#wholesome Blacksteel lovin'

[johannstutt413]

(requested by mathmaticalknight; a response to this)

It was a Friday afternoon, and as usual, Liskarm was reviewing her notes from her most recent training sessions (in this case, with Vanilla and Beagle) when a thought popped into her head, seemingly from nowhere. ‘What? Why would she be missing me right now? I just saw her an hour ago for lunch...’ Still the thought refused to leave her head, and so she pulled out her phone and called her.

“Hey!” The Vulpo picked up before the first ring. “I was just thinking about you~ Something up?”

“No, I don’t think so. Thinking of me?”

Franka’s eye-roll was almost audible; Liz just took it for granted that it occurred. “Obviously. What else would I be thinking about on a Friday afternoon, alone, in our room waiting for you to come home?”

“You’re home already?” Liskarm looked at the time. “...I’m a bit late, aren’t I?”

“I thought you might be busy, but I do appreciate you calling to tell me for certain. You’ll be home soon, right?” There was hope in that question.

Hope the Vouivre wasn’t about to dash. “You know it. Hey, let’s order in tonight. My treat.”

“Oh? Special occasion?” She let a teasing giggle escape. “I suppose it is, since you’re going to be home before 5 for a change.”

“Yeah...Love you.” Liz hung up after that.

The Vulpo tossed her phone in front of her on the bed, thought better of it, and pulled open the messages she’d been scrolling through while she waited. ‘Love you, too...She seemed pretty frazzled just now. What was she working on today, I wonder? She’s always going on about how much training work she has to do, but is she really that busy? Hmm...Let’s save the itching powder prank for another night.’

About fifteen minutes later, there was the sound of a key turning in the front door and footsteps on the floor. Liskarm was home.

“I’m home.” The words carried to Franka in the bedroom, but they were really meant more for herself than anyone else. “Should probably order dinner. Veggie, no cabbage, plenty of protein-”

“Welcome back!” The Vulpo leapt out of the bedroom, one slipper and a nightgown on; she’d debated getting dressed and had gotten about halfway through the first round of argument when she’d heard the door.

Liz caught her and let momentum carry her through a corner-turn. “Thanks. How was your day?”

“Pretty normal - did what I needed to, left what I didn’t for tomorrow, thought of a couple ways to mess with you later in the week.” She pulled from their embrace enough to look the Vouivre in the eye. “Is everything alright? Not that I mind, but normally you’re not so excited to see me.”

“I just missed you, is all. Need to keep a better eye on the clock while I’m at my desk.” Sparks flew from her horns as she decided to make up for lost time.

This was starting to get uncanny...Of course, Frankie was still enjoying it, but there was something about this that bothered her. A few minutes later, flat on her back on the couch, she reluctantly declared “cabbage patch” to get Liskarm’s attention. “You can tell me, whatever it is, you know.”

“Whatever what is?” A few seconds later, “You mean- ohhhh. I dunno; I was sitting at my desk, doing lesson prep, and I realized I wanted to be here rather than there. Thought you might be missing me or something.”

“I mean, always, but I did see you at lunch...Hmm. When was that, again? About an hour ago?”

She shrugged. “I kinda lost track of time on my way back, too.”

“You really would expect we’d be better at this sort of thing after all these years.” The Vulpo shook her head. “Well, around then, I had kind of a weird thought, too…We’re off the market, right?”

“If you’re talking about the same market I’m thinking of, yeah; there’s not a single person outside of this room I’d want to spend my nights with. Was that what I was feeling?” A new electric charge was beginning to build, slowly spreading through the room.

Franka grabbed the anti-static pillow from behind her head and rubbed it across Liskarm’s horns, and the atmosphere returned to normal. “Maybe. You know, when I was on that prank strike, I found this book on multiple universe theory, and it might sort of explain what happened.”

“Multiple universe theory?” The Vouivre smirked. “You really spend that much of your day thinking of how to mess with me, don’t you?”

“Hey, I’ve cut down...I’m still keeping up with my Lungmen, at least. Anyway, one of the things it talked about was how sometimes, if one of our universes felt something really strongly, we might feel something that, too and not know it was actually another one of us that felt it more.”

Liz stared at her blankly. “That makes no sense.”

“Well, I mean, do you have another explanation for why you thought I might be missing you like that, or why I suddenly thought you might want to start seeing Leizi?”

“Leizi?...Who’s that again?” It rang a bell, but not strongly. “Doesn’t sound like someone I’d want to be with, with a name like that.”

The Vulpo sighed in relief. “Well, that definitely answers that question. I wasn’t even sure who she was until I looked her up in the records.”

“Huh. Maybe you’re right, then. I’m not sure it matters that much, though.”

“Yeah, not really.” Frankie grabbed Liz by the horns and pulled her towards her face. “I can’t imagine us not being together, in this or any other universe.”

She smiled. “Neither can I,” Liskarm agreed before stealing a kiss and picking up where she’d left off. Whatever any other Liskarm across time and space was feeling, this love was all hers.