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Chloe sighs tiredly as she enters her dorm room, dropping her bag by the door and going through the motions of taking her sword off her belt. Her eyes sweep the room, searching for her wayward roommate, only to find the open spaces empty except for subtle hints of her presence:
Her phone, abandoned on her bed. Her school supplies scattered across her desk, hinting that she was at least attempting to do the homework at some point. The overhead light buzzes faintly overhead.
Maybe she stepped out for a moment.
Chloe crosses the room to her bed, settling on the edge and bending forward to untie her shoes with a little groan from soreness beginning to settle into her cooling muscles. Her sweaty clothes are beginning to cool against her skin as well, making her feel gross, but she always prefers taking the trip up to her room to shower rather than the locker room. More privacy. Less she has to carry back and forth.
As Chloe gets the laces of one shoe undone and moves to the other, hands shoot out from the dark depths of under the bed, wrapping around her ankles.
Chloe shrieks in shock and fear, launching herself up and away, and then she curses, spinning on the cackling gremlin curling underneath. “Gods, damn it, Red- why?! You scared me half to death!”
Red doesn’t answer her. She’s too busy gasping for breath as she realizes she can’t laugh that hard and breathe at the same time. She feels entirely unsympathetic as her girlfriend begins to wheeze desperately for air.
“You are a menace, Red of Hearts,” Chloe accuses, shaking her head in exasperation.
“Oh, come on,” Red gasps, finally seeming to get enough air to function as she uncurls and starts wiggling out from underneath the bed, “you know this place would be unbearably boring without me.”
Chloe rolls her eyes and bends down to finish untying her shoes. “How long were you hiding under there, anyway.”
“Only about five minutes,” she says cheekily, not bothering to stand as she shifts her legs out in front of her, then folds them under her as she leans back against the edge of the bed. “Your schedule is really predictable.”
“Apparently,” Chloe says dryly, turning away and kicking off her loosened shoes. She pulls off her shirt on her way to the bathroom, dropping it in the hamper.
“Hey, uh,” Red stammers, climbing quickly to her feet, “you want some company?”
“A menace,” Chloe reiterates over her shoulder as pulls the bathroom door shut firmly behind her. If Red wanted to join her in the shower, she should have reconsidered the timing for her prank. Chloe does, after all, have a predictable schedule.
……………….
“Red, get down from there,” Chloe hisses as her girlfriend walks along the stone banister leading to the downward sloping stairs.
“Why?” Red asks, turning to look at Chloe and subsequently transitioning into walking backward on the wall with the steep drop on the other side. She casually shoves her hands deep into her pockets, creating an even further barrier of not being able to catch herself should the worst happen.
“Because you’re going to get in trouble,” Chloe says, but she doesn't look around for any teachers who might be winding by. She doesn't dare take her eyes off of her troublesome girlfriend.
“That’s not a good enough reason,” Red judges, skipping down the slope as they hit the stairs without a fear in the world.
“Because it’s dangerous,” Chloe tries next, throat squeezing in anxiety.
“That’s what makes it worth doing,” Red counters, pulling her hands from her pockets only to do a teasing cartwheel on the next, short stretch of flat wall. Chloe’s heart jolts in fear as Red wobbles the smallest of wobbles, but it has Chloe’s hands shooting out to catch her girlfriend if she ends up plummeting.
Balancing along curbs and being drawn to walk on low levelling walls is one thing, but they are fifteen feet up with hard stone under them if she falls off the wrong side.
Red corrects her little mis-balance without even a furrow of concentration or a flicker of worry, all before Chloe can reach her, and she continues stepping along the wall, unperturbed. “Then how about because you’re stressing me out and I asked you to,” Chloe says around her tightening throat.
Red’s head swings to Chloe, eyes tracing along the tension in her face with a new regard that wasn't there before.
She lets out an almost silent puff of breath and steps off the wall. She barely has to bend her knees as her feet hit the landing beside Chloe, and she reaches out to touch Chloe’s arm.
“I'm sorry,” she says, offering a lopsided smile that makes the apology genuine. Her thumb soothes over the bumps that had risen on her arm. “Guess I’m just not really used to people caring if I actually get hurt. Just that I not break the rules.”
Chloe lifts her hand and links their fingers. “I don’t know that it’s an actual rule," she admits. One might be created because of Red, though. She's already been the reason for three other rule creations this year. "No one here is crazy enough to risk their neck for no reason.”
“Their loss,” Red’s mischievous grin returns. “There are so many great places to climb to at this school. Have you ever laid out on the highest parapet and stared up at the stars?” Chloe has a feeling her answer won't be 'no' by the end of their time here.
“You really are mad,” Chloe sighs. She’s accepting it slowly. “You should join the climbing club.”
Sometimes, she swears her girlfriend is part cat. Maybe she’s related to the Cheshire Cat somewhere in her family history. She's not sure how it really works in Wonderland, but Red's great-uncle was the White Rabbit, and she has a cousin that's a lizard, so she just really doesn't know.
It wouldn’t surprise her at this point, is all she's trying to say. She wears a smile, sometimes, that Chloe can only describe as cheshire with how broad and full of trouble it is.
………………..
Chloe wakes to the soft tug of her blanket. It’s a gentle awakening in which she’s not really sure that she is conscious, or that she exists, she’s just aware of movement in her bed that doesn’t come from her.
The movement is so slow and creeping, that she doesn’t become alarmed. It’s almost as if her sleep-addled mind is half still dreaming.
Then the blankets closest to her are lifted away from her skin, but she’s not cold as warmth slides into the space it opens.
Chloe sighs as the body slowly turns and presses back against her. She lifts her arms and winds them around the warmth, tucking her hands under a loose shirt to clutch at soft stomach.
“You know you don’t have to sneak into my bed,” Chloe hums groggily.
Red wiggles back against Chloe even more in response, reaching up to tug Chloe’s other arm under her head to use as a pillow before holding Chloe’s hand to her stomach and curling her knees toward her chest to ensure it’s trapped there.
Chloe sighs again in acceptance while tugging her even closer, and pressing her nose into the top of her Wonder’s head.
………………….
Chloe is halfway through her chemistry homework when Red decides that that is entirely unacceptable. She comes to the edge of Chloe’s bed, staring down at her sprawled, productive work.
“I want attention,” she announces after several seconds of Chloe ignoring her in favor of rushing through her equations while she has the chance.
Chloe’s eyes flicker up at that, pencil pausing and eyebrows lifting. “I’m very proud of you for using your words,” she says, truly impressed with her vocalizing her desires instead of acting out until she gets what she wants. “I will give you all of my attention in a couple minutes. Just let me finish this subject and I’ll take a break.”
She returns to writing out her next math problem, and Red lets her get through half of finding the answer before crawling onto the bed and flopping across Chloe’s books. “Chloeeee,” she whines, turning and wrinkling pages, and rubbing graphite into her neat and orderly notes.
Chloe yanks her pencil out from under the other girl’s body to keep it from getting any more messed up. Then she reaches out to push her girlfriend’s body off of her books before she accidentally rips a page with all her writhing.
“Red,” Chloe groans. “Please, just a couple more minutes.”
Red twists and flops back over top of the books Chloe just shoved her off of, making Chloe huff and glare down at her. Red looks back at her, stubbornly making a nuisance of herself as she pouts. She doesn’t know why she tries. They both know that she’s going to give in. She always gives in.
Chloe sighs, making the other girl instantly brighten. “Fine,” she says needlessly, because her girlfriend is already scrambling from her books and into her arms. Without Chloe having to move, the Wonder wedges herself half underneath her on the bed. Her hands instantly find Chloe’s face and tug her down, kissing her deeply.
She mewls in surprise at the attack, but quickly melts into her. Her hand comes down on her ribs to both brace against and hold to her.
When Red finally lets her breathe, Chloe flutters a dozen kisses over her cheek and down her throat. “Needy thing,” she murmurs affectionately against her pulse.
“Need you,” Red agrees with a sigh, entirely pliant under Chloe now that she’s gotten what she wants. And it's always such an innocent, harmless thing that she always wants. Just Chloe's attention. How can she ever really say no to that?
…………………
Chloe automatically rearranges as she feels Red crawl onto the bed with her, shifting her book to one hand and opening herself up for the girl who crawls halfway into her lap and manually pulls Chloe’s arms around her like she’s manipulating a blanket rather than a person.
Chloe resettles quickly, returning her book to a comfortable place in her lap all without breaking the string of words her eyes pass over. As she turns a page, she ducks her head to brush a kiss against the side of her girlfriend’s head.
She thought they were having a sweet moment. Up until Red twists her head and bites Chloe- hard- right on the hand petting her shoulder.
Chloe yelps, yanking her arm back, and it’s like she can feel the top layer of skin coming away with her girlfriend’s teeth. “Shit! Red! What was that for?!”
Red glowers at her, twisting to grab the arm Chloe had yanked away and dragging it back around her as if offended by the retreat.
Chloe waits for her girlfriend to offer any words of explanation, but she gets none as Red goes back to resting against her as if nothing happened. She sighs, shaking her head and absently lifting her hand to card it through her girlfriend’s hair.
Red instantly twists around and bites her again, this time on the shoulder.
“Ouch!” Chloe rips herself away from the sharp, pinching pain. “Words, Red,” she snaps.
“Leave me alone,” Red growls at her in response. “Don’t touch me.”
“‘Don’t touch-’” she sputters, staring at the girl who had crawled into her lap and is still there. She shows no signs of intending to move, either. The Wonder grumbles as she drags Chloe’s arm back around her and shoves herself forcefully into her side again. “Are you seri- you’re serious. Of course you are. How am I supposed to do that, Red.”
“Stop moving,” she grunts, pushing her cheek angrily against Chloe’s chest like she’s trying to pin her there.
“You’re impossible,” Chloe tells her, and immediately has to stifle the urge of kissing her on the head again. Or squeezing her. She glances around, eyes falling on her forgotten book that she had dropped in the shock of the first bite.
It had tumbled out of her lap and now lays just out of reach. Her fingers brush the hard edge, and she huffs in frustration. She just starts to sit up when she feels teeth on her collarbone, not quite biting down but a clear warning that freezes Chloe in place.
“Can I at least grab my book?” She whines.
Red is quiet as she considers that. But eventually, she slowly removes her teeth.
“Fine,” she mutters, and Chloe quickly sits up, grabs the book, and sits back all within a second. That second was all too long though, because Red is left grumbling unhappily even after Chloe settles.
…………………
Chloe sighs happily as Red lifts their linked hands and presses a lingering kiss to her wrist. She drops her head against the other girl's, breathing in her shampoo and soaking in her warmth.
Red turns her head and presses her nose into the underside of her jaw.
“You’re missing the movie,” Chloe murmurs softly when Red’s face remains tucked away for several minutes.
“How tragic,” she hums. Chloe shivers as Red slides her hand out of hers to slip her cold fingers past the blanket and under her shirt. They are like little icicles pressed against her stomach, but she doesn’t try to guide them away. They’ll warm eventually where they are.
“It is tragic,” Chloe agrees. “This is one of my favorites.”
“I’m listening, still,” Red claims, shifting her head so that lips drag along Chloe’s throat. She makes a fluttering little trail of kisses as her fingers slowly start running back and forth over the skin under them.
“Sure you are,” she humors her readily.
Red shifts against Chloe, from half in her lap to throwing her leg to the other side of her hip. Her hands keep sliding until they slip around and up the back of Chloe’s shirt as she slumps against her in a glomping hug. It would be sweet if she didn’t immediately feel the pinch of teeth grip her shoulder.
"Red..." she warns, tensing.
Luckily, it’s one of her girlfriend’s lighter bites. More like she’s holding onto Chloe with her mouth, and it’s a warning of what could befall her if the mood struck her. The teeth just as quickly turn back into the doting caress of lips.
“Love you,” Red hums placidly.
Warmth bursts to life in Chloe’s chest- an active, live, flickering ball of heat. “I love you, too,” she murmurs pleasantly back. This time, she doesn’t jolt when the teeth return in a gentle pinch closer to the junction of her neck. A kiss immediately follows.
Chloe lets out a shaky breath as she brings her hands to fumble and rest on smooth thighs, while her girlfriend entertains herself with her weird cycle of affection and violence. It’s very distracting from the movie. It’s not enough.
Suddenly, the Wonder stops her chewing on Chloe’s neck to lean back and twist her head around. As she shifts, her hands return, splayed, to Chloe’s stomach that instinctively clenches at the touch.
“Wait, why is he mad at Todd? He was literally running for his life. It was the other dog that got himself hurt.”
“You’re actually still paying attention?” Chloe laughs a bit in breathless disbelief. Her nerves are alive in anticipation. There is a lingering sting where Red had lightly raked her nails down her back.
“I told you I was,” she huffs.
“You did,” Chloe agrees affectionately, warmth continuing to buzz through her despite Red’s unfortunate and unexpected distraction. “You just seemed a little preoccupied with marking up my neck, instead.”
Red considers her for a moment, eyes tracing over her. Her fingers lift to trail over all the places her teeth had claimed. Then she abruptly says, “I’m hungry,” and climbs off of Chloe to go picking through their snack drawer. Chloe shivers at the sudden absence of the other girl’s heat and weight.
Chloe sits back into the pillows with a slightly frustrated huff. At least, this time, Red didn’t already have her fingers inside of her when she got distracted. She tilts her head in her girlfriend’s direction. “Bring me some pretzels, please,” she requests fondly.
…………………
Chloe had thought that doing her homework at her desk, instead of the bed, might make it a little harder for Red to try distracting her. She didn’t have high hopes.
Maybe an hour in, Red grows bored of her own work, practically melting out of her chair and ending up sprawled on the floor. From there, it’s only a matter of time as she slowly rolls, and flops, and sighs across it into Chloe’s side of the room. Not that she can really claim a side when Red dominates both so entirely (And Chloe can’t find it anywhere in her to generate a desire for her to go back to the weary reservation she had in the beginning).
Soon, the Wonderland princess is directly under her chair. For a while, Red entertains herself with untying and messing with Chloe’s shoelaces. By her discontent huffs and groans, Chloe knows it’s only a matter of time before she moves on. And sure enough, shortly later, Red drags Chloe’s chair away from the desk.
Chloe doesn’t fight it, sighing softly as Red straddles her lap and flops placidly against her front. As Chloe cautiously returns to her paper, not trusting this glomping but unobtrusive reprieve, Red occupies herself with Chloe’s hair. Twirling it around her finger. Tugging on it and watching it bounce back into place. All things that aren’t so completely distracting that Chloe can’t type another paragraph. She draws the line if Red starts chewing on her hair, though.
That’s just weird.
And it's totally something she would do.
After another three websearches for references, and two paragraphs, Red sighs and leans back, finally obscuring Chloe’s computer as her lower back presses against the desk. She quickly hits save before letting her eyes settle fully on her girlfriend’s pout.
“Yes?” she asks under her girlfriend’s full attention.
Red’s hands, that have fallen to Chloe’s stomach, pluck absently at her shirt.
“I’m bored,” she groans pitifully.
“No,” Chloe says in mocking disbelief, which makes Red pout further. She lifts an eyebrow, amused more than anything. She’s used to her girlfriend’s antics by this point, and she is endlessly fond of them. She doesn't act this way around other people. She acts nothing like this around other people, but Chloe knows the privilege that it is that she gets to see it. Because she isn't anything except entirely herself with Chloe, as chaotic and aggravating of a self that sometimes is. Chloe has become proficient in handling the Wonder. It's a point of pride for her that there is nothing the girl can do to shock her anymore.
Red returns her stare for several moments. Then she sits up straight, a flash of inspiration coming over her face. “Want to have sex?”
Okay, so maybe she can still surprise Chloe, because Chloe chokes on her own saliva, and then laughs as she brings her hands around to grasp her girlfriend’s waist. “Come on, take me to bed,” Red whines, pressing against Chloe’s stomach in protest of her amusement. “Make me forget my name.”
“You tied my shoelaces together, Red,” Chloe snorts. She knew she was going to as soon as she started messing with them. “Did you forget that part? I’ll drop you on your ass if I try to stand up with you.”
“Right,” Red mumbles, eyes dropping consideringly to their laps. Then she leans over, making Chloe have to tighten her grip to keep her from spilling onto the floor, and gives a hard tug on Chloe’s shoelaces to free them. Then she sits back up and looks at Chloe pointedly. “Well?” she asks.
Chloe sighs, looking at her expectant girl, feeling so very very fond. Then she adjusts her grip and stands.
A canary eating grin immediately splits Red’s face.