magick
Agatha came home with a few bags of groceries to find Rio running to her.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rio hugged Agatha.
“Wow, you could start with a 'good morning'.”
“Good morning. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“A lot, actually. You’ve gotta be more specific.”
“Why would you go out before waking me up? What if something had happened?”
“Then you’d call me.”
“Not to me, Agatha. To you.”
Agatha smiled. “I’m fine.”
“You just got shot in the heart a week ago.”
“Once again, it just grazed my heart. It was a week ago, and you healed it, remember?”
“You could’ve gotten hurt.”
“But I didn’t.”
“But you could’ve.”
“But I didn’t.”
“But—“
“Rio.” Agatha put the groceries down, pushing Rio away so their eyes could meet before putting her hands on her arms. “I’m fine. I promise. I have the spell, and I have you, and I have my magick. I have so many safety nets, no one would dare touch me.”
Rio sighed. “I’m just worried about you.”
“I know.” Agatha pulled her in for another hug. “Thank you.”
Rio smiled before they pulled apart. “Why did you go out, anyway?”
“I needed some stuff for date night.” Agatha picked up the bags and headed to the kitchen.
“I thought we put date night on hold after you got shot.” Rio followed her inside.
“I’m fine now, I don’t see any reason not to do it. Plus, it’s my turn. I’ve gotta outdo you.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna be hard. I got you shot.”
“No, you took me to a pretty valley. The French shot me.”
“During the date I planned.”
“No, the date only includes what happened in the valley.”
“Fine, then, I got you kidnapped which ended up getting you shot.”
Agatha opened her mouth, then shut it. “You’ve used my logic against me. Fucking hell, Rio, just admit it was a great date.”
“No, it was a horrible disaster that ended with you getting hurt and almost dying.“
“Yeah, okay, let’s flip the script. What if I were the one who had planned that date?”
“But you weren’t.”
“What if I were?”
Rio sighed. “I guess it would’ve been pretty good if the French hadn’t crashed it.”
“There we go.” Agatha smiled, making the bags fly up to the counter before wincing and clutching her chest, leaning on the counter to not fall. The bags fell back to the ground.
“Are you okay?” Rio ran to her, placing her hand on Agatha’s shoulder.
“Yeah, it just— it hurts when I use magick.”
“Just— sit down, my love.” Rio helped her to a chair before turning to the bags.
“Don’t touch those!” Agatha grabbed her wrist. “I want it to be a surprise.”
Rio raised her hands as if she were surrendering before pulling another chair to sit across from Agatha. She reached for her dress before stopping herself.
“Why’d you stop?”
“I don’t– you haven’t let me, and I don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”
“You’ve seen me naked before. I’ve literally fucked you. Multiple times.”
“Still…”
“C’mon, I’ll even do it for you.” Agatha pulled the top of her dress down, revealing the almost healed gunshot wound.
Rio got closer inspecting it. “It doesn’t look like the wound is infected. Uh, I can't… I can't tell what's wrong.”
Agatha shrugged. “Can't it just be because I got shot in the heart?”
“It can, but…” Rio sighed. “Why didn’t you— why didn’t you tell me it hurt when you used magick?”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“Well, it does. That could’ve been far worse.”
“It's fine.” Agatha waved her hand in hopes of lightening the mood, then saw Rio tapping her fingers on the table, the overwhelming amount of thoughts visible in her expression.
“We still– still need to rule out all… options. Are you… are you having any trouble breathing?”
“No,” Agatha said, though she wasn’t sure Rio could say the same.
“That means… that means lungs are… are clear. We need to get you some… some fruits, monit– monitor your… your liquid intake—“
“Rio.” Agatha placed her hands on Rio’s shaking ones with a smile. “Slow down. We’re okay.”
“I…“ Rio saw her hands shaking and gripped the table to stop. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, just take a second to breathe.”
Rio paused and took a shaky breath before getting up. “I need to find some paper.”
“Rio—“
Agatha sighed as Rio left the room. She came back soon, writing on the paper, her hands still shaking.
“There’s an I after the U, babe.”
“Right, sorry.” Rio scribbled over it before restarting the word.
Agatha watched silently for a moment. “Rio.”
“Hmm?” Rio muttered, not lifting her head.
“What did we say about slowing down?”
Rio paused, slowly lifting her head. “…that I should actually do it?”
“Exactly, so put down the pen.”
“No, we can’t… we can’t slow down.” Rio looked back to the paper, continuing writing. “This… this is important.”
“So are you. I’m not saying don’t do it, I’m just telling you to take a second.”
Rio considered, then nodded, putting down the pen. Agatha put her hands around Rio’s. Rio took a second to steady her breathing.
“There you go. Now you can write.”
“Okay.” Rio dipped the pen in more ink before continuing to write. “I’ll go into town in a few minutes, get everything I need. Then this one, I can get while I’m working… Okay.” Rio got up, looking through the kitchen cupboards.
“You need any help?”
“No, I’ve got it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Rio put a glass of water in front of Agatha before putting her coat on. “Don’t move, don’t use your magick, don’t do anything. I’ll be back soon.”
“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
Rio paused then walked to the couch, grabbing the book on it and putting it in front of Agatha. “Read that.”
“I’ve already read this.”
“Read it again. I’ll be back in a flash.”
“Rio–”
Rio kissed her. “Te veo.”
“Rio!”
Rio was already gone.