Chapter Text
It wasn’t until three days later that Carmilla saw Laura again. She had just finished watching the sun set below the horizon and the stars begin to settle into the now darkening sky. All the while Laura was secretly working about in the broody vampire’s apartment.
Laura’s head shot up from where she was lighting the final candle upon hearing the slight creaking of the metal staircase echoing in the next room. Leather boots. Plain black t-shirt. Ripped jeans. The younger girl could picture every aspect of Carmilla’s outfit in her mind long before the broody vampire even came into her view.
Carmilla’s eyes widened the second her gaze drifted to the other room alerting her to someone’s presence. She began to suspect the worst when honey brown hair came into her line of sight and immediately let her guard down. Laura. Despite the knowledge of who the intruder was she remained standing at the bottom of the staircase in the midst of her bedroom. How had Laura gotten into the locked apartment? Why didn’t Carmilla’s vampiric hearing pick up on the younger girl’s presence? She wasn’t exactly quiet and even then Carmilla still should have been able to hear...something. But nothing but the current, and slightly breathtaking, sight before her alerted her of a presence in her apartment. Slowly Carmilla shook out of her daze and walked into the other room.
Her apartment was an entirely open space aside from the bedroom and bathroom. Everything else was just one big open room with all the “necessary” furniture. “Necessary” meaning the minimal amount that Carmilla needed to have to appear seemingly normal to anyone else’s eye. Carmilla’s gaze dragged across the walls of her apartment that is now adorned with fairy lights from one wall to the other. Her apartment was entirely dark aside from the fairy lights and the mass assortment of candles spread throughout the space. Her eyes continued to scan the walls until they finally settled on a beaming and heart stopping smile, if she had a beating heart that is.
Laura was standing in the middle of the kitchen area holding firmly onto two steaming mugs of what she could only assume was hot chocolate. She looked absolutely stunning in an oversized sweater that came mid way down her thighs and pajama shorts that gave off a very comfy vibe. It was only a bonus that they were barely long enough to poke out past the sweater making it seem like she wasn’t wearing them at all. Carmilla definitely couldn’t complain about all of this. Carmilla’s breath hitched. Sure, breathing wasn’t exactly necessary for her but it was a deeply ingrained habit that would never really go away. Laura obviously picked up on this as her smile grew into a knowing smirk.
“How did you pull this off?” Carmilla asked returning with a smirk of her own.
“Very quickly, thoroughly, and quietly,” Laura stated simply. “Easier than it sounds. But super speed is a definitely a bonus.”
“Indeed it is,” Carmilla quipped from where she stood in the middle of her apartment. Laura smiled before approaching the other girl and handing off the mug with a red sugar skull on it. Carmilla acknowledged the design before glancing over to the design on Laura’s mug which was an outline of a green buddha. She shrugged in response to the somewhat fitting mugs choosing not to make some clever joke about them.
Laura moved towards the leather couch before plopping herself rather ungracefully in the middle somehow avoiding spilling her cocoa. Carmilla let out a short laugh at the sight before very gracefully lowering herself onto the couch as well. The younger girl blushed in reflex to her embarrassment. She didn’t think it would be so ungraceful in her head or that Carmilla would actually be paying attention to her.
“So, do you have a plan for the night, cupcake?”
“Oh. Actually I do,” Laura beams jumping up from the couch. Carmilla watches as she moves towards the Xbox that was set up to her TV.
“And the plan is…” Carmilla drifts off.
“Movies. Some old, some new. Some foreign, some not,” Laura says offhandedly. She watches as the younger girl throws herself back onto the couch and begins to navigate to Netflix. “Let’s start off with something foreign. Oh, this one,” Laura chirps as she hits play on “Let the Right One In.”
“Ugh.”
“It’s a great film, Carm, and you know it. Don’t complain.”
“Fine,” Carmilla huffs. Honestly she’s just being difficult. It is a good film but that doesn’t change the fact that she hates how the vampire is portrayed. The main character is shown to have very little self control and can get a bit graphic throughout the movie. Carmilla never really was one for out of control vamps let alone willingly watching the fictional portrayal of one.
/ /
“Do you want to pick the next movie?” Laura asked after the ending credits to the original “Escape to Witch Mountain” played in the background.
Carmilla shrugged in response, “Nah.”
“Okay, don’t complain about my choices then,” Laura stated because for the last three movies that’s all Carmilla did while Netflix loaded up her next choice.
The younger girl navigated the controller through a list of movies until she finally found the one she was looking for. “The Four-Faced Liar” was a movie that Laura had found a few months before meeting Carmilla and it was honestly one of her favorites. She’s seen it a grand total of 17 times since then and can never really get enough of it. She figured that maybe, just maybe, it could become a movie that Carmilla likes too. After all, it did have quite a few references to Wuthering Heights and she knew the broody vampire had a thing for Emily Bronte.
/ /
“...Trip just saved my ass, okay? And that’s what girls want. They want their schmuck of a Healthcliff to come in from nowhere and ‘Linton’ them.”
“Are you making casual “Wuthering Heights” references?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s weird.”
“I can be both, I can be. I can be the unreliable douche nozzle who grabs her ass in public and wears work boots, but I can also be the one who holds doors for her and tucks her in at night and buys her fucking gerber daisies for no goddamn reason!”
“Did you pick that movie because of all the “Wuthering Heights” references?” Carmilla asked as the credits began to roll.
“Only partially because I know you won’t admit it but you do have a thing for Emily Bronte,” Laura responded without looking over to Carmilla. She began to navigate to the next movie she wanted to watch knowing, just knowing, that Carmilla was biting her lip in attempts of holding back her smirk.
/ /
“These puns are killing me,” Carmilla husked throwing her head back onto the leather couch in frustration. She’d never admit it but she was enjoying this movie but she had to complain about the amount of puns in it.
“You know you love it,” Laura shot back without taking her eyes off the screen.
“Maybe,” Carmilla mumbled under her breath.
“I knew you’d like it,” Laura affirmed as she playfully hit the other girl’s arm.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, cupcake.”
/ /
“Just blow up the damn White House! I don’t get it,” Carmilla yelled in frustration.
“Carm!”
“What? Most of the important people are dead. It’s filled with terrorists with access to whatever that could threaten the lives of so many innocent people. Just blow it up and look at that; problem solved,” Carmilla reasoned. Laura knew that she was right so she just didn’t reply. “See! You know I’m right too. I can’t stand this movie. It’s so frustrating.”
“All right. I’ll admit that it is kind of frustrating but we have to finish it.” Laura didn’t even bother to look over as Carmilla rolled her eyes but complied.
/ /
Laura opened her eyes slowly adjusting to the light that was beginning to flood in through the windows. Based on Laura’s estimation it was about 5 am and the sun was just beginning to rise. She realize that they must have fallen asleep somewhere in the midst of watching “Geek Charming”. They were splayed across each other rather ungracefully but clearly it was comfortable enough for them both to fall asleep in that position. That or they were both just really tired. She sat unmoving for several minutes debating on how she was going to reach the controller without disturbing the other girl but after several poor attempts realized it was not a possible task.
“Hey, Carm?” Laura nudged.
“Hm?” Carmilla mumbled in reply to the movement.
“Can you maybe...uh move?”
Carmilla’s brown eyes shot open in realization of the position they were in. She quickly pushed herself off the majority of the younger girl before pushing back her hair in that way that makes Laura forget the entire reason she had her move in the first place.
“Don’t worry about it, Carm. I just wanted to turn the TV off but couldn’t exactly get my arms out from under you,” Laura giggled despite Carmilla’s serious look that she crossed a line she didn’t know they had. “Are we okay again?”
Carmilla looked over to her and gave her a gentle smile but otherwise didn’t reply right away. There was several moments of mildly uncomfortable silence before the older girl finally replied. “Yeah, we’re okay.”
“Does that mean I can kiss you?” Laura asked with an expectant smile.
“Of course,” Carmilla smirked. Laura’s smile only grew before she started to lean closer to the older girl when all of a sudden Carmilla saw panic flash before her eyes. “It’s okay, cupcake-”
“No, wait.”
“What’s going-” Carmilla’s voice drifted as her ears caught on to what made Laura panic. She looked over to her in confirmation.
“Someone’s on the roof.”