Chapter Text
Let me know when you’re going to be back. I miss you. E
Eve’s finger hovered tentatively over the send button on the bright screen present before her. She couldn’t be too distracting, she knew Villanelle needed to focus.
Villanelle had been away with MI6 for two weeks at this point. Eve was preoccupied with another case at the point of Villanelle’s initial briefing, therefore wasn’t assigned on Villanelle’s case. Eve was unaccustomed to working like this. Every case she’d taken on since convincing Villanelle to defect to her side had been in Villanelle’s company.
Carolyn initially remarked that it was because Eve knew how to supervise and conduct Villanelle in whatever manner MI6 needed. While this may have been the case a couple of years ago, Eve pondered whether they were routinely put together on missions because Eve needed her.
Eve was coping without Villanelle. It had, however, been a shock to her system. Their relationship had been built in such close quarters of each other, she should have known changing their dynamic would affect her in such a way.
It really hurt. Coming home to an empty bed and an empty flat, losing the person she would ramble idly about her day to, even just the minor things which usually fade into the background of life.
The dead silence was really getting to her. No more clattering of plates coming from the kitchen, no more creaking of the staircase, no more mindless Russian mumbling from the next room as Villanelle was trying to concentrate. It was just Eve and her stream of conciousness. Which, eventually, turned to intrusive thoughts of Villanelle and what could happen to her while on this mission.
It was a headspace Eve urgently attempted to avoid, which is how she found herself here. There was a quaint little bar about fifteen minutes away from their flat that they’d been meaning to go to, but never did. So, when Eve was at the point of feeling so overwhelmed by the thoughts and apprehensions of what could happen to Villanelle that she couldn't think straight, she forced herself out of the flat. Away from the silence, away from the stillness.
She just started walking initially, but decided to drop in for a drink in a feeble attempt to calm her nerves. Two, going on three, glasses of red wine in and her mentality was still persistently negative. So, here she was. Sat at the bar, phone in front of her with a digit hovering above the barrier between their lines of communication.
She took a moment to look over the band on her finger, her lips beginning to curl into a soft beam as her eyes wondered at how it glimmered in the dim bar lights. It made their crazy venture to where they are now seem real. It was something solid to ground Eve and remind her that this, what she had been chasing for years, was her reality.
Eve uttered a small, defeated sigh as she deleted the message. She watched as her attempt at consoling herself and her lonesomeness disappeared before her eyes until she heard a voice come from behind her.
“Is this seat taken?”
The voice was high pitched, overtly feminine, and spoke with an American accent, which Eve managed to pin as from the West coast, probably California or in the nearby proximity.
Eve spun as the voice stole her attention, the disbelief evident on her face as she took in the sight. Villanelle, but not as she knew her. Her physical features remained similar, but any trace or suggestion of the woman she married were gone from Villanelle’s character.
There was no flicker of eagerness she often carried with her behind her eyes, her mouth didn’t curl to smile in the same way, any suggestion of recognising Eve wasn’t there. It was a bizarre experience for Eve. The change in outfit and hair colour was one thing, but the minor details that collected to make Villanelle recognisable now being gone made it seem as if Villanelle’s soul had left her body.
Villanelle was dressed in a black denim skirt with a white, sheer v-neck blouse tucked inside, black Converse and a delicate necklace sat around her neck with a heart-shaped pendant resting on her chest. Her hair was a dark auburn hue and a couple of inches longer than her normal hair.
“Uh… Not at all.” Eve managed to choke out, conflicted on whether to play along or force Villanelle to break character so she could get the hug she’d been vying after for weeks.
“Thanks,” Villanelle hummed, her tone high and singsong-esque. “I’m Abi.” Villanelle told Eve, her smile perky, bright, and without any hint of coldness that Villanelle would usually exhibit.
Eve was still trying to process the situation, having to remind herself once or twice that it was actually Villanelle.
“Abi…” Eve nodded as she still tried to grasp at what was happening. Her eyes flicked over the woman as Villanelle ordered a drink. “I’m Eve.” She told her. She couldn’t comprehend how Villanelle could maintain character doing something like this. She felt ridiculous introducing herself by name to her own wife.
“Cute! I love that name.” She exclaimed, thanking the bartender for her drink, some elaborate cocktail that Villanelle would never normally order, prior to turning her full attention back to Eve. “You looked kinda lonely, you waitin’ on someone?” Villanelle asked, taking a sip of her drink as Eve considered how respond.
“Uhh, no. Just a casual drink out.” Eve told Villanelle, her eyes tracing the woman again briefly, though Eve couldn’t help but let her eyes linger at Villanelle’s chest, perfectly flattered by her blouse.
“Ah, I thought you might be here for your husband.” Villanelle hummed, nodding to the ring on Eve’s finger.
If Villanelle could take herself away from reality for a little while, so could she. “Oh, no. No, my husband left a few months back, hooked up with another teacher at the school he works at. The ring’s just sentimental.” She replied, seeing Villanelle’s face drop as she spoke.
“Oh, shit.” She grumbled, sucking her teeth as her face scrunched up at the awkward question. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s fine. Like I said, it was months ago.” Eve shrugged, enjoying a sip from her third glass of red wine. “Have you got someone special you’re waiting for?”
“Nah. My girlfriend and I broke up a month before I moved here.” Villanelle told Eve, her voice still light and airy and her demeanour a lot more sweet than usual.
“Sorry to hear that. What’re you here for?” Eve asked, feeling a genuine interest begin to spark, the same interest that would come with any other stranger, a genuine stranger, she’d talk to.
“I’m here for school. Psychological Sciences at UCL. Masters degree. It’s killer.” Villanelle huffed, taking another drink as she mentally reeled off more details of her backstory she’d be briefed on a fortnight ago in case anything came up in conversation.
“Yeah, I bet. Still, I’m sorry about your girlfriend.” Eve remarked, finishing off her glass as she caught Villanelle looking her over and biting at her lower lip.
“It’s alright, you’re in pretty much the same boat I’m in.” She shrugged, her innocent grin curling further into a smirk as her eyes came up to meet Eve’s as she leaned forward on her seat.
“Besides, I always find that the best way to get over a breakup is to remind yourself what you’ve been missing.” She told Eve, her voice now a low hum, barely above a whisper. She placed a hand on Eve’s knee and watched as she began to move it up the other woman’s thigh. “Don’t you think?”
Eve’s breath hitched in her throat as she watched the woman drag her hand up Eve’s thigh, feeling her head begin to race and her head begin to spin. She felt like a lovesick teenager, having a strong sense of déjà vu overcome her as she remember how she felt when she first met Villanelle. The naïve excitement, the suspense in their first moments of intimacy, the yearning and pining after something as simple as a touch. It all came rushing back to Eve and it made her dizzy with anticipation.
“I-I guess so,” Eve hummed, feeling her lips brush over Villanelle’s as she tangled her legs between Eve’s and brought a hand up to cup Eve’s cheek. “But I can’t say I’ve ever tried it.”
“Well, I can be your first.” Villanelle muttered lowly, the tension palpable in the air as Villanelle brushed her lips over Eve’s again teasingly.
Finally, Villanelle was the one to close the gap, pressing a tentative kiss to Eve’s lips as the hand on her cheek moved up to brush through Eve’s hair.
Eve felt the same combination of nerves and excitement she experienced during their first kiss. The same longing was present due to the time they’d just spent apart, perfectly mimicking the yearning Eve had felt in the months leading up to their first kiss. She felt whole again.
Villanelle pulled back after a moment, her breathing unsteady and her eyes shy as she attempted to meet Eve’s gaze, only to glance away a moment later when the nerves got the better of her. “Can we go back to your place?”