Work Text:
Vi can't sleep.
This is neither new nor particularly interesting seeing as Vi hasn't had an easy night of sleep since she was still in diapers but being used to something doesn't make it enjoyable.
She lies flat in bed, arms folded behind her head, tracing the outline of water stains on the ceiling with her eyes. The only light comes in the form of a soft blue glow from her fish tank, hardly enough to pierce the darkness enshrouding her like a blanket.
It's peaceful, familiar.
She can hear Powder snoring on the opposite side of the thin wall that separates their rooms. Vi had given her the bigger one obviously. Played it off as the work of a generous older sister, an apology for being away for so long.
Truthfully, she'd grown so used to small spaces after five years in the pen that it just felt natural. Safer, than something wide open and spacious.
Vi rolls onto her side, knees tucked up to her chest. She wiggles her phone free from where it'd been digging into her hip and pulls up her texts with Caitlyn without thinking.
She squints at the cracked, too bright screen as her thumbs hover uselessly over the keyboard, trying and failing to string together anything resembling an intelligent or charming sentence.
Something close to shame rises in Vi's chest. It was the middle of the night and here she was on the verge of saying something stupid like, you up?
"Fuck me." Vi groans and tosses her phone aside. She flips onto her stomach and buries her face in the pillows, draws in deep shuddering breaths.
She's got work tomorrow.
She should sleep.
She wants to sleep, to rest if nothing else. It won't matter because she'll still be exhausted tomorrow but at least Vi could say she tried.
So Vi rolls onto her back again, drapes one arm over her eyes and start cataloguing the noises around her in hopes the monotony will put her to sleep. It was an old habit, one she'd mostly outgrown but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Besides, she'd always found repetition comforting.
The more she counts, the more obvious it becomes that sleep isn't in the cards for tonight. Or morning rather, it's well after midnight.
The only thing that keeps her from screaming is the knowledge that Powder is asleep just a wall away. Instead, she takes several ragged breaths and hauls herself into a sitting position.
Vi sits hunched over, elbows on her knees and gives herself a scant few moments to wallow in her misery.
She stands and slides on her favorite pair of crocs, snatches up her phone and keys. Half shuffles-half jogs down the hall to the kitchen where she scribbles a note on the fridge whiteboard.
out for a drive
back soon
love you
• • •
She'd picked up the habit after her release. It helped to get out, when she couldn't sleep or needed space– to think, to cool off, to just breathe sometimes.
Vi's truck was, simply put, a piece of shit.
It was nearly as old as she was, rattled alarmingly if she drove too fast and needed repairs at least twice a year but it was hers and that's all that mattered.
So she rolls down the window, cranks up the music– loud but nowhere near the deafening levels Powder preferred and starts her drive to nowhere.
It's late which means the streets are empty enough that Vi feels comfortable zoning out and letting her body move on autopilot. Some part of her acknowledges that this is reckless even for her but that part is swiftly drowned out by the rush of wind and pounding bass.
She isn't sure how much time passes, only blinking back into awareness when the truck stops moving and Vi finds she's in Caitlyn's driveway.
And Vi knows she should be disappointed or concerned even, but all she finds is a dim sense of acceptance. Of course, she went to Caitlyn. There's nowhere else to go.
She's cutting the engine and sliding out of the truck before she can think better of it. Climbing the porch steps and raising her fist to knock, doesn't get the chance before the door swings open and Caitlyn pulls her into a hug.
And she'd been surprised, way back in the beginning, to discover that Caitlyn gives good hugs. Now, Vi only tucks her face into Caitlyn's neck and murmurs, "Hey cupcake."
"Hello love."
And it's a testament to Vi's strength that her knees don't buckle right then and there but she stays upright, breathing in the familiar lavender and clean laundry scent of her girlfriend.
"You're not gonna ask why I'm here?" Vi asks when they finally separate, a generous term considering they're still close enough to share breath.
"If if was an emergency, you would've called," Caitlyn's eyes widen just a fraction, "it's not an emergency, is it?"
"No! No, I just couldn't sleep," Vi stuffs her hands into her pockets and gives a little shrug. "I wanted to see you."
Caitlyn smiles, gap toothed and radiant and Vi can feel herself falling in love all over again. "Well, we can not sleep together then." She laces her delicate, ink stained fingers with Vi's calloused and scarred ones– leads them inside.
It's a familiar song and dance.
Nudge the door shut, kick her shoes off. Let herself be tugged down the hall and up the stairs to Caitlyn's room where's she's gently shoved onto the plush canopy bed.
Caitlyn follows her down a heartbeat later and Vi is all too happy to lose herself in the kiss. They stay like that for some time, exchanging soft kisses and fleeting touches with no intent of going further.
Somewhere along the way they end up beneath the covers with legs tangled together, talking in low tones until neither can get through a sentence without yawning.
Caitlyn plants a final, sleepy kiss on the tip of Vi's nose. "Good night love."
"Night cupcake."
She rolls over so they're pressed back to chest and pulls Vi's arm over her waist. Vi shuts her eyes, lets the warmth of the blankets and her girlfriend's soft breathing lull her into a dreamless sleep.