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zillyeh · 1 year ago

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Sticking Point

This is a REALLY old drabble that I never intended on posting. I edited dialogue tags a little but not much else. This takes place around a year or two before where they are now, ie they're not living together in this nor are they together in an official capacity. Also I hadn't given Zippie his backup pronouns yet so entirely she/her drabble be upon ye. Content warning? In order to get Zippie lore you must endure 15 seconds of boob grabbing, hope you understand. Other suggestive conversation as well but nothing explicit. Characters: Zippie, Bessba

Zipper had always had good control of her nerves. She had to, considering the usual, sparking consequences if she didn't.

Unfortunately, tonight was the night she unraveled. On purpose, even. The edges of her façade frayed with every step up to Bessba's apartment. The aggressive crinkling of the plastic under her arm certainly didn't help. Flowers. Roses. They're too much. What had she been thinking getting this many? In Bess' colors too?

Running back downstairs was a tempting option, one she seriously considered until she landed in front of Bess' door.

"Oh fuck me," she mumbled sliding her hand over her already slicked back hair. She knocked hard three times, wondering if Bess could even hear that. Maybe flowers weren't enough. Maybe she should have brought chocolate. Or pickles.

"Coming!!" She heard muffled and far away from behind the door. Zippie gripped the rose stems tighter, her breathing nearly stopped in her chest. Bess… She'd finally truly gotten over hating what hearing her voice did to her, and now just ached to hear more of it.

In a hasty motion she hid the pink and orange bouquet behind her back, just as the door swung in.

Bess was makeupless- white lashes and brows stark against her skin- and very comfortable looking. Shorts short enough to be swallowed up by the shirt she wore- which, Zippie realized with a thud of her heart- was hers.

"Zippie!" She grinned, stepping back inside, but promptly covering her face with a hand. "Oh my godd if I knew you were coming I would have actually gotten dressed."

"It's fine," Zippie said, shutting and locking the door behind her with one hand. "I like you in my clothes."

A touch of pink rose to Bessba's cheeks. She made as if she were going to defend herself, but stopped.

"Are… those for me?" she asked, eying the roses in her hand. Zippie looked away, offering them less ceremoniously than she'd intended to.

"Uh, yeah. I saw them and thought of you." Not entirely untrue, but she had made sure that this bouquet specifically was just the right colors.

Bess' flush deepened when she took them, a heart wrenching little smile on her face when she looked from them to Zippie.

"Well, um. Thanks," she said, looking somewhat expectantly at Zippie.

"Oh, right," she said after a beat. She unhooked the mask from behind her ears and tucked it in her pocket. She kicked off her boots at Bess' door as well.

"There you are!" A real grin spread across Bess' face again. She leaned and kissed Zippie on the marred cheek. Anything she had to say was lost to the warmth that rushed to her face.

Bessba laced her fingers through Zippie's, dragging her through the semi open plan apartment to the kitchen. The excitement pouring through her palm was almost overwhelming.

"So what brings you around? You've been, like, hard to get ahold of." Bess ducked under the sink counter, leaving her flowers on top.

"Oh y’know. I was in the neighborhood." Zippie shrugged, willing her throat to be less dry. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Omg no, of course not." Bess thunked a pretty pink vase up on the counter, standing up. "Like, you're always allowed to drop in!" As she spoke, she saw to moving her flowers to a nicer home to slowly die in. "These are super pretty by the way."

"I knew they reminded me of you for a reason," Zippie said, a little smile pulling at her mouth. She stepped to Bessba's side, putting an arm around her waist. She pecked her on the cool cheek, doing it again when she turned pink.

"How've you been, Bess?" she murmured, watching as Bess shakily fixed her arrangement in the vase. "I am sorry. I've been busy."

"It's- I mean, I'm fine," she stammered, leaning into Zippie's touch. "I missed you. A little."

"I missed you too," Zippie hummed, somewhat into her gills. "I've been… Thinking about things, Bessie." She hesitated before continuing.

"...Us."

Bessba stiffened under her touch, turning her head so she could look at her.

"Really?" she asked, her voice uneven. Zippie could feel her pulse quicken, and a lot of emotions radiate off of her at once.

"Mhm. I… want… I wanna make us work, Bess."

"Zippie, I-"

"But."

"...But."

"I- Bess I need you to know who I am. Was."

"...Okay."

Zippie shifted, taking both of Bessba's hands in hers. Zippie couldn't quite meet Bess' big, confused eyes. Zippie pulled her back, leading her across the room to Bess' couch before she said anything else. Bessba allowed herself to be lead and sat down.

Zippie sighed, sitting cross legged on the cushion next to her. Bess watched expectantly as Zippie plucked the grey contacts out of her eyes, placing them in their little case.

"That's better," she said, though she sounded unsure if it was. Zippie already felt more exposed than she wanted to be tonight, but less than she was going to be.

Far, far less.

"You know my name's not really Zipper." She started, taking Bessba's hand again.

"Um, I kind of thought so," Bessba nodded, watching Zippie play with her fingers. "But it… is? Like… to most of us."

"I know. I want to keep it that way, but… I want you to know."

Bessba paused and pursed her lips, looking at Zippie carefully.

"Does anyone else…"

"Amy met me before I took on Zipper," Zippie sighed. "So did Zeke. But, uh, nobody else alive." Bess nodded.

"My name is- I'm Zvejia," Zippie said slowly, her own name foreign but relieving on her tongue. "Gozjam."

"Z-Zvejia Gozjam." Bess repeated, struggling a bit on pronunciation. A strange sort of chill shot through Zippie when she said it.

"I like it," she said, scooting slightly closer. "Do… you want me to call you Zvejia when we're, like, alone..?"

"Please," Zvejia said, almost aching to hear her say it again. "I'm… uh… not from the city. I'm from the woods. The swamp."

"Ohh like me!"

"Too much like you," Zvejia sighed, running her thumb over the botched stitch marks on her cheeks.

"Huh?" Bess tilted her head, studying Zippie carefully. Then, after a moment, she clapped a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my god no way."

"Mm," Zvejia hummed. She took Bessba’s other hand, gently leading it to her rough cheek. Bess hesitated, but ran her cool fingers against the raised scarring. She traced the X shape leading from near her ears to her lips, following where those lines extended to her chin.

“All this…”

“I… got the fins on my face dealt with when I was real young. Too young. Did it myself, actually,” Zippie said, tentatively leaning into her touch. Bessba wordlessly followed the line of her jaw to her throat. Zippie stopped her before she could get too far down.

“That one actually was a botched throat slitting, sweetheart.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Bessba scooched closer putting her hand back onto Zippie’s cheek.

“So…”

“So… I…” Zvejia took a shaky breath, lacing her fingers through Bessba’s. “I need a second. Hang on.” Her breathing was starting to feel shallower as her ‘second’ quickly turned to more of a ‘minute.’

“Zip- Zvejia?” Bessba asked, alarmed. With her hand still on her face, Zippie could feel her concern grinding against her own bubbling panic attack. She pulled back, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. Bess was still close enough to feel her… hurt? about being pushed away. It was under swirling layers of confusion, so it was hard to tell.

"Nnh, I'm sorry. Hang on. Hang on."

Bess watched Zvejia try to settle her own breathing. Touching her unprompted was out of the question, so was interrupting her breathing pace, so Bess felt frustratingly useless like this. Zippie’s wrist rivets sparked green a few times before the rise and fall of her chest evened out.

"My powers…" Zippie sighed with her head still in her hands after a moment. "When you touch me like that I feel… things."

"...Things?" Bess tilted her head, daring to scoot a little closer now. Zippie nodded and lay her hand over Bess'.

"Aside from the regular things you make me feel… Your feelings."

"My- oh. Oh. Is- oh snakes that's embarrassing. You can... like, read minds?"

"No. Just… emotional… sparks. It's loudest when I'm skin to skin. With you, especially." Bess made a cute little ‘hm’ and put her other hand over Zippie's.

"What am I feeling right now?" she asked, staring at her intently. Zvejia snorted and laced their fingers together.

"...Curious. Surprised..? Something else... but that could just be me."

Bessba hummed, carefully placing her free hand back on Zvejia's cheek. Zvejia shivered, but didn’t look away from her or the big pink eyes taking in her features.

"What about now?" Bessba breathed, holding herself mere inches from her face. Even if Zippie couldn’t feel the heartache firing off her fingers and mixing with her own, it was impossible not to see it in her eyes anyway.

“Bess…” she sighed, pressing her forehead against Bessba’s. “I’m sorry. I love you.”

“I love you too, Z- Zvejia.” Bessba murmured. Her gills fluttered and she leaned in, kissing Zippie in a way she never quite had the opportunity to before. Zvejia pulled her closer with an arm around her waist, pulling her up onto her lap.

“I wasn’t done,” she breathed against her neck. Bessba rested her cheek against Zvejia’s forehead.

“You don’t have to talk about it.” Bess softly ran her hand along the scars on her cheeks.

“But I want to.” Zvejia grumbled, tapping her fingers against the tattoo on Bessba’s upper thigh. “I don’t think we… I can do this until I do. And its- I can’t. Not without... Ugh.”

“Shhh, we have time, baby,” Bess cooed, her voice almost more soothing than her touch. Zippie flushed at the pet name, her foundationless cheeks giving her away in an instant. Bessba grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Stay the rest of the day?” she offered when Zvejia didn’t respond. “We can work up to the next part?”

Zvejia hummed, lacing her fingers back through Bessba’s.

“I guess…” she said, leaning back slightly to look at her better. “What do we do until then, hm sweetheart?”

The sound of Zvejia’s gravelly voice calling her sweetheart turned Bessba pink. The spark of her emotions was… complex to say the least.

“Oh I felt that one, babygirl,” Zvejia said with a crooked smirk.

“Shut uuup,” Bess huffed, turning away. Zvejia tilted her face back towards her, nearly touching her lips with her own.

“Hmm, no. You’re cute when you’re embarrassed,” she said, keeping her voice in that same low purr.

“Ugh you’re so annoying,” Bessba said, getting her arms comfortable around Zippie’s shoulders before kissing her again. Zippie grinned into their kiss, putting her hands up Bessba’s shirt to get a good hold on her waist.

“Wait.”

“Hm?” Zvejia paused, drumming her fingers on her back. “What’s up?”

“If... you can feel what I feel… does me feeling… uh the way you make me feel make you feel… like that too?”

“Bess... what?”

Bessba flushed, flustered through the tips of Zippie’s fingers.

“I- y’know, like. If I’m all hot for you does it… do anything for you if you can feel that?”

Zvejia snorted, which turned into a wheezy laugh after a few seconds.

“Hey, don’t laugh at me!” Bess protested, even though Zippie’s laugh was close to becoming contagious.

“It’s a funny question, Bessie,” she grinned, pecking her on the lips. “Mmm as for the answer… Sort of. You do somethin’ else entirely to me as it is, princess. Knowin’ it’s me who gets you all hot and bothered would do a lot for me even if I couldn’t feel it.” Zvejia moved her hand up her shirt, grabbing one of Bessba’s braless boobs. Bess gasped when she rolled the bar in her nipple with her thumb.

“Oh actually yeah that does something for me now that i think about it.” Zippie said through a grin. “Go figure.”

“Oh my god you are like actually the worst.” Bess half moaned.

“Want me to stop?” Zippie offered, knowing the answer.

“Nnnh keep touching me. Kiss me again too while you’re at it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Zvejia did as requested, running her other fingers across Bessba’s gills when she leaned back up to Bess’ face. Bess shivered. She leaned into Zvejia’s kiss, her touch. After a moment, she shifted in her lap, pulling her shirt up over her head. Zippie adjusted so Bess could better straddle her.

“Aw, aren’t you gonna get cold, princess?” She teased as Bess struggled to get the collar around her horns.

“Um, no. That’s what you’re here for.” Zippie laughed and Bess threw her shirt behind the couch.

“Yeah, Bess?” Zippie asked with a grin. Bessba nodded and pressed herself up against her. Zvejia ran her knuckles up Bess’ back.

“Mhmm. You wouldn’t let me freeze, would you Zvejia?” She asked with a little pout. Zvejia’s smile faltered a little bit, making Bessba pause.

“Bad?” she asked, concerned once again. “If Zvejia’s too weird-”

“It’s not that Bessie,” Zvejia sighed, “I like hearing it, especially from you, it’s… I don’t even know what it is. There’s something wrong with me.”

“Right. Um. I can… put my shirt back on then.”

“I mean-”

“I am nooot sitting here with my tits out if you’re not doing anything with them.” Bessba huffed, sitting up on her lap.

“What if I need a stress ball or two? I'm very fragile right now.” Bessba gave her a look. “Alright, alright, actually, I have a better idea. Hop off for a second hon.” Bess backed off back to her side of the couch. Zvejia sat up and pulled off her own shirt, looking almost more clothed with how much of her skin was covered in ink. She tossed it at Bess, then rubbed her own neck.

“There we go. Two birds. Here-” Zvejia sighed shakily and turned her back to Bessba, crossing her legs under her. In the busyness of the tattoos that swirled around her shoulders, the raised rivets that followed the lines of her shoulder blades twinkled in Bess’ apartment lights.

“I want… you to touch my back.” She said, sounding unsure of that herself. She pulled her hair over over her shoulder as Bess got dressed.

“I- Zippie?” Bess sounded somewhat alarmed. “Are- are you sure? I thought-”

“Be gentle with me, Bess,” she sighed. “But yes.”

Bessba cautiously moved forward, adjusting her new shirt as she did so. Her fingers found the raised scarring around one of those rivets- nearly invisible in the intricate snake patterning that sat there.

“My… powers didn’t used to be like this,” Zippie said, tensing up as Bessba explored further. She let off feeling her do so, but kept her fingers on her back. “But I wanted to be stronger. So we joined a cult.”

Bess paused for a moment, but let Zvejia continue.

“There was this guy. Purple. Powerful. Magic is the only way to describe what he could do. I wanted that. To be able to protect myself and-”

Zvejia took a deep breath, touching her fingers to her temples.

“It started off as normal as cult shit gets. ‘I am God and I can give you my blessing’ blah blah blah. ‘Move into our little religious compound so we can keep you safe and under our eye.’ Y’know. Normal. We were skeptical, me not nearly enough, but it was… fine for the most part.

“He saw something in us. And a few others. I’m not sure how many of us he brought to the labs, but there were enough.”

Bessba traced between her rivets, gentle enough to make Zippie shiver, but rough enough to keep her mind in Bessba’s apartment. For the most part.

“I was eager at that point. So was… she… But it could have been for my sake. It probably was.” Zvejia sniffed, and let out a shaky breath.

“The shit he and his warden did to us… I got what I fuckin wanted, but I died for it. My lusus did. And for that I… got plugged into the facility’s power grid.”

“Oh- Zippie no-”

“Mm.” Zvejia shifted slightly, resting her head on the arm of the couch. Bess ran her thumb over one of her rivets, making Zvejia shiver.

“I… got out… Eventually…”

“Not... we?”

“I hate that you’re observant when you want to be,” Zvejia grumbled. “Not we.”

Bessba waited for a moment, speaking again when Zvejia wouldn’t.

“Was it… Endara?” She asked quietly, trailing her fingers across the arm that held that same name. Zvejia clenched her fist and nodded.

“It was her idea to get out of there. They did shit to her too, different, but… I just… we weren't supposed to make it. I don’t know how I did. We overloaded the fucking place and blew a crater into Delhon but I got out without a scratch on me somehow.

“Well... No new scratches, anyway.” Zvejia sighed and leaned into Bessba’s touch feeling… almost soothed by it.

“I’m… sorry, Zee,” Bess said softly, pressing a kiss between her shoulders. Then another one, trailing up between each rivet.

“It’s not your fault.” Zvejia shivered against her lips. “But that’s… Mostly it. I- obviously there’s more, but… I mean…”

“Can I ask you something, Zvejia?” Bess asked, shifting back as Zvejia started to sit back up.

“Go ahead, darlin'.”

“How old are you?”

Zvejia smiled an almost sad sort of smile.

“Thirty… six I think. I spent a lot of time down there so I don’t really remember. Why?”

“Ohhh so you’re, like, oollld,” Bess teased, settling back in against Zvejia’s bare chest. She snorted and flicked at one of Bessba’s fins.

“Ten sweeps ain’t mean that much at your age, do they Bess?” She asked, somewhat amused. Bess stuck her tongue out, tracing the lightning on Zippie’s chest.

“Maybe I think old women are hot,” Bessba said with confidence. Zvejia laughed and squeezed her closer, giving her a kiss on her forehead.

“Shut up. I- you know it feels… better getting that much off my chest.” Zvejia paused for a moment, looking into Bessba’s big pink eyes. She was unsure if the overwhelming affection she was feeling was from the sparse contact Bess was making with her bare skin, or if it was just… Bessba. The affect she had on her and her impeccable nerves. It could be neither. Both. Something divine. Either way, she was positive of at least one thing:

“I want you to be mine,” she murmured.

“I always have been,” Bess whispered back.

“I love you Bessba. I’m- in love with you. ” Zvejia pulled Bess’ face closer, feeling her own cheeks warm at her earnestness. “I should have done this sooner.”

“I get why you couldn’t,” Bess sniffed, “I’m, like, super in love with you too.”

Zvejia kissed her, softer than Zippie tended to be, even with Bess. She felt Bessba sigh, lazily wrapping her arms around her neck.

“Anything you want, Bessba.” Zippie murmured. “I will do anything you want me to, for as long as I can.”

“...Does that mean I can have the-”

“No it does not. Now c’mere.”

Zvejia kissed her again, this time taking Bessba's face between her palms.

#Zilly drabbles #Zippie tag #Bessba tag #Zipper Anthem #Bessba Vionyi #Thundersnow #the way i describe zippies voice in this is so sexy i might pass away #remembers how i made her sound like: oh shes HOT hot

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