Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The ride back from patrol was silent. The three of us that made it back to the truck didn’t know what to say. It was supposed to be an easy mission, re up on some medical supplies and get back to the base. Unfortunately, our preferred pillaging spot had been discovered by others. Others who, like us, also had guns and weren’t afraid to use them.

The sad reality was that people could be just as feral as the infected, oftentimes worse.

Manny was driving, and Abby was sat across from me. We made occasional eye contact but she was more focused on picking at a spot of dried blood on her pants. I knew she was feeling responsible for our losses. Probably thinking she could’ve planned better or paid more attention to the signs. But our patrol had gotten cocky, we thought we were too good, and now we were returning to base with half the crew we had set out with.

Abby was never distant like this with me. We met in the WLF, started training together, became patrol partners. Ride or die. Except this time, we almost did die.

When we arrived back at the stadium, Abby held the door of the truck open for me.

“I’ll see you at the bonfire tonight, Vi.” She said, before walking off.

“Vienna!” Manny called me, pulling my attention away. “I can count on you to show your pretty face tonight, right? Get some of this depressing energy out of here?”

“Uh ya, totally.” I said, then turned back quickly but Abby was already gone. “I’m gonna go shower, and try to forget any of this ever happened.”

Back in my room, I had showered and scrubbed my skin until it burned, ensuring even the underside of my nails held no evidence of bloodshed.

I pulled out The Good Stuff, aka Casamigos Tequila. On a previous raid we had found a house with a particularly nice assortment of liquor. Manny assured me and Abby that this tequila was worth bringing back, and we all took a bottle to hide in our rooms. The Good Stuff was reserved for special occasions, be they celebratory or solemn.

I quickly throw back two shots, my mouth immediately salivating as I try not to gag.

“I need to get laid tonight.” I huff as I look myself in the mirror, pushing my cleavage up and fussing with the strands of hair framing my face. They never sit quite right, the dampness of Seattle causing the loose curls to turn into an uncooperative mess.

I get down to the party, the music is loud, and my friends are already there. Abby seems in better spirits. I grab a beer and join her, cheers-ing the bottle in her hand, and we both take a big swig.

“You on the prowl tonight?” I ask her.

She laughs, “No, not really in the mood. You?”

“I’m desperate for a distraction after today.” I admit, and catch her looking down the neckline of my low cut top. Not that it’s her fault, she’s a several inches taller than me.

I look her up and down. In her black tank top, the fire casts shadows that emphasize the muscular definition of her arms. I contemplate making a flirty comment about her physique, it wouldn’t be the first time, but she seems solemn despite the party atmosphere. So I let it be.

Nothing has ever happened between us. Her past with Owen aside, the word around the base is that Abby definitely likes girls. And I like Abby, in some capacity that I haven’t quite yet defined. But aside from our back-and-forth game of flirty comments and physical interactions that border on intimate but don’t quite go that far, our relationship has remained platonic. Plus, in my experience, the best female friendships always border on being kinda gay.

As the night goes on we consume more shitty beer, and play more stupid drinking games, and eventually Abby is sitting beside me with her thigh resting against mine. I’m so distracted by the contact that I’m barely listening to the conversation around me. Abby’s body is warm and comforting to lean into, so when she gets up to grab another beer the sudden loss of warmth pushes me to seek a replacement. I notice Abby is caught in conversation with Manny across the fire, so I re-orient myself to my original goal: get laid, fill the dark depressing void.

I’m standing beside Owen as he’s sat in a lawn chair, my hand playing with his hair. I know I’ve secured my distraction for the night, we’re both tipsy, and it wouldn’t be the first time we neared friends-with-benefits territory.

I look back across the fire and see Abby staring at me. Owen has an arm wrapped around my hips as he pushes his face into the side of my thigh, taking a bite. I yelp in surprise and turn to him, pushing his head away and calling him a loser. He pulls me into his lap, and I laugh. My head spinning as I look around. I don’t see Abby anywhere.

I keep the beers coming to try and take my mind off her. I don’t know how long passes, but eventually I decide my strategy isn’t working. This isn’t fun anymore, and I feel my anxiety starting to bubble over.

“I’ll be back” I lean into Owen’s ear. I stand up and he smacks my ass as I walk away. I flip him off in response.

“Your bestie said she was calling it a night, senorita.” Manny says to me, as he sees me looking around. “I don’t think she was feeling too good.”

Immediately I start to overthink. Is she mad about Owen? Did I piss her off?

I head off towards her room, I hear Owen call out to me as I’m leaving, but I couldn’t care less. He was only meant to be a distraction from the grief in my chest after our patrol mission, but my closest friend possibly resenting me? I could never live with that.

I quicken my pace as I head towards Abby’s room. My heart is starting to race, and the beer fog in my mind is slowly dissipating. When I reach her door, I wish it had dissipated a bit faster, because I’m definitely not feeling coherent enough to figure out what exactly I’m doing here.

I hear music on the other side of the door.

If I get too close

And I'm not how you hoped

Forgive my northern attitude

Oh, I was raised out in the cold

I knock on the door, prematurely.

Fuck, I wasn’t ready. I have nothing planned to say.

Abby opens the door, looking surprised. She’s wearing sweat pants and a sports bra. She smells clean like she’s showered again to get the smoke off her. Her freshly braided hair still somewhat damp. She must’ve been getting ready for bed.

“We almost died today.” I blurt out at her.

“Yeah. That happens sometimes.” She says, waiting for me to elaborate.

“We could die any day, really.” I continue to ramble as I push past her and enter her room, “So I guess I’m just scared that I could die, and you might spend the rest of your life thinking that I care more about dick than I do about you.” Classy, real classy. Good talk, Vienna.

“I… definitely don’t think that Vi.” Abby says, as she closes the door to her room, still confused as to why exactly I’m here.

The music is still playing in the background and it steals my attention as I take a seat on her bed.

If the sun don't rise

'Til the summertime

Forgive my northern attitude

Oh, I was raised on little light

I laugh internally at the irony of the song. It took almost dying out in the rainy and miserable PNW for me to acknowledge that I’ve been too cold and stubborn to let myself get attached to someone. We’re all a little cold and dark, a product of our raising. But knowing that the next time we go out, one of us, fuck, both of us, could die? My little drunk brain spiraled.

Abby walks over to the speaker and turned the music off. I look around the room, an old coverless book is open face down on her bed and her bottle of The Good Stuff is sitting on her bedside table. I feel my chest flutter, it’s like we’re in a secret drunk heartache alliance.

“Thirsty?” I ask jokingly as I nod towards the bottle, trying to alleviate some of the awkwardness. I’ve spent a lot of nights in this room, in this bed even, but it’s never felt like this. Usually we talk about anything, drink whatever we can get, and cuddle while never daring to explore further.

“I guess I was just trying to distract myself.” She says as she sits at the head of the bed, facing me. I turn towards her, but when I meet her gaze I look down and start picking at my shirt.

Suddenly I feel embarrassed about how exposed I am. The girl sitting on this bed looking for her friend’s forgiveness is way more humble than the girl who got dressed a few hours earlier.

“If this is about Owen, I’m sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just… looking for a distraction.” I curl inwards with shame, then look up at her through my lashes.

“No I don’t give a fuck about Owen, I just-” she stops. She leans back, lacing her hands behind her head and looks up to the ceiling. The silence builds between us as I wait for her to elaborate. My heart pounding in my chest. “We almost died” she says, echoing my earlier statement as if those three words can explain every confusing emotion in this room.

“Ha!” I laugh, dryly.

More silence.

We look at each other, then away.

“I wanted you, Abs.” I cave. “We got in the truck, and I wanted you to say something. We got back to the base and you disappeared. And then I see you at the bonfire, and it’s like today never happened. Like we didn’t almost die.” She’s staring at me and I look away. The alcohol still fogging up my mind. “But we did. I needed someone, and Owen was there, and he was easy.”

“So… why are you here?” She asks after a moment, leaning back against the head of her bed as her hands clasp behind her head.

I look at her. Whether it’s the adrenaline or the alcohol, probably both, I’m abruptly sure of what I came here for.

“Because I don’t give a fuck about Owen.” I say, repeating her now.

There’s a visible flush that spreads across her cheeks. Both of us feeling emboldened by the liquor we’ve consumed. I crawl forward onto my hands and knees as I move up to straddle her. I hesitate, our faces inches apart. She doesn’t move away. Her freckles are so pretty, and she smells like pine and mint toothpaste. I feel her breath, it’s uneven as she looks from my eyes to my lips, and back again.

I want her to be the one to do it, to take control. That’s the Abby I know. Always sure of herself. Always leading me.

And then she does. Her lips come up to meet mine as her hands move from behind her head to the back of mine, pulling me down.

For a moment, the kiss is gentle, like we’re both waiting on the other to explore further. Her hands find my hips, playing with the exposed skin between my jeans and my shirt. She rolls us to the side, pulling me under her as she gets on top.

She presses her thigh between my legs as my fingers trace down her exposed abs, causing her to flex under my touch. I moan into her mouth, then blush as I pull away in embarrassment at myself. I bury my face in her neck and wrap my arms around her.

“Please tell me you’re drunk too.” I say, it comes out muffled.

“Yeah kinda… fuck Vienna, what are you doing to me?” she laughs as she looks me over. She looks hungry with lust, her pupils dilated. The look sends a shock to my core, and I grind up onto her thigh, craving more friction.

Her hands are still firmly on my hips as she holds me down, laughing softly in response to my weak attempt as she begins kissing down towards my navel. I throw my head back and groan as she leaves a trail of heat. I pathetically try again to relieve the ache between my thighs by pressing against her. Abby tsks as she restrains me, and I know there’s no point trying to wrestle against her brute strength.

She begins to undo my jeans, and as she pulls them down I become very aware of the wet spot she can no doubt see on my panties.

She places a warm open mouth kiss over my panties. She makes a sound like a deep groan, and I realize I would probably let her do anything she wanted to me if it meant I could hear more of those sounds come out of her.

Stoic Abby, letting herself give in to temptation, even if it’s just for a brief moment.

“Is this a good distraction?” she asks as her warm breath hits my core, my god forsaken panties still in the way.

I barely let out a whimper before I feel her bite the soft flesh of my inner thigh, and it makes me yelp in surprise.

“Now the next time you go off looking for a distraction, they’ll know I was here” she jokes as she kisses the forming bruise. “They’ll know I’m the last one who made you cum.”

Her eyes are dark as she looks up at me. Her possessiveness turning me into a needy mess.

“The next time I need to cum, l’ll be waiting for you in this bed.” I say, eyes locked with her.

“Fuck” she groans into my thigh before finally ripping my panties off and bringing her mouth down to my core. I throw my head back as I work my hands into her hair. If I thought I had been on edge waiting for us to kiss, I was an idiot. This was what my body really needed.

She licks up my wet slit before finding my clit, sucking on it gently at first as she warms me up. She flicks her tongue back and forth over it as she grabs strong handfuls of my ass, and I secretly hope she leaves me bruised. I want her to mark me, as a reminder of this night.

Abby’s sucking more fervently on my clit as I’m writhing underneath her. I feel the heat building, and my breath is coming out ragged.

“So fucking pretty” Abby murmurs as she pulls back to look up at me, placing sloppy kisses just below my bellybutton.

I whine at the sudden loss of stimulation, “You’re such a fucking tease, Anderson.”

I pull her up and try to kiss her but she moves to the side.

“There’s no rush, baby girl, we have all night.” She whispers into my ear, her hot breath tickling my sensitive skin. “Just lay back and enjoy.”

She takes one hand to easily pin down both of my wrists above me on the bed, before using her other hand to grab me by my jaw.

“Is this what you wanted when you came here tonight?” she asks, looking into my eyes.

“Yes,” I squirm against her grip, “fuck, yes.”

She kisses me, and my mind is a whirl of ecstasy, alcohol, and the taste of myself on her lips. The desperation in both of us for this moment is evident, both of us breathless but not breaking contact like we’re feral for each other.

I wanted her to fuck every last thought out of my head.

She released her hold on my wrists and moved her hand down to slip between my slick folds, her fingers resting at my entrance.

“Please” I beg softly. She didn’t hesitate to push two fingers inside me, before slowly sliding them in and out. I could feel the heat coiling up inside me as I arched up into her. She smirked against my lips.

Her hand at my jaw slid lower, until it rested around my neck. She applied light pressure to the sides experimentally, waiting for my reaction.

I whimpered, taking advantage of my arms being freed to run my hands down her muscular back and pull her closer to me.

“Good girl,” she said as she quickened her pace between my thighs, using her muscular legs to spread me wider, her palm now making contact with my clit every time she slammed into me. “Take it.” she says firmly.

My eyes roll back in my head.

She moves to place open mouth kisses on my neck, my skin feeling electric under her lips. I moaned loudly, unable to control myself.

“People will hear you.” she murmured against me.

“Good,” I respond, heart racing, “let them hear.”

She pulls back and I try to bring my lips to hers, but she shakes her head and pushes me back down gently with the hand on my throat, “look at me when you cum.”

And just like that, on her command, the band in me snaps. I cry out as I feel myself contract around her fingers. She’s smiling as she drives into me a few more times before I push her hand away from the overstimulation.

“Abby I can’t! You’re gonna kill me!” I gasp, and we’re both laughing. I watch as she licks her fingers clean before smacking my ass and collapsing on the bed beside me.

It’s quiet for a moment as we look at each other, giggling to ourselves.

“Fuck I love drunk sex” I say, panting as I collapse back and gaze up at the ceiling.

Abby laughed as she rolled onto her side, propping her head up on her hand and looking down at me, “you dirty little whore” she says with a smirk, her braid dropping over her shoulder.

“Seriously though, we almost died without ever doing that. That’s fucked.” I say, as I start playing with her braid. Truthfully, I was avoiding eye contact, feeling heat rise in my cheeks.

“I guess we were both being pussies” she mumbles as she kisses around the cartilage of my ear.

We lay like that a while longer, Abby planting light kisses all over my exposed cleavage as I play with her hair.

She pulls the neckline of my top down to expose my bra. “Next time, all the clothes come off” she says as she plays with the lacy cut of my bra against my breast.

I smile. All the outcomes of how tonight could have gone run through my head, but this never even made the list.

I look at the clock, it’s nearly 2am.

“I should go” I say, moving to get up, but her strong arms hold me against her.

“Stay” was all she said. “I want more than drunk sex with you.”

Chapter Text

My eyelids flutter against the light as it pours in through the window and I groan at the pounding in my head. Why do you always do this to yourself, Vi?

I move to get up, desperate for water, but my attention is caught by a heaviness across my waist. I look down to see the outline of Abby’s arm under my (her) large t-shirt. I must’ve put it on to sleep in last night. She tightens her hold, pulling me in closer to her warm body. I slowly peak over my shoulder; her eyes are still closed. I haven’t woken her. Her slow breath tickles the back of my neck.

Is this the first time I’ve woken up to us spooning in her bed? No, it’s actually kind of common. Just two girls being girls and testing boundaries. Especially when alcohol is involved.

Is this the first I’ve woken up to us spooning in her bed after she fucked me and made me reconsider the entire basis of our friendship? Yes….

I don’t know if this changes anything. I don’t know if we act like nothing happened. I don’t know if it will ever happen again. Relationships don’t exist like they do in the old books and movies. Nothing is safe out here. People don’t open themselves up to that vulnerability. Probably why the few people we know who are actually in relationships are the ones who got knocked up. Also, probably why the intimate boundaries between female friends gets crossed so easily. Pregnancy is the last thing any of us want.

I feel Abby shift behind me, drawing me back to the present. Memories of last night fly through my mind and my body starts to feel hot. My pulse quickens and that nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach re-affirms what I already knew. We definitely have to do this again.

I feel Abby’s hand move up to spread across my ribs, her thumb running back and forth across the underside of my breast and it sends a shiver up my spine. She buries her face in my back and groans, “five more minutes.”

“I think I’m dying, Abby.” I can feel my hangover pulsating in my eyeballs. She just chuckles in response. “I’m serious!” I turn slightly so I can look at her face. I’ve always found Abby pretty, not that it’s a compliment she’d want. She wants to be strong, imposing, dominant. But her bright eyes, and the way her freckles are scattered across her cheeks, it’s all very attractive in her own way.  

“You look good in my shirt, it really emphasizes how scrawny you are.” She pokes fun at me and I roll my eyes before getting up. “Really good, actually” I hear her say as I start looking around the room for my clothes.

“I’m not scrawny, I’m lean. Cut, some would say. The best pound for pound of muscle in the WLF.” I ramble. With only her shirt and my panties on, I feel an urgency to find my clothes and cover up. It’s weird how we’ve gotten changed in front of each other so many times, but now that we’ve hooked up, I’m feeling awkward.

“This doesn’t have to be a thing.” She says, still watching me from the bed as she sits up. She’s in a match set of gray sports bra and boxers. The bed sheets pool at her hips, exposing her abs. I stare for a moment before looking away, and she smirks. She totally noticed.

“What do you mean?” I ask, finally finding my jeans and nearly tripping as I shove one leg in.

“You’re spiraling, it’s not that serious. We were drunk, and horny, and we fucked. That’s what you wanted, right? A distraction?”

My brain short circuits at the word. She’s right. That’s exactly what I said I wanted.

I finally get into my jeans and zip them up. “You fucked me. What did I do for you?” I really don’t feel prepared for this conversation right now. Why does my head feel like it’s submerged in wet cement?

“I enjoyed myself plenty.” She laughs, getting off the bed and handing me my bra that was hanging off the head of her bed, “and I know you did too.”

I’m visibly flustered, I just know it. And Abby is finding it hilarious.

“How are you not hungover?” I ask, exasperated. I rip my bra from her hands and work at getting it on under the t-shirt, so I don’t have to take it off and expose myself even more.

“Because I wasn’t downing bottles of shitty out of date beer all night like you were. You did this to yourself.” She grabs a half empty bottle of water off her table and hands it to me, “Here, you need it.”

I chug the bottle as fast as I can. “What I need is a shower. I can smell the liquor seeping out of my pores and it’s gonna make me puke.”

“I’ll see you down at breakfast, if you think you’ll be able to stomach it.” she jokes, as I’m heading out the door.

I do not, in fact, make it to breakfast. After throwing up the liquid contents of my stomach into the toilet, I stand bracing myself against the wall of the showers, letting the water run down my back. Knowing Abby, she’s probably running laps on the track while I’m rotting like a bloater.

I hear someone come in. “Vienna, you in here?” it’s Nora.

“Yeah!” I call back, trying not to sound like a dying animal, before heaving again and puking up more bile down the shower drain.

“Are you… ok?” She calls back. “Patrol leaves in 30. It’s you, Abby, and Manny.”

Shit, I forgot patrol.

“I’ll be there! Just making sure I look good for all the Scars I’m planning to gun down!” I yell back.

“Okay, well, you know Abby. She gets irritated when people are late. And she’s wearing it this morning.” I hear her laugh before closing the door to the showers.

She’s already irritated this morning? She was fine a couple hours ago. I gotta pull it together.

I manage to dress myself in standard fatigues and make it down to the vehicle bay.

“Hey.” Abby greets me. It’s uncomfortably terse.

“Hey.” I reply, quickly throwing my still damp hair into a bun. A few strands fall out around my face but I don’t have time to fix it before the truck pulls up, Manny in the driver’s seat.

“Senoritas!” he smiles at us though the open window, and we get in. Abby hops in the front seat, leaving me to sit alone in the back. Weird. “Did you have a good time last night?” He winks at me in the rearview mirror, “You didn’t make it to breakfast.”

“Yeah, I overdid it, as usual.” I huff. I see Manny look at Abby, but she doesn’t respond. She’s just staring, more like glaring, out the window.

“Just a quick one today, sweep some patrol towers and get back in time for dinner.” Manny says.

The first post looks clear. Manny stays by the truck as Abby and I sweep the area. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

“You wanna sign us in?” Abby says as we walk into the booth, “I’ll climb up top and double check the area.” She’s already headed up the ladder before I can respond.

“You got it, boss.” I mutter sarcastically to myself.

We head back to the truck and she fixes me with a frustrated look before opening the door. “You know, they were really up my ass this morning.” She says, sounding like she’s holding back.

I’m so confused, “What are you-”

“We going, ladies?” Manny cuts me off, throwing the passenger door open for Abby. “I heard there’s chicken for dinner and I don’t wanna miss out.”

“Yeah.” Abby mutters, “We’re going.”

I sit in the back seat trying to figure out how she could’ve gotten so mad at me since I left her room this morning.

The second post goes pretty much the same, until I hear Abby call down from the top lookout. “Lone runner incoming, Vi! 7 o’clock!” I turn around from the sign in book and see the infected sprinting towards me. We reach the door to the booth at the same time. It’s trying to push it’s way into the booth, arms curling through the gap in the door as I try to slam it shut. The smell of it’s rotting body not agreeing with my lingering hangover.

“Get the fuck out!” I curse, and hear Abby’s feet slam as she reaches the bottom of the ladder, just as the runner overpowers me and the door flies open. “Shit!”

I’m thrown back into the control board, and I yelp. The corner hitting me right in the kidney. Abby fires a shot at the runner, drawing its attention to her. It shrieks and I grimace, before taking the opportunity to grab it from behind. I pull it back as it lunges for Abby, my free hand frantically searching for my knife. Just then another runner slams into the other door, nearest her. It shatters the window and starts clambering through.

“Where the fuck is Manny?!” I hear her yell, pistol-whipping the infected in the side of the head. The one in my arms thrashes violently as I finally find my knife and shove it up under its jaw and into its skull. I stab again and again until I feel it go limp and drop it to the ground.

“Don’t waste your ammo! I’ll get him!” I call over to her, as I rip my knife out of the runner’s neck. The other runner made it through the window, lurching forward into the booth with us. Close quarters combat is not what we wanted today. Abby fixes her pistol aim to shoot the creature in the face, point blank, but a rifle sounds off in the distance and the creature drops to the floor. Abby and I both look out the window to see Manny, his gun still raised.

“Pendejo! You could’ve hit one of us! Where were you?!” she yells at him. She looks furious.

“Hey! You clean?” I ask, drawing her attention back. We’re both panting heavily.

“Yeah” she exhales as she wipes sweat from her brow, “you?”

I do a quick look over of myself, “yeah, I think so. Just bruised.” My back already aching as I bend cautiously to stretch it out.

“Update the log book with the two runners and let’s head back. I’m getting hungry.” She says. She holsters her gun and starts dragging the dead infected out through the doorway.

“Yeah, no problem.” I say, still winded. I cross off the all clear beside our names and update the book. When I look back over my shoulder, she’s already heading to the truck. I see her give Manny a shove and he apologizes before they both get in the vehicle.

Standard protocol after a close-up altercation with infected out in the field is a quick check up in the med tent upon return to base. Abby comes over to where I’m sitting on a gurney once she’s been cleared.

“You sure you’re alright?” she asks, looking me over in a very platonic and non-suggestive way. At least she cares enough to make sure I’m not gonna die.

“Yeah, no bites.” I answer. I see her smirk briefly at my statement. My face flushes at the memory of her between my thighs. No bites except for the marks you left on me last night… After today I almost forgot it even happened.

“Hopefully this doesn’t involve a full body assessment.” She says under her breath so no one else hears. Was that a joke? Her change in demeanor catches me off guard.

“Alright everything looks good.” Nora says coming up beside us, “Abby you-”

“I’m all good.” Abby cuts her off, “I’ll see you guys later. Got laundry to do.” She heads out of the tent.

“I don’t know.” I say when Nora gives me a questioning look. “She been in a mood today.”

“Oh yeah? More of a mood than her usual?” Nora jokes, “You can head out Vienna, but come back if you need anything for pain. You’re gonna hurt from that hit you took.”

“No preferential treatment for friends, I’ll be fine.” I assure her. Meds are too hard to come by.

I head to the gym to clear my mind. I was finishing up my last set on bench press when I notice Nick and Jordan coming over towards me. They had been lingering around in the gym after they finished their workout, but never approached until now.

“I can smell your ball sweat from down here.” I say as I rack my bar and sit up on the bench. “Do you two need something?”

“You know, I heard a rumour about you this morning. That something’s been going down between you and Anderson.” Nick looked me up and down, “pun intended.”

“Oh yeah, and where did you hear that?” I ask, trying to sound nonchalant. How are people already talking about this. If Nick knows, then Nora knows. And if Nora knows, the whole fucking med crew probably knows.

“Came up at breakfast, Owen said he’s had suspicions for a while. And Jordan here just told me he saw you going into Abby’s room late last night.” Nick explained, “So I guess you could say I pieced it together myself.”

“Sounds more like Owen’s wet dream. Two girls he can’t get, getting it on with each other.” I scoff, taking my workout towel and wiping sweat from my face, hopefully disguising the heat rising to my cheeks. “So is that why the two of you have been lurking?”

“All we’re saying is, it definitely seemed like you were in Owen’s pocket last night, getting him all riled up, and all of a sudden you and Abby are nowhere to be found.” Jordan pipes in.

“Ohhhh. So he’s embarrassed everyone saw him get rejected.” I rebuke. “Listen, I’m trying to workout here-”

“So what were you doing in Abby’s room last night?” Nick presses.

I sigh heavily, buying myself a few extra seconds to think. “I was fucked up, I smoked some shitty weed and started to trip,” lie, “so I went to Abby’s room to get away from the party, and she took care of my stupid ass.” True, so fucking true. Plus, it checks out with Nora catching me puking in the showers this morning.

Is that why Abby’s been pissed off today? Why she said they were “up her ass” at breakfast?

The door to the gym opens, and Abby walks in. She wearing a black track suit with the hood up, I can see headphone cords leading from under the hood down to her front pocket. She spots the three of us standing by the bench press and makes a pivot towards the squat rack. She probably knows what we’re talking about.

“Well, we better get going. We’ll leave this gym to the two of you. I’ll dim the lights for you on our way out.” Nick winks at me before turning to leave with Jordan, “Later Anderson!” he calls and waves at Abby across the gym. She looks up but ignores him. And me… as she gets straight into her warm up set.

I awkwardly unload the plates off my bar, not sure what to do now. Leaving without saying anything would surely only make things worse, so I bite the bullet.

“Thought you had laundry to do.” I say, walking over casually and taking a seat on the bench beside her squat rack.

She grunts out a few more reps before racking her bar and raising her eyebrows at me. She pulls her head phones out of her ear, “What?”

Oh yeah, duh. “I thought you were busy tonight… with uhm… laundry.” I repeat myself, realizing how stupid of an opener it was.

“Gonna do it later.” She drops her music player on the ground beside the lifting platform. At least she’s open to me continuing the conversation.

Silence settles between us, and I just watch her. She’s so strong it really is intimidating sometimes. We’ve been training together since I got here over a year ago, she likes to remind me I’ll never have a body like hers if I don’t make “lifestyle changes”. I like to think our different strengths compliment each other out in the field. She’s strong, resilient, good endurance. And I’m light on my feet and fit through small spaces.

I start thinking of how our differences might also compliment each other in other more perverse ways, but she pulls off her black hoodie and throws it on the bench beside me. Now I’m evening more distracted by her physique. She’s loading another set of plates onto the bar, walking around in her sports bra. I watch her abs contract and her arms flex as she handles the 45lb plates.

“That’s light weight.” I joke, it’s not light weight at all.

She lets out a small laugh, then grabs her music player off the ground and tosses it over to me. “Put on some fucking music and stop distracting me.” I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to use that word normally again.

I scroll through the song list while she gets back to her next set, looking for something that will break the ice. Perfect, I think as I turn the volume up and the song starts.

You’re so sweet to me

You fill me in when I black out

Pull my dress down when my ass out

Love me despite my big mouth

She’s smiling subtly when I dare to look up at her. I don’t know how to talk to her right now, how to bring up that today was awkward. But I want things to feel normal again.

You don’t know what you mean to me

Even when you’re the reason I’m pissed off

You make me smile when I’m pissed off

Cheer me on when I miss shots

“Your form looks good.” I say as she’s in the bottom of her squat. “Really good, actually” I add, repeating the cheeky comment she made to me this morning in her room. I wait impatiently to see if she takes the bait after she finishes her reps.

“Oh yeah? Like what you see?” she looks over her shoulder at me. Sweat glistens on her body and her cheeks and chest are flushed.

“Shut up.” I laugh. But the colour in her face and her heavy breathing brings back memories of last night. And a familiar ache between my thighs.

If you ask me where I’m from, I’ll say “You”, ‘cause you feel like home

Ask me, “Is this love?”, I’ll say, “I feel it in my bones.”

I need you to know the feeling’s new

But if you ask me where I’m from, I’ll say “You”, ‘cause you feel like home

I decide to run on the treadmill and stay out of her way while she finishes her workout. And then at least I don’t have to bullshit some small talk. When she’s done she comes over to my machine and starts cranking the speed up.

“Hey hey!” I say jumping my feet out to the sides and grabbing the bars, “Are you trying to kill me?” I’m breathing rapidly and my lungs are burning.

“This is why I take the lead on patrol. You can’t keep up the pace.” She jokes. We’re eye to eye when I’m up on the treadmill, and I fix her with a stare before rolling my eyes and getting down.

She’s packing up her gym bag, and I’m not ready for us to go our separate ways.

“So what the fuck was up today?” I blurt out. Not exactly the level of tact I had in mind but I guess it works. I panic and start picking at my nails while I’m waiting for a response. I hear her exhale.

“I dunno.” She pauses. I wait. “They were giving me shit about it at breakfast, Owen and them.” Of course he was… him and his ego… “and then when I didn’t see you I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”

“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was just so hungover from last night, I wouldn’t have even remembered we had patrol this morning if Nora hadn’t found me puking in the showers.” I walk over to her.

She takes a seat on the bench, leaning forward to rest her forearms on her thighs. She stares down at the floor for a moment before looking up at me. “Exactly. You were wasted. Maybe you sobered up today and regretted it.”

There it is. Cocky, confident, always-in-control-of-the-situation Abby was feeling insecure.

“Well that’s stupid.” I place my hands on my hips and she furrows her brow at me. “Given that I was the one who followed you back to your bedroom in the first place.”

She rolls her eyes, “You were having a near-death induced identity crisis.”

I step forward until I’m practically standing between her thighs, and give her shoulder a shove so she’s looking up at me. My hands feel cold against the heat of her bod, her heart still pumping hard from her workout. The gym’s air conditioning feels extra cold against my damp skin and I want to touch her again just to warm up.

“Hey.” I start again, softly, “I don’t regret it”. We’re close enough now that my voice is just above a whisper.

“Here.” She picks up her black hoodie and holds it against my chest, “It’s getting cold. You’re shivering.”

I pull it over my head, the hem landing slightly past my hips. A reiteration of her size. I start absentmindedly playing with the cuffs as they fall to my finger tips. I feel her hands rest on the backs of my thighs. When I make eye contact with her, she gives my thighs a squeeze.

“You’d never outrun a clicker with these weak things.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m incredibly nimble.” I defend myself. Her face is so close to my chest. I just want to pull her into me.

“Oh yeah?” She pulls the hood over my head and it falls down past my eyes, “Prove it.” She grabs me by the front of the hoodie with one hand and pulls me down as I’m trying to shake the hood out of my face. Her other hand grips behind my knee and hikes it up so I fall forwards to straddle her on the bench. “I said, prove it.”

“You incapacitated me. I couldn’t see.” I pull the hood off.

“You think Scars are gonna wait for you to get eyes on them before they slit your throat.” She murmurs against my jugular vein.

I lower my head and nudge her cheek with my nose. She lifts her face to mine. I hesitate a second. Then I kiss her. Gently, waiting to see what she does next.

Her grip on the front of the hoodie pulls me even closer to her, and she deepens the kiss. I feel her tongue against my lips and I open my mouth in response, allowing her in. She easily takes over control of the kiss. I grind my hips against her as I try to get even closer. She’s so warm.

My fingers trace over her shoulders, down her back, anywhere I can feel her skin. The muscles twitch under my touch and I hear her breath hitch in her throat.

She releases the front of the hoodie and her fingers weave up into my hair, her other hand settling onto my waist. She grabs a handful of my hair tightly and gives it a light yank. I hiss, enjoying the light pain. My head falls back. Her mouth trails kisses up from my collar bone, she nips at the delicate skin before dragging her tongue up the outer curve of my ear. I whimper, my body so desperate for more of her.

I’m completely overwhelmed by the feeling of primal need building inside me. I need her to touch me. I need to taste her. I need to breathe her air. My chest is rising and falling with my pounding heart. “Abby, please.” I whisper.

A shiver runs down my back as she releases my hair and traces her fingers lightly down my body. Both her hands are on my hips now, dragging me back and forth against her thigh and I bring my open mouth to hers as I let out a deep moan. Her grip is so tight it could leave bruises. I don’t care. I want them all over me.

I’m rambling into our kiss, “Abby, don’t stop-”

Suddenly there’s a banging on one of the gym windows. I jump but I barely move, Abby’s hands holding me firmly against her lap, not letting up the pressure between my legs.

“Make sure you wipe that seat off when you’re done so the next person doesn’t slip!” Nick calls from the other side of the window. He walks off and disappears down the hall. I doubt he’s going to keep this to himself. I bury my face in Abby’s neck and hear her chuckle.

“We’ve been caught.” I groan.

“Let’s get out of here.” She murmurs in my ear, her breath hot. She stands up, lifting me with her before setting my feet back on the ground. “We need to shower.”

Chapter Text

“Meet me back at my room after you shower, I need to grab something.” Abby says to me as we walk out of the gym.

I definitely thought the shower was going to be a shared activity. “But who’s gonna get my back?” I whine.

“I have faith in you.” She calls over her shoulder, already walking away.

I sigh, and head off to my room to get shower supplies and a change of clothes.

After my shower I try to stall a little, not wanting to beat her to her room, but impatient to be with her again at the same time. I play with my hair in the mirror, finger curling some unruly pieces.

Pretend this is like any other girls’ night in, Vi. Don’t overthink it.

I look through my closet, just covered by my bralette and tight black gym shorts, undecided what to wear. I pull out an old Utah Jazz sweatshirt that Abby gave me a long time ago. “We’re legit friends now.” She had said when she gave it to me. This is the one. I’ve always felt like she had to hold herself back from touching me when I wear it, like she liked seeing me in her clothes.

I flip my head upside down, giving my hair a few shakes to get the extra water out. One last look-over in the mirror and I head out the door.

When I get to Abby’s room, I can hear the soft beat of music muffled by the door. She’s already back. I knock and she answers the door in sweats and a tank top. No bra, I notice while trying not to make it obvious that I noticed.

“Hey you.” She says, opening the door wider for me to come in. Her hair is still slightly damp, hanging loose over her shoulders. The smell of her pine soap washes over me as I step past her. Then, another smell catches my attention. Marijuana.

“Ouuu, what’s that?” I ask as I look around the room for the source. I give her a cheeky eyebrow wiggle. I spy it on the bedside table, a freshly rolled joint. Perfectly rolled of course. Abby doesn’t do sloppy work.

She laughs, “That was from before you interrupted me last night.”

“So what you’re saying is, I can have it.” I wink at her, then grab the joint and pop it between my lips. I start foraging for a lighter in the table drawer. She grabs my hand, drawing my attention up to her, and places a zippo lighter into my palm. The metal is cool against my skin, a stark contrast to the heat of our contact. She lingers a moment, looking down to where our hands are touching, then back up to my face. Her eyes give up no hint to what she’s thinking. So stoic, as always.

Abby takes a seat at the head of her bed and watches me as I bring the lighter to the joint, working at getting it lit. “So what was it you had to grab tonight?” I ask between lighter flicks. Finally, the lighter gives enough of a flame to get the joint going. She inclines her head towards the backpack on the floor, leaning against the side table. I take a deep inhale of the joint and hold it as I pick the bag up. I hear the familiar clinking of glass and my eyes ago wide. I exhale and pass her the joint, she pulls it between her lips as I climb up onto the bed and pull a bottle of wine and a cork screw out of the bag. “Are you serious?” I ask, excitedly.

“Manny owed me for the incident on patrol.” She said as she exhaled the drag.

I hastily uncork the wine, hearing the satisfying pop and knowing it’s still good. I take a swig and try to pass her the bottle, but she waves it away as she takes another drag from the joint. I lean back against the wall and throw my legs over hers, my calves resting on her thighs and wiggle my feet at her. She rolls her eyes and places the joint on the table, then absentmindedly starts to rub my one foot as she exhales.

I close my eyes and groan in satisfying pain from the massage. She keeps going, watching me for a moment. The substances mingling in my bloodstream and making my body tingle. The music in the background is muffled in my head by my inebriation. Sounds like our party playlist, but I can’t be sure. I’m too busy floating in head space.

Abby speaks first, “So, you and Leah?” 

I open my eyes and give her a confused and questioning look.

“Manny brought it up, at the party last night.” She continues.

“We’ve made out a couple times when we were drinking, it’s nothing. I’m pretty sure it was mostly for Jordan to watch anyways.” I say, trying to divert wherever this interrogation might be going.

“So you only like girls when you’re fucked up?” She presses. Her strong hands work harder into my foot and I hiss as I try to pull my foot out of her grasp, but she doesn’t let me.

“Was I fucked up at the gym?” I retort. She holds my gaze but doesn’t reply so I continue, “Me and Leah are friends.”

“We’re friends.” Abby’s voice is rough, low.

“Yeah,” I push her legs open with my free foot and take another swig from the bottle, “We are.” I look into her blue eyes, both pupils wide.

A new song starts to play, taking over the silence, and I know this one enough that it steals my attention.

It was a bad idea
Calling you up
Was such a bad idea
'Cause now I'm even more lost

I smirk, holding her gaze. “I used to think you were the cockiest motherfucker in here, never doubting yourself, but apparently you do.”

Abby hooks her hand behind my knee and yanks hard, pulling me into her lap so I’m straddling her again. “Can I just be human sometimes?” She asks softly against my ear, before she pulls back to run her eyes over my body. Her hands move to rest on top of my thighs. It must be exhausting maintaining her composure, never letting an ounce of insecurity show.

“I get intimidated by you, you know? I don’t have… experience.” I look down into my lap, toying with the lip of the bottle, “with girls...”

Abby lets out a starved groan. I’ve never heard her make that sound before. She leans her head down so our foreheads are touching, and nudges my nose with her own to draw my head up. We’re staring right into each others’ eyes, barely inches apart. “You know what you like, you know how to get yourself off, it’s not that hard baby girl.” She says so softly, in her deep voice. Fuck. Me.

I take the opportunity to work my hand around the back of her head, and pull her into a kiss. She squeezes my thighs, encouraging me. I grip her hair tightly, pulling back to tilt her head as I press myself up onto my knees so I’m looking down at her. She’s so beautiful like this.

I must have mumbled my thoughts out loud because she lets out a quiet laugh.

“Open.” I demand, looking at her lips. She does. I lift the bottle of wine and pour it into her mouth. Just enough, until a small red drop spills out the side. She swallows and I set the bottle on the bedside table next to the smoldering joint, then lean down to like the trail of the drop off her cheek. I can see the heat rising in her cheeks. She’s never one to be told what to do.

I kiss her again, deeply, like I’m hungry for her. “You don’t have to question this. I don’t want anybody else.” The weight of what I just said settling between us as she looks up at me.

You put your hands under my shirt
Undid my bra and said these words
"Darling, you're so pretty, it hurts"

Her grip tightens even harder on my thighs, bruising as she pushes me back down to drag me across her thigh. I groan, trying to pull her closer in any way I can as she takes control of my body. We’re eye to eye again as we make out. Mouths open, devouring each other, tongues rushing to meet.

Her hands move up under my sweatshirt, pulling away the thin fabric of my bralette to palm my breasts. She moans into the kiss and I swear it vibrates down my throat and right to my core. I grind harder on her, desperate. My hands move down her body, I want to feel her, over or under her clothes, whatever she’ll allow.  I give up my balance for a moment, and she takes the opportunity to push and spin me to where she just was, my back now against the wall. She has me in her guard like we’re sparring.

She rolls my hard nipple between her fingers and I whimper. I nip at her bottom lip in response, pulling it into my mouth with a suck. I trace my hands down her chest, feeling the shape of her breasts beneath my touch. Her breath hitches, and I squeeze. It feels like a privilege to have access to her body like this. So free and inviting. She’s usually hidden under sports bras and standard issue tactical gear.

“I like you like this.” My voice breathy, “I like knowing I make you feel this way, hearing you moan when I touch you...” I squeeze her breast again, pinching her nipple through the fabric for emphasis. She lets out a soft sound, barely audible. “But I don’t want this to only happen when we’re...” I look over to the bedside table, to the wine and still smoking joint “You don’t have to get me fucked up to make me want you.”

You pushed me up against my wall
Threw my clothes down on the floor
"Darling, are you ready for more?"

“Take this shit off.” She growls as she pulls the sweatshirt (her sweatshirt) up over my head. “You’re fucking mine, Vienna.” She drags me down so I’m laying beneath her, exposed. Her eyes rake over my body. Her mouth comes down to suck and bite at my nipples, and my head immediately falls back as my eyes roll. She moves a hand up to grip me by my throat. She treats intimacy like combat, she saw an opening and couldn’t resist taking the upper hand and leaving me helpless.  She presses down and I instinctively gasp, trying to take in air before my supply is cut off. Not that I’d choose oxygen over her anyways.

It was a bad idea
To think I could stop
Was such a bad idea
I can't get enough

“You smell so good,” she rambles against my skin, moving down my stomach, “so fucking soft, I need to taste you.” She rips my shorts down with her other hand and I’m totally naked beneath.

“Abby!” I gasp, “please, I need… I need.” I don’t even know what I need, just more. More her.

“Say it.” She’s waiting, like a predator knowing her prey is cornered. Toying before she strikes.

“Please, fuck me.” I beg, “Make me cum.”

“Look at me, say it again.” She commands. Her hand tightening around my neck. I see the muscles twitch in her arm. It briefly crosses my mind that she could kill me if she wanted. And for some sick reason that turns me on even more.

“Please, I need you to make me cum.” I feel how cold the air is against my heat. I’m soaking wet, shaking with need.

“Look at you,” She smiles, “making a fucking mess on my sheets.” Her hand releases my throat and comes down to stroke me. I can hear the wetness as her fingers slip up and down between my folds. She wastes no time before pressing two large fingers inside me with ease. She angles them up, hitting the spot inside me that turns my brain into mush, over and over relentlessly.

“Don’t stop, Abby. Please.” I’m writhing beneath her in lust. My head spinning. I can’t process anything beyond how good she feels. How she smells. How it’s un-fucking-fair that she’s not naked yet.

The tension builds within me, I won’t last long like this but I don’t want it to end yet. I haven’t had my turn with her.

“You’re so beautiful like this.” Abby leaves kisses and gentle bites over my chest and stomach. “You’re such a good girl, you had nothing to be nervous about.”

The way she talks to me makes my mind go blank with desire. I grapple for any hold I can get on her, pulling at her shirt, trying to get it off and bring her closer to me at the same time.

“No.” She says, and pushes me back down. “I want to watch you cum. You better scream my fucking name.”

Does she want people to hear us?

My back arches off the bed, and she grabs my breast with her free hand. I’m whimpering beneath her and I throw my arm over my eyes in frustration as I groan.

Her hand comes down in a hard smack across my chest and I gasp at the sting.

“Look at me.” She commands. She brings her mouth down between my legs, and gives a slow lick. My clit throbs beneath her tongue as her fingers keep pumping in and out of me. “Keep looking at me.”

I think I’m gonna die. Or explode. Probably both.

She sucks on my pussy, licking up the wetness that has leaked out, before she returns her attention back to my clit with combination circles and flicks. She presses my thighs even further apart. It only takes a few more moments before I reach my limit.

I yell out her name as I climax. My body tightening around her as my mind unravels. The contrast overwhelming.

Her fingers slow down before she removes them fully, but she keeps her mouth going on me. She’s more gentle now, but persistent. My thighs try desperately to close but she holds them open. I shake with overstimulation, and grab the nearest pillow to pull down on top of my face as I let out a violent groan.

Abby finally stops, and laughs at me. I pull the pillow away so I can look at her. Her face wet with slick. The sheets soaked beneath me. “Now I gotta do laundry again.”

My breath is heaving, my chest rising dramatically with each inhale. I let my head fall back onto the bed, and she collapses down beside me. We lay there for a moment, random pop music playing in the background. The heavy bass beating in time with my pulse that threatens to blow my chest open.

“You still with me, or is that all you got?” She murmurs against the side of my neck.

“Might as well make the laundry worth your time.” I say, side eyeing her before I roll over to mount her. “Fuck this shirt.” I say as I pull it off her, she laughs as she helps me.

We both instinctually pause for a second, looking at each other. We’ve never been here before. This isn’t Abby having her way with me anymore, she’s handing the control over, being vulnerable.

I look down at her. Her body is perfect. I trail my fingers lightly down her abs, she flexes beneath my touch. I toy with the string of her sweatpants and bite my lip. I can see the wet spot I’m leaving on her lap, still naked myself, still wanting more.

I lean forward to kiss her, and I slip my hand under the waistband of her pants. It’s like electricity when I feel our nipples graze each others’. My fingers find her wetness. “No panties?” I tsk at her.

“You came here for a reason.” Is the only explanation she gives me.

I know my next move, only hesitating a moment before I feel for her entrance. I trace my finger around the outside as I place light kisses down her neck, behind her ear. I know if I put my lips on hers I’ll be too distracted to remember what I’m doing.

She grabs a hold of me by the back of my hair, angling my face to look at her. “Don’t over think it.” She says before pulling me down into a deep kiss.

In that moment, I push my fingers inside of her. She’s wet, tight, hot. She groans into my mouth. I love it, I want more. I pump my fingers in and out of her, the wetness spilling onto my hand. She kisses me deeper, grinding up onto my hand as her grip on my hair tightens. She bites my lip. It could be bleeding, I don’t care. I hear her breath quicken. The sounds she makes under my touch are the only thing I care about.

She arches her body against me and I pull my fingers out of her. She looks disappointed for a second before I pull her pants down, and she shuffles as I get them off and toss them away.

“Fuck.” I exhale, seeing her dripping wet from my touch. I run my hands down her strong thighs, before retracing the path with light kisses.

“Show me exactly where you want me.” I say, looking up at her from between her thighs. Slightly intimidated but desperate to get my mouth on her.

Her fingers run over her swollen clit, and her hips buck slightly. I move her hands away and replace them with my tongue. She gasps.

I trail my tongue up and down, exactly how she showed me, spreading her open with my fingers. I dip my tongue inside her entrance, lapping her up, before slipping my fingers back in and returning my tongue to its’ previous task.

“Vi, I swear to god. If you stop, I’ll kill you.”

“So needy.” I mutter with amusement. She grabs me by the back of the head and pushes my mouth harder down onto her. If I suffocated like this I wouldn’t be upset about it. I work at her, focusing on keeping up the same pace. I feel her walls start to tighten around my fingers.

“You’re so fucking hot” I say, “I want to be the only one making you beg like this, Abs. Making you cum.” I add another finger into her, she can take it. I keep going, feeling her body shake and twist beneath me.

She curses out profanities, moaning my name as she reaches her climax. It’s the best sound I’ve heard out of her yet. I slow down but don’t stop until I’m sure she’s finished. I watch as she lays there, her breathing starting to slow down. I want to have her like this every single day.

She watches me lick my fingers clean of her juices. “Fuck, Vi. You freak.” She pushes herself up to grab me and pull me into a kiss, I can taste myself still on her lips. “You’re so sexy.”

She sits herself up and pulls her top back on before slumping back against the wall with a huff. I wipe my face off on my arm and move up to sit beside her. We smile at each other.

“Turn that annoying music off. And pass me the joint.” I say while I fish around the sheets for the sweater I wore over. I pull it back on when I find it. “I’m cold.” I say, defensively at her judging look, “and naked.”

She laughs to herself, “What about what you said before?” she asks as she reaches over for the joint.

“Be a shame to waste it, I already fucked it up for you last night.”

She snorts in response, the joint dangling between her lips as she lights it back up. She passes it to me and I take a drag, “But in all seriousness, this is the last time. I mean it.”

For now, anyways. I’d rather my mind be clouded by the high of her mouth on my skin.

She walks over to the music player and switches it off. In the new silence, a buzzing takes over in my head. I watch as she clumsily pulls her sweat pants back on, then throws my shorts at me. I catch them before they hit me in the face.

“Do you remember the first day we met?” I ask, looking up at her as I wiggle back into my shorts.

“At that shit briefing report for the new recruits?” she asks, sitting back down beside me on the bed.

“Mmhmm.” I say resting my head on her shoulder. “You asked if you could sit beside me, and you kept whispering to me throughout the report when I was trying to pay attention. Then we got in trouble and got assigned kitchen cleaning duty.”

“I was trying to be nice.” She retorts back.

“I still liked you anyways.” I laugh.

“You were so skinny and scared looking back then. All alone, I couldn’t stand it. The intake soldiers would’ve hung you out to dry.”

“That’s not fair. I was starving, not skinny. And you came here with the Salt Lake Crew, I was alone out there house hopping for weeks before I made it to the base.” Back when everyone I trusted had died or left me, and everyone new I met was a threat. Of course I was scared. Making it to the WLF and being admitted was the only hope anyone had.

“You’re alright now.” She says with a somber look in her eyes

“Oh, glad you think my body is alright.” I roll my eyes, hoping it lightens the mood and throwing my elbow weakly into her side.

“Shut up, you know what I think of your body.” She grabs me and pins my arms as she turns to kiss me.

“Hmm? Do I?” I mumble against her lips. I wiggle free, her grip lightening on me as we kiss more. I push her back and look at her. “As I was saying, before you distracted me…” I trail off again, looking at her lips, then back up to her eyes. They’re so pretty, so bright. “I knew we’d be friends, for as long as we survived out here at least. I’m glad we got stuck on kitchen duty together.”

“Me too. You’re mine now.”

Chapter Text

A couple months had passed with me and Abby being assigned almost every patrol together, that or Abby was pulling rank and changing the assignments. But I didn’t care. We were common knowledge around the stadium these days. And if anyone had a problem with it, no one dared to say anything, no one was brave enough.

Having two of his top soldiers consistently bringing in supplies and racking up kills gave Isaac little ground to stand on with regards to bossing us around. There’s more leeway when you’re useful. Find a basement apartment full of canned goods and haul it all back? Extra rations at the mess hall. Clear out a Scar camp and recover captive WLF soldiers? More “rest” time to recover, aka one on one time while the other soldiers are working. Which is exactly how we like it.

“How the hell do you do that?” Abby’s voice calls out to me from the mat below. I look down at her, the 11 or so feet of rope I climbed swaying between us.

“Just better than you I guess.” I taunt back. A second later I feel the rope in my hands jerk back and forth as she violently shakes it. “OK! OK! Fuck dude, I’m coming down.” And I shimmy my way back to the ground.

“You’re not better than me, just so we’re clear.” Abby looks down at me with her eyebrow raised. God she’s so hot. Her toned body on display in just a sports bra and gym shorts, glistening with a light coating of sweat, her normally tight braid has worked itself loose.

We have the gym to ourselves this morning, almost everyone else is busy but we were granted the morning off today. Compliments for fighting off a hoard of infected that had found their way up out of a parking garage in our patrol zone. “Another job well done,” Isaac had said, “keep this up and I’m going to run out of ways to reward you.” I knew it pained him to admit, but he needs weapons like us that keep delivering. So many losses lately, topped off with the influx of new inexperienced recruits, and our value as trained soldiers is undeniable.

“Your turn,” I say as I step back from the rope, presenting it to her, “unless you’re afraid to fall on your ass again.” Abby is a lot of things, but she’s not a climber. Anyone can see she’s not built for it. What they don’t know is she’s also totally scared of heights. But she’d kill me if I ever told anyone. Which is why the only time we practice rope climbing is when we’re alone.

She responds with a shove that sends me flying onto my own ass, the gym mats cushioning my fall. I swing my leg out to hook behind her knee and try to bring her down, which obviously fails. “You’re annoying.” She smirks, as she easily walks over my sparring attempt and over to check herself out in the mirrors. I prop myself up on my side with my forearm, and admire her while she admires herself before getting up to join her.

“You look very fuckable.” I assure her sarcastically, even though we both know I mean it. Another thing she would kill me if I ever told anyone, is that she actually gets self conscious about her body. Which I’ll never understand. I lean into her back, placing light kisses and looking over her shoulder at our reflection together. I’m wearing her hoodie again. It smells like her, like a clean pine forest. I could live in her clothes. It brings me so much comfort. Not to mention, it drives her wild seeing me in them. Which always benefits me. I don’t know what she likes more, seeing me wear her clothes or tearing them off of me.

Her abs contract as I trail my finger tips down her sides before hooking them under the band of her tight shorts. “What are you doing” she asks, looking over her shoulder at me.

“Come on, Abs” I emphasize her nickname, pulling her back towards me as I feather more light kisses over her nape, her triceps. Her skin slightly salty. “No one’s here.”

She groans in response. It’s working. She turns to look at me as I walk backwards towards the supply closet while holding her eye contact. I have her full attention. I pull her hoodie up over my head and toss it onto a nearby bench. I pull the closet keys out of the pocket of my shorts, and turn around giving her a view of my ass that was no longer concealed by the overhang of her hoodie.

I hear her heavy footsteps run up behind me as I fumble with the keys. “Hurry up, Vi.” Abby murmurs, her lips against my ear. We’re both giggling like idiots with anticipation. I feel her solid body press up tightly against me as one of her hands trails down lower to rub lightly between my thighs. The thin fabric of my shorts does nothing to dull the sensation building beneath her touch. “Come on baby, you’re taking too long.” My eyes roll back at the sound of her husky voice, and she gently bites at my ear lobe. Fuck me.

The lock finally clicks and I throw the door open, our tangled bodies tumbling forward. I turn around to face her, and her lips come down to meet mine with urgency. I feel her moan against my mouth. Abby’s always riled up after a workout, it’s so easy to get her going. Sometimes I just like to have fun with it. “We have to be quick,” I say between kisses, “I have a shift at the cages, gun cleaning duty.”

Abby grunts as she pushes me up against a stack of mats, “fuck it, skip.” She demands as she pushes my top up releasing my breasts, and I pull it the rest of the way off over my head as she leans down to nip and suck at my nipples. I throw my head back, releasing a moan. She palms one of my breasts in her large hands, the other working my shorts down my thighs. “It’ll be worth it. I’ll get your shift covered.”

“I can’t, it’s in an hour” my heart is racing with anticipation as the cool air hits my exposed skin. “Manny will kill me.”

“The only name I wanna hear come out of your mouth right now, is mine.” Abby demands, grabbing my hair at the back of my head and pulling my face down to hers. Our lips are inches apart, and I feel her ragged breath rush across my cheeks. I look her lips up to her eyes, her pupils wide with desire as she holds my eye contact.

“Fuck, Abby.” My voice is barely a whisper. I lean in to kiss her again, desperate to taste her, but she holds me firmly in place as her grip tightens in my hair.

“Good girl.” Is all she says before the fingers of her free hand slide into me. The stretch is intense as I whimper as I adjust to the size of her large fingers. She holds me in place, forcing me to look into her eyes as she slowly works me, before pulling her fingers out to examine the slickness, “All this for me?” she asks, sucking her fingers clean and then pushing them back into me.

Before I can moan again at the feeling of her inside me, my lips are smothered in a kiss, her tongue entering my mouth. My breathing is rapid and my heart pounds against my chest. I grind against her fingers, and she quickens her pace. Through my horny brain fog I somehow manage to hear footsteps in the gym. I pull back and look at Abby in a panic, but she just smiles and releases my hair to hold a finger up to her mouth, telling me to be quiet. She must’ve heard the person come in and she was trying to shut me up.

I realize what she’s doing as she crouches down between my legs, her tongue gently prodding at my clit as her fingers continue to slide in and out of me. I lean back against the mats and bite my lip hard as I squirm beneath her. I’m barely choking down the sounds as I listen to whoever it is on the other side of the closet door rummage around the gym, hoping they find what they’re looking for and get the fuck out.

“Don’t stop pretty girl, cum for me.” She mumbles quietly against my pussy as my thighs shake, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold myself up, or hold back against the stimulation that threatens to push me over the edge.

“I don’t see any music players in here, man! You must’ve left it somewhere else!” I hear a male voice yell from the gym. Good, now get the fuck out of here!

Abby doesn’t stop, her tongue swirling around my sensitive clit, sucking and kissing. She pushes a third finger in with ease, my wetness trailing down her hand. I hear the footsteps outside get quieter, and finally the gym door clicks shut. It’s only a second later I’m calling out Abby’s name, begging her to keep going, harder, don’t stop. I work my hands into her hair, holding her tighter against me as one more thrust pushes me over the edge. I cry out in release as my chest heaves up and down in exasperation.

“There it is.” She smirks up at me, slowing her pace as my walls clench around her. I slump my body forwards against her as she pulls out, our bodies sweatier than they were after our workout.

“You’ll be the death of me, I swear. You’re gonna ruin me for anyone else.” I laugh.

“Oh babe, I already own you. There is no one else.” She cockily replies, propping me up and slapping me on the ass as she heads out of the closet and grabbing a clean towel off the rack to throw at me. “Clean yourself up, Manny’s waiting for you at the range. He’ll know I made you late and I’ll never hear the end of it.” She takes another towel to wipe what’s left of me off her hands and face, “You think just because you can’t get knocked up you have fuck all the time.” Abby mocks in her best Manny impression.

I roll my eyes as I walk out behind her, “Sounds like a you problem. Plus, I like fucking all the time.” I throw her a wink over my shoulder as she stops to bend down and pack up her gym bag.

“Isaac requested to see me later,” She pauses, “Don’t wait up for me, we have an early morning tomorrow and you need to sleep.” She hands me the hoodie of hers that I’ve commandeered, and then throws her own on over her head. I contemplate asking what this meeting is about but I know if she could tell me, she would, so I don’t press her.

I leave the gym to take a cold shower, knowing it’ll be a long shift cleaning out gun barrels as I replay this morning in my head. Manny tells me he’s got a girl coming by tonight, so he’s going to leave a note on the door for Abby to spend the night in my room. I try to take her advice and get some sleep, but I toss and turn for hours. My brain running through all the possible things this secret meeting could be about. It’s after midnight when I hear Abby come in.

“I thought I told you to sleep.” She whispers as she crawls into bed with me, kissing the top of my head.

“You did.” I murmur softly, wiggling back up against her to snuggle in for the night.

The next morning before we leave, Manny pulls us aside and slips us a piece of paper with an address. “There’s good shit in there, bring us back something nice. Not too much, we don’t wanna have to catalogue it. It’ll be just for the crew.”

Abby slips the paper into her pocket, “10-4 pendejo, see you soon.”

“Soooo…. What did Isaac want to see you for last night?” I ask as soon as Manny is out of hearing range.

“We have new recruits to take out today, it’s a training patrol through a pretty clean area. Mostly to show them the lay of the land out here, basic procedures, blah blah.”

“Wait, we’re babysitting today?!”

“Teaching. It’ll be easy. Isaac said there’s been some heavier Scar activity popping up in new areas. We were going over the map last night,” Abby pauses looking around, “this is all confidential by the way.”

“Yeah no shit,” I mutter, “Go on.”

“We need more people trained to handle them to go out and figure out what the fuck is going on. He thinks something big is coming. And if all our best soldiers are busy or hurt from working these basic routes they aren’t available for where we need them.”

“So we gotta teach these guys how to keep a clean house for us while we’re away doing our big girl jobs.” I look the new recruits up and down as they stand in line by the sprinter van, waiting to load into the back. “How domestic of them.” I joke, elbowing Abby before throwing open the back doors and gesturing them in. We follow behind them.

“Alright, first things first.” Abby introduces us and goes over rules and expectations of what’s gong to happen on patrol to the trainees. There’s 4 of them, we’re hoping to keep it that way.

I catch the one girl in the group eyeing up Abby’s arms as the muscles flex with her movement. “What if we’re not cut out for this?” I catch her running her hand over her own arms, clearly noticing some differences between herself and us.

I answer her, hoping that me not being as visibly dominating will inspire some confidence. “We were in your position once, a few years ago, it’ll take hard work but you’ll get there. Or you’ll die.” The girls eyes widen in fear. “That was a joke. You’ll, ugh shit, you’ll find a place where you can be useful if this isn’t it.” Abby rolls her eyes at me before continuing on with the plan.

“Or you’ll die.” Abby says in a mocking tone as we unload at the drop off point. “If that was supposed to be helpful, stop helping.”

“My pleasure.” I mutter as I check over my gun and ammo again.

The recruits line up, and Abby assigns the 3 that have completed basic training to patrol the neighborhood together and look for signs of infected. They should be more than capable of that. The last one from the group, named Connor, had been trained tactically by his father who was a member of FEDRA before his untimely death, so we take him with us to sweep some houses. If today goes to plan he will take over leading the group of them independently on their next outing.

The streets are dead quiet, and I see Abby double check the address Manny wrote down for her. She gives me a gentle nudge and nods in the direction of the house. “Hey Connor, Vienna and I are gonna check this place out to make sure it’s clear, and then we’ll call you in to do a mock run through where you can lead the sweep.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He answers stiffly.

“It’s uh, just Abby please. Abby is good.” She gives him a difficult smile, “Let’s go, Vi.”

“You think he’s ok alone out there?” I ask as we head through the front door.

“There’s nothing out here, they picked this patrol for training because it’s been completely dry the last few weeks. Plus, you heard Manny. We don’t want the stash he found getting catalogued and I can tell this kid is a total narc.” She mutters, looking back over her shoulder at him by the street. He’s stoic, perfect military posture, awaiting his next instructions.

We quickly look through the rooms, and easily find the liquor cabinet we were sent for. “Tequila or tequila?” I ask, holding up a bottle in each hand.

“How about vodka this time? Something a little more palatable.” Abby leans past me and pulls out a bottle shaped like a clear skull. “This one is fucking sick.”

“Better taste test is for palatability.” I joke, plucking the skull bottle from her hands and cracking the seal on it. I take in a mouthful, yup definitely vodka.

“No way!” Abby’s rifling through one of the cabinet drawers, and pulls out a fancy cigar box “you think these are still good?”

“Not likely, but if you have room in your pack you might as well-” BOOM an explosion sounds, followed by the loud cracking of a tree coming down. “Connor!” I yell as the vodka bottle slips from hands and shatters on the ground. We sprint out the front door and are met by the screech of a clicker as it sprints toward Connor as he lays pinned on the ground by a fallen tree.

“Someone laid trap mines out here!” Connor yells out as he fires shots at the quickly approaching clicker. One seemingly dead lays at his feet and I pray it doesn’t spring back into action.

I rack my shot gun and catch the clickers attention. It turns and begins sprinting towards us on the front porch of the house. Easy now, a little closer and I’ll blow your ugly head off your shoulders. But I don’t get the chance as the clicker triggers another hidden trap mine. The blast sends Abby and I flying backwards. I feel myself smash through the large front bay window of the house, and my head rings on impact as I land in the shattered glass.

I look up and see the clicker was also thrown by the blast into the house, and it’s scrambling onto it’s feet getting ready to charge at me. My gun lays on the ground out of my reach and I don’t have time to register where Abby went before the creature is mere feet away from me. I quickly grab a knife from my holster and hold it at my chest in both hands, the blade pointing away from me, just in time for the clicker to lunge and impale itself on the blade. I push hard against it as it screams, but it keeps pushing against my knife, and trapped on my back I have no where to go.

I feel the shards of glass dig into my skin. Fuck Abby where are you? Please be alive. Please help me. I don’t chance taking my eyes off the creature to scan the room for her. The hot wet breathe washes over my face and my mind I wonders if the fungus can be airborn without spores.

I feel the clicker’s brittle ribs start to crack and I push against it as hard as I can, feeling it’s chest give way under the force. I’m holding it at arms distance, both my hands now in it’s chest cavity. It keeps screaming, send saliva along with fluids from it’s body dripping onto me.

I muster everything I can into one strong kick, and the weakened monster falls back a few feet. I sit up and reach blindly behind me into the debris, trying to find something that gives way. I pull on a long broken piece of metal framing from the window and it comes loose, just in time for me to bring it down heavily onto the monster’s head, crushing it to the ground in front of me. I swing over and over, driven by fear, ensuring it’s dead.

Suddenly Abby’s strong grip closes around my arm, startling me so bad I nearly swing at her. “It’s done, it’s okay, we’re okay.” She grabs me by the shoulders, looking me over before pulling me in against her body. Her hand strokes the back on my head slowly as her low voice speaks calmly into my ear, “Breathe. Slow down and breathe. We’re both fine.”

I pull back and look at her before I remember, “Oh fuck, Connor!”

We run back out front of the house. “Still here!” he calls over. “I’m ok, but I can’t move.”

“He’s bleeding heavily.” I say, pointing towards the large puddle of blood pooling around his lower half.

“I’ll tourniquet his leg with my belt, then we can get this tree off him.” Abby says as she quickly unclips and pulls the belt out of her belt loops and runs around to inspect the damage. I crouch down, trying to give Connor some assurance while Abby assesses the damage. Then she stands back up and looks at me. “Vi, can I get your help with this quickly.”

“What’s the matter, not strong enough to lift a branch?” I chide her as I walk around Connor. Abby doesn’t say anything else, just nods down to his calf. Shit, he’s been bit. “Hey Connor? Can you feel your leg?” I ask him.

“No, not at all. Which is lucky because I’m pretty sure it’s broken.” He gives a shallow laugh as he looks back at us, and I realize he can’t see his leg beyond the branches. He has no idea.

Abby looks at me, then down at her pistol she’s silently pulled from the holster. She nods her head solemnly, and I know what happens next. I walk back around in front of Connor. He’s just a kid, can’t be more than 17. My heart sinks. But I don’t let it show on my face as I crouch down in front of him and hand him Abby’s belt. He doesn’t seem to put together that I’m handing him the belt instead of applying it to his leg. “This is probably gonna hurt, so bite on this and keep your eyes on me. On the count of three, ok?”

“Yeah, ok.” Connor says solemnly, and I see the fear growing in his eyes as he takes the belt, and folds it before placing it between his teeth.

“One.” I count out, and I see Abby silently take aim. I should move back, but that would raise his suspicion. I’m gonna have to wear this one.

“Two.” He takes a deep breath, his last breath and he doesn’t even know it.

“Thre-” I feel the splattering of Connor’s blood hit me before the gun shot stops ringing in my ears. A clean shot, through his back and into his heart. Abby looks at me, and I hold her gaze a moment, feeling Connor’s blood drip down my cheek before I can form words. “We killed him.”

“It was the right thing to do, he would’ve turned, he would’ve suffered.” She replies.

“No, we condemned him,” I stand up, looking down at his broken body, laying prone in the muddy forest ground. “He was just a teenager, he had no idea what he was doing out here and we left him alone out here, to die.” I’m getting worked up, my pulse is racing. “And for what?”

“He was a soldier,” Abby counters as she holsters her gun, trying to use rational to settle me. “He signed up for this when he enlisted. No one forced him to be here.”

“He signed up for training, which we didn’t give him. We were fucking around, we got cocky and gambled someone else’s life, and he lost.”

“Are you gonna do this every time someone dies?” Abby asks me, her voice rising.

“Do what?” I reply, matching her.

“Freak out. Break down. You have to keep your shit together whether we’re winning and losing. People are going to die. Ideally not us anytime soon. But if you keep getting worked up like this you’re gonna let your guard down when you can’t afford to.” She pauses, looking down at the ground before huffing. “I can’t lose you. Don’t you see that?”

My heart sinks, and I purse my lips together to fight the tears stinging at my eyes. I will not cry out here like a little bitch over someone I met this morning.

“I’m sorry.” I pause, waiting for the right thing to say to come to me. “I know, and I’m sorry. When we were new, I thought we were invincible. A bunch of gun wielding bad-asses running through the streets. How many times did we pull the trigger, not realizing what we were taking from someone when our bullet found its mark?”

“Enough times to keep us alive this long.” She replies, resting her hand on my shoulder. “It’s the crew over anyone else. That’s the only way we survive.”

“You’re right,” I give her a sad smile, “Us over everyone. May our survival be long.”

“And our deaths be swift.” She finishes, stepping closer wiping blood from my cheek. “And hopefully many many years from now.”

I look into her blue eyes, she’s so pretty. Even out here in this forest, her cheeks speckled with dirt and blood, she’s so pretty. She’d hate to hear it, but I can’t help but find her beautiful.

“We’re soldiers, Vi.” She says softly.

“We’re people, too.” I press a light kiss to her lips.

She kisses me back, but I can tell she’s intentionally holding back before she gets carried away. “We should bury him.” She says, looking down at Connor’s body. Oh yeah, there is that still hanging around.

I sigh, “I’ll check the garage for shovels?”

We dig a hole around the back of the house in what was once probably a very nice garden. “You don’t think he’s gonna like… wake up infected tomorrow and hunt us down do you?”

Abby gives me an exasperated look, “You’re not fucking serious.”

“Okay okay!” I hold my hands up, “It was just a question.” We both stare down at the unmarked grave for a moment, our tired breaths filling up the silence.

“Let’s keep moving, we need to find the other 3 and I wanna be back to the truck before the sun sets.” Abby directs me as she wipes her muddy hands off on her muddy pants, effectively achieving nothing given how dirty they are. I look back at the house one last time, considering running in and grabbing a bottle to bring back before deciding the world has given us enough signs that it wasn’t meant to be.

The other trainees made it back to the recon point in one piece. We check ourselves in back at the stadium for medical clearance, registering Connor as “casualty  - not infected” because it feels like the right thing to do. It’s technically true, peace of mind for the few who knew him, and less questions for us. I don’t know what they do with the information after the death roll is updated, but Abby told me to keep my mouth shut about it.

“Time to drink, you sad ass bitches!” Leah barges through the door to Abby’s room several hours later, where we’re revelling in our post patrol shower glory. Every shower after a patrol feels like the best shower you’ve ever had. Especially when it’s with your favourite big tall alpha girlfriend and she lets you go down on her until she’s uncontrollably shaking and moaning your name like desperate slut. The back of my head still aches from the grip she had on my hair.

Abby throws Leah a smirk from her desk chair where she was sat writing in her notebook, “We might never catch up to you at the rate you’re going.” Leah’s clearly a couple drinks deep.

“I’m willing to give it a shot.” I roll off Abby’s bed and stand up, taking the bottle of whatever Leah’s been drinking out of her hand and swigging it myself. I heave slightly as I taste the strong and very disgusting homemade mixture that no doubt came from Owen.

Leah laughs at me, “Yeah well, you guys didn’t pick up what you were supposed to pick up so now we all have to suffer.”

Abby catches my eye from across the room before turning back to her work, “I’ll catch up with you guys later. Don’t wait up.” We kept the details of what happened out there to a vague minimum. We didn’t find the house Manny told us about before we heard the blast, and when we got to Connor he was already dead with mortal wounds. Then we headed back.

“Whatever you say, Abby Allen Poe.” Leah jests and turns to me, “what does she even write in that book?”

“Hmmm,” I bite my finger, pretending to think, “probably cataloging all the ways she makes me cum in order of most to least efficient.” Leah scoffs as she follows me on my way out the door, and I hear Abby chuckle in the background. I laugh as I shove Leah ahead by her shoulder,“I’m kidding, it’s probably just like plans for her next workout or some shit.” But I realize I actually have no idea.

After several drinks with our friends, we decide to call it a night, and I follow Abby back up to her room after ensuring Manny would be otherwise occupied for the evening with one of the weather girls from up the mountain again. He assured us he would be gone for hours before taking off with her to who knows where.

I fumble a little in the closet as I strip out of my pants and into a pair of undies and one of Abby’s big t shirts. When I turn around, Abby’s back at her desk again, flipping through pages of her notebook, and I can’t stand the not knowing anymore.

“So… What do you write in your notebook?” I brace my hands against her desk, leaning down towards her

She laughs but keeps her eyes on her writing, “you’ve never asked before.”

“Well… I’m asking now.” I nudge her head with mine.

“Stuff about us. About you.” She looks up at me from her seat in her chair, “I make playlists sometimes when I hear new songs. Just…. Stuff I wanna remember, stuff I like to think about.”

“What are you thinking about now?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper as my lips hover even closer to hers.

“That I heard the perfect song in the gym the other day for what I’m about to do to you” She stands up, hooking her arms behind my knees and carrying me against her, “and I’m so happy I wrote it down so I didn’t forget.”

I scoff and giggle as she tosses me down onto the bed. She pulls the curtains nearest her bed closed to conceal us and flicks through her music player before plugging it in.

I could eat that girl for lunch
Yeah, she dances on my tongue
Tastes like she might be the one

“Well you better get to it…” I trail off as I lean back onto her bed, letting my head hang backwards and she kisses down my throat, biting at the sensitive skin and making me moan. The anticipation sends a shiver down my spine, right into my core and my exhale a shaky breath.

And I could never get enough
I could buy her so much stuff
It's a craving, not a crush

Abby covers my mouth with her hand, leaning down to whisper in my ear “Keep your cocky mouth shut, I’ve been thinking about fucking you to this song for days, and I plan to enjoy every second of it.” She bites my earlobe, and I whimper at the orgasmic pain, “So don’t rush me.”

Baby, I think you were made for me
Somebody write down the recipe
Been tryin' hard not to overeat
You're just so sweet

And I don’t rush her, not to the first or second or even third time she makes me orgasm. Not when she holds me down, making me squirm beneath her. Not when her tongue dives in and out of me and I’m begging for more. And I certainly don’t rush her when she finally lets me have a turn tasting her, teasing her, feeling her tight grip on me as I bring her close to the edge but don’t let her cum until I’m ready to go, so we can cum together.