Who: Vanessa Cleveland and Yang Xiao Long What: Mistletoe When: During December Where: An ice skating rink Rating/Warnings: There's kissing in here! Status: Complete when posted
With the Depression(™) rising, Yang knew she needed to get in front of it and force herself to go out. She hadn’t really been in a partying mood since, well, she’d dreamed about losing her arm, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t know how to have fun. Even if in this case, having fun meant an icerink and flailing around on it. She was suddenly glad she’d worn her atlas-tech prosthetic. It was easier to catch her balance and honestly she was more graceful than this really.
***
Vanessa had needed a break from her apartment and her studying and when she’d gotten a text from one of her foster brothers asking if she wanted to go iceskating - she’d jumped at the opportunity. While on one hand she had put a little distance between herself and her foster family, trying to balance it with the distance living on the opposite side of the country forced between her and her biological family, she missed them. And iceskating was a fun way to catch up and spend time together without it being a huge deal.
He’d gone to get them both some cocoa while Vanessa changed into her skates, waiting for him on one of the benches around the rink and just watching the people. She saw a few people she recognized, from campus and from the network and she waved at people she knew before her gaze fell on a blonde woman who seemed to be having trouble keeping her balance nearby. She looked over at the concession area and decided she had a few minutes to go help this girl out before her brother came back. Plus it would help her warm up more than just sitting on the bench and she hadn’t been skating in a while.
She wasn’t anywhere near a master but she could managed to stay on her feet long enough to get over there to the other woman. “You okay?” Now that she was closer she recognized her as somebody she’d seen on the Network although Vanessa couldn’t remember if they’d actually talked before today.
***
“Yeah, mostly!” Yang said, a little cheerfully. “I’m just a little top heavy, so that doesn’t help.” She skated over, a little less wobbly as she got used to it. “I’m like the opposite of graceful today.”
***
Vanessa reached out to grab onto the wall while they talked to guarantee that her legs stayed under her. “I don’t think a lot of people are super graceful out here. Professional skaters make it look a lot easier than it really is.” And she loved watching them because they did make it look so pretty and easy to do. “I’m Vanessa by the way. I think I’ve seen you on the Network? Or possibly on campus if you go to Irvine?”
*** “I’m Yang,” she said, offering her hand to Vanessa and hoping she wouldn’t flinch from it. Some people got weird like that, and she tried to not blame them but it was hard some times.
“I go to UCI, you a student too?” ***
“Nice to meet you Yang,” Vanessa reaching out to shake Yang’s hand when it was offered without any reaction to the fact that it was prosthetic. It wasn’t that she didn’t notice. It just didn’t matter to her.
“I’m in the psychology department there. Mostly.”
***
“I’m studying for social work,” Yang said. “Just general stuff right now, I don’t know what I actually wanna do yet. I wanna help people.” she’d just been doing general education while on the karate team before losing her arm, so that had hastened her figuring out what to do.
She still had her hand on Vanessa’s when a little jingle played over her head. She pulled Vanessa against her buff and well-endowed form and gave her an intense kiss. ***
“I want to help kids. Either as a social worker, and my advisor told me the degree would help with that, or go on and get a license to practice and work with kids that way.” There were reasons why Vanessa wanted to focus in on kids but she wasn’t willing to get into that right now.
She wobbled a little bit when Yang pulled her close but that was partly because something was pushing for her to get close to the other girl faster. Vanessa wrapped an arm around her as she kissed her back, vaguely aware of someone whistling off to the side. Knowing her brother it was probably him.
***
It had been a long time since she’d kissed someone. Evie, before they broke up. Well, Yang had done the breaking off, knowing she couldn’t give Evie what she needed while she pined after Blake, but she’d really, really missed kissing and intimacy.
Whether or not the mistletoe was gone, she wasn’t inclined to stop just yet.
***
Vanessa wasn’t in any rush to pull away or stop this kiss. It was nice to just not have to worry about what this meant or what was going on here like she had to with Penny at times. Just to enjoy kissing someone. And living with a telepath it wasn’t like she’d be able to keep him from finding out about this anyway because it would be in her thoughts. So - she might as well give herself something to think about.
***
Yang moaned a little, as the kiss came to a natural end. She pulled her head away, blinking as sense returned to her. “Uh…”
Should she apologize? She didn’t want to apologize, but she didn’t know if that was a ‘getting slapped’ kind of moment or not.
***
Vanessa knew she had to be blushing as the kiss came to an end but she decided not to make a big deal out of it. She smiled at the other woman, a little flustered as she cautiously moved away. “I guess in the long run that’s one of the more interesting bouts of weirdness that can be thrown at people right? I’d heard about it happening to other people in the past but this was a first for me.” It had happened and there was nothing that could be done about it now right?
***
“First for me too.” Yang rubbed the back of her neck, face flushed and just a little on the embarrassed side. “So you’re not mad?”
***
Vanessa gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “No. Not at you. If my brother was the whistler though...Entirely different story with him.” She said, turning to look in the direction the whistle had come from and sighing when she saw her brother there with his phone out as if recording it. “I wish I could claim he doesn’t always do this or is an idiot teenager or something that would make his behavior less obnoxious but he’s actually older than I am.” She said looking back at Yang and rolling her eyes as she shook her head.
***
“That’s good.” Yang rolled her shoulders, looking generally more relieved. “Want me to go punch him? I’m good at punching.” Or did she want to get a drink? Yang decided that would be weird to ask.
***
“If he tries to cause any trouble for us I’ll just tell mom where in the house he’s hiding his cigarettes. She has a strict no smoking in the house rule.” Vanessa said, making sure to speak loud enough that he could hear her. “Do you want to hang out? Since we’re both here and well get to know each other more?”
***
“Uhm…. sure!” Yang squared her shoulders, giving Vanessa a brilliant grin. “We could get some drinks? I’m always partial to strawberry sunshines.”
She liked making friends, and if she was honest to herself, she’d be down for getting some stress out with just about anyone right now.
***
“And we even have our own personal waiter to get them for us,” Vanessa said grinning back at her as she waved her brother over to them. “And he’s starting off by bringing us cocoa!” She said snagging both cups from him before turning to see if Yang needed help getting off the ice.
***
Yang was able to get off the ice just fine, and grinned at Vanessa. Cocoa was a good start, and she just hoped she didn’t end up with her foot in her mouth.