Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The blinding lights above her made it hard to make out anyone out in the crowd. Not that she particularly had anyone out in the crowd to see but it was still jarring. She wasn’t much for these live talk show interviews. She usually tried to keep to herself and just worked. 

She sat herself next to the host’s spot on the somewhat uncomfortable loveseat. She was in some of her stolen set clothes too since she knew that this interview in particular was about her character on her newest show. She’d done her part for the first season so long ago now that she’d been surprised that they’d suddenly gotten two more seasons. She, and everyone else, hadn’t expected it to take off like it had. No idea really. 

The host introduced himself and her quickly and she waved awkwardly to the cameras. 

It started off normal enough, a little about herself, what she was currently working on, how she’d liked working on the show, and if she’d give up any tidbits of the new season. She laughed off the last part since she was up to her ears in NDA’s. She merely answered that they’d just have to wait and see. 

Then the host was grinning evilly at her. She was taken aback, kinda afraid of it. 

“…What’s with that look?” 

The host kept grinning, “Soooo let’s get down to business. I’d like to ask you the burning question in my mind, and I’m sure many of your fans also want to know.” 

She made a face, “…And that would be?” 

The host clapped his hands together, “So what’s up between you and your co-star Caitlyn Kiramman? The tension in-show is so thick that you could cut it with a knife.” She was sure her face was red at this point. “You usually do voice work so I’d personally never seen you on camera and I’d never seen Caitlyn do anything with so much tension before. She does amazingly in a romantic position but the chemistry between the two of you? Crazy.” 

She rubbed the side of her neck nervously, now or never she guessed. If it didn’t come out now it probably would as soon as the second season aired. 

“So um. About that. Cait and I…we’ve actually been dating for years. Since high school actually. Her mom is actually our manager.” There was a stunned silence from both the audience and a completely shocked face from the host. “The scene I think a lot of people say that about, the bedroom scene? Yeah every time we took a break filming that scene we were making out in the closet and someone would have to come find us.” 

There was startled gasp from backstage that had her glancing back to see her slightly flustered and fuming girlfriend staring back at her intensely. She waved at her charmingly then turned back to the host, who was still reeling from the new information. 

The host tried to clear his throat, “S-so the two of you were dating the time you were filming? Knew each other beforehand?” 

“Long before, entirely through filming, and still to this day. We actually went to the auditions as a joke. Didn’t expect to get anything more than extras if anything at all. You know since as you’ve already stated, I usually do voice acting and Cait usually does lovey dovey roles. When they called us in to say we’d gotten the lead roles we were floored. Cassandra almost killed us because we were already committed and booked out for parts for a while but we were promised that filming would be quick and would work around our already crazy schedules. So we did it.” 

The host, while still surprised by the realization that the two had been together for so long without anyone really knowing, suddenly laughed. “So I guess I know now why it was so easy to get the both of you to agree to come on the show tonight then.” 

She looked away, pointedly at the floor, “Oh that. I uh…I lost a bet and had to agree.” 

She could tell the host wanted to ask but brushed it aside to welcome Caitlyn to the stage. She gracefully sat next to Vi and as the applause was still happening leaned over to her ear so she could only hear. 

“That was bold to say all that on stage. I think I’m going to thoroughly enjoy my winnings from that bet after this is all done.” 

She took a deep shuddering breath and stared at her lap embarrassingly. Now she was 100% positive that her face was fully red.

Chapter Text

“You’re staring again.”

Vi blinked and turned back toward Caitlyn with an owlish look, “What? No, I’m not?”

She flipped her book closed and gave her a raised eyebrow, “You paused your music. It’s your tell. You were staring out at the bushes again.”

Vi frowned and looked back out at the far end of their yard again. The hedges were extremely tall and there was a fence on their side that was almost as tall. They both towered over everyone that they ever had over but ever since they came out as a couple it hadn’t seemed like enough in her mind.

Caitlyn reached over and gently forced her to look at her, “No one even knows where we live. No one is going to break in. Plus Winchester would know long before either of us would know.” She moved her chin toward their Doberman at their feet who perked up at the sound of his name. “We got him the best training available to negate this exact thing.”

Vi nodded slowly and deflated back into the swinging chair they were both on, making it sway slowly. “I dunno. I just get worried, especially after Powder’s place got put on blast. I worry about our place, I worry about our parents’ place. And god do I worry about the kids’ homes. I didn’t think our show would get so popular so quickly.”

Caitlyn sighed and pulled over Vi’s iPad. She fiddled with it for a minute and grimaced at the viewer counts for the first episode of the second season. “…We’re definitely getting renewed if the numbers stay up like this.”

“Exactly, those numbers are better than most of the parts I’ve ever done combined. And with that interview we did a few weeks ago to promote the new season the first season’s numbers jumped too. You know I don’t love being in live-action stuff for this exact reason.”

“Well let’s just hope that Powder’s thing was just because she posted too many TikToks while walking down her street.”

Chapter Text

She watched as Caitlyn got more and more frustrated with her acting partner. The scene was intense and moody, which was usually Caitlyn’s favorite. But it just wasn’t happening today.

Vi didn’t need to come in today; she wasn’t even in the part of the season they were filming this week.

“She’s stressed out, why is she so stressed out Violet?”

Vi jumped in her chair and turned to Cassandra quickly. “God, I didn’t even know you were here today.”

She lifted an inquiring brow at her, “And you aren’t filming today either, why are you here? You don’t tend to come in when it’s just Caitlyn filming.”

She shifted uncomfortably, “Cait’s having a bad day. Her flight back here yesterday was delayed and instead of coming home at 7 like she was supposed to, she didn’t get back until 2 in the morning. She insisted on not delaying filming today so we were here at 7:30. I don’t think she actually slept. Just laid there next to me with her eyes closed. So I drove us in and I’ll drive us home because I have a feeling the moment she sits down in a bit she’s gonna be out.”

Cassandra frowned as they restarted the scene again for the fifth time, “I hadn’t realized her flight was delayed. If she had told me I would have found her a new flight.”

Vi shrugged, “You know Cait. She wants to be more independent. Especially now that our careers have really blown up. She didn’t even tell me until she’d already booked a new flight.”

“Are the two of you…okay?”

Vi froze in her seat, ramrod straight, “Course we’re okay. Why wouldn’t we be okay? I’m not totally trying to set up a proposal or anything.”

Cassandra rubbed her temples as she sighed heavily. “The two of you are absolutely hopeless.” She turned away slowly, “Please do tell me when you decide to do it, I’ll set up a private photographer for engagement photos.” She walked away before Vi could say anything so she sank back down in her chair miserably.

She watched on as Caitlyn and Maddie finally finished their scene and she made her way over to her swaying slightly. She collapsed in the chair next to her with a tired huff. “Did I see my mother was here a few minutes ago? Did she need something?”

Vi reached over and gently grabbed Caitlyn’s hand, “Nah, just being nosey. Do you want me to get you something for lunch?”

Caitlyn grinned over at her lazily, “Absolutely I do.”

Chapter Text

Caitlyn squinted at the screen of her laptop.

The email stared right back at her.

That couldn’t be right. An extended universe for their show? Why would there be an extended universe?

She pushed away from her desk in her rolling chair and rolled out of her office and into the living room. Jinx’s head popped up from their couch, making her freeze.

Caitlyn cleared her throat slightly, “Where is your sister? I need her to come look at an email. Actually, wait. You should look at your email too, I saw your name on the list.”

Jinx grinned at her, “No can do. I don’t check work emails on my days off. Vi saw that her favorite noodle food truck was going to be down on the boardwalk so she ran down to get some.”

“…She ran? It’s two miles to the boardwalk. Why wouldn’t she take her bike?”

Jinx shrugged nonchalantly and flopped back down on their couch, “I dunno! Why does my sister do anything that she does?”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes and scooted over to the edge of the couch, “Regardless, why are you in my house? You have your own house and your own partner’s to harass. Also, where is Isha?” A crash and the resulting yelp from her kitchen answered her last question.

“Well Toots sometimes I like hanging out with my sister in law-“

“You hate me most of the time-“

“You wanted an answer I’m giving you an answer!” She cleared her throat dramatically, “Now! As I was saying! My AC broke and I didn’t like the guy who came to fix it and he said it’d take a few hours. So now I’m stealing your AC and letting my kid eat everything in your fridge. Hope you didn’t want that chocolate cake in that box.”

Caitlyn stood suddenly, “That’s our anniversary cake! I special ordered that weeks ago!”

Jinx waved her off, cackling for a minute, “I’m joking, god can’t ever mess with you. Vi told her she had free rein except for that cake don’t worry. Maybe you need to stop looking at work emails on our days off. It might help you relax a little.” She winked at her and rolled off the couch, just to pop back up. “Also I got the email yesterday, I think it’s gonna be fun! Can’t wait to freak everyone out again and do all my own stunts!”

Caitlyn fell back down into her chair. She rubbed her temples as it sank towards the ground slowly with a small hiss. “You two and doing all your own stunts. You’re both going to be the death of me.”

Chapter Text

“Jayce hurt himself on set. Of course, he hurt himself on set.”

Every head in the room whipped toward Caitlyn as she furiously texted back whoever had told her that fact.

It’d taken everything in Vi’s arsenal to keep her home today for game day so she was going to murder whoever had texted her.

She came around the corner from the kitchen with the giant food platter she’d been working on, trying desperately not to show how irritated she was. “How did he get hurt? He doesn’t do his own stunts. What scene was he even filming?”

Caitlyn groaned as she set aside her phone and rubbed both hands into her hair, “They weren’t even filming yet! He apparently walked into the set, dropped his drink, and fell into the split drink. He broke a huge part of the set on his way down and now has a huge gash in his leg.”

Ekko muffled a laugh from his place perched at the end of the couch, “I mean are we surprised? Of course, it was him, he was bragging about never getting hurt on set last week. It’s his own fault.”

Jinx didn’t look up from where she was working tiny braids into Isha’s hair. “I also cursed him. That probably had something to do with it.”

Vi set the platter down on the coffee table and situated herself between Caitlyn and Ekko. Jinx and Isha were both sitting on the floor at their feet. She kicked Jinx softly, “Could we stop cursing people and stressing out my girlfriend? Directing’s harder than just acting and you messing with all her actors makes everyone else’s lives harder.”

Jinx grinned evilly up at her. “Good, I’m gonna do it more!”

She rolled her eyes and pulled Caitlyn into her side, “No more phone. They can deal with him. Then I’ll text him and make him camp out on the recliner and you can make him run lines with you. That sound good?”

Caitlyn nodded and snuggled more into her, “I’m gonna kill him when he gets here.”

Vi patted her on the head softly with her free hand, “I ain’t gonna stop you. I’ll help you if it makes you less stressed.”

Jinx made an annoyed sound and pointed at them, “Stop being gross in front of my kid, nobody wants to see that.”

Vi smirked down at her, “You mean the kid who’s grinning at you?”

Jinx froze and turned back to Isha with the most betrayed look. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Isha shrugged nonchalantly and flipped back to sit again. She tugged on the half-finished braid that Jinx had been making and tapped her on the leg to get her to keep going.

Ekko laughed but turned on the TV, “At least life isn’t boring. We could all work boring 9-5 office jobs that we hate.”

Caitlyn frowned, “Maybe I’d like an office job.”

Chapter Text

Caitlyn did the same thing every single morning.

Wake up at 5AM.

Start the coffee pot that is mysteriously always filled and ready.

Plug in the toaster oven and start cooking three bagels, one blueberry for her, and two plain protein for Vi. (She’s pretty useless when it comes to anything other than the toaster oven but this she does perfectly because she has it timed thank you very much)

Then she goes to wake up Vi so she and Winchester, who follows her around the kitchen every morning, can go for a quick run.

Once they’re up and gone she puts too much cream cheese on the bagels, pours two mugs of coffee, puts out Winchester’s homemade food that Vi painstakingly makes every week, and sets everything out on their deck while she waits for them to return.

Usually, by the time the two are back, she’s ready for them.

After everything, she and Vi shower together, make out in their towels, and get ready for the day.

Then they head out for whatever set or conference room they’re working in that day, either together or separately depending.

Every single day.

She likes it that way okay? Her brain functions better when she at least has a little bit of routine before everything inevitably goes off the rails.

Today that’s not the case.

No today she wakes up to Vi’s screeching death metal band backup alarm and a headache. A headache that suddenly turns into panic when she realizes that she’d somehow slept through her own alarm which she’s never actually slept up to and now Vi’s 5:45 alarm is going off.

Before she has a chance to lean over Vi and grab the phone Winchester jumps onto the bed, directly into Vi’s stomach.

The room is suddenly in absolute chaos .

First Vi screeches in pain, then she, herself, screams as she’s flung to the other side of the king-sized bed. Then Winchester starts jumping around and howling.

All while the alarm is still going off.

Caitlyn’s had enough already, even though this had only been going on for max 30 seconds, so she launches herself at the bedside table where Vi’s phone is.

At the same exact time at Vi reaches for it.

They end up on the floor, sheets tangled amongst them, the damn phone still going off.

She gives up. Totally and completely gives up. The day is ruined. The only thing she can think about now as she lies on the soft thick carpet on the floor is that she’s going to crawl into their tub and never come back out.

It’s just a Caitlyn soup kinda day. That’s the only thing that could salvage this.

Vi groans loudly as she slaps the table for the phone. One of the slaps apparently turns it off because the room is suddenly thrown into complete silence.

Blissful silence that soothes her aching head just a tad. That is until Winchester appears at her head and curls around her, whining softly.

Normally running her hands through his velvet soft fur calms her but right now he’s just going to suffocate her with his love.

That won’t do. She has her Caitlyn soup plans now.

“…Cait? What’s going on?” She pushes her unruly hair out of her face as she pulls down her phone to check the time. “God it’s so late. Why did you wake me up?”

She pushes herself up and scoots so her back is against the side of the bed. Suddenly she realizes that her nose is half plugged. The headache and sleeping in makes a lot more sense now. She looks at Vi miserably.

“I think I’m sick.”

Chapter Text

Vi pulled a chair into the bathroom to sit next to the tub. “Okay. I’ve rescheduled all our meetings today, answered your urgent emails, and got Ekko to switch up what episode we were filming today to work around us not being there. Did I forget anything?”

Caitlyn shook her head slowly so the washcloth over her eyes didn’t fall as she leaned back in the tub. “No. That’s all of it I think. You checked my calendar right?”

Vi leaned forward onto her arms on the edge of the tub, “Yeah that’s how I knew what meetings you had. Now we get to just have a nice relaxing day off together.”

“This bath is nice.”

Vi chuckled to herself, “Yeah? Is it what you needed?”

“It’s doing wonders for my headache and everything else that’s aching. I just don’t know what happened.” Vi was quiet for a long moment, long enough for Caitlyn to lift the washcloth and glance at her. “Vi?”

She let out a soft sad exhale. “You haven’t been this stressed since we were teenagers. I think that has a bit to do with it. Your first movie, remember how you worked yourself to death over it and nearly ended up in the hospital? Remember the only reason you didn’t was because your dad works at a hospital and he took a week off to stay with you?”

Caitlyn abruptly pulled the washcloth back over her face, “This is absolutely not that bad.”

“Not yet Cait! But it’s getting there. I was the one who had to watch it last time and I’m sitting here watching it again. I don’t want it to get that bad again. I think you and Ekko need to work out a better schedule together.  Take a break.”

Caitlyn grimaced and sank a little bit more into the water. “And what about you? You’re juggling two shows at once right now.”

“That’s different and you know it. Plus I have things scheduled out so I’m not running myself ragged.” She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. “We need to do something different or something drastic is going to happen.”

Caitlyn’s head whipped toward her, the wash cloth flying off into the water. “You wouldn’t.”

Vi grinned evilly, “You know I will.”

“Violet I do not want to roast myself in the sun. I get burned every single time we go to the beach.”

“And yet every time we go you’re angry that I’m forcing you to go and then you spend the entire next week saying how nice of a time you had.”

“I’m sick! I don’t wanna leave the house.”

Vi pulled out her phone and typed something in, grin ever deepening, until she made a show of tapping the screen one last time and shoving her phone back into her pocket. Caitlyn’s phone dinged on the counter next to them.

She pouted as she reached up and checked the notification. “In two days! In two days you’re making me suffer and go to the beach? We don’t have time for this!”

Before she could argue anymore two more dings and notifications popped up. Vi pulled her phone back out and showed Caitlyn her screen. “Too bad! Powder and Jayce already accepted the invite!”

Chapter Text

“How do you feel about a black granite countertop? With little sparkling bits in it?” The arm flung over her lap tightened just slightly and she could feel more than see the heaving sigh she got in response. They’d been lying in their bed for hours now but Caitlyn was snuggled deep in their blankets with her face half-smushed into Vi’s hip while she sat up against the headboard.

She moved her face just slightly so she could glare at Vi. “We have countertops.”

“Yeah but what do you think about these?” Vi pushed the phone into her face.

A shot of her father standing in front of a dark countertop, proudly displaying it to the camera exaggeratedly, greeted her.

“…Why is my father at this store?”

Vi shrugged nonchalantly, “I told him I was thinking about redoing the kitchen so he started taking photos of things for me at Home Depot.”

Caitlyn groaned and she rolled more into her side, “Someone else took that photo. Who’s with him? Also, he knows nothing about home renovation. He can fix people but give that man a wrench and he’ll find a way to snap it in half.”

“…Your mom I think?”

Caitlyn’s head popped up, “Absolutely not. She’d never. Give me your phone.”

She laughed and passed it to her easily. Caitlyn tapped it loudly but quickly and held it to her ear while grumbling something Vi couldn’t hear.

“Vi! Did you decide which countertop you and Caitlyn would like? There’s an incredibly good deal to be had here-“

“We want the black granite father.”

There was a shuffle from the other end and all the background noise cut out, “ Caitlyn darling, are you feeling better? Vi mentioned the two of you were taking a day for yourselves. Cass also mentioned that you were having a hard time the other day in one of your scenes. I was planning on coming over later with a few samples that I picked up for my own renovations. Do you want me to bring you anything?”

“Who took that photo of you?”

There was silence for a moment. “What do you mean darling?”

Caitlyn grumbled again as she put the phone on speaker and held it up toward Vi. She laughed again before answering.

“She thinks it’s a ridiculous photo and needs to know who could have possibly taken it. I’m gonna print it out and frame it. I think it’ll be hilarious in the living room.”

There was a muffled chuckle from the other end of the line, “ Your mother took that. She took some others, I’ll send those over too-“

Caitlyn tapped the screen wildly until he was cut off and looked up at Vi incredulously. “My entire life is a lie. She’s never once done something as funny as taking photos of my father posing wildly. I can’t believe this has happened to me.”