Work Text:
Maren’s POV
She was impossible to miss. With that head of platinum blonde hair. But even without the beautiful hair, Maren would recognise her anywhere. The way she held herself, the way she sipped her drink, that choice of drink, a chilled martini with a single olive, the way she seemed to be lost in her book no matter where she was. Maren knew it all. Better than she knew herself.
She looked up from her book and their eyes met. Startling, piercing blue eyes. Maren first saw recognition in them. Then hesitation. Then a hardness.
Maren swallowed. There was no turning back now. They’ve both acknowledged the other’s presence. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the blonde.
“Elsa,” she spoke.
Her throat was dry. Blue eyes remained fixed on hers.
“Maren.”
Her name never uttered so coldly before. It hurt.
“It’s been a long time,” Maren began.
“You made sure of that.”
That hurt too. But like a masochist, Maren took the seat on the barstool beside her anyway, without waiting for an invitation.
The bartender walked over, looking at Maren expectantly.
“Scotch on the rocks,” Elsa answered for her.
“You remembered,” Maren tried a smile.
Elsa didn’t smile back, turning away and closing her book, as they both watched the bartender prepare Maren’s drink. The bartender slid the drink over to Maren on a coaster and left. As soon as he was gone, Elsa spoke.
“So how have you been? How is he?”
“Why do you care?”
Elsa’s emotionless facade broke slightly with pain.
"Maren."
Maybe Maren went too far.
“I’m fine,” she admitted, voice low, “he is too.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Maren scoffed, “yeah, right.”
Elsa swallowed, before she fixed her face with an uncaring expression once more.
“Where is he?” Elsa asked.
“With my brother.”
“So you’ve got the night to yourself.”
“I intend to keep it that way.”
“And yet here you are, sitting with me in a bar.”
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“But fate works in mysterious ways.”
Maren watched Elsa nurse the stem of her martini glass delicately with her index finger.
“So what are you doing here?” Maren finally asked.
“A date.”
She didn’t know it would sting like it did until she actually heard it. She gripped her scotch glass hard at that.
“Well…” she managed, trying to keep her voice uncaring, “where is she?”
Elsa shrugged.
“Couldn’t make it.”
“I’m sorry.”
It was Elsa’s turn to scoff, “yeah, right.”
“Hey, you said it yourself,” Maren took a sip of her scotch, “fate works in mysterious ways.”
“I’ll toast to that,” Elsa raised her glass towards Maren, before downing the last of it in one gulp.
-
They crashed through Maren’s apartment, lips hot on each other’s, stumbling down the familiar path to the bedroom.
“We shouldn’t be doing this…” Elsa broke apart to gasp.
“You wanted to come back here.”
“To have a look at what’s become of it.”
Maren dipped her head down to work Elsa’s neck, allowing her a line of sight to the apartment, “well, look.”
“It looks the same.”
Maren bit hard against her shoulder, causing Elsa to gasp, “it’s not.”
She had tried hard to make the place different after Elsa left. To erase traces of her and send a message to herself that her and Elsa were over.
“Maren… what about Clayton?”
“Like I said, he isn’t here, he’s with Ryder.”
“But still, if you don’t think it’s wrong, I do. We’re done. We’re past this. I had a date.”
Maren growled and pushed Elsa down on the bed.
“And if your date showed, this would be what went down anyway, so be thankful.”
Elsa gave in to Maren at that and returned Maren’s kiss with a harsh hunger.
It wasn’t long before both their clothes were strewn on the floor and Elsa was on top, kissing down Maren’s front. Maren missed this. She had forgotten how much. She had been so occupied with her job and her life and her Clayton that she had not realised how much she missed being loved like this, so reverentially and so desperately by the only one who had ever made her feel this way.
It was in that moment that Maren’s phone rang. She scrambled up, trying to push Elsa off her.
“Ignore it,” Elsa cruelly demanded against her skin.
“It could be my brother.”
Elsa continued kissing down her chest.
“It could be Clayton.”
Elsa stopped at that, shifting up to rest her forehead against Maren’s shoulder briefly, trying to ease herself out of the intensity of the moment, before she nodded and moved off Maren.
“Shit,” Elsa swore, flipping on to her back with her hands over her face, “Maren, I can’t do this to him.”
Maren climbed out of the bed, reaching for her clothes on the floor.
“If this is Clay, you’re not going to feel guilty, okay?” she said to Elsa as she rummaged for her phone.
It was Ryder.
“Excuse me,” she said to Elsa, before heading out the bedroom.
“What is it, Ry?” Maren said into the phone.
“It’s Clay.”
“What about him?”
“He misses you.”
“Yeah?”
“He’s crying now. I can’t get him to calm down. He wants his Mama.”
Maren could hear him in the background. She rubbed her temples, ignoring her emotions and concentrating on her son.
“That’s Elsa. I’m his Mummy.”
“Right, sorry,” Ryder paused to think what to do next, “Should I call her?”
Maren sighed.
“It’s okay, hold on.”
“Wait, you’re with Elsa?”
Maren held the phone to her chest, heading back to the room. Handing her phone to Elsa, she said seriously.
“Your son needs you. Are you in the right state of mind to talk to him?”
Elsa lifted her hands which were still over her face to look at Maren with concern, before nodding, sitting up and scooching to the edge of the bed so she could take the phone.
“Baby?” Elsa said down the phone, in a tone so gentle Maren wanted to melt, “sorry, hi Ryder. Yes, I… I’m with Maren right now. Could you put Clayton on?”
Maren could hear their son’s cries through the phone now and knew Ryder had brought the phone closer to him. She watched as Elsa spoke and cooed to him down the phone, her manner so soft and loving. Maren could not believe that a woman so cold to her and so warm to her son could exist in one body.
She couldn’t help but ignore their situation and slide over to sit behind Elsa, wrapping her arms around her waist. Elsa stiffened when she felt Maren approach, surprised by the intimacy, but eventually settled into it, bringing her free hand to Maren’s arms. Maren rested her chin on Elsa’s shoulder so she could hear her son clearer.
Clay’s cries began to quieten, and Maren even heard a laugh or two. Elsa was so great with him. Eventually he was replaced by Ryder’s voice. After a while of speaking, Elsa turned to Maren apologetically.
“Ryder is bringing Clayton here. Is that okay with you?”
Maren closed her eyes, leaning back to rest her forehead on Elsa’s back.
“Of course,” Maren sighed, “Elsa, he’s our son.”
Elsa conveyed Maren’s approval over to Ryder before ending the call. She pulled away from Maren to stand up. Maren suddenly felt very cold without Elsa in her arms anymore.
“They’ll be over in half an hour,” Elsa informed, handing the phone back to Maren and looking for her clothes.
“Well, this is over, isn’t it?” Elsa admitted quietly, as she fished up her shirt, “Clayton’s on the way back.”
She looked disappointed. And ashamed that she was disappointed.
Maren nodded glumly. But she didn’t want this feeling to end. She couldn’t face reality now. She missed Elsa. She wanted Elsa.
“Not for half an hour,” she said it tentatively, afraid to push Elsa.
Elsa paused.
“Are you sure?” she asked, head inside her shirt so Maren could not see her expression.
“Only if you are.”
Elsa threw her shirt back on the floor, coming over to Maren and straddling her. Resting her arms around Maren’s neck, she leaned down and kissed Maren hard again.
“It’s been so long,” Elsa groaned, “Honey, I’ve missed you.”
They both froze, and Elsa straightened, looking slightly afraid.
“Is-is it okay if I said that? I’m sorry…”
Maren didn’t care about what they were at that moment anymore.
“I’ll allow it,” she replied, mouth back on Elsa’s immediately after.
It was raw, it was hard, it was desperate and angry and the emotional pain was so acute Maren almost felt it physically. It was exquisite.
They came at the same time, because by now they knew each other so well, their legs wrapped around the other’s waist as they threw their heads back in synchrony. Maren felt tears burn in her eyes.
Eventually they settled in each other’s arms, facing each other, as they watched the other come down from their high.
Maren leaned forward and gave Elsa a tender kiss. They broke apart, and warm, brown, eyes gazed into deep, blue ones.
“Snowflake,” Maren whispered.
Elsa exhaled at that, closing her eyes momentarily to savour the relief, before opening them to look back at Maren. The cold quality in her eyes were completely gone now. It was beautiful to witness.
“Well?” Maren probed gently.
Elsa giggled.
“You were right,” Elsa conceded, “break-up sex is hot.”
Maren laughed, pulling Elsa closer to her, “you were great too. You’re really good at being a stone-cold bitch, you know that?”
Elsa chuckled, looking weirdly proud, “let that serve as a warning to you, then. Don’t ever cross me.”
The doorbell rang, and the two scrambled up. Elsa was closer to the door so she got out of bed. The look of guilt was back on her face.
“Clayton! Oh Maren, I honestly feel terrible, do you think he’s okay?”
She fretted as she pulled on a dressing gown.
“I’m sure it’s just separation anxiety. Ryder’s great with him.”
Maren suddenly remembered.
“By the way, if Ryder asks why you’re home, say work ended earlier than you expected.”
“What?” Elsa exclaimed.
She turned to Maren, crossing her arms, “did you get Ryder to look after our son by lying that I would be working late? I thought he knew we had a date night.”
Maren looked embarrassed.
“Well, the plan was to tell him the truth. But you left for the bar already when he came to pick Clay up. He asked where you were and obviously I wasn’t going to tell him I was going to pretend to be picking you up at a bar. He’s my brother. I don’t want him knowing his sister has kinky sex.”
Elsa laughed, pulling Maren in for another kiss.
“You, lying? I never thought I’d see the day. Maren, I think I’m starting to be a bad influence on you.”
The doorbell rang again. Twice.
“Clayton!” Elsa exclaimed again at that, pulling away from Maren, and running out the bedroom.
“Please lie to Ryder too, okay?” Maren shouted out after her.
-
Elsa’s POV
1 week ago
They heard Maren come through the front door and Clayton escaped from Elsa’s clutches at that, running out the bathroom and into the hall, completely butt naked.
“Clayton!” Elsa exclaimed, scrambling to get up from the tiled floor to chase after her son.
Maren had caught him in her arms by the time Elsa got to the hall, and she watched as the boy was now climbing up her, straddling Maren’s right shoulder as he hugged Maren’s head. Maren expertly held onto him, trying to read her mail between his chubby hand over her eyes.
“Mummy!” Clayton nuzzled into the top of her head.
Elsa laughed at the sight, still marvelling each time she witnessed how agile this kid was.
“Grandma sent Clayton something again,” Maren announced, handing a package to Elsa, so both hands were free and she could pry Clayton off her, “she’s still addressing it to Tarzan though.”
Elsa smiled, knowing Maren’s grandma really loved the boy’s original name. He came in one day, suddenly, into one of the orphanages run by Elsa’s family’s charity foundation, a wild and angry and hurt little boy that was so very small, and so very, very afraid. The doctors said he was about a year and a half, but he could only say one thing, "Tarzan". They suspected he was raised by apes in the harsh Northuldran wilderness, and that he'd only come to town to be discovered by humans after hunters killed his ape mother. He wouldn’t let anyone touch him or interact with him at first. Until Elsa and Maren came along. Patiently, painfully, slowly, they brought him out of his shell and now all three of their lives will never be the same again.
“Let’s get you dressed, shall we? While Mama opens your present,” Maren brought Clayton high into the air once and he squealed, before she placed him on her hip and headed back to the bathroom, “this exposed butt is a ticking time bomb.”
Elsa tore open the package and chuckled. Grandma was still not subtle about what, or rather who, she thought Elsa was. Inside the package were two age-appropriate picture books entitled The Fifth Spirit & The Warrior Girl and The Snow Queen.
-
Clayton really, really, loved the books. Particularly the one where both the women looked like his mothers. He was now tucked in, sound asleep, with that book between his arms.
Elsa and Maren turned off the light in his nursery, before heading to the living room. They both slumped down on the couch, groaning. Clayton had so much energy he was exhausting.
“I don’t think we can do anything tonight,” Elsa admitted.
“Yet again,” Maren nodded in agreement.
It had been so long since they had any time or energy to spend on their relationship. But as Elsa laced her hand in Maren’s, she had never felt more content in her life.
Maren was leafing through The Snow Queen now. She got to a page with a large picture of the snow queen splayed across the entire page and brought it up by Elsa’s face, comparing the two.
“I think Grandma has been on to something all this while,” she observed, eyes flitting between the two, noting the uncanny resemblance.
Elsa rolled her eyes, “don’t be ridiculous.”
Maren laughed and brought the book down, continuing to flip through it.
“I don’t know what she means by giving us this though, the Snow Queen seems really evil in the book. Does she want Clay to think that that's his Mama?”
“The Queen acts that way because she’s afraid,” Elsa explained, getting the story almost instinctively, “She’s always been different and has known no other way to express that. You can see why Clayton will understand.”
“Not too layered for a two-year-old?”
“Not at all. Don’t underestimate the empathy of children.”
Maren smiled at Elsa, “it’s so cool you know things like that.”
“Read the parenting books I’ve bought, Maren!” Elsa playfully chided, even as she believed wholeheartedly that Maren was an awesome mum.
Maren knew Elsa thought so, so she took no offense with Elsa’s teasing.
“I will, if you ever find a way to sedate Clay so I have the time.”
“You don’t need to read the books to know that is highly illegal, Maren. Not to mention, I don’t think there is a strong enough tranq in the whole world for that kid.”
They both laughed at that before settling into a comfortable silence.
-
Elsa was watching TV now, surprised at herself by how engrossed she was by the cheesy romcom.
Maren was distracted by The Snow Queen again, flipping through it once more, reading aloud now as she tried out different voices for different characters. She was practising for her next reading to Clayton.
“You know, the Queen’s kinda hot,” Maren admitted, completely unabashed by her confession.
“What is wrong with you? That’s a children’s book.”
“I know! But I don’t mean like because of her physicality or anything. She’s cold. And confident. And a bitch. Hot.”
Maren turned to Elsa, studying her.
“You can pull it off.”
“What? How am I supposed to take that?”
“As the compliment it is.”
Elsa rolled her eyes, trying to concentrate on the crying argument on screen.
“Shut up and practise your voices.”
“See what I mean? Anyway, you realise I can’t do both at the same time, right?”
-
“What? Don’t sleep with him! You just broke up!” Elsa yelled at the female protagonist, exasperated.
Maren looked up at the screen in time to watch the couple fall into bed together.
“Woah…” Maren remarked, “nice.”
Elsa looked over at her, and Maren seemed completely undisturbed by the scene. Elsa didn’t get it. The two characters were just at each other’s throats minutes ago, screaming and bawling! She angrily jabbed at the remote, turning the TV off.
“I will never understand straight people,” she grumbled.
Maren laughed.
“Elsa, break-up sex isn’t a straight people thing. Maybe you just don’t see it because it was a guy and a girl on screen just now. I’ve always said, on-screen representation makes all the difference. Granted I was only half-watching, but I get it. She still loves him.”
“Oh, don’t pull the bi-card again to claim you understand romcoms better than me!”
Maren bit back a laugh at Elsa’s retort. Elsa continued, miffed that Maren was finding this funny.
“It doesn't make sense! Break-up sex shouldn’t even be a thing! What the hell is even going on in your mind? You’re angry, you’re hurt, but you’re turned on??”
“Yeah! Kinda… I guess?” Maren paused to try and figure it out, before giving up, “Actually I don’t really know. But it happens.”
Elsa stared at Maren in shock.
“You’ve had break-up sex before, haven’t you?”
Maren nodded.
“With who?”
“John.”
“Gosh, Maren. Why would you do that to yourself?”
Maren shrugged.
“Like I said, it happens. You remember, it was a very messy breakup. We still had feelings for each other for a while after it ended.”
“Huh.”
Elsa acknowledged Maren’s point, still trying to wrap her head around the concept. She had no experience in this matter, never having broken up with anyone before. Never wanting to break up with Maren anyway. Ever.
-
The both of them were lying in bed now, facing the ceiling, preparing to sleep.
“Are we really going to do this?” Maren asked.
“I’m in,” Elsa admitted, bolder in the dark.
“Okay, so just to get this straight. We’ll pretend to be broken up. So you can know what it’s like.”
“And then I’ll pretend to be the kind of cold, distant, emotionally-unavailable woman you are incomprehensibly into.”
“Hot.”
Maren was bolder in the dark too.
“Safeword?” Elsa probed.
“Snowflake, as always.”
“Great. All settled then?” Elsa concluded.
“Last thing,” Maren added, “I’ll see if Ryder can watch Clay on Friday and we can do the date night then.”
“Perfect.”
They still weren’t used to the fact that things had to be so scheduled and matter-of-fact between them now. But in that moment, as they turned into each other’s embrace to snuggle, they were reminded why. Clayton started crying.
“Mama! Mummy!”
They both groaned.
“I think he wet the bed again,” Elsa guessed.
“I’ll go,” Maren started to get out of bed.
Elsa followed.
“I’ll go too. You take the boy. I’ll take the sheets.”
“Deal.”