Chapter Text
“Four gin and tonics, please.”
“Really, Cupcake? You sure you don’t want something a little more…” The bartender, Vi, trails off for a moment, letting her eyes trace slowly up and down Caitlyn’s figure. “Fruity?”
Caitlyn rolls her eyes despite the flush that spreads to her cheeks. “If the fruity thing you’re about to recommend is you then I suggest you keep it to yourself. Four gin and tonics, please.”
Vi just grins at her, unperturbed. “Coming right up,” she says with a wink, turning to prepare the requested drinks. Caitlyn watches her for a moment, considering, before she calls out again.
“Add a little lime to one of those, will you?”
Vi barks out a laugh and complies, adding a slice of lime onto the rim of one of the drinks before sliding all four of them across the counter to rest in front of Caitlyn. “Will that be all for you?” Vi asks, her mockingly polite tone tempting Caitlyn to roll her eyes again.
“For now,” Caitlyn replies, scooping up all the drinks and attempting to arrange them for safe travel.
“Need any help with that?” Vi asks, looking amused.
“I’ve got it,” Caitlyn insists. She gets the drinks settled and raises an eyebrow at the bartender as if to say see. Vi raises her hands in surrender and turns to help someone else at the counter.
Caitlyn carefully makes her way back to her table where her friends are waiting, dodging pool sticks and drunk patrons having a good time as she goes. Jayce immediately stands up to help, relieving her of two precariously perched glasses. Caitlyn smiles gratefully at him and settles in her seat next to Viktor, sliding him the other drink in her hand. “Well,” Caitlyn says, raising her glass and looking at her friends. They all raise their own drinks in turn, even Mel, although it’s with a fond shake of her head. “Here’s to the successful end to another semester, and only one more to go.”
They all drink to the toast and the conversation turns toward what their plans are for their semester break. Jayce and his mother are visiting family from out of the country. Viktor, of course, plans to lock himself away in a lab, and Mel says something about visiting her brother.
Caitlyn distantly listens to the conversation, her eyes roaming around the bar. The four of them have been coming to The Last Drop for years now, though Caitlyn has only been getting actual drinks here since she became legal about year ago. It’s not the nicest bar in town, nor is the rattiest, settling somewhere in the middle that makes it kind of perfect for their little group.
It's the kind of place that makes Caitlyn’s mom roll her eyes whenever Caitlyn mentions going out to it, which makes the appeal of it that much better.
Subconsciously, Caitlyn lets her eyes drift over to where Vi is working at the bar; wiping the counter, pouring drinks, occasionally harassing some of the regulars that she knows well. To be quiet honest, everything she does is attractive, Caitlyn is not too proud to admit, and every single time Vi has flirted with her over the year that she’s been working there has been enough to fluster her in the tiniest bit- that much she is too proud to admit.
It would be incredibly easy to give in to Vi’s flirtations, even if they are said in a joking manner. Caitlyn has no doubt that they could hook up for one night and that Vi would still pour her drinks with an easy smile and eye roll-worthy pickup line.
The only complication is the fact that Vi is… trouble, to say the least.
There were all kinds of rumors that swirled around the enigma that was Vi the bartender. Some say that she was an orphan and that her parents were killed in some factory explosion. Some say that she’s an orphan and she was the one that set off the explosion that killed them. Others claim that she’s done multiple years in prison, and that she beats up people on the street just for the hell of it.
There are other, more salacious rumors as well, but Caitlyn usually ducks her head down and walks away before anyone can get into them.
However true the rumors are, it’s obvious that Vi is not really the kind of person Caitlyn can see herself becoming entangled with.
“Cait?”
Caitlyn rips her eyes away from the bar and focuses back on her friends, all of which are staring at her with a mixture of concern and amusement.
“You okay?” Jayce asks, his face more on the concerned end of the spectrum.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I got… distracted,” Caitlyn says, waving a hand dismissively. “What were we talking about?”
“We were just wondering what you were doing over the break,” Jayce replies, relaxing back in his seat. He throws an arm around Mel and Caitlyn feels Viktor stiffen beside her.
“Oh.” Caitlyn shifts in her seat and twists her glass on the table. “That. Um, nothing interesting, really. My parents are throwing their usual Christmas party- which, you are all invited to, by the way.” She gives each of them a pointed look as if to say this is not an invitation, it’s a demand; you must come and continues. “I’ll probably spend most of the break hiding away in my room, as always. You know me, I’m never really one for spontaneity.”
Mel shoots her a wry grin. “We are aware, yes.” Jayce snickers into his drink beside her.
Caitlyn’s brow wrinkles at the obvious ribbing. “Wait a minute, since when is that a bad thing?”
“It’s not bad thing,” Jayce says. “You’re a stickler for the rules and comply to whatever your parents ask.” He shrugs like it’s not a big deal.
Caitlyn bristles a bit. “I- I do not always do what my parents say,” she insists hotly, glancing between Jayce and Mel. They both look down at their drinks in response, their silence speaking louder than words. Caitlyn focuses her gaze on Viktor, who averts his eyes and taps his fingers on the side of his glass. This only makes Caitlyn narrow her eyes further, and Viktor signs resignedly.
“You may have a tendency to, ehh, complain about their policies and then never actually do anything about them,” he says hesitantly. He gives Caitlyn a half smile as if to apologize. “I’d say you have a squeaky-clean record in their books.”
The silence from her friends after that is deafening. Caitlyn looks each of them over once more. She wants to protest, to tell them how wrong they are and how they don’t know what they’re talking about, but the longer she sits with this information, the more Caitlyn begins to realize just how right they are.
Moments in Caitlyn’s life start flashing by as if on fast forward. When she was ten and wanted to go to her friend’s sleepover, but her mother said no because she didn’t approve of the girl’s parents. When Caitlyn was fourteen and didn’t kiss the girl she liked because she was worried what her parents might think. When Caitlyn was seventeen and didn’t sneak out to party with her friends because she needed to study. All times where, in some form or another, Caitlyn didn’t do what she wanted because she was too busy worrying about what the proper thing to do was.
“This is really what you all think?” Caitlyn asks, feeling numb.
“It’s really not a big deal, I promise-” Jayce tries, but Caitlyn isn’t having it.
“No, it is a big deal, because you are completely right.” Her friends all look up at her in shock. Caitlyn slumps back in her seat. “I’ve never done anything wild or crazy or rebellious in my life. How pathetic am I?”
“We don’t think you’re pathetic,” Mel says. She reaches across the table and lays a hand on Caitlyn’s wrist. “That’s just who are, Caitlyn. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not like any of us are exactly the sort to make reckless decisions whenever we feel like.”
“But at least you three have all rebelled in some way or another,” Caitlyn says, gesturing around the table. “Jayce and Viktor regularly sneak into the labs after hours to work on dangerous prototypes. And you cut your family off years ago after you decided you didn’t want to comply with what they told you.”
Mel’s expression darkens. “That isn’t necessarily a good thing, you know.”
Caitlyn sighs. “I know, I’m sorry.” She reaches out and squeezes Mel’s hand once before letting go. “I just… hell, I just wish I had the guts that you all have sometimes.” All three of them give her sympathetic looks, bordering on pity, and suddenly Caitlyn can’t stand it anymore. Her hands clench into fists on the table and she looks away from their gazes, and suddenly an idea strikes her. “You know what? I’m going to change that. Right now.”
She pushes herself off the table, standing up with strengthening resolve. She locks her eyes on her target across the bar.
“Uh, Cait? What are you doing?” Caitlyn hears Jayce ask behind her.
“Being spontaneous,” Caitlyn replies, and then she is striding across the room. Her senses block out everything around her, save for the figure behind the bar.
Vi turns to greet her. “Hey, cupca-”
“What time do you get off your shift?”
After a moment of looking surprised, Vi grins. “I’d say right about now.”
“Good,” Caitlyn says. Then she’s leaning across the counter so she can kiss the grin off Vi’s stupidly attractive face.
* * *
Caitlyn spares half a glance toward her friends’ shocked faces as Vi leads her up the stairs to, what she assumes is, a loft area above the bar, but most of her focus is dedicated toward containing both her nerves and her adrenaline.
What was she doing?
No really, what the hell was she doing.
Vi looks back and grins at her. Caitlyn’s heart starts doing a gymnastics routine in her chest.
Well, whatever it was that she was doing, she might as well commit.
They reach the top of the stairs and Caitlyn wastes no time in pinning Vi against it, capturing Vi’s lips with her own once again. Vi gasps in surprise and puts on hand on Caitlyn’s hip, the other scrambling to reach the doorknob behind her. “Fuck, you’re hot,” Vi groans out between kisses. Her grip on Caitlyn tightens. “You gonna let me open the door, cupcake?”
Caitlyn huffs a laugh before the door is opened and Vi is slipping out from in front of her, leaving Caitlyn to nearly fall into the room. She catches herself with a few stumbling steps and hears the door shut behind her. The room she’s been led up to is indeed a loft space; a kitchen area off to her right, a worn couch in front of a TV by the window, and a bed pushed against the far corner.
Of course, Caitlyn only gets a moment to take this all in before Vi is crowding her, backing her up until Caitlyn’s back hits the door and then hot lips are at her neck.
Caitlyn threads her fingers through short pink hair, biting her lip to hold back the moan that she can feel building in her throat. Vi’s mouth continues its (welcomed) assault on her neck while her hands drag down her body, slipping beneath the fabric of her shirt once they reach the hem. “What made you finally decide that I was worth your time?” Vi questions, warm breath spreading across Caitlyn’s skin. It takes a moment for Caitlyn to compose herself enough to answer, but by then Vi has apparently changed her mind. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. Just don’t want this to end.”
The remark is punctuated with a sharp nip of teeth against her collarbones as rough, callused hands push her shirt farther up her torso. Caitlyn’s head hits the door behind her. “Nothing is going to stop this, I promise,” she gasps.
Vi seems to like that because she hums pleasantly against Caitlyn’s throat, pressing one last kiss there before pulling back, hands on the hem of her shirt with obvious intent. “May I?” she asks, one eyebrow raised as if she already knows the answer.
Caitlyn answers by pulling the shirt up and over her head herself.
Vi groans and reaches for her again, sliding her hands along the expanse of Caitlyn’s taut stomach. “Fuck, you’re hot.” It’s said in a murmur this time, like Vi is saying it more to herself than Caitlyn.
“So you’ve said,” Caitlyn quips, lips quirking up in teasing smile. Her confidence grows again from the way Vi is so openly admiring her body, so Caitlyn decides to use the momentum to regain some control in the situation. She plants one hand in the middle of Vi’s chest and starts pushing, away from the door and across the room to where the bed is. With one final shove Vi is sitting on the bed and Caitlyn quickly moves onto her lap, settling with a knee on either side of Vi’s hips.
Their lips meet again and just like every other kiss they’ve shared it’s hungry; tongues meeting and teeth pulling and breaths heaving as they all but attempt to devour each other. Vi isn’t the most precise kisser that Caitlyn has ever had the pleasure of locking lips with, but Caitlyn is quickly starting to learn that what she lacks in cleanliness she makes up for in enthusiasm- kissing Caitlyn so deeply, so filthily, that it forces Caitlyn to wrench her mouth away for some much-need air.
The look in Vi’s eyes is enough to send a shiver down Caitlyn’s spine; eyes wide, pupils blown as if the other girl is trying to take in every possible detail of this moment. Her lips are pleasantly swollen, and the knowledge that she must be in a similar state sends a thrill through Caitlyn. The look emboldens Caitlyn further and she moves to tug at the front of Vi’s shirt. “Care to even the playing field?”
A mischievous glint appears in Vi’s darkened eyes and Caitlyn has no time to even wonder what she’s up to before Vi is standing again, lifting Caitlyn along with her with two hands under her thighs. Caitlyn lets out a small yelp that she just knows she’ll feel embarrassed for later and clings to Vi’s shoulders as she spins them around, tossing Caitlyn gracelessly back onto the bed while she stands at the foot.
“Not fair,” Caitlyn huffs.
“I just thought you might want a little show, is all,” Vi replies innocently.
“Feeling confident, are we?”
“You’re not making it hard to be with the way you’re already undressing me with your eyes, cupcake.”
Caitlyn rolls her eyes at that but can’t find it in herself to deny it. She settles back on the pillows instead, waving an impatient hand in Vi’s direction. “Go on, then,” she says dismissively. “Let’s see this show.”
Vi chuckles lowly and without another word peels her shirt off in what Caitlyn can tell is a purposefully teasing manner. It works wonders, though, and Caitlyn can feel her mouth water more with every inch of toned skin that is revealed. The shirt is dropped to the floor with a lazy flick of Vi’s wrist, leaving her in a sports bra, and Caitlyn can’t even pretend like she isn’t staring.
“Shit,” Caitlyn murmurs, mostly to herself. “Are those real?” Her eyes are fixed on… well, everything that is Vi. Vi, who is all broad shoulders and muscled arms and abs and tattoos and- “Shit.”
Vi grins with another one of those damned cocky smiles of hers, but Caitlyn can see the light blush that colors her cheeks at the attention.
Interesting. Caitlyn files that information away for later.
Next comes Vi’s pants, which are shoved down equally toned thighs in a much faster manner than the shirt had been, and then Vi is crawling across the bed toward Caitlyn, that same hungry look in her eyes making Caitlyn gulp. As soon as she’s close enough, Caitlyn reaches out to touch one strong arm. Her fingers trace the contours and ink all the way to the shoulder, and Vi shivers, eyes fluttering shut for a moment before opening again to look at Caitlyn under a hooded gaze.
“I think it’s you who needs to level the playing field now, cupcake.”
A sudden jolt of boldness strikes though Caitlyn, then. “It’s Caitlyn,” she says, bringing the hand on Vi’s shoulder up to hook under Vi’s chin. She pulls up until she can just ever so slightly brush her lips against Vi’s. “Say my name.”
She can feel Vi’s smile. The girl waits a beat before giving in to Caitlyn’s request. “Caitlyn.” It’s breathed in almost a reverent manner as Vi kisses her again, and Caitlyn sighs into it, only to have Vi pull away a short second later. Caitlyn is about to protest when Vi starts kissing her way down her body instead, rough hands and soft lips leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.
The sight of Vi moving lower and lower causes Caitlyn’s limbs to shake in anticipation. Something in her mind sparks, sputters, and short circuits completely when hands hook at the top of her pants, pulling both them and her underwear down in one smooth movement. And then Vi is kissing her way back up and then-
Yeah, it’s kind of hard to think, after that.
* * *
Caitlyn shuts the large door behind her as quietly as she can, wincing when a low boom echoes around the entry hall despite her efforts. She darts her eyes quickly around the room, checking the doors and grand staircase for any signs of movement, sighing in relief when it appears as though she is alone.
Twenty minutes earlier she’d been slipping out of Vi’s bed while the other girl slept soundly, lifting one pleasantly heavy arm from where it had been draped across her waist and starting the scavenger hunt that was finding all her clothes. She had been mostly successful, although her bra’s whereabouts remained a mystery to her. After getting dressed she’d made her swift exit, glancing back at Vi’s sleeping form one last time before she was sneaking down the loft’s stairs and into the early morning mist.
Truthfully Vi was not her first one-night stand, but she is the only one-night stand that Caitlyn has had that’s made her feel like she just broke about seven different laws- both legally and morally. In reality there was nothing wrong with the hookup, but it was Vi. Someone who was known for getting mixed up with the law. Someone who had reportedly started – and ended – several street brawls. Someone who was dangerous.
It was too early in the morning for Caitlyn to figure out why that last thought sent heat creeping down her spine.
She’s tiptoeing by her mother’s study on her way to her room when she hears a faint voice call out.
“Caitlyn.”
Caitlyn freezes. Curses under her breath. Pauses for a moment. Opens the door to greet her mother.
“Ah, it was you,” Caitlyn’s mother says with little more than a flicker of her eyes to Caitlyn standing in the doorway. She sips some tea and focuses her attention back on the papers in front of her. “I thought I heard the sound of guilty footsteps."
Caitlyn sighs. “Why are you awake, mother? It’s 6 in the morning on a Sunday. You don’t even have work today.”
“I am well aware of what time it is,” her mother replies curtly. She glances back at Caitlyn over the top of the paper in her hand. “Are you?”
The accusatory tone is enough to make Caitlyn shift where she’s standing. She moves a hand to the side of her neck where Vi had found particular pleasure in latching onto just a few hours earlier. Hoping there was no visible evidence of her spontaneous tryst, Caitlyn attempts a sheepish grimace. “Jayce drank too much last night. I had to help him home and ended up crashing there when I saw how late it was.”
It was a stupid lie, one that almost anyone could see through. Jayce never drank past his limit, and if he had, Mel would surely be the one helping him home afterward.
Her mother studied Caitlyn for a long moment, crystal blue eyes seeming to cut right through Caitlyn’s shakily structured story. Eventually her mother sighs, looking back at her work. “Very well. Next time I would appreciate some sort of message on your whereabouts, Caitlyn.”
Caitlyn tried not to let her shoulders sag with relief. “Right, of course,” she says hastily, already beginning to back out of the room. “It won’t happen again, I promise.” Her mother nods her head approvingly and dismisses her, sending Caitlyn to duck back into the hall with her tail between her legs. She shuts the door gently behind her, resting against it briefly as she huffs out the breath she’d been holding.
How she just got away with that, Caitlyn doesn’t know. Not wanting to push her luck further, Caitlyn quickly makes her way back to her room, flopping face-first down on her bed and hoping that she can catch a few more hours of sleep before truly getting up for the day.
Except, Caitlyn’s brain is far too wired for sleep.
Every time Caitlyn shuts her eyes, it’s Vi that she sees. Vi, looming above her on the bed with a cocky grin on her face. Vi, pulling her hair as Caitlyn goes down on her. Vi, all hard muscles and wicked tattoos contradicted with kind eyes and gentle hands.
Caitlyn found that she didn’t regret last night. Was it entirely out of character for her? Yes. Did she think that was necessarily a bad thing? No. No she did not.
She slowly rolls onto her back. Stares at the cover of her canopy bed. Pulls her shirt up to her nose and takes a whiff.
Her clothes smell more like the bar Vi works at than Vi herself, and Caitlyn finds that confusingly and frustratingly disappointing.
With a sigh, Caitlyn sits up and swings her legs over the side of the bed, figuring she wouldn’t be able to get any sleep after all. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and sees that she has a few texts from Jayce from last night.
Jayce (Sat 9:55 pm)
I hope you know what you’re doing
Jayce (Sat 9:55 PM)
You’re crazy Kiramman, you know that?
Jayce (Sat 10:31 PM)
We’re heading out. Let me know when
you make it home in one piece
Caitlyn rolls her eyes at Jayce’s over protectiveness but types out an update to him regardless.
Caitlyn (Sun 6:10 AM)
Made it home with all my limbs attached
Surprisingly, she gets a response back right away.
Jayce (Sun 6:10 AM)
Thank god. Your brain still works too, right?
Caitlyn (Sun 6:11 AM)
Very funny. If my mother asks,
you drank too much last night and
I crashed at your place
Jayce (Sun 6:11 AM)
I live to cover up your sexual
adventures with shifty individuals
Caitlyn snorts and tosses her phone on the bed, staring at it for a moment before deciding that she could use a shower.
The warm water cascading down her body does, in fact, put Caitlyn at ease as she attempts to scrub away the remnants and memories from the night before. As she washes the shampoo out of her hair, Caitlyn’s thoughts drift toward her mother, and she can’t help but wonder if she was completely right to lie to her about her whereabouts like that. It wasn’t as if Caitlyn had never lied to her parents before, but lying to them was never something that exactly sat right with Caitlyn.
Probably because you’re too much of a square, Caitlyn’s mind whispers to her, the conversation with her friends from last night still echoing in her ears. You do one rebellious thing in your life and you’re already having regrets about it.
Caitlyn clenches her jaw and glares at a corner of the shower, angry at her own thoughts.
The thing was, Caitlyn didn’t regret last night. She had enjoyed herself, enjoyed everything that Vi had to offer. Had enjoyed the rush of adrenaline in doing something spontaneous, something a little risky, something…
Something she knew her parents wouldn’t approve of.
Suddenly Caitlyn almost regrets not telling her mother exactly where she’d been last night, not because she felt guilty lying to her, but because she wishes she could see the look on her face. So that she could see how her mother reacted when she learned that her perfectly behaved, perfectly trained daughter had spent the night fucking some lowlife, possibly criminal, no-name bartender who probably didn’t give two shits about the Kiramman name.
Caitlyn turns off the water and steps out of the shower, reaching for her towel with a small smirk on her face.
Oh, the look on her mother’s face would have been priceless indeed- terrifying as well, surely, but priceless nonetheless.
Caitlyn is rubbing the towel through her wet hair when an idea strikes her. A terrible idea, really, one that she would surely come to regret if followed through, but Caitlyn is still running on just enough leftover adrenaline that she finds she can’t quite care about the possible consequences of it at the moment.
She looks in the mirror and sees a souvenir from last night in the form of a dark bruise on her skin, just beneath her collarbone, and her mind is made up.
There was a bartender she needed to have a little chat with.