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Provence was behind her as they both sat naked on the bed, Scavenger leaned back against Provence as she reached her hand around and was stroking her dick. She could feel Scavenger twitch in her hand whenever she kissed her neck, it was cute. Scavenger meanwhile was more focused on the pleasure, Provence’s hand felt like magic and when the other one started groping her chest? Well Scavenger wasn’t able to hold her moans in after that.
“Already so hard,” Provence started stroking faster and Scavenger started seeing stars. She always knew just how to touch her, her hands felt so soft too.
“You’re such a good girl, Hamelin.” The hair on the back of Scavenger’s neck stood up immediately. The energy in the room completely shifted as her breathing quickened.
“Red.” The pair had a traffic light style safeword and the scene immediately stopped, Provence’s hands backing off.
“Wait, a-are you alright? What’s wrong?” Provence had so many questions but they could be answered later... Scavenger was crying. Provence spun Scavenger around on the bed and took her into her arms, letting her sob into her shoulder while she pet her hair.
It was rare that Scavenger cried, actually Provence hadn’t seen her cry before at all now that she thought about it. After a few minutes the sobs turned to sniffles and stopped, Provence continued to hug her regardless.
“Hey Scav?” Provence asked in a sweet, concerned voice. Scavenger could smell the lavender shampoo emanating from Provence, she always smelled nice and calm.
“Mmm?” Scavenger hummed into her shoulder. Her arms eventually came to wrap around Provence, completing the hug. Provence leaned her head against Scavenger’s as the two sat there.
“Are you alright? I just want to make sure I didn't hurt you.” She sounded concerned, Scavenger felt bad for making her worry. Scavenger nuzzled herself deeper into her shoulder.
“N-no, you didn’t hurt me,” And that worry showed in Scavenger’s voice as well. Afraid Provence would hate herself if she had hurt the Zalak.
“Then... can I ask what happened?” Provence was still stroking her hair, the effect was calming. Scavenger should ask her to do it more often, but now wasn’t really the time to bring that up.
Scavenger hesitated, “I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it. Just... please don’t call me that name.” It was complicated and it might be awkward to explain it while she was crying, naked, and hugging her. But also, Scavenger was afraid Provence would hate her or feel like she was using her. The memories of back then were hard to think about.
“Of course, I’m so sorry” Provence held her tighter which only hurt her heart. Provence had blamed herself for hurting her. Scavenger hadn’t prepared for tonight to be full of hurt and fear but it tends to be pretty hard to prepare for, especially when it comes on so suddenly.
“Please don’t apologize, it’s not your fault.” Scavenger blamed her memories, her inaction and lack of initiative, herself. No, it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t have done anything regardless.
Provence kissed her neck, “I love you.” Three words, and they completely broke her. It was the second time tonight Scavenger had broke down crying into Provence’s shoulder.
“Please don’t leave.” And the three words that broke Provence’s heart, she knew Scavenger had a horrible past but beyond that? Nothing. The only thought that went through her head was that she deserves to be happy.
---
The morning afterward Provence had woken her up gently with a well needed cup of coffee. A beam of sunlight shone through the window illuminating the room in early morning light. The pair sat across from each other as they ate breakfast in silence before Provence decided to ask a question.
“Are you alright?” A simple question, one Scavenger knew she should have been prepared for. Should have been being the key phrase.
“I’m fine,” Scavenger took a swig of her coffee. It wasn’t a whole lie, she mainly just felt tired and groggy from waking up after all.
“Scav, please. Your eyes are still red from crying last night. If there’s anything I can do to help let me know, I love you.” Provence smiled at her from across the table and Scavenger realized just how important she was to her.
“Thank you, I’d like to explain it one day but... it’s difficult. I’m working on it with Lena in therapy but it’s not easy.” Scavenger took a sip of her coffee as she polished it off, the caffeine helping to wake her up. She never was much of a morning person.
“Of course, I won’t push you to tell me anything. And thank you for sharing that, I’m glad that you’re being open about stuff like this.” Provence’s smile was bright, Scavenger almost felt like she didn’t deserve it. She was working on that in therapy too, the idea that despite everything she still deserves nice things and love and help.
Provence’s terminal buzzed as she took the last bite of her breakfast. After checking it she pocketed the device and stood up from the table, “seems like I have to head into work, sorry to cut this conversation short. We can always talk more late if you’d like”
“It’s alright,” Scavenger still hadn’t finished the food on her plate so Provence let her keep eating as she took her own plate to the kitchen before grabbing her bag from the bedroom and heading back to the table.
“You have the code to the door so just lock up when you leave, yeah?” Provence kissed her on the cheek as she walked by, ruffling the Zalak’s hair as well, earning a rare smile from Scavenger.
“I... love you too” The words were hard for her to say, Provence knew that it wasn’t because they weren’t true but because Scavenger simply had a hard time showing her feelings. But this was progress, maybe one day Scavenger would be open to telling her about her past.