The New Year had come and gone, and Carol rolled her shoulders as she settled into one of the guest beds at Avengers Mansion and the clock struck one. The party had gone long and hard – dinner, drinking, dancing, and one borderline out-of-control, competitive game of Disney Trivial Pursuit started by the younger adults had added up to a very memorable New Year’s Eve.
It was a good one. A happy one. She’d gotten Emmeline under the mistletoe for their midnight kiss, and hugs had been shared all around from there. They could have headed home after that, but they lingered a little longer as that paused game had finished out, and ultimately, the three of them (Kamala included) had decided to stay the night at the Mansion. They could head back home later on in the day. She thought she’d heard mention of brunch from Pepper, and if food was on offer, they’d likely linger even further into the day and enjoy the start of a brand new Vallo year.
Now, she was ready to rest and have a little while with just her wife to decompress before falling asleep. Even she was a bit worn down; most of the last two weekends had been hit or miss for sleep, with the holidays and all the festivities they entailed. She was more than ready to just flop into bed and cuddle up to Emme without worrying about what was next on the schedule.
“How exhausted are you?” she asked her wife. “Scale of one to ten. Because I think I’m bordering on an eight, for once.”
Emme chuckled softly at that. She was a mix of sleepy and buzzy all at once. Her body was tired, but her mind was still flitting about after the enjoyment of the evening. She kicked off her heels (a Christmas present from Pepper), and began taking off her jewelry to set on the nightstand while she considered the question. “Probably an eleven.” She laughed again as she unclasped her necklace. “But it was worth every second.”
“Then come to beeeed,” Carol drawled. She reached out and made dramatic grabby hands for Emme without really making a move to grab onto her. She could be patient and wait, but she wanted it clear that snuggles were ready and waiting. “Just promise me you can stay awake for five more minutes so I can get my attention fix.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Emme’s words were all warmth as she replied and moved forward enough that Carol’s grabby hands could reach her waist. She leaned down to give her wife a soft kiss, then continued. “Give me two minutes to go wash my face. Not all of us have superpowered skin.” She pressed her lips to Carol’s forehead for good measure.
“Hey, I resent that. I washed my face,” Carol replied lightly. But she smiled and accepted those kisses happily, hands still kept patiently to herself. Those would hold her over for the moment, she guessed. “Don’t leave me waiting long, Mrs. Danvers-Vance.”
“I’ll consider it.” Emmeline winked, then quickly slipped off to the bathroom to clean herself up before bed.
When she returned, her face was scrubbed clean and her long hair was wrapped up in a loose knot on the top of her head. “Have you managed to hold on through the hardships of a few attention free minutes?”
“It was a close call.” Carol threw a hand dramatically over her forehead, where she was propped up by a couple of pillows, leaning against the headboard. “I might just wither away if you don’t get over here and kiss me again.”
“We can’t have that, can we?”
Emme slipped silently across the room and perched on the edge of the bed where Carol was currently laying down. She could have just climbed into the bed alongside her of course, but it was always more fun when her wife got the chance to pull her in instead.
She leaned down over Carol, their lips hovering over one another for a loaded pause, then Emme switched directions and began pressing kisses along the curve of Carol’s throat instead.
Pull her in Carol did, hands gripping her waist to pull her in closer. She even got a little hitched breath of surprise when she changed course and went for her neck instead of the expected lips. Her hair didn’t stand a chance; Carol raised a hand and pulled it free again, letting waves of dark fall free again, the elastic sliding around her wrist instead.
“Mmm, happy New Year to me,” she hummed, voice low in that way it got in situations like these. “You’re sneaky.”
Emmeline hummed soft laughter with her lips still pressed to Carol’s neck. She kissed the skin there once more for good measure before she raised herself up enough that they could look one another in the eye again. “Well someone has to keep you on your toes.” She moved a hand up to gently brush her thumb across Carol’s cheek. “Happy New Year, love.”
“Happy New Year, baby,” Carol murmured, leaning into that caress against her skin. She could stay comfortably like this for a very long time. She’d enjoyed the party, being surrounded by their friends and family, but she honestly would have been just as happy at home with Emme and Kamala. But at least she had this little pocket of time before Emme succumbed to that eleven to enjoy time with her wife alone.
“Any resolutions this year?”
Lost in the quiet warmth of the moment, Emme didn’t answer straightaway. She just looked down at Carol, her hand still resting lightly against her wife’s cheek.
“It’s cliche, but just…taking better care of myself this year. Across all fronts. Not working so much, communicating better, not eating an entire cheesecake by myself when I’m upset about something.” The last one was said with a hint of humor.
“I eat entire cheesecakes myself when I’m not upset. At least you have a reason,” Carol joked softly, playing into the humor with a bit of her own.
Truthfully, this year had brought Emme plenty of reasons to fall into emotional eating, and Carol couldn’t blame her. Sometimes it was hard to cope with the way Vallo functioned, with how it dropped people without warning or care. She knew it wasn’t wise to attribute any kind of sentience to Vallo itself, but it was hard not to. And there was really no proof one way or another.
“That’s a good one, though. I’m so bad at keeping mine, but.” She stroked her fingers through Emme’s hair until they slipped free and traced circles across her back. “If I can just take better care of you and stick to the therapy thing, I think that suffices.”
In a word, Vallo was chaotic. It had been for the entire two years that Emmeline had lived there. For someone who craved order as much as she did, it could be complicated. She’d often let herself get stretched too thin in one way or another just to try and create some semblance of balance. If therapy had taught her anything, though, it was that continuing to do so would be disastrous for everyone involved.
Emme nudged Carol over so that she could properly slip into the bed beside her. It did come with the risk that she’d fall asleep much more quickly, but it also meant that she could curl up against Carol’s warmth. “We can both keep each other on track with our resolutions this year.”
Carol shifted to accommodate Emmeline easily, kicking the blankets up from the bottom of the bed to pull them up and tuck them around her. It was simple enough from there to pull her into her side, turning her head to press a kiss to her forehead.
“Good idea,” she agreed softly. “Teamwork makes the dream work, right?” That was followed by a grin pressed into Emme’s hair and a soft squeeze. “You and me, always, Vance.”
“That’s Danvers-Vance, thank you.” Emme murmured sleepily as she nestled comfortably in her favorite spot against Carol’s side. She slipped her arm around Carol’s waist and gave her wife a gentle squeeze in return. “You and me.”