[Fic] All that Matters
Title: All That Matters
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Fem!Spain/Fem!Romano
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy.
Note: Written for tomatopride for the Spamano Valentine's Day exchange on Tumblr.
Lovina awoke to the sound of wind rattling against the window. Though she was awake, her right arm was not. It was tingling and numb, and when she looked over to the other side of the bed she saw why. Antonia, still sound asleep, was wrapped around her arm, clinging to it. Lovina’s hand was under Antonia’s head, trapped between her tousled hair and a pillow that was slowly gathering a puddle of drool.
“Ugh.” Lovina shifted and tried to pull her arm away from Antonia, who just clung harder and mumbled something incomprehensible.
“Let go, Antonia.”
“Mgh.”
“That’s my arm. Use your own.”
When Lovina pulled away once more, Antonia finally relented and rolled over, taking Lovina’s pillow with her instead. Hair stuck to Antonia’s face and neck in sweaty tufts of curls and Lovina leaned over to brush it away for her. “You’re so sloppy.” She ignored the fact that she was probably in a similar state. Antonia wasn’t really awake enough to argue.
“M’cold,” Antonia mumbled back.
“That’s because you kicked all the blankets off the bed again.”
Antonia just snored in response and Lovina quickly pecked her on the cheek before getting up and tossing all the blankets back over her. Antonia must have completely fallen back asleep, because she didn’t make a peep while Lovina tucked in the blankets around her.
---
Lovina watched as Antonia meandered into the kitchen a little after 9:00 am. She rubbed her eyes, smearing mascara that she'd (yet again) forgotten to take off before going to bed the night before, and made a beeline for the large calendar hung up next to their fridge. Lovina sipped her coffee as Antonia yawned and cross off the previous day, just like she'd done every morning since they'd moved in together. She'd done it every morning before they moved in together, actually, but now instead of going to make herself some coffee after she was done with the calendar, Antonia grinned over at Lovina and poured the still hot coffee Lovina had already prepared.
"Your mug is chipped," Lovina said. Antonia looked the bright red mug over and clicked her tongue when she noticed that, yes, there was indeed a chip in the side, right over the white letters that read THE BOSS.
"At least it's not chipped on the top." Antonia drank from the mug and grabbed an orange off the counter. She gestured with it toward Lovina, who shook her head. Antonia shrugged and sat down across from Lovina to eat her breakfast.
"You eat without me?" Antonia pouted and almost looked offended, as if Lovina eating without her was some sort of betrayal.
Lovina rolled her eyes, which just made Antonia pout even more. "No. I was going to make toast, but somebody used up all our bread again."
"It's grocery day," Antonia pointed out. "We're out of milk too."
"Because you dropped the last carton."
"And you ate the last of the rice." Antonia looked up at the ceiling, contemplating what else they would have to pick up at the store that week. Lovina's gaze fixed on her bottom lip, which was currently tucked in under Antonia's teeth as she thought. She bit her lip a lot, Lovina had noticed, and not just when she was thinking.
She was glad the thoughts that filled her mind after that didn't lead to any redness in her cheeks. There was a point in her life where they definitely would have.
"Eggs," she said to Antonia, who was still apparently trying to figure out what they needed without actually looking in the fridge or cupboard. "And sausage, if you still want lasagne tonight."
"We don't have any ricotta either."
Lovina nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence while the two of them finished with their coffee.
---
Lovina exited the bathroom after showering to find a hilarious sight. Antonia was standing near their bed, hand stretched out behind her back and uselessly clutching at the zipper on the back of her dress. It was caught on the fabric around the zipper, and Antonia was bouncing around, up and down, back and forth, wrestling with the zipper that just wouldn't budge no matter what she did. Lovina actually had no idea what she was expecting all the bouncing was going to accomplish, but she certainly wasn't going to complain when Antonia turned around and her breasts bounced a bit as well in time with her movements.
Antonia noticed Lovina watching her just before all her insane movements caused her to slip over something on the floor and topple over onto the bed.
"Lovi!" she whined. "I need help with this."
"I noticed." Adjusting her towel around herself, Lovina walked over to Antonia, who remained face down in the unmade bedsheets, and carefully started untangling Antonia's zipper. "You know the zipper always sticks, idiot, you should have just waited until I got out of the shower. You're going to rip this damn thing one of these days."
"I thought it was going to work this time."
Once Lovina had successfully pulled the zipper up and inspected the garment for any snags caused by Antonia's antics, she went over to their dresser to start getting dressed herself. She felt eyes on her as she dropped her towel and started slipping into a pair of dark pink panties, and contemplated just ignoring Antonia, but where was the fun in that? "I don't watch you get dressed, pervert."
"You do."
Lovina didn't argue back right away, too busy trying to concentrate on fiddling with the clasps on her bra. "I do no- what are you doing?"
"This one always gives you trouble." Antonia's nails ghosted over the skin just under Lovina's breasts when she took over doing up the bra for Lovina and Lovina flicked her right between the eyes.
She held back a laugh when Antonia recoiled in a fashion that was really far more dramatic than it needed to be. "It does not. You just wanted to come stare at my breasts some more."
"They are pretty great." Antonia never argued when Lovina accused her of eyeing her naked body. Mostly because Lovina's accusations were always entirely founded. "I could write a thousand poems dedicated to each one, they are way too pretty."
"Just a thousand?"
"Each. Two thousand."
"I doubt you could even write one."
Antonia apparently took that as a challenge. "How do I love Lovina's breasts, let me count the ways."
"You didn't write that."
She tried again. "Lovi's breasts are the very best. In my hands they like to rest."
"Do not. Is this seriously the best you can do."
"I like to see them in a vest, I like to see them both undressed."
Lovina ignored her while she pulled on some pants and went to the closet to find a blouse.
"They are so pretty. They're not itty bitty. I like to kiss them. When they're gone I miss them."
"You are fucking insane." Lovina picked out a yellow top she wasn't sure actually belonged to her and came back into the room to find Antonia still prattling on.
"I'd never want to see them hurt."
"I should hope not."
Antonia's eyes lit up when she saw what Lovina was wearing. "I love it when they're in my shirt."
It didn't belong to her then. "Will you stop it. I'm not taking you to the store with me while you're writing bad poems about my tits."
"Aw, so mean to me." She did stop with her silly rhymes, though. At least for the time being.
---
Antonia tossed a bag of grapes into Lovina's shopping cart and Lovina sighed when she noticed half the shit in the cart wasn't actually on their list. "Can you at least get what we came here for if you're going to grab every single thing that catches your eye?"
Antonia paused, hands wrapped around a box of lemon cookies. "These are your favourite though."
"That's not the point. Put them in and then go get eggs and milk."
Antonia did as she was told, stacking the cookies neatly with a few boxes of crackers and pasta. "Okay, I'll be right back!"
"Just eggs and milk. And the ricotta. I'm getting bread."
"Yes ma'am." Antonia mock saluted and marched off to the refrigerated section of the store. Once she was out of sight, Lovina grabbed a second box of cookies before going over to the bread aisle.
When Antonia found Lovina again, she was carrying only the items she'd been sent to find this time. Lovina was looking over two different kinds of sausage behind the meat counter. "Don't you always get that one?" Antonia asked, pointing to the one on the right.
"It wasn't as good last time," she replied.
"Then get the other one."
"I don't know how that one will taste."
"Then get the usual one."
Lovina gave Antonia a look before giving up and just ordering a bit of both.
When they were done, the cart was far more full than they'd intended it to be. Antonia grabbed a candy bar while they were waiting in line, but Lovina didn't say anything since she also picked up a magazine Lovina had had her eye on. It was Antonia's turn to pay anyway.
---
"If you break one more damn noodle, I swear to god I am kicking you out of the kitchen, Antonia."
Antonia laughed and gave Lovina a sheepish look. "Sorry, sorry! How about you do the noodles and I'll put the sauce on."
"Just don't slop it everywhere this time." Lovina finished stirring the meat sauce and took the lasagne noodles from Antonia. She expertly laid down a layer of noodles, not tearing a single one, and then supervised while Antonia spread the thick, tomato-heavy sauce over them.
"You're using too much, there's not going to be enough for the other layers."
"Then we'll just have more cheese layers!" Antonia scooped some of the sauce back into the pot when Lovina scowled at her and then patiently waited while Lovina prepared the next layer of noodles.
"Now you're using too much ricotta." Antonia shrugged and snuck a fingerful of the cheese once she was done with that layer of the dish.
"It's just so tasty," she said.
"This is why we're always out of shit, you know."
Once they had successfully prepared the lasagne and Antonia had dumped way too much mozzarella onto the top, they sat back with a glass of wine while it cooked.
"I love Saturdays." Antonia sighed happily and leaned back in her chair. The further from the floor the front legs rose, but more Lovina was filled with apprehension at the thought of Antonia tipping over.
"You're going to break my new wine glasses, knock that off." Antonia, naturally, did not obey her, but she did lean forward just a tad. "And you like any day you don't have to work."
"So do you."
"Hanging around you all day is work enough for me."
Antonia laughed and the chair beneath her shook. Lovina was fully prepared for disaster and her hand shot out to grab Antonia's arm (to protect the wine glass, of course), but all that happened was Antonia leaning forward and safely returning her chair to the tiled floor. She blinked at the hand on her wrist and Lovina unwrapped her fingers from around, flushing slightly in embarrassment.
"Aw, you want to hold hands?" Before Lovina could argue to the contrary, Antonia's fingers were entwining with hers and Antonia was rubbing her thumb over the back of Lovina's hand. "I have such a sweet girlfriend."
"Lucky you."
"Don't you have a sweet girlfriend too?"
"I'm sure I've got one somewhere around here, but I'm not sure where I've left her."
Antonia whined, as she always did at statements like this, but Lovina knew she'd stopped actually being offended long ago, if she ever legitimately was in the first place. "Not sure where I left mine either, only one here right now is my very, very mean girlfriend."
"Long as the sweet one doesn't come and try to eat my dinner, I'm fine with this."
Antonia smiled and Lovina's lips twitched upwards in response, but then the moment was ruined when the timer dinged and Lovina shot up to go get their finished dinner.
---
Since Antonia had so kindly offered to do the dishes after Lovina unceremoniously dumped them all into the sink after dinner, Lovina decided she might as well do a load of laundry while Antonia scrubbed away in the kitchen. “I’m in a good mood after that amazing lasagna I made,” she explained to Antonia when she came upstairs to find her exiting the laundry room, smelling faintly of the detergent she’d managed to spill all over her hands.
“So lucky for me you’re in a good mood for once.”
“Stop being a cheeky bitch.”
“Mm.” Antonia wrapped her arms around Lovina’s waist and buried her nose in her shoulder. “Did you get different laundry soap to spill all over the place? You smell nice.”
“I always smell nice.” Lovina pressed her knuckles into Antonia’s side in the most half-assed punch possible. Antonia clearly didn’t even take it as a punch because she made a low noise of contentment in the back of her throat.
“Going to give me a massage? You really are in a good mood. That must have been a magical dinner we made.” Another “punch” from Lovina and Antonia pulled back to head into their room, dragging Lovina behind her.
“I’m not giving you a massage.”
“Not even if I give you one too?” Antonia turned around and pulled her hair back, revealing the pesky zipper on the back of her dress to Lovina. “Unzip me?”
“You’re learning.”
The zipper was down in no time, since Lovina rarely had the same problems with it that Antonia seemed to have, but Antonia took her time slipping the dress off-- over her shoulders, then her breasts (which were not covered by a bra, Lovina noted). She looked right at Lovina as the fabric slid over her stomach and hips, before ultimately falling to the floor.
“Fine,” Lovina muttered. “If I get a massage too.”
“Of course, dear.” Antonia sprawled out over the bed, wiggling her butt a little as she got into a comfortable position.
The wiggling stopped when Lovina sat down on her and started pressing her fingers into the lightly freckled skin of Antonia’s upper back. Her hair tickled at Lovina’s hands when Antonia shifted her head to the side, and Lovina slowly brushed it out of the way, lingering for a moment on the base of Antonia’s neck.
“Don’t move around so much,” she said, her voice low and warm despite the fact that she was giving Antonia an order. “Makes this easier if you stay still.”
Antonia didn’t respond, just closed her eyes as Lovina continued working her way down her spine. She let out a sharp breath when something near the small of her back popped under the light pressure Lovina was applying. “Ah, that felt so good.” Another pop. “You’re the best, Lovi.”
“Damn right I am.” Lovina’s hands continued moving over Antonia’s skin, up to her shoulders, along her sides, down to the base of her spine and lower, just over where Lovina sat perched on her thighs. To Antonia’s pleasant surprise, a pair of lips joined the party and she felt a kiss being pressed against her shoulder blade, right where she knew an old, faded scar marred her tanned skin.
“I don’t think that’s how you give a massage, baby.”
“The fuck would you know?” With one last press of her knuckles, Lovina rolled off Antonia. Antonia turned her head and opened her eyes to watch as Lovina unbuttoned her borrowed blouse. She didn’t make a show of it as Antonia did, but she enjoyed the way the yellow fabric quickly slid off Lovina’s arms anyway. She sat up before Lovina could unbutton her pants and took over that task for her. She leaned up, kissed a bit of skin peeking out of Lovina’s bra as she did so, and whispered, “I love to give them all my kisses, Lovi’s girls grant all my wishes,” against Lovina’s skin.
Lovina snorted with laughter. “I am pretty sure they’re not genies.”
“They might be.”
“Stop rubbing my tits, Antonia. You are so- hey!”
Antonia’s fingers had moved lower, and instead of rubbing across the silky pink bra covering Lovina’s chests, she was quickly moving them over the bare skin of Lovina’s stomach. Lovina laughed as she wriggled and squirmed, trying to get away from Antonia, but her pants were still around her ankles and no matter which way she went, Antonia and her damned fingers went right along with her.
“You’re supposed,” more giggles escaped her lips, “to be giving me a massage!”
“You mean this isn’t a massage?” Antonia poked at Lovina’s sides and then nudged her toward the bed. “Silly me.”
“You are such a dick.” Lovina gladly sat down on their bed and removed the pants that were still tangled all around her feet. “After all I do for you.”
“Okay, okay.” Antonia sat behind Lovina and, after finally removing her bra, started kneading her hands over her shoulders. There were far more knots in the muscles of Lovina’s back than in Antonia’s, and her shoulders cricked and popped beneath Antonia’s skilled fingers.
“You clearly don’t do this enough,” Lovina said. She tipped her head to the side, allowing Antonia to rub her thumb over the tender muscle between Lovina’s neck and shoulder.
“I don’t.” Antonia kissed the back of Lovina’s head. “Good thing you showed me how to properly give a massage.”
“Good thing I did.” Lovina hissed when Antonia ran her hands over a particularly sore muscle, but any discomfort quickly subsided after a few moments of Antonia’s ministrations.
---
“Scoot over.”
Antonia lifted up the edge of the blanket and moved over on the bed, allowing Lovina to climb in next to her with the two bowls of gelato she’d brought up to their room. “What kind did you bring?”
“Strawberry.” Lovina eyed both bowls for a moment before handing one over to Antonia.
“I’m pretty sure you put the same amount in both of them, silly.”
“Pretty sure this one has more. And it’s all mine.”
Antonia dipped her spoon into Lovina’s bowl and quickly shoved the bite into her mouth before Lovina could stop her. The scandalised look Lovina gave her nearly caused her to spit the gelato out when she was overcome with laughter, however. “Now they’re the same,” she finally said, grinning brightly at Lovina’s scowling face.
Lovina leaned over with her spoon, meaning to steal a bite of Antonia’s dessert in retaliation, but Antonia figured she would do that and quickly moved her bowl out of the way. “Uh-uh, I was only making it fair!”
“You said it was already fair!”
“Maybe I lied.”
“I put the same amount in both of them.”
“I thought you said you got more?”
“I did.”
“But you just sai-“
Lovina’s mouth tasted like strawberries, obviously, but her lips tasted like the lip balm she always wore. Antonia had no idea what it was supposed to taste like, and it didn’t really taste good or bad or like anything she could put her finger on, but whenever she kissed Lovina the taste was there and it’d become just as familiar as everything else about her girlfriend. Lovina’s hand ran through Antonia’s hair, down over her cheek, along the line of her jaw, then over toward her… bowl of gelato.
Before Antonia could gather herself and react, Lovina had picked her spoon back up and stolen a bite that was at least three times bigger than the one Antonia had stolen.
“Hah,” Lovina said through the mouthful. “I win.”
“You fight dirty.” Antonia pouted at her and scooted away, holding her bowl closer to herself to avoid anymore thievery.
“You like it.” Lovina inched her spoon over toward Antonia, who nearly fell off the bed trying to retreat. “I’m just fucking with you, chill out.” She put the spoon in her own bowl and took a bite. “If you fall over and spill that on my carpet, I am banning you from eating in bed ever again.”
“I thought I was already banned after I spilled wine all over the carpet?”
“You were. But I unbanned you since you cleaned it up so nicely.”
“And did all the dishes and laundry for two months.”
“That too.”
“And then you got whipped cream all over your favourite sheets and said you weren’t going to ban yourself from eating in bed so you might as well let me do it again.”
“The point is I am going to re-ban you if you don’t get off the edge of the bed. You’re going to spill something.”
Antonia swung the arm not holding her gelato out as she dangled precariously over the edge of the bed. “Oh no, Lovi, I’m going to fall!”
Lovina grabbed Antonia’s elbow and tried to tug her closer to the middle of the bed. “Knock it off, you’re seriously going to make a mess.”
“Help me, I don’t know how I could possibly avoid falling off the bed and spilling this all over your nice carpet!”
She stopped her theatrics as soon as Lovina just took the bowl of gelato from her.
“Aw, you’re no fun.” She quickly moved over, got the covers back in order, and reclaimed her now half-melted gelato.
---
After a few more minor incidents, one involving Antonia attempting to balance the emptied bowls atop her head while she took them back downstairs, Lovina and Antonia finally settled down to go to bed.
“What if we woke up and tomorrow were Saturday too?”
Or not.
Lovina looked over at the clock. 12:07 am. “It’s already Sunday.”
“But how can you be so sure?”
“We’re not stuck in a loop of Saturdays. You have to go to work on Monday.”
“I could call in sick.”
“You called in sick last Monday.”
Antonia rolled over and buried her face in Lovina’s hair. “Mm. But I was sick. Nurse Lovina had to take care of me and everything.”
Lovina’s arm was now stuck between her side and Antonia’s stomach, so she did the only logical thing there was to do and lifted it up to wrap around Antonia. She really hated it when her arm fell asleep. “Well Nurse Lovina still hasn’t cleaned that outfit of hers and has to actually go work on Monday.”
“Good thing,” Antonia cut herself off with a yawn. “It’s Saturday then.”
“It’s Sunday.”
Antonia fake-coughed and the sound turned into a giggle when Lovina shoved her face away. “I don’t think that’s how you care for sick people.”
“Not sick. Go to sleep.”
“We left our clothes all over the floor.”
“I realised this, yes.”
“We didn’t get strawberries at the store today. Should have got some strawberries.”
“Too bad, stores aren’t open tomorrow. Today.”
“We could go pick some.”
“We don’t have any strawberry plants.”
“Let’s get one. The tomato plants need friends.”
Lovina hummed and carded her fingers through Antonia’s hair. “It’s too late to start growing strawberries. Maybe next summer.”
Antonia, ever the wriggler, bumped her knees against Lovina’s legs as she shifted around beneath the covers, yawning all the while. “Maybe.”
“Just go to sleep already.”
“You first.”
“No. Then you stare at me.”
“You do it too.”
“Do not.”
“Do.”
“Sleep. Fucking hell.”
Antonia laughed and nuzzled her nose against Lovina’s neck. “You stare at me, and tuck me back in when I kick the covers off, and give me cute little Lovi kisses. I know it.”
“You don’t know anything. You’re delusional and sleep deprived.”
“’M not,” Antonia whispered.
“Goodnight, Antonia.” She turned her head to kiss Antonia goodnight, just a light peck since Antonia was nearly asleep anyway.
“Told you you give me cute little kisses.” Her eyes were closed, but Lovina could almost hear the smile on Antonia’s face.
“You’re still awake. It doesn’t count.”
“Nope. I’m asleep.” Antonia finally stopped moving around, after resting her legs up over Lovina’s. “Goodnight.”
Lovina would have argued that no, Antonia was not asleep, since she was still talking to her, but the soft, even breaths next to her ear let her know that Antonia had indeed fallen asleep. With just one last glance (to make sure she was actually asleep, of course), Lovina drifted off as well.
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Fem!Spain/Fem!Romano
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy.
Note: Written for tomatopride for the Spamano Valentine's Day exchange on Tumblr.
Lovina awoke to the sound of wind rattling against the window. Though she was awake, her right arm was not. It was tingling and numb, and when she looked over to the other side of the bed she saw why. Antonia, still sound asleep, was wrapped around her arm, clinging to it. Lovina’s hand was under Antonia’s head, trapped between her tousled hair and a pillow that was slowly gathering a puddle of drool.
“Ugh.” Lovina shifted and tried to pull her arm away from Antonia, who just clung harder and mumbled something incomprehensible.
“Let go, Antonia.”
“Mgh.”
“That’s my arm. Use your own.”
When Lovina pulled away once more, Antonia finally relented and rolled over, taking Lovina’s pillow with her instead. Hair stuck to Antonia’s face and neck in sweaty tufts of curls and Lovina leaned over to brush it away for her. “You’re so sloppy.” She ignored the fact that she was probably in a similar state. Antonia wasn’t really awake enough to argue.
“M’cold,” Antonia mumbled back.
“That’s because you kicked all the blankets off the bed again.”
Antonia just snored in response and Lovina quickly pecked her on the cheek before getting up and tossing all the blankets back over her. Antonia must have completely fallen back asleep, because she didn’t make a peep while Lovina tucked in the blankets around her.
---
Lovina watched as Antonia meandered into the kitchen a little after 9:00 am. She rubbed her eyes, smearing mascara that she'd (yet again) forgotten to take off before going to bed the night before, and made a beeline for the large calendar hung up next to their fridge. Lovina sipped her coffee as Antonia yawned and cross off the previous day, just like she'd done every morning since they'd moved in together. She'd done it every morning before they moved in together, actually, but now instead of going to make herself some coffee after she was done with the calendar, Antonia grinned over at Lovina and poured the still hot coffee Lovina had already prepared.
"Your mug is chipped," Lovina said. Antonia looked the bright red mug over and clicked her tongue when she noticed that, yes, there was indeed a chip in the side, right over the white letters that read THE BOSS.
"At least it's not chipped on the top." Antonia drank from the mug and grabbed an orange off the counter. She gestured with it toward Lovina, who shook her head. Antonia shrugged and sat down across from Lovina to eat her breakfast.
"You eat without me?" Antonia pouted and almost looked offended, as if Lovina eating without her was some sort of betrayal.
Lovina rolled her eyes, which just made Antonia pout even more. "No. I was going to make toast, but somebody used up all our bread again."
"It's grocery day," Antonia pointed out. "We're out of milk too."
"Because you dropped the last carton."
"And you ate the last of the rice." Antonia looked up at the ceiling, contemplating what else they would have to pick up at the store that week. Lovina's gaze fixed on her bottom lip, which was currently tucked in under Antonia's teeth as she thought. She bit her lip a lot, Lovina had noticed, and not just when she was thinking.
She was glad the thoughts that filled her mind after that didn't lead to any redness in her cheeks. There was a point in her life where they definitely would have.
"Eggs," she said to Antonia, who was still apparently trying to figure out what they needed without actually looking in the fridge or cupboard. "And sausage, if you still want lasagne tonight."
"We don't have any ricotta either."
Lovina nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence while the two of them finished with their coffee.
---
Lovina exited the bathroom after showering to find a hilarious sight. Antonia was standing near their bed, hand stretched out behind her back and uselessly clutching at the zipper on the back of her dress. It was caught on the fabric around the zipper, and Antonia was bouncing around, up and down, back and forth, wrestling with the zipper that just wouldn't budge no matter what she did. Lovina actually had no idea what she was expecting all the bouncing was going to accomplish, but she certainly wasn't going to complain when Antonia turned around and her breasts bounced a bit as well in time with her movements.
Antonia noticed Lovina watching her just before all her insane movements caused her to slip over something on the floor and topple over onto the bed.
"Lovi!" she whined. "I need help with this."
"I noticed." Adjusting her towel around herself, Lovina walked over to Antonia, who remained face down in the unmade bedsheets, and carefully started untangling Antonia's zipper. "You know the zipper always sticks, idiot, you should have just waited until I got out of the shower. You're going to rip this damn thing one of these days."
"I thought it was going to work this time."
Once Lovina had successfully pulled the zipper up and inspected the garment for any snags caused by Antonia's antics, she went over to their dresser to start getting dressed herself. She felt eyes on her as she dropped her towel and started slipping into a pair of dark pink panties, and contemplated just ignoring Antonia, but where was the fun in that? "I don't watch you get dressed, pervert."
"You do."
Lovina didn't argue back right away, too busy trying to concentrate on fiddling with the clasps on her bra. "I do no- what are you doing?"
"This one always gives you trouble." Antonia's nails ghosted over the skin just under Lovina's breasts when she took over doing up the bra for Lovina and Lovina flicked her right between the eyes.
She held back a laugh when Antonia recoiled in a fashion that was really far more dramatic than it needed to be. "It does not. You just wanted to come stare at my breasts some more."
"They are pretty great." Antonia never argued when Lovina accused her of eyeing her naked body. Mostly because Lovina's accusations were always entirely founded. "I could write a thousand poems dedicated to each one, they are way too pretty."
"Just a thousand?"
"Each. Two thousand."
"I doubt you could even write one."
Antonia apparently took that as a challenge. "How do I love Lovina's breasts, let me count the ways."
"You didn't write that."
She tried again. "Lovi's breasts are the very best. In my hands they like to rest."
"Do not. Is this seriously the best you can do."
"I like to see them in a vest, I like to see them both undressed."
Lovina ignored her while she pulled on some pants and went to the closet to find a blouse.
"They are so pretty. They're not itty bitty. I like to kiss them. When they're gone I miss them."
"You are fucking insane." Lovina picked out a yellow top she wasn't sure actually belonged to her and came back into the room to find Antonia still prattling on.
"I'd never want to see them hurt."
"I should hope not."
Antonia's eyes lit up when she saw what Lovina was wearing. "I love it when they're in my shirt."
It didn't belong to her then. "Will you stop it. I'm not taking you to the store with me while you're writing bad poems about my tits."
"Aw, so mean to me." She did stop with her silly rhymes, though. At least for the time being.
---
Antonia tossed a bag of grapes into Lovina's shopping cart and Lovina sighed when she noticed half the shit in the cart wasn't actually on their list. "Can you at least get what we came here for if you're going to grab every single thing that catches your eye?"
Antonia paused, hands wrapped around a box of lemon cookies. "These are your favourite though."
"That's not the point. Put them in and then go get eggs and milk."
Antonia did as she was told, stacking the cookies neatly with a few boxes of crackers and pasta. "Okay, I'll be right back!"
"Just eggs and milk. And the ricotta. I'm getting bread."
"Yes ma'am." Antonia mock saluted and marched off to the refrigerated section of the store. Once she was out of sight, Lovina grabbed a second box of cookies before going over to the bread aisle.
When Antonia found Lovina again, she was carrying only the items she'd been sent to find this time. Lovina was looking over two different kinds of sausage behind the meat counter. "Don't you always get that one?" Antonia asked, pointing to the one on the right.
"It wasn't as good last time," she replied.
"Then get the other one."
"I don't know how that one will taste."
"Then get the usual one."
Lovina gave Antonia a look before giving up and just ordering a bit of both.
When they were done, the cart was far more full than they'd intended it to be. Antonia grabbed a candy bar while they were waiting in line, but Lovina didn't say anything since she also picked up a magazine Lovina had had her eye on. It was Antonia's turn to pay anyway.
---
"If you break one more damn noodle, I swear to god I am kicking you out of the kitchen, Antonia."
Antonia laughed and gave Lovina a sheepish look. "Sorry, sorry! How about you do the noodles and I'll put the sauce on."
"Just don't slop it everywhere this time." Lovina finished stirring the meat sauce and took the lasagne noodles from Antonia. She expertly laid down a layer of noodles, not tearing a single one, and then supervised while Antonia spread the thick, tomato-heavy sauce over them.
"You're using too much, there's not going to be enough for the other layers."
"Then we'll just have more cheese layers!" Antonia scooped some of the sauce back into the pot when Lovina scowled at her and then patiently waited while Lovina prepared the next layer of noodles.
"Now you're using too much ricotta." Antonia shrugged and snuck a fingerful of the cheese once she was done with that layer of the dish.
"It's just so tasty," she said.
"This is why we're always out of shit, you know."
Once they had successfully prepared the lasagne and Antonia had dumped way too much mozzarella onto the top, they sat back with a glass of wine while it cooked.
"I love Saturdays." Antonia sighed happily and leaned back in her chair. The further from the floor the front legs rose, but more Lovina was filled with apprehension at the thought of Antonia tipping over.
"You're going to break my new wine glasses, knock that off." Antonia, naturally, did not obey her, but she did lean forward just a tad. "And you like any day you don't have to work."
"So do you."
"Hanging around you all day is work enough for me."
Antonia laughed and the chair beneath her shook. Lovina was fully prepared for disaster and her hand shot out to grab Antonia's arm (to protect the wine glass, of course), but all that happened was Antonia leaning forward and safely returning her chair to the tiled floor. She blinked at the hand on her wrist and Lovina unwrapped her fingers from around, flushing slightly in embarrassment.
"Aw, you want to hold hands?" Before Lovina could argue to the contrary, Antonia's fingers were entwining with hers and Antonia was rubbing her thumb over the back of Lovina's hand. "I have such a sweet girlfriend."
"Lucky you."
"Don't you have a sweet girlfriend too?"
"I'm sure I've got one somewhere around here, but I'm not sure where I've left her."
Antonia whined, as she always did at statements like this, but Lovina knew she'd stopped actually being offended long ago, if she ever legitimately was in the first place. "Not sure where I left mine either, only one here right now is my very, very mean girlfriend."
"Long as the sweet one doesn't come and try to eat my dinner, I'm fine with this."
Antonia smiled and Lovina's lips twitched upwards in response, but then the moment was ruined when the timer dinged and Lovina shot up to go get their finished dinner.
---
Since Antonia had so kindly offered to do the dishes after Lovina unceremoniously dumped them all into the sink after dinner, Lovina decided she might as well do a load of laundry while Antonia scrubbed away in the kitchen. “I’m in a good mood after that amazing lasagna I made,” she explained to Antonia when she came upstairs to find her exiting the laundry room, smelling faintly of the detergent she’d managed to spill all over her hands.
“So lucky for me you’re in a good mood for once.”
“Stop being a cheeky bitch.”
“Mm.” Antonia wrapped her arms around Lovina’s waist and buried her nose in her shoulder. “Did you get different laundry soap to spill all over the place? You smell nice.”
“I always smell nice.” Lovina pressed her knuckles into Antonia’s side in the most half-assed punch possible. Antonia clearly didn’t even take it as a punch because she made a low noise of contentment in the back of her throat.
“Going to give me a massage? You really are in a good mood. That must have been a magical dinner we made.” Another “punch” from Lovina and Antonia pulled back to head into their room, dragging Lovina behind her.
“I’m not giving you a massage.”
“Not even if I give you one too?” Antonia turned around and pulled her hair back, revealing the pesky zipper on the back of her dress to Lovina. “Unzip me?”
“You’re learning.”
The zipper was down in no time, since Lovina rarely had the same problems with it that Antonia seemed to have, but Antonia took her time slipping the dress off-- over her shoulders, then her breasts (which were not covered by a bra, Lovina noted). She looked right at Lovina as the fabric slid over her stomach and hips, before ultimately falling to the floor.
“Fine,” Lovina muttered. “If I get a massage too.”
“Of course, dear.” Antonia sprawled out over the bed, wiggling her butt a little as she got into a comfortable position.
The wiggling stopped when Lovina sat down on her and started pressing her fingers into the lightly freckled skin of Antonia’s upper back. Her hair tickled at Lovina’s hands when Antonia shifted her head to the side, and Lovina slowly brushed it out of the way, lingering for a moment on the base of Antonia’s neck.
“Don’t move around so much,” she said, her voice low and warm despite the fact that she was giving Antonia an order. “Makes this easier if you stay still.”
Antonia didn’t respond, just closed her eyes as Lovina continued working her way down her spine. She let out a sharp breath when something near the small of her back popped under the light pressure Lovina was applying. “Ah, that felt so good.” Another pop. “You’re the best, Lovi.”
“Damn right I am.” Lovina’s hands continued moving over Antonia’s skin, up to her shoulders, along her sides, down to the base of her spine and lower, just over where Lovina sat perched on her thighs. To Antonia’s pleasant surprise, a pair of lips joined the party and she felt a kiss being pressed against her shoulder blade, right where she knew an old, faded scar marred her tanned skin.
“I don’t think that’s how you give a massage, baby.”
“The fuck would you know?” With one last press of her knuckles, Lovina rolled off Antonia. Antonia turned her head and opened her eyes to watch as Lovina unbuttoned her borrowed blouse. She didn’t make a show of it as Antonia did, but she enjoyed the way the yellow fabric quickly slid off Lovina’s arms anyway. She sat up before Lovina could unbutton her pants and took over that task for her. She leaned up, kissed a bit of skin peeking out of Lovina’s bra as she did so, and whispered, “I love to give them all my kisses, Lovi’s girls grant all my wishes,” against Lovina’s skin.
Lovina snorted with laughter. “I am pretty sure they’re not genies.”
“They might be.”
“Stop rubbing my tits, Antonia. You are so- hey!”
Antonia’s fingers had moved lower, and instead of rubbing across the silky pink bra covering Lovina’s chests, she was quickly moving them over the bare skin of Lovina’s stomach. Lovina laughed as she wriggled and squirmed, trying to get away from Antonia, but her pants were still around her ankles and no matter which way she went, Antonia and her damned fingers went right along with her.
“You’re supposed,” more giggles escaped her lips, “to be giving me a massage!”
“You mean this isn’t a massage?” Antonia poked at Lovina’s sides and then nudged her toward the bed. “Silly me.”
“You are such a dick.” Lovina gladly sat down on their bed and removed the pants that were still tangled all around her feet. “After all I do for you.”
“Okay, okay.” Antonia sat behind Lovina and, after finally removing her bra, started kneading her hands over her shoulders. There were far more knots in the muscles of Lovina’s back than in Antonia’s, and her shoulders cricked and popped beneath Antonia’s skilled fingers.
“You clearly don’t do this enough,” Lovina said. She tipped her head to the side, allowing Antonia to rub her thumb over the tender muscle between Lovina’s neck and shoulder.
“I don’t.” Antonia kissed the back of Lovina’s head. “Good thing you showed me how to properly give a massage.”
“Good thing I did.” Lovina hissed when Antonia ran her hands over a particularly sore muscle, but any discomfort quickly subsided after a few moments of Antonia’s ministrations.
---
“Scoot over.”
Antonia lifted up the edge of the blanket and moved over on the bed, allowing Lovina to climb in next to her with the two bowls of gelato she’d brought up to their room. “What kind did you bring?”
“Strawberry.” Lovina eyed both bowls for a moment before handing one over to Antonia.
“I’m pretty sure you put the same amount in both of them, silly.”
“Pretty sure this one has more. And it’s all mine.”
Antonia dipped her spoon into Lovina’s bowl and quickly shoved the bite into her mouth before Lovina could stop her. The scandalised look Lovina gave her nearly caused her to spit the gelato out when she was overcome with laughter, however. “Now they’re the same,” she finally said, grinning brightly at Lovina’s scowling face.
Lovina leaned over with her spoon, meaning to steal a bite of Antonia’s dessert in retaliation, but Antonia figured she would do that and quickly moved her bowl out of the way. “Uh-uh, I was only making it fair!”
“You said it was already fair!”
“Maybe I lied.”
“I put the same amount in both of them.”
“I thought you said you got more?”
“I did.”
“But you just sai-“
Lovina’s mouth tasted like strawberries, obviously, but her lips tasted like the lip balm she always wore. Antonia had no idea what it was supposed to taste like, and it didn’t really taste good or bad or like anything she could put her finger on, but whenever she kissed Lovina the taste was there and it’d become just as familiar as everything else about her girlfriend. Lovina’s hand ran through Antonia’s hair, down over her cheek, along the line of her jaw, then over toward her… bowl of gelato.
Before Antonia could gather herself and react, Lovina had picked her spoon back up and stolen a bite that was at least three times bigger than the one Antonia had stolen.
“Hah,” Lovina said through the mouthful. “I win.”
“You fight dirty.” Antonia pouted at her and scooted away, holding her bowl closer to herself to avoid anymore thievery.
“You like it.” Lovina inched her spoon over toward Antonia, who nearly fell off the bed trying to retreat. “I’m just fucking with you, chill out.” She put the spoon in her own bowl and took a bite. “If you fall over and spill that on my carpet, I am banning you from eating in bed ever again.”
“I thought I was already banned after I spilled wine all over the carpet?”
“You were. But I unbanned you since you cleaned it up so nicely.”
“And did all the dishes and laundry for two months.”
“That too.”
“And then you got whipped cream all over your favourite sheets and said you weren’t going to ban yourself from eating in bed so you might as well let me do it again.”
“The point is I am going to re-ban you if you don’t get off the edge of the bed. You’re going to spill something.”
Antonia swung the arm not holding her gelato out as she dangled precariously over the edge of the bed. “Oh no, Lovi, I’m going to fall!”
Lovina grabbed Antonia’s elbow and tried to tug her closer to the middle of the bed. “Knock it off, you’re seriously going to make a mess.”
“Help me, I don’t know how I could possibly avoid falling off the bed and spilling this all over your nice carpet!”
She stopped her theatrics as soon as Lovina just took the bowl of gelato from her.
“Aw, you’re no fun.” She quickly moved over, got the covers back in order, and reclaimed her now half-melted gelato.
---
After a few more minor incidents, one involving Antonia attempting to balance the emptied bowls atop her head while she took them back downstairs, Lovina and Antonia finally settled down to go to bed.
“What if we woke up and tomorrow were Saturday too?”
Or not.
Lovina looked over at the clock. 12:07 am. “It’s already Sunday.”
“But how can you be so sure?”
“We’re not stuck in a loop of Saturdays. You have to go to work on Monday.”
“I could call in sick.”
“You called in sick last Monday.”
Antonia rolled over and buried her face in Lovina’s hair. “Mm. But I was sick. Nurse Lovina had to take care of me and everything.”
Lovina’s arm was now stuck between her side and Antonia’s stomach, so she did the only logical thing there was to do and lifted it up to wrap around Antonia. She really hated it when her arm fell asleep. “Well Nurse Lovina still hasn’t cleaned that outfit of hers and has to actually go work on Monday.”
“Good thing,” Antonia cut herself off with a yawn. “It’s Saturday then.”
“It’s Sunday.”
Antonia fake-coughed and the sound turned into a giggle when Lovina shoved her face away. “I don’t think that’s how you care for sick people.”
“Not sick. Go to sleep.”
“We left our clothes all over the floor.”
“I realised this, yes.”
“We didn’t get strawberries at the store today. Should have got some strawberries.”
“Too bad, stores aren’t open tomorrow. Today.”
“We could go pick some.”
“We don’t have any strawberry plants.”
“Let’s get one. The tomato plants need friends.”
Lovina hummed and carded her fingers through Antonia’s hair. “It’s too late to start growing strawberries. Maybe next summer.”
Antonia, ever the wriggler, bumped her knees against Lovina’s legs as she shifted around beneath the covers, yawning all the while. “Maybe.”
“Just go to sleep already.”
“You first.”
“No. Then you stare at me.”
“You do it too.”
“Do not.”
“Do.”
“Sleep. Fucking hell.”
Antonia laughed and nuzzled her nose against Lovina’s neck. “You stare at me, and tuck me back in when I kick the covers off, and give me cute little Lovi kisses. I know it.”
“You don’t know anything. You’re delusional and sleep deprived.”
“’M not,” Antonia whispered.
“Goodnight, Antonia.” She turned her head to kiss Antonia goodnight, just a light peck since Antonia was nearly asleep anyway.
“Told you you give me cute little kisses.” Her eyes were closed, but Lovina could almost hear the smile on Antonia’s face.
“You’re still awake. It doesn’t count.”
“Nope. I’m asleep.” Antonia finally stopped moving around, after resting her legs up over Lovina’s. “Goodnight.”
Lovina would have argued that no, Antonia was not asleep, since she was still talking to her, but the soft, even breaths next to her ear let her know that Antonia had indeed fallen asleep. With just one last glance (to make sure she was actually asleep, of course), Lovina drifted off as well.