Work Text:
A warm glow fills Mika’s bedroom as the early morning sun rises high enough to peek over the neighbouring houses and into the windows of the intern house. Mika’s eyes blink open slowly, squinting in response to the ridiculous amount sunlight filtering in through her cheaply made blinds. She curses the cost of decorating a room when your last place of residence was a vehicle. She rubs at her eyelids before staring at the ceiling and letting her pupils adjust to the new day.
When she no longer feels practically blind, she fixes her gaze on the girl occupying the pillow across from her. A smile finds its way onto Mika’s lips without her realizing it. Jules is facing her, one arm tucked into her chest and the other stretched out between them, as if she had been reaching for Mika in her sleep. She can’t help but meet her halfway, linking their hands and letting her thumb run across Jules’ knuckles.
She thinks she could get used to waking up like this. With Jules. It isn’t their first time sharing space like this— they fell asleep together studying for the ABSITE, and Mika’s become a welcome guest at Jules and Maxine’s house, but it’s their first time here, in Mika’s space, in her bed. Her heart swells.
Mika thinks back to the night before— the rush to touch and taste and simply be with each other after a particularly brutal shift. Their clothes lay strewn across her floor, Jules’ providing pops of colour that contrast against Mika’s blacks and greys. She smiles thinking about it— they’re so similar in so many ways, but complete opposites when it comes to style and aesthetic. She guesses it’s because Jules spends so much time with Max, but she’s planning on taking that to the grave.
Now, Jules is in one of Mika’s old t-shirts— something she got from some competition in med school, she thinks. It’s not important— what is important is that it’s the darkest colour Mika has ever seen on her, and she might be biased, but she thinks she looks absolutely breathtaking in black. When she finally pulls herself out of her admiring, Mika screws her eyes shut and shuffles towards Jules, letting her eagerness for warmth overrule the voice in her head reminding her they’re both scheduled for 8am— which, judging by how bright it is already, can’t be more than an hour away.
Mika lifts Jules’ extended arm and places it on top of her waist so she can curl further into her, burying her head between her chin and chest. She breathes in the scent of her, bright and citrusy and mixed with the smell of her own t-shirt resting against Jules’ skin. Mika’s beginning to realize that if she thinks about Jules in her clothes for too long, she’ll likely explode. It’s just so domestic, so quietly intimate— she hasn’t had that with someone for years, maybe ever. God, it’s embarrassing how head over heels she is for this girl.
But she’s happy. Like, really, genuinely happy whenever they’re together. It scares her, her fondness for Jules. How much joy she brought to her life in such a short amount of time. Mika’s noticed she usually gets these things taken from her sooner or later, so this time, she’s determined to not let Jules go.
Mika hums contentedly and begins to place light, sleepy kisses against Jules’ collarbone. The shirt is oversized, and with the way it’s been rumpled in her sleep, most of Jules’ upper chest is exposed. Mika pauses to take in the muted purple bruises left in the late hours of the night before, cheeks flushing at the memory. Every one is carefully placed below where she knows Jules’ scrub neckline will sit, an agreement they came to after Jules recounted an interaction with Bailey that Mika thinks probably scarred her for life. It was an easy decision after that— no more marks where their bosses could ever possibly see them.
Plus, Mika likes it better when she’s the only one that knows they’re there.
Mika nuzzles into Jules’ chest just as she can feel her begin to wake— the arm lazily slung over her waist starts tugging her closer and she can feel long legs moving to tangle with her own.
“Hey,” Jules murmurs into Mika’s hair. Her voice is low and thick with sleep, and it makes something stir inside Mika’s heart.
“Hi,” Mika whispers, unable to keep the affection from her voice. She pulls away from Jules’ chest, just far enough to let their eyes meet. “How long have you been awake?”
Jules hums in consideration. “Not long. You?”
“Same,” Mika murmurs, burying herself back under Jules’ chin. “You’re warm.”
Jules laughs and lets a hand absentmindedly run through Mika’s hair. She sighs into the touch and melts into Jules’ embrace. Grey Sloan be damned— Mika would rather stay right here, in the arms of the girl she is most definitely falling in love with.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” Mika whispers into Jules’ skin.
“Forever?” Jules asks, and Mika can hear the smile in her voice. “That’s presumptuous, Yasuda.”
“Mhm,” she hums, pressing a kiss to her neck. “I mean it.”
A loud knock breaks their bubble. She feels Jules flinch at the noise, arms tightening around Mika by instinct, and it makes her heart ache.
“Yasuda,” Blue grumbles impatiently from the other side of her door. “Come on, we’re leaving in five.”
Mika’s eyes go wide as she reluctantly rolls back onto her own pillow. Her and Jules had done a surprisingly good job so far at hiding their relationship from their coworkers— no one had found out since their frankly mortifying interaction with Dr. Shepherd, and Mika was not about to let Blue and Simone break their streak. Weeks with barely anyone at Grey Sloan finding out about them felt like a miracle. And honestly, Mika didn’t think they were being particularly subtle.
Well, technically Lucas already broke their streak, but she’s terrible at hiding things from him anyway, and they both made him swear he wouldn’t tell.
Plus, they haven’t even been together that long— a few days shy of a month, but it’s not like Mika’s counting— and the last thing either of them need this early in their relationship is the entirety of the hospital weighing in. Especially considering their… track record with coworker love affairs. Personally, Mika didn’t plan on telling Taryn until her and Jules were married with three cats.
Mika pushes herself up into a sitting position so she has a better view of the door, the thin wood panel the only thing standing between them and what Mika could only imagine would be total chaos. “Uh— don’t come in!” she calls, immediately wincing.
Jules snickers. “Very subtle,” she whispers, poking Mika in the ribs.
“Oh, come on, like you’d have done better,” she whispers back, her words lacking any real bite. Mika doesn’t think she’d ever be able to get genuinely mad at Jules. Especially not when she’s smiling up at her like this— brown doe eyes shining with held back laughter and something Mika can only describe as affection, lest she get even farther into l-word territory than she already is.
Jules stifles a laugh. “I would’ve!”
“Yasuda, is someone else in there?” Blue asks, knocking again. “I heard another voice.”
His tone is uncaring, but not cruel— it’s teasing, the same way her brother would tease her when he hit middle school and it suddenly became cool to pick on his older sisters.
“Does Mika have someone over?” Simone calls, muffled by the distance between their bedrooms.
Mika offers an unconvincing “No?” that makes Jules burst into giggles. They can almost hear Blue’s facepalm through the door.
Mika’s laughing now too, and desperately trying to shush her girlfriend.
“Do you want your ex to know you’re in here?” she whispers frantically, suddenly serious as she searches Jules’ face for an answer. She knew Jules staying over was a risk, but she didn’t think they’d have to confront Blue the first night Mika snuck her in.
Well, if she’s being fully honest, she wasn’t thinking much of anything when she made the decision to bring Jules back to her place— it’s hard to reason when a pretty girl has her lips on your neck and her hands in your hair. Kwan was the farthest thing from her mind.
Jules just smiles and pushes herself up beside Mika so she can cup her face in her hands. “First of all, not my ex,” she murmurs. “It was just sex, we were never actually together.”
Mika’s eyebrows furrow in suspicion, but she stays quiet.
“And second of all,” Jules continues, pulling Mika towards her to place a light kiss to the space between her eyebrows, then to her lips. “Let him find me. I’m yours, Mika. Not his. I don’t care if he knows that.”
Mika’s eyes soften and threaten to well with tears. She covers Jules’ hands with her own and lets herself be pulled into another kiss. It’s soft and slow and Jules’ words are ringing in her head and Mika isn’t sure she’s ever experienced anything this… perfect.
The moment is quickly interrupted by another knock from Blue, this time more forceful than the last.
“Whoever she is, Yasuda, she has to go. We have work.”
Mika groans as she reluctantly pulls away from Jules. She immediately misses the warmth, but forces her feet to find the floor anyways. If she doesn’t answer the door, Blue will probably just barge in anyways, which is definitely worse, considering both of them are only half dressed.
She can feel Jules’ eyes on her as she throws on the shirt closest to her, realizing that the conversation she’s about to have probably calls for more modesty than her tank top bra provides. She quickly shimmies back into her sweats too, discarded in the rush to the bed the night before, and heads for the door.
Mika reluctantly pulls open the door. She keeps the handle gripped firmly in her hand, refusing to open the door more than a couple inches in an attempt to keep Jules obscured from her roommates’ view. It’s enough to see Blue, fully dressed and ready to leave for work, and Simone, in a similar state, hovering behind him. She decides to try one more time.
“I don’t have anyone over,” she lies, and fairly unconvincingly at that. Her roommates both squint at her in response, clearly not buying it.
“That’s not your shirt, is it?” Simone questions, a knowing smile flashing across her face as she recognizes the light pink top as something Mika would never buy for herself. She can’t tell if Simone recognizes whose shirt it is, and frankly she doesn’t want to wait around to find out.
She exhales in frustration. “I’ll be out in five. If I’m not, take Kwan’s car,” she declares, pulling a face at the two before slamming the door shut in front of her.
Mika hovers at the door, hand still firmly on the handle. When she finally hears the receding footsteps of her roommates, she smiles, crossing the room in two strides and kissing the girl still wrapped in her bedsheets. Jules sighs against her lips, grabbing at the fabric of her own top against Mika’s skin to bring her closer. She can feel herself being pulled back onto the bed and into Jules’ lap and Mika can’t find it in herself to resist.
They quickly fall back into the easy rhythm they’ve perfected in the weeks since their first kiss— the gentle push and pull of hands and lips and teeth and the friction of skin and fabric that threatens to drive them both mad.
It’s not long before Mika feels a hand pressing up against her chest, just enough to force their lips to disconnect. She whines as she opens her eyes, annoyed by the loss of contact. Jules is smiling up at her like she was before, and it makes her want to melt all over again.
“As much as I love this, we’re going to be late if we don’t get up.”
Mika rolls her eyes, pushing down against Jules’ hand to press one last kiss to her lips. “Fine,” she mutters, climbing out of Jules’ lap and forcing herself off her bed.
They dress quickly, Jules in a combination of Mika’s clothes and her own from the night before. Mika begins to lag behind, too distracted watching Jules put on clothes taken from her own wardrobe. She’s changed out of Jules’ shirt and into her own, plus a pair of jeans, but she’s somehow forgotten socks, and still hasn’t brushed her hair. She’d rather stare at Jules, she thinks.
“You can drive me, yeah?” Jules asks nonchalantly, buttoning a pair of black jeans stolen from Mika’s closet. They look really good on her, and a small part of Mika decides she’d be alright with Jules never returning them.
Mika blinks when the implication of Jules’ question registers. She takes a few steps towards her, hovering a foot or so away.
“Are you sure?” she asks, hesitant. “Y’know that means—“
“Telling them,” Jules finishes for her. Her hands find the belt loops of Mika’s jeans and tug, drawing her back into her orbit. Mika nods, draping her arms over Jules’ shoulders.
“So… we’re telling people then.” It’s framed as a statement, but the hesitation in Mika’s tone is clear. She fidgets with the tag at the back of Jules’ shirt— the shirt she herself was wearing only minutes ago.
She lets her eyes flutter closed as Jules presses a kiss to her forehead.
“Yeah, I think so. That okay?”
“Yeah,” Mika replies, a smile growing on her lips. “Yeah, it is.”
She’s still nervous, still worried about Blue and unwanted attention and how quickly news spreads around Grey Sloan. But the idea of finally telling their closest friends makes a weight lift off her chest, and Jules is grinning back at her and leaning in for another kiss that they both smile into. Mika doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of kissing Jules.
——————————————
Simone and Blue are hovering at the door when Mika descends the stairs, Jules trailing behind, their hands connected. It takes a second for either of them to notice her.
“Holy shit,” Simone whispers when she looks up from her phone, elbowing Blue in the side. “That’s our coworker. And your ex.”
Blue doesn’t flinch from the hit. He doesn’t really move at all, actually, his gaze simply bouncing between the two of them, face unreadable.
“And I knew I recognized that shirt!” Simone laughs, and Mika glares at her. “I think this means Lucas owes me $20.”
Jules narrows her eyes at them both and sighs, probably annoyed that Simone had called her Blue’s ex. Mika gives her hand a comforting squeeze, smiling when Jules returns the gesture as they pause on the second-last step.
“Surprise,” Jules deadpans, offering a small celebratory jazz hand. Mika watches, stifling a laugh.
“Quite,” Blue replies, his eyebrows furrowed in a kind of question. To Mika’s relief, it doesn’t seem hostile, only genuinely suspicious and confused.
Jules rolls her eyes at him, before training her gaze on Mika, waiting. She takes a shaky breath.
“Yes, we’re together. Yes, Skywalker already knows, but no one else. No, you can’t ask questions. Also, my van, my rules— she gets shotgun. If you’re weird to either of us, I will pull over and make you walk.”
Simone chuckles and raises her hands in surrender. “Alright, boss.”
Blue gives nothing but a small nod of recognition. Something loosens in Mika’s chest as she brushes past them, heading for the door.
They’re halfway to Mika’s van before any of them speak again.
“For the record, I’m happy for you guys,” Simone says, and Mika can’t help but smile.
“Yeah, ditto,” Blue adds, catching up with the group after lingering back to lock the house. Jules cranes her neck back to stare at him, her eyes curious.
“Really?”
“I mean, clearly you got over your cold,” he begins, and Jules nearly snorts. Mika has no idea what he's talking about— Jules hasn’t been sick recently. “And your no relationships rule, which honestly, kudos to you, Yasuda, because I figured she’d need therapy for that.”
Jules gasps incredulously and whacks his arm. Mika lets go of Jules’ hand as she unlocks Leona, trying not to laugh.
Blue just chuckles, heading for the driver’s side back door. “Hey, am I wrong?”
Jules laughs, climbing in beside Mika. “No, I thought I’d need therapy too.”
Simone slides into the seat next to Blue with a roll of her eyes, and Mika starts the engine.
“Good to know I’m better than therapy,” Mika says, turning to grin at Jules across the console. She watches Jules facepalm, before whipping around to glare at Blue.
“Great, now you’ve given her an ego.”
“Oh, I definitely already had one,” Mika replies, pulling Jules’ hand across the console to kiss her palm and interlace their fingers. “I managed to bag you, didn’t I?”
Jules hums, smiling. “Yeah, you did.”
In her peripheral vision, Mika can see Simone leaning forward in her seat, staring at them. Mika only breaks eye contact with Jules when Simone speaks.
“Grey Sloan. Surgeons. Shift at 8. Remember?”
Mika rolls her eyes and finally pulls out of the driveway.
They make it three blocks before Blue speaks.
“You know I bagged Jules too, right?”
Mika hears Jules let out a sharp laugh. “No, you didn’t.”
“Really? Because I distinctly remember you saying you lo—“
Blue’s sentence is cut short as Jules takes an empty coke can from one of Leona’s cup holders and hurls it at his chest. It bounces off him, hitting the floor with a tinny thud.
“Oh, come on,” he retorts, and Mika tuts at him.
“I’ll make you walk,” she reminds him, smiling when he scoffs and backs down.
Jules leans over the console and presses a kiss to Mika’s cheek. “My hero,” she murmurs.
They both laugh at the exaggerated sounds of disgust that come from the backseat.
Yeah, Mika could definitely get used to this.