Chapter Text
Want Ya! (it’s going down tonight)
Chapter 1: Stay the Night
Vee spat out the mouthwash in the sink, the potion of Listerine burning on her tongue. By now, the nervousness, which felt hard and heavy in her stomach—like she swallowed a bowling ball—had gone away an she was left feeling relieved.
She was currently in the upstairs bathroom in the Petrenko family’s house, the bathroom Masha shared with their little brother Viktor. It was a Saturday evening, the 14th of March 2026 to be precise; three days after Masha’s eighteenth birthday. A big milestone in a young person’s life, and it necessitated a big party. So Masha’s parents had rented the community center for the day and their extended family had come over to celebrate the special occasion. And Vee was of course invited—it only made sense, seeing as she was Masha’s girlfriend of a little over three years now.
Thing is, not everyone knew about that. It had never been a secret exactly, but Vee had never been to any family gatherings and Masha didn’t exactly go around bragging. We won’t get bogged down with details, but let’s just say there were a lot of differing opinions and values, and people who could only barely stay civil for a few hours on the few occasions every year that they did meet. Vee had been warned that not everyone might approve of her and Masha’s relationship… hell some didn’t even accept Masha’s gender identity. And honestly, that worried Vee more than anything else. She could live with people not liking her, her Traumatic Backstory had made her accustomed to that… but she wasn’t sure she could bite her tongue if she saw or heard anyone disrespecting Masha.
Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. Maybe everyone had taken the lesson of ”if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything” to heart. Yeah, sure, let’s go with that.
Vee took off her dress shirt and jeans, folded them up neatly, and put them in her overnight bag. She looked at the mirror and the person looking back was almost her. Almost. It was her insomuch that it was an appearance she had crafted on her own instead of just stealing someone else’s appearance.
She used up a bit of her stored magic to change into pajamas. She liked to wear clothes every now and then, especially to special events, like birthday parties… it made her feel fancy, in a way. Though she’d almost always shapeshift her underwear, much more comfortable that way. And yes, Masha had teased her about going commando.
She looked back into the mirror, looking into her eyes, subtly shining yellow in the light from the lamp on the mirror, like a cat’s eyes. A hunter in the night.
Of course, if some of Masha’s family wouldn’t approve of them dating a girl, they certainly wouldn’t approve of them dating a shapeshifting demon snake from another dimension. Even their parents, who were generally very accepting people (after some character development, let’s not forget they did send Masha to Reality Check Camp) would likely not be thrilled at that revelation.
For now—and likely forever—even Masha’s closest family would only know her as Violetta ”Vee” Noceda, adopted daughter of local veterinarian Camila Noceda, and star player in the local high school baseball team. There were worse things to be known as. And most of that was true… it was almost her.
Vee unlocked the bathroom door and exited, turning off the light behind her. Masha’s parents’ bedroom was downstairs. Directly to the right was a room they called the study, a home office of sorts that the whole family shared for doing homework, taxes, paying bills, those sorts of things. Vee and Masha, sometimes joined by their old cabin mates from Reality Check Camp, had spent many an hour in there—ostensibly to do homework, though they usually did anything but.
After that was Viktor’s room. He was probably soundly asleep by now, little guy had been exhausted after the party. Outside his room was a nightlight giving some soft illumination to the upper floor at night.
Masha’s room was to the left. Their dad always said he was going to turn their room into an exercise room once they moved out… time would tell if that ever came to fruition.
Vee entered Masha’s bedroom to find her enbyfriend laying on their bed, reading something on their phone. Probably another spicy fic on AO3. They looked up at Vee when she entered and smiled.
”Watcha smiling for?” Vee asked.
”Cause I saw my beautiful, awesome, bestest in the whole world girlfriend,” Masha said with a big grin showing off the gap in their teeth.
Vee looked over her shoulder, pretending to be confused.
”Really? Where is she?” She said playfully.
Masha let out a chuckle and sat up on the edge of the bed, putting their phone to the side. They were already dressed for bed, wearing simple loose fitting shorts and a plain white t-shirt.
”C’mere,” they said and waved Vee on over.
Vee sauntered over and sat down on the bed, straddling Masha’s lap. She looked into their warm brown eyes.
”You…” Mash said slowly, putting their arms on Vee’s shoulders. ”…are my beautiful, awesome, bestest in the whole wide world girlfriend. Bestest in two whole wide worlds, in fact.” They gave Vee a quick peck on the lips. ”And I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”
Vee responded by wrapping her own arms around Masha’s shoulders and pulling them in for a kiss. Their lips met, connecting like puzzle pieces made for each other. Masha’s tongue tickled against her lips, gently pushing them apart. Vee let them in, let them have a a taste…
”Mmm,” Masha sighed and broke the kiss. ”Listerine Total Care…”
”That’s 10 in 1 benefits, baby,” Vee whispered seductively. She looked into Masha’s eyes, giving them her best smoldering look, which lasted for all of two seconds before they both burst out laughing.
”You’re such a dork!” Masha groaned between fits of giggling. ”I used to be a cool, edgy goth, and look at me now. Laughing at puns about mouthwash? You’re like dork influence on me.”
”I only reveal the true you buried deep inside,” Vee said dramatically. ”Search your feelings and you will know it to be true; you were always a dork!”
”Nooooo!” Masha whined theatrically before breaking down into another giggling fit, joined by Vee. And maybe they would’ve kept laughing all night at that stupid bit, but alas, they were interrupted, forced to stop laughing by Masha yawning. A big, loud yawn, and they closed their eyes and leaned their forehead against Vee’s.
”Tired?” Vee asked, gently rubbing her head against Masha’s.
”No, no, no, what makes you think that?” Masha mumbled. They opened their eyes again, and despite how tired they looked, Vee could still see that glimmer in their eye. ”How you feeling?” they asked. ”I know meeting the whole family all at once like that can be…”
”Nerve-racking?”
”I was gonna say ’a lot,’ but sure.”
”I’m fine,” Vee said. ”Good, even. I had fun today. A little tired, I guess.”
”Yeah, I was surprised by how well everyone behaved,” Masha said. ”No one misgendered me so I could hear it… that’s an improvement. Small victories, but we take those. And hey, uncle Stefan seems to really like you. I mean, in like…” They made a gesture, the meaning of which wasn’t entirely clear in this context, ”…an appropriate way.”
”We mostly talked about baseball,” Vee said. ”I think he just really likes baseball.”
”And you’re great at baseball!” Masha said. ”Or… at least I think so. ” They smiled mischievously. ”Would it ruin our relationship if I told you now that I don’t actually pay attention at any of your matches, and I’m just on my phone, and I’m not even sure what all the rules are?”
”Yes,” Vee said dryly, with a deadpan expression. ”Irreparably so. I would jump out of the window and disappear into the night. You’d never see this face again.”
”Noted, then I won’t tell you that.” This was followed by a another yawn, this one smaller than the first.
”We should probably try and get some sleep,” Vee said. ”We gotta be up at a reasonable time tomorrow for The Surprise.”
”So it’s something you can be late to,” Masha said, narrowing their eyes at this new piece of information. All week, their friends had been dropping hints towards The Surprise, their birthday gift from them, which they had kept secret as a surprise. It was a trip to a newly opened escape room in another town. It had been built in an old lighthouse and involved solving several riddles and puzzles to uncover some dark history. Precisely the kind of stuff Masha loved.
”Maybe,” Vee said. ”Ooooorrr… maybe Annie has be home in time for Dragons and Demons?”
Masha hummed and nodded, processing this possibility.
”But we are going someplace, right? Someplace outside Gravesfield, right?”
”Yes,” Vee said.
”But it’s not in the Demon Realm?”
”No, it’s not in the Demon Realm.”
”…should I bring my dosimeter?”
”No, you do not need to bring your dosimeter.”
”…so no urbex or going thrifting for radioactive plates and clocks?”
”We are not doing urban exploration, or thrifting for radioactive plates and clocks. There will be no radioactive anything involved.”
”Hm. I feel like I’m so close to uncovering this mystery…” Masha said, clicking their tongue a few times as they thought hard.
”Save the brainpower, you’ll find out soon enough,” Vee said. She kissed Masha on the forehead and stood up. ”Time to go to bed.”
”Yes, dear,” Masha sighed in that melodramatic way they did whenever Vee asked them to do something totally reasonable that was good for their health. Like get eight hours of sleep, or eating an apple instead of chugging their third energy drink that day.
Vee went to turn off the lights in the room while Masha plugged their phone in to charge.
”Is Luz coming tomorrow?” Masha asked.
”No, she’s busy with her magic classes,” Vee said. ”Clara’s tagging along though, did I tell you that?” For a moment she felt guilty… guilty over what? She pushed that feeling back down again.
”Nope…” Masha said. ”But honestly, we can always use someone like her… keep us grounded, you know? I mean, someone who’s cishet and neurotypical? That’s a rare find in our friend group.”
”Yeah,” Vee chuckled. ”And it will remain a rare find, ’cause Clara’s bi.”
”Oh shit, really?” Masha said, raising one eyebrow. ”Are you sure? ’Cause I could’ve sworn she was straight.”
”I mean, she didn’t tell me out loud she’s bi, but she was wearing a bi flag pretty much all of June last year, so I kinda just assumed…” Vee clarified.
”Huh,” Masha hummed, amused. ”Good for her.” They stifled another yawn. They laid down and pulled the duvet over them, beckoning Vee over. ”Can I has cuddles?” They asked, giving Vee their best puppy eyes.
Vee couldn’t help but smile. What was it they said before about being a cool edgy goth?
”Yes,” she said. ”You can has cuddles.”
”Yay,” Masha said. ”Snakey cuddles? If you want.” They added.
Vee quickly turned to close the door—Masha’s parents knew better than to walk in unannounced, but that was a lesson Viktor was struggling to learn—before wordlessly answering their question by transforming back into her basilisk form. She slithered over and crawled into bed with Masha. Their bed was a single bed, so not really made for two people, which meant they had to snuggle up real close to each other. Oh, the horror.
Masha reached to switch off the lamp on the bedside table and scooted over to make enough space for both of them to get comfortable. Vee put one arm around Masha and pulled them close so they could both rest their heads on the pillow. She wrapped the end of her tail around one of Masha’s legs. There was some part of her that wanted to wrap herself completely around them… she couldn’t tell if it was because she loved them so much and wanted to hold them, or if it was some kind of constrictor instinct buried deep in her lizard brain.
Masha pulled the duvet over them both and gave Vee a goodnight kiss on the forehead before putting their arm around her.
Vee remembered the first time they did this, shared a bed… she was so nervous. She had been even more nervous to do it in her basilisk form, so convinced Masha would find it—find her—repulsing or off-putting. Her scales with all their little bumps met with smooth, soft skin. Her big awkward tail getting in the way. The way her eyes reflected even the smallest ray of light in the darkness, like a predator stalking the night, looking for its next prey.
Now though… now she didn’t feel nervous or anxious anymore. It just felt right. Regardless of what strife had met her that day, nothing calmed her down like the feeling of her enbyfriend next to her. The weight and heat of their body, their heartbeat and breathing, them holding her and she holding them… it just felt right.
”G’night,” Masha mumbled.
”Night night,” Vee mumbled back, nuzzling closer to them, burying her face in Masha’s shoulder. She let out a contented sight. Tomorrow seemed so far away, the bed was warm and comfortable, and she got to share this moment with someone she loved. It was perfect. What more could she ask for?