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“Hope?”
“Lizzie? Is everything ok?” Hope blearily rubs her eyes and sits up. The alarm clock next to her shines harsh and green, flashing a glaring 6:13am. Lizzie’s tall silhouette contrasts against the dimly lit hallway, illuminated by the alarm clock light. Hope flicks the lamp on to see tear stains on Lizzie’s cheeks and scratches up and down her arms.
“Can I… can I stay with you tonight?”
“Yeah,” Hope whispers softly, without hesitation. She scoots over to make room for Lizzie, but the taller witch curls up to Hope anyways. Her legs dangle off the edge of the bed because she has a solid 6 inches on Hope, and well. Hope shouldn’t find that attractive. She draws shapes across Lizzie’s back, across bare skin exposed from her shirt riding up. As each second goes by, Lizzie’s breathing becomes more even. “Wanna talk about it?” Hope asks, after a while.
“Just another nightmare,” Lizzie says, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “Like, everyone dying because of me. Josie leaving. Blah, blah, blah. You’d think my subconscious would be a little more creative.” Her bare arm wraps against Hope’s ribs, and Hope can feel the elevated scratch marks (and old faded scars, too) pressing into her skin, searing it, burning it. Her eyes start to prickle with tears, even though she shouldn’t be the one crying. Hope opens her mouth, but a soft hand stops anything from coming out. “Don’t say anything please,” Lizzie pleads. “Can we just… lie here? Forget about everything for just a couple hours? Don’t we deserve it?”
Hope kisses Lizzie’s head. “Of course, darling.” The pet name slips out before she has a chance to stop it, but instead of stiffening, Lizzie relaxes in her arms, nuzzling her face into Hope’s side and squeezing her eyes shut.
“Darling, hm?” she teases, her voice muffled ‘cause her face is pressed into Hope’s shirt. “That’s new.”
Hope can feel Lizzie’s smile against her, and it makes her smile too. And blush. And her hypothetical heart starts beating faster, and she thinks some not-so-platonic thoughts about her friend, which has been happening lately. It would be concerning if Hope didn’t know what she was dealing with.
But this? This is Lizzie Saltzman. Her best friend, her most trusted soul, her confidante, her blindspot. They’ve burned as twin flames, through thick and thin, always different sides of the same coin. And Hope should be terrified, but what’s left to be terrified of? They’ve already lost almost everything. Really, they only have each other. Sure yeah, their friends are still around, but it’s not the same. They could never understand what Hope and Lizzie have endured together. After Landon and Josie and Alaric and their mothers and everyone else they once held dear left, two people who once had entire families only had each other. (Except Freya still comes to visit sometimes. And Rebekah, and Kol and the rest of the Mikaelsons that are still alive. But the Saltzmans? There’s no one).
Really, what is there to lose? Hope knows exactly how she feels, and for once in her life, she’s not afraid to lose someone she loves. Lizzie’s already dead anyways. They both are, and they’re both two of the most powerful beings on the planet. So, yeah. Hope’s in love with Lizzie and she’s not scared in the slightest.
“You think so loud,” Lizzie whispers, as if not to disturb Hope’s thoughts. “You alright over there?” To prove how ‘over there’ Hope is, Lizzie wraps one of her legs across Hope, pulling the two impossibly closer.
Oh god, that’s fucking adorable.
“Don’t worry about it, darling,” Hope chaffs. “But, there’s something we should probably talk about. And I think you know what it is.”
Lizzie grunts. “I thought we already did the epic love confessions.”
“Yeah… that doesn’t count,” Hope grimaces, remembering how she had to stand on her freaking tip-toes to kill Lizzie. That was kind of embarrassing. “So, we should try again.”
“You first then, Mikaelson.”
Hope takes a deep breath. “Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman,” she starts, already provoking a smile from Lizzie. “I have been in love with you for weeks, if not months, if not years. It took me a while to realize it, but I know it for a fact. You are my best friend, my family, my everything. I would kill and die, again, for you in a heartbeat. I love you.”
Lizzie snorts. “‘In a heartbeat,’” she mimics. “That’s ironic.”
Hope playfully hits her. “You asshole, is that all you got?”
Lizzie grins. “No, I got the other parts too.” She grabs Hope’s face and kisses her, and it’s not even a proper kiss because both of them are smiling too hard. Lizzie rolls on top of Hope and giggles, and the sun’s starting to rise which means vibrant pink and orange light suffuse onto the dark wood, and it lights up their faces and Hope’s never been this giddy. Sure, Landon was her first love. But she damn well hopes Lizzie will be her last.
And she wants to kiss her again but she physically can’t, and her cheeks hurt from smiling so hard, and before she knows it Lizzie’s climbing off of her and pulling open her window, and she drags her out and they fall on top of each other and it’s one continuous string of giggles and emotions. Hope can’t even imagine how she functioned without those.
They collapse on the ground, barely phased from the two story drop, and they superspeed to the top of the hill just as the last of the pinks and orange disappear.
Then, Lizzie quite literally sweeps Hope off her feet to kiss her, and Hope grabs the back of Lizzie’s neck as the taller girl dips her. They stay like that, Hope bent backwards with one leg wrapped around Lizzie’s calf and Lizzie gently holding Hope’s waist so she doesn’t fall. Their foreheads are touching and all of Hope’s senses are being overloaded by Lizzie, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.
But of course, something has to break this perfect moment. Someone opens their window, and a figure that Hope can’t quite see comes into view. They lift up a megaphone and cast a spell. Lizzie looks at Hope and her eyes widen comically.
“Oh no,” she says, covering Hope’s ears just in time for-
“GET A FUCKING ROOM!”
The frustrated demand echoes all around the campus. Hope and Lizzie laugh and sprint away, smiling and playfully pushing each other around before Hope gets the courage to lock their fingers together.
They run into the woods, not out of breath but panting anyways. And just when Hope has enough air in her lungs, Lizzie pushes her up against a tree and kisses her some more.
Hope doesn’t stop her.