Karolina plummeted towards her room’s small couch and lied down. Today was a hectic day— being the president of a well-known extra-curricular club and leading counselling sessions with juniors was surely exhausting and enough to drain her energy for the entire day. Klara from a few grades back was struggling to open up about her crush on Molly and ranted the entire session away, while Gert and Chase were supportive enough to buy her ice cream and drive her back home. Her mother was pestering her to get a new dress for the party her middle school friend hosted, which, in the first place, Karolina didn’t know why she was invited to in the first place.
Karolina just wants to call it a day.
Growing up, she didn’t find any struggle to fit in and isolate whenever those small moments she needed to suddenly pops up. Karolina was open about everything and anything— a result of being close to her mother and telling her about her grade-school to emotional dilemmas, and Leslie being supportive and understanding as ever. She was confident enough to voice her beliefs and actually lead an entire group promoting openness and solace even if it meant talking your heart out in front of her or an audience. She led a normal yet extraordinary life, those you find in movies and read in books, perfect blonde and innocent eyes and all.
Still, selecting friends and befriending them came out as a struggle even for young, naïve Karolina. A little bit too much mischief was still, too much for her, and getting in trouble means getting your mother disappointed. And the last thing Karolina wants to do is disappoint her mom, her parents, generally just everyone around her— a trait she can’t shake off even if she tries to. Gert and Chase, Gert’s sister Molly, and Alex— they’re her permanent ones, maybe they met too long ago and befriended each other almost instantly (as a result of being stuck together during family meetings) and she was thankful, ever as grateful, to find someone as great as them. Someone who’ll tolerate her. Someone who won’t judge her for being who she is, for liking who she really likes.
Outside her inner circle, on the school grounds, Karolina didn’t know anyone. She knows names and faces, but they’re more than strangers than friends, let alone acquaintances.
So Karolina finding an internet friend in a website where everything was open and free and has rights to say whatever they want? It was as inevitable as the sun rising and the waves clashing. The solace she found in there, the comfort that site provided and a handful of friends she met online, that was more than enough for Karolina.
Karolina opens her laptop and scrolls through the tabs, clicking the icon she’s clicked on for a dozen of millions in the past few years. She smiles.
sister-grimm 8:34 AM
lucy. LUCY. i have something to tell you.
sister-grimm 8:36 AM
are you asleep? oh my god you’re asleep.
sister-grimm 8:37 AM
or are you ignoring me? pls don’t.
sister-grimm 8:40 AM
my dumbass forgot you’re in school today holy. i mean, me too. but i guess you were ever the busy one, eh?
Karolina begins to type with a speed that she hasn’t been able to withhold for the entirety of the day, until now. Enthusiasm tended to be present whenever she’s talking to ‘Sister Grimm’, her internet friend for almost three years.
The girl refused to give her real name and blames it on privacy and trust issues, and Karolina was nothing but accepting. A friend is a friend, even anonymous ones. The fear of Sister Grimm suddenly disappearing and Karolina having no way whatsoever of contacting her grew as they became closer, but quickly disappeared when she learned that Sister Grimm was just like Gert and Chase and Molly and Alex. She was one of the good ones, the permanent ones. She can trust her with anything, tell her everything, and if the girl was judging her silently, she was good at hiding it.
lucyinthesky 10:56 PM
omg i am SO sorry.
lucyinthesky 10:56 PM
today was a very very hectic day. my master comforting skills had to be activated for good.
The familiar ring of a new message vibrates through the room and Karolina almost broke the mousepad, and her face for smiling too much. She rubs her eyes for a bit before trying to come up with a respond.
sister-grimm 10:57 PM
thank god you’re alive.
sister-grimm 10:58 PM
that’s your superpower, miss lucy in the sky!1!1!
sister-grimm 10:59 PM
just a heads-up or anything, i won’t be online for a long time tomorrow. maybe just a dash so i can reply to your messages.
sister-grimm 10:59 PM
sorry but u know my mom. she likes everything to be in order especially it’s... you know.
Of course, Karolina knows.
Of course, she knows. It’s that time of the year again. The first time it happened, Karolina was worried— three days without Sister Grimm saying a single word to her, barely even online? She spammed her with messages and even broke some protocols trying to find her e-mail, but no avail of Sister Grimm responding back presented itself to her. It wasn’t until that Sunday afternoon, Sister Grimm returned with apologies and a backstory Karolina never expected from the jolly stranger she was talking to for the rest of her summer vacation.
Her sister, whom she too, refused to name, was having her death anniversary that day. She can feel Sister Grimm’s tears as she types the words away, telling Karolina word-for-word about her feelings. “I never told anyone about this,” she remembers reading from her screen while holding back her own tears, “My dad, my mom, and my therapist would ask me about these kinds of stuff but it’s too hard for me to talk about my feelings, or generally having them.”
Sister Grimm losing her sister impacted a real and heavy deal on her. Sister Grimm even changed her style in clothes (she wouldn’t specify but she said she threw her casual clothes away and shopped her dad’s credit card away when she was capable enough to go out) and isolated herself from her real world. “Not that I have friends,” Sister Grimm sent once, “but I became more distant when she passed.”
Karolina never wanted to hug Sister Grimm that bad when she reads those words. The cons of internet friends, not being able to hold them when you really want— need to.
lucyinthesky 11:01 PM
i understand, you know that right? always.
lucyinthesky 11:01 PM
if you want to like... fully talk about it, i’m here. i’m just here.
sister-grimm 11:02 PM
yes, ma’am. i know that. good night. big, depressing day ahead of me.
sister-grimm 11:02 PM
love you.
Karolina was about to type ‘I love you too’ and sigh when someone— a group of people— burst into her room with no warning. Karolina never minded visitors, but privacy and knocking before entering are two things she value. She grows a bit annoyed for a second, slamming her laptop shut so hard she was sure the screen broke, hiding it beneath her pillows, and looks like a deer caught in headlights. Karolina gives them a confused and skeptical look momentarily which wordlessly asks them.
“Woah,” Alex breathes out after a good amount of awkward silence. “You watching something there or something?” He gives her a playful, accusing look.
Karolina groans, internally and soundly. “No, Wilder, I was doing my homework.”
“Even I don’t look that happy while doing my homework.” Alex and the others sit down beside her, Gert pouring drinks with the cup and orange juice (is that vodka?) they brought, while Chase opens the box of pizza with obvious excitement.
“How long have you all been standing there?”
“Long enough to see that you finally got yourself a girlfriend,” Gert teases, earning a scandalized look from Karolina. She tightens her hold on the pillow.
“N-no! It was a friend? Did you all even read the messages?”
“Chill, lover girl. You put it away before I got the change to get my nosy ass to see it.”
Karolina relaxes for a bit, muscles returning back to their original state. The creases in her face disappear one by one and her death grip on the pillow loosens gradually. She avoids eye-contact with the others and eventually clears her throat.
“Sleepovers were fun when we were like... five. Now it’s annoying. And inconvenient.”
Molly speaks up first. “In our defense, there was an emergency PRIDE meeting today. And our parents don’t trust us enough, so... sorry, Karo. You’re stuck with us.”
Karolina looks at her. “Not you, Molly. I appreciate your presence.”
“I’m hurt,” Gert and Chase both simultaneously say at the same time. Karolina and Molly laughs, while Alex merely chuckles.
A comfortable silence fell, just Gert drinking from her cup and Molly chewing her pepperoni pizza. Karolina can’t help but wonder about Sister Grimm. If she ever had friends like hers, and went to sleepovers or even hosted them. She wonders if Sister Grimm likes hawaiian or cheese or whatever topping or if she likes pizza at all, would she prefer waffles or pancakes? Would she enjoy having the company of others, distracting her from her thoughts and emotions? Karolina hopes so.
Alex breaks the silence just in time Karolina snaps back to reality. “I wonder why that Minoru kid never hangs out with us. I mean, she never gave it a try.”
“Oh,” Chase says. “I know her sister, Amy. Didn’t she transfer or anything? I haven’t seen her since forever. Robert and Tina and their other kid, Nico, I’m sure, started acting weird after she mysteriously disappeared. Even Mom was worried.”
Karolina lets her thoughts fly for a moment. She’s seen Nico once. More than once. All the afternoons and mornings she spent staring at Nico’s face and physique, admiring her from head to toe. Short and dark hair, brown eyes that hold so much determination, and an overwhelming admiration for her older sister. Whenever Amy comes, Nico follows; the younger one didn’t do much of the talking, but Karolina thinks she spent her time observing, just being in awe of the fact that she gets to hang out with her sister and her sister’s friends. Karolina spent hers thinking about what Nico’s smile looks like or how her giggle sounds like.
Then one day, she saw her clutching on her chest at the bathroom, tears streaming down her face and her trying so hard to conceal any sound she makes. Karolina didn’t do anything but watch, because back then, she was scared to do anything other than just watch and let others deal with stuff. Just let others comfort another, just let them make them feel better.
But no one came for Nico. No other one hugged her and tried to console her and stop her tears, and Nico furiously wipes away her tears while she looks at the mirror. She remembers Nico slamming her fists on the marble countertop of the school sink, she remembers Nico telling herself to be strong but ends up sobbing more, clutching on the countertop for dear life. Karolina just watched.
Nico was so beautiful, and Karolina resented herself for letting Nico destroy herself.
Sometimes, she wonders if she didn’t let that be. If she went up to Nico and let her know that she was there for her. But Nico fled before Karolina can even muster a gram of courage to do so.
If she did, would Nico hang out with them? Would Nico be in this same exact room, in the same exact moment?
Would Nico actually be her girlfriend?
“Earth to Karolina,” Gert says, interrupting her noisy train of thoughts. “You’re a little bit off today.”
“Yeah. Just tired.” Karolina lies. “Excuse me for a bit.”
She stands up and goes to her bathroom, eyes tired and fingertips trembling. Some things were too much to think about, even for Karolina who does a lot of thinking. Regrets and mistakes burdened her sometimes, even more than she would like and care to admit.
Karolina’s not going to make the same mistake again when she still has the chance to not let a person slip away from her grasp.
lucyinthesky 11:58 PM
love you too, sleepyhead.
lucyinthesky 11:58 PM
i’m here for you, always. be strong.
lucyinthesky 12:00 AM
sweet dreams.
* *
Karolina’s sleeping state was interrupted by the loud blaring of music coming from downstairs. Her head throbbed for a good second and her hair was tousled, but she preferred to stay in bed even just for small time. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table, 10:08 AM. She slept in and is unwilling to fully wake up, but Karolina’s not complaining. She stared at the cream-colored walls, something she and her mother picked out years ago when they moved in. Karolina’s mind instantly registers the singer of the song playing.
The Beatles.
Karolina’s only heard like a song or a two from them, from a CD she snuck away from her father that one time he was away for another of those PRIDE meetings. She fell in love with the rhythm and the sound in general, hence ‘lucyinthesky’ that she typed shakily when she was asked to provide a unique username for herself. Her phone rings, once, twice, and she grumbles before picking it up. A new message notification from 8:06 AM.
Karolina smiles.
sister-grimm 8:06 AM
LUCY. i went to a family friend’s house and they’re literally playing this song you got your username from.
sister-grimm 8:06 AM
i just remembered you. lucy in the sky.
sister-grimm 8:07 AM
it’s a nice song.
sister-grimm 8:10 AM
my mother decided it was time for us to stop being weird. as if we can ever do that. this entire family is weird.
Karolina rubs her eyes and racks her sleep-addled brain for a proper response, thinking she won’t need one since Sister Grimm told her that she won’t be active today. She was wrong though, and Karolina was ecstatic she was. Her fingers brush her tangled hair momentarily, while her other free hand types out a coherent response.
lucyinthesky 8:14 AM
hey. you’re NOT weird. not that weird is a bad thing, but you’re speaking like it’s a bad thing and you’re a bad thing. it’s not. you’re like.... the best.
lucyinthesky 8:15 AM
also... glad you like my origins, baby.
Karolina mentally slaps herself.
lucyinthesky 8:16 AM
i mean, baby as in friendly baby. i don’t know lol. like i was trying to be sci-fi cool. DID IT WORK?
sister-grimm 8:17 AM
it worked, baby.
Karolina groans to internally stiffen a giggle and her groaning grin. “Good job, Karolina. Good job.”
sister-grimm 8:18 AM
i have something to tell you. maybe later. i have to stop myself from externally screaming first.
lucyinthesky 8:19 AM
i’m all ears, baby.
sister-grimm 8:20 AM
then wait for it, baby.
sister-grimm 8:20 AM
literally... wait for it. maybe later. go watch a tv show or something first. ok bye gotta go love you.
lucyinthesky 8:20 AM
you too.
Karolina lays her phone screen-down on the same bedstand she retrieved it from, yawning and stretching her arms. It was not the first time Sister Grimm woke her up with her messages, and not the first time Karolina was happy that she did. Sister Grimm just had the ability to naturally make her smile. Or laugh. Or grin like a pre-schooler. Or a combination of the three.
Gert loudly comes in, unaware of Karolina’s barely woken up state. “You just missed it, oh my God!”
“Do you ever learn how to knock?”
“Seeing your sleepy state of thinking, I’ll excuse your attitude now, Karo. But Nico Minoru literally just joined a PRIDE party and you slept through it.”
Karolina looks at her then widens her eyes. “Nico? As in Nico Minoru?”
Gert rolls her eyes and Karolina gets the urge to bury herself on the ground. “Yes, duh. Nico Minoru. The same girl we were talking about just last night?”
“Oh,” is all Karolina has to say. Suddenly, the feeling of regret rushes back and the fear of losing Sister Grimm the same way flows into her already panicking mind. She throws on a sweater hung on her desk chair and wipes her eyes. She longs for a distraction. “Tell me about it.”
“Tina Minoru smiled at me! Smiled! Like a genuine one! Robert was as usual, nice. Nico just looked like she wanted to sleep or murder someone, but this song played and she got all excited and began to type on her phone like her life depended on it.”
Karolina bites her lip. “What song?” She really couldn’t care less, but her entire conversation starter handbook prepared her for talks that she has no idea what to contribute to, so she keeps it going even though she was only partly interested. Besides, it’s Nico— Nico could’ve been the one telling her about the song right now with Gert if Karolina wasn’t such a coward those years ago.
Nico was just her middle-school crush whom she failed to get close to. Or is she?
“Oh... I don’t know. It was out of my music taste.” Gert sighed. “But Nico looks better. I heard she stopped going to therapies weeks ago. She’s doing better, and I can’t believe I actually saw her smile. Who knew Tina and Nico Minoru could smile?!”
“Shut up before they hear you.” Karolina stifles a laugh, barely hiding the amusement in her features.
“Oh, they left already. Nico gave me a thumbs-up and Tina acknowledged me. She said ‘Gert, sweetie, it’s nice to see you again’ and I was so surprised. This is so unlike me.”
Karolina laughs, but she already has her mind elsewhere. “Yeah, it is.” She looks at Gert seriously for a moment. “Gert... if I tell you I want to personally meet someone who I’ve been talking to for a couple of years now, and you’re me, what would you do?”
Gert looks taken aback by the sudden twist of topic. She composes herself for a minute. “I’d tell them. Explain them my reasons.”
But Karolina has no specific or firm reasons. She just wants to see Sister Grimm personally and be able to hear her voice and buy her ice cream and hug her and call her baby teasingly in real life. She wonders if that’s good enough. Sister Grimm probably feels the same (Karolina prays that she feels the same) if she’s lucky. She wonders what she looks like, what she sounds like, what her laugh sounds like, what pizza topping she prefers, or what she looks like when she’s talking to Karolina.
* *
lucyinthesky 6:04 PM
hey. hey. hey. BABY.
lucyinthesky 6:10 PM
sister!! grimm!! talk!! to!! me!!
lucyinthesky 6:13 PM
do you have airpods on oh my god sister grimm has airpods on oh my god she can’t hear us.
sister-grimm 6:13 PM
sike, dramatic bitch. dramatic baby.
sister-grimm 6:14 PM
oh and yes, i have airpods on.
sister-grimm 6:15 PM
i have something to tell you since yesterday.
lucyinthesky 6:15 PM
that’s why i chatted you, duh. the suspense is KILLING me. you have no idea.
Karolina chuckles for good second while she waits for Sister Grimm’s reply.
sister-grimm 6:17 PM
here goes nothing, baby.
sister-grimm 6:17 PM
my mom told me we should try to be a family again. so i figured i’d start opening up to the people i love and value the most first. besides my parents ofc.
sister-grimm 6:17 PM
we’ve been friends on Tumblr for years and it’s crazy because i don’t know what your face looks like or what your voice sounds like but i think i’m ready to meet you and thank you personally for everything.
sister-grimm 6:18 PM
it’s okay if u don’t want to, i understand.
Karolina swears she can die on her bedroom floor right now. She screamed so loud her mother checked in if she was alright, and her face painted with her happiest smiles told Leslie she was more than okay. Yes, this is more than okay.
Karolina let out a breath she was holding for the past few years. It’s like a chamber in her heart was opened and she can feel the locks ebbing away and the keys were Sister Grimm’s words. Her worries were replaced with the promises of excitement and new, strengthened friendships. She’s shaking right now and Karolina wondered if a person was even capable of feeling this much happiness or what she did to deserve this great amount of joy.
lucyinthesky 6:19 PM
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
lucyinthesky 6:19 PM
YES OF COURSE I LOVE YOU
sister-grimm 6:19 PM
WAIT REALLY
sister-grimm 6:20 PM
SO THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DO RITUALS BEFORE SOMETHING BIG HAPPENS IN MY LIFE
sister-grimm 6:21 PM
I LOVE YOU TOO. SO MUCH
sister-grimm 6:22 PM
okay so back to the practical stuff, where do you even live?
Karolina choked as soon as she saw the words, because, boy, Sister Grimm does have a point. She was too excited that she was blinded by the possibility that Sister Grimm was at the other side of the world. She bit back her growing disappointment for a second and hid her frown.
lucyinthesky 6:22 PM
i live in los angeles.
lucyinthesky 6:22 PM
pls tell me you live somewhere near.
Karolina almost burst into tears.
sister-grimm 6:25 PM
oh, i’m sorry, lucy. i don’t live anywhere near.
Of course, there is it— Karolina’s plot twist, her life’s cruel and sadistic turn of events and sometimes she wonders what she did so badly to have her good things taken away from her, what kind of crime her past self must have committed because there is no way in hell someone deserves to be let down this bad, risen up then dropped to the lowest point of the ocean—
A ring interrupted her dramatic antics.
sister-grimm 6:34 PM
bitch. stop leaving me on read.
sister-grimm 6:35 PM
i SAID i don’t live anywhere near because i live in LA you dumbass. i thought you would get it.
sister-grimm 6:40 PM
i live in BRENTWOOD you ass. stop being useless and reply to me. i’m SHAKING right now.
Sister Grimm lives in LA. Sister Grimm lives in Brentwood. Sister Grimm lives on her neighborhood.
lucyinthesky 6:40 PM
first of all, i live in LA.
sister-grimm 6:40 PM
so do i, you ain’t special.
lucyinthesky 6:40 PM
second, i live in brentwood too.
sister-grimm 6:40 PM
me too, i said you ain’t special.
sister-grimm 6:41 PM
WAIT
sister-grimm 6:41 PM
HOLY SHIT
sister-grimm 6:41 PM
you live in BRENTWOOD
lucyinthesky 6:41 PM
can’t you read, baby?
sister-grimm 6:42 PM
TIMELY COFFEE. TOMORROW AT 5AM. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.
Karolina’s tears were flowing freely now, like a waterfall surrounding her cry-face. She laughs then laughs again, amazed of the coincidence life had given her. Cheesy as it may sound, but she would’ve know Sister Grimm lives in LA all these years, she would’ve searched for her in every houses and called for her username in each block.
lucyinthesky 6:43 PM
5am? you’re crazy. i love you.
sister-grimm 6:43 PM
you’re crazier. i love you more.
sister-grimm 6:44 PM
i’m the one in all black.
sister-grimm 6:44 PM
also my mom’s friend’s son told me i sleep like a vampire that one time we had a sleepover so yeah i’m sleeping right now. LOVE YOU LUCY IN THE SKY.
Karolina types out eight letters that will probably change everything, or just be a further connection between the two of them. She swallows so much confidence right now that she’s not sure how she’s going to deal with it later.
lucyinthesky 6:46 PM
karolina, call me karolina.
Sister Grimm was true to her word and actually fell asleep, because she didn’t read it for hours. Not that Karolina was watching her profile picture and status alert for hours on main, but maybe she is, and who cares? It’s Sister Grimm, and she cares about Sister Grimm.
* *
Besides for a sleeping girl in a brown coat sat on the farthest chair at the back, no one else is present at Timely. 5:00. Karolina tapped at the metal railing besides the coffee tables and bit the inside of her cheeks. Maybe she was too on time, too early?
5:01. Maybe Karolina’s just too overreacting.
5:05. 5:10. 5: 20. 5:30. Maybe Sister Grimm just slept in late? Maybe she forgot to set her alarm, or she was sleeping so peacefully that she doesn’t wake her up? Maybe Sister Grimm was still choosing her all-black wardrobe or doing her make-up, maybe she’s still saying goodbye to her parents or she forgot. Or maybe Sister Grimm forgot.
lucyinthesky 5:31 AM
hello i’m at timely.
lucyinthesky 5:32 AM
dammit i should’ve asked for your number i feel so dumb.
The sleeping girl turns momentarily, mumbling something incoherent and almost knocking out her coffee cup in the process of doing so. She rubs the side of her face in a sleepy itch. Karolina was forced to look away when she opens her eyes and it settles on Karolina, but before she could pretend that she didn’t see anything, she already registered the face in her mind.
Nico. Nico Minoru.
Nico Minoru was sleeping at Timely with a brown coat on and a barely touched coffee and a skeptical expression written on her face.
Karolina quickly looks down and pretends she didn’t see her. She opens her phone and opens Tumblr, heart thumping so fast that she can hear it, fingers shaking and trembling and her grip on her phone tightens.
lucyinthesky 5:38 AM
please please just show up before i cry.
lucyinthesky 5:40 AM
i’m gonna cry please pick me up let’s go somewhere else.
lucyinthesky 5:50 AM
i don’t even care anymore nico minoru is here and i know i didn’t tell you about who the hell she is but please just show up before i completely lose my mind.
Karolina bows her head down at the table and silently let the tears of disappointment and pressure overcome her and fall. Sister Grimm must have forgotten and now Nico Minoru is staring at her with this weird look in her eyes, from her phone to Karolina and vice versa. But somehow, somehow she can’t bring herself to leave Timely and just get over it and maybe blast Sister Grimm with messages when she arrives home. She stays glued to her spot with hope; an unknown urge to stay taking her back and preventing her from leaving.
Karolina’s phone rings.
sister-grimm 6:00 AM
karolina.
sister-grimm 6:00 AM
baby, please look at me.
‘Baby, please look at me’? What are Sister Grimm and Karolina anyways? Were they friends, strictly platonic, or maybe they have a shot of making it more? Is that why Sister Grimm wanted to meet up with her and Karolina feeling the same urge to do so? Who calls each other baby and sends each other pictures of travels and ice creams and pizzas and sad song recommendations whenever they can? Is that why she finds Sister Grimm so amazing... is that why her eyes light up whenever Sister Grimm sends her a message the same way her eyes would do when Nico Minoru would steal a second to look at her amidst the party?
lucyinthesky 6:01 AM
you’re kidding me. you literally didn’t show up and now you’re telling me to look at you?
sister-grimm 6:01 AM
karolina.
“Karolina,” a small, weak voice calls out to her. Her head traced the source of the voice and her heart squeezes itself in its own grasp. “Karolina, look at me.”
“Nico?” Karolina found herself surprised for finding her own voice and courage to speak those words. Just yesterday, she was stuttering to say Nico’s name in her lips. Just yesterday, she would’ve laughed at you if you told her Nico was the one behind this Sister Grimm persona.
Then it hits her. It makes sense.
Sister Grimm talking about losing her sister was Nico talking about Amy dying. Sister Grimm talking about crying at her bathroom at 3AM was Nico gasping for breath as she tries to stop the tears when everyone’s sleeping. Sister Grimm telling Karolina about her insecurities was Nico thinking that she wasn’t good enough. Sister Grimm telling Karolina how much she’s lucky to have her was Nico thanking her for everything she’s done.
Sister Grimm telling Karolina she loves her was Nico telling Karolina she loves her.
So Karolina having a crush on Nico? Karolina having slowly and unknowingly falling for Sister Grimm?
It makes sense.
“Karolina, please,” Nico’s brown coat sways slowly, revealing her all-black outfit inside. The same face Karolina remembers staring into during lazy afternoons and boring sleepovers is staring at her with a mixed expression of worry and relief. “Are you disappointed it was me?”
“God, no,” Karolina stands up and walks closer to Nico, her arms outstretched like the gates of heaven awaiting her angel. “If anything, I’m happy it’s you.”
Nico cries and Karolina does, too. She holds her for all she’s worth, as Nico Minoru and as Sister Grimm, as the person she could’ve saved and the person she should’ve met a long time ago. Years of worry and pain and regret washed and ebbed away as Nico’s tears stain her shirt, as Nico grabbed her shoulders to tighten the embrace. Karolina inhaled her scent and silently thank the stars for giving her a chance to do everything correct, just this time, just this once. To do the right thing, do do what she should’ve done years ago.
Nico looks up at her. “I had a crush on you, you know.”
“As Karolina or as Lucy?”
“Maybe both.”
They laugh like it’s the most normal thing to do. Like they aren’t two strangers turned into internet friends turned into whatever they are at Timely Coffee at 5AM with tear-stained outfits and fragile hearts.
“You’re being awfully honest too early, baby.”
Then without thinking about it, without thinking about the fact that Timely’s staff might be watching or how early the sun rises or how Nico’s coffee gets colder by each second that passes, Karolina softly places a kiss on Nico’s lips, careful and comfortable, warm and slow. Nico reciprocates, gently placing her hand on Karolina’s cheek and the other one on her waist. They break apart for a second, all smiles and too happy to continue.
“Are we moving too fast?”
“My parents told me not to talk to strangers online, but I didn’t listen, didn’t I?”
“I’m glad you didn’t, Nico slash Sister Grimm slash baby,” she kisses her another time, with much more passion and adoration this time, thinking about how she could do this all day, all year, for the rest of her life, “I’m glad you didn’t.”