt the usually composed senator made at a breath.

Finally, agreement caught her in the form of a single word. Lucy asked and Penny obliged, or ordered the company for another instance. And so she would turn up again tomorrow night, with a challenge likely ramped up to create a better ultimate give.

Tilting her head up, she brushed her lips against her cheek lightly. It was a great contrast, but it worked in tandem with the fingertips that breezed her skin now.

"Of course." Lucy denoted finally, before she worked to wake herself off to her side instead.

[Penelope Blaise]

Gentle contact and an agreement brushed against her cheek. It contrasted everything that was known between them, but Penny still tilted her head into the connection regardless. There was true comfort to be found in it. Just was the way Lucy lingered in her bed, like she understood that she was wanted.

The space was certainly big enough. The senator had a bed as big as her title; it was ridiculous for a single person to occupy it alone. She moved in accordance with the thief, turning her head to face Lucy as an arm wrapped around her shoulder. Legs remained tangled. If there could be space left between them, Penny insured it didn't exist.

As she paused, she looked back up to the ceiling rather than the girl beside her. Her lips pursed briefly in thought, but she didn't give herself the time to talk herself out of an otherwise decision. "Come earlier."

[Lucy Serrano]

There was a sliver of surprise for Lucy when she was actually allowed to move. Not worn to the extend she expected, she almost thought that set of hands would keep her exactly where she was. Or force her unknowingly damaged back against the sheets herself.

But she was followed instead, and the senator seemed to settle with her. Lucy's new idea was that it was nothing more than a short lived break. And evidently, there was some intent to talk. That was likely why she couldn't catch her eyes again. Her hand dared the contours of her counterpart's form, giving idle patterns to her skin with a single fingertip.

"Make it easier." Lucy countered. As far as she was concerned, the two went arm and arm.

[Penelope Blaise]

Penny wasn't known to settle. Not like this. It was why she couldn't drag her gaze away from the ceiling. It was easier to focus on a single, blank point than look over towards the thief as she requested her return to this space earlier the next day. Yet none of this was truly easy, especially when she felt the brush of a fingertip practically paint her skin.

She exhaled. Slowly. Painfully. Lucy truly knew how to make it a struggle. And so she shut her eyes. Perhaps that would do her better.

"Of course." She agreed then, but quietly. It wasn't like the senator to give in like this, and maybe it was this new brand of comfort they shared that had her like this. Yet the senator didn't let it last long. She was moving once her words settled, a palm drawing up to her shoulder as she started to move herself atop of her.

[Lucy Serrano]

In the small window of time given, Lucy almost felt her eyes grow tired. It allowed adrenalin to slowly dissipate, and with that came the pain a set of hands had inflicted on her back only minutes ago. It practically burned, but it was so good.

It was also good to just... Be there. Silence and a strange sense of solitude. It was overwhelmingly comforting.

And then it stopped. She doubted she got a minute of the newfound connection before she was being pushed back. She gave in willingly.

"Why do I doubt you?" Lucy asked her then, offering the smallest grin from the corner of her mouth. If anything, she now believed she would find a greater challenge in scaling these walls tomorrow.