Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three months prior.

Evanora slammed the newspaper down on the dining table. Agatha, who was midway through a spoonful of Cheerios, raised an eyebrow.

“Read it,” her mother ordered.

She glanced down at the paper; it was the fucking Daily Mail. Yeah, no. Agatha wouldn’t read that shit with a gun to her head. The Daily Mail was written by a bunch of racist, homophobic, egotistical narcissists.

No wonder it was her mother’s favourite newspaper.

“You couldn’t pay me to read that.”

Bold. Very bold. Her mother had lashed out at her for saying far less. Today, she didn’t care. She was hungover and had an eight-hour shift at their local café to mentally prepare for.

Evanora glared at her as if weighing her options. When she abruptly jerked forward, Agatha braced herself for the smack she might receive. Instead, her mother snatched up the newspaper and cleared her throat.

“Spanish princess almost sends the queen to an early grave,” Evanora recited the headline.

And Agatha was supposed to care about this because…?

Her mother continued, “Second in line to the throne, Princess Rio-Sofia was caught kissing a girl,” her mother emphasised the word as if it were cursed. “On the royals family holiday to Greece. A few hours later, Queen Isabella was photographed being rushed to the hospital.”

Why is she telling me this?

Agatha barely paid attention to her own royal family, let alone the Spanish one. Why was some princess kissing a girl so fascinating to her mother? Her mother was homophobic, this was nothing new.

“Can you imagine the shame?” Evanora shook her head. “The poor queen, to have her own daughter disgrace their prestigious family name. That girl must be a follower of the devil.”

Agatha wished she could say, ‘I guess I’ve disgraced our family name too…you know…because I’m a lesbian!' But she kept her mouth shut.

“Mother, I really should be getting to work now, so I’m going to-”

“Sit. Down.” Evanora cut her off as Agatha was getting up from her seat.

Agatha lowered herself back into her chair.

Three months. Three months and she’d be out of their stupid little village in Hertfordshire and in the country’s capital, London, to start her first term at King's College London (KCL). It wasn’t nearly as far away from her mother as she’d like to be, but it was a miracle Evanora was letting her go in the first place. She’d been able to attend university on two conditions:

One: she had to be a volunteer at their local church for two years without complaining.

Two: she had to get a job.

Evanora made it clear that she would not be providing any financial support to Agatha whilst she was studying. If she wanted to waste her life, as her mother put it, getting a degree and becoming a lawyer instead of dedicating her life to god, she was on her own.

Her mother started muttering to herself as she scanned the newspaper.

“Hm, perhaps you should watch it instead. Hand over your phone,” Evanora demanded.

Agatha suppressed the urge to groan. She was going to be late for work, her mother didn’t know the first thing about technology. She pulled out her phone from her jeans pocket and made quick work of deleting all the apps she wasn’t supposed to have (social medias, Uber Eats, Sky News).

“Chop chop, I don’t have all day,” Evanora barked, her left hand moving in a ‘give it here’ gesture.

Yeah, and neither do I.

Agatha handed over the phone.

For what felt like an eternity, her mother poked and prodded at her iPhone as if it were a dead frog that needed dissecting during a science lesson. Agatha regretted not staying at Jen’s last night; the fallout would’ve been astronomical, but she’d take being yelled at over whatever this was.

And she was going to be late for bloody work.

“Would you like some help?” Agatha offered.

“Keep quiet!” Evanora scolded.

Why did she even bother?

Another five minutes passed before Evanora finally said:

“Ah. Here it is,” she turned the phone towards Agatha and pressed play.

The Spanish royal family were on Agatha’s phone screen: Queen Isabella IV, Prince consort Felipe, their eldest child and first in line to the throne, Prince Carlos, Princess Rio-Sofia and their youngest child, Princess Ana, all sat in tailored clothing, their crowns and tiaras sat perfectly on their heads.

Agatha stifled an eye roll because why the fuck was she supposed to care about this?

“Me gustaría disculparme…” I would like to apologise…Princess Rio-Sofia started.

Agatha had to keep flicking between watching the video and reading the subtitles. She knew Spanish, she’d done it for her GCSEs and A-levels out of spite after her mother had droned on about how in England people should only speak English. But she was out of practice after two years of disuse.

“...Por mis acciones en las semanas anteriores.” ...For my actions last week.

As the princess continued her speech, Agatha studied her. She had all the poise of a royal, sitting up straight with her head held high as it bore the weight of her silver tiara that Agatha was sure weighed a couple of tones, and had most likely been stolen from one of the colonies the country had colonised back in the day, but there was something off about the princess.

It came with the way she kept blinking as if trying to suppress an eyeroll, the way her hands kept tensing as they were clasped in her lap. She seemed almost…annoyed. Agatha didn’t know much about royalty, but she was certain they were supposed to conceal their frustration.

She’s kind of pretty.

The princess’s rich brown hair fell just passed her shoulders in loose waves, her olive skin was painted with bright pink blush, her long eyelashes were covered in a thick layer of mascara, and her lips were coated in the same colour as her cheeks. She was wearing a light blue Chanel tweed blazer and skirt set.

“…So, maybe you can talk some sense into her,” Evanora said.

Agatha blinked. The screen in front of her was now black. She hadn’t heard a word of that.

She cleared her throat. “Talk some sense into her?” Agatha questioned to try and get her mother to tell her what she’d missed. She couldn’t admit she hadn’t been listening and instead had been distracted by the Spanish princess.

“Well, of course,” her mother said as if it were obvious. “You’re both Catholic. She will listen to you.”

Agatha most certainly was not catholic.

“Hm,” Agatha hummed as she took back her phone and stood with her bowl of half-eaten cereal ready for disposal.

“And you’re the same age,” Evanora continued, following her into the kitchen. “You come from a well-respected family, why wouldn’t the queen not want you to be around her?”

Agatha nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear as she poured the rest of her cereal down the sink and loaded her dishes into the dishwasher.

And then it hit her…

“I’m sorry…why would a Spanish princess be around me?”

Her mother’s face twisted into an expression of irritation. “Because you’re going to the same university. Have you not been listening?

WHAT?!

“No, I was…but KCL has campuses all over London,” Agatha covered quickly. “I doubt I’ll see Rio.”

“Princess Rio-Sofia,” her mother corrected. “Remember to address her correctly.”

Agatha fought the urge to scoff. “Right…well, I really should be going now.”

“Fine,” Evanora said.

Agatha headed towards the door until her mother’s voice stopped her.

“Hold it.”

Oh, for fucksake. What now?

“When did you do that?” Evanora pointed towards the side of her face.

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows. What was her mother talking…

Oh…shit, stupid.

Her ear. A couple of weeks ago, she and Jen had pierced each other’s ears. In addition to her lobe being pierced at sixteen, she now had her: helix, her second, flat and tragus…on both ears. She’d been doing such a good job at hiding them, wearing her thick, dark hair down every time she was around her mother.

She just had to tuck her hair behind her ear didn’t she.

“What’s what?” Agatha feigned obliviousness as she bolted out the door.

Her mother would make her pay for that later.

***

Rio didn’t recognise herself in the mirror. The outfit (more like costume) she’d been forced to wear, the stupid pink blush and god awful pink lipstick had stripped her of her identity. At least they’d left her hair alone; the only thing they’d done to it was give it heat damage with all the curling irons.

None of this was fair. All she’d done was kiss one girl. Her family and the press were making it seem like she’d murdered someone. Her mother having a heart attack was completely unrelated; she’d been suffering from heart disease. But instead of coming out with it, telling the truth, her family had let the narrative that it was Rio’s fault run wild.

Better to throw your own daughter under the bus than appear weak.

“You look nice.” Her brother Carlos appeared behind her in the mirror.

“Say that again and I’ll stab you,” Rio shot back.

Her brother laughed.

“Why do you get to wear a suit and I have to wear this thing?” She indicated to the light blue Chanel set. “We both know I look better in them anyway.”

Carlos shook his head playfully. “See, you say things like that and wonder why mother is punishing you.”

“She doesn’t need to send me away,” Rio mumbled. “If she wants me to go to university so bad, why can’t I just study here in Madrid with you?”

“Because she wants you to suffer,” Carlos grinned. “Have you been practicing your English?” He asked, switching languages.

“I don’t need to,” Rio followed suit, English tumbling out of her mouth. “I’ve been fluent since the day I could ride a bike.” She groaned, “But I don’t want to speak English 24/7, I don’t want to be in grey, gloomy London. It was a mistake, why can’t madre see that?”

It wasn’t a mistake. Rio regretted nothing.

Speaking in Spanish again, Carlos said:

“She only wants the best for you, Rio.”

“Bullshit,” Rio muttered.

“Riri!” Their eight-year-old sister Ana dashed into the room, Rio’s tiara in hand.

“Ana!” Her nanny called after her. “You aren’t supposed to touch that!”

The nanny appeared and Carlos politely dismissed her, saying the pair would look after Ana from here. Ana’s nanny blushed and nodded far too many times before she left the room.

Her brother had been born to be king, and there was no doubt in Rio’s mind that he wouldn’t be phenomenal at it. Carlos just did everything so right. He was smart, athletic, gifted, but he was also gentle and compassionate. He was everything a king should be.

“Can I put it on?” Ana giggled as Rio stooped down.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else to crown me,” Rio teased, poking Ana in the stomach.

Her little sister smiled as she placed the tiara on her head. Ana took a step back and admired her handiwork.

“I wish I looked like you,” Ana quietly admitted.

Ana had adopted all of their father’s features, from the blonde hair to the green eyes. Rio and Carlos had all of their mother’s. Ana would often make comments like this; it was a known fact in the Vidal household that her little sister felt left out. The age gap between them didn’t help the issue either.

Rio was twelve years older than her, Carlos fourteen. Ana barely saw them. Whilst they were out at school, or attending charity events, or conferences, Ana had to stay at the palace. Alone (with her nannies).

“And I wish I looked like you,” Rio smiled.

Her sister smiled back, nudging Rio’s tiara off-centre.

“Perfect.”

Ana giggled.

One of the queen’s consultants popped her head around Rio’s bedroom door. “The camera crews are ready for you now.”

Carlos smiled. “Break a leg.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Rio said as she shoved him in the arm.

“And mother’s going to kill you if you don’t fix your tiara.” He centred it on her head.

“Carlos!” Ana whined. “She likes it that way!”

“Do you want mother to yell at her?” He asked as they left the room.

“No,” Ana grumbled.

“Exactly.”

Rio tilted her tiara back to its original off-centred place anyway.

***

The throne room was swarming with camera crews, makeup artists, journalists, royal advisors, you name it. Rio felt overstimulated. She wanted this over and done with, and they hadn’t even started yet.

Her tiara had been fixed rightfully on her head, and her lipstick had been touched up four times already.

“Do you remember what you have to say?” Her mother asked from her seat on the throne above.

“Yes,” Rio mumbled.

“Now say it again, but annunciate and speak up.”

Rio fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Rio had gone over the awful speech all of last night and the rest of this morning. She was supposed to apologise to the country and the entire world (because that made sense), she was supposed to say that she’d made an unforgivable mistake and brought shame to the Spanish royal family (she regretted nothing and thought her parents should get with the programme, this was the twenty first century), and lastly, she was supposed to say she was thrilled to start attending Kings College London to pursue her education, taking a step back from the royal family to think about what she’d done (the thought of having to live in London for three years threatened to kill her, and again, Rio regretted nothing).

“Okay, places,” someone called from somewhere.

Three people swarmed Rio then, running their fingers through her hair, powdering her face and fixing her crown before they scurried away. The woman behind the camera counted down from three with her fingers, and Rio forced a smile onto her face.

***

Four hours later, the press conference was over. Everyone was clearing out, and Rio was preparing to head out with them. She needed her bed, no, she needed to share a cigarette with her brother.

“Rio-Sofia,” the queen called from her throne as Rio was getting off hers.

Rio. She wanted to say. She hated her full name.

Her father had wanted to call her Rio, but her mother had said the name wasn’t regal, hadn’t been recognised in the Vidal family tree. They had compromised: Rio-Sofia.

“Stay a moment, would you, please?”

Rio lowered herself to her seat. It’s not like she had a choice.

Carlos gave her a wary look before picking up Ana and heading out of the throne room with the rest of the camera crews and journalists.

Once Rio was alone with her mother and father, the queen spoke:

“You could’ve been clearer, and you kept fidgeting. What have I told you about fidgeting?”

Rio suppressed the urge to groan. Seriously? Her mother was lecturing her now?

“I’m sorry, mother.”

The queen’s face twitched as if she wanted to frown but then remembered who she was. Queen’s did not frown. Queen’s didn’t display any emotions other than indifference or power.

“Now that your name has been cleared and you will hopefully be in Spain’s good graces again, you are not to leave Madrid for the remainder of the summer.”

Rio’s eyes widened. “What?! Mami, you can’t do that!”

Rio had plans to travel this summer with her best friend Alice. They were going to go interrailing throughout Europe, explore parts of South East Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and lastly, end their trip visiting some of Rio’s dad’s side of the family in Puerto Rico.

It was bad enough that Rio was wasting three years of her life going to a university her mother had paid for her to get into, doing a course she had no interest in, in a country that wasn’t home, and now? Now her mother was taking her summer away from her, too.

The queen narrowed her eyes.

“Sorry, madre, you can’t do that,” Rio corrected. She’d been forbidden to call her mother ‘mami’ the day she turned five.

“I must,” the queen replied. “You cannot be in the public eye at the moment. I can’t risk another photo of you being…intimate with someone of the same gender.”

Why had she said it like that? As if it were some doctoral procedure that needed a clinical review? She’d made out with a girl.

“You think sending me to London is going to make this go away? Fix me? There’s nothing wrong with me. I like women.”

“You…” the queen cut herself off, red creeping up her neck before she breathed in, and the tint faded. “You do not like women, Rio-Sofia,” she said it as if it were fact. “You were just confused. That other girl took advantage of you.”

Rio threw her head back, and when she laughed, there was nothing regal about it. “That old rhetoric. You know everything you’re saying is bullshit, right?”

“Rio-Sofia!”

“Rio!” her father scolded at the same time.

Why was he even there? He hadn’t said a word until now, just letting her mother say whatever she wanted and nodding along idly.

“Watch your tongue,” the queen ordered. She inhaled sharply. “London will be good for you. People will be keeping an eye on you, we can find you a Catholic community to join, you can focus on your studies and clear your head.”

“My head is perfectly fine,” Rio shot back.

The queen pressed her lips into a thin line. “This is not a punishment. You will see that soon enough. When you return home, you will see it was done for good reason. You will come out of the other side…better.”

Straight. Her mother meant straight.

Rio didn’t know why her mother thought London was going to fix her, but at least she wasn’t sending her to conversion therapy.

“Okay,” Rio replied because all the fight had drained out of her, and she really did want her bed and that cigarette. “May I leave now?”

Her mother regarded her for a moment before curtly nodding. “Yes, you are dismissed.”

Dismissed. As if Rio were one of her employees and not her daughter.

She said nothing as she got up and left the room.

In three months, Rio was going to be in hell.

Chapter Text

Present day.

Agatha was sweating. She’d had to lug what felt like her entire life through her university accommodation into her new room, mostly by herself. Her mother made it clear she wouldn’t be helping her move in.

Luckily, she had a best friend whose mother loved her as if she were her own. Jen’s mum had driven her and Jen to London and somehow made room to fit both of their belongings in the car.

Agatha had spent the fifty-minute journey in the back of their car, surrounded by boxes and luggage cases.

Jen’s mum had to switch between helping Agatha with her stuff and Jen’s. But Jen, the notorious overpacker, had taken most of her mother’s attention. Not that Agatha minded. Jen was her actual daughter; Agatha was just a stray she’d adopted.

“Okay, I gotta go,” Jen’s mum said when the last box had been moved into Jen’s room. “They only give us twenty-minute slots for parking. I’ll be back to drop off a week’s worth of food shopping for you both, but then you’re on your own,” she teased.

“Thanks, mum.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Agatha and Jen said at the same time.

As much as Agatha appreciated it, she didn’t want Jen’s mum spending money on her. She always did far too much for her, and Agatha could never return the favour. She didn’t want to think about how much money she owed her best friend's mother, but the thought that she’d be a well-established lawyer in the years to come, and she could finally pay her back, motivated her.

“Nonsense,” Jen’s mother, Valerie, replied. “You are my favourite daughter after all.”

“Hey!” Jen frowned as Agatha laughed.

“I love you both. See you in a bit.”

“Love you, mum.”

“Love you, Val,” Agatha and Jen replied simultaneously as Valerie left the room.

When Jen’s door clicked shut and the room was plunged into silence, it hit Agatha. She had done it. She’d left their shitty little village and made it to London. She was going to be studying at her first-choice university, and to top it all off, her best friend was with her.

Agatha and Jen turned to each other slowly, and as if they shared the same brain cell, they grabbed each other’s hands, jumping and squealing.

When the moment passed, they let go of one another and cleared their throats.

“Let’s never do that again,” Jen shuddered.

“Agreed.”

“Babe, actually deep it,” Jen said, dropping down on her bed. “We lucked the fuck out.”

“We did,” Agatha agreed, sitting next to her. “Same uni, same acom, same flat! I don’t know how we did it.”

And she really didn’t. Agatha and misfortunes had a two-decade-old beef…guess who was winning. Let’s see: dad died at the age of two, she’d spent her life practicing a faith she didn’t believe in, she never had a proper childhood, abusive conservative mother, said abuse conservative mother was an extreme homophobe (Agatha was a lesbian), the list went on.

“And we live in London now,” Jen added.

“And we live in London,” Agatha echoed.

“Now get out. I want to start organising my room,” Jen said, shoving her off the bed.

Agatha batted her hand away. “I’m going! I hope one your many boxes falls on your head now.”

“Thanks,” Jen deadpanned as she left the room.

Their rooms weren’t next to each other. Jen’s was by the flat door, and Agatha’s was by the kitchen. The two doors separating them were for their other flatmates.

Agatha hoped they were at least decent people. She’d heard the stories, nightmare flatmates, and whilst she had no problem dealing with people who pissed her off, she would rather avoid it in the place she had to live. She’d already lived twenty years of hell with her mother, she needed a break.

She made her way down the corridor and pushed her door open. She took in the space that would be her home for the next year. It was an ensuite thank fuck. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle a communal bathroom.

Her bathroom was on her left by her front door, ahead was the main section of the room and on the right her wardrobe. Her bed was against the wall opposite the window, a desk that ran the width of the room below it. There were three storage cubbies above her bed, shelves on the opposite wall below drawers that were also a bench, and a board to stick pictures on.

She put her hands behind her head and stared at the room filled with her unpacked belongings. The task, unpacking, felt overwhelming, but she had to start somewhere. She inhaled before opening the first box and getting to work.

An hour later, Agatha was just about done. She’d put all her clothes away, set up her desk (laid out her laptop, stationery, lamp, chargers), made her bed, and put away her luggage case and storage boxes underneath it (with some help from Jen, the bed weighed a ton). Now all she had to do was decorate.

She’d bought candles (which she technically wasn’t supposed to have because they were a fire hazard), posters, fairy lights, fake plants (because she couldn’t keep the real ones alive to save her life), blankets and cushions and pictures (of her and Jen, she didn’t have any other friends).

Agatha was midway through sticking a poster of the outline of two women’s faces just before they kissed when there was a knock on her door.

“Mum’s back, kitchen,” Jen ordered.

“Coming,” Agatha called back.

She hopped off her bed, slipped on her slippers (because she wouldn’t be caught dead walking around the flat without shoes on) and made her way to the kitchen.

“Have you decided fridge space, cupboards, etc?” Valerie asked.

Agatha shook her head.

“No,” Jen answered. “But we’re the first ones here we should be alright.”

As soon as she said it, they heard their front door beep, it opened and closed, and footsteps and laughter sounded from the corridor.

Seconds later, a girl with a black and red streaked wolf cut and a red head appeared at the kitchen door.

“Holy shit!” The girl with the wolf cut screamed, putting a hand over her heart. “I mean…I’m so sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in here.”

“That’s alright,” Valerie smiled.

“I’m Alice,” Alice extended her arm towards Jen’s mum.

“Erm…and I’m Wanda,” the redhead added.

There was no denying it, Wanda was hot. And Agatha realised so was Alice.

Hold it. You’re just saying that because you haven’t been sexually active…like…ever.

And it wasn’t like she didn’t want to be. She simply couldn’t. Nobody knew she was gay. Before she discovered she was, she’d kissed one boy at fourteen and immediately thrown up the second his lips touched hers. If that wasn’t a sign, Agatha didn’t know what was.

The only girl she’d ever kissed was Jen. When her best friend came out to her, Agatha did too. It had been one of the happiest days of her life. She was scared her best friend would cut her off if she ever discovered the truth about her sexuality. They lived in a small village in the middle of fucking nowhere bringing the queer people count to two, three if she counted the church clerk she caught making out with the priests son.

She and Jen had traded one kiss, albeit a passionate one with tongue and hair pulling. They both wanted to know what it would feel like to kiss another woman. They’d never spoken about it again.

But now she was in London, there were just as many queer women as there were electric scooters.

Agatha was planning on having a field day. She had years of sexual experiences she needed to catch up on.

“So I’m guessing you’re our flatmates,” Jen stated.

“Jennifer!” Her mother scolded.

Alice only laughed. “I am. Wanda lives next door.”

Wanda nodded.

Agatha couldn’t help noticing Alice’s accent. What was that? Spanish?

“Oh, well, I’m Jen.”

“Agatha,” Agatha said.

“Well, it was nice to meet you both. You wouldn’t be interested in field hockey by any chance, would you?”

“Alice,” Wanda smacked her in the arm. “They just got here, let them unpack first.”

“Sorry,” Alice said with a smile. “We’re second years, and I just became hockey captain; I’m starting the recruiting early.”

“I do,” Agatha replied.

During secondary school, her mother only let her leave the house outside of school for one of two reasons: going to church or going to hockey practice.

“Jen pretends like she can, but she can’t,” Agatha continued.

“Watch it, Harkness. Remember the time a hockey ball hit you in the head? I could easily do it again, but on purpose this time.”

Agatha smiled as Valerie shook her head playfully.

“I don’t know how you two haven’t murdered each other yet,” she said as she started putting some of the food she bought in the fridge.

“Brilliant!” Alice said. “You two should definitely come to tryouts next week.”

Agatha glanced at Jen, who nodded.

“Okay.”

“Perfect. Hasta Luego,” Alice replied as she and Wanda left the kitchen.

So, she is Spanish.

“She seems nice,” Valerie commented.

“Yeah,” Agatha replied. “Let’s just hope our other flatmate is too.”

***

It’d been a week since Agatha had first moved in, and there had been no sign of their other flatmate, not that she’d minded.

During the week, she and Jen had explored their campus together (the Strand Campus). They’d lucked out again because even though they were on different courses (Jen was doing politics), they would still be in the same place for the most part (Agatha also had lectures at the Waterloo campus).

They’d gone to their introductory lectures, explored London a bit (they’d visited the Tate Modern, Camden, Covent Garden), and done a four-night bender during freshers week.

From Thursday to Sunday, the girls had been out every night. Agatha had spent far too much money on alcohol and club tickets, where they’d had to pay at the door, making the tickets far more expensive as well as having to stand in queues for over an hour some nights because they had been stupid and not prebought tickets.

They’d bumped into Alice on the Saturday night, and she’d introduced them to some of the hockey girls. They already knew Wanda, but in addition to her, they’d made friends with Natasha, Monica, Darcy and Gamora.

It was Tuesday after hockey tryouts, and Jen had refused to go, claiming she was too hungover even though she’d had over a day to recover. Agatha blamed Alice for her lack of attendance.

On the Sunday night the two had disappeared somewhere, and when they returned an hour later, Jen’s lipstick was smudged. She’d also heard Alice say something about not worrying about going to tryouts. So, Agatha assumed their hockey captain had gone soft on her, which meant an easy in.

But it wasn’t like Agatha could judge. On the Thursday night she made out with one girl, on the Friday, she’d made out with three and one of them was before she’d even gotten into the club, it had been in the queue outside. On the Saturday and Sunday, she’d been with Wanda…slept with Wanda.

She’d surprised herself. She’d thought it would take her at least a month to have sex with someone for the first time…apparently not.

Agatha forced herself up the stairs. Her legs ached, and her body felt like it was about to shut down. And the one day she actually needed to use the lift, it was bloody broken. Why the fuck did they have to live on the fifth floor?

After four days of living off of alcohol, cigarettes, vapes and good vibes, the four-day bender was finally catching up to her. She was actually shocked she hadn’t thrown up after the gruelling two hour and a half hockey session.

What felt like an eternity later, Agatha made it to their flat door. Maybe she needed to lay off the cigarettes, she shouldn’t be sweating and panting after climbing five flights of stairs.

She fumbled around in her skort pocket for her key card. She needed a shower; her hockey kit was sticking to her body and the pieces of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail would not get the fuck off her forehead no matter how many times she swiped at them

She also needed to eat. Her stomach felt empty like when it does after a night out.

Agatha went to tap her key card against their front door when it slipped out of her hand. She muttered expletives as she bent down to pick it up, her hockey stick in her hockey bag sliding down and hitting her on the head. She almost threw it.

Agatha inhaled once before retrieving her key card and tapping it against the door. She needed food now before she broke something.

She let herself into the flat and made a beeline for the kitchen.

What did she have? Most of the food Valerie had bought them last week was still in the fridge, the girls had barely eaten any of their own food.

When they hadn’t been going out out, they’d eat in the city, and when they had, they’d sleep during the day and get food from food trucks at the end of the night.

Agatha vaguely remembered having chicken and tortilla wraps in the fridge. She was sure she had peppers and onions too; she could make fajitas.

“Oh, for fucksake!” Agatha groaned.

In her kitchen were five men and women in all black suits. They were essentially picking the place apart. The chairs around the island had been flipped upside down and put on the table, the fridge had been pulled out, the cupboards had been emptied, their sofa had been removed.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Agatha demanded.

When one of the beefier men made a move towards her, Agatha didn’t flinch. She could take him. She was pissed off, starving, and armed with a hockey stick.

“Déjala.” Leave it. A voice spoke.

The man stepped back, and a girl with dark brown hair came into view.

It was the fucking Spanish princess.

“Oh, for fucksake,” Agatha grumbled.

***

After wasting away in the palace for the entire summer, the dreaded day had come. Rio was moving to London.

To say she had regrets about spending her last night in Madrid getting paralytically drunk and smoking cigarettes with her brother in the palace gardens wouldn’t be true. The only thing Rio regretted was not drinking a gallon of water before she went to bed. She was violently hungover.

She was curled up in a ball on one of the chairs on the royal’s private jet, sunglasses on, hoodie up, hair over her face so nobody could see it. She had a splitting headache, and the altitude was doing nothing for her nausea.

Rio had only been on the jet for an hour now, and she already missed home. She missed her little sister running into her room at the early hours of the morning with far too much energy, she missed playfighting with her brother around the palace with Nerf guns when he didn’t have some princely obligation. She missed her room.

She missed Spain. She missed her freedom.

Tears began to prick her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away.

She needed a plan. If she caused enough trouble in London, her mother would have no choice but to drag her back to Madrid. Most of Rio’s rebellion had been concealed behind the palace walls, not that she’d done anything too crazy. She just wore black eyeliner and eyeshadow, wore ‘masculine’ clothes as her mother put it, smoked and drank, which her mother had labelled as ‘boyish behaviour’ even though it was perfectly fine when Carlos did it.

Thinking about the double standard between her and her brother always made Rio feel violent because who the fuck cared? Had her mother never heard of intersectional feminism? Equality for all? Just because they were royalty didn’t mean they should uphold patriarchal standards. In fact, being in the public eye, they should be proudly trying to dismantle the thing with all of the influence they had.

Did her mother not understand that she’d been the fourth queen in Spain’s entire history, whereas the country had had copious kings?

Anyways, Rio just needed to start rebelling publicly. There was already a buzz around her considering the whole making out with a girl thing, she just had to ramp it up a notch.

Rio woke up to the sound of the pilot announcing they were to land in twenty minutes. She rubbed the sleet from her eyes. When had she fallen asleep?

“You’re up. Good,” the queen started.

Rio was surprised her mother had left her alone for so long.

“You must change into the clothes I have picked out for you,” her mother told her.

It was another tweed Chanel set except this time it was fucking baby pink.

“Could I wear something else?” Rio bargained.

“No, Rio-Sofia. You may not.”

Rio didn’t bother suppressing her eyeroll.

“I saw that,” the queen scolded. “Get up and get dressed,” she ordered.

Begrudgingly, Rio did as she was told.

***

Rio was sitting across from her mother at a private table at the Ritz whilst the royal security moved all of her belongings into her dorm room. One of the only good things about going to KCL was that it was the university her best friend went to. And by the grace of whoever, her mother had allowed her to live with Alice in her flat.

The original plan was to get Rio a private studio, but she’d convinced her mother that she would do better being around someone she knew. ‘Don’t you want me to get the proper university experience?’ Rio had said. ‘I thought London was supposed to ground me, bring me back to reality.’

She didn’t believe a word she was saying, but the bullshit worked, and the queen was swayed.

“You will have your head of security with you at all times,” her mother said without looking up from the menu she was reading.

“Why?”

“For your protection. To make sure you don’t step out of line.”

“I don’t think I need it,” Rio tried to reason. “I didn’t need it back in Madrid.”

Madrid. Home. How she missed it dearly, and she hadn’t even been in London for more than two hours yet.

“Well, you aren’t in Madrid, are you?” The question was rhetorical because fucking clearly Rio wasn’t in Madrid.

Rio huffed and started picking at the corners of her menu.

They sat in an uneasy near silence, the classical music of the restaurant, the quiet murmur of distant conversations and the clinking of cutlery against plates filled the void.

“Rio-Sofia,” the queen spoke moments later.

“Yes, mother,” Rio answered.

“I mean it. One step out of line and you will be sent somewhere far worse than a university in London.”

And there went Rio’s plan for rebellion.

She swallowed. “Yes, mother.”

***

The queen had been and gone, leaving Rio to travel back to her university accommodation in her own private car. Her mother had made it clear she was only permitted to travel like this. No walking, no tubes, no buses. She had to notify her driver whenever she wanted to leave her flat, and they would come and take her to wherever she needed to go.

She felt like a prisoner.

When she arrived at her accommodation in Euston, she made her way up the five flights of stairs because the lift was broken, and her head of security let her into the flat as if she didn’t have her own pair of fucking hands.

She knocked on the door that was labelled ‘Alice’ with stickers of glittery guitars, drum sets, and stars on it. No answer. Her best friend wasn’t in. She couldn’t even call her; she wasn’t allowed her phone until later.

Rio went into her own room. Everything had been unpacked and organised in a way she absolutely despised. She’d have to redo it later. When she walked into the kitchen…it didn’t look like a kitchen.

“¿Qué estás haciendo?” What are you doing? She asked her security team.

“Controles de seguridad, princesa.” Security checks, princess. One of the women replied.

Rio nodded. This felt a bit excessive.

And that’s when she heard it. The slam of the front door. Was that Alice?

It was not Alice.

Now standing in the doorway of the kitchen was a girl. She wore a navy blue hockey shirt with a V-neckline and matching skort, navy blue hockey socks that reached just below her knees and white astro shoes. She had a purple Grays hockey stick bag slung across her body, and her long, dark hair was tied up in a high ponytail, revealing her ears that were decorated with various gold earrings.

She was…beautiful.

“Oh, for fucksake! What the hell are you doing?!” The girl demanded.

The security guard who was blocking Rio from the girl’s view stepped forward.

"Déjala.” Leave it. Rio told him.

When he stepped back, blue eyes locked onto her. The girl’s eyebrows furrowed briefly before they smoothed out into an expression Rio could only describe as irritation.

“Oh, for fucksake,” she grumbled.

“Lo siento…I’m sorry?” Rio corrected because she forgot she had to speak English now.

“Why are your people destroying the kitchen?” The girl demanded.

Rio jerked her head, slightly taken aback. She hated how people treated her differently just because she was a princess, but nobody she wasn’t friends with had spoken to her like that before. She had to hand it to her; the girl was brave.

“They are just following protocol,” Rio defended, even though she didn’t know why they were doing it herself.

The other woman scoffed. “And following protocol means destroying my entire kitchen because?” She turned to all the food that was spread across the kitchen counters. “Hey! That stuff's supposed to be in the fridge!” She surged forward, and one of Rio’s security put a firm hand out, blocking her from advancing.

The girl narrowed her eyes. “You seriously want to do that when I have a hockey stick in reach?”

The security guard blinked.

Whoever this girl was, she was fearless.

“Déjala.” Leave it. Rio told him again.

The security guard backed down.

“They have to dispose of it,” Rio told her. “It hasn’t been checked…it might be contaminated.” Poisoned. The Spanish royal family had numerous enemies, just like any other royal family.

“And you think I would try and harm you? One, why would you be eating my food? Two, I didn’t even know you were going to be here until two fucking seconds ago.”

Rio had to admit, she did have a good point.

“It must be done, I’m sorry. All food has to be checked before it comes into the flat from now on,” she reiterated what her mother had told her earlier.

“Bloody brilliant,” the girl muttered.

Alice burst into the room then. “Rio! ¡Estás aquí!” She ran over and hugged her, hockey bag and all.

Rio laughed. “Hola, Alice.”

Her best friend pulled back and took in her surroundings. “Eh…” she turned on the spot, her hand gesturing to the state of the room. “¿Por qué?”

Rio sighed. “Mi madre.”

“Ah,” Alice nodded. “¿Cómo estás tú?”

“No estoy bien.”

“No?”

“No,” Rio echoed.

“Esh,” Alice replied. She nodded towards the kitchen door. “Vamos.”

Alice stopped short when she noticed the other girl was there.

“Oh, hey, Agatha,” Alice said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

Agatha. So that’s her name.

Alice indicated between the pair. “Have you guys introduced yourselves?”

“No,” Agatha replied curtly.

Sharp blue eyes locked onto Rio, and Rio found herself doing the same because why was this girl staring at her like she’d murdered her family?

“Erm…” Alice said, picking up on the tension. “Agatha, this is Rio – I mean – Princess Rio-Sofia. I always forget I’m not allowed to introduce you like that,” Alice whispered to her. “Princess Rio-Sofia, this is our flatmate, Agatha.”

Agatha only folded her arms, her glare unwavering.

Alice, sensing that no more words were going to be exchanged between the pair said:

“Okay…we’re going to go. Good job at practice today, Agatha.” Alice began tugging Rio out of the kitchen.

“Wait, Alice, what am I going to do about dinner? I haven’t eaten since lunch, and these bimbos won’t let me eat the food in the fridge,” she indicated to Rio’s security.

“You should’ve eaten more at lunch then,” Rio snapped before her best friend had a chance to reply. She was aware she shouldn’t have, but this Agatha girl had pissed her right the fuck off.

She was rude, entitled, and demanding for no fucking reason. Rio hadn’t even done anything, and the girl was acting as if Rio’s mere existence had ruined her life.

Agatha scoffed.

“Sorry, Agatha. Try Wanda’s, she should have something,” Alice replied softly before dragging Rio out of the kitchen before the two had a chance to snap at each other again.

Chapter Text

Agatha pounded on Jen’s bedroom door.

“Jen!” She knocked again. “Jen! Open the fucking door!”

Moments later, she heard shuffling on the other side of the door, the lock unlocking, and her best friend blinking at her as if she’d just woken up.

It was 6 PM.

Agatha barged in, shoving her best friend aside. She squinted so that her eyes could adjust to the low lighting of Jen’s room. Her blackout curtains were drawn shut. The only light emitted came from the string of fairy lights that Jen had strung up along her walls.

“The fucking princess of Spain is here!” She told her.

Jen climbed back into bed and croaked a, “What?”

“You’re hungover, not deaf.”

Her best friend rubbed her eyes. “You were the one who told me she was going to KCL. Why are you surprised?”

“No! As in, she is here in our flat.”

Jen leaned back against her headboard. “Ah.”

Agatha gaped at her.

Jen shot up. “Wait…what?!”

“Finally. You’re getting it,” Agatha groaned as she slumped onto the bed, not caring that she’d sat on her best friend's leg.

“Hey, no. No outside clothes on my bed, especially your hockey kit. You’re all sweaty.” She tried to shove Agatha off, but she didn’t budge.

“And guess what? Her fucking security are throwing out all our food.”

“What?!” Jen repeated. “No! My mother bought that stuff with her hard-earned money.” Jen stirred as if to get up.

Agatha pushed her back down. “Don’t bother, they won’t hear it. Trust me, I tried.”

“For fucksake,” Jen muttered.

“And she’s a bitch. Not prim and proper like we’d thought she’d be.”

Jen furrowed her eyebrows. “You spoke to her?”

“Yeah. I wanted to make dinner, you know, because I’m fucking starving and had just done over two hours of hockey – it was good by the way – you missed out. And obviously they were throwing out the food and I told Alice I hadn’t eaten since lunch and the bitchy princess said, and I quote, ‘You should’ve eaten more at lunch then.’”

“Damn,” Jen acknowledged.

“I know.” Agatha threw her hands up. “And her people have destroyed the kitchen. You know the comfy sofa?”

“Yeah.”

“Gone.”

“What?!” Jen shrieked again. “What the hell!”

“And all the foods gotta be checked before it comes into the flat in case its poisoned or some shit.”

Jen blinked. “They think we’d try and hurt her?”

“I mean, I wasn’t planning on it, but now I am,” Agatha joked half-heartedly.

Jen smacked her on the arm. “Shush! You might end up on some Spanish government watch list.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” Agatha groaned as she fell backward on the bed, her head hitting Jen’s knee. When her best friend cried out, she ignored it. “I’m fucking starving and that fucked up princess is now our new flatmate.”

She’d rewatched the speech after her mother had shown it to her because the first time, she’d only been watching Rio, not actually listening to her. The Spanish princess had claimed that she’d made the worst mistake of her life by kissing that girl in the photo. She’d told the entire world that she didn’t know what she was doing and regretted the entire thing.

She was a fake bitch with no backbone. Agatha thought that if you’d done something and it was caught on camera that you should fucking own it. Not backpedal and say you’ve disgraced your entire family because you kissed a woman.

Agatha thought there was nothing more beautiful than having the privilege to do so.

“You could go over to Wanda’s,” Jen suggested.

Agatha glanced at her. “That’s what Alice said.”

“Then do it. Have you seen her today?”

“Jen, we’re not fucking dating. I don’t have to see her every day…and I saw her at practice.”

Her best friend laughed.

She and Wanda had agreed that they weren’t going to be a thing, it’d just be casual. Sure, she’d taken Agatha’s virginity, talked her through it, made her come more than she’d thought humanly possible. But Agatha was still only a freshly out lesbian. She didn’t plan on settling down any time soon. The world was her oyster.

“Well, all my food's in the bin with yours. Wanda’s your safest bet.”

Agatha groaned. “Alright.”

She left Jen’s room, chucked her hockey gear into hers, and made the short walk (literally two steps) to the flat next door.

She knocked and waited.

A short while later, Natasha opened the door. She smiled smugly.

“Agatha, back so soon?”

It’d been less than twenty-four hours since she’d last been in their flat.

Agatha ignored her comment. “Is Wanda in?”

“Wanda!” Natasha called. “It appears you have a suitor.”

The other redhead appeared from the kitchen down the hall. She made her way over with a smile on her face.

“Hey, Agatha. What’s up?”

Wanda was also in her navy hockey kit, except she’d taken her hair out of its ponytail.

Agatha glanced at Natasha, who was still standing between them, her hands clasped in front of her expectantly as if she were waiting for the conversation to occur.

Wanda, catching her gist, turned to Natasha. “Nat?”

She nodded once. “Right.” She turned and headed towards her room.

When her door clicked shut, Agatha said:

“You wouldn’t happen to have any food, would you? All mine's been put in the bin.”

Wanda raised an eyebrow.

“The princess of Spain moved in.”

“Oh! Rio-Sofia’s here?”

Agatha jerked her head back. “You know her?”

“Know of her. She’s Alice’s best friend.”

Agatha nodded slowly.

Wanda snapped her fingers as if she’d remembered why Agatha was there. “Food? No, but do you wanna grab Subway?”

“I’d eat anything right now.”

Wanda laughed. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

***

Subway had a deal on. A six-inch sub, a packet of crisps or a cookie, and a drink. Agatha had gone for a Subway Club, a milk chocolate chip cookie, and a bottle of Blackcurrant Apple Oasis. Wanda had chosen a Spicy Italian, a packet of Quavers, and a bottle of Sprite.

Now the pair were sitting across from each other in the Subway, a ten-minute walk away from the accommodation.

“You better not try and kiss me after you’ve eaten those,” Agatha teased as Wanda chomped on a Quaver.

“You wouldn’t kiss me with onion breath?” Wanda joked back.

“Over my dead body.”

“So…” Wanda said, licking her thumb. “You want me to kiss you outside of sex? Outside of clubbing?”

And Agatha had walked right into that one. She made a mental note to remind herself not to jump at every opportunity to make a joke when it presented itself to her.

It was a good thing she’d mastered the art of deflecting. “Do you want to kiss me outside of it?”

“And what if I did?” Wanda answered straight away.

Agatha narrowed her eyes before taking a sip of her drink. “Aren’t you fucking that guy on the men’s hockey team? What’s his name? Vision?”

“And what if I am?”

Agatha shook her head playfully.

“I know you don’t plan on only sleeping with just me, so why can’t I?”

“I never said you couldn’t,” Agatha laughed. “I only asked if you wanted to kiss me outside of sex.”

“And I do.”

This was going to get messy, and thank fuck Agatha had grown up sheltered and catholic because she was so ready to welcome messy into her life.

“Okay,” Agatha said nonchalantly.

Wanda smiled before she took a sip of her own drink. She shuddered. “I regret the Sprite, too many bubbles.

Agatha laughed. “It’s almost as if it’s a fizzy drink.”

Wanda shrugged, that smile still on her lips. “Swap with me for a bit?”

Agatha handed Wanda her bottle of Oasis.

She watched as the redhead took a long drink from the bottle before pulling it away from her lips, a trail of saliva following in its wake. She hadn’t broken eye contact once.

Fuck. Why was that hot?

Agatha blinked.

Calm the fuck down. You can’t be this easy, you’re acting like a man.

“How did you find hockey practice?” Wanda asked as if she didn’t know exactly what she was doing.

Agatha acted as if Wanda’s little performance had no effect on her. “It was good. Alice and Natasha are good captains.”

“They are,” Wanda agreed. “You know if you get in, you’re going to have to do the initiation process.”

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows. “What the hell is that?”

Wanda shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

“Wanda,” Agatha said firmly.

The redhead only giggled.

***

“But do you know what I mean, Alice?”

Rio had been ranting in Spanish and pacing around Alice’s room for the past ten minutes.

“And that fucked up princess is our new flatmate,” Rio heard through the wall.

She pointed at the wall as if it were the culprit. “Did you hear that? Did you hear the way she spoke about me?!” Rio whisper yelled.

The walls in their accommodation were thin, and Alice shared a wall with the other flatmate whom she hadn’t met yet.

“And did you see the way she looked at me? As if I was the fucking devil on earth, as if my presence had caused her this massive inconvenience.”

“Well…” Alice spoke for the first time since they’d gone into her room. “It kinda did.”

Rio glared at her.

Alice laughed. “Ri, she’d just come back from hockey practice. She was probably starving, and your security team was binning all of her food.”

“I didn’t fucking as them too!”

“No, I know,” Alice replied calmly. “But try and think about how she must feel. About how much money she spent on food for it all to go to waste. I knew you were coming, so I hadn’t bought anything this week yet, they didn’t.”

Rio folded her arms. She knew this, but it was just the way Agatha had looked at her, kept looking at her, that had rubbed her the wrong way.

“Hm.” She sat down on Alice’s bed. “You think I have enough authority to get her put in another flat?”

Her best friend blinked at her. “…Ri.”

“What.”

“You can’t be serious. Why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t like the way she spoke to me, and I can already tell she’s going to be a problem.”

Alice chucked. “Wow, the princess in you is really coming out today, huh?”

She furrowed her eyebrows until she realised what her best friend meant. She was acting like an entitled brat. The one thing she absolutely despised. Was she serious? Trying to get a girl kicked out of their flat because she’d looked at her funny? That was very pathetic on Rio’s part.

“What is she going to eat, Al?” Rio asked quietly, the guilt consuming her all at once.

“I’m sure Agatha will be alright,” Alice reassured her. “She’s probably going to Wanda’s.”

Rio nodded. Alice had mentioned Wanda before, she was one of her friends on the hockey team.

“Speaking of…are you going to join the hockey team?”

Rio huffed. “Didn’t I miss tryouts? You told me they were today.”

“Yeah…but I’m captain. If you want in, you’re in.”

Rio smiled. “Isn’t that an abuse of power?”

Alice shrugged.

The pair sat in a comfortable silence before Alice said:

“I know what will help.”

Rio raised an eyebrow. “With what?”

“With getting on Jen and Agatha’s good side.”

Rio turned to face her best friend. “What?”

“Well, firstly, by replacing the sofa. It was really comfortable. And secondly, rebuy all their food.”

Rio nodded. “That’s good, Al.”

“I know,” Alice smiled.

Rio rolled her eyes.

“Also…what’s up with the outfit?” Her best friend looked her up and down, her face twisted in concern.

“Don’t ask about it,” Rio said abruptly. “I need to change.”

***

Rio had sent out her security detail to buy everything they’d thrown away from Jen and Agatha’s cupboards and fridges, whilst getting them to buy her and Alice’s weekly shop too.

She’d reorganised her room to the way she liked it, stripping off the pink bed covers and replacing them with forest green ones. She’d discovered her box of plants that had been stashed away in her wardrobe and put them where they had the best opportunity to catch the light. She’d stuck up photos of her siblings, Alice, and her friends back in Spain on the photo board. And she’d changed.

Rio would burn the baby pink number if she could, but instead she’d neatly folded it and stuffed it in the back of her wardrobe. She’d pulled on an XL pair of baggy grey sweatpants that revealed the band of her Calvin Klein black boxers, and a matching sports bra. Her room was boiling, and she didn’t have a fan yet. The open window was doing nothing.

She could also, finally, put the rest of her earrings back in. Her mother only approved of her wearing her firsts and seconds. Whilst Rio had been away at boarding school, her friend had learnt how to pierce ears. She’d come back home for the summer at fifteen with a silver bar through her new industrial piercing and a stud in her tragus.

When Rio looked in the mirror, she actually recognised herself. She was only missing the eyeliner on her waterline and on her eyelids, but apart from that, Rio, not Princess Rio-Sofia, was staring back at her.

She nodded, a satisfied smile on her face.

A knock on the door. “¿Princesa? Hemos vuelto con la comida.” Princess? We have returned with the food. One of Rio’s security told her.

“Gracias,” Rio called through the door.

She left her room, almost walking into the back of her head of security, who was parked up outside her front door and made her way over to Alice’s.

Rio knocked. “Alimento.” Food. She told her best friend.

Alice pulled her door open. “¿En serio?” Seriously?

Rio nodded.

“¡Gracias! Me muero de hambre.” Thanks! I’m starving.

Rio smiled as her best friend bolted towards the kitchen, barely avoiding Rio’s head of security as she passed him.

The kitchen had been put back to normal, and they’d gotten a new sofa. This one was in an L shape and navy blue. Rio hoped it was just as comfortable as the other one her security had gotten rid of. And she still wasn’t sure why they’d done it.

Alice started rummaging through the fridge. When she shut the door, a frozen pizza in hand, she said:

“Oh, hi, Jen.”

Rio turned to see a girl with a lean figure and brown skin. She was wearing pink plaid pyjama bottoms and a matching tank top, pink fluffy UGG slippers on her feet.

Jen eyed Rio before she said, “Err…hi?”

“Rio-Sofia, this is our other flatmate, Jen.”

“You’re the princess?” Jen asked, her confusion clear. “You didn’t look like that in the video.”

Rio didn’t know if she should be offended or not. It technically was a good thing she didn’t look like the fake version of herself with the pink blush and lipstick, but was Jen saying that she looked worse?

She certainly understood why she and Agatha were friends now. She’d heard the other girl stomp over to Jen’s room as soon as she’d gone into Alice’s, and it was clear by the way they were talking to each other that they were well acquainted.

Jen, just like her friend, was speaking to her as if she were anyone and not a Spanish princess, which was actually…fine.

Now that Rio thought about it, she appreciated it.

“I am, yes.”

“Huh.” It was all Jen said.

“I rebought your food,” Rio told her. “I would like to apologise for my security throwing it away. I didn’t know they were going to do that.”

Jen’s cold demeanour melted a little. “You didn’t?”

Rio shook her head.

Jen nodded. “Well…thanks.”

“De nada.”

Their front door slammed shut, and voices sounded down the hall almost immediately after.

“If you try to take what’s left of my Subway, I will shove it so far up your arse you’ll needed it surgically removed!”

“Agatha’s back,” Jen smirked.

Oh, for fucksake.

Rio heard her head of security mumble something before footsteps stomped down the hallway. Agatha appeared in the doorway, Subway not in hand. She also had a companion, a redhead who Rio assumed to be Wanda.

“Oh! You’re here, good,” she was talking to Rio. “Can you tell you lap dog to give me back my fucking Subway? It’s already bad enough you threw away all my food.”

“She replaced it,” Jen mumbled over a rice cake.

Agatha blinked. “She…what?”

“Bought it all back,” Jen said from behind Rio.

The brunette looked momentarily thrown off before she steeled herself. “Well, I would bloody well hope so. Now, about my Subway?”

Rio’s head of security came into the kitchen then.

“It’s all clear.”

Agatha all but snatched it out of his outstretched hand.

“Oh, is it?” Agatha replied sarcastically.

Wanda, to try and ease the tension in the room, Rio supposed, said:

“Erm…hi Princess Rio-Sofia. I’m Wanda. Alice has told me so much about you.”

Rio smiled. “Nice to meet you, Wanda. And Rio’s just fine.”

The redhead nodded.

When Rio shifted her gaze to Agatha, the other girl was shooting daggers at her again. What the fuck had she done now? She’d bought back her food, she’d been able to keep her Subway, the kitchen was back to normal. What more did she want from her?

Before Rio had a chance to snatch at the anger rising in her chest, she spat out:

“But you, on the other hand, can call me by my title.”

Agatha scoffed. “Do you want me to fucking bow and curtsey too?”

“Take your pick,” Rio smirked.

“Okayy…” Jen and Alice said at the same time.

“Yeah…” Wanda added. “Not that this hasn’t been…fun…but I actually have to go.” The redhead leaned in and kissed Agatha once, regardless of the scowl on her face, before she left the room.

A weird feeling shot through Rio at the sight.

“You,” Jen pointed at Agatha. “You’re gonna help me make dinner, and you’re not to say a word to her.”

“And you,” Alice said to Rio. “You’re going to do the same.”

“They’re going to kill each other,” Rio heard Jen whisper to Alice.

Chapter Text

First and foremost, fuck Princess Rio-Sofia Vidal.

But fuck did she look good in those grey baggy sweatpants and Calvin Klein sports bra. Agatha made a point to never look at her directly, but she was still in her peripheral vision when they’d all been in the kitchen. Jen had instructed her to help make her dinner, and Alice had told Rio-Sofia to do the same.

Whenever Agatha had caught sight of her, she hated to admit it but, Rio-Sofia looked hot. She didn’t know if it was the abs or the ponytail she’d put her hair in when she started helping Alice prepare a salad. To be honest, Agatha was surprised she even knew how to use a knife. Wasn’t she supposed to have royal chiefs or something?

They also kept touching. On complete and utter accident, of course. Agatha wouldn’t touch the princess on purpose even if she was the last person on earth and they needed to hug to gather body heat, so they didn’t freeze to death.

The touches would occur when they would reach into the same area at the same time, their bodies would brush past one another when they moved about the kitchen. Little stupid things like that.

It was inevitable in the forced proximity, but it wasn’t bloody helpful that Agatha’s body would always buzz whenever they made contact. She chalked it down to being around an attractive woman whilst ovulating. It certainly had nothing to do with Rio-Sofia herself…

…Because Agatha hated her.

She was still the fake bitch who had kissed a girl and told the entire world that she regretted it and had brought shame on her family. She was still the princess who acted like she was above Agatha and could act however she wanted. She was still the worst flatmate Agatha could have ever asked for.

After they’d made Jen’s dinner (a stir-fry), Agatha went to her room, grabbed everything she’d need for her lecture tomorrow along with some clothes, and headed over to Wanda’s. One, she’d seen enough of Rio-Sofia for one day, and two, she needed a fuck. She was still ovulating.

Now, she was in her first official lecture of the year: The introduction to Criminal Law.

She’d sat in the middle of the lecture hall. She didn’t want to be at the front, the lecturer would be more likely to notice her, but she didn’t want to be at the back. The back said, ‘I don’t want to be here’ or ‘I’m scared to be here,' and Agatha was neither of those things.

She pulled out her laptop and placed it on the bench in front of her. She reached back into her bag to grab her water bottle, and when she looked up, a boy was sitting next to her.

“Er…”

“Hi!” He said far too enthusiastically for nine in the morning. “I’m Billy! I’m so nervous. Is this your first time here?”

Agatha stared at him.

“No, of course it’s your first time here,” he answered his own question. “We’re both first years…or are you? You might be a second-year. How old are you?”

Agatha had no idea why she answered the boy tweeting away like a baby bird, but she replied, “I’m twenty.”

“You’re twenty?!”

“Yeah.”

“No, no…I mean…there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m eighteen.”

“You don’t say?” Agatha replied dryly.

“How comes you’re doing first-year now? Did you take two years off to go traveling? Where did you go? Thailand? Australia?”

Agatha flared her eyes. She did not need this. It was far too early in the morning to be asked so many questions, not that the child had let her answer any.

“Yeah…I’m gonna go sit over there…” she said, grabbing at her laptop.

At the same time, a girl slid onto the bench on the other side of her, trapping her in. She turned to ask the girl to get out of the way when her eyes locked onto deep brown.

“Mierda.” Shit.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Agatha groaned. “Are you stalking me? This feels like stalking.”

Rio-Sofia scoffed. “Trust me. I don’t want to be here either.”

“Then leave,” Agatha shot back.

A gasp from behind her momentarily pulled her attention away from the princess.

“You’re Princess Rio-Sofia!” The teenager whisper yelled. “And you’re in my lecture on criminal law? This is the greatest day of my life.”

Rio-Sofia scrunched her face and glanced at Agatha, who only rolled her eyes.

“Sorry,” the boy said. “I just know an egregious amount about you.”

“Thanks?” Rio-Sofia replied.

“Right,” Agatha clapped. “Now that you two have found each other…I’m gonna go.”

She started picking up her belongings before their lecturer strutted onto the lecture stage.

“Seats, everyone, please,” Professor Lilia Calderu told the hall.

Yeah, no. Agatha was not about to spend the next two hours trapped in between a child and a bitchy Spanish princess. She started shuffling along the row, whacking at Rio-Sofia’s knees to get her to move them.

“You there,” Professor Calderu called.

Agatha looked up and realised her Professor was pointing at her.

“What’s your name, dear?”

Oh, for fucksake.

“Agatha Harkness,” Agatha replied.

“Nice to meet you, Agatha, but could you please take your seat? I want to start my lecture,” Professor Calderu smiled.

She heard Rio-Sofia snigger.

Snobby bitch.

Agatha dropped back into her previous seat with a huff, placing her laptop back on the bench.

“Oh my god. If that happened to me, I’d be so embarrassed,” the little boy rambled. “Are you embarrassed? It’s okay if you are.”

“Yeah,” the bratty princess chimed in. “Are you? It’s okay if you are,” she echoed and mocked the teenager's words.

Now, Agatha really was contemplating poisoning Rio-Sofia’s food. How the fuck she had found this girl attractive last night she didn’t know.

“If one of you so much as utters another word to me, I’m screaming then blaming it on you. Are we clear?”

The teenage boy nodded far too many times, and Rio-Sofia scoffed.

“Alright, class, I’m Professor Lilia Calderu. Welcome to criminal law.”

***

Professor Calderu had finally allowed them to have a twenty-minute break. In between trying to focus on the lecture and type down notes, Agatha also had to endure the teenager she was sitting next to whispering questions to his favourite princess. Agatha knew Rio-Sofia had no interest in talking to the boy, but she was entertaining it because she knew it was pissing her off.

Rio-Sofia was like a leech. Stuck to her everywhere she went, even when she’d tried to rip it off. She was in her flat, on her course, what was next? Was Rio-Sofia going to join the hockey team?

“There’s my favourite lawyer,” a familiar voice said from behind where Agatha was filling up her water bottle at the water fountain.

She rolled her eyes playfully. “I’m not a lawyer yet, Wanda.”

“But you will be,” the ginger smiled.

Today, Agatha was at the Waterloo campus, which is where Wanda had classes sometimes as well. Wanda did Pharmacology.

She pulled Agatha in by the belt loop of her black baggy jeans. “How’s Calderu?”

Agatha wrapped her free arm around Wanda’s waist. “She’s alright, a bit…kooky.”

“Kooky?” Wanda echoed with a laugh. “That’s a new one. I’ve only heard wispy. How come?”

“Well,” Wanda put a hand on her hip and stepped closer. “She keeps randomly spouting out facts that have no relation to what we’re talking about, and then she acts like it never happened. Maybe she has dementia?”

“Oh, yeah?” Wanda hummed, although it didn’t sound like she’d been listening.

And she hadn’t. She’d just been staring at Agatha’s lips.

“Are you even listening?” Agatha scolded.

“I am, yes,” Wanda said before kissing her.

A man’s voice interrupted them.

“So, this is the first year you’ve been fucking?”

Agatha turned to see a man with a pathetic excuse for a beard, pasty skin and stringy hair. She thought she recognised him.

She did.

“Ralph?”

“Agatha?”

Ralph Bohner, the boy she’d kissed at fourteen and immediately thrown up afterwards.

“What are you doing here?”

“You two know each other?” Wanda asked at the same time.

“What do you think I’m doing here?” Agatha shot back. “And yeah, we know each other from home. How do you know each other?”

“Ralph’s on the men’s hockey team.”

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows. “He is? How’s he done that then?”

Wanda sniggered, burying her head in Agatha’s shoulder to try and conceal it.

“I’ve improved a lot, Agatha, okay?”

“Who are you trying to convince, you or me?” She replied.

Wanda laughed again.

“Agatha!” The little boy shouted. “We’re going back in, come on.” He was standing next to Rio-Sofia and her head of security. She had her arms folded; her face twisted into an expression of disgust.

The fuck is her problem?

“Who is-?”

“Don’t ask,” Agatha cut her off. “I gotta go,” she gave Wanda a quick peck.

“That was really hot,” Ralph commented.

Agatha didn’t hesitate before stamping on his foot. “Don’t be a fucking perv,” she told him before shoving him out of the way. “And you,” she stormed over to where Rio-Sofia was standing by the lecture hall door, “Keep glaring at me like that and your face will get stuck like that.”

Rio-Sofia scoffed. “Says fucking you.”

***

Rio hadn’t paid attention for the entire: The introduction to Criminal Law lecture. She didn’t care. She didn’t want to be a lawyer; she didn’t even want to go to university. And if she had done, she’d be studying biology. But her mother had said, ‘What is a princess going to do with biology?’

‘What was a princess going to do with a law degree?’ Rio wanted to say back.

Oh, and to make matters worse, her flatmate from hell was on the same course as her. She’d accidentally sat next to her; she’d just seen a pretty head of hair and been drawn to it like a magnet. She cursed herself for not putting two and two together…not that Agatha had a pretty head of hair…

She’d been forced to endure two hours of questioning from some random boy with black curly hair that had stuck to her like glue even in the break. And then Wanda had appeared, and that weird feeling spread through Rio’s body again. She tried to ignore it, but every time she looked in their direction and Wanda was grabbing onto Agatha in some way, the feeling only got worse.

Rio was just glad she had no more classes today. Her nine to eleven was over and done with, and she could head back to the flat…where Agatha would be. Actually, no. Change of plans.

“Hola, Luis,” Rio said to her driver as she got into her car. “¿Puedes llevarme a-?” Can you take me to a-

“No, princesa,” her head of security, Juan, cut her off.

“¿Por qué?”

“Órdenes de la reina, princesa.” Orders from the queen, princess.

Well, that didn’t make any sense. The last time Rio checked (which was literally yesterday), she was allowed to go places as long as she was driven there.

“Nosotras tenemos que llevarte a casa.” We have to take you home.

Like hell they were. Rio pulled her phone out of her jeans back pocket and rang the palace.

***

It turns out, her mother had changed the rules without telling. She had to earn the privilege to go places other than university and her accommodation. To do this, she had to call her mother once a day, send over the notes she’d been taking, and recite extracts of the reading she was doing in voice notes to prove that she was actually paying attention in her lectures.

She was, however, allowed to join one society. That was her only ticket to freedom. Her father had persuaded the queen to allow Rio to choose which society she wanted to join. Which meant she didn’t have to join the catholic society.

For once, she was grateful for her father. He’d actually stuck up for her.

The question was…which society? Alice had offered her a place on the hockey team, but Rio didn’t know if she enjoyed hockey enough to waste her one pick on it. She’d much rather play netball.

Juan let her into the flat because, yet again, to him, Rio’s hands weren’t capable of opening doors on her own. She heard Alice and Jen in the kitchen and headed straight for it.

“Hola, Rio,” Alice said when she saw her.

“Hey, Rio-Sofia,” Jen added

“Hola, chicas,” Rio replied, dumping her bag on the floor and climbing onto one of the chairs around the kitchen island.

“So…you two speak fluent English and Spanish?” Jen asked.

“Mhm,” Alice nodded. “Ri can also speak six languages.”

“Five I can only speak a little Italian,” Rio corrected.

“That’s still more than me,” Jen said. “Did you learn that at school or…?”

“I had tutors. And before Alice started learning English at school, I would teach her by forcing her to watch American movies with me.”

Alice smiled. “We’d always do impressions of those…what were they called…?”

“Valley Girls?” Rio asked.

Alice snapped her fingers. “That’s it.”

Rio laughed before she asked, “What societies do they have at KCL?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to join one. My mother won’t let me leave the flat otherwise.”

“You don’t want to join the hockey team? You’re already in.”

“I don’t think-”

Rio got cut off when their front door opened and closed, and laughter trickled down the corridor until Wanda and Agatha appeared in the kitchen

“Good day, ladies,” Wanda greeted.

“Oh, look whose home,” Jen said to her best friend. “Are you allergic to this flat or something?”

Agatha pulled a face. “No.”

“You sure?”

Agatha flipped her off.

“Before I forget,” Alice said. “Congrats, Agatha! You made it into the KCL hockey team!”

Everyone, apart from Rio, clapped at the news.

“Thank you…aren’t we supposed to find out next week, though?”

Alice tilted her head back and forth. “Technically yes, but we’re friends now and we live together.”

Agatha laughed. “Isn’t that an abuse of power?”

Rio had said that.

Alice shrugged.

“So we’re all on the hockey team then?” Jen asked.

Agatha’s eyes widened. “You’re on the hockey team?” She was talking to Rio.

Rio didn’t want to waste her one pick on the hockey society. “Yes, I am.” Rio didn't know why she’d said that.

“Oh, perfect!” Alice exclaimed. “We need you in defence.”

Agatha narrowed her eyes at her.

“Al, do you know what this means?” Wanda grinned. “We’ve got three freshers who need to go through the initiation process.”

“What the hell is that?” Jen asked.

“I’d also like to know,” Rio added.

“Good luck trying to get either of them to tell you,” Agatha chimed in. “They haven’t told me shit.”

Alice waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine, just a bit of fun.”

“So…we’re all fucked,” Agatha said.

Alice and Wanda only grinned further.

Chapter Text

It was the following Tuesday. The first official hockey practice of the year.

Agatha was in an…okay mood (she was fucking fuming).

Her first two weeks at university had been everything she could’ve asked for (with the exception of Rio-Sofia). She was enjoying her course and keeping up to date with all the content, she was getting drunk regularly, she had someone she could fuck regularly, as well as other women she could fuck on occasion, she’d made it on to the hockey team, and she lived with her best friend in London of all places.

Everything was perfect…until her mother called before hockey practice:

“Why haven’t you called me?” Her mother asked when she answered the phone.

Agatha was midway through lacing up her astros.

“I didn’t think you’d want me to?”

“Why would you think that?”

Oh…I don’t know because you hate me, because you told me having me was the worst thing that had ever happened to you, because you told me I would be on my own when I went to university.

“Agatha?” Her mother asked when she hadn’t replied.

“Yes?”

“Answer me when I speak to you!” Her mother shrieked.

“Sorry, mother.”

“This is so typical of you. I’ve looked after you your entire life.”

It’s almost as if that’s what you’re supposed to do.

“I fed you, watered you, put clothes on your back.”

Why is she talking like I’m a fucking plant?

“And this is how you repay me? By not calling? Why did I buy you a phone then?”

You didn’t, I did.

“Well?!” Her mother yelled when she hadn’t replied yet again.

She could hang up right now. Her mother wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

“Sorry, mother,” Agatha answered instead.

Evanora scoffed. “Ridiculous. You need god. He is the only one who can save your diseased soul. You disgust me, and you shall rot in hell.”

Her mother hung up the phone.

So yeah…understandable…Agatha was in a foul mood.

“You, okay?” Jen asked whilst they were in the dugout putting on their shin pads.

“Peachy,” Agatha replied flatly.

Her best friend frowned. “What’s up, Aggs?”

“My mother.”

And that was all Jen needed to understand. “I’m sorry, babe.”

“Don’t be,” Agatha replied before she snatched up her hockey stick and made her way over to the rest of the girls in the centre of the astro turf.

She stood in the space between Wanda and Monica. They both smiled at her.

“Okay, ladies,” Alice clapped. “Today we’re starting with something easy…ten laps around the pitch.”

The group of girls groaned.

“Groan and we’ll make it twenty,” Natasha said.

Nobody made a sound.

“Good. Drop your sticks and get on with it.”

They did.

Today, Agatha welcomed the run. Running would take her mind off her mother. At first, she ran with the group of seventy-odd girls, taking up a comfortable spot in the middle. Soon, she found the pace was too slow, it wasn’t making her lungs burn like she wanted them to. She picked up her pace.

By lap three, she was in fifth place, by lap seven, she was at the front…way at the front. She could no longer hear the pitter-patter of footsteps behind her…until lap eight. And, because who else would it be, Rio-Sofia was running alongside her.

She tried to ignore her at first, but when Rio-Sofia began to overtake her, Agatha simply couldn't let that happen. She elongated her strides so that she’d cover more ground, and once again she was at the front of the pack. Until Rio-Sofia copied her.

Was she fucking serious?

They were on lap ten now, stuck in the same cycle. Agatha would take up the lead, Rio-Sofia would overtake her and so on. Agatha was not prepared to lose to the princess, so, as they came up to the end of their lap, she pushed off the astro with more force than she thought she’d ever had. She pumped her arms twice as hard, stretched her strides as far as possible, and she won.

When she was done, she hunched over, resting her hands on her knees, gulping in air. Her lungs burned, her throat was dry, and she felt like she was about to throw up.

It was perfect. Just what she’d needed.

“Impressive, Agatha,” Alice called from the centre of the pitch. “What position do you play again?”

“Left…forward,” she panted.

“Brilliant,” Alice replied.

“Alright, girls, grab a drink,” Natasha said as the other women joined them at the end of the pitch. “Then we’re gonna do some stretching before we do some drills.”

Agatha started walking over to the dugout.

“Wow,” Jen said, jogging to catch up with her. “I’ve never seen you run that fast.”

Agatha shrugged.

Once they’d reached the dugout, she squirted her water bottle into her mouth before spraying it on her face to cool it down.

“Hey!” Jen scolded when the residue splashed on her. She turned her water bottle around and sprayed Agatha with it.

“It didn’t do it on purpose!” Agatha laughed.

After stretching, Natasha told the girls to get into pairs for passing practice. They were to do twenty push passes, long passes, and slap passes.

Before Agatha could ask, Darcy had partnered up with Jen.

“Wanna be my partner?” That familiar voice asked.

Agatha turned to a smiling Wanda. “Well, I wouldn’t want anyone else to-”

“Oi!” Natasha yelled, cutting her off. “Ginger, you’re with me like you told me you’d be.”

Wanda rolled her eyes. “Why do you remember that?”

“Because I asked you this morning? I need you to help me demonstrate to the social members who haven’t played before.”

Wanda groaned. “Sorry, Agatha.”

“You’re good,” Agatha replied before Wanda ran off to join Natasha on the other pitch.

She turned back to the girls on her pitch. Everyone was partnered up except for one person.

No. There is no way in hell I’m going to-

“You two,” Alice yelled from the other end of the pitch. She waved a finger between Agatha and Rio-Sofia. “Grab a ball and partner up.”

“Bloody brilliant,” Agatha muttered to herself as she walked to the ball bag.

Jen produced a regretful smile as she passed.

And yeah, her best friend should feel bad for not picking her to be her partner and making her pair up with the bitchy princess herself.

The pair reached into the ball bag at the same time.

Agatha glared at her. “We only need one ball.”

“Yeah? And I was going to get it for us.”

“Even though I got here first?” Agatha shot back.

Rio-Sofia scoffed before backing away from the bag, her hands up in mock surrender.

Agatha retrieved a hockey ball before walking further onto the pitch, leaving Rio-Sofia to trail behind her.

She found a space beside Jen and waited for Rio-Sofia to take up the position opposite her, next to Dacy. Agatha began passing the ball to her.

She didn’t want to say it, but Rio-Sofia was good. She passed the ball back and forth with precise ease. Each pass was delivered to the end of her stick with the same force. She never had to reach to receive the ball like so many of their peers.

“Ow!” Jen shrieked when a rouge ball hit her foot.

“Sorry,” a girl replied meekly down the other end of the pitch. “My bad!”

Jen huffed.

“Maybe that’s your sign you shouldn’t be on the pitch,” Agatha teased. “Are you even good enough to be on the team, Jennifer? You never did show up for tryouts.”

Jen produced her a fake smile before flipping her off. Agatha laughed.

“Alright, spread out!” Alice instructed once the first drill was over. “On to long passes.”

Again, Rio-Sofia demonstrated that she was a good player. Her passes just as accurate and strong.

“You’re good,” Darcy told her.

“Thank you,” Rio-Sofia replied with a smile.

Agatha rolled her eyes. She wasn’t that good.

They moved on to slap passes, spreading out even further.

“You, okay?” Agatha asked with a laugh after she’d smacked the ball to Rio-Sofia. “That ball hit you ten minutes ago.”

Her best friend, the melodramatic theatric that she was, was hobbling around on one foot.

“It hurts,” Jen groaned.

“Duh, it’s a hockey ball,” Agatha laughed. “Do you need an ice pack?” She frowned mockingly.

Just then, a hockey ball whacked Agatha in the foot.

“Ow!” she yelped. Pain shot through her right foot as she held on to it. “What the fuck?!”

“And if you hadn’t been mocking me, I would’ve warned you,” Jen smirked.

“Sorry!” Rio-Sofia called from the other side of the pitch. “I thought you were paying attention.”

Agatha threw her hockey stick down and threw both her hands up. “What about me talking to Jen indicates that I was paying attention?”

Rio-Sofia jerked her head back. “You’ve been talking to Jen this whole time, and you’ve always caught the ball.”

For fucksake, why has she made a good point?

Agatha snatched up her hockey stick again, not caring that small pieces of gravel had gone into her fingernails. She rolled the ball onto her stick side and took a step back before smacking the ball in Rio-Sofia’s direction. Small pieces of gravel left the ground as she did so. The ball took flight, sailing towards Rio-Sofia. She ducked out of the way before it hit her.

“Are you serious?!”

Agatha only shrugged.

Rio-Sofia stormed over to the sideline to retrieve the ball, pushing it out before she side-stepped and hit it with the flat of her stick. The ball took flight again, although Agatha didn’t duck. She tapped the ball midair, and it dropped to the floor with a thud.

“Hey!” Alice called from down the pitch. “We’re playing hockey, not tennis! If you want the balls in the air, join the tennis society. Take a water break.”

Agatha didn’t look at Rio-Sofia again, just grabbed her best friend and tugged her into the dugout.

“I’m gonna kill her,” Agatha muttered as she sat down on the bench, taking off her shoe to assess the damage.

“What’d I tell you about the Spanish government watch list?” Jen replied.

“And didn’t I tell you I didn’t give a flying fuck?”

Her foot was fine, but there would definitely be a bruise.

“Just stay away from her from now on,” Jen told her. “How’s your foot?”

“Fine,” Agatha replied flatly.

All that rage from when she’d spoken to her mother was back at full force. She knew she wasn’t actually mad at Rio-Sofia, but she needed to be mad at something.

“And I’m alright too, thanks for asking.”

Agatha didn’t reply, too pissed off to speak.

Now, to Agatha’s gratitude, they were playing a match.

She’d flat-out told Alice she wouldn’t be putting on one of the red bibs that smelled like they hadn’t been washed in years, and she’d ended up the captain of the non-bib team. Jen and Wanda out among the girls she knew were on it.

Rio-Sofia was the captain of the bib team with Darcy, Monica and Gamora. Natasha and Alice were the referees.

“Okay, girls, we want a clean game,” Natasha said in the centre of the pitch in between the two centres.

Agatha’s team had the ball first.

She shoved her gumshield into her mouth just before Natasha blew the whistle and the game began.

Jen, their centre midfielder, pushed passed the ball on to Agatha’s non-stick side. She caught it on her reverse stick, manoeuvring the ball with a one-two tap on either side to get it on her stick side before she shot forward, dribbling the ball at a steady pace.

She looked up and saw that her centre forward was free just ahead of her. She passed the ball with one smooth push of her stick. Their centre forward caught it and advanced further towards the goal.

Without the ball, Agatha could run faster. She sprinted into the D.

Their centre forward had done a shabby pass to Wanda (right forward), and Gamora, Rio-Sofia’s left defender, intercepted the pass, slapping the ball back down the pitch.

“For fucksake,” Agatha mumbled around her gumshield. She pushed back, exiting the D.

There had been multiple tackles and a close call on Agatha’s team's target before she received the ball again. Now in a better position than before, she dribbled the ball in a curve down their attacking half before entering the D on the left-hand side.

Rio-Sofia appeared in front of her. She did a dummy pass, dragging the ball to one side before pulling it back to the other. It made Rio-Sofia lunge left, freeing up Agatha’s right side so now she had a clear channel to the goal.

She ran forward, only the goalie in her way, and slap shot the ball into the corner of the goal.

“One-nil!” Alice yelled from the sideline.

Her team cheered. Agatha walked past a scowling Rio-Sofia with a smirk.

The game was a close one. Neither team ever having more than a one-goal difference. Alice and Natasha had really lucked out with this group of girls. They were all talented, all knew the craft of the sport. The 2024-25 KCL hockey team were going to be a top contender when they played against other universities. Agatha could feel it.

However, as the game had progressed, so had Rio-Sofia’s insight into how Agatha played. She hadn’t fallen for Agatha’s mock pass again; she’d met Agatha every time she’d received the ball so that she’d been forced to pass it as soon as she’d caught it, and her tackles had gotten more forceful.

It was grinding on Agatha's gears. Just like at university and in their home, Agatha couldn’t shake her. Rio-Sofia had stuck to her like glue. The two girls had shoved each other more than once. It was nothing worth getting blown up for, but Natasha and Alice had issued them multiple warnings.

Agatha had the ball once again, and once again Rio-Sofia was on her ass. She decided to run straight through her. She pushed forward, forcing Rio-Sofia back towards her D. Agatha had made it to the top of it before Rio-Sofia planted her feet in the ground and surged forward.

Their sticks collided with a harsh slap that rang out across the field. They both stooped in squatting positions as the ball was squeezed in between their hockey sticks. Agatha’s arm began to burn as Rio-Sofia forced her entire body weight into her hockey stick. Agatha did the same, the ball locked in a stalemate with nowhere to go.

She felt Alice run up behind them to referee the tackle.

It was as if time had stopped, and it was just her and Rio-Sofia. They were trapped in this moment, each trying to win the ball.

Agatha didn’t take her eyes off it, pushing forward to win.

It wasn’t until Rio-Sofia stepped back that Agatha moved again. No longer being held up by Rio-Sofia pushing back, she tumbled forward, landing on the astro turf with a splat. The ball smashed against her rib from where it had been left.

Pain shot through her instantly and Agatha saw fucking red.

She shot up from the ground and pushed Rio-Sofia with all her might.

“What the fuck is your problem?!”

Calm down.

She pushed her again. “Did you think that was funny?”

Stop it.

“We were in a stalemate! The ball wasn’t going anywhere, so I took a step back. It wasn’t my fault you ended up on the floor.”

“Okay, girls. Let’s calm down,” Alice tried to reason as Agatha lunged forward again.

She felt hands grab underneath her arms, felt her feet being lifted off the ground.

“Hey!” Rio-Sofia shouted, surging forward. “Don’t touch her! Put her down! ¡Déjala! ¡Déjala!” Let her go! Let her go!

Rio-Sofia’s head of security had yanked Agatha up.

“Ella te estaba haciendo daño, princesa.” She was hurting you, princess, Agatha translated in her head as her feet dangled in the air.

“¡No, no me hacía daño!” No, it wasn't hurting me! Rio-Sofia shrieked.

The other girls had surrounded them then, hitting and smacking at Rio-Sofia’s head of security with their hockey sticks like he was a piñata as they, too, yelled at him to put Agatha down.

Agatha almost smiled, talk about team spirit.

“Put her fucking down!” Rio ordered.

Her bodyguard reluctantly did so.

Jen dragged her away from him almost immediately.

“We’re going,” Rio-Sofia told him. “Get my stuff.”

She left the pitch without another word.

Chapter Text

Following orders, that’s what Rio was doing.

She’d told the entire world she regretted something she didn’t because the queen told her to, she was in London going to a university, taking a course she had no interest in because the queen told her to, she hadn’t left the flat except to go to class or hockey practice because the queen told her to.

And her security, they were only following orders, too.

They’d reorganised the entire kitchen and thrown away her flatmates food making an awful first impression because of direct orders from the queen, her head of security Juan was by her side everywhere she went because of direct orders from the queen, her head of security Juan had also manhandled Agatha…because of direct orders from the queen…?

Yeah, no. That was crossing the fucking line.

His job was to keep an eye on and protect her; she got that much, but she most certainly did not need protection from a twenty-year-old girl around her strength and physique.

She rang the palace as soon as she got home, that Spanish that she missed speaking consistently flowing out of her mouth.

“Hello, mother.”

“Hello, Rio-Sofia. How was hockey practice?” The queen asked.

“It was good.”

“I’m glad you and Alice are on the same team again. It had been many years.”

Her mother loved Alice. Her best friend was intelligent, kind and a ferocious leader. Sometimes Rio felt that the queen liked Alice more than her. She often wondered if her mother could, would she trade her for Alice? Maybe then she’d have the perfect daughter she’d always wanted…or…almost perfect. Alice was still gay.

“Me too,” Rio answered.

“What can I do for you, Rio-Sofia? We’ve already spoken today. I know you’re up to date with all your content.”

“My head of security, Juan…can I change him, please?”

There was a pause before the queen said, “Why would I do that?”

Where to fucking start.

“I didn’t like the way he handled another girl on my hockey team today. He grabbed her-”

Her mother cut her off. “If he did that means he thought she was a threat. What was she doing?”

“Nothing,” she lied. “We were tackling for the ball, we were shoving each other, and he grabbed her. But it wasn’t nice, mother. He’d lifted her so high in the air, and he was squeezing her with far too much force. My hockey team aren’t a threat, and she already hates me enough,” Rio quietly admitted.

She understood why Agatha hated her; she really did. She was some princess who had rocked up and appeared to have told her security to throw away all their food and dismantle their kitchen. And it hadn’t even been Rio’s idea to buy it all back. At the time, she’d been so caught up in the way Agatha had spoken to her, looked at her as if she were the most vile creature on the planet, that had made her focus on the wrong things.

After that, it had just stuck. Agatha would look at her like she was the dirt on the bottom of her shoe, and Rio would act like a full-out princess to hide the fact that it hurt for this random girl to look at her with her beautiful blue eyes, only for them to be filled with hatred.

“Hm,” the queen hummed. “I’m not sure that’s a good enough reason.”

Rio suppressed the urge to scoff. “Please, mother. I have done everything you have asked of me, and I have not asked you for anything but this since I’ve been here. I would like the girls to feel comfortable around me, and they won’t if they are in fear of a seven-foot man manhandling them at any given moment.”

There was another pause as the queen considered. “Very well.” And it was all she said.

Rio would not go into detail about her ideal replacement, just grateful her mother was listening to her at all. “Thank you.”

“Goodbye, Rio-Sofia. And remember-”

“One foot out of line and I shall be sent somewhere far worse,” Rio finished her sentence. “I understand, mother. Goodbye.”

The queen hung up the phone.

Rio flopped onto her bed with a sigh, it was part relief, part exhaustion.

She needed a shower. She was still in her sweaty hockey kit. She did just that, stripping off her clothes and making her way into her bathroom.

After washing her hair and scrubbing herself raw, she changed into a grey Calvin Klein bralette and black sweatpants before turning on her fan. She didn’t know what it was about university dorms why they were always so hot.

Rio climbed into bed, ready to put in her AirPods and listen to music, when her phone rang. She smiled when she saw the caller ID.

“You finally remembered I existed, huh?” Rio teased.

Carlos laughed. “It’s been a busy week, Rio-Sofia.”

She groaned, and her brother laughed once again because he knew how much she hated her full name.

“How are you doing? How’s London?”

“I’m miserable and I don’t actually know how London is, considering mother won’t let me see any of it.”

There was a pause before Carlos said, “What do you mean?”

Rio furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean, what do I mean?”

“Mother said you were loving London, that you were the happiest you’ve been in months.”

Rio scoffed because of course she fucking had.

“That’s not true?” Carlos asked, his voice stern.

“Nope. I’m only allowed to leave the house unless it’s for class or hockey practice.”

Her brother muttered a string of curse words. “I am so sorry, Rio. I had no idea.”

Rio found herself laughing. “Don’t be, it’s not your fault.”

“I know, but if I had called earlier or answered your texts, I would’ve known.”

She sighed. “It’s not like you can do anything about it, Carlos. I’m still here and you’re still in Spain.”

Spain. How she missed it.

“How’s Ana?” Rio asked because she didn’t want to think about how homesick she was.

“She misses you,” her brother replied.

“I miss her too. Hopefully, I can FaceTime her on the weekend.”

Carlos had gone quiet on the other end.

“Carlos?”

“I don’t want you to feel ashamed about what you did.”

Rio blinked; the conversation had taken a complete one-eighty.

“Mother wants to make it so you feel so, by sending you off to London, by trapping you there. She wants you to associate the feelings you have now, the isolation, the lack of freedom, the frustration…with how you feel about women. It’s so that you won’t want to do it again because you’ll remember how you felt the last time you did.”

Rio’s breath hitched. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this conversation.

“But you can’t let her stop you from liking who you like, Rio. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and just know that Ana and I support you and whoever you choose to love. I know it probably isn’t the same as having mami and papá’s support. But you will always have us, your siblings.”

She hastily wiped at a tear that fell. She hadn’t realised how much she needed to hear that. She hadn’t realised how lonely she’d truly felt. Although she had Alice, her best friend was free to do whatever she wanted, and Rio would never ask her to waste away her second year in their flat to keep her company.

It had just been Rio trapped inside the four walls of her dorm room for a little over a week now.

“I love you, thank you for that,” she told her brother.

“I love you, too,” Carlos replied. “And so does Ana,” he added.

She laughed as she wiped more tears from her eyes.

“I unfortunately have to go now, Rio. But I shall speak to you very soon.”

“Bye, Carlos.”

“Bye,” he replied.

Rio hung up the phone, cried some more, and fell asleep.

***

Rio blinked awake. She didn’t remember falling asleep. She pushed her damp hair out of her face and sat up, patting her bed down to find her phone. When she found it, she clicked it on to check the time. It was ten past midnight.

What the hell? She’d slept for five hours?

She rolled out her neck and realised she was parched. Her hand found the light switch above her headboard and turned it on. Rio groaned when she picked up her water bottle off her bedside table and realised it was empty.

Sluggishly, she climbed out of bed, put on her slippers and made her way to the kitchen. Juan was gone. Unsurprising, she guessed. It was midnight, and he also needed sleep. One of her other bodyguards would be outside the flat door.

What sounded like cutlery tapping against China sounded from the kitchen as she made her way towards it. Rio passed through the open kitchen door, and blue eyes locked onto her in the dim lighting.

Agatha was sitting on one of the chairs around the island, stirring a mug of what smelled like English breakfast tea.

Rio found herself swallowing when the other girl narrowed her eyes slightly.

The grip around her water bottle tightened before she said:

“I’m…I’m sorry about earlier. About Juan. He shouldn’t have touched you like that.”

Agatha scoffed before turning her attention to the other mug in front of her. She stirred that one too.

“I’m getting a new head of security. You won’t have to see him again.”

Agatha said nothing.

Rio tried not to let the lack of response get to her, tried not to let the evident hatred in Agatha’s eyes bother her like it had the last time. Agatha didn’t owe her anything.

She nodded before opening the fridge to retrieve her water jug. She placed it on the island a little away from where the other girl sat and began filling up her forest green water bottle.

The two sat in an intense silence before Agatha spoke:

“Can I ask you a question?”

Rio blinked. What would Agatha possibly want to ask her?

“Yeah?”

“Why did you say that stuff?”

She furrowed her eyebrows.

“I watched that video of you, the one from three months ago, after that paparazzi caught you kissing that girl.”

Rio furrowed her eyebrows further. Agatha knew about that?

Well, why wouldn’t she? The whole world knows about it.

“Do you know how many queer women you could’ve helped? To have a princess be out and loud about it. They would see you, someone so in the public eye and know that it would be okay for them to be out and loud about it too.” The more she spoke, the more her irritation grew.

Rio didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to be out and loud about it. She simply wasn’t allowed to be.

“I had to do what was best for my family,” she spoke her mother’s words.

Agatha scoffed again. “Why? Because Spain would turn on you?”

Maybe. Rio didn’t know.

“Do you even like women?” Agatha asked. “Or are you just straight, bored and looking for attention?”

Now that hurt.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rio snapped.

“Don’t I?”

“No! You don’t,” Rio replied, irritation lacing her own voice. I was following orders; she wanted to say.

“Oh, so you didn’t say, and I quote, ‘It was the biggest regret of my life.’”

Rio closed her eyes to keep the rush of memories at bay. The lies, the shame she felt for not sticking up for herself, for not telling her mother that she wouldn’t say that speech because she didn’t believe a word of it.

When she opened her eyes, Agatha was glaring at her again, those blue eyes filled with so much hate…and desperation? Or maybe Rio was seeing things.

“Is that why you hate me?” Rio asked.

Agatha pushed back her chair and got up. “Amongst other things.”

And it all made sense now.

Agatha put her dirty spoon in the sink, retrieved her two mugs of tea, and left the room without another word.

Rio wanted to chase after her, tell her:

I didn’t want to say any of those things. I didn’t mean any of it. I’m not straight, I’m a lesbian, and I wanted nothing more than to claim to be.

She didn’t, just put her water jug back into the fridge and returned to her room.

Rio gulped down her water, brushed her teeth and flopped into bed. She wanted to go home.

“How so, darlin?” Rio heard from the other side of the wall. That voice that had been so harsh moments before was soft and gentle.

She heard Wanda mumble something before the two broke out into a fit of giggles. Agatha hushed her, reminding her that the walls were thin.

That horrible feeling climbed up Rio’s stomach again because why couldn't Agatha speak to her that way? Her charming British accent used to speak to her sweetly instead of always snapping or biting at her.

She wished she could tell Agatha the truth, but she knew she couldn’t. Their relationship was set in stone. Agatha hated her, and Rio had to pretend she hated her too.

***

There was a knock at the door. “¿Princesa?”

That voice, Rio didn’t recognise it.

She rubbed the sleet from her eyes and reluctantly got up out of bed to open the door. Now, standing before her was a woman in a black pantsuit. Her jet black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her green eyes were looking at her as if she couldn’t believe Rio was standing in front of her. The woman was young, only a couple of years older than her, if she had to guess.

“Hi, I’m Lucia, your new head of security.”

Rio blinked at her. This was her new head of security? How? By the grace of whom? Her mother would never let someone this young take control of her security team.

“Hi, I’m Rio,” Rio replied.

“I know, princesa,” Lucia replied with a smile. “You have a nine-to-eleven you need to be ready for. Would you like to get dressed?”

Rio nodded, still not completely understanding what was happening.

“After that, you are getting coffee with Alice, so wear something cute,” Lucia winked.

Rio shook her head. “That must be a mistake. I’m not allowed to go anywhere other than university.”

“You can now,” Lucia grinned. “I’ll be just here if you need anything.”

“Thank you…” Rio replied before shutting the door.

What the hell is going on?

She grabbed her phone from her bedside table and made her way to the bathroom. As she brushed her teeth, a text message came in:

Carlos: Have fun with Alice.

Rio laughed. The little shit had somehow persuaded their mother to loosen the reigns a little because of course he had. Her brother could probably get away with murder.

Rio: thank you :)

Carlos: You’re welcome.

Chapter Text

Who was that?

When Agatha had left with Wanda for class this morning, there was a girl…or…woman outside Rio-Sofia’s door. She was beautiful. Her smile was kind, and she had greeted Agatha by telling her good morning and calling her by her name.

How had she known Agatha’s name?

And then she’d appeared in the lecture hall with Rio-Sofia. They were laughing and nattering away in Spanish in the row a few above Agatha.

Was she Rio-Sofia’s friend? She looked around their age. But then she’d been outside her door, and she was wearing a pantsuit. What twenty-year-old university student wears a pantsuit to a 9 AM?

Rio-Sofia had mentioned she was getting a new head of security; was that her? Surely not. She seemed way too young and enthusiastic to have taken on a job so dull as to follow around a princess all day.

“Aggs!” Jen called from the kitchen when Agatha entered their flat after she’d returned from her lecture.

She entered the room to see Jen and Natasha sitting around the island.

“Have you seen her?” Her best friend asked.

“Seen who?”

“Rio-Sofia’s new head of security.”

So, she was her new head of security. “No,” Agatha lied.

“Oh my god, wait until they come home, she’s gorgeous!”

“Do you think she’d go for me?” Natasha asked. “Like, how old could she really be?”

“Twenty-three, twenty-five at best,” Jen told her.

"And I’m twenty-one in a couple of months, that’s perfect,” Natasha said.

“Nat, I don’t think Rio’s head of security will be allowed to fuck one of her friends.”

“Why not?” Natasha replied. “If Rio gives her the green light, I’m sure she would. I mean, who wouldn’t want to fuck me?”

“Very true,” Jen agreed.

Agatha nodded.

“Are you two ready for tonight?” Natasha asked.

The initiation process. Now that they were officially on the hockey team, they had to pledge their allegiance or whatever the fuck Alice had told them a couple of days ago, to solidify their place. They were yet to find out what they actually had to do, as Alice had said very ominously, ‘All will be revealed on social night.’

“No,” Jen replied as Agatha sat on the stool next to her. “I don’t know how to prepare.”

“That’s the point. Expect the unexpected,” Natasha grinned.

“If you make me piss on the side of the pavement, I’m not doing it,” Agatha told her.

Natasha laughed.

It was common at UK universities that being initiated into a sports team was a gross and gruelling process. Billy had sat next to her again during her lecture that morning, and the little stalker somehow knew she was on the hockey team. He’d said:

‘I don’t know about the girls team, but I heard from my second year flatmate on the boys team that last year he had to run twenty laps around the Waterloo campus, spit on the sacred tree ten times and then down three VK’s all in fifteen minutes. He threw up afterwards. Don’t throw up, that’d be so embarrassing!”

She’d scowled at him, and he’d promptly shut up.

Their front door sounded, followed by three pairs of footsteps and laughter.

Alice, Rio-Sofia, and her new head of security appeared in the kitchen, Blank Street coffee cups in hand.

“Hola chicas,” Alice greeted.

“Hey, Al,” Natasha replied. “I was just asking the girls if they were ready for the initiation process.”

Rio-Sofia hadn’t looked at her, but her head of security did and smiled. Not that Agatha cared if Rio-Sofia did or not. After their conversation last night, where the princess appeared to feel no remorse about what she’d said in her speech three months ago, Agatha would be happy if the princess never looked at her again.

“And are you?” Alice asked.

“No,” Jen said again.

“I just want to get it over and done with,” Agatha replied.

“What about you, Ri?” Alice said.

“I’m unavailable this evening.”

“Aw, Princess Rio-Sofia’s going to miss the ball,” Agatha snarked because she genuinely couldn’t help herself.

The princess grinned like a shark. “At least you’re calling me by my title.”

Agatha rolled her eyes. She’d walked right into that one.

“No, I want to go. I’m just not allowed. Unavailable really just means I’m going to be in my room rewatching La Casa de Papel (Money Heist).”

“What?” Alice asked, a frown on her face. “I thought your madre was giving you more freedom now.”

“Yeah, to go on the occasional coffee shop trip and maybe a museum. Socials are off limits.”

The girls (minus Agatha) turned to Rio-Sofia’s head of security.

“Is that true, Lucia?” Alice said.

“Unfortunately,” Lucia replied regretfully.

“Yeah, but have fun tonight,” Rio smiled. “I’ll be back; I’m just going to put my stuff in my room.”

Rio-Sofia left with Lucia by her side.

Agatha was honestly relieved. She would be able to be around the hockey girls without Rio-Sofia catching her eye wherever she looked. Things were looking up.

“We need a plan,” Alice said in a hushed voice when the princess’s bedroom door closed. “My best friend is not missing out on initiation night.”

Things were no longer looking up.

“Agreed,” Natasha said.

“What are we thinking?” Jen added.

Agatha glared at her.

“What? It isn’t fair, Aggs,” Jen told her. “She’s been locked in her room all week now.”

“And how is that our problem?”

The three girls shot daggers at her.

She held her hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. What are we doing?”

***

The plan was simple enough. Rio-Sofia would tell Lucia that she wanted an early night, Alice would distract Lucia by asking for her help in the kitchen at the same time, the other girls would announce they were leaving for the social. With all the noise, Rio-Sofia could leave the flat with Lucia none the wiser.

Agatha had asked what they would do if she had other bodyguards outside of the flat, the girls had said that they’d cross that bridge when they got to it. Agatha didn’t vocalise the major flaw in that plan, more than happy to let Rio-Sofia get caught and sent back to her room if it came to it.

The world would still spin.

It was 7:45 PM, fifteen minutes before the initiation process started. Wanda was in Agatha’s room as she got ready.

“But what do I wear?” Agatha asked with a huff. “Like do I wear shit that I don’t care about?”

Not that she cared about much in her wardrobe. Most of her clothes covered far too much of her or didn’t fit her right. Her mother dictated everything she wore, and she hadn’t had time to shop for clothes since she’d moved to London. Jen’s wardrobe had become hers too. Her best friend had some pieces that weren’t some shade of pink and something Agatha would actually wear.

“Yeah, do that. We come back to change anyway.”

Agatha nodded, stripping off the white tee she’d been wearing all day and going over to her drawers to find a top she didn’t care about (which was most of them).

“Wanna borrow one of my going-out tops later?” Wanda asked.

“Is it that obvious I need one?”

Wanda laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, you could wear a rubbish bag and still look hot,” she shrugged. “I just figured you would want to wear something from someone else’s wardrobe for a change.”

Agatha pulled out a black top from her days as a volunteer at her local church, St Mary of the Angels Church, embroidered in white above her right breast. She tugged the shirt on.

“Thanks,” Agatha said as she brushed her dark hair out of her face.

“You’re welcome,” Wanda replied.

Now dressed (black sweatpants and crusty black Air Force 1’s she used to wear to work), all they had to do was wait for the signal.

It came soon after.

“Ey, Lucia,” Alice said from the other side of the door. “¿Me podría ayudar, por favor? I can’t open this jar of pickles.” Could you help me, please?

“Si,” Lucia replied.

“Let’s go,” Wanda said, her grin mischievous.

Agatha nodded and pulled open her bedroom door. Jen, Natasha and Rio-Sofia were in the corridor when they stepped out, and they hastily shuffled their way down it.

“We’re going, Alice. Meet you there,” Jen said.

“Okay!” Alice called from the kitchen.

There weren’t additional bodyguards outside their flat, so the girls bolted down the five flights of stairs (the lift was still bloody broken), out of their accommodation and down the street towards Euston Railway Station, where they were due to meet the rest of the hockey team.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Rio-Sofia said through pants once they had stopped running.

“I’m not,” Natasha replied. “We’re smart girls, we would’ve figured something out.” She winked at the princess.

That wink wasn’t necessary, Nat.

“Let’s get this shit over and done with,” Jen said as the rest of their friends came over to greet them.

Alice appeared five minutes later, a box of pickles in hand.

“Wait…” Agatha started. “I thought the pickles were just a distraction.”

Alice exchanged knowing glances with Natasha, they both had huge grins on their faces.

“Oh, for fucksake,” Agatha muttered.

“Okay, girls!” Natasha yelled.

The hockey society gathered round.

“Freshers over there,” she pointed to her left.

Agatha, Jen, Rio-Sofia and the other first years moved to where Natasha had instructed.

“The first round is easy.”

Jen’s eyes widened. “First round?!”

Their friend smiled. “Grab a pickle.”

The girls did so.

“All you have to do is run to our acom and back, but the pickle must be eaten before you return, otherwise you have failed.”

“And you can’t throw it away, we’ll know, we have eyes everywhere,” Natasha added.

“Anddd…go!” Alice said.

Agatha lagged momentarily before she realised the other girls were moving. A beat passed before she started running. Luckily, Jen also had the same reaction, so they were at the back together. They ran down the street back towards their accommodation.

“Is this legal?” Jen asked as Agatha bit into her pickle.

She laughed around her mouthful, chewing the sour food…until that sour taste turned into pure heat.

“What the-”

“They’re spicy pickles!” Jen shrieked before it turned into a bitter laugh. “Our captains are sadists. You gonna be okay?”

Agatha couldn’t handle spicy food; that’s why whenever she went around Jen’s house, Valerie had to make milder versions of their traditional Nigerian food.

Agatha felt the sweat break across her forehead immediately, felt her cheeks grow hot, felt her mouth begin to burn.

“Fine,” she got out weakly.

Agatha was in hell.

She braced herself for her next bite, sucking in a breath before taking a larger one. The faster she ate, the quicker the pain could fuck off.

Other girls had started to pass them as they came up to their accommodation, a lot of them red in the face. Rio-Sofia breezed past them, the pickles apparently having no effect on her; she was even…smiling?

What the fuck? How is she enjoying this?

When Jen and Agatha started making their way back to the station, Jen was done eating her pickle, and Agatha was three-quarters way there.

“Come on, Aggs. Just swallow it and it’ll be done,” Jen encouraged.

She nodded. She was sure her mascara was leaking down her face, and her nose was running. She popped the rest of the pickle in her mouth and cursed their captains as they sprinted back down the pavement.

The second and third years were cheering when they made it to the meeting spot. Agatha noticed that the other first years were all downing a bottle of brightly coloured liquids.

They were drinking fucking VK’s. The teenager had been right about something, but Agatha could not count on herself not to throw up, especially after eating that spicy pickle.

Wanda handed her a black cherry-flavoured one with a smile. “Bottom’s up.”

“Did you have to do this shit last year?” Agatha asked as she swiped the bottle from her hand.

“Yup.”

Agatha rolled her eyes before she tipped the contents down her throat.

Her stomach twisted as the spices from the pickle mixed with the alcohol. And this was only round one.

“Alright, well done you lot,” Natasha congratulated. “You’ve completed the first round.”

“Round two,” Alice started. “Is to go in there,” she pointed at the pub at the bottom of the station, “And get a pint of whatever your heart desires…for free.”

“Are you kidding?” Another first year, Kate, if Agatha was remembering correctly. “Looking like this?”

She was right. Agatha knew she looked like most of the first years around her. Flushed, sweating, with mascara down their faces.

“Do we get to freshen up first?”

“Nope,” Natasha grinned. “But luckily for you, quite a few of the other sports teams are in there. So, pick a person and go crazy.”

“You can get your free drink by intimidation tactics, flattery, begging, whatever you want…as long as you get it,” Alice added. “However, if you don’t like talking to strangers, you can get a friend to get one for you…as long as she gets it for free.”

“Go on then,” Natasha said, shooing them away.

“You know you lot are fucked for this,” Agatha told her friends as Jen dragged her away.

They only smiled.

Fortunately, Agatha was wearing all black, so how much she’d been sweating wasn’t evident. Some of the other girls weren’t so lucky.

“How’d I look?” She asked her best friend.

“Erm…”

She threw her hands up. “Great.”

“Does it matter? I thought you’d just start intimidating some poor fucker until they caved.”

“Could do, but flirting’s more fun,” she grinned.

She had really mastered the art in the three weeks she’d been at university. Back in their small village, she was just the polite, reserved catholic girl. Here in London, Agatha was free to be her authentic self. Which was a huge flirt.

When they entered the pub, a lot of the girls had already gotten to work. She saw some flirting with women on the girls football team, saw others explaining their situation to some poor tourists who had been in the wrong pub at the wrong time, saw a few bullying the men’s hockey team into buying, saw Rio-Sofia…

With a huddle of people surrounding her.

She was laughing and working the crowd as they drank in every word she said.

Agatha had never seen her like that. So carefree, laughing so hard, smiling so brightly.

It made her feel…she didn’t know.

A girl in the tennis society came up to Jen, and they exchanged greetings. She was on Jen’s course, and her best friend had mentioned her briefly. The girl turned her attention to greet Agatha, who was…distracted…

“So, who wants to buy me that pint then?” Rio-Sofia said, her voice smooth, her smile inviting like one a princess would wear.

Everyone in her vicinity shot their hands in the air.

“Well, aren’t I just the luckiest girl in the world. You’re all so kind.”

How…what…who…was that? Because that was not the stuck-up princess Agatha loved to loathe.

“Agatha?”

She turned to see her best friend with two pints of cider in her hand.

“Here, babe. Take this.”

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows. “You got us drinks?”

Jen nodded. “Mindy got them for us because you were distracted…” her gaze shifted to Rio-Sofia, who was being handed drink after drink, before they returned to Agatha.

“I was not,” Agatha countered as she took the drink from Jen’s outstretched hand.

“Sure…” her best friend said, although it was clear she didn’t believe her. “Are you ready to go, or do you wanna keep staring at Rio?”

It didn’t go unnoticed by Agatha that Jen wasn’t calling Rio-Sofia by her full name. When had that changed?

“I wasn’t staring at her,” Agatha snapped.

“Sure…” her best friend replied in the same tone.

Agatha rolled her eyes before exiting the pub.

She hadn’t been staring at the princess…she hadn’t…

Chapter Text

Rio returned to the meeting point outside Euston Station with two pints out of the ten she’d received in hand. She’d given the other eight to the girls who hadn’t managed to secure one yet. She didn’t know what to do with the extra one, so she brought it back just in case anyone needed it.

“I think that’s the fastest a group of freshers has completed the second round,” a third year commented.

“It was actually Rio-Sofia,” Kate replied. “She got a shit tone of drinks and gave it to us.”

The third year nodded her approval.

“Of course, she fucking did,” Alice grinned as she stood beside her. “Estoy muy contenta de que estas aqui.” I’m so glad you’re here.

“Yo también.” Same here.

“Okay!” Natasha clapped once all the girls had returned. “And on to round three.”

“Chug or throw,” Alice said. “It’s simple enough, either you down your pint or choose someone on the team to throw it on.”

“This will test your friendships…” Natasha continued in a stern voice before her lips split into a smile. “We’re joking, but it will tell us who you’re mates with and who you can’t stand.”

The group of first years just stood and stared at their captains as if they were crazy.

“Are you serious?” Agatha asked.

“Deadly,” Natasha replied, her smile unwavering. “Go on then.”

Again, nobody moved, well until…

“Sorry about this, Kate,” a girl said from behind Rio. She turned just in time to see the girl tip her pint of beer on jet black hair.

“Oh, you bitch,” Kate replied with a laugh as she threw her own pint on the other girl.

She too laughed. “I’m sorry! I just couldn’t chug any more alcohol right now after that VK and pickle.”

“Dude,” Alice said to her as the other girls started completing the task. Shrieks and encouraging cheers for the girls who were downing their drinks started soon after. “You still have a whole night of drinking to go.”

The first year that had poured the first drink groaned, and Alice laughed.

Rio felt the splatter of liquids hit her body as she looked at the scene behind her. Girls were chasing after each other with pints of whatever beverage they had; some were trying their hardest to knock back their drink as quickly as possible, but everyone was laughing or encouraging one another in some way.

She smiled. It had been a long time since Rio had been around this many people her age, it had been a long time since she’d been surrounded by so much laughter, it’d been a long time since Rio didn’t feel so lonely.

“So,” that voice said from behind her, “What’s it going to be?”

Blue eyes met brown.

In all honesty, Rio hadn’t thought about what she’d do with her two pints. No one had needed the spare. Could she down two pints? She’d decided then and there she wouldn’t throw either of them on Agatha. She was trying (although she had failed miserably after she’d replied to Agatha’s snarky comment this morning with just as much snark) to be less bitchy towards the other girl.

After last night, Rio understood that Agatha hated her because, in her eyes, Rio had failed. Failed to claim what she’d done, failed to own her sexuality and be out and loud about it, failed to be more than just a stuck-up princess.

And Rio would never tell her the truth. Would never tell her that it wasn’t her choice, would never tell her that it was all lies and she didn’t believe a word of what she’d said in her speech, would never tell her that the stuck up princess routine was just an act to cover up the truth that Agatha hurt her feelings.

Agatha held her gaze for a long time, her eyes kept flickering between the two pints in Rio’s hands and Rio as if she wanted Rio to throw them on her.

Rio let Agatha take her in for a moment longer before she smiled and lifted the glass to her lips.

“Weeee…” Natasha and some of the other girls started chanting. “Like to drink with Rio cause Rio is our mate, and when we drink with Rio, she gets it down in eight…seven…”

The girls continued the countdown as Rio forced Thatchers Gold down her throat. It didn’t help that the cider was ice cold, fresh from the pipe. She could feel the brain freeze spreading inside her head.

“Two…one! Wooo!” The girls congratulated as Rio finished her drink before the time ran out.

She shook her head to get the brain freeze to calm down.

When Alice took the empty glass from her hand and Rio had finished wiping her mouth with the back of hers, she locked onto Agatha again. Her eyebrows were furrowed ever so slightly. If you looked hard enough, one might say she looked confused, shocked, even.

“Hm,” the sound was short, almost a scoff.

Rio felt it before she registered it. Cold liquid trickling down from her head onto the rest of her body. The other girl smirked with her now-empty pint of cider in her hand.

“Ooh,” she heard some other girls and Wanda exclaim, her teeth biting down on the hand she was using to cover her mouth.

Before Rio could react, she felt something else splash onto her, except this time it was residue from where cider had been poured on Agatha.

Jen cackled. “Sorry, Aggs,” she said with a smile.

“I’m going to kill you.”

The other girl’s best friend only laughed and then everyone was laughing again.

Rio still had one pint left, and she knew exactly what she was going to do with it.

“Sorry about this,” she said before tipping her remaining pint of cider onto her own best friend's head.

“Hey!” Alice scolded. “No attacking the second or third years!”

War broke out.

All the first years turned to each other, nodded, and collectively decided to throw what was left of their drinks onto said second and third years.

They reacted in kind, grabbing the leftover VK’s and water bottles from the boxes laid out for the initiation process and throwing them on the first years and each other.

Soon, everyone was laughing and squealing as a full-blown water fight commenced outside of Euston Station at 9 PM on a Wednesday.

Alice went straight for Rio, chasing her best friend as she relentlessly threw water at her. When Alice was through with her, Rio was drenched from head to toe.

“How’s this fair, Al?” Rio smiled. “I threw one drink!”

“You started it,” Alice shrugged, a smile on her own lips. “Vamos.”

They’d ran a short distance away from the other girls. As they made their way back, Alice slung an arm around her shoulder.

Upon arrival, Rio witnessed Wanda with an arm wrapped around Agatha’s stomach as she poured water over her. The other girl was laughing whilst trying desperately to wriggle out of the redhead's grip.

That stupid, sick feeling twisted Rio’s stomach like always. She needed to get a grip.

“On that note,” Natasha started once everyone had stopped throwing drinks at one another. “I think it’s safe to call it. Well done first years!”

The hockey society clapped and cheered.

“Fucking finally,” Jen muttered as she slid into the spot next to Alice.

“You are finally free to freshen up for pres before we go out tonight!”

More claps and cheers.

“Remember to come to my flat in half an hour,” Natasha continued. “There’s going to be drinks and games, but remember to bring your own as well because there won’t be enough for all seventy-plus of you. And let’s go out and have a good time tonight, ladies!”

There was one last round of applause and a series of ‘whoops’ before the crowd began to disperse.

“Wait, Al…I can’t be near the flat again. I’ll get caught.”

Alice’s face dropped. “Oh, shit.”

“What is it?” Natasha asked from where she was packing away the unused water bottles and pickles.

“Ri can’t be near the flat in case Lucia or any of her security spots her.”

Natasha waved them off. “She’ll be fine. Get ready at mine and don’t leave until we’re all going to the club. There’s so many of us, I doubt any of her security will notice her in a sea of girls.”

“Nat, not trying to be funny, but that is literally their job. To pick Rio out in a sea of girls,” Alice replied.

Rio hated to admit it, but it was true. “I might have to call it. I mean, I didn’t miss the initiation, so that counts for something,” Rio offered.

“No, Rio,” Natasha said firmly. “You’re doing the whole night out. We’ll carry you around in one of those wheelie bins if we have to.”

Rio smiled. It felt nice to be wanted somewhere.

***

They really did put Rio in a wheelie bin. Alice found an empty one in their accommodation’s bin room. It was empty and relatively clean. They lugged it up the four flights of stairs before instructing Rio to get in once they hit the fifth.

Still, there was no security outside their flat door. That wouldn’t happen until Lucia was off duty at midnight.

Once in Natasha’s flat corridor, she opened the bin lid to let Rio out, that smirk she often wore on her lips.

“Think you might need a shower,” Natasha teased.

Rio smiled. “Thank you for this, Nat. Really.”

The redhead waved her off again. “You can shower and stuff at mine and borrow some of my clothes,” she said, opening her bedroom door.

Rio nodded, going to pull open the bathroom door until she said:

“Nat, are you sure? You’re going through a lot of trouble and I-”

Natasha cut her off. “Hey, I would be a really shitty captain if I let one of my girls miss out on a social night, alright? So, stop yapping and go shower.”

Rio smiled and did so.

Twenty minutes later, both girls were showered and dressed. Natasha was wearing a denim mini skirt and black lace-trimmed cami-top that hugged her figure just right. Rio was wearing a pair of Natasha’s black baggy jeans and a deep red tube top.

Alice was with them now, too; she was sitting on Natasha’s bed as she put waves in Rio’s hair with Natasha’s curling iron. Alice was in all black, wearing purposely designed worn-out baggy jeans and a tight-fitted black long-sleeve top with a low neckline. She’d accessorised with a red belt and silver jewellery.

They were two bottles of wine deep between the three of them. And between the VK and the pint of cider Rio had chugged earlier, she was really feeling it.

“We should’ve done your hair before we started drinking,” Alice laughed.

“Why? You gonna burn my hair off?” Rio replied.

“Wasn’t planning on it but now…”

Rio laughed.

A few of the hockey girls had already arrived. They were in the kitchen playing music as Natasha finished her makeup.

“Plan for tonight anyone?” Natasha asked as she applied mascara to her long lashes.

“I’ve only got my eye on one person,” Alice replied.

Natasha and Rio exchanged knowing glances, smiles on their lips.

“Would that person happen to go by the name of Jennifer Kale by any chance?” Rio asked, she’d put on a faux British accent.

“Hmm, I think you might be right, Rio.”

Alice shoved her in the shoulder playfully. “Shut up.”

“What about you, Nat?”

She shrugged. “If you’re hot and single, that’s all I need.”

“What about Steve?” Alice asked.

“Who’s Steve?”

“Captain of the men’s hockey team,” Alice told her best friend.

Natasha groaned. “It’s not a thing. Sometimes a girl just wants to sleep with a guy who worships the ground you walk on. It’s very good for the soul. Plus, I don’t think so. I want to get with strictly girls tonight.”

Rio and Alice nodded.

“What about you, Rio?” Natasha asked.

Rio’s entire body tensed. What could she say? The truth was, Rio probably wasn’t kissing anyone tonight. She still wasn’t allowed to be out, and she was still the princess of Spain. What if someone recognised her with her tongue down a random girl’s throat, filmed it, and then it was all over the tabloids tomorrow?

Her mother would have her on a one-way ticket to hell.

So, as much as Rio wanted to make out with a beautiful girl in the middle of a dance floor, drunk out of her mind, she said:

“No plan.”

Natasha turned to face her from where she’d been looking in her mirror. “Are you-”

Saved by the hockey girls. Cheering and what sounded like a stampede sounded along the corridor.

Alice grinned. “Let’s fucking go.”

***

This wasn’t new information.

Agatha was attracted to Rio-Sofia, had been since she first laid eyes on her when she’d watched that video of her speech in her childhood home three months ago. It was the reason she had to rewatch said speech and came to the realisation that she hated the princess.

And she still did.

Just because earlier in the pub she’d seen Rio-Sofia laugh properly for the first time didn’t mean she’d just forget all the shit she’d pulled.

It was possible to hate beautiful things. Rio-Sofia was like how Agatha viewed lavender. The flower was her favourite colour, stunning to look at, especially when in neat rows in lavender fields. But when you get up close, you realise the smell is too strong and it makes you sneeze, you realise you have to be cautious, otherwise you’ll get stung by wasps and bees, you realise you can’t stand lavender.

It is only pretty to look at.

She’d gotten ready in Wanda’s room. Whilst the girls had decided on yet another flawed plan to get Rio-Sofia out of the building by putting her in a wheelie bin, Agatha had gone to her room to shower and change before heading over to Wanda’s.

She wasn’t proud of it, but after her shower, she opened the bottle of wine she’d bought for pres and downed half of it as she sat in her towel, her hair soaked. She needed to get drunk and fast; her brain kept replaying Rio-Sofia’s smile on loop.

Lucia was still outside Rio-Sofia’s room, none the wiser as she left. She’d produced Agatha one of those kind smiles she always did when she saw her.

Now, Agatha was sitting in the flat next door's kitchen with the entire hockey society. Music was playing from Natasha’s speaker, everyone was laughing or smiling, and Agatha was relatively buzzed.

“Alright, Jen. Your go,” Wanda said.

Some of them were also playing Ring of Fire.

“Okayy…” her best friend shifted further off the sofa to reach the table that was covered in a circle of cards. A cup mixed with various alcoholic beverages in the centre.

Jen cautiously pulled at a card closest to her, she succeeded in not breaking the circle.

“Nine, rhyme,” Jen announced. “The word is cat.”

“That’s so easy, Jen!” Agatha exclaimed as her best friend shrugged.

“Bat,” Natasha started.

“Sat,” Agatha added.

“Chat,” Wanda, next to her, continued.

They went round the circle, Darcy, Monica, Gamora, Kate, Rio-Sofia, Alice, and some other girls Agatha didn’t know the names of, adding their own words. Everyone completed the task with ease.

“Told you it was too easy,” Agatha laughed.

Jen rolled her eyes.

It was Natasha’s turn next. She pulled an eight.

“Eight, mate. Oh Rio-Sofiaaa,” Natasha sing-songed. “Have a drink with me, why don’t you?”

Rio-Sofia smiled before she leaned over the table to cheers with Natasha before they brought their plastic cups filled with whatever alcoholic drink they had in them to their lips.

“Chug! Chug! Chug!” The girls chanted, which was then followed by screams once they had finished.

Rio-Sofia wiped the excess liquid from her mouth with a smirk as she looked at Natasha.

“Okay, my turn,” Agatha announced because she wanted to interrupt whatever the fuck that was.

She narrowed her eyes as they darted around the circle of cards. She stretched across the table to pick up a card at the edge of it. With slow, precise movements, she freed the card without breaking the circle.

“Queen, question master,” Agatha told the group.

“Pick someone to ask a question to, Aggs,” Jen said.

A smirk slid across Agatha’s face. Oh, she was going to have fun with this.

“Rio-Sofia, I have a question for you.”

She felt her best friend tense beside Natasha.

The princess smiled. “Go on.”

Agatha’s smirk only grew wicked. “Why are you such a bitch?”

The energy shifted in the room immediately. Even the girls who weren’t playing stopped their conversations and laughter.

“Come on, Agatha,” Alice warned.

“Yeah,” Jen chimed in. “Ask her something else.”

Agatha rolled her eyes. “Fine, you’re all no fun.”

She leaned back to think. She needed the question to throw Rio-Sofia completely off guard without the group scolding her for it.

Think, think, think. What could I…

Her smirk only grew more menacing when she settled on the question.

Agatha leaned forward again, her eyes never leaving dark brown.

“Rio-Sofia, do you find me attractive?”

She watched the princess’s smile drop.

Bingo!

The princess swallowed.

Oh, this is going to be great, I wonder what bullshit she’s going to-

“Yes.”

Chapter Text

Why lie, right?

Yes, Rio found Agatha attractive. It was the first thing she’d thought when she’d seen her for the first time.

The other girl jerked her head back slightly, a reaction that you would’ve missed if you hadn’t been looking at her, which Rio always was.

She saw Wanda narrow her eyes in her peripheral.

“Was that the answer you were looking for?” Rio asked.

For the first time ever, the brunette looked at a serious loss for words. Again, only something you would notice about her if you paid close attention to her. Rio saw it in the way her eyes kept flicking between hers as if she’d find the answer there.

The entire room had fallen silent, the only sound was the music blasting through Natasha’s speakers.

Eventually, Agatha cleared her throat. “Glad that’s been confirmed.”

“My turn,” Wanda said hastily.

Rio sat back in her seat, and her eyes landed on Jen. She saw the ghost of a smile there…or maybe Rio was just drunk.

The redhead yanked at a card at random, and the circle split.

“Wanda…you broke the circle,” Alice said awkwardly.

The tension in the air hadn’t been defused yet.

“You gotta drink, Ginger,” Natasha told her.

Wanda nodded and grabbed the cup. She took one sip and spat it out.

The room erupted into laughter, the tension vanishing.

“Yuck!” Darcy grimaced as she wiped brown spit off her arm.

“No! Finish it, finish it!” Natasha laughed as Wanda shook her head frantically.

“What the fuck did you guys put in this shit?”

“Pickle juice…wine…tequila…hot sauce…” Alice got out through laughter.

“Drink it, Wanda!” Gamora clapped.

The redhead held her nose before she tipped the contents down her throat.

Most of the girls watched with their faces twisted in disgust as she drank.

Wanda stood up and slammed the empty cup on the table. “Finished!”

Everyone clapped and cheered.

Wanda bowed as she took in the praise. When she sat down again, her face was turning a slight green.

“Ginger?” Natasha asked cautiously. “Don’t you dare-”

Natasha cut herself off when Wanda shot up and bolted out of the room.

“She’s gonna throw up!” Alice announced.

A mixture of laughter and concern came as a result.

“I’m going to go see if she's okay,” Agatha said, excusing herself.

“Want me to come too?” Alice asked.

“It’s fine.” She glanced at Rio once before she left the room.

***

Half an hour later, the girls were all far too drunk for their own good.

Wanda had returned after throwing up, teeth brushed, makeup redone.

When Alice had gone back to their flat to get a lighter from her room, she confirmed that Lucia was gone and one of Rio’s security guards was outside the door. Rio would have to get into the wheelie bin after all.

Getting into it was much harder than before, considering she was drunk, and her foot kept missing the bin when she tried to step into it. Once she’d gotten settled, the girls began wheeling her out of the flat. The security guard on duty had asked them what they were doing, and Natasha had told her it was a hockey society thing. No further questions were asked.

If Rio wasn’t as buzzed as she was, she might’ve been concerned that the girls might drop her as they carried her down the stairs. But she was so, this whole thing was utterly hilarious. She had to clamp her hands around her mouth to stop herself from giggling.

She was in a fucking bin!

She jolted when the wheelie bin dropped harshly on the ground.

“Sorry!” Alice apologised. Her best friend lifted the lid to find Rio beside herself. “¿Estás bien?” Are you okay? Alice said through a laugh.

“Si,” Rio replied as Alice pulled her out.

Her best friend brushed her hair out of her face from where it had gotten messed up with a smile. “Hermosa.” Beautiful.

Rio grinned. “As are you.”

Now, outside of their accommodation, the girls huddled around Natasha, who was stashing the wheelie bin away for safekeeping.

“Alright, let’s go,” their captain urged.

Alice linked her arm with Rio’s and started tugging her down the pavement towards Kings Cross, where the club was. Jen fell in line next to Alice.

“Are we sure no one saw us?” Jen asked. “I mean getting Rio out?”

Rio shrugged; she was far too drunk to care. “I’ll deal with the consequences if they come.”

She’d probably be eating her words later, but again, she was far too drunk to care.

“Er…guys,” someone said from behind them.

They turned to see a woman in a black suit step out of their accommodation. She turned her head left and right until she locked onto Rio down the pavement.

It was Rio’s security guard.

“Mierda.” Shit. Rio muttered under her breath.

“Don’t just stand there fucking run!” Natasha told her.

So, they did.

All seventy-plus girls in the hockey society made a break for it. They bolted down the street, the buildings and the cars on the road beside them blurring as they went. Rio was laughing so hard tears smeared her vision.

This was fucking hilarious.

They ran past Euston Station, back past the pub from earlier, and didn’t stop until they approached the British Library.

“I think we’re good,” Jen panted. “It doesn’t look like she followed us.”

Rio turned to confirm for herself. Jen was right. There was no sign of her security.

“Phew!”

“What are you going to do when we get back?” Alice asked.

“Future me’s problem,” Rio smiled.

Agatha walked past Rio then and joined the end of their line next to Jen. She smelled…different?

“I just realised that’s not my top. Where’d you get it?”

Agatha looked down at her black laced corset top. “It’s Wanda’s.”

And that’s why she didn’t smell like Miss Dior, she smelt like Wanda. Rio’s stomach curled.

“When are we going to go clothes shopping? You need your own clothes,” Jen laughed.

“Why? You sick of sharing your wardrobe with me?”

“Well, yes,” her best friend answered simply.

Rio couldn’t do this. She fell back to where Natasha was a few heads behind them.

Natasha greeted her with a smile. “Hey, pretty girl, you okay?”

“I’m drunk,” Rio replied with a lazy smile.

“As you should be.”

Rio laughed before wrapping an arm around Natasha’s waist; the redhead did the same, and they continued towards the club.

***

If fucked up princess…why hot? Agatha asked herself when they had made it into the club.

Again, she knew she’d always found Rio-Sofia attractive, but there must be something in the air today. Or maybe it was the fact that the princess had flat-out told her in front of everyone that she’d found her attractive.

Agatha still couldn’t quite believe it. For someone who was potentially straight, she’d admitted her attraction boldly, answered with a simple yes and didn’t further elaborate. It was making Agatha’s head spin.

She still hated Rio-Sofia, but…

Holy fuck she’s so hot.

The princess was laughing with Natasha, that small gap between her teeth on show.

Stop it. You’re just drunk.

Right. Focus on something else, like Wanda’s hand on your waist.

Wanda guided her towards the table that had been reserved for the hockey society. The girls who had arrived first at the table took up most of the seats. Agatha extracted herself from Wanda’s hold and walked over to where Jen, Rio-Sofia and Natasha were.

The second she'd gotten within an inch of the princess, she swiftly moved to the other side of the table where she’d just been. Monica waved her over, and she went and sat next to her.

Er…what the fuck?

She shook the thought away. That had nothing to do with her.

“Right,” Natasha started. “Have fun, drink loads and find either me or Alice if you have any problems.”

The hockey society nodded.

“Well…go on then,” Natasha told them.

The girls started to disperse.

“Make good choices!” Alice called out as she sat next to Rio-Sofia.

Wanda walked up to Agatha then and Agatha moved away from her to sit on the other side of Alice.

The princess slapped her hands on her knees. “Right, I need another drink. Nat?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” the redhead extended her hand out for Rio-Sofia to take. She pulled her off the sofa with ease and the two ventured further into the club.

Agatha blinked. That was twice now. Twice she’d moved closer to the princess, and she’d run off.

What the fuck.

Wanda slid into the spot next to her. She’d said something, and Agatha just nodded.

“Agatha…are you listening to me?”

Agatha turned to face her. “What?”

The redhead laughed. “I said do you want to dance?”

“Oh…yeah sure.”

“Perfect. Alice and Jen, are you coming?”

The two girls were leaning into each other and giggling.

“Nah, we’re good,” Alice replied.

Agatha winked at her best friend, who rolled her eyes before Wanda tugged her away.

***

Were they playing a game of fucking cat and mouse?

It’d been happening all night. Agatha would get close to the princess, and she’d move. It happened on the dance floor, at the bar whilst ordering drinks, whilst waiting for the toilet. And the whole time she’d been with Natasha, touching Natasha or Natasha would be touching her.

Were they attached to the hip? Why were they always holding onto each other?

Agatha didn’t know why this was pissing her off so much. This was a good thing. The annoying princess was leaving her alone. Wasn’t that what she’d wanted this morning? For Rio-Sofia to miss the initiation process so she wouldn’t have to see her?

Yes. Yes, it fucking was. So now the princess was actively avoiding her. Why was she having an issue with it?

Her frustration was making her feel sick. She could barely tolerate Rio-Sofia, she was still the fucked up princess who had told the entire world that kissing a woman was the biggest regret of her life.

That was something Agatha would never be able to forgive…

…So why was Rio-Sofia’s lack of interest bothering her?

Maybe it was the fact that she’d admitted she’d found her attractive, and now she was avoiding her. As if she could drop that bomb and then walk away from it and leave destruction in its wake. Well, she couldn’t. Not if Agatha could help it.

She was dancing with Wanda on the dance floor; Wanda’s hands were on her waist. Agatha was looking past her to where Rio-Sofia and Natasha were talking to the men’s hockey team’s captain, Steve.

The princess was laughing whilst Natasha held her firmly against her side. Even from a distance, she could see the way Natasha’s thumb kept stroking the exposed skin between Rio-Sofia’s jeans and her top.

Why was she doing that? She didn’t need to do that.

“I feel like you don’t want to be here.”

“Hm?” Agatha asked, her eyes meeting green.

“You’re not really dancing…what’s up?”

Her gaze shifted back towards the princess. People had gotten in her line of sight. Agatha quickly shuffled Wanda along to get a better view again. The princess was whispering something into Natasha’s ear, and she was nodding.

It seemed like Natasha was telling her to hold on, and Rio-Sofia was wiggling around on the spot. She whispered again, and Natasha nodded once. Rio-Sofia was leaving, Rio-Sofia was…

“One sec,” Agatha told Wanda. She ignored the other girl’s protests and made quick work of crossing to the other side of the dance floor.

“Hey, Nat. Where’s Rio-Sofia?”

“She’s going to the toilet. I’m going in a sec, I just gotta wrap this up,” her eyes shifted to Steve, who smiled.

“I’ll go with her.”

“Er…I don’t think that’s a good idea-”

“Thanks, Natasha!” Agatha cut her off before heading for the stairs that led to the bathroom.

She weaved through people as she bolted up them. Once upstairs, she craned her head left and right until she saw a slither of brown hair down the packed corridor, entering the single bathroom to the left.

Agatha all but shoved the strangers aside until she reached the door and yanked. It gave way thank fuck, and she stepped inside.

Brown eyes widened when Rio-Sofia took her in.

“You’re not Natasha.”

“What gave it away?”

Agatha locked the door and stepped forward.

Rio-Sofia wrinkled her nose and took a step back.

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows because what the fuck.

“What are you doing in here, Agatha?” Rio-Sofia asked.

I don’t fucking know!

“Why?”

The princess threw her hands up. “Oh, I don’t know because I want to pee! Can you leave, please?”

“No.”

Rio-Sofia rolled her eyes before taking a step towards the door. Agatha blocked her path.

She huffed. “I don’t want to fight with you, okay? So could you let me leave?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Are princesses not allowed to use the toilet in front of other people?"

Rio-Sofia didn’t reply, just stared at her. Agatha stared back. They stood in a tense silence; the only sounds came from the people outside and the music from the club below.

After a while, Rio-Sofia tried to move towards the door again, and once again, Agatha blocked her from doing so.

“You know you never apologised. About throwing away the food.”

It wasn’t relevant but she needed Rio-Sofia to stay in the toilet with her for a reason she didn’t know.

“You just bought it all back and expected that to solve everything,” Agatha continued.

The princess’s expression turned sombre. “I didn’t know they were going to do that,” she quietly admitted.

Agatha didn’t know that.

“But you’re right. I should’ve explained and apologised when it happened, so I’m sorry.”

Agatha hadn’t expected that.

“Well…you aren’t forgiven.”

The princess nodded once.

Why isn’t she fighting back?

That’s what they did, wasn’t it? They snapped at each other. The game wasn’t fun if it was only Agatha playing it.

“Can I leave now, please?”

Agatha should let her. There was nothing left to be said. She’d gotten an unexpected apology, and she didn’t want to talk about the whole speech thing because that would end horrifically. But Rio-Sofia looked so pretty in the dim lighting of the bathroom.

Her hair was in loose waves, her eyes popped because of the black eyeliner on her lids and water line and her lips…

So, because of this, Agatha said:

“No.”

The princess jerked her head back. “Why not? I told you,” she stepped towards her for the first time all night. “I don’t want to fight with you! Not now, not ever.” She took another step forward. “So, can you quit trying to get me to?” She took another step forward, and Agatha’s body slammed against the bathroom door.

“Why are you so desperate to get under my skin?”

Agatha shrugged nonchalantly even though her heart was pounding. “You’ve lived comfortably enough in that palace of yours. I’d like to bring you back to reality.”

Rio-Sofia scoffed.

Agatha flinched when the door jolted. Rio-Sofia had smacked her hand against the door by her head.

“Again, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Agatha was losing control of this situation. She needed the tables to turn back in her favour.

She laughed breathlessly. “You’re getting off on this, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” Rio-Sofia shot back. “You were the one who came in here and ambushed me!”

There it is.

The push back Agatha was looking for.

A slow smirk slid across her face as she watched Rio-Sofia’s expression shift. She knew she’d fallen for it, risen to the bait just as Agatha had wanted her to.

Her brown eyes flicked between Agatha’s as they glared at each other once again. Both of their breaths were audible, out of sync with one another.

Rio-Sofia narrowed her eyes, and before Agatha could think, lips were on hers.

Agatha had to clench her body to stifle a moan because god, this felt good. Rio’s hand that had been on the door slid to her throat; she yanked Agatha forward as she deepened the kiss. Agatha took that as an invitation, forcing her tongue into Rio’s mouth.

The princess moaned, and if Agatha’s lips weren’t preoccupied, she would’ve smiled. Rio’s tongue moved against hers, and Agatha let her hands grab her waist, swiftly flipping the princess so that she was against the door. Rio’s head hit the wood with a bang, but that didn’t stop her. She didn’t pull away.

Rio tasted divine.

Again, Agatha had to tense so that she didn’t moan to let her know that. But when the princess’s free hand dropped to palm her ass, she was a goner. The groan left her mouth without warning, making them momentarily break apart before Rio swallowed the sound.

She opened her mouth wider to let Agatha gain more access to her, and she took it in stride, slowing down the kiss to make it sinful. She moved her tongue purposely against the princess’s, heard her whimper, felt her shift against her body as if it wasn’t enough. As if she needed more.

And it horrified Agatha when she realised she wanted to give it to her.

The princess’s hand on her ass slid into one of her jeans back pockets. She used this to flip them again, turning Agatha and forcing her against wood. Rio lifted up her knee, pushing it softly against Agatha’s core.

“Fuck,” Agatha groaned, throwing her head back and slamming it against the door.

Rio’s lips were on hers again, her cool fingers trailing along Agatha’s exposed stomach, she felt the fingers move down towards-

No.

She pushed Rio off her. If they were doing this, it would be Agatha doing it to her, not the other way around.

The princess smirked, her lip gloss smudged, her lips swollen.

“See,” Rio panted. “Not straight.”

Agatha glared at her as she tried to gain control of her own breaths. “I’m drunk,” Agatha stated. “And you’re still an arsehole and we are never doing that again.”

Rio...no. Rio-SOFIA smiled. “Okay, Agatha.”

She went to unlock the door, and Agatha stepped out of the way to let her do so. She slipped out of the room without another word.

“Fuck,” Agatha muttered.

Chapter Text

After the princess had kissed Agatha, she started to (she wouldn’t say spiral) spiral.

She hastily wiped her lips of any trace of the princess, ran to the sink and the mirror above it to check here appearance (she was a state. Her hair a mess, her lips swollen, her eyes so fucking dilated they were almost pure black). She fixed her appearance as best she could, even contemplating gargling her mouth with toilet tap water to rid herself of Rio-Sofia’s delicious, no, disgusting taste.

Once she was satisfied with how she looked, she left the bathroom, shot down the stairs back into the club and found Wanda. She yanked the redhead into a desperate kiss. Wanda would kiss away any trace of Rio-Sofia, and she could pretend the whole thing never happened.

Wanda pulled away with her eyebrows furrowed. “What lip gloss are you wearing? Tastes good.”

And Wanda just had to fucking say that didn’t she.

Agatha shrugged. “Can’t remember.”

She looked past her, eyes scanning for the only person she’d wanted to see that. She locked onto deep brown, who was looking at her with a shit-eating grin on her face.

No. No, she wasn’t supposed to look like that! Where was the disgust? Where was the aggravation?

Agatha needed to do better.

She spent the rest of her night making out with nearly every woman in the club. Each time she’d finished, she’d meet the princess’s eyes, and the same grin would be on her face…well, until the last girl. When she looked, the brunette had Natasha’s arm wrapped around her waist. They were laughing and leaning into each other, and Agatha was ready to kill someone.

She left the main dance floor and headed towards the table reserved for the hockey society. Agatha blinked. Alice and Jen were still in the same place she’d left them almost three hours ago. At least they were having a good night.

“Jen,” Agatha said.

Her best friend turned. “Oh, hey, Aggs. You okay?”

“Can we go home…please?” Agatha was sick of this night.

“Now? I wanted to help get Rio back into our acom.”

Rio.

Agatha wanted to never hear that name again. Why had she let her kiss her? And why was it good?

“I…just…please, Jen. I don’t feel good. I think I drank too much.”

Jen sat up from where she’d been curled into Alice. “How long have you been feeling like this? Why didn’t you say anything sooner? Of course we can go home babe what the fuck.”

Agatha nodded thankfully, and Jen gave Alice a quick kiss before they left.

“You wanna stop at the corner shop? Get you some water? Maybe a snack?”

Agatha shook her head. “I just need my bed.” And to wipe Rio-Sofia off the face of the planet.

Jen nodded.

They arrived at their accommodation fifteen minutes later and were met with the princess’s security guard outside their front door. Agatha felt Jen’s arm around her tense.

“Excuse us, please,” Jen said when she didn’t move out of the way.

“Where is the princess?” Came the response.

“We don’t know,” Jen replied.

Agatha had been looking down at the ground, Jen pressing her into her side.

“And you,” the security guard asked her. “Do you know where she is?”

This was the perfect opportunity to get Rio-Sofia banned from leaving the flat for good. She wouldn’t be allowed to attend hockey practice, she could never kiss Agatha again, hell, she might even get sent back to Spain. She should do it, snitch on her.

“No,” Agatha answered. “I don’t know where she is.”

Yet she didn’t.

The security guard stepped aside, and Jen reached to tap her keycard against the door when the security guard spoke again:

“Just…is the princess okay?”

It seemed like the guard actually cared. Her tone of voice made it seem like she didn’t want to scold Rio-Sofia, only…protect her.

“She’s fine,” Agatha replied.

The older woman nodded, and Jen let them into the flat.

“Goodnight, babe,” Jen told her.

“Night,” Agatha replied, walking down the corridor to her own room.

Once she was inside, she flopped onto her bed and crashed.

***

Agatha stirred awake, her eyes blinking heavily.

What the fuck?

Why was she still in her clothes from last night? And why hadn’t she taken off her makeup? And why did she still have her bloody shoes on? She hadn’t drank that much, had she?

She groaned, lifting her face off her pillow that was now covered in makeup.

“For fucksake,” Agatha muttered as she wiped at it. Now she was going to have to change her sheets.

She kicked off her shoes and reached for her makeup wipes in her makeup bag. As she sat in front of the mirror to remove it, she clicked on her phone.

17:45.

Agatha’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. It was a quarter to six in the afternoon?! No wonder she wasn’t severely hungover; she’d slept through the majority of it. How the hell had she let this happen?

She got up, disposed of the wipes in her bin and headed for the shower. Agatha needed to get her life together. From letting Rio-Sofia kiss her to sleeping until six in the afternoon, she felt like her life was falling apart.

The kiss, now that she was no longer drunk, and she could put it into perspective, was…fine. Kissing someone you hate whilst drunk is totally normal and acceptable. She thought of all the people who kissed or texted their exes whilst drunk. It was stupid and normal and would never happen again, so what did it matter?

The sleeping until six thing…yeah, she didn’t have an excuse for that. Do better, she told herself and left it at that.

After she’d showered and brushed her teeth, she pulled on one of those shirts she didn’t care much for and a pair of Jen’s sweatpants and headed towards her door. She was starving and that pickle she’d been forced to eat yesterday was the last thing she’d eaten.

When Agatha opened her door, she almost slammed into Lucia. Her hand was raised as if she were about to knock. In the other, she had a large white paper shopping bag.

Agatha raised an eyebrow.

“Good afternoon, Agatha,” Lucia smiled her typical smile. “This is for you.” She handed Agatha the bag, and she almost dislocated her shoulder when it dropped to the ground.

“Oh, sorry!” Lucia apologised. “I’ll just tell them to carry the rest of it in.”

Agatha jerked her head back. “Erm…the rest of it?”

As soon as she’d finished her sentence, four men walked into her room with more shopping bags and boxes.

Err…??

They placed them about her room before leaving again.

“And there’s this.” Lucia handed Agatha an envelope. “Tell her or me if you don’t like something or you want a different size, and we’ll sort it.”

“Thank…thank you?”

“You’re welcome,” Lucia smiled.

Agatha closed her door and stared at the bags and boxes.

“What the fuck?”

She ripped the envelope and opened up the plain white card within:

I’m sorry again. Heard you needed a new wardrobe.

- R.V

There’s no way she would…

Agatha opened the closest bag to her left, and lo and behold, it was filled to the brim with clothes.

No fucking way, no fucking way.

She opened the next bag and found more clothes. She opened a box and found a pair of black leather knee-high boots; she opened the box to her right and found red Adidas Spezials. There was no fucking way the princess had bought her a whole wardrobe…right? Because that would be insane…

Agatha gaped at the bags and boxes. How would Rio-Sofia even know her shoe size, or her clothes size or what type of clothes she liked? She grabbed at one of the bags and tipped the contents onto her bed. Agatha picked up a grey shirt, expecting to absolutely hate it…

Why was it the cutest shirt she’d ever seen? It was a grey button-up with gold metallic buttons with crosses etched within. It was something Agatha definitely would’ve picked out for herself.

Okay…one lucky guess.

She picked up another top. This was a going-out top. It was similar to the one she had on yesterday. A corseted black top with lace trimmings around the bust. Okay…next item. An off-the-shoulder navy knitted jumper.

Agatha threw the jumper back into the pile. How the hell did Rio-Sofia know her style when Agatha hadn’t even had the chance to figure it out herself?

She wouldn’t wear any of it, she decided. Yeah, so, the princess bought her a few clothes (try next to a hundred items) and some shoes (there were at least twenty shoe boxes) that didn’t mean all was well. It actually meant the opposite. Did the princess think she could just buy her way to forgiveness?

Agatha scoffed.

She couldn’t.

Those boots are really nice though…

Stop it.

***

After Rio left the bathroom, she ran downstairs and back into the club. All thoughts about needing to pee forgotten. Why would you need the toilet if you’d just made out with a hot girl? A hot girl who fucking hates your guts.

Rio couldn’t stop smiling. When she’d kissed Agatha, she didn’t know what had come over her. She’d gone into the bathroom to find Rio…why had she done that? And then they were screaming at each other, and Rio had her backed against the door, and she'd looked so pretty.

Her chest rising and falling rapidly, her pupils blown so wide they’d almost completely engulfed her beautiful blue irises. Rio had thought…fuck it. Worst she could do is kill me.

But Agatha hadn’t killed her and instead slid her tongue into her mouth and grabbed her waist and shoved her against the door.

And we are never doing that again.

Rio had to stop herself from laughing in Agatha’s face. There was no way, not after that kiss, that they weren’t doing it again because it had been good. And she knew Agatha wouldn’t want to give that up. Even if that meant only getting to kiss her whilst they were drunk or shouting at each other. Rio didn’t mind; she’d be waiting patiently for the next time Agatha let her touch her again.

She’d wait a lifetime if that’s what it took.

Now the brunette was making out with Wanda, and usually, that would make Rio sick to her stomach. Today, it was confirming what she already knew. The kiss was good, and now Agatha was spiralling because of it. She needed to prove to Rio that it had no effect on her when her actions were proving the exact opposite.

Blue eyes locked onto her across the club, and Rio could only smile. The game that they were playing had unlocked a new level, and Rio couldn’t wait to find out the new plays.

Agatha spent the next however long making out with any girl that had a pulse, and Rio, quite honestly, was getting bored. But she’d watch because that’s what Agatha would want. She wanted to prove that Rio had no effect on her, and Rio had to smile to remind her she saw straight through it.

Natasha had her arm wrapped around her waist the entire time as she spoke to Steve. Rio got what she meant now, about him worshipping the ground she walked on. Natasha would say jump, and Steve would ask how high.

She got it, though. Natasha was gorgeous.

About an hour after Agatha disappeared, Alice, Natasha, Wanda and Rio decided to call it a night. They said goodbye to the hockey girls who remained and headed home.

“Where did Jen and Agatha go?” Natasha asked Alice as they approached their accommodation.

“Agatha didn’t feel good, so Jen took her home,” Alice replied.

“Oh…she didn’t tell me that,” Wanda whispered.

Alice shrugged.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with how long you two took in the bathroom, would it?” Natasha glanced at Rio.

She shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I thought you two hated each other,” Wanda jumped in hastily.

“Er…” Rio didn’t hate Agatha; Agatha hated Rio. “It’s complicated.”

“How?” Wanda shot back. “She shits on you ever chance she gets.”

“Okayyy,” Alice interjected. “I think we all need our beds,” Alice said as she tapped her keycard, and their accommodation door opened.

They weren’t bothering with the wheelie bin anymore. Rio’s security had already caught her, the damage had been done. Now a little less drunk, she was more concerned with the consequences of her actions.

Her security was sure to tell her mother, and Rio was probably going to be at some conversion camp by this time tomorrow.

Oh, well. At least she’d gotten a kiss with Agatha out of it.

“What are you gonna say when your security asks you where you’ve been?” Alice asked as they made it up the stairs.

“I think it’s pretty obvious where I’ve been, Al,” Rio laughed.

“No, I know. Just know I’ll be by your side for the fallout.”

“Me too,” Natasha chimed in. “I’ll tell the queen that I forced you out against your will, threatened the Spanish royal family or some shit.”

“Nat,” Alice scolded, hitting her in the arm. “You can’t say that.”

Rio laughed again. “Thanks, you guys.”

They pushed open the door to the fifth floor, and Rio locked eyes with her security. Her expression was stern and unwavering as Rio approached hand in hand with Alice. The four girls stared at her, and she stared back.

“¿Estás bien, princesa?” Are you okay, princess?

“Si,” Rio replied.

She nodded before stepping away from the door.

Was that it? No questions? No mention of the queen and how she’s on her way to get her right now? Rio figured she probably still was, her security was choosing not to tell her.

“Erm…goodnight,” Rio said to Natasha and Wanda.

“Night,” the two girls said together as they tapped the keycard to their own door.

Natasha gave Rio a warm smile before going into her flat.

Alice let them in and shut the door behind them

“What the fuck?” Alice mouthed.

Rio shrugged. “Hopefully, I’ll see you in the morning. If not, come visit me in whatever prison my mother ships me off too.”

Alice gave her a small smile. It was clear her best friend did not want to joke about the matter. She pulled Rio into a tight hug.

“I love you, Ri. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I love you, too.” She didn’t say the last bit back. There was no hope for her.

Rio entered her room, shut the door and locked it. She went to her desk, sat down and opened her laptop. There was one last thing she needed to do.

She went on Pinterest and started a new board and called it ‘Agatha’s wardrobe.’ And scoured for hours, searching for items of clothing and outfits she’d thought the other girl would like. Then Rio contacted the palace and told them she needed the clothes by 12 PM today.

If she was never going to see Agatha again, she could at least buy her some new clothes, as it seemed she needed them. Rio also didn’t want her smelling like Wanda, even if she wasn’t going to be around her. Wanda’s scent on Agatha’s skin was like bug repellent, and even if that hadn’t stopped Rio from kissing her, she didn’t want her smelling like her.

She did this until she fell asleep at her desk at six in the morning.

***

“Princessa?”

Rio shot up from her desk.

Lucia knocked again.

Fuck.

She was still in last night's clothes. Her mother was undoubtedly behind the other side of her door, and it wouldn’t be doing her any favours to open it smelling of alcohol and cigarettes with ruined makeup and party clothes.

“Princessa? ¿Estás despierto?” Are you awake?

“Si,” Rio replied. There was no point in dragging out the inevitable.

She got up and went to the door. When she pulled it open, she only found Lucia, who looked her up and down with an amused expression.

Rio bit her lip.

“Estaba comprobando si estabas bien.” I was just checking on you. Lucia told her.

Rio nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Lucia to tell her that the queen would be arriving shortly.

“Sus paquetes llegarán aquí pronto.” Your packages will be here soon.

Rio nodded again, waiting for Lucia to continue.

“Puedes volver a dormir ahora.” You can go back to sleep now.

Was that it? No…that couldn’t be. Someone must’ve ratted her out.

“I hope you had a good night out yesterday,” Lucia said with a wink.

So, she knew, and so did Rio’s security guard last night…and yet they hadn’t said anything? Were they going to cover for her?

“Yo…” I…

“Dormir bien.” Sleep well. Lucia smiled.

Rio could only blink. “Gracias.”

“De nada.”

Rio shut the door.

There was no fucking way.

***

Apparently, there was.

Rio had showered, brushed her teeth, changed, napped, and still…no sign of her mother. Not even a text or a call. Maybe Lucia and her security truly were covering for her. She had to make sure to thank them properly. She didn’t know how yet, but she’d figure it out.

Right now, though, she was starving. It was around 8 PM, and she hadn’t eaten all day. She got up and made her way to the kitchen.

Rio stopped short when she saw the other girl there. Agatha was wearing some of the clothes she’d bought her. An off-the-shoulder thin light blue jumper and grey baggy sweatpants. Her hair was in two Dutch braids, and Rio could see her assortment of gold earrings as they glinted off the lights in the kitchen.

She smiled.

“You look good,” Rio said, because she was done pretending that Agatha didn’t.

The other girl turned, a smile twitching her lips. “Don’t I always?”

“Yes,” Rio replied without missing a beat.

Agatha rolled her eyes. She was making a cup of tea. “Just because you bought me all that stuff doesn’t suddenly mean you’re off the hook…you know that right?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Rio grinned.

She rolled her eyes again, disposing of her spoon in the sink before walking towards Rio. She stopped just short of being able to reach out and touch her.

“I still hate you,” Agatha said, her voice low and gravely.

Rio felt her body heating up. She didn’t miss, however, the way Agatha’s gaze dropped to her lips for the briefest of moments.

She fought off a smile. “And I still like pretending that I do,” Rio replied in what she hoped had matched Agatha’s tone.

The other girl scoffed before leaving Rio alone in the kitchen. She heard Agatha’s door open and shut.

Rio smiled as she moved towards the fridge. “Game on,” she muttered to herself.

Chapter Text

Agatha twirled the ends of one of her Dutch braids around her finger as she waited for her tea to cool down

You look good. Rio-Sofia had shamelessly told her.

Is that what she was doing now? Openly flirting? What happened to the princess in the video from three months ago? What happened to regretting kissing a woman and essentially denying the fact that she was queer?

Why was Rio-Sofia so confusing?

Agatha’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door.

She got up and went to open it. Her eyes narrowed when the person behind it was revealed.

“What do you want?”

Rio-Sofia stared at her before stepping into the room. And for some reason, Agatha let her. The princess waited for the door to shut before she surged forward and kissed her.

Oh, god.

Because it was just as good as she remembered it. Rio’s warm tongue slid into her mouth, and her whole body shuddered. She darted her tongue out, parting Rio’s lips until…

Wait. Hold on.

She shoved Rio-Sofia back with so much force that she slammed into the door behind her.

The two girls stared at each other, their chests rising and falling rapidly. After a moment, Rio-Sofia took a step forward, her hand grabbing her waist and yanking her forward.

“Tell me.” She nodded. “Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me to stop pursuing you. Tell me to leave you alone and I will.”

“I already told you we’re never doing that again.”

“Then why don’t I believe you?” Rio-Sofia replied without missing a beat. She drew Agatha closer, her eyes filled with lust and longing. “Why are you still letting me hold you?”

Agatha didn’t fucking know.

“Tell me, Agatha,” she’d drawn out every word. Her Spanish accent curling around every syllable, making Agatha’s hairs stand on end.

“I hate you,” Agatha told her, because that was all she could think of to say.

Rio’s lips twisted into a grin.

Agatha glared at her, hoping that her gaze was filled with hatred and frustration before she pulled Rio in harshly by the neck and crashed their lips together again. She felt Rio smile against them and wanted to smack her.

They stumbled towards Agatha’s bed, their lips still connected until Rio was pulling her light blue jumper over her head and Agatha was ridding Rio of her tank top. Then Rio was yanking her sweatpants down, and Agatha was trying to step out of them without breaking the kiss, and Agatha was pushing at Rio’s shorts until they joined Agatha’s clothes on the floor.

Rio went to push her down on the bed, but Agatha caught her hand, twisted her and shoved her onto the bed instead. Like Agatha said, if they were doing this, she was doing it to the princess and not the other way around.

Rio propped herself up with her elbows as Agatha climbed on top of her, her right hand holding her up by Rio’s shoulder as she used her left to pull down her lacey black underwear. Without warning, she slid her hand down Rio’s core until she could cup it.

The princess groaned as her palm made contact.

“Jesus, you’re dripping. I’ve barely touched you.”

“Hm,” Rio got out, but it was strangled and breathy. “Like you’re not.”

Agatha felt cool skin against her heated stomach. Rio snaked her hand beneath her underwear until she was cupping Agatha too.

She bit down on her bottom lip to try and suppress the moan, but the sound that came out was far worse. A desperate whimper.

Rio’s palm slid easily against the wetness, and she grinned. “Told you.”

Agatha woke up with a jolt.

She blinked as the dream flashed before her eyes.

“Oh, for fucksake,” Agatha groaned. She shifted and felt the stickiness of her underwear. “Seriously?”

“You okay?” Wanda croaked next to her. Her head pressed into Agatha’s neck.

“Mhm,” Agatha replied. “Go back to sleep.”

She felt the redhead nod against her skin.

Agatha was so fucked.

***

Rio was late for her 12-2 PM seminar. The traffic in London today was horrendous, and she had to get to the Strand Campus, which was in Westminster of all places. If she could just take the tube, her life would be so much easier.

She got out of the car when it pulled up and ran through the building towards her seminar room. When she walked in, all twenty eyes in it locked onto her. She bit her lip, Professor Calderu was in the middle of speaking.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” Rio apologised.

“That’s alright, dear. Take a seat,” Lilia smiled.

Rio nodded and scanned the room for an empty seat. Her mouth almost dried out when she locked onto deep blue.

Agatha was wearing a black and white pinstriped button-up with a black mini skirt and platform Doc Martins. Her hair was in loose, almost beach waves after she’d taken her hair out of her Dutch braids from last night. And she was wearing fucking glasses.

When had Agatha worn glasses?

On top of that, she’d left at least four of her top buttons undone, revealing a great deal of cleavage.

Yeah, that did it. Rio was surprised she hadn’t fainted.

She slid into the chair next to her without taking her eyes off her.

The brunette raised an eyebrow, and Rio could only stare at her.

Professor Calderu continued speaking, and it fell on deaf ears because why was Agatha literally perfect?

“And you three can be in a group,” Lilia said, coming over to them.

Rio blinked. What had she missed?

Lilia placed a piece of paper on the table with a question on it. “I want you to use the library, the internet, Google Scholar, etc. Research previous answers, collect data and evaluate how to answer the question properly. Next week, you will present your findings to the class.”

Rio looked up to see Billy smiling at her. When had he gotten there?

Lilia walked away, and the class just stared at her.

She furrowed her eyebrows. “Well…go on then,” Lilia urged.

Rio and Agatha reached for the piece of paper at the same time, their hands grabbing onto either corner. Blue eyes narrowed.

Agatha lifted her hands off the paper and put them up in surrender. “Princess’s first.”

Rio raised an eyebrow. “That was uncharacteristically nice of you.”

Agatha shrugged. “I like to keep you on your toes, darlin.”

Darlin, said like that, said in her disarming British accent.

Rio opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Agatha smirked, she knew what she was fucking doing.

“Are you going to read the question then, Rio-Sofia?” Billy asked.

“I…erm…” Rio stuttered.

Agatha’s smirk only grew.

Rio cleared her throat and began. The question was about two men who had been fighting outside a bar. One of the hypothetical boys, Joe, had been beaten to a pulp. An ambulance had been called twenty minutes later, and once he arrived at the hospital. It was decided he needed a blood transfusion. The doctor, Doctor Murray, didn’t check what Joe’s blood type was, gave him the wrong blood and killed him.

“Fucking idiot,” Agatha mumbled.

Rio let out a short laugh and quickly steeled herself when Agatha looked at her.

The medical evidence indicated that the blood transfusion and the delay to arriving at the hospital contributed significantly to his death.

“Consider the criminal liability of Daniel (the boy who beat him up) and Doctor Murray. You should focus your analysis on offences and defences that we’ve covered in lectures and our own research.”

“Okay,” Agatha clapped. “Let’s get to work.”

“Does it say what Joe’s blood type was?” Billy asked.

Rio shook her head.

“It’s irrelevant anyways. They gave him the wrong blood.”

“Oh,” Billy squeaked.

“You heard all of that and that’s the only thing you took from it?” Agatha asked, her face scrunched.

“I…no…”

“Why are you even doing law? You seem like you’d crumple under the slightest bit of pressure. And you’re like twelve.”

“I’m not twelve!” Billy spluttered.

“Right, you’re a teen forgot.”

“You’re only two years older than me!”

“So you say,” Agatha replied, leaning back in her chair.

Rio smiled.

They spent the next hour and a half going over their notes from their previous lectures and how best they could apply them to the material, whilst Billy asked stupid questions. They set up a plan to meet at the British Library tomorrow at 11 AM.

***

Agatha had a new plan when dealing with the princess. After that very disturbing (fucking phenomenal) dream she had about her, she got an idea. She didn’t have to just be a bitch to Rio-Sofia, she was weirdly into that anyway, she could make her life hell.

By baiting her.

Agatha was a flirt. If flirting were an Olympic sport, she was sure she’d win gold. She could flirt with Rio-Sofia and see how far the princess would let her take it.

So, when she found out she’d have to work with Rio-Sofia for a whole week, at first, she was annoyed, but then she realised the princess wouldn’t be able to escape her. Between hockey practice, living together, lectures and now this? Oh, Agatha was going to have a field day.

Her plan was already working. She’d seen the way the princess had looked when she saw her in their seminar and her reaction to Agatha calling her ‘darlin,’ fucking priceless.

Agatha’s phone buzzed whilst she was walking to her accommodation after going to Sainsbury’s to buy some milk. Now, technically, she should not be going on her phone whilst going down a busy street next to a road, the London phone thieves were alive and well. But Agatha was prepared to kill someone if they dared try to take her purple iPhone 14 she spent all of last summer saving up for.

Fifth floor lesbians (and a princess), Jen: There’s a man in our flat???

Fifth floor lesbians (and a princess), Agatha: Ew??? Wtf.

Fifth floor lesbians (and a princess), Alice: can you ask him to leave?

Fifth floor lesbians (and a princess), Jen: He’s with one of Rio’s security guards. Rio, girl…who is he?

The princess didn’t reply.

Well, now Agatha just had to get home. Who and why was there a fucking man in their flat and why did he know Rio-Sofia?

When Agatha approached her accommodation door, Rio-Sofia was getting out of her car. Agatha hated how good she’d looked today. She was wearing a dark washed double denim set. She’d put little plaits throughout her loose waves and was wearing multiple silver hoops in her ears.

“Who’s the man in our flat then?” Agatha asked when she approached with Lucia.

The princess furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know?”

Rio-Sofia shook her head and looked to Lucia, who was biting her lip.

“Who is it, Lucia?” Rio-Sofia asked her.

“I can only explain when we go up, the queen’s orders.”

Rio-Sofia looked at her in horror.

As they made their way up in the lift (it’d been fixed thank fuck) Agatha was buzzing with anticipation, who was this mysterious man? Was the princess in trouble? Wait…that wasn’t a good thing because then she couldn’t mess with her.

Wait fuck!

They stepped out of the lift, and Rio-Sofia let them into the flat.

“Rio? Is that you?” Alice called from the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Rio-Sofia replied. “Agatha’s here too.”

They walked to the kitchen, and the man in question wasn’t exactly a man…he looked their age. He had chocolate brown hair, olive skin and green eyes. He smiled at Rio-Sofia when he saw her and completely ignored Agatha, which was perfectly fine with her.

Lucia cleared her throat. “Princesa, esto es Mateo Ruiz.” Princess, this is Mateo Ruiz.

Mateo stepped forward, took Rio-Sofia’s hand and kissed it.

Fucking cringe.

Rio-Sofia flared her eyes; she looked like a startled deer, and Agatha had to laugh. Mateo’s eyes snapped to her, and she just shrugged.

“Encantada de conocerte.” Nice to meet you. He still hadn’t let go of Rio-Sofia’s hand yet, and Agatha could see her squirming to free it.

“Err…si. Tú también.” Er...yes. Same here.

She finally freed her hand and discreetly wiped it on her jeans. Agatha had to laugh again.

Mateo glared at her, and Agatha only smiled.

“Vas a almorzar con él.” You’re having lunch with him. Lucia told her.

Rio’s eyes widened. “Er…I can’t. Agatha and I have an assignment,” Rio said hastily.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Jen interjected.

“They’re going to lunch,” Agatha told her.

Rio-Sofia’s jaw dropped.

Oh…wait fuck.

She’d revealed her hidden card, that she could understand Spanish. She was trying to keep that fact under wraps just in case the princess and Alice ever thought about talking shit about her in front of her.

“You speak Spanish?”

Agatha shrugged.

“Yeah, anyway, I can’t go,” Rio-Sofia repeated.

“Las órdenes de la reina, princesa.” The queen’s orders, princess. Lucia said sympathetically.

Rio-Sofia scoffed. “Mierda.” Shit.

“Should we go?” Mateo asked.

In all honesty, Agatha had forgotten he was even there.

“Fine,” Rio-Sofia replied. “But she’s coming with me,” she pointed at Agatha.

“Done,” Lucia said.

“Okay,” Agatha replied.

Jen blinked. “You’re gonna go…with them?”

Agatha shrugged. “Sure, she owes me a lifetime of food anyway. Could be fun.”

And it would be. Agatha would get to watch Rio-Sofia on a date with a man. It was going to be so awkward, so entertaining, so…

…Wait.

Agatha was going to have to watch Rio-Sofia go on a date with a fucking man?!

Chapter Text

They were at The Ritz again. A private table again.

Why three twenty-year-olds needed to be eating at The Ritz for lunch, Rio didn’t know, but her mother was paying, so it wasn’t Rio’s issue.

She was sitting between Agatha and Mateo around their small circular table.

Fucking Mateo. What was her mother thinking? Sending her off on some date without even fucking telling her. Inviting Agatha was a spur-of-the-moment type of thing. She hadn’t actually expected the brunette to say yes. But like Agatha said, she was keeping her on her toes.

Agatha pulled down her shirt, revealing more of her cleavage, and Rio had to turn away so she wouldn’t stare. Fucking bitch, she was trying to kill her.

“So…” Mateo said awkwardly. “Have you found a church to go to yet, Rio-Sofia? Your mother, our queen, said you were looking for one.”

Of course, she fucking did.

“Er…no.”

“I’ve found one, I can bring you to the next service if you would like?” Mateo offered with a smile.

“No…that’s…it’s okay. I’m not catholic.”

Mateo furrowed his eyebrows. “You’re not…catholic?”

Rio shook her head.

“But you’re the princess of Spain,” he told her.

Yes. Rio was well aware.

Agatha snorted, and Mateo snapped his gaze to her.

“Oh, sorry,” Agatha said through a laugh. “Just because she’s the princess of Spain, she must be catholic?”

“Yes,” Mateo replied sharply.

Agatha laughed harder. “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. It’s like me saying I have to be catholic because my mother is.”

“You grew up catholic?” Rio asked in surprise.

“You couldn’t tell?”

“I should’ve been able to,” Rio clicked her tongue. “You are a bitch, raging lesbian and a bit of a slag.”

Agatha grinned. “There she is. I was getting bored with you being all nice to me. And look at you with the British lingo.”

Rio smiled back. “I learn from the best.”

Mateo cleared his throat.

Oh, right. You’re still here.

The two girls turned to him with bored expressions.

“¿Qué quieres comer-?” What do you want to eat-? Mateo started before Rio cut him off.

“Let’s stick to English, why don’t we? I wouldn’t want anyone feeling left out. Although,” she turned to Agatha. “You speak Spanish. Where’d you pick that up anyway?”

“I did it for my GCSES and A levels,” Agatha replied.

Rio raised an eyebrow. “You did? Why?”

The brunette shrugged. “Had a point to prove.”

Rio scoffed playfully. “Of course, you did.”

Mateo cleared his throat again. “So, food?”

***

The waitress had been and gone, their food had been ordered, and now Rio was sitting with a glass of Sprite and a slice of warm baguette on her side plate. She leaned across the table at the same time Agatha did to grab the butter. Their fingers touched, and Rio’s entire body buzzed.

What the fuck? I’m not even drunk!

The brunette raised an eyebrow. “I think it’s only fair you let me go first this time after the graciousness I showed you earlier.”

Rio let go of the dish. “Agatha’s first,” Rio gestured.

“Only correct answer,” Agatha replied as she took the butter.

Rio watched as she tucked one of her loose waves behind her ear, revealing her decked-out ear covered in gold.

“You look really beautiful today,” Rio told her before she had the chance to think.

Blue eyes snapped up from where they’d been concentrated on buttering her bread.

“It’s these clothes,” Agatha replied. “Yeah, this super-rich princess took it upon herself to buy me some. I think she wants to be my sugar mama or something.”

Rio laughed, rolling her eyes. “The princess regrets nothing.”

Agatha’s face fell the slightest of inches like she wanted to soften her expression, but she steeled herself, her lips tugging into a smirk. “I noticed there were a lot of miniskirts…why’s that?”

Was there? Rio genuinely hadn’t noticed; her brain was working on two settings: Agatha would like that, Agatha would burn that. Whatever she thought Agatha would like, she bought.

But Rio didn’t say that…no…

“Easy access.”

Agatha quirked an eyebrow, her smirk never wavering. “Oh, yeah? I’ll let Wanda know who to thank.”

Rio’s hands clenched into fists underneath the table, but she kept her face neutral. “I’ll expect a handwritten letter from her and anyone else who benefits.”

“Noted,” Agatha replied. She placed the butter next to Rio’s plate.

“So, Rio-Sofia, what do you like to do?” Mateo asked.

You’re still here???

“Oh…erm…”

“Go on,” Agatha urged.

“I like to sew and garden. I don’t have a garden here, but I have plants and flowers in my room. And cook. I love to cook,” the words tumbling out of her mouth.

“Do you have a favourite flower or plant?” Mateo asked.

Rio stared at him until Agatha leaned forward, seemingly intrigued.

“Lavender, azaleas, ferns.”

Agatha’s eyebrows furrowed. “Lavender?”

Rio nodded.

“Of course,” Agatha muttered under her breath.

Before Rio had a chance to ask, Mateo cut in:

“Those are lovely choices, Rio-Sofia.”

Rio cringed.

“What about you, Agatha?” She asked.

“Hockey, pissing off men, sleeping with hot women,” Agatha replied.

Rio snorted, and Mateo looked at her in horror.

“How long have you been playing hockey for?” Rio asked.

“Since I was eleven.”

She let out a low whistle. “Long time. Did you ever think about going pro?”

Agatha shook her head. “Couldn’t have even if I wanted to.”

She’d said it with such finality that Rio knew there was a second force at play that had nothing to do with Agatha’s ability to play the sport.

“Have you ever been to see an England game live?”

Agatha took a bite of her bread before she said, “Nope.”

“If I can, I’d like to take you to one…one day,” Rio said.

Agatha’s mouth parted as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she didn’t, just stared at her, but it was different. Rio had never seen her look at her like that before.

“What about you, Rio-Sofia? Have you watched any sports live?” Mateo asked.

Why the fuck is he still here?!

Rio blinked at him until Agatha said:

“Enlighten us, princess.”

“Formula 1 and football…women’s football. You couldn’t pay me to watch a bunch of sweaty men running about a field for ninety minutes.”

Agatha laughed. “What teams do you support?”

“Real Madrid, obviously, and Ferrari.”

“Ferrari? What colour are they again?”

It was Rio’s turn to laugh. “Oh, come on, everyone knows that.”

Agatha shook her head. “Nope.”

“Red. Speaking of what is your favourite colour?”

Rio figured she already knew she just wanted the confirmation.

“Why? You gonna buy me everything that colour?” Agatha smiled. “Guess.”

“Purple.”

“I feel like you have people watching me. Why do you know that?”

“Guess mine then.”

“Green.”

“I feel like you have people watching me. Why do you know that?” Rio smirked.

Agatha rolled her eyes as Mateo cleared his throat. He was like a pest that wouldn’t fucking leave you alone.

“Mine’s orange.”

“No one asked,” Agatha replied bluntly.

***

She was being far too nice. Yeah, okay, so Agatha was switching tactics but that meant flirting not whatever the fuck was happening now. Why were they getting to know each other?

They weren’t supposed to be doing that; that wasn’t what they did. She blamed Mateo (because everything was a man’s fault), if he hadn’t randomly shown up at Rio-Sofia’s door, then none of this would’ve happened.

Dickhead.

Agatha had to do better.

She took a spoonful of her tomato soup and purposely let some slip down the corner of her mouth. When she locked eyes with Rio-Sofia, the princess gestured to it.

“You’ve got something…”

“Oh, do I?” she feigned surprise. “Silly me.”

Without breaking eye contact, she pushed her thumb into her mouth collecting the soup before sucking on it. She watched the princess's throat bobble.

Agatha dropped her voice low when she asked, “Gone?”

Rio-Sofia blinked before she nodded her head rapidly.

Agatha grinned, “Thanks, darlin.”

Rio-Sofia scoffed before sticking her tongue in her cheek.

Woah??? What the fuck was that?

This was a new development; Rio-Sofia had never done that before.

“So, you’re doing law?” Annoying Mateo asked the princess.

She nodded.

“Are you enjoying it?”

“Erm, it’s-”

She cut herself off when Agatha slid her foot in between Rio-Sofia’s legs, pressing on the inside of her ankle.

Brown eyes snapped to her, and Agatha smiled. “Go on,” her smile innocent.

“It’s-”

Agatha moved her foot up, and Rio-Sofia’s body stiffened.

To drive the knife in Agatha:

“Tell us,” she urged, leaning in and resting her hand on Rio-Sofia’s knee underneath the table.

The princess’s eyes widened before she pushed her hand away.

“It’s fine,” she got out. “I wouldn’t have picked it myself.”

“Oh, no?” Agatha questioned; she slid her foot even further up her leg.

Rio-Sofia bit her lip, and Agatha grinned.

This was so fucking fun.

“No, I would’ve done biology, but my mother wouldn’t let me,” she replied.

“Wouldn’t let you?” Agatha asked.

The princess shook her head.

Interesting.

“What about you? Why law?”

Now, this Agatha could answer easily. She went to do just that when she felt soft skin on her bare leg. She looked at Rio-Sofia, who was leaning down ever so slightly, her fingertips creating patterns on her exposed leg.

Fucking bitch.

She tried to pull it away, but Rio-Sofia had trapped it there, pressing her legs together so she couldn’t move hers.

“Don’t tell me I have you at a loss for words…” Rio-Sofia smiled. “With my question, I mean.”

Agatha should’ve known she wasn’t going to make it easy again after the way she had cleared the floor with her during their seminar earlier.

“Law, because I like to prove people wrong when they doubt me, because they never should,” Agatha powered through. She would not allow the princess to know she was affecting her.

“No, they shouldn’t,” Rio-Sofia replied, her voice far too raspy for Agatha’s liking.

The waitress arrived then. Good, Agatha needed a new play.

“How’s your food today, everyone?” The waitress asked.

Agatha opened her mouth to reply before the princess beat her to it.

“Good, thank you. You’ve been such a wonderful waitress; I would like to pass on my compliments to your boss. What’s your name?” Rio-Sofia replied.

“Oh,” the waitress blushed. “Erm…it’s Emma.”

Rio-Sofia smiled. “It suits you. You’re beautiful by the way,” Rio-Sofia told the stunning waitress with big hazel eyes, brown skin and curly hair whilst she was still drawing patterns on Agatha’s bare leg.

Why was this happening? Why did the princess have the upper hand? This wasn’t…she wasn’t supposed to-

“Thank…thank…you,” the beautiful fucking waitress Emma stuttered. “You’re stunning also.”

Rio-Sofia’s smile only grew. “Why, thank you. I think you’ve just made my day. Nothing beats being complimented by a beautiful girl.”

Emma continued to blush like a fucking idiot and Rio-Sofia was eating it up because Agatha had started squirming (unintentionally) in her seat.

“How long have you worked here, Emma?” Rio-Sofia asked, carrying on the conversation that should’ve ended after she asked them if their food was okay.

“Not long. I’m a uni student working here part-time.”

“Oh, you are?” Rio-Sofia leaned in as if she were interested when Agatha figured it was just an excuse to reach further along her leg. “Where do you go?”

“KCL,” Emma told her.

“Oh, no way! Us too, isn’t that right, Agatha?” She turned to her, her eyes mischievous.

Agatha was going to fucking strangle her.

“Mhm. Emma, don’t you have other tables that need attending to?” Agatha snapped.

Emma stiffened. “Erm…yes…yes. If you need me, feel free to shout.”

“We won’t,” Agatha cut in before Rio-Sofia had a chance to flirt again.

“We’ll let you know if we need anything,” the princess replied with her stupid fucking smile.

Emma finally fucked off.

“She seemed nice,” Mateo said, oblivious to what had happened.

“Very,” Rio-Sofia grinned as she finally let go of Agatha’s leg.

Agatha shuffled up on her chair and moved her legs away from Rio-Sofia.

She’d lost that round. Agatha fucking hated losing.

Chapter Text

“And how was lunch yesterday?” The queen asked Rio as she sat on her bed, lacing up her black and white Wales Bonner X Adidas Samba’s. She’d added an ‘I heart NY’ pin to her left shoe and a silver dragonfly to the right.

“Fine,” Rio replied.

“Good to hear. Do you like Mateo?”

I literally said about five words to him. “He’s not really…like him how?” Rio asked instead.

“You know what I mean, Rio-Sofia. He is the first out of five potential candidates whom you might want to wed.”

“Wed?” Rio spluttered. “What?! Mother, I’m twenty and gay!”

“You won’t marry them now. You still have a couple of years,” she’d ignored the last part of Rio’s statement. “You have a lunch each week for the next four. You’re lucky, Rio-Sofia.”

Rio scoffed.

“You are. I didn’t get five options,” the queen continued.

Was Rio supposed to be thankful that her mother was letting her pick from five men? When Rio didn’t like men, period?

“What if I don’t go?” Rio pushed back because what in the actual fuck.

“Then you’re not coming back to Spain,” her mother stated simply.

“Are you serious?” Rio almost yelled.

“Deadly. So, how was the date from one to ten?”

“A zero,” Rio replied before she hung up the phone.

Now, technically, that was a lie. Minus Mateo, the date with Agatha was an eleven. Rio felt like she actually knew her a little now. Before it was purely attraction, observation and a mutual hate. But now…

Rio knew she’d been playing hockey since she was eleven, her favourite colour was purple (Rio actually already knew this, but it was nice to have the confirmation), she had a weird thing about lavender, and she’d learnt Spanish for fourteen years at least.

She also discovered that although Agatha was right-handed, she used her cutlery as if she were left; she appeared to like butter after the healthy amount of it she would add to her slices of bread, and she can’t go a few mouthfuls without having a drink of something.

Agatha was also flirting. Which she knew she had started doing, but at lunch? The soup stuff? The leg stuff? Rio had not been prepared for that. She almost shattered into a million pieces the first time she felt Agatha’s foot on her ankle. She almost combusted when her shoe lifted up her jeans, and she felt Agatha’s bare leg against her bare shin.

Rio thought she wasn’t going to be able to continue with the lunch until she remembered…

…Wait. I can do that too.

And she did.

Teasing Agatha was almost as fun as being teased herself. The cherry on top of the cake was when their super-hot waitress came, and Rio jumped in to flirt with her before Agatha could. To see the brunette squirm in her seat as Rio did so was something she wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Rio opened the door to find Agatha behind it. She was wearing a body fitting white tank top that had a red lace bra poking out the top and sides, along with some wide leg baggy grey Nike sweatpants. The black leather Longchamp bag Rio had gotten her on her shoulder. She’d added a gold ‘A’ keychain to the zip as well as a small purple plastic bunny.

Her hair was down, and she was wearing those damn glasses.

Oh, for fucksake.

Rio was so fucked.

“You ready for the library?” Agatha asked.

Rio nodded, going to retrieve her own uni bag, phone and water bottle before joining Agatha outside her room.

“Can we walk?” Agatha asked. “I know you have to be driven everywhere, but the British Library is down the street, and I could use the fresh air.”

Rio turned to Lucia, “¿Por favor, Cia?”

Lucia huffed before she said:

“Vamos.” Go on.

Rio hugged her. “¡Muchas gracias!”

“De nada,” Lucia replied through a laugh. “I’ll be walking behind you the entire time, though.”

“Eso está bien.” That’s okay. Rio replied.

“Vale.” Okay. Agatha replied at the same time.

Rio and Lucia stared at her. Yes, she now knew Agatha spoke Spanish, but she wasn’t expecting her to start whipping it out. Why was her accent almost perfect? Rio would still be able to tell she was British, her accent too strong to ever actually be concealed, but it was a close second.

“Shall we go then?” Agatha asked when they had stared at her for a moment too long.

“Yeah,” Rio smiled. “Let’s go.”

***

The weather was nippy as expected at a quarter to eleven in London during autumn. Rio had on black vintage windbreaker Adidas bottoms (and yes, she was very happy that the stripe coordinated with her shoes), her favourite t-shirt that her mother would murder her if she knew she owned, it was light blue and had ‘Father Figure’ written over the bust. And a dark grey Carhart hoodie because it was five degrees, and she wasn’t cold-blooded like Agatha appeared to be.

“You’re not cold?” Rio asked her as they stepped into the library.

Agatha shook her head. “Nope. You’re in England now, princess, get used to it,” she grinned.

Rio rolled her eyes with a smile.

Billy had texted them that he’d found a table on the first floor. As Agatha navigated her way around the large space, evidently having been there before, Rio had to stop to take it all in. She would always be in awe of libraries. They were spaces filled to the brim with facts and tales. A place for people to learn as much as their heart and brain would allow them to.

Libraries, in Rio’s opinion, were just as powerful as an armoury. Why else are they always targeted first during wars?

She looked up at the wall of books concealed behind glass that reached the ceiling. It was-

“Beautiful, right?”

Rio turned to Agatha, who was standing next to her.

Rio nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

The two just stood there for a moment, staring at the books.

“If I could,” Agatha spoke moments later. “I would read every book in this place.”

“Would you want some company?” Rio replied before she could stop herself.

Blue eyes glanced at her before returning to the books. “Yes.”

Rio’s lips twitched.

“Just not yours,” Agatha continued with a smirk before she walked off.

Rio was full-blown smiling now as she followed the other girl up the steps and towards Billy.

He lit up when he saw them, shuffling his textbooks around so that the places in front of the empty chairs were cleared.

“Morning,” he whisper yelled.

Agatha grunted, and Rio replied with her own good morning.

Billy pulled out the crinkled piece of paper with the question on it and placed it in the centre of the table.

“Let’s get to work then,” he grinned.

***

Now, Rio was supposed to be working. Reading through her texts and lecture notes to help her focus her analysis on the offences and defences of the case.

But there was a teeny tiny little problem…

Agatha ran her hand down the side of her neck in a back-and-forth motion. Her long hair falling over her right shoulder as she bit down on her pen, her glasses framing her blue eyes running down the length of the textbook she was reading.

Focus.

Rio blinked.

Yes. She should be focusing. She returned her gaze to her textbook…momentarily. Her eyes drifted back to the brunette.

She watched as Agatha jotted notes down on her notepad. Her long, slender fingers curled around the pen as she wrote. Rio could see the veins shooting up her hand as she tensed it to write. She couldn’t help but wonder what those fingers might feel like inside-

“Are you okay, Rio-Sofia?” Billy asked her.

She almost jumped out of her skin.

“Jesus, you scared me,” Rio told him, her hand over her heart.

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows.

“By asking you if you’re okay…?”

“Yes,” Rio defended. “The library’s quiet, so when you spoke, I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Right…” Billy said sceptically. “I was just asking because you haven’t written anything, and we’ve been here for nearly an hour now.”

That couldn’t be true. Rio looked down, and lo and behold, it was true. What the hell had she been doing this entire time (staring at Agatha)?

“No, I have,” Rio replied weakly. “I’ve just been…reading.”

“Okay…” Billy continued in his same sceptical tone. “I’m going outside for a vape break. Does anyone want to come?”

Rio shook her head, and Agatha waved him off.

“Alright then,” Billy said and left.

“You okay over there, darlin?” Agatha asked.

And she just had to call her that when Rio was already in heat.

She leaned towards her, and the straps of her top and bra fell off her shoulder. Of course, Agatha didn’t bother pulling them up.

“Wow. You really haven’t written anything.”

Agatha was so close now Rio could tell she’d recently washed her hair. Fruity fragrances wafted up her nose, and she had to stop herself from sighing obnoxiously loud because of it.

“Okay, what’s the issue?” Agatha asked as she climbed onto the chair next to her.

Rio could feel her body heat now, could see the goosebumps along her arms…which was strange because she wasn’t supposed to be cold.

“What are you struggling with?”

Rio raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Agatha laughed. “I’m not getting a shitty grade because you aren’t doing any work.”

How does one tell the girl they’re crushing on that they don’t in fact need any help and would be fine if they just put a bin bag over their head?

Agatha raised her eyebrows in amusement when Rio didn’t reply.

“Hm,” she hummed as she studied Rio’s face.

Oh, how desperately she wanted to turn away from her and look at anything else. But she couldn't otherwise, she would’ve lost. It would be mortifying to lose like this, considering Agatha hadn’t even flirted or touched her.

She’d just sat and looked pretty…literally.

“Oh!” Agatha said as if she’d come to the realisation. She slid her hand along Rio’s thigh until she gripped it, and Rio’s leg jumped involuntarily. “Fucking knew it,” Agatha muttered victoriously. “It’s me, isn’t? I’m distracting you, huh?”

“No,” Rio replied petulantly. Here is where she would’ve slapped Agatha’s hand away, but if she did that, she would just be proving her point.

Instead, Rio had to sit and try to ignore the tight knot twisting in her core.

“I haven’t even started messing with you yet, and I’ve been affecting you this much?” Agatha laughed. “Do I have you wrapped around my finger, Rio-Sofia?”

Yes. “No,” Rio snapped.

Oh, fuck.

Agatha moved her hand dangerously higher up Rio’s thigh.

Thank god there were only a few people around. This behaviour was not appropriate for a public library.

Agatha’s lips brushed the shell of Rio’s ear when she whispered in a sing-song voice:

“I don’t believe you. I bet you’re dripping for me.”

Rio’s entire body went rigid at Agatha’s words.

Damn. She was losing badly.

Rio leaned in from where Agatha had pulled back, their noses almost touching, before Rio whispered into Agatha’s ear:

“I am. Would you like to feel just how much?”

Agatha jerked her head back, eyes blinking rapidly.

Andddd…Rio Vidal was back.

Why deny when you can just be brutally honest, right? Why allow yourself to be teased when you can just get railed if you’re bold enough? Why not tell the beautiful brunette that she is in fact, correct and that you are dripping for her to throw her off guard.

“What’s the matter, baby?” Rio asked patronisingly as Agatha continued to blink at her. “Did I not follow the script?”

She felt Agatha’s grip tighten around her thigh.

“Or, we could skip to the next scene and find the closest bathroom before we violate a couple laws all having to do with public indecency.” Rio dropped her gaze to Agatha’s twitching fingers that were inches away from brushing against her core.

Agatha snatched her hand away.

“No,” Rio whined. “Put it back, I liked it there!” Rio teased.

“Fuck you,” Agatha snapped. “You’re not going to know what’s hit you when I’m through with you.”

“Can’t wait,” Rio grinned.

Billy returned then, and good because Rio was certain Agatha was seconds away from biting her head off.

***

To put it lightly…Agatha was pissed.

Not only had she lost yesterday, she had just lost again! They weren’t even supposed to be playing yet. She actually was trying to get her work done. But then Rio-Sofia had to sit there and get all flustered over Agatha doing absolutely nothing. And then Agatha had to mess with her, and then Rio-Sofia had to one-up her again!

Now, Agatha was fuming and cold because the library was bloody freezing.

She tapped her foot incessantly as she tried to return to her work. The princess seemed to be working perfectly fine now. She’d filled four pages of her A4 notepad, whereas thirty minutes ago it was blank.

Agatha couldn’t focus.

Rio-Sofia looked up from where she had been reading her laptop, and Agatha swore to whoever that if the princess said anything even remotely teasing, she was going to slap her.

“Do you want my jumper?”

That…that wasn’t teasing.

“You’re shivering and have been for the past half an hour,” Rio-Sofia continued.

Agatha should say no. If she admitted to being cold, then it’d be taking back her words from earlier. And what about Rio-Sofia? Wouldn’t she be cold?

You’re not supposed to care about that.

Right.

“Give it,” Agatha demanded.

The princess smiled before shrugging off her dark grey Carhart hoodie and handing it to her. Agatha made a point to not thank Rio-Sofia as she pulled the hoodie over her head and settled it on her body.

It was warm with Rio-Sofia’s body heat and smelt like her. Vanilla, sandalwood and something nutty filled Agatha’s nostrils along with…was that honey?

Oh, for fucksake.

Agatha pulled the sleeves halfway up her hands, and when she did, she noticed the little ‘R.V.’ sewn with green thread on the right cuff. Was that some type of mandatory royal thing? All their clothes had to be labelled?

Or just a Rio-Sofia thing. She did say she liked to sew. It’s really well done, actually.

Stop it.

Her brain kept doing that. Remembering things that Rio-Sofia had told her yesterday at lunch. Wanda had been wearing a red top when she came to see her last night, and she immediately thought, Oh, like Rio-Sofia’s favourite car racing team.

She’d started cutting up a cucumber for her dinner and Agatha had thought, Green, like Rio-Sofia’s favourite colour.

It was becoming a problem.

“Is it warm enough?” Rio-Sofia asked.

Agatha looked up at her, a scowl on her face, until her gaze dropped to the princess’s shirt. ‘Father figure’ was written across it.

Why was that the hottest thing Agatha had ever seen her in?

She shoved the thought away to get out a grumbled:

“No.”

Rio-Sofia laughed. “Well, it’s all I’ve got. So, deal with it or give it back.”

Agatha turned away from her, that being a response in itself. She saw the princess shake her head in her peripheral, saw her do that stupidly hot tongue thing.

Agatha was ready to go home now.

***

Two hours and a silent ten-minute walk home later, Agatha was back at home. She’d locked in for the last hour and a half at the library, blanking the princess out completely (partially).

“In here,” Alice called from the kitchen when Rio-Sofia let them into their flat.

The two girls and Lucia made their way to the kitchen, where Alice, Jen, Natasha and Wanda were sitting around the island.

Wanda smiled at her when she saw her, and Natasha smiled at Rio-Sofia.

“I haven’t seen you in days,” Natasha told the princess as she turned in her chair to hug her.

“You saw me on Wednesday, Nat,” Rio-Sofia replied as they hugged.

“Yes…which was days ago.”

Rio-Sofia laughed, pulling away as Agatha felt Wanda’s arm wrap around her waist. She suppressed the urge to pull away.

“We were thinking about going out tonight,” Jen told them. “What do you think?”

“Well, you know I’m always down for a night out,” Agatha replied.

Rio-Sofia shook her head. “I can’t go out again. I got lucky last time. I don’t think I should risk it again. Plus,” she turned to Alice. “With the new sowing kit you got me, I can entertain myself for hours.” She smiled. “You guys have fun.”

Alice turned to Lucia. “¿Cia, por favor? Nosotros cuidaremos de ella.” Cia, please? We will look after her. Alice pleaded.

Lucia pressed her lips into a tight line. Her eyes darted around the table of girls.

“Hablé con Carlos, y me dijo-” I spoke to Carlos, and he told me- Alice continued before Lucia cut her off.

“Ah!”

The princess furrowed her eyebrows. “¿Qué te dijo mi hermano?” What did my brother tell you?
“

Do you all promise to keep an eye out for her?” Lucia addressed the girls.

They all nodded, and Lucia locked eyes with Agatha.

“¿Lo prometes?” Do you promise? She was speaking to Agatha and Agatha alone.

For some reason, Agatha felt the need to swallow. “Sí.”

Wanda’s grip tightened around her waist, drawing her closer.

“Okay then. You can go out just once,” Lucia told them.

The girls squealed and clapped.

“Wait, what are you going to wear?” Alice asked her.

All the girls broke out into a conversation about what they were going to wear.

Agatha, however, kept quiet. She was plotting.

If Rio-Sofia wasn’t a whining mess by the end of tonight, then Agatha had failed.

She wasn’t doing that again.

Chapter Text

Agatha’s plan was going swimmingly.

Firstly, whilst she was making dinner, she accidentally dropped her wooden spoon on the floor when she was stirring her pasta. She picked it up in the sluttiest way possible giving Rio-Sofia a full view of her ass as she did so (she was wearing the shortest shorts known to man).

Secondly, she announced that she was going to be wearing a red one-shoulder top and mini skirt out tonight. She described it in full detail so that Rio-Sofia knew exactly which skirt she was referring to. A simple black skirt that sat low-waisted on her hips and could probably pass as a belt (there’s no point wearing a mini skirt if it could not pass as a belt). She also made a joke about the ‘easy access’ Rio-Sofia had spoken about the other day.

Lastly, and this truly was by accident. She’d gone out of her room in just her lacy purple underwear and top because Jen had borrowed said mini skirt and she needed it back. It was only a quick trip, so she didn’t bother putting on more clothes. Rio-Sofia to Agatha’s luck was leaving Alice’s room as she entered the hallway, and Agatha had to hold back a laugh at the way her jaw dropped to the floor.

Now they were at pres on the sofas in their flat, and Agatha had made a point to sit next to the princess. They were a couple of drinks in, and Agatha had started to let her hands wander. Just a graze of an elbow here and a hand on a thigh as she leaned over to grab her drink there.

They were playing twenty-one questions (the drinking version where every time you said a number, you had to drink (so they were drinking all the time)).

“Twenty-one,” Rio-Sofia said, taking a sip of vodka squash. “Give it to me.”

“I have a question,” Agatha announced immediately.

“Erm…I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Alice told her. “You know…because of the last time.”

“Yeah,” Natasha chimed in. “You’re not gonna be bitch to Ri again, are you?”

Ri. When the fuck did she start calling her that?

Agatha waved them off. “It’s harmless. Just normal drinking game questions. What do you say, Rio-Sofia?” Agatha asked, leaning into her so their arms touched.

“Go on.”

“Who was the last person you slept with?”

Agatha wanted to know…for research purposes…

The princess shifted, pulling away from her so they were no longer touching.

“Erm…I haven’t…I mean not properly. I’ve only given, not received,” the princess said awkwardly.

Now that was interesting information.

“What?” Natasha asked, surprised. “I wouldn’t have thought that.”

Rio-Sofia shrugged. “Not by choice obviously. It’s the whole princess of Spain thing,” she quipped.

“Ah,” Natasha replied.

“And who was the person?” Agatha asked.

“You only get one question,” Rio-Sofia smirked, leaning back into her.

“Why do you want to know, Aggs?” Jen asked.

“Sometimes, Jennifer, a question is just a question.”

“Right,” Jen replied, clearly not believing her.

“Okay! I’m starting,” Wanda interrupted.

She started counting again, and Agatha was churning over this new piece of information. This was good stuff. She knew what it felt like to be in heat and not be able to do anything about it. Up until a few weeks ago, she’d have to watch pretty girls walk by and leave it at that when she was foaming at the mouth for them. She’d have to go without the touch of a woman because she was in her small shitty down in the closest with her mother watching her every move.

That wasn’t her anymore, but that was still Rio-Sofia.

All those times they’d spent teasing each other, Agatha had outlets to find her release. Wanda, a random girl she picked up at a club or on campus. But Rio…sorry, Rio-Sofia, had no one except her own fingers and maybe a vibrator.

So, the more Agatha pushed, the more desperate the princess would become because she had no other outlet. It was Agatha or no one.

Agatha felt as if this new power she’d acquired was radiating off of her. A purple glow (purple because if Agatha had magical powers, she swore they’d be her favourite colour) that emitted from her entire body.

Oh, this is gonna be fun. She thought as she pressed up even more on Rio-Sofia.

Agatha was going to push her until she shattered.

More drinks and games later, Rio-Sofia announced she needed to go to the toilet.

“I’ll come,” Agatha said as she shuffled past Jen to get out.

“Okay,” the princess replied as she started to leave the kitchen. “Your room or mine?”

“Let’s go to yours,” Agatha said.

She’d never actually been inside the princess's room, only seen it from the door.

Lucia asked them if they were okay when they approached her door, and when they told her they were fine, Rio-Sofia let them inside.

“I’ll just be a sec,” Rio-Sofia told her, unlocking her bathroom door.

“You don’t want me to come in? I need to wee too, you know.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why? Are we gonna hold hands whilst we go?”

“Could do,” Agatha grinned.

The princess rolled her eyes. “Just stay out here, I’ll be quick.”

Agatha didn’t argue; this was the perfect time to snoop.

She was unsurprised that Rio-Sofia’s bedsheets were her favourite colour. On her windowsill was an array of plants and flowers. Agatha didn’t know if it was because she was drunk why the fact that a pot of lavender was amongst them made her feel like she was going to throw up. She turned away from it quickly to stop that from happening.

Her eyes landed on Rio-Sofia’s photo wall. She drew closer, her eyes darting across the cluster of photos. She spotted Alice in most of them, it was either a photo of just the two of them or with some other girls, seemingly their friends from Spain. In every photo, the princess was smiling. That real smile Agatha saw back at the pub on initiation night.

She’d seen it more now, that real smile. It often appeared when the princess was around her. Agatha’s eyes stopped on the photo next to the one of her and Alice on what appeared to be a ski trip. It was Rio-Sofia and her two siblings.

Upon first glance, it was a professional photo of them in their best. They looked like the royal family they were meant to be, tailored designer clothing with crowns and tiaras atop their heads. But the closer you looked, you could see each of the Vidal’s were discreetly flipping the camera person off.

Rio-Sofia’s brother had his finger pressed against the side of his leg as his arm was limp by his side. Rio-Sofia’s was on her arm as they were folded on her stomach, and the princess’s little sister had hers on her belly, her hands planted on either side of her hips.

“That’s my favourite photo,” the princess said, announcing her return.

Agatha jumped; she’d been so intrigued by the photo she hadn’t heard her. She cleared her throat.

“I can see why. I bet the queen was real happy when she saw this.”

Rio-Sofia smiled. “She grounded us for a month, but I think it was worth it.”

Agatha found herself smiling too…until she realised…

…Wait, hold on.

She blinked before returning to her scheme. She took Rio-Sofia’s hand and used it to point at a random photo on the board. She heard the princess’s breath hitch, and she tried and failed to stifle her smirk.

“Tell me about this one.”

“Erm…”

Their faces were so close now as Agatha stared at Rio-Sofia, her arm the only thing stopping their faces from touching altogether.

“That was me, Alice and some of our friends back home at…”

Agatha started flicking her eyes slowly between the princess’s.

“…At…erm…my brother’s birthday party. Our mother…”

Agatha bit her lip with a nod, and Rio-Sofia swallowed.

“…Erm…she lets him have a huge one every two years. They’re always a lot of fun.”

“Do you ever get one? A party, I mean.”

Rio stared at her for a moment, her big brown eyes looking at her as if she were the most beautiful thing in the world.

“No,” the princess replied quietly.

And suddenly, Agatha felt sorry for her.

“How come?”

Rio-Sofia shrugged. “Second in line means you don’t get parties.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They continued to stare at each other, Agatha’s hand still on Rio’s. It was soft and warm, and Agatha didn’t mind holding it.

A loud knock at the door had her snatching her hand away.

“Aggs, Rio-Sofia? You done?” Wanda called. “We’re thinking of leaving now.”

“Yeah,” Agatha replied.

“You don’t need to pee?” Rio-Sofia asked.

“Nope,” Agatha told her with a grin before pushing past her.

***

They were going back the club from initiation night. One, it was only in Kings Cross so they could walk and didn’t have to get the tube. And two, Natasha told them it was 2010s night, meaning they were only playing music from that era. It perfect. The rush of nostalgia, plus messing with the princess meant that Agatha was in for a good night.

She was trapped with Wanda as they walked, Rio-Sofia in front of her with Natasha, their arms wrapped around each other’s waists like the last time. Why? Agatha didn’t know. Wanda and Natasha were getting in the way of her scheming.

“Does anyone have a fag?” Jen asked.

Agatha parted her lips to reply when Jen said:

“As in a cigarette. I don’t wanna hear any more of your jokes,” her best friend scolded her.

“You’re no fun, Jen,” Agatha whined as Jen flipped her off.

“I do, wanna share?” Alice replied.

“Please.”

“Can I have one too, please, Al?” Agatha asked.

“Course.”

As they stopped for Alice to fish out her cigarettes, Agatha noticed the lace of Natasha’s right navy blue Samba was coming undone. She strategically untangled herself from Wanda and edged closer to her to step on her shoe lace. When Natasha shifted, the lace undid itself completely.

She walked closer to Alice to hide her smirk.

“Here you go,” Alice said, handing her the cigarette. “I can’t find my lighter one sec.”

“I’ve got one,” Rio-Sofia replied.

“Perfect,” Agatha said, walking up to her, the cigarette in her mouth.

Rio-Sofia shielded the end with her hand as she lit it with her lighter. Agatha noticed it was a deep green and had a gold spider etched on the front. The lighter looked very cool and very expensive, and it came to no surprise to her that the princess owned it.

Rio-Sofia lit it, and Agatha inhaled, the bitter yet delicious smoke filling her mouth until she breathed it out, throwing her head back. The nicotine shot to her head immediately, adding fuel to her alcohol buzz.

“You want?” She offered her cigarette to the princess.

Rio-Sofia nodded and allowed Agatha to press it to her lips, her fingers ghosting over them.

“You’ve never shared a cigarette with me,” Wanda complained. “You literally told me you don’t like sharing them.”

Agatha shrugged.

“Alright, let’s go,” Alice said once she and Jen had their cigarette lit.

They started walking, and Natasha told them her lace was undone and if they could wait. Agatha pretended she hadn’t heard, sticking her free hand in Rio-Sofia’s jean pocket to keep her walking.

The princess tensed before her body relaxed into it, her hip pressing into Agatha’s.

“You ever done blow backs?” Agatha asked.

“Do pigs fly?” The princess replied sarcastically.

She grinned. “Do one with me,” she ordered.

Rio-Sofia nodded.

Agatha inhaled before leaning into her. Rio-Sofia brought her lips to hers and allowed her to blow smoke into them. Agatha let their lips touch, that sweet-tasting lip gloss she remembered the princess wearing the first time she kissed her coating the edge of her lips.

She passed the smoke through them and pulled away. The princess inhaled the smoke from Agatha’s mouth before she grinned.

“Thought we weren’t doing that again.”

“Calm down, our lips barely grazed.”

Rio-Sofia’s grin never wavered. “They might as well have.”

“Guys!” Jen yelled. “Are you two fucking deaf? We said to wait. Nat had to do her shoe lace up.”

“Oh, sorry! We didn’t hear you,” Agatha lied.

The other girls caught up to them.

“Get your ears cleaned,” her best friend told her.

If Agatha wasn’t holding a cigarette in one hand and had the other in Rio-Sofia’s pocket, she would’ve flipped her off.

They continued towards the club, Agatha sharing her cigarette with the princess until it ran out, her thumb stroking back and forth on her ass in her jeans pocket. She felt Rio-Sofia twitching against her and just knew she was driving her insane.

Agatha had never felt prouder of herself in her life.

Once at the club, Rio-Sofia bought them a round of tequila shots. When every girl had necked theirs, they made their way to the dance floor.

“Hey,” Wanda said, pulling on her arm before she could follow Rio-Sofia onto the dance floor. “Are you okay? Are you and Rio-Sofia arguing again?”

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows with a laugh. Did they look like they were fighting?

“Oh, yeah. We’ve been arguing all day.”

Wanda deadpanned. “I’m being serious. You can talk to me if you are, and we can stay away from her.”

Agatha laughed again. “Shut up, Wanda and let’s dance. Kay?” She took the redhead's hand and pulled her forward.

When they got onto the dance floor, Justin Bieber’s Boyfriend had just started playing.

Wanda wrapped her arms around her neck, and they started moving. Agatha locked eyes with Rio-Sofia just ahead, who was dancing with Natasha, Jen and Alice next to them.

Agatha didn’t know if it was the strobe lights or the fact that she was drunk why the princess looked…pretty? Prettier than usual. They kept eye contact as they danced with their partners, Rio-Sofia’s lips lifting into a smirk as Natasha held onto her.

The chorus dropped, and Natasha spun Rio-Sofia around. Agatha took this as the perfect opportunity to duck under Wanda’s shoulder and catch the princess before she could spin into Natasha again. She slammed into her, and Rio-Sofia’s eyes widened until she realised who had caught her.

The princess rolled her eyes before Agatha turned her around so that her back was pressed against her, her hand falling to Rio-Sofia’s hip. She was wearing a black backless top, so Agatha’s hand rested on bare, heated skin.

It took mere moments for the princess to start shifting her hips, her ass brushing against Agatha’s core as she used her hand to guide the princess’s movement.

Agatha felt…tingly…?

Rio-Sofia pushed back further, her hand coming up to grip Agatha’s neck, her hand tangling in her hair.

Fuck me.

Agatha felt the new stickiness of her underwear. She bit her lip. She couldn’t get turned on. That defeated the whole purpose of messing with the princess.

She used the hand on Rio-Sofia’s hip to spin her back around, hand running across her exposed back, so they were facing each other again. It was as if Rio knew because the grin she was wearing was shit eating.

Agatha fought the urge to roll her eyes, placing her free hand on Rio-Sofia’s other hip and drawing her closer. She was to carry on as usual because this, dancing with the princess, was not affecting her.

Rio-Sofia wrapped her hands around her neck as they moved to the music.

“Girlfriend, girlfriend. You could be my girlfriend,” JB said in his song.

Girlfriend? I wonder what it would be like to be a princess’s girlfriend.

Stop. It.

Agatha was drunk. She couldn’t care less what it would be like to be a princess’s girlfriend. She wasn’t interested in any princesses.

Rio-Sofia lifted her hands off her neck, stepped back, and the next thing Agatha knew, Wanda was there again. Why? Could Wanda not see that she was scheming?

Agatha tried not to let her irritation show as the redhead latched onto her once more.

“Let’s go dance with the girls,” Agatha told her, before twisting out of Wanda’s grasp and dragging her towards their group.

The circle they had created opened up and thank fuck Agatha found herself next to the princess again.

The song had gotten to the slow part, and Jen, Alice, Natasha and Rio-Sofia were screaming the lyrics to the top of their lungs before the last chorus dropped.

Before Natasha could even think about grabbing onto Rio again, Agatha swooped in, readjusting them to their previous position. Although Rio didn’t put her hands around her neck again. Nope, instead, she started trailing both hands along Agatha’s body.

She started from her neck, running her hand across her bare shoulder, down her chest, down her stomach. All while Agatha swayed their hips.

In the end, Agatha leaned her head forward so that their foreheads touched. Rio drew her in by her neck, her warm hands pressing into her skin, their lips so close Agatha could feel her breath.

When Rio started smiling, Agatha found herself smiling too, a laugh floating out of her lips. Rio’s giggle joined it. Agatha pulled her impossibly closer, and Rio did the same, her thumb stroking against her neck.

Once the song ended, Rio pulled away, her hand dropping to Agatha’s arm, tugging her.

They left the dance floor, went up the crowded flight of stairs and into the bathroom of their first kiss. Rio-Sofia locked the door and spun on her.

“Kiss me,” she demanded.

Agatha raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it,” the princess snapped.

“Hm,” Agatha hummed, nudging Rio backwards until she was pressed against the door.

Rio’s breath hitched as Agatha dipped her head. She pulled Rio’s bottom lip into her mouth before she bit it. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough that the princess whimpered, her body shuddering. Agatha released it with a smirk before she soothed the bite by running her tongue over her lip. It dipped into the princess’s mouth, and Agatha withdrew before she did something stupid like kiss her.

Like usual, Rio tasted divine.

“No,” Agatha breathed against her lips.

“No?” Rio asked in alarm.

Agatha shook her head. “I told you; we’re never doing that again.”

“But,” the princess spluttered. “Why not?!”

“I know you want me to, which makes me not want to do it.”

Rio blinked at her. “But…please,” she got out desperately.

“Are you begging, Rio-Sofia?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I never. The princess of Spain begging little old me to kiss her. What would everyone say?”

“I don’t care! Kiss. Me.” Rio demanded again.

Agatha shook her head. “Not even a please. What has the world come to?”

“Fuck you,” Rio snapped.

“I bet you want me to, huh?” Agatha grinned.

Rio huffed before shoving Agatha away from her and storming out of the bathroom.

Point Agatha.

***

There had been a role reversal.

It wasn’t like the last time Rio had left that bathroom. She had come out on top. Agatha was spiralling, and Rio had never felt so smug in her life. Now, it was Rio’s turn to spiral.

All night, Agatha had been toying with her, but she’d held on because she figured it would end how it had the last time they got drunk together. They’d end up making out in that shitty toilet. But no. Agatha had denied her.

She ran back onto the dance floor and made her way to where she had last left the girls.

“You okay?” Natasha asked her when she was close enough.

Rio was not okay. She had a tight coil in her stomach that wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

“Fine,” Rio replied, forcing a smile.

Agatha came back then, a smirk on her face as she breezed past her. She tugged on Wanda’s arm, who was facing away from them, talking to one of her friends, spun her around and kissed her.

She fucking kissed her right in front of Rio’s face as if she hadn’t been begging her to kiss her moments prior.

How come Wanda got to kiss her just like that? Without having to work for it. Wanda just got to stand there, and Agatha would just kiss her as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Rio had to stop her jaw from hitting the floor.

She squeezed her legs together, watching in horror as Agatha shoved her tongue down Wanda’s throat.

Oh, fuck this.

Stop. Think before you do something stupid.

But Rio didn’t think, her need for release overriding her common sense, overriding the fact that she was still the princess of Spain and could not be seen kissing a girl out in public.

She grabbed Natasha by the arm and crashed their lips together.

She felt the redhead tense before she relaxed into it. She pulled Rio in by the waist, her hand coming up to cradle her neck.

Rio darted her tongue into Natasha’s mouth and hummed when the action was reciprocated.

Fucking finally.

Release.

When Rio pulled back, Natasha raised an eyebrow, but there was a smirk on her face that told Rio she didn’t hate what had just happened.

She grinned. Natasha leaned in for another when a strong arm grabbed her and tugged.

Agatha didn’t stop until they were off the dance floor and in an empty corridor at the front of the club.

“Whose lips would you rather have? Mine or hers?” Agatha seethed.

Rio stared at her for a moment before she finally said:

“Yours.”

“That’s what I thought. If you kiss anyone else tonight, I’m never touching you again. Are we clear?”

Rio wanted to say, Oh, so you can kiss other people, but I can’t?

But she couldn’t say that. She needed to feel Agatha’s touch again, in any way possible.

Rio nodded.

“Good-”

“Are you the girl who fucked my girlfriend?” Some girl cut Agatha off.

The two girls looked at their new company. It was a blonde girl who had a look on her face that Rio could only describe as murderous.

“Who-”

Agatha was cut off once more when the blonde punched her in the face.

Rio’s eyes widened before she dragged Agatha behind her. “What the fuck?!”

“You are you bitch! Don’t even try to deny it!”

“Who the fuck even is your girlfriend?” Agatha shrieked, blood pouring out of her nose.

“Izzy!” The blonde shouted.

“Who – oh – her.”

There’s no fucking way she did that.

“She told me she was single. It’s not my fault your girlfriend lied,” Agatha shot back.

The blonde lunged for her again, but a bouncer caught her before she could cause any more damage.

“No fighting in my club! You’re all out,” he barked.

“But it wasn’t us!” Rio protested.

“I don’t give a flying fuck. You’re all out!”

Chapter Text

After they’d been kicked out of the club, Rio went to the closest food truck to ask for some ice for Agatha. She’d given it to her, and they’d made their way to Coal Drops Yard to sit at the steps by the River Thames.

“Who the fuck is Izzy, Agatha?” Rio asked as the brunette pressed the ice wrapped in tissue paper against her bloody nose.

Agatha rolled her eyes. “Some girl I fucked last week. She told me she was single.”

Rio raised an eyebrow.

“I swear! I would never fuck someone in a relationship. I always ask first. I’m messy, but I’m not that messy.”

Rio nodded, turning her attention to the river and the brightly lit buildings of London beyond.

After a while, Rio said:

“I’m going to text the girls what happened.” She patted her pocket for her phone, only to realise it wasn’t there. She checked her other pocket and found the same result. “Mierda.” Shit.

“What?” Agatha asked.

“Eres una estúpida idiota.” You stupid idiot. Rio muttered under her breath.

“What?!” Agatha asked again.

“I left my phone in the flat,” Rio replied.

“Oh,” Agatha said, disappointed that that was what Rio was so worried about. “Here,” she said, handing Rio her phone. “Use mine.”

Rio sent their group chat a quick text before she gave it back.

“Can you not leave me…please? It’s just…I don’t have a phone and I-”

“You think I would leave you?” Agatha asked.

She seemed almost…hurt? That Rio would imply such a thing.

Rio shrugged, turning to face her.

“Never, I would never leave you,” Agatha replied, holding her gaze.

They stared at each other for a long moment until Agatha cleared her throat.

“Or any girl alone by themselves,” she added. “I’m a bitch not a cunt.”

Rio laughed. “Noted.”

Another beat passed before Rio asked:

“How’s your nose?”

Agatha lifted the makeshift ice pack off her face to show her. It looked fine, nothing broken, just dried bits of blood here and there.

“It’s alright. Hurts like a bitch.”

“She got you good, huh?” Rio smiled.

“Evidently. I’m never fucking a girl again,” Agatha declared.

Rio raised an eyebrow.

Agatha scoffed with an eyeroll. “Shut up.”

Rio smiled, and they fell back into a somewhat comfortable silence.

She returned to staring out at the murky water, her eyes tracking the odd car or cyclist riding past on the road just ahead.

“Does…does my nose look okay?” Agatha asked quietly.

Rio turned to face her again, and there was a look on Agatha’s face that Rio had never seen before.

“Yeah,” Rio told her.

“No, I mean…does it look okay?”

And now Rio understood.

“Your nose is perfect,” Rio answered honestly, because it was.

Agatha turned away from her with a nod, replacing the ice pack on it.

“My mother tells me it ruins my face,” Agatha admitted.

Rio blinked. One, because nothing could possibly ruin Agatha’s face. Two, no mother should ever say that to their child. And three, she was surprised Agatha would admit that to her.

“Your mother doesn’t know what she’s talking about, then.”

Rio realised then that their mothers might be similar. Although the queen had never said any of her features ruined her face, always telling her that if she kept scowling, it would take away from her beauty, her mother would comment on her size.

It was no secret that Rio loved to eat during family meals with her dad’s side. Her Abuela was the best cook in the world in Rio’s opinion. She was the one who taught her how to cook and was the one who made her fall in love with it. On the rare occasion the royal family were allowed to visit her dad’s side in the south, her mother would always say:

‘And watch it with the food, Rio-Sofia. You are a princess; you have standards to keep up with.’

Of course, she’d never said the same to her brother.

Luckily, it never stopped Rio. Her mother’s comments often rolled over her head, but she worried for her sister. Ana wasn’t old enough for those comments yet, but when she was, Rio was scared that she might not be able to ignore them the way she had.

The silence stretched on for a while, neither girl having anything to say until:

“Is it okay if we go home? I don’t think I want to be out anymore.” Agatha asked.

Rio’s lips lifted into a smirk. “The notorious party girl wants to go home? Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Hey!” Agatha shoved her playfully. “How do you know that? You weren’t here during freshers week.”

“Yeah, but I was there the week after. And Jen can’t keep her mouth shut,” Rio smiled, getting up.

She offered her hand to Agatha, who hesitated before taking it and letting Rio pull her up.

“I’m going to murder her,” Agatha replied as they began walking.

They stopped by a bin so that she could dispose of her ice pack, and once Agatha had wiped away the remaining blood, they continued.

“I still want a fag though,” Agatha said as they passed a group that appeared to be university students.

“I don’t have any, sorry,” Rio said.

“No worries. I’ll get one.”

Before Rio had a chance to ask what she meant, Agatha was sauntering over to the group. It took all but five seconds for three cigarettes to be shoved in her direction. She took all three, making Rio laugh.

When she returned, Rio told her:

“No wonder you got punched in the face; you’re a serial flirter.”

Agatha shrugged. “What can I say? When you have a gift, you use it to your advantage. How else do you think I got a princess to buy me an entire wardrobe?” Agatha smirked.

Rio tutted. “You weren’t flirting with me then; you just hated me.”

“Still do,” Agatha grinned.

Rio rolled her eyes.

“Can I use your lighter again?” Agatha asked.

“Sure,” Rio replied, fishing it out of her pocket.

“Can I say I love how you remembered your lighter but forgot your phone.”

Rio laughed. “I had my priorities in order.”

She looked down and noticed Agatha’s shoe lace was undone. Rio stooped without question to tie it.

“You want?”

When Rio looked up, Agatha was offering her cigarette again, even though Wanda had informed her that Agatha didn’t like sharing them. Not to mention, she had two spare that she’d put in her pocket.

Rio nodded, and Agatha pressed the cigarette into her mouth, her fingers grazing over Rio’s teeth as she took a drag. Rio had to stop herself from poking her tongue out to taste them. She wondered what Agatha’s fingers would taste like, what they would feel like if she could suck on them.

Stop it.

She was still drunk.

Agatha pulled the cigarette away, and Rio looked up at her through her eyelashes. She had never wanted to kiss someone so badly in her life. She wouldn’t ask again. She knew Agatha wouldn’t allow her to.

The brunette stared down at her, and Rio didn’t miss the way her breath hitched before she put the cigarette back in her mouth. Rio smirked. It was nice to know that she was still affecting Agatha, even if the other girl wasn’t as willing to crumble as she was.

Agatha flicked her gaze between Rio’s eyes before she said:

“You done?”

“With what?” Rio asked.

A smirk slid across Agatha’s lips. “With tying up my shoe?”

Rio blinked. Is that why she was down there?

“Er…” she finished tying Agatha’s laces. “Yeah,” she said, standing up.

“Okay then.”

The two girls walked back to their accommodation, sharing two out of Agatha’s three cigarettes between them.

***

Rio knocked on the flat next door's front door and waited.

She needed to talk to Natasha, to apologise for kissing her so abruptly, to make sure she hadn’t accidentally ruined their friendship. The relationship she’d built with Natasha over the past couple of days had become far more important to her than she ever would’ve imagined.

Although they hadn’t seen each other since Thursday, they texted every day without fail. Rio found Natasha’s unwavering confidence addictive. In ways, she looked up to her because of it. It reminded her of Agatha. They were both so unapologetically, shamelessly themselves, every second of every day. Rio wished she could be like that.

She wasn’t allowed.

Most of the time, she had to be Princess Rio-Sofia Vidal, second in line to the Spanish throne.

The public-facing version of herself. The disingenuous version of herself.

The door opened, and the wrong redhead was on the other side.

Rio smiled. “Hi, Wanda. Is Nat in?”

Wanda glared at her before she said:

“Nat! Rio-Sofia’s here.”

“You can just call me Rio, Wanda,” Rio said.

“Nah, Rio-Sofia’s just fine.”

Rio furrowed her eyebrows.

What’s up with her?

She opened her mouth to ask just that when Natasha opened her door.

“Come on in, Ri.”

Rio walked past Wanda, who was still glaring at her and made her way to Natasha’s room.

The redhead let her in and offered her a seat on her bed.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Natasha asked when she was settled.

“I just came to see how your night went last night,” Rio replied.

Natasha smiled before she took up the place next to her. “Nobody else got punched if that’s what you’re asking.”

Rio threw her head back and laughed. “I don’t know how she ends up in the situations she does.”

“I can’t even judge her, I fear I’m just as bad,” Natasha replied.

The two settled into a comfortable silence for a beat before Rio said:

“Nat…I’m sorry about…about yesterday. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Natasha quirked an eyebrow. “And why not?”

“Well, I…” Rio stuttered. “I mean…I didn’t exactly warn you.”

“Those are the best types of kisses, no? The unexpected ones?”

Rio tilted her head in agreement.

“So, do you like girls then?” Natasha asked, getting straight to the point and not beating around the bush.

What could Rio say? She was supposed to say no. Deny, deny, deny, like the queen told her to. But this was Natasha.

“Yes,” Rio answered.

Natasha pointed at her. “Da! Bloody knew it!”

Rio laughed.

“I’m guessing that’s something you’re not supposed to tell people,” Natasha continued.

Rio shook her head. “So, if you wouldn’t-”

Natasha cut her off. “Ri, I’m not going to tell anyone. I promise.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s fucked your mum made you say all that shit then, though.”

There had to be a better word than fucked. It was ridiculous, preposterous, absurd.

“Yeah,” Rio said quietly.

“Thanks for telling me, Rio. And, if you ever want someone to kiss or…more then...” Natasha gestured to herself.

Rio raised an eyebrow. “You serious?”

“Course. And before you ask, it won’t fuck up our friendship or any of that trivial shit,” Natasha continued.

“Promise?” Rio asked.

Because she couldn’t lose this friendship with Natasha no matter how horny she was, or how much Agatha was driving her insane with all her relentless teasing.

“Promise,” Natasha nodded.

***

It’d been two weeks since Agatha had gotten punched, and in those two weeks she’d gotten…sluttier?

It was the fucking Spanish princess’s fault.

The pair hadn’t stopped teasing each other. It was nonstop: at hockey practice, during lectures, seminars, in their flat.

Last Friday, during their group presentation, Rio-Sofia had purposely stood behind Agatha as she presented to the class. The princess was twirling the ends of Agatha’s hair, her fingers trailing patterns on her back. It had made her stutter on her words as her body came alive because of the electrifying, no, irritating sensation. She couldn’t even move away from her because she had to see the smart board she was reading off of.

That wasn’t to say Agatha hadn’t gotten her back, though. She’d gone out of her way to always be in the kitchen when the princess was, always accidentally touching her, flirting with her. She never missed the way Rio-Sofia would subtly squeeze her legs together every time she did so.

But because of the nonstop teasing, Agatha had needed to find release far more often. She was constantly horny.

Luckily, Rio-Sofia hadn’t been on a night out with them since that night two weeks ago. And Agatha thanked whoever because she was sure she would’ve snapped by now and they would’ve fucked. Now, Agatha was free to enjoy her nights out picking up random girls from the club and taking them home with her or vice versa.

She made sure to triple-check that they weren’t in relationships first because she was not getting punched in the face again.

She’d been seeking out Wanda less now too. The redhead had gotten…what was the word for it…clingy? Agatha didn’t do clingy.

A knock at her door had Agatha groaning as she pulled herself out of bed. She was hungover and it was…12 PM. Wait…why was it 12 PM?

The door opened to reveal Jen on the other side with a brown paper bag from Gail’s Bakery.

Her best friend raised an eyebrow as she took in her appearance. Agatha knew what she looked like. Messy hair, last night's makeup in her underwear and Rio-Sofia’s hoodie.

A rustling in her room dragged Jen’s attention away from her as she laid eyes on another brunette scurrying about the place, picking up her belongings.

“Fuck!” The other brunette muttered. “I didn’t realise the time; I’ve got an appointment.”

Once she was half dressed with her shoes on, she moved past Agatha and Jen.

“I’ll call you,” she told Agatha before she left.

When their front door had shut, Jen raised an eyebrow again.

“Fuck boy Agatha makes her return tenfold then? What’s that…the fifth girl this week? And none of them being Wanda.”

Agatha rolled her eyes before she said:

“You got me something from Gail’s? What is it?”

Jen dangled the bag in front of her face, urging her to take it. When Agatha did, she smiled in delight.

“A cinnamon roll? God, I love you,” Agatha told her, sinking her teeth in and walking into her room.

“No, you love Rio.”

Agatha almost choked on her food.

“She was the one who bought it for you,” Jen continued.

Agatha nodded, sitting on her bed.

“Speaking of,” Jen said, sitting next to her. “What’s going on between you two?”

“What do you mean?” Agatha replied around her mouthful.

“The Saturday you got punched in the face? When you two were dancing? I was waiting for you to bring it up, but you never did.”

Agatha shrugged. “Nothing. Friends can dance together, right?”

“Agreed,” Jen nodded. “But you two aren’t friends. You were the one who told me that. Are you more?”

Agatha had to swallow to stop herself from throwing up. “God, no, Jen. What the fuck?”

“I’m just saying…friends or not friends don’t act the way you two do,” her best friend shrugged.

“I hate her,” Agatha stated.

“Sureeee,” Jen replied. She stood. “Have a shower, Aggs and air out your room. You and it stink of sex.”

Agatha flipped her off as Jen went to leave.

***

Now, she wasn’t proud of it, but Agatha had spent the entire day napping and rotting in bed. It was only now, at half past midnight, that she’d left her room for the first time to fill up her water bottle in the kitchen. That’s when their front door opened and shut, and Rio-Sofia breezed into the room, a stupid smile on her face.

“And where have you been?” Agatha asked.

Rio-Sofia’s eyebrows lifted in amusement before she replied:

“I was at Natasha’s, is that okay with you mom?”

“Are you fucking?” Agatha asked, getting straight to the point.

She wanted to know. Recently, the princess was always in the other flat. Why? For what possible reason?

Rio-Sofia’s lips twisted into a smirk. “Maybe.”

Agatha’s eyes narrowed. “I thought I told you if you kissed anyone else, I would never touch you again.”

Rio-Sofia shook her head before taking the water jug by Agatha’s bottle to fill up her own. “No, you said if I kissed anyone else tonight, then you wouldn’t touch me again. That was two weeks ago.”

Agatha scoffed. “Same rules still apply.”

“I don’t care,” Rio-Sofia answered simply.

Wait…hold on…what?

Agatha shrugged nonchalantly. “Guess I’m never touching you again then.”

Rio-Sofia twisted the cap on her water bottle, taking her sweet, precious time with it.

Agatha wanted to hit her.

When she looked up, the princess said:

“I don’t believe you.”

She walked closer to Agatha, just close enough that she could feel Rio-Sofia’s body heat radiating off her. Agatha forced herself to stay put.

“I know you want me just as badly as I want you,” Rio-Sofia nodded to emphasise her point. “So, when you’re ready to acknowledge that fact, you know where to find me.”

She leaned in until Agatha could feel her lips brush against the shell of her ear.

“The room next to yours,” she said in a low, gravely voice that made Agatha’s core clench.

Agatha glared at her as Rio-Sofia smiled.

“Good night, Agatha,” the princess said, running her hand down her arm.

She left Agatha alone in the kitchen, and she had to resist the urge to take Rio up on her offer, because she couldn’t…right?

Chapter Text

As soon as Rio put her water bottle down on her bedside table after returning to her room, there was a knock at her door.

There’s no way.

Apparently, there was.

Agatha was standing on the other side of the door. The brunette walked in without an invitation and shut the door behind her.

“If we do this,” Agatha started. “I’m in control.”

Rio grinned. “Okay.”

“That easy, huh?”

Rio’s grin never wavered. “I like giving you the illusion of control. I know you crave it. I maintain it in my own little way.”

“What does that mean?” Agatha asked.

Rio closed the distance between them, putting her hand on Agatha's waist and drawing her closer.

“Like this. I touch you, and you let me even though you want to fight me. Like how you let me kiss you and then told me afterwards that we’re never doing that again.”

She moved her hand underneath Agatha’s tank top, so it rested on bare skin. When Agatha didn’t pull herself away or snatch Rio’s hand away, she watched her fingers stroke the skin just above Agatha’s underwear with a knowing smile.

“See.”

Agatha yanked her chin up then, and Rio was forced to look at deep blue. Agatha’s thumb was pressed against her bottom lip, pulling.

Rio had never been so turned on in her life. She watched Agatha with half-lidded eyes.

“I’m,” Agatha walked her backwards until she was flat against her bedroom wall. “In. Control.”

Rio flicked her eyes between Agatha’s before she got out in a raspy voice, “Whatever you say, baby.”

“Shut up,” Agatha snapped.

Rio nodded with a smile.

Agatha’s thumb was still on her bottom lip. She dragged it across Rio’s lip, her eyes fixated on the movement as if she were in a trance.

When Agatha’s eyes returned to Rio’s, she bit her own lip.

Rio wanted to say something like she was losing control already, but she kept her mouth shut, enjoying the way they were getting lost in each other.

“I crave you in every sense of the word,” Rio got out. “Your touch, your scent. I want it. I want you.”

Agatha nodded. “Prove it then.”

Rio smirked before she used the hand on Agatha’s hip to guide her, replacing her body on the wall with Agatha’s.

The brunette narrowed her eyes before she took her thumb off Rio’s lip, moving her hand to her shoulder before pushing Rio down to her knees.

She went willingly, more than happy to kneel before the most beautiful girl she’d ever laid eyes on. Her hands trailed down the curve of Agatha’s body as she went until she stopped them, resting them on the waistband of Agatha’s sweatpants.

Without breaking eye contact, Rio hooked her fingers in either side before she started shifting them down. She did it slowly, moving the piece of clothing an inch at a time on either leg.

She could see Agatha getting impatient, which only made her move slower.

“If you don’t hurry up, I’m leaving,” Agatha snapped.

Rio smirked. “We both know you’re not going anywhere.”

Agatha glared at her but didn’t say anything.

When her sweatpants were just past her knees, Rio couldn’t help it. She leaned in and started kissing Agatha’s thigh. With so much exposed skin right in front of her eyes, how could she not?

She alternated between each leg, planting one kiss on one and then planting another kiss on the other. All while she continued to pull her sweatpants down.

Agatha kept twitching as she did so. Every time Rio’s lips touched her skin, the leg that had her attention would bounce.

Rio was literally in succession for the Spanish throne, and yet she had never felt more powerful than in this moment.

Agatha’s sweatpants hit the floor, and Rio tapped her ankle. “Step out of these for me, please, baby.”

She was surprised when Agatha complied so easily, eager to rid herself of the clothing.

When Rio’s eyes landed on Agatha’s underwear, she could see the dark patch on her light grey pants.

She smiled. “Told you there was no way you were going anywhere.”

“My vibrator would’ve done the job just fine,” Agatha replied weakly.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Rio winked.

Rio tugged her underwear down and felt the rush of wetness in her own when Agatha arched her back to make them easier to pull off. The wetness only doubled when Rio looked up to see Agatha’s bare cunt in full view.

She was soaked; the damp dark curls unmissable.

Rio swallowed and committed the image to memory.

She lifted her hands, pressing them in between Agatha’s thighs to spread them further.

“You like this, don’t you?” Rio husked. “A princess on her knees for you. You feel powerful, don’t you, Agatha?”

Because she knew what to say to push her even further.

The brunette's chest was rising and falling so rapidly you might think she’d just ran a half marathon.

“If you don’t fucking touch me right now, I swear to god,” Agatha bit out.

Rio smirked before she leaned in, her tongue out and ready to taste the girl who had turned her world upside down.

She moaned when she pressed her tongue inside Agatha’s core. She tasted just as good as Rio thought she would. Agatha’s back arched off the wall at the same time her hand flew to grip Rio’s head.

“Hm,” Agatha groaned.

Rio shot up in bed, panting.

She blinked as the dream receded.

“Fuck,” she muttered as she dragged her hand down her face.

Agatha was still moaning, but it was on the other side of the wall.

Rio rolled her eyes. “Puta.” Bitch.

Recently, every time Agatha had a girl over (which was every other day), she made it her mission to be as loud as possible. She knew the walls were thin, she knew Rio would be able to hear her.

That’s why Rio had been spending more time at Natasha’s or Alice’s. She couldn’t hear it and know that it wasn’t her making Agatha sound like that. She couldn’t hear it without it driving her insane with want.

Although she’d found other means of release (Natasha), it would never be the same as actually having Agatha. She and Natasha only kissed; Rio never wanted it to go further. No one had ever touched her like that before, and as much as Rio didn’t give a fuck about preserving her virginity. There was only one person she wanted her first time to be with.

She was holding out for her and would do so until she was on her deathbed if that’s what Agatha decided.

Rio groaned as she got out of bed, groaned again when she felt the stickiness of her underwear.

“For fucksake,” Rio grumbled as she headed to the shower.

As she showered, she thought about the dreadful date she’d been forced to go on the other day. As of now, she’d been on three out of the five dates her mother had set up for her. Without Agatha there to make them interesting, she found herself poking at her food for two hours as the boys tried and failed to hold a conversation with her.

Rio thought more than once about getting up and leaving, but she couldn’t. Her mother wouldn’t let her return to Spain if she did, and that was one of the only things keeping her going, the promise of returning home. To her friends, to her siblings.

Once she’d finished showering, the other girl was still going. Still moaning as loudly as humanly possible.

Rio couldn’t listen to that. She put on a black Nike sports bra and sweatpants and headed to Alice’s room, having a quick chat with Lucia before she went.

Her best friend opened the door with a smile, Spanish flowing out of her mouth as she said:

“Morning, Riri.”

There were only two people in the world that Rio let call her that. Her little sister and Alice.

“Morning,” she said as Alice let her in.

“What do you wanna do today?” Alice asked. “Because I was thinking we ask Cia if we can go to brunch.”

“I could do brunch,” Rio replied.

As soon as she finished her sentence, her phone began to ring. Rio pulled it out of her pocket and smiled when she saw who was FaceTiming her.

“Hi, Annie.”

Her little sister was on her phone screen. She had her blonde hair in two bunches.

“Hi, Riri! I’m in your room!” Ana said as she panned the camera.

Rio laughed. “I can see that. Alice is here too,” she turned the phone so that her sister could see.

“Hi, Ali!” Ana said.

“Hey, Ana,” Alice replied. “I like you’re hair.”

“Thank you,” Ana giggled.

“What are you doing in my room?” Rio asked.

Ana frowned before she said, “I like coming in here. I miss you.”

Rio’s heart ached. “I miss you too.”

“When are you coming home?”

“In two weeks, hopefully,” Rio replied.

Ana lit up. “Really?”

“Hopefully, if mami lets me,” Rio smiled.

“I hope she does! I don’t like that you don’t live at home,” Ana told her.

And neither did Rio. She didn’t say this, though; she had to be positive when talking to Ana. She never wanted her sister to know how lonely and miserable she’d been until recently.

“I’ll be home soon, okay? And it’s not all bad.”

Her sister furrowed her eyebrows. “No?”

“No,” Alice echoed. “Riri’s found herself a little girlfriend,” Alice teased.

Rio whacked her in the arm.

"What?” Alice said through a laugh.

“You have!” Ana exclaimed. “What’s her name?”

Before Rio had a chance to tell her sister she in fact, did not have a girlfriend, Alice replied:

“Agatha.”

“Ooo! I bet she’s pretty,” Ana giggled.

“She’s the prettiest, but she is not my girlfriend.”

“She isn’t? What is she then?” Her sister asked.

What is she?

Rio didn’t fucking know. They weren’t friends, they weren’t enemies because she was sure Agatha didn’t hate her anymore, but they weren’t lovers either. Rio liked Agatha, and Agatha liked toying with her. Their relationship was just a whole lot of sexual tension.

“It’s complicated,” Rio replied.

“Is it?” Alice questioned, her voice high-pitched as if she didn’t believe her.

“Yes,” Rio said matter-of-factly. “Now enough about me, how’s school?”

“I want to meet her,” Ana ignored her question. “Can you bring her home?”

In all honesty, Rio wanted nothing more. She would love to bring Agatha back to Madrid with her, show her all her favourite spots, introduce her to her friends and siblings. But that would never happen.

Rio shook her head, and Ana pouted.

“Now, how’s school?” Rio asked again.

Her sister shrugged. “It’s okay. Boring. Ooo! I’m doing more English lessons, so if I come visit, I can speak it better.”

“Go on,” Rio urged.

Ana switched languages. “Hi, Rio and Alice. My name is Ana, and I have two siblings. My favourite colour is pink, and I like pizza!”

Alice and Rio clapped.

“Well done,” Alice said.

“You’re doing amazing, sweetie,” Rio quoted the trio's favourite meme, which earned her a laugh from both of them.

A voice, Ana’s nanny, told her she had to go. Her sister sighed before she said in Spanish:

“I have to go now. Talk to you soon, sissy. Bye, Ali.”

“Bye,” Alice and Rio said together.

“I love you,” Rio told her.

“I love you too,” Ana replied before she hung up.

Rio put her phone down and turned to Alice, who had her eyebrow raised.

“It’s complicated, huh?”

Rio rolled her eyes. “Shut up and go change, I’m starving.”

Alice laughed.

***

“For fucksake,” Agatha grumbled as she looked down.

She’d started her fucking period.

Agatha hated everything.

After her conversation with Rio-Sofia last night, Agatha very nearly knocked on the princess’s door. She paced around outside it for about twenty minutes until she finally talked herself out of it, texted Wanda for the first time all week, and invited her over for a fuck.

They’d been at it all night and all morning, and she still couldn't get the princess out of her head. Was Rio-Sofia a drug? Why the fuck couldn’t she stop thinking about her? She felt like a coke addict who could only think about their next fix.

And now she was on her fucking period.

“Bloody brilliant,” Agatha muttered.

She got off the toilet and headed to the shower. Once she was moisturised and dressed, she filled up her hot water bottle, got out her stuffed bunny Señor Scratchy, her father had given to her as a baby before he died from her wardrobe, and curled into a foetal position on her bed.

Her cramps were kicking her ass.

She tried to wait it out. She always felt good when she powered through her cramps without taking ibuprofen or paracetamol. It made her feel powerful when she battled them without any aid.

She tossed and turned in bed, her stuffed bunny pressed into her chest until she couldn’t do it anymore. She rolled her eyes before finding her box of ibuprofen, popping two in her mouth and washing them down with water.

Once that was done, she went into her wardrobe to put on Rio-Sofia’s hoodie. She put the hood up and climbed back into bed.

She fell asleep.

When she woke up her cramps had finally fucked off and she had a craving for ice cream.

Agatha didn’t have any ice cream. Agatha also didn’t feel like leaving the flat. She picked up her phone from her bedside table.

Agatha: Are you out rn?

Rio-Sofia replied almost immediately.

Bitchy Princess: yeah. i’m with al. we’re coming back soon. why?

Agatha: Are you going to the supermarket?

Bitchy Princess: wasn’t planning on it. what do you want?

Agatha: nothing.

Bitchy Princess: agatha.

Agatha: Ice cream…Ben and Jerry’s…cookie dough…please?

Bitchy Princess: you got it ;)

Agatha rolled her eyes and put her phone down.

***

An hour later, there was a knock on her door.

“Come in,” Agatha said because she wasn’t getting up.

Her door opened and closed, and Rio-Sofia appeared. She had an orange Sainsbury’s shopping bag in her hand.

Rio-Sofia lifted her eyebrows in amusement as she took in Agatha’s position. She was still curled in a ball with her hot water bottle and stuffed bunny.

“You okay?”

“No,” Agatha grumbled. “I’m on my period.”

“Ah, that explains why you were being weird,” Rio-Sofia replied.

“Huh?”

“You said ‘please’ in your text. You never say please,” Rio-Sofia said.

“I say please,” Agatha snapped.

“Maybe, just never to me,” Rio-Sofia smiled.

Agatha glared at her before she handed over the bag.

“M’lady,” Rio-Sofia said as Agatha took it. “Your ice cream.”

Agatha pulled the bag open to see six tubs of Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream.

Agatha looked up at her in shock. “Rio-Sofia I asked for one tub of ice cream.”

“You actually didn’t specify,” the princess replied without missing a beat.

Agatha raised an eyebrow. “You always have to go above and beyond, don’t you?”

“When it’s for the right person, yes,” Rio-Sofia winked. “Enjoy,” she said in a sing-song voice before she left the room.

Agatha fought the urge to smile. She pulled one of the tubs from the bag and groaned when she realised she didn’t have a spoon.

She dragged herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, where she found Jen eating a bowl of pasta.

“You alright, babe?” Jen asked.

“I’m on my bloody period,” Agatha replied as she pulled open the freezer door so she could put her ice cream tubs in her drawer.

“Ah, sorry.”

Agatha grunted in response as she tried to fit in all of her ice cream. Did she have enough space for all of it?

“Woah, did you take out a small loan?” Jen asked as she eyed Agatha’s ice cream tubs. “Ben and Jerry’s goes for £5.25 a tub at least.”

“I actually have no problem spending that much on a tub of Ben and Jerry’s. They are one of the only companies that speak up about world issues,” Agatha huffed as she couldn’t fit the fifth tub into the freezer.

“Yes…but we’re uni students. We can afford one every blue moon.”

Agatha turned to glare at her.

Jen snapped her fingers. “Rio bought them for you.”

Agatha blinked. Yes…but how would her best friend know that?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Agatha replied, turning back to the freezer.

Jen laughed. “She did. You really do have the princess of Spain wrapped around your finger, huh?” Jen laughed again. “Of course, you fucking do. You’re the only person who could.”

Thank fuck Agatha’s head was in the freezer because there was no hiding the grin that painted her lips.

“Whatever,” Agatha replied when she’d finally gotten the fifth tub in.

She retrieved the one she left on the countertop, grabbed two spoons and sat next to Jen around the kitchen island. She handed Jen the spare spoon.

“I haven’t finished my pasta yet,” Jen told her.

Agatha just stared at her until her best friend sighed and took the spoon.

Agatha cracked the tub open and dug in. It was just what she needed.

“Oh, what are you going to be for Halloween?” Jen asked as she licked her spoon.

“Huh?”

“Well, it’s this week,” Jen replied. “You gotta decide now.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never done Halloween.”

Her mother deemed Halloween the devil’s holiday, and therefore, Agatha had never celebrated it.

“So? We aren’t at home anymore. Halloween is the messiest night of the year for uni students, according to Nat. We gotta go all out,” Jen told her.

Mess. Agatha could do with more mess.

“What did you have in mind?” Agatha grinned.

Chapter Text

The messiest night of the year.

That’s what Natasha said, had kept saying every day leading up to it.

Rio had never celebrated Halloween, they didn’t in Spain, you know, catholic country and all. And even if they did, her mother would never allow her to, you know, Spanish princess and all.

Rio was certain she wouldn’t be allowed to go. She’d already pushed her luck with the night out from a couple of weeks ago, she didn’t want to ask Lucia again. But the girls kept nagging, and the more Natasha spoke about their last Halloween, the more Rio wanted to go.

They had been in the kitchen on the Tuesday when Rio asked:

“Cia, would I be able to go out on Halloween…please?”

“Rio,” Lucia warned in that voice that was laced with authority that she rarely ever used on her.

“Please, Lucia,” Natasha begged. “We’ll look after her, and my sister’s coming down from uni in Manchester and I want Rio to meet her.”

Lucia shook her head. “I can’t let Rio go out on her own again. Plus, as much as me and Cami (Rio’s bodyguard who hadn’t snitched on her on initiation night) are willing to cover for you, there is a limit.”

Rio nodded. It had been worth a shot.

“What if you come with us?” Alice asked.

Lucia and Rio both raised an eyebrow.

“I’m being serious. That way, Cia can watch over Ri. That’s the biggest issue, right?”

Lucia shook her head. “I don’t know. Aren’t I too old to be around you guys at a party?”

“How old are you?” Natasha asked eagerly.

Rio glanced at her. She was not being subtle at all.

“Twenty-two,” Lucia replied.

Natasha waved her off. “That’s fine. The party we’re going to is at Steve’s house, and he lives with a bunch of third years. There’s bound to be some twenty-two-year-olds there.”

It was clear Lucia was still sceptical. “I don’t know.”

“Cia, please,” Rio pleaded.

Lucia stared at her for a while, clearly conflicted about what to say.

She huffed before she said, “Fine.”

That evening, Rio and Alice ordered their Halloween costumes. After an hour long discussion of what Rio could be, she and Alice, with some input from Lucia decided she was going to be a knight…a slutty knight.

Alice would be a Barbie because she and Jen thought it would be funny to switch aesthetics. They also ordered Lucia a costume. She said she didn’t want to dress up, but Rio couldn’t have Lucia not in costume. She’d stick out like a sore thumb. Lucia was going to be a cowgirl.

Their costumes arrived the next day, and after Rio’s lecture, she and Alice spent the afternoon spray painting her top silver. Rio guessed it wasn’t surprising that sparkly silver tops were a bitch to find.

She’d ordered a white strapless corset that had to be laced up by ribbons down each side, a silver metallic mini skirt Alice had somehow found, a knight’s helmet with matching gloves and a plastic sword.

Once the corset was painted and dried, they added splats of a bronze paint on the skirt and top to give it a dirty, well-worn look. As for Rio’s shoes, she luckily had a pair of silver Adidas Samba’s X Wales Bonner’s with white stripes that worked surprisingly well.

Now, on Thursday, the day of Halloween, Rio was buzzing. She was ready for a night promised of mess and alcohol. Although she still didn’t know what Agatha was going to be. The brunette had been tight-lipped on that fact.

She was in Alice’s bedroom after her seminar, counting down the minutes until she could start getting ready. Jen was there too.

“When does pres start again?” Jen asked.

“I think Nat said seven, she has to pick Yelena up from Euston,” Alice replied.

“Have you met her sister before?” Jen asked.

Alice nodded. “She’s nice but insane. She stayed in Russia for a few more years than Nat did, and you know the Russians, they love to drink,” Alice laughed as if recalling a memory. “Last year, when she came to visit, she made us do a shot every ten minutes. I’d never been so drunk in my life.”

Rio scoffed. “And I thought Nat was bad.”

“Nat is nothing compared to Yelena,” Alice laughed again.

There was a knock on Alice’s door then.

“Come in,” Alice called.

The door opened, and Agatha stepped inside. It was evident she was in the middle of getting ready. Her wet hair was tied up in a bun, and she’d started prepping her face for makeup.

“You’ve started already?” Jen asked.

“Yeah,” Agatha replied. “We’ve got two hours, and you know how long I take. I’m surprised you haven’t started yet.”

Jen sat up from where she’d been sprawled out on Alice’s bed. “You’re so right. Bye guys,” Jen said before she left.

“Bye,” Rio and Alice said through a laugh.

“Are either of you good at eyeliner? I’ve never done it before, and I wanna do it for tonight,” Agatha said.

“Rio is,” Alice replied. “I mean look at it,” she pointed at Rio’s eyeliner.

Agatha nodded as if admiring her handiwork.

“Help me?” Agatha asked.

Rio looked at her for a long moment before she said:

“Sure.”

“Perfect, come with me.”

Rio sighed before getting off Alice’s bed. “See you later, Al.”

“Bye,” Alice replied.

They left Alice’s room and headed to Agatha’s, saying hi to Lucia before they entered.

Agatha’s room was a mess; her clothes were all over the floor, her hair products were on every surface, and her makeup was spread across her desk.

“What have you been doing?” Rio asked through a laugh.

Agatha scowled at her. “What does it look like I’ve been doing?”

Rio shook her head playfully.

“Right, how are we doing this?”

Rio just needed her to sit down somewhere so that she could lean over her…but where was the fun in that? They were still fucking with each other after all.

“Lie down on your bed,” Rio instructed.

Agatha raised an eyebrow. “Is that necessary?”

“You want the best results or not?” Rio argued.

Agatha huffed before she did as Rio asked, moving the clothes on her bed onto the floor so she could lie down.

Rio spotted the stuffed bunny she’d been cradling on the weekend amongst the clothes. She picked it up and put it on the bed.

“I don’t think your bunny deserves to be on the floor,” she said.

Agatha shrugged.

“What’s their name?”

“Señor Scratchy,” Agatha replied.

“Oh, el es Español.” Oh, he’s Spanish. Rio replied with a smile.

“Sí.”

“¿Por qué?” Why?

“No es asunto tuyo.” None of your business. Agatha snapped.

“Okay,” Rio laughed. “Where’s your eyeliner?”

Agatha pointed to her desk, which was covered in her makeup products.

Rio scoffed. “Course.”

She went over to it and poked around at the array of items for a good couple of minutes before she found a black eyeliner pencil and black liquid eyeliner. She grabbed both and climbed on Agatha’s bed before straddling her, sitting on her stomach.

Agatha narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t necessary.”

“Hey,” Rio tapped her on the arm. “Who’s the eyeliner guru? Me or you?”

Agatha cringed. “Don’t ever say that again.”

Rio laughed.

She uncapped the eyeliner pencil and arched her back so she could lean over Agatha’s face.

God, her eyes are so pretty.

This close, Rio could see the misty white that spread out from Agatha’s pupils into the rest of her blue irises.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” Rio breathed.

Agatha rolled her eyes. “Shut up and do my eyeliner.”

Rio laughed before she asked her to close her eyes.

When Agatha did, Rio caressed her face, fingers resting lightly on her chin to keep her head in place, thumb pressing into her cheek. She didn’t miss the way the brunette’s breath hitched as she did so.

Rio smiled before beginning to apply the eyeliner. She’d almost finished with Agatha’s right eye when she very nearly had to start all over again.

Agatha’s hands had snaked up her the back of her thighs to rest on her hips. She stroked the bare skin between Rio’s shorts and tank top with her thumbs.

Rio blinked to try and keep her concentration. Her entire body tingled because of the sensation, and she could feel her underwear dampening.

Fuck.

Normally, she would power through, but she wanted to do Agatha’s eyeliner properly.

“S…stop,” Rio got out breathlessly.

“Why?” Agatha replied.

Her eyes were still shut, thank god. She couldn’t see the facial expression on Rio’s face.

“Can you not focus?” Agatha grinned.

“N…” Rio cut herself off with a quiet moan when Agatha’s hands dropped to palm her ass.

“You said being like this was necessary,” Agatha told her. “This is what you wanted, right?”

Agatha’s fingers rubbed the bare skin underneath Rio’s shorts, and she had to make sure she kept herself upright and didn’t fall on the girl beneath her.

“You can keep going, darlin. I believe in you,” Agatha mocked.

“N…no. I can’t. I don’t want to ruin your makeup-”

Agatha cut her off. “Keep. Going.”

Rio bit her lip, goosebumps spreading across her arms as her body came alive the more Agatha touched her ass.

I need to fuck her. I need to fuck her. I need to fuck her.

“Oh…okay,” Rio got out.

With a shaky hand, she moved on to Agatha’s left eye. She strengthened her grip around the pencil so much that her knuckles turned white. Rio tried and failed to steady her breath as Agatha continued with her incessive movement.

When Agatha’s left hand ran up the length of her back underneath her top, Rio almost fell on her.

“You okay?” Agatha laughed.

“Fuck you,” Rio whispered as her hand trembled.

What felt like a lifetime later, she’d finished with Agatha’s eyeliner. Normally, she’d go over the pencil with liquid eyeliner, but she needed to get off Agatha as quickly as possible.

It was most definitely not her best work, but it would do.

“Done,” Rio announced as she snatch Agatha’s hands off her body and scrambled off the bed.

Agatha sat up with a smirk, and Rio tried her hardest not to squeeze her legs together. She needed to get hosed down; she needed a shower.

“I’m gonna get ready now.”

“Why the rush?” Agatha’s smirk never wavered.

“Gotta go get myself off to you in the shower,” Rio told her.

Agatha burst out laughing.

“Adios,” Rio said as she turned to leave.

“You want help?”

“Get fucked,” Rio called back as she left the room.

***

After Rio’s very long shower, she did her makeup and changed into her costume. Alice had done her hair by adding silver pieces of tinsel throughout. Every time it caught the light, her dark hair would shimmer.

There was a knock on her door before that voice said:

“You wanna see my costume?”

Rio had been waiting all day. “Yeah, come in.”

The door opened, and Rio’s jaw dropped.

Agatha was Princess Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries. She wore a short cream strapless dress that had a ruffled trim around the bust. The dress was corseted on her frame before it flowed out into the short skirt at the end. She had long cream gloves to match, black headphones atop her head of loose beach waves and what looked like a replica of Rio’s tiara from her speech four months ago.

That’s when Rio noticed the pink lipstick and pink blush. It was the exact shade she’d been wearing on that dreadful day.

“You…how did you get my tiara?” Rio got out.

“I spoke to Lucia,” Agatha grinned as she walked into the room.

Rio blinked at her, her mouth still agape because she genuinely didn’t know what to say.

“You gonna be my knight in shining armour tonight then?” Agatha teased as she flipped the cover of Rio’s helmet down to cover her eyes.

Rio was still gaping at her.

“Hm,” Agatha hummed, undeterred by how unresponsive Rio was. “It’s missing something.”

She pulled off Rio’s helmet and pressed the plastic to her lips. When she removed it, there was a kiss mark on it.

“There!” Agatha said as she admired her handiwork. “Now, everyone knows you have a princess waiting for you at home.”

That took Rio out of her perplexed state.

“You’ll be waiting for me then?”

“You would want that, wouldn’t you?” Agatha smirked. “Nope, but it’ll let people know you’re spoken for.”

“Which I’m not,” Rio replied. “One wipe and that’s gone.”

Agatha narrowed her eyes. She was caught. Either she admitted she wanted Rio, or she accepted the fact that Rio could do whatever she pleased tonight.

With her eyes still narrowed, she walked Rio backwards until her knees hit the back of her bed and she fell onto it.

Rio furrowed her eyebrows.

What is she-

That thought got cut off when Agatha tipped her head to kiss the edge of her right breast.

Rio froze as the wet lips stayed glued to her for far longer than was necessary.

When Agatha pulled away, a string of saliva followed in her wake, and Rio squeezed her legs together.

Agatha grinned. “Try getting that off.”

Rio looked down at the bright pink kiss mark on her chest.

“See you at Nat’s,” Agatha sing-songed as she turned on her heels and left the room.

“Mierda.” Shit. Rio muttered under her breath.

Agatha was going to kill her.

***

Natasha’s sister Yelena was Agatha’s type of person. She was yelling ‘shot o’clock’ every ten minutes, and every ten minutes, Agatha was tipping some sort of alcohol down her throat in a plastic shot glass.

“Agatha, I love you!” Yelena exclaimed in her thick Russian accent. The blonde was wearing a black skin-tight spy costume identical to her sister’s. “You’re the only one keeping up!”

Agatha laughed as Yelena handed her another shot.

Agatha was fucked.

Should she be this fucked at 8 PM? Nope.

She was glad her period had finished the day before, in fear that she wouldn’t be able to wear her costume. She’d known what she wanted to be since she’d decided with Jen on the Sunday. Agatha wanted to mess with the princess, and her costume, a literal princess, was the best way to do so.

She spent far too long researching what shade of lipstick and blush the princess had been wearing in her speech, so she could buy it. Luckily, with the tiara, all she had to do was ask Lucia, and she told her where she could buy a replica.

Rio-Sofia’s reaction was priceless. Agatha wished she could’ve taken a picture.

And not that Agatha liked this fact, but she didn’t mind that Rio-Sofia was a knight…it kind of seemed like they had done it on purpose.

A princess and a knight. Like they’d coordinated. (Like a couple).

Agatha necked the shot and winced when she realised Yelena had given her vodka.

“Eugh!” Agatha grimaced as Yelena laughed.

“That’s the good stuff!”

“Cheap vodka from Tesco? Yeah, I don’t think so,” Agatha wiped her chin from where she’d spilt her drink.

“You and your girlfriend are cute by the way, your couple's costume,” Yelena added.

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows, too drunk to process what Yelena was saying.

“The girl you were talking to when you came in,” she nodded to Rio-Sofia.

“Oh,” Agatha replied when she understood. Oh. “That’s not my girlfriend,” Agatha spluttered. “That’s my…er…”

“Right…” Yelena laughed.

“She’s the princess of Spain, you know, Rio-Sofia,” Agatha said because that she did know.

“Oh!” Yelena snapped her fingers in recognition. “That’s her? Nat was not lying, she's gorgeous.”

Agatha’s stomach twisted with anger and discomfort.

“What are we drinking?” Jen said from behind her, her hands resting on Agatha’s shoulders. “Ooo,” Jen said as she pulled her hand away. “Maybe I went too far with the body glitter." She rubbed her fingers together.

Agatha turned to see her best friend in Alice’s clothes with heavy eyeliner and eyeshadow. She even had Alice’s hair, a black wolf cut streaked with red.

“Where on earth did you get that from?” Agatha asked.

“Costume shop,” Jen grinned. “You like?” She twirled on the spot.

“Love,” Agatha smiled.

“Oh, you must be Yelena,” Jen said to the blonde.

They started up a conversation, and Agatha no longer needed to be in the kitchen; she was drunk enough. She picked up her Pepsi and rum and, with extra effort, and made her way to the seating area. It was made up of mostly the hockey girls and some of Natasha’s course friends.

The sofa was full, Rio-Sofia sitting between Lucia in her cowboy costume and Alice in a bright pink Barbie dress.

“I’m not sure if there’s space over there, Aggs,” Wanda told her from her chair in the corner away from the sofa. “You wanna sit with me?”

“It’s okay,” Agatha replied before she made her way to the sofa.

She shuffled between people’s legs hanging off the sofa and the table before it, until she plopped herself down on Rio-Sofia’s lap. She almost made the princess spill her drink.

“Hello?” Rio-Sofia laughed.

“There was no space and your legs were free,” Agatha shrugged.

“Okay,” Rio-Sofia replied as she wrapped the free arm not holding her drink around Agatha’s stomach.

“Are they together officially now?" Agatha overheard Lucia whisper to Alice.

“No one knows at this point,” Alice replied.

Chapter Text

Everyone was off their fucking faces.

Yelena and Natasha had been on a mission to get everyone as drunk as humanly possible, and they had succeeded. Agatha didn’t even want to think about how many bottles of alcohol they’d been through, enough to fill a landfill if she had to guess.

Yelena had come round what felt like every minute with a tray of plastic shot glasses, and everyone dutifully took one.

She’d been sitting on Rio-Sofia’s lap throughout pres and revelled in the fact that she had to keep getting up and down to grab her shot. It was making the princess squirm beneath her, her ass brushing up against Rio-Sofia’s core whenever she shifted.

The princess’s hand around her stomach had kept tensing as if trying to get a hold of herself, and Agatha had never felt so smug in her life.

It felt powerful to know she could have this much of an effect on someone, that she could touch Rio-Sofia in any way and know that she’d melt in her hands like she had in her bedroom earlier.

Rio-Sofia’s skin had been so soft, so perfect under Agatha’s hands.

Now, after trying to navigate the London tube system with only three brain cells working between all thirty of the pres party, they’d made it to Steve’s student house in Finchley.

The three-story house was packed. People spilt out into the street, and the music, along with laughter and shouts, could be heard down the road.

“Fuck me,” Jen mumbled as she looked at the house.

Agatha and Rio-Sofia laughed. The princess had her arm wrapped around her waist.

They’d been inseparable. Agatha tried to start up with their game, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from Rio-Sofia. Whilst they were stumbling around trying to find the right tube back in Euston Station, Rio’s hand was in hers the entire time. On the tube, she’d sat on Rio’s lap again when there were multiple seats available.

They began walking into the house when the princess whispered in her ear:

“Let’s see how long you can keep your hands off me then.”

When Agatha looked at her, she smirked before disappearing through the open door and into the raging party beyond.

Fuck.

The game had begun.

OMG by Usher ft will.i.am was blaring once Agatha stepped inside the house.

“You look like you’ve short-circuited,” Jen laughed. “Are you too drunk? You need water?”

No. Agatha didn’t need water. She needed to win.

So what, she’d had complete and utter access to Rio-Sofia for the past two hours? She had self-control. She could go the entire night without touching her.

“Vodka,” was all Agatha said.

Jen eyed her sceptically. “Are you sure? You literally look like someone has stolen the breath from your lungs.”

Agatha glared at her. “Jen! Where’s the fucking vodka?!”

Her best friend's eyes widened. “I don’t know. We’ll find the kitchen.”

Jen took her by the hand and dragged her down the flight of stairs before them. They weaved through people until they made it to the large table covered in drinks.

Agatha snatched up the closest bottle of vodka, twisted off the cap, and drank it straight from the bottle.

Jen blinked at her. “I always knew you were a little crazy…but that’s just straight up psychotic. How the hell have you just gone and done that?”

“Straight vodka? Are you crumbling already, Agatha?” That irritating fucking voice rasped in her ear.

Where the fuck had Rio-Sofia even come from?!

The princess pulled the bottle out of her hand and drank from it too. She never broke eye contact as she guzzled it down like water.

“Guess you're crumbling too,” Agatha nodded to the bottle.

“Nope. I want you; I’ve made that very clear. I can touch you unless you tell me not to.”

Rio-Sofia reached up to run her thumb over Agatha’s bottom lip, collecting the residue vodka that had been left there. She sucked her thumb into her mouth.

“See. No resistance,” Rio-Sofia smirked. “Question is, how long can you resist not touching me?”

“You’re gonna be very disappointed when you go this entire night untouched,” Agatha snapped.

“Is that why your hand is twitching?”

Agatha looked down to see her left hand tensing just before Rio-Sofia’s thigh.

“It’s the alcohol,” Agatha told her.

“Whatever you say, princess,” the princess winked before she pushed the vodka bottle into Agatha’s hand and walked away.

Agatha’s hand tightened around the bottle.

“What the fuck was that about?” Jen asked.

Agatha didn’t reply, just brought the vodka bottle to her lips and chugged.

***

Maybe it was the way Agatha had touched Rio in her bedroom earlier, maybe it was Agatha’s lips imprinted on her right breast, maybe it was because it was the messiest night of the year, why Rio had the burning desire to push Agatha to her limits tonight.

She’d indulged in the way the brunette was so willing to touch her earlier at pres and that’s when Rio had thought of the idea. What if she just…cut Agatha off?

Rio was dancing with Alice and Lucia on the dance floor (living room). A disco ball had been strung up, white dots washed over the room. Rio was sweating and laughing as bodies pushed into her. There had to be next to a hundred people in the house.

Natasha came up to them then, and she didn’t hesitate to grab Rio’s hips and press her against her back. Their bodies moved together in time with the music, Like A G6 by Far East Movement, The Cataracs, DEV. Rio brought her hand up to run through her hair.

She laughed, her head falling back on Natasha’s heated body.

Oh, how Rio loved being drunk.

When she lifted her head again, she locked onto Agatha on the sofa on the other side of the room. With so many people in the way, the contact broke, and the next time Rio saw her again, she had her tongue down Wanda’s throat.

Rio grinned.

She was so winning this round.

She turned to face Natasha.

“Put your hands up, make you put your hands up, p-put your hands up,” the song instructed.

Everyone on the makeshift dance floor complied.

Rio locked her hands with Natasha’s, their fingers tangling together as she brought their arms down in a rainbow type ark. The beat kicked in again, and Natasha started shimmying her shoulders backwards. Rio laughed before she copied the movement forward and vice versa.

She freed her right hand to beckon Natasha forward with her index finger.

Natasha went dutifully and pressed their lips together in a lazy kiss.

She needed respite. She’d gone without Agatha’s touch for a little over half an hour now. Rio didn’t know what was worse, having Agatha touch her and not getting release, or having Agatha not touch her, and the knots in her stomach tighten regardless.

Now, should Rio be kissing someone in the open like this?

Nope. But drunk Rio doesn’t give a fuck if the last couple of weeks had told her anything.

“Oi! Stop getting me to kiss you out in public, it’s not allowed,” Natasha teased.

Rio threw her head back and laughed. “You have free will, Nat.”

“Yeah, but you’re pretty. I’m not saying no to you,” she smiled.

Rio laughed again before she said:

“I’m gonna get another drink.”

“Alright.”

Rio entered the kitchen and grinned when she saw the only girl that mattered there.

Agatha hadn’t seen her as she was filling up her cup, so naturally, Rio snuck up behind her and whispered in her ear:

“How you holding up, baby? Is Wanda keeping you satisfied, or is it my turn yet?”

Agatha flinched at the sound of her voice. She steeled herself before turning to face her, her blue eyes looking up at Rio through her eyelashes.

Rio forced herself not to swallow. Agatha was so fucking sexy.

“Did you wish it was me?” Agatha’s voice was dripping with seduction.

Rio furrowed her eyebrows.

“Dancing with you. Did you wish it was my hands holding on you, my body pressed against yours, your fingers in my hair, your lips against mine?”

“Yep,” Rio replied without missing a beat. “But we’re seeing how long you can go without touching me. Balls in your court. You ready to play?”

“I’m not touching you.”

Rio grinned. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Agatha rolled her eyes, picking up her drink and leaving.

***

“You missing me yet?”

“You can have me, just say the word.”

“You could kiss Wanda all night, and that tight knot wouldn’t be going anywhere, do you know why? Because she isn’t me.”

“How soaked are you right now?”

All night, Rio-Sofia whispered things like this into Agatha’s ear. She would pop out of nowhere, brush her lips against her skin, smirk, and then disappear.

Agatha wouldn’t cave.

But oh, how she wanted to watch Rio-Sofia shatter under her touch.

If she just gave in…

Stop it.

She’d had the upper hand the entire evening up until the party, and she needed to maintain it. So what Rio-Sofia had introduced this diabolical play? Agatha could keep up.

She rolled her head back to try and relax her body. It was pent up with unreleased tension and the princess was fucking right. Wanda wasn’t working today.

Why wasn’t she working?

Her core ached; she’d been clenching around nothing for nearly three hours now.

Fingers threaded through the ends of her hair, and Agatha couldn’t help the quiet moan that left her mouth as she tipped her head back.

Stop it.

She turned slowly, until she was facing her.

“My fingers can do so much more than play with your hair,” Rio-Sofia hummed.

Do it. Touch her.

No, don’t! Stop. It.

Agatha glared at her, the battle that had been playing out in her head all night louder than ever. She could feel her breath getting deeper as brown eyes flicked between hers.

Don’t you dare…

Bingo.

A slow smile spread across Agatha’s lips. She walked past Rio-Sofia and beckoned her to follow. To no surprise to Agatha, the princess followed.

She didn’t stop walking until they were in the closest bathroom.

“Lock the door,” she ordered.

Rio did so.

“On your knees.”

Rio’s eyes narrowed before she did as she was told.

“You said you were still going to touch me, right?”

The princess nodded, looking up at her from the floor.

The princess of Spain kneeling before Agatha. How it all made sense.

“Touch me then,” Agatha told her as she rested her back against the sink.

Rio raised an eyebrow. “You’re letting me?”

“I think I just said that. By your rules, you can touch me. So, do it.”

Rio’s hands snaked up her legs, and Agatha had to stop herself from shuddering. She spread her legs open slowly, and Agatha almost groaned when the cool air breezed over her soaked underwear.

“Hold that up,” Rio instructed as she nodded to the fabric of Agatha’s dress.

She pulled it up casually as if she weren’t dying for Rio to put her fingers or tongue inside her.

The princess didn’t break eye contact as she planted the first kiss on Agatha’s inner thigh. Her thigh tingled immediately, and Agatha had to force herself to keep her eyes open. Closing them meant surrender.

Agatha wasn’t surrendering.

Brown eyes remained locked on her as she planted more soft kisses on Agatha’s right thigh before she switched to the left.

Rio took her eyes off her to run her tongue over her underwear, and Agatha bit her lip to stifle her moan. She already hated herself for giving in like this, she wouldn’t give the princess the satisfaction of knowing how good she was making her feel.

Rio licked her lips. “Sweet.” It was all she said.

At the speed of a fucking snail, Rio pulled Agatha’s lacey black underwear off her body until it dropped to the ground.

Brown eyes were on her again, and Agatha’s grip around the sink top tightened as she fought the urge to reach out and touch her. She was still winning this. She would still go the entire night without touching her.

Rio’s fingers grazed the edge of her core, playing with the short hair there, and Agatha physically couldn’t stop herself from jolting every time her cunt clenched around nothing.

The princess’s grin was wicked.

“Even if you won’t admit to me that you want me, your body is,” Rio said as Agatha’s body twitched again.

Agatha felt her breath getting shallower. “Put your fingers inside me,” Agatha demanded until she whimpered when Rio’s finger ran against her entrance.

“No,” came the response.

Agatha parted her lips to scream at her when Rio’s tongue ran through her folds.

This time, she couldn’t stop the groan that left her mouth. Her core reacted in kind, and she felt the first rush of wetness leak out.

Rio lapped it up eagerly until the next flood came.

Agatha fought the urge to thread her hand through Rio’s hair to keep her head in place. Her knuckles were going white as she gripped onto the sink counter for dear life.

Agatha’s hips jerked up when Rio drew back to blow a cool stream of air over her sensitive clit. Her hand flew up to her mouth to stifle her moans.

Her hand vibrated with a low hum as Rio circled her clit with the tip of her tongue. The movement was slow and precise, and Agatha’s hips twitched again.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Agatha mumbled breathlessly.

Rio circled her clit again, and again, and Agatha could feel the climax building.

Agatha had fucked a number of girls, and no one had ever made her feel like this. Her entire body was alive and buzzing with adrenaline and anticipation as it searched for its release.

Rio gradually picked up her pace, those slow circles becoming faster and eager.

Agatha felt her body tensing up, knowing it was moments away from release. Her hips pushed desperately against Rio’s mouth…until the princess stopped.

When Rio pulled back, her mouth and chin were glistening with Agatha’s slick. That tongue that had been in Agatha’s cunt seconds before darted out to lap it up.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Agatha panted.

“You ready to touch me yet?”

Agatha blinked, still in her haze of lust.

What the fuck is she talking about? Oh-

“No,” Agatha got out, her chest still rising and falling rapidly.

“Okay then,” Rio-Sofia got up.

“W-what do you mean?” Agatha spluttered.

The princess shrugged. “I’m done now.”

“No, you’re fucking not!” Agatha shrieked. “Get on your knees again.”

“You gonna touch me?”

“No.”

“Then no.”

Agatha blinked at her. “But you can’t…you just…”

Rio-Sofia grinned. “Oh, I think I can. Touch me and then we can pick up where we left off, kay?”

The princess pecked her then, and Agatha tasted herself on Rio-Sofia’s lips before she left the bathroom.

Agatha’s jaw dropped. Rio-Sofia had left her with her underwear around her ankles, still fucking soaked and moments away from release.

Understandably, Agatha was fuming.

She yanked her underwear up and stormed out of the bathroom with one thing on her mind.

Get release.

She entered the kitchen and saw Rio-Sofia around the drinks table laughing with the girls as if she wasn’t about to make Agatha come ten seconds ago.

Agatha scanned the room for a potential candidate when a girl bumped into her. She turned to scowl at her when her eyes widened.

“You?”

It was fucking Izzy.

“Your fucking girlfriend punched me in the face the other day!” Agatha yelled. “I asked you twice if you were single, and you said yes!”

The brunette nodded before her face turned sombre. “She’s not my girlfriend anymore. She broke up with me.”

“No fucking shit! You cheated!”

“I couldn’t say no to you!” The girl replied. “You’re just so fucking beautiful I had to have you. I’m sorry,” she whispered the last part.

Agatha narrowed her eyes. “So, you’re single?”

Izzy nodded.

“You wanna eat me out in the bathroom?”

“Yes!” Izzy replied eagerly.

“Perfect!” Agatha grabbed Izzy by the neck and kissed her.

She peeled an eye open and lo and behold, Rio-Sofia was glaring at her, her hand tightening around the cup she was holding.

Bingo.

She pulled away from Izzy and dragged her to the bathroom.

***

The head was…okay? (It was nothing compared to how Rio-Sofia had made her feel). At least she’d come.

Agatha told Izzy to leave as she freshened up. When she walked out of the bathroom and saw Rio-Sofia again, she had to act like she'd just had the best sex of her life.

She ran her fingers through her hair, centred her tiara, and breezed out of the bathroom with a smirk on her face.

The girls, minus Alice, were still at the drinks table as she approached.

Agatha caught Natasha’s expression first; her eyes were stern as she glared at Wanda. Jen looked confused, and Rio-Sofia looked panicked, her eyes rimmed with tears. Those eyes widened before Wanda threw her drink in the princess’s face.

Agatha stopped short, a mixture of rage and confusion halting her until the rage won out and she stormed over to them.

“Agatha?” Wanda asked. Agatha ignored her.

“Hey,” she reached out to touch Rio for the first time since they arrived. Her hand gripped her wet arm. “Are you okay? Let’s get you dried off.”

Rio snatched her hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me!” She said, her tears falling down her face stained with Pepsi.

The kiss mark that Agatha had left on her chest was ruined now.

Agatha jerked her head back. “Rio?”

“Leave me alone!” Rio yelled before she headed for the garden next to them.

Natasha and Jen followed suit.

Wanda scoffed before she turned on her heels and ventured further into the house.

“Wanda!” Agatha called. The redhead didn’t stop. “Wanda!” She caught her arm in the corridor and turned her around. “What the fuck was that?!”

She shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Oh, come off it. Why the hell did you do that?”

“I like you,” Wanda blurted out.

Agatha pulled a face. Did Wanda think it was appropriate to tell her that now, when she’d just thrown a drink on Rio?

“Why did you throw your drink in Rio’s face?”

Wanda scoffed again. “That’s what you have to say after I tell you something like that?”

“Answer my fucking question,” Agatha demanded.

“I threw it on her because she deserved it, okay?” Wanda replied nonchalantly.

“What’d she do?”

“Does it matter?!” Wanda snapped.

“Yes!” Agatha seethed. “Oh, you know what, fuck this. I’m asking her.”

“She won’t want to talk to you,” Wanda sing-songed.

She’d said it with such finality that it made Agatha’s stomach drop.

She ignored the feeling and Wanda’s calls as she made her way back to the garden.

It was mostly empty, just a few people dotted around smoking weed or cigarettes. Upon first glance, she couldn’t find her friends or the princess. The garden was too dark to see anything properly. Agatha walked further in and came to understand just how far the garden stretched. That’s when she spotted Alice and Rio down the other end.

She had to squint to see them; the light from the house didn’t reach that far.

They were leaning in close as if Alice was trying to stop her best friend from crying. A wave of sadness washed over Agatha at the thought of that, of Rio crying.

As she got closer, Agatha realised that it wasn’t Alice, it was Jen in Alice’s clothes. And they weren’t just leaning into each other…

…There’s no fucking way.

They were kissing.

Chapter Text

Well, that was definitely…something…

Agatha scoffed before she headed back inside the house. She didn’t care that her best friend was making out with the princess, why would she? She didn’t give a fuck about Rio-Sofia. She was just someone she liked to toy with, and she was certain Rio-Sofia felt the same.

Sure, she’d told Agatha that she wanted her whatever the fuck that meant. She was obviously over it because she was necking off her best friend.

She stumbled, almost smacking her hip against the drinks table, when arms caught her. She looked up to see Izzy again.

Agatha straightened, and Izzy took her hands off her.

“Are you following me?” Agatha asked.

“Yes,” Izzy replied.

Agatha shrugged; she liked honesty. “Wanna go back to your place?”

Izzy nodded eagerly.

“Show the princess the way,” Agatha said, waving her hand in front of her.

Izzy took her by the hand and dragged her out of the party.

***

Agatha had been sufficiently fucked.

It was the next morning, and she was lying half-naked and spent in Izzy’s bed. Her hair was a mess, she still had her makeup from last night on, and her princess costume had been tossed carelessly about the place.

She glanced at Izzy, who was panting next to her, her arm around Agatha’s body. She rolled her eyes and threw it off her. She wanted to go home now…or did she? She didn’t want to see Rio-Sofia. Jen, she didn’t care about; she and the princess weren’t a thing, her best friend had every right to kiss her if she wanted to.

But Rio-Sofia…now with a clearer head, Wanda’s words screamed in her mind, she won’t want to talk to you. And she hadn’t. She’d literally told Agatha not to touch her.

When it happened, Agatha hated to admit it, but it hurt.

Rio-Sofia always wanted her to touch her. Had begged her to, in fact.

What had changed? Wait…I don’t care.

Agatha didn’t care.

“Got any clothes I can borrow? I don’t wanna go out in my costume,” Agatha said.

“Top drawer,” Izzy nodded.

Agatha slid off the bed and went to it. She dug inside the drawer until she found a top that said, ‘Lesbians eat what?’ with a cat beneath it, and some grey joggers. She tugged them on as well as her shoes and grabbed her phone

“Walk me to the door?”

Izzy nodded and pulled on some shorts and a sports bra. “You don’t want your costume?”

Agatha shook her head. “Nah, keep it. Call it a souvenir.”

Izzy laughed before she picked up Agatha’s tiara.

Agatha froze as Izzy placed it atop her head. “You should keep that, though. It was made for you.”

Actually, it was made for Rio-Sofia. And because of that, it could burn for all Agatha cared.

But she didn’t say this, no, she just nodded and walked to Izzy’s bedroom door, down the corridor, and to her front door.

“See you around?” Izzy asked.

Agatha shrugged. “London’s a small place,” she quipped.

Izzy smiled before she planted a kiss on her cheek as Agatha pulled the door open.

“Are you fucking with me?”

Oh, of course.

The blonde from a few weeks ago, Izzy’s ex-girlfriend…the girl who punched her in the face.

Izzy’s jaw dropped before she said, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“What the fuck is she doing here?!” The blonde shrieked as she pointed at Agatha.

Agatha rocked on her heels…this was fun.

“I was coming back here to tell you I still loved you! That I wanted you back! And I come to find her leaving your flat?!”

Agatha let out a low whistle. “Not a good start, Iz.”

“I…erm…” Izzy stuttered.

The blonde glared at her.

Agatha clapped her hands. “Welp…this has been fun, but I gotta go. Thanks for the good fuck, Iz. Call me,” Agatha winked.

The blonde seethed and lunged for her as if she might punch her again. Agatha dodged it before Izzy grabbed her ex.

“Agatha, get out of here before she hurts you!” Izzy yelled as she restrained her ex, who was thrashing around in her arms like a dog with rabies.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” she walked out the door and called behind her, “I hope you two work it out!”

“I’m gonna kill the bitch,” Izzy’s ex yelled.

“Lizzie calm the fuck down!” Izzy said as the door shut behind them.

Agatha was feeling particularly menacing today…she was also still a little drunk from last night.

Why should other people get to be happy with their girlfriends when the girl she wanted…wait…

I don’t want anyone.

That’s right. Agatha didn't want anyone.

***

She almost missed her stop getting off the tube. She’d fallen asleep, and it was only a man bumping his briefcase into her leg that woke her up. Would you look at that…a man had been good for something, when did that ever happen?

She tapped out at Euston Square Station and sluggishly made the short walk to her accommodation, where she locked eyes with…

Oh, for fucksake.

“Bloody brilliant,” Agatha muttered.

…her mother.

Evanora gaped at her. It wasn’t great. The one time her mother had decided to visit Agatha she was still in yesterday’s makeup, hair a mess and wearing a top that said lesbians ate pussy…oh, and she still had her tiara on.

“What in god’s name,” Evanora blinked.

Yeah…it really wasn’t great.

Agatha didn’t bother fixing her appearance, she didn’t care, and she needed her mother to fuck off.

“Mother! What are you doing here?” Agatha asked with mock enthusiasm.

“I was coming to make sure you hadn’t formed a stronger bond with the devil, but it appears you already have.”

“Mhm,” Agatha nodded. “Yep, me and the devil are real close now,” she crossed her fingers to emphasise her point. “So, you probably shouldn’t be around me. In fact, you should go home so that you don’t catch what I’ve got.”

Evanora clutched the cross necklace around her neck. “The lord will always protect me. Take me up to your room this instant!” Evanora demanded.

“Ooo…” Agatha started. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’m on the fifth floor, you hate heights.”

“Agatha!” Evanora shrieked. “Let me up right now before I slap you right here in the middle of the street in front of all these people.”

“Do it,” Agatha challenged. “Someone will call the police on you.”

Evanora lowered her voice. “If you do not follow my orders, you will get far worse than a measly little slap. Sure, people could call the police, but you’ll certainly end up in a hospital bed.”

Agatha swallowed. That drained the fight out of her and sobered her up.

“Yes, mother.”

Agatha tapped her key card against her accommodation door and let her mother inside. They went up to the fifth floor in silence and continued that way until Agatha opened her bedroom door.

Her room was still a mess.

Evanora walked in, her face twisted with horror as she took in the posters of lesbian art, Agatha’s new clothes scattered across the floor and the new photos she’d added to her photo board. A lot of them (most) were from club photobooths. The girls were all drunk and all doing ‘inappropriate’ hand actions, or kissing, or something like that.

There wasn’t any warning. Evanora turned around and slapped her. Agatha’s head snapped to the side from the blow, her tiara flying off. Gingerly, she brought her hand up to cradle the now tender skin.

“I’m bringing you home,” Evanora told her calmly. “You will not continue with university.”

Agatha’s eyes widened as tears began to well.

“No,” Agatha whispered. “You can’t-”

“Can’t what?” Evanora snapped as she began ripping Agatha’s posters off her walls and shredding them into pieces.

“Mother,” Agatha tried to reason. “Mother, please. Stop it!”

“Evil, evil, evil,” Evanora muttered under her breath as she tore down more posters. “Evil. Devil’s spawn. Evil.”

You’re not evil, you’re not evil, you’re not evil.

Agatha reminded herself.

Don’t listen to her, you’re not.

When Evanora turned her attention to Agatha’s photo board, she produced a slow grin before she surged forward and yanked as many photos as she could from it.

“Mother!” Agatha yelled as she tried to stop her.

Evanora shoved her back with so much force that she hit the wall behind her. Her head smacked against it, and Agatha stumbled. Black spots clouded her vision.

Agatha straightened, her free hand going to rest on her head to soothe it.

Her mother kept going, kept ripping up the photos, kept stomping on them as if they were insects that needed killing, kept spitting on them like they were on fire and needed to be put out.

When Evanora’s eyes landed on Señor Scratchy, Agatha’s heart dropped.

Evanora scoffed. “You still have this?” She lifted the stuffed bunny. “You killed him, you know? Your father? That was you. You were so evil that it killed him.”

Agatha bit her lip as more tears fell. “Please,” Agatha pleaded. “Just…just put him down.”

Evanora held her gaze for a long moment before she said, “Okay, sweetheart.”

Agatha’s stomach twisted as her mother tore the only thing her father had ever given her in two.

She was so numb now that she couldn’t even scream.

She watched as the fluff spilt out onto her messy bedroom floor.

Agatha was no longer surprised when her mother grabbed a pair of scissors off her desk and grabbed at the first piece of clothing she could. It was a black tank top.

“And where did you get all of these horrendous clothes from?” Her mother shrieked as she sliced through it.

She let the ruined item fall to the ground before she leaned over and picked up a dark grey hoodie.

No!

But it wasn’t just any dark grey hoodie, it was Rio-Sofia’s.

“No! No, not that,” Agatha yelled as she snatched it from her mother’s grasp just before she cut into it.

Evanora’s hand holding the scissors shook with rage.

She lunged for Agatha then, yanking her by her hair and twisting it into a tight knot as she pulled her down.

Agatha bit her lip so she wouldn’t scream.

“And what’s so special about that, huh?”

Agatha didn’t reply, just kept the jumper behind her back as her mother continued to pull.

“You make me so unbelievably sick, Agatha,” her mother spat.

Agatha knew she was trembling. She wanted to stop, wanted to fight it, but she could feel her hair being ripped from her scalp.

“You show up here smelling like alcohol, your makeup done like a whore, a shirt with the most vile statement I have ever read in my life on it.” Evanora scoffed. “You will rot in hell, daughter.”

She brought the scissors up to Agatha’s face then, and for a split second, Agatha thought her mother might cut her with them.

She didn’t, just hacked off large pieces of Agatha’s hair.

It tumbled to the floor, resting next to the remains of her stuffed bunny, shredded photos and the cut-up piece of clothing that Rio-Sofia bought her.

Evanora released her then, and Agatha’s hand flew up to grab at the hair that was no longer there. Her hair was one of her favourite things about herself. She’d grown it out for forever; it was long, healthy and thick.

“Try whoring around with hair like that plus your croaked nose,” Evanora snapped. She yanked her by the hair again. “I will return, and when I do, I will make sure you are leaving with me.”

Her mother shoved her out of the way and left.

Left Agatha in her room with her shredded things. Left her bruised and exhausted. Left her with the fear that she might return.

Agatha couldn’t be in her room anymore.

She walked out into the corridor.

“Agatha? Are you okay?” Lucia asked.

She didn’t reply, tears blurring her vision as she left the flat.

***

Agatha had walked until she ended up at Primrose Hill. There weren’t many people about, which she guessed made sense for 10 AM on a Friday.

She’d put on Rio’s hoodie and pulled it around her knees, which were pressed against her chest, the hood up. And stared down the steep hill and the London skyline ahead.

She’d stopped crying now, but her face and head still hurt. She hadn’t seen her hair yet, she didn’t want to know. There would be no saving it, and she could only handle one devastating truth at a time.

She felt movement from behind her until someone sat next to her.

“What happened?”

Agatha didn’t look at her.

“Aggs?” Jen asked.

She thought she wasn’t mad at her best friend for kissing Rio-Sofia…but now, as Jen sat next to her…maybe she was.

“Talk to me, babe,” Jen urged softly.

“How’d you even find me?” Agatha asked, her voice hoarse from all the crying.

Jen pulled out her phone and wiggled it. “Life 360 is a godsend.”

Agatha scoffed. “Remind me to turn that off whenever I want to be alone.”

“Nah, then I would’ve asked Lucia to track you down. She and Rio were the ones who told me you were upset in the first place.”

“She still cares?” Agatha mumbled.

Because at the end of last night, the princess wanted nothing to do with her.

“Huh?” Jen asked.

Agatha felt the tears welling in her eyes again, at the mention of Rio, at Jen mentioning her. She couldn’t stop the words tumbling out of her mouth:

“Jen, why did you kiss her?” She turned to face her best friend for the first time since she sat down.

“What happened to your face?” Jen shrieked, her eyes scanning it as she reached out to touch her.

Agatha batted her hands away. “Jen, answer my fucking question!”

“What question? Mines is more important, what the fuck happened?”

“Jen-”

Her best friend cut her off. “No! Who did that to you? Tell me,” Jen demanded.

Agatha huffed before she turned away from her. “My mother came and paid me a visit.”

She felt Jen tense next to her.

“I’m going to fucking kill her!” Jen yelled, which earned her a few glances from the other people sitting on the hill. Jen didn’t care. “Why the fuck did she do that? You didn’t even do anything!”

Jen wouldn’t have known that, but her best friend had a tendency to believe Agatha was always in the right about everything she got herself into, unless it was truly diabolical, then Jen wouldn’t back her. She’d be screaming at her instead.

“Can we get you a restraining order? So, she can’t go anywhere near you?” Jen asked.

Agatha laughed for the first time all day. “Restraining orders are near impossible to obtain, especially in the UK.”

“Yeah, but I feel like this is a special case.”

“But wait,” Agatha said, beginning to pull down her hood. “It gets worse.”

When she’d pulled the hood all the way down, Jen gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

Her best friend just blinked at her, and it was all Agatha needed. She knew…but Jen had really confirmed how bad it was.

Agatha nodded. “Yup. Not great-”

“Layers!” Jen cut in. “Yep, that’s it. You’re getting layers…like, right the fuck now. I can’t be seen out with you looking like that.”

Jen went to stand when Agatha dragged her down again.

“My question first. Why did you kiss Rio-Sofia?”

Jen blinked at her. “Why did I…what?”

Agatha groaned. She didn’t want to have to ask for the third time. “You bloody well heard me. Tell me why.”

“Aggs…are you on crack cocaine? Why would I-”

“I saw you!” Agatha interrupted. “After Wanda threw her drink on Rio-Sofia, and you were in the garden.”

Jen tilted her head up as if trying to recall a memory before she burst out laughing.

“Kiss her? Aggs, we weren’t fucking kissing. I was comforting her whilst Nat went to find Alice.”

“But I-”

“No, you fucking didn’t,” Jen cackled. “One it was dark, and you weren’t wearing your glasses, two you were off your fucking face and three, me and Alice are literally dating. Why would I kiss my girlfriend’s best friend?”

It was Agatha’s turn to blink.

Now that she thought about it…she hadn’t actually seen any kissing. She’d just seen two heads close together, and her drunken mind had assumed the worst.

“Oh…”

“…Yeah,” Jen laughed. “Would you have cared if we were?”

The question had caught her so off guard that Agatha choked on her spit. “Why didn’t you tell me you and Alice started dating?” Agatha asked, changing the subject.

She knew her best friend and knew she would jump at the chance to yap about Alice.

“Because she asked me yesterday, and you were locked in your room all day plotting for Halloween.”

Agatha pulled her phone out of her pocket. “We have things called iPhones; you also live in the same flat as me.”

Jen waved her off. “Now up, we gotta get you to a hair salon…like now.”

Agatha laughed before she allowed her best friend to help her up.

Chapter Text

Was Agatha fucking serious?

Rio had just been on her knees in the bathroom for her, ready to give her everything she wanted. But of course, she couldn’t allow Rio to do that. Of course, she had to be stubborn and not touch Rio, which Rio knew she wanted to do.

No, instead, Agatha was making out with some girl down the hall. Her eyes opened, fixed on Rio as she basically inhaled the other girl. Rio tightened her grip around her cup, her anger building slowly, the more Agatha’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

She broke eye contact to pull the girl down the corridor and into the bathroom. The same bathroom Rio had just been giving her head in.

Rio scoffed because of fucking course.

She knocked her drink back, ready to make another when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Rio turned. Wanda.

“Oh, hey,” she smiled. “What’s up?”

Wanda smiled back. “Nothing. I gotta talk to you though.”

“Okay,” Rio replied as she followed Wanda out into the fairly empty, barely lit garden.

Rio watched as Wanda clicked away at her phone until she turned it around to a photo of her and Natasha dancing.

“Aw!” Rio said as she took Wanda’s phone. “These are so cute! Thanks for taking them.”

Wanda grinned. “Keep swiping.”

Rio did. There were more photos of her and Natasha. With every swipe, they got closer and closer until…they were kissing.

Rio looked up with her eyebrows furrowed. “Why’d you take this one?”

“To send to every tabloid if you don’t do what I say.”

Rio froze. Her hand clenching around Wanda’s phone. If she was quick enough, she could delete them. But she hesitated, and the redhead snatched her phone back.

“So stupid. Caught kissing a woman again. That wasn’t very smart, Rio-Sofia.”

Rio stared at her for a long moment until she burst out laughing.

“Good one, Wanda. You had me there for a moment.”

“I’m being serious,” Wanda snapped, her gaze stern.

Rio’s smile wavered until she laughed again. “But you wouldn’t actually do that.”

Wanda’s gaze was unmoving.

Rio blinked at her. “You know that’s fucked…right?” She emphasised the last word so that Wanda truly understood how insane she sounded.

“Fuck around and find out,” Wanda replied simply.

Rio jerked her head back, her stomach beginning to twist as her new reality set in. “But…but why?” Rio stuttered. “I haven’t done anything to you!”

Wanda rolled her eyes.

“Okay, no. Please enlighten me.”

Wanda said nothing.

“Go on then!” Rio urged.

The redhead stepped closer, her voice dropping low. “Stay away from her. You’re not to touch her, don’t even look at her if you can help it.”

Her? Who’s…oh.

And it all made sense now.

“This is about fucking Agatha?!” Rio whisper yelled. She threw her head back and laughed.

Wanda tilted her head to the side, the action sinister, precise. “I just threatened to ruin your life again, and you’re laughing?”

“I’m laughing at how psycho this is. You’re doing all this for a girl who doesn’t even want me? Agatha has the attention of most of London, and you’re going after me?! If this is a jealousy thing, Wanda, you’re going to have to find dirt on a lot more people if you want them to stay away from her.”

“This isn’t about most of London, this is about you!” Wanda snapped.

“But why? We toy with each other, we play games, Agatha doesn’t actually want me!”

“Yes, she-” Wanda cut herself off, breathing in deeply as if to calm herself down. “Do you agree to stay away from her?”

Rio scoffed.

Wanda produced a tight smile before she tapped at her phone. When she turned it around, Instagram was up, the photo of Natasha and Rio kissing ready to be uploaded.