Chapter Text
Ethan took one look at Victoria and Jess’s flushed and guilty faces, shook his head, and told them, “I am going to need help.” He turned to Thomas and Damiano and said, “You two have to help me keep those two in line, because if we don’t they’re going to wind up fucking on every available surface and will miss tonight’s show.”
“I would never,” Jess said mildly.
“I would,” Victoria added, trying to play footsie with Jess and getting slapped on the hand for her trouble. She grinned at Jess’s disapproving look. Flirting was much more fun than pining.
The band had soundcheck after breakfast, then a free afternoon. Jess was staying at the venue to choose their outfits, so the boys played rock-paper-scissors for which one of them would stay with Victoria. Thomas lost, so he was sitting next to Vic on the tiny dressing room couch with his noise canceling headphones on.
“I had all your outfits planned right down to the socks for the first half of the tour,” Jess said, frowning at two similar black mesh tops. “Then it all just devolved into chaos.” She pulled a pair of shiny pants with gold and blue stripes and said, “Do you like these?”
“Yes,” Vic said. She’d approved all of their clothes before the tour started. She wasn’t sure if Jess remembered that, though. It really had been a long tour.
Jess got a manic glint in her eye and said, “Oh!” She tore through the racks of clothes until she found a dress shirt with skinny multicolored stripes. “That’s for Thomas,” she muttered to herself before going back to the racks. Victoria watched, impressed, as Jess moved like a whirlwind until she had four outfits laid out, each with one silver or gray piece and one multicolored piece. “You guys are gonna look like rainbows tonight,” she said with a satisfied grin.
“I realize you’re going to think I’m just saying this because I’m trying to get into your pants, but you really are incredible at this job,” Victoria said.
Jess cackled. “You said that when you were drunk, remember?”
“Oh yes,” Vic said, grinning. “I also said you were pretty.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot from drunk girls,” Jess said, smiling back. “You remember what else you said?” She had a hopeful look that Victoria didn’t think she’d seen on Jess’s face before, and it broke Victoria’s heart a little bit to think that maybe Jess hadn’t ever hoped for anything from her.
“I said I didn’t want to be someone you second-guess,” Victoria responded immediately.
Jess’s expression melted into a brilliant smile, and in two strides she was across the tiny dressing room. She put her cold hands on Victoria’s face, kissing her for all she was worth. It was wonderful until a bony hand landed on their faces and Thomas muttered, “Break it up, horndogs,” without looking up from his phone.
Jess sighed and sat down on a nearby chair. “I guess we could try to have a normal conversation?”
“Sure,” Victoria said, scratching her nose and trying to think of something. “Are music and gossip normal things to talk about? Because those are really my only areas of expertise. Oh, wait: this is both. When we first met you, Thommy was convinced that the way you and Damiano hated each other was actually sexual tension.”
Jess made a face like she’d bitten into a lemon, which was exactly the reaction Victoria had been going for.
“Oh Christ no. Oh no. No. He was so…boy.” She said the word with such disdain that Victoria couldn’t help but crack up.
“A very pretty boy, though,” Vic teased.
“He smelled like gym socks,” Jess countered.
“His hygiene has improved considerably,” Victoria conceded.
“Hmm,” Jess said skeptically. “I suspect that is entirely Giorgia’s influence. Still.” She paused and pointed at Victoria, “You’re not allowed to tell anyone this.”
Victoria widened her eyes and crossed her finger over her heart.
“If Måneskin and I were the only people to survive the apocalypse, and we had to repopulate humanity. Only then! I’d choose Damiano.”
“Oh no.” Victoria cackled. “I have to tell him that! Please let me say, ‘Damiano, Jess will have sex with you if you are the last man on earth. You will live in the ruins of Rome and have glamorous, dramatic babies together.’”
“Absolutely not! Don’t you dare. Ok, now you have to choose, so I have blackmail material on you too.”
“You mean choose from the three boys who’ve been like brothers to me for most of my life? That’s incest, Jess.”
“You have to repopulate humanity, though,” Jess said smugly.
Victoria sighed. “I guess Thommy,” she said.
“I knew it.”
“Because he’s tall,” Victoria continued. “And being able to reach high places would probably come in handy in a post-apocalyptic world.”
“Yes, exactly,” Jess agreed.
“But it would have to happen in a pitch black room, and he wouldn’t be allowed to say anything,” Vic said decisively. She turned to Thomas, absolutely oblivious with his headphones still on, and said, “Sorry, bro.”
“I think that works out, though,” Jess said. “Because if we happen to discover any other women in this post-apocalyptic wasteland, you know Ethan would be happy to have a commune.”
“Oh my goodness,” Victoria said. “It would be a tiny army of solemn children who couldn’t pronounce their ‘r’s.”
They laughed so hard it must have shaken the couch, because Thomas pushed a headphone behind his ear and said, “What’s so funny?”
“If you had to repopulate the earth,” Jess began, totally deadpan, as Victoria continued giggling. “Who would you choose to do it with: me or Victoria?”
Thomas squinted at her and said, “I can’t pick my actual girlfriend?”
“No, sorry, she died in the apocalypse. Your choices are a lesbian or your surrogate sister.”
“Can I die in the apocalypse?” Thomas asked, and Victoria nearly fell off the couch. Thomas shook his head. “You guys are so weird.”
***
Victoria wasn’t sure if the concert that night was more amazing than usual or if she just felt more amazing than usual, but either way she was walking on air by the time they finished their encore.
“You fucking stunt queens,” she yelled to Thomas and Damiano, who’d one-upped themselves by starting with the bit where Damiano licked Thomas’s guitar, then having Thomas pull the guitar out of the way, leaving Damiano to enthusiastically shove his face into Thomas’s crotch.
“How come the straights do all the gay shit in this band?” Jess joked, taking their sweat-soaked shirts from them.
“You’re welcome to come stick your tongue down Victoria’s throat,” Damiano said.
At the same time Ethan said, “I have to stay behind the drum set.”
Victoria got Jess’s attention and asked, “What should I do with these pasties?” They were black and heart-shaped. Victoria didn’t know if she was supposed to save them or not.
“Oh, those are disposable,” Jess said. “But be careful taking them off anyway. Personally and professionally, I would like your nipples to be okay.”
“Ugh, I don’t even know if that’s romantic or gross,” Damiano chimed in.
“Should we go out?” Thomas asked, stretching his arms behind his back, making himself look like a scarecrow.
“I’m not in real hurry to get gay-bashed in Poland,” Damiano replied wryly. “Can we all just get a good night’s sleep for once?”
They all groaned, but Victoria had to admit that he wasn’t wrong. The tour had taken a lot out of her, and being in the least queer-friendly country in Europe didn’t help. She yawned and grumpily said, “Fine, old man. I demand an all-nighter with you when we get back to Rome, though.”
“Sure,” Damiano said indulgently, kissing her forehead. “I’m sure you’re going to want to drink with my boring ass when you have unlimited free time with your girlfriend.”
Victoria blushed hotly as her heart raced, but when she glanced over at Jess, she found her laughing.
“I think you’re really overestimating my appeal,” Jess teased.
Damiano raised an eyebrow and said, “Or you’re underestimating Victoria’s, eh?”
Jess’s scandalized look was the last thing Victoria saw before she fell asleep that night.
***
The band went out for dinner the next night in Budapest, with Jess and Leo tagging along. Thomas told everyone that Jess and Vic went from making out to insisting he choose one of them to have sex with at the end of the world. Victoria had to explain the entire conversation, although the context only made it seem moderately less insane.
Damiano, their resident party-pooper, pointed out that none of them even knew how to make a fire, and they’d almost certainly all die before they got around to reproducing. This led to a conversation where they tried to decide how everyone would die. Damiano wanted to heroically fight off a bear before succumbing to his wounds, but everyone else agreed that nicotine-withdrawal psychosis would take him out. Thomas would definitely fall off of something. Vic and Jess would eat the wrong mushrooms and die of poisoning. Leo and Ethan, they agreed, had at least a shot at survival as long as they didn’t get any infected cuts.
Victoria looked at Jess at one point and said, “Imagine if you met me first and this was your introduction to these weirdos.” She paused, then said, “Now you know why I don’t really date.”
Jess patted her hand and said, “Well, luckily I’m already in for the entire bonkers package deal.” Victoria did not kiss her, because they were in another fucking homophobic country, but she wanted to. Jess then added, “Besides, you met Callie and Maeve. Weirdos are my people.”
The restaurant was way too hot and the night air was cold and crisp, so after dinner Vic asked Jess if she wanted to walk back to the hotel. The rest of the group stayed to hail cabs, smirking and winking while Victoria flipped them off.
They were quiet for a few blocks until Jess admitted, “I am desperately trying to think of something for us to talk about.”
Vic sighed in relief and said, “Oh thank god, me too.”
“I guess this walk technically counts as our first date?” Jess continued. “But first date topics are, like, work and families, and I guess we know all that about each other already?”
“You just have one brother, right?” Victoria asked.
“Yeah, he’s two years older than me. He’s a pediatrician. Definitely the family favorite, but he’s such a fucking nice guy that I can’t even be mad about it. You’ll love him. Everyone loves him.” She sounded wistful.
Victoria bumped shoulders with Jess. “Everyone loves you too, right?” she said teasingly. “Certainly everyone associated with Måneskin. I swear I see heart-eyes in the roadies when they talk to you.”
Jess laughed. “Oh, I’ll tell you the secret to getting the roadies to love you: learn how they like their coffee and bring it to them before you ask for a favor, not after.”
“That is smart,” Victoria said. She thought for a minute, then said, “You know, we can talk about work too. What do you love about being a stylist? I doubt it’s bribing roadies, no matter how good you are at it.”
“Oh,” Jess said, surprised. “Wow. That’s not something I think about that much, even though I do love it. Well, I like knowing everything about designers and trends. That’s always been a sort of fixation of mine. Then I like finding the exact right outfit for someone’s personality, especially when they don’t know anything about fashion or actually sometimes when they do know about fashion, but I still pick something they would never have thought of themselves. I guess it’s like matchmaking with people and clothes.”
Victoria nodded. “That makes sense. You get this smug look when you’re dressing us, and that’s how I can tell you’ve finished an outfit.”
“Oh Jesus!” Jess laughed.
“It’s a compliment!” Victoria said. “Maybe not smug. Maybe satisfied.”
Jess laughed again and said, “No, I’m sure it’s smug. You know what it feels like? It’s like when you’re doing a really difficult jigsaw puzzle, and all of a sudden you see how to finish it and those last pieces just slide in like butter.” She paused, then asked shyly, “Is that what playing music feels like to you?”
Victoria’s heart swelled, because she knew now how much trust it took Jess to share that sort of emotion and then ask Vic to share back. “Sort of!” she said. “It’s like, well. You know how Thomas and I started, like, fifteen bands before we found Damiano and Ethan?”
“Sure.”
“So back then–when we were terrible, seriously–Thomas and I used to just play together, and maybe one time out of ten, we’d play everything right and be in sync, and it felt like.” She paused, trying to find the words. “Like the top of my head lifted up and just floated off.” She laughed at how stupid that sounded. “I just wanted to feel that way all the time. Especially when. Well, I don’t want to be a downer.” Victoria had killed enough conversations to know how to preface this particular subject.
Jess slapped her arm. “I’m Irish. We invented being downers. Go ahead.”
Victoria slapped her back and said, “Fine, then. Especially when my mom died and I had such bad anxiety that sometimes leaving my room was impossible. Thomas would come over and make me take out my bass and remind me for two or three minutes that I could still feel good about life. Jesus, that’s so dumb,’ she muttered, mostly to herself.
“It is not,” Jess said vehemently. “It’s profound. And I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you talk badly about yourself. I don’t like it at all!”
Victoria laughed. “Well, I talk a big game. I mean, I really am confident, generally. But I also use the things I’m confident about to hide the things that I’m not so confident about.”
“Ah yes,” Jess said. “I think we have that in common.” She reached over and quickly grasped then released Victoria’s wrist. To Victoria, it felt like a bear hug.
She smiled gratefully at Jess and said, “All right, I want to hear about you running away to Italy with a model. Is she still a model? I know a lot of models. Do I know her?”
“OK, first of all ‘I know a lot of models’ is terrible first date conversation.”
“Jess, you have known me for four years. I know you are not interested in me for my amazing conversational skills.”
Jess laughed loudly. “Fine. She works for Vogue Italia now, so we’re still in touch.” She laughed again. “You’re going to hate her when I tell you this, so I have to preface it by saying that I’m not mad about it.”
“Oh my god, Jess, another terrible ex?”
“Well, sort of. Basically me moving in with her was how she came out to her parents, and her parents were not thrilled. But also she and I quickly realized that we were actually friends, not girlfriends, which is certainly a hazard of moving in with someone after only knowing them for a week and a half. So when her parents offered to buy her a house to break up with me, it seemed like a pretty good deal.”
“Oh, that’s sad!” Victoria said, once again grateful that her dad’s entire reaction to her bisexuality had been a pat on the shoulder and an, ‘I’m happy for you.’
“Well, yes,” Jess said. “But it’s also a really nice house. So we joke that she’s back in the closet, but at least it’s a walk-in closet.” She paused and said, “All right, now you know about my terrible tattoo ex, my gaslighting ex, and my model ex. Do you have any ex stories you would like to tell me?”
Victoria thought about it for a moment, then said, “Well, it’s been the same story with everyone I’ve dated, actually. They thought they were fine with the band coming first, but they didn’t actually realize what they were agreeing to. They didn’t like that I was gone for weeks at a time, or unavailable on weekends, or they didn’t like fans coming up to talk to me, or, on one memorable occasion, they hated Damiano.”
“Oh no, was he a total diva about it?”
“Oh, so much worse. He got all emo about it and wondered if he, personally, was dooming me to a life of loneliness.”
“Amazing,” Jess said. “I have come around on him, but I also stand by my initial assessment of him as Lord Byron in shiny pants. But I know what you mean about people not realizing how much time your job actually takes. I get that a lot too.”
“Yeah,” Victoria said. “And I’m so close with the boys that people get weird about it. I had one girl complain that whenever she called me, I was always with Thomas, which I mean, yes? Obviously?”
They reached the hotel. Jess looked at Victoria as they walked through the lobby and said teasingly, “Are you all right to be alone, or should I deliver you to Thomas for a cuddle?”
Vic grinned as they stepped into the elevator and said, “No, thank you. I won’t make a rude joke about who I’d really like a cuddle from.”
Jess winked at her and said, “Tour ends in three days. You get all the rude jokes and cuddles you want after that.”
They kissed quickly before the elevator doors opened, and Victoria floated off to sleep with visions of exactly what “tour ends in three days” might mean for her.
***
The next couple of days were a whirlwind of media appearances and privately psyching themselves up, trying not to let fatigue or the anticipation of some blessed free time distract them from putting on a banger of a last show in Prague. By the time Victoria got to the last afterparty, she was uncharacteristically ready to put her head down on a table and take a nap.
Then she saw Jess, resplendent in a black and white caftan and gigantic gold hoop earrings with large, painted blue flowers hanging off of them. Her dark hair was piled messily on top of her head, and her lips were painted bright red. She smiled and found her way through the crowd to Victoria, placing a fizzy amber drink in front of her. She looked like a goddess.
“You look like a goddess,” Victoria said.
“Thank you,” Jess said, as she sat down next to Vic. “So do you, but you always do.”
Victoria leaned over and rested her head on Jess’s shoulder. “What is this?” she said, poking the drink. She sniffed it. “Red Bull and vodka?” she guessed.
“Red Bull, full stop,” Jess replied. “As of about a half an hour ago, I am no longer your employee, and I need you to wake up for tonight because I charged all of my sex toys.”
Victoria picked up the drink and chugged it, politely belching into her palm afterward. “All of?” she said, hoping she didn’t sound insanely overeager.
Jess gave her a slightly embarrassed grin and said, “I may have gone shopping in Amsterdam.”
“Can we leave now?” Victoria asked.
Ethan picked that unfortunate moment to sit across from them. “I am delighted to resign from my position as sex policeman,” he said solemnly, as always.
Jess took a sip of her drink and said, “Well, you were crap at it, but thank you anyway,”
Victoria smothered a giggle and said, “Ethan, I have seen at least three of your sex friends at this party. Why are you even talking to us?”
Ethan raised an eyebrow and said, “Ah, the answer to that is a bit complicated.”
“They don’t know about each other, do they?” Victoria said at the same time Jess said, “Orgy plans gone awry?” Victoria bit her lips and saw Jess doing the same out of the corner of her eye.
Ethan shook his head at the two of them, clearly fighting his own smile. “She’s as bad as you,” he said, shaking his finger at Victoria.
“That’s why I like her,” Vic responded immediately.
Jess kissed Victoria’s cheek then muttered, “Ah, Jesus,” as she tried to rub off the lipstick stain with her thumb.
Ethan stood up, looking bemused. “Behave yourselves,” he said, not sounding even vaguely serious. He fixed a glare at Victoria and said, “Of course they know about each other. They have a group chat.”
After they stopped laughing, Jess looked at Victoria and said, “Listen, you need to thank and say goodbye to a whole bunch of people, right?” Vic nodded. “Okay. You go do that, and I promise I’ll bring you Red Bulls with vodka in them from now on, deal?”
“Deal,” Victoria said.
She made her way around the room, hugging and kissing everyone from the tour director to the assistants to the assistants. It became clear over the course of her conversations that her slow-burn romance with Jess had been the staff’s favorite topic of gossip, with everyone quickly waving her off with good wishes and either a literal or metaphorical pat on the back.
Finally (finally) she stood before Jess, threw out her arms and said, “Take me, I’m yours.”
Jess shook her head and said, “All right, come on you drama queen.”
***
In the elevator, Jess fished around in her bag then quietly said, “ah ha,” and pulled out a makeup wipe. She began to carefully remove her lipstick. Victoria giggled and Jess muttered, “Oh sure, laugh at me for not wanting to make you look like a murder victim.”
“I’m laughing at that purse of yours,” Victoria explained. “How does it always have what you want in it?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Jess replied with a lipstick-free grin. “You have no idea how often I find things in there that I have no memory of even owning. But I’m not going to question it, and you shouldn’t either.”
“Maybe you’re a witch,” Vic said, bumping her hip against Jess’s and winking at her.
The elevator doors opened as Jess said, “I like how you just managed to make calling me a witch sound like a pickup line.”
Victoria hooked her arm through Jess’s as they strolled out of the elevator together and said, “Did it work?”
Jess leaned in close enough that her breath on Victoria’s ear made her shiver and murmured, “I’m a sure thing, darling.”
It was a good thing they were at Jess’s door and her key card worked on the first try, because Victoria absolutely would have grabbed her and ravished her right there in the hallway. Instead, she pinned Jess to the nearest wall and desperately pressed her mouth to Jess’s, tasting the chemical bite of the makeup remover as she licked at her lips.
Jess slid her fingers into Victoria’s hair, her palm resting at the base of Vic’s neck. They made out leisurely for a few minutes. Victoria’s hands sliding over the sleek fabric of Jess’s caftan, leaving her with just a tease of the soft curves below.
Jess tickled Victoria’s bare belly, laughing at Victoria’s outraged, “Hey!”
“You have no idea how often I wanted to do that when I put you in crop tops.” Jess giggled, reaching up to remove her earrings.
“Oh, I bet you wanted to do it to Ethan too,” Vic teased, shuffling both of them towards the bed.
“Absolutely not,” Jess said with conviction. She sat on the mattress and silently undid Victoria’s belt buckle before adding, “I do want to pet his hair sometimes, though.”
“Don’t we all,” Vic replied, shimmying out of her jeans, climbing into Jess’s lap and pushing her down onto the mattress. She kissed the soft skin of Jess’s neck as she began undoing the front of her caftan. “I cannot believe you wore this fucking tent,” she complained, determinedly undoing button after button.
Jess squinted at her, bemused, and said, “I kind of thought you’d just pull it over my head.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Victoria muttered, grabbing handfuls of fabric at Jess’s hips and doing just that.
Jess shifted fully onto the bed, and Victoria didn’t see what she assumed was a very smug expression on Jess’s face because she was distracted by the sweep of bare skin in front of her.
Jess wasn’t wearing a bra, and her full breasts pressed gently against her upper arms, her soft, pink nipples tilting in opposite directions. Victoria’s eyes trailed down to the plain black bikini contrasting against Jess’s skin.
Victoria sighed in bliss, pressing her fingers into the yielding flesh at the seam of Jess’s thighs until Jess let her legs fall open enough for Victoria to reach forward and stroke over her underwear, to pet at the hot center of her.
Jess gasped, and Victoria tried to joke, “I’m surprised you didn’t go commando,” but it came out breathy and wanting.
She looked up and saw Jess biting her lower lip as she began to roll her hips against Victoria’s teasing fingertips. “I didn’t want to ruin the dress,” she said, breathless as well. “I get so wet when you touch me. I would’ve made a mess.”
Victoria groaned and surged up to kiss Jess, grabbing her face in both hands. While Victoria sucked on Jess’s tongue, Jess undid Victoria’s bra and shoved both of their panties’ down to their thighs.
Vic somehow found the willpower to break the kiss, and they finished getting naked before scrambling gracelessly to the head of the bed, laughing and groping each other with the urgency of teenagers worried their parents would be home at any minute.
Jess leaned down to lick at Victoria’s nipple and Victoria grabbed hard at Jess’s hip. Jess whimpered, and Victoria leaned down to kiss her again. She pulled back to look Jess in the eye and said, “Tell me how you like it.”
Jess bit her lip again, a habit Victoria was rapidly getting a kink for, and said, “Ah, start soft and then.” She laughed breathlessly then said rapidly,, “And then use your teeth.”
For a brief, dizzying moment Victoria thought she might pass out. “You’re fucking perfect,” she said with feeling.
She nudged Jess onto her back and straddled her, pulling a hair elastic off of her wrist and tying her hair into a bun at the top of her head. Then she leaned down and began to kiss all over Jess’s neck, giving extra attention to the spots that made Jess moan or sigh. Part of her wanted to map every inch of Jess’s skin with her tongue, but another, more insistent, part wanted to hear Jess come right the fuck now. So she shifted onto her side and pulled Jess to her, moving down the bed so her head was level with Jess’s chest.
Victoria licked at one of Jess’s nipples, feeling a rush of heat to her cunt at the wild moan Jess let out. She sucked the nipple into her mouth and felt Jess’s hands grab at her head to hold her in place. Victoria kissed and licked rhythmically, shoving her hand between Jess’s legs, finding her cunt slippery and swollen. She moaned against Jess’s tit as she mapped the slick skin with her fingertips.
Jess threw a leg over Victoria’s hip and gasped, “Fuck, yes. Finger me, just shove three fucking fingers in, please, Victoria.”
Victoria knew when to take a woman at her word. She tucked her fingers together and pushed them into Jess’s cunt and was rewarded with a howl, Jess’s body shaking against hers. Victoria bit lightly at Jess’s jaw and said, “Oh honey, you like it when it hurts, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Jess gasped. “Yes. Please.” She writhed beneath Victoria, her hands in constant motion over Victoria’s skin.
Victoria moved to Jess’s other breast, sucking hard and scraping her teeth over the nipple, enjoying the way it made Jess yank at her hair.
She thrust her fingers steadily into Jess’s cunt. Her thumb found Jess’s clit, and she rubbed it in time with the movement of her fingers. Jess was moaning nonstop now, gorgeous noises that went straight to Victoria’s cunt. She rose up to kiss Jess messily and said, “Like this?”
“Yes,” Jess gasped. “Perfect. Keep going.”
Victoria looked over the expanse of Jess’s body, feeling satisfied in some deep, primal way at the way her pale skin had gone pink and red. Jess clutched at her own breasts, pinching her nipples. Victoria leaned over and bit hard at Jess’s shoulder, fucking her harder as she left teeth-marks in Jess’s skin. Jess shuddered and whined, jerking and coming hard under Victoria’s mouth and around her fingers.
Vic gentled her hand on Jess’s cunt and kissed sweetly at the bite mark on Jess’s shoulder, letting the other girl catch her breath. She stopped when Jess said, ‘C’mere, c’mere,” and made grabby hands for Victoria.
Vic threw herself into Jess’s arms and kissed her deeply, obsessed with the way Jess’s hot, damp skin felt pressed against hers.
“I want to taste you,” Jess said, and Victoria threw her legs open before she even finished the sentence.
Where Victoria had been determined to go fast, Jess seemed bent on doing the opposite, kitten licking along Victoria’s slit before slowly, torturously beginning to roll her tongue over Victoria’s clit.
“Jess, baby,” Victoria whined after the third time Jess stopped kissing her cunt just as Victoria started rolling her hips against her mouth. “You’re fucking killing me.”
“Shhh,” Jess said, propping herself up on her forearms and giggling maniacally. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.”
“I do, though!” Vic said, pawing at Jess’s face. “I really do!”
“Mmm,” Jess replied, maintaining eye contact while licking the crease of Victoria’s thigh. “Maybe I just like teasing you.” She giggled again, and said, “Oh no. You’re adorable when you pout.”
Victoria pouted harder. Jess knelt up and said, “Fine, come here.” She sat at the head of the bed and patted her thigh. “If you want it that bad, you can work for it.”
“Oh, you’re mean,” Victoria said, delighted, as she clambered into Jess’s lap.
“I can be meaner,” Jess said with a wild grin, pushing a thigh between Victoria’s legs and taking Vic by the hips.
Victoria took the hint and began rubbing her cunt over Jess’s skin. “Oh, we’re definitely going to talk about that later,” Vic gasped. “But first please make me come. Please, Jess.”
Jess grabbed Victoria by the neck and kissed her fiercely. Her other hand slid from Victoria’s hip to the apex of her thigh, her thumb tucking down to press at Victoria’s clit.
Vic whined and rode Jess’s thigh harder, feeling her orgasm building deep in her belly. Then Jess pushed Victoria’s hips down a bit and the change in angle was perfect and Jess’ mouth on hers was perfect and Victoria felt like she was melting as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her.
Jess held Victoria and rubbed her back as Vic caught her breath, finally leaning back and grinning widely at Victoria. Her face was beet red and shining from cheeks to chin with Victoria’s spit, and her hair had mostly come out of its bun, giving her a wild dark halo. She was the most gorgeous thing Victoria had ever seen, and she told her so.
“I could say the same thing to you,” Jess said fondly. “It’s probably the sex hormones making us stupid.”
“Sex hormones are great,” Victoria announced, stupidly, to the ceiling as Jess tipped her off of her lap, got up, and retrieved a bottle of water and a chocolate bar from the minifridge.
Victoria sat up and shivered, leaning over to pull down the bedspread and climb under it. Jess did the same and snuggled up next to Vic, handing her a piece of chocolate.”Ugh,” she said. “I am not going to miss scratchy hotel sheets.”
“Me neither,” Vic said. “I have the softest sheets at home, and the fluffiest bedspread. It’s what I miss the most when we tour. When we get home, I’m going to spend an entire week in bed. You should join me.”
Jess laughed. “I would love to take you up on that, but I do have to work next week.”
“But you’ll make guest appearances?” Victoria said, tucking her face into Jess’s neck and wrapping her arms around Jess’s waist.
“Of course,” Jess said, rubbing her back. “We still have to try out all my new toys.”
“Oh, we totally forgot!” Victoria said mournfully.
“Oh no,” Jess said, deadpan. “We have to have more sex.” She took a drink of water and said, “Honestly, I have a whole list of fantasies for us to get through.”
Victoria cleared her throat and said, “Do any of them involve, um, pasties?”
Jess stared at her for a moment, wearing an expression that could only be described as ‘horny shock’ before saying, “Well, they do now.”
Neither of them slept that night, too busy making out, giggling, fucking, then kissing again. They were perfectly put together and on time for the flight home, but everyone made fun of them anyway. Victoria tried not to look too smug as Jess texted next to her. Then Jess made an outraged noise and Victoria said, “What?”
“I told Nick that we’re dating now, and he said he thought we’d been dating since the beginning of the tour. He said, and I quote, ‘you two have been mooning over each other long enough.’”
“Tell him he’s fired.”
Jess gave Victoria an unimpressed look, which Victoria thought was extremely unfair from someone she’d given five orgasms in the eight hours, and said “I can’t fire my own boss, Vic.”
“Tell him Victoria says he’s fired.”
Jess chuckled and poked Victoria’s arm. “We are going to have to talk about how to deal with dating and working together, you know.”
Victoria yawned widely and said, “Ok, but not now.”
“Jesus Christ, of course not now. Maybe next week.”
“Hmm.” Vic laughed to herself and turned to whisper in Jess’s ear, “Maybe when we finish the fantasy list.”
Jess took Victoria’s hand in hers and said, “Deal.”
***
(Six months later.)
“Jess, should I roll these cuffs or no?”
Jess looked up from where she was stirring cream into her coffee and told Damiano, “Ask your actual stylist.”
“Right!” he said. “Sorry, force of habit.”
“That’s fine,” she said amenably. “Remember: I’m a groupie now.”
“Never,” Ethan said. “You’re not in the group chat, for one thing.”
“That’s what you think,” Jess replied with a wink.
“Very funny,” Ethan said, before clearing his throat and saying, “You’re kidding right?”
They were getting ready for a red carpet in LA and their Gucci stylist and two brand representatives were buzzing around Måneskin’s suite. The band had signed an exclusive contract with the fashion house shortly after they finished their sold-out European tour. Now they were in the midst of their North American tour, and Jess had taken a few weeks of vacation to travel with them through the warmer states.
“I miss you Jess,” Thomas said, adjusting the harness at his neck and waist. “But to be honest, I don’t miss your freezing cold hands.”
“She has poor circulation, and she’s very sensitive about it,” Victoria yelled from where she was being helped into a vinyl jumpsuit with a deep V in the front.
“Yup,” Jess agreed, sipping her coffee. “Hurts my feelings terribly.”
Damiano finished rolling his cuffs and smiled at her. “Did you miss us, Jess?” he asked.
“A little bit,” Jess admitted. She raised an arm for the newly jumpsuit-ed Victoria to tuck herself under. “Mostly this one.”
Victoria rested her head against Jess’s chest, listening to the familiar rhythm of her girlfriend’s heart. Then she looked up and saw a look on Jess’s face that she hadn’t seen since they stopped working together. “Jess,” she said. “Whatever bit of the styling it is you’re frowning about, you can fix it. Michel won’t mind.”
“Oh, I would never,” she said, before murmuring, “But your boobs look lopsided so maybe fix that with some double sided tape, ok?”
Victoria laughed and said, “Got it. Do you still want to skip the afterparty? I hear Timothee Chalamet will be there.”
“Yes,” Jess said, laughing. “But as I’ve said like a dozen times now, you should go if you want.”
“Listen, there will always be another afterparty, but you will not always be here.”
“Well, all right then. That’s good, since I have a surprise for you when you get back.”
“Ooh! Is it you, naked?”
“That would surprise you?”
“No, you’re right. What is it?”
“Not telling. OK, enjoy the awards show! See you later!”
“You’re the worst.”
***
Victoria had entirely forgotten about the surprise by the time she returned to the hotel, thinking mainly about getting out of her sticky jumpsuit and greasy makeup. She was also excited to tell Jess that Ethan had gotten Lil Nas X’s phone number.
But the story died in her throat as she stepped into her room and saw what Jess had done. The room was dark, with the only light coming from multiple candles that threw off Victoria’s favorite herby, lemony scent. Jess had covered the nightstands with the patterned cloth that covered Vic’s nightstands at home, and Victoria’s framed pictures of her family, Jess, and the band sat atop them. But the most amazing thing was the bed, on which rested a set of familiar maroon sheets and a puffy lemon-yellow comforter.
“Jess!” Vic said, stunned. “Did you bring my bedroom to LA?”
“Yes!” Jess said, sounding delighted with herself. “I packed it instead of clothes.”
“You’re crazy!”
“Oh come on, like buying new clothes is a hardship for me.”
Victoria walked over and held the comforter to her face. It smelled like home. She unexpectedly felt tears fill her eyes.
“Oh no!” Jess said, coming over to hug her. “Are you alright? Would it make you feel better to know that I’m going to write off all the clothes as a business expense?”
Victoria snorted. She looked into Jess’s eyes and said, “Thank you. This is amazing. Do you want to take a shower with me so I can thank you again, while naked?”
Jess laughed and gently pushed Victoria’s hair off of her face. “My romantic girlfriend,” she said fondly. “Yes, naked thanks sound good.”
“Excellent. Love you, Jess.”
“Love you too, Vic.”