Chapter 1: Steam and the Speedster's Confession
The locker room smelled like victory and citrus.
Alexis always smelled like citrus. Even now, with her Vixen Velocity suit peeled halfway down her torso and a sheen of sweat still cooling on her collarbone, she carried that bright, clean scent like armor. Umeko breathed it in from across the room, where she stood frozen at her own locker, fingers tracing the fold of her towel.
The mission had been clean. A jewelry heist downtown, three armed men, one getaway van that never made it past the first intersection. Umeko had taken down two of them before Alexis even finished disarming the third. Her knuckles still throbbed beneath the tape she hadn't bothered to remove, a dull, pleasant ache that reminded her she was alive.
But that wasn't why her heart was hammering against her ribs.
The ventilation system hummed overhead. Steam curled from the shower stalls in lazy ribbons, catching the warm light and scattering it into soft halos against the chrome. Everything in this room was polished and mirrored and gleaming. It made Umeko feel exposed. Too visible. Like the walls themselves were watching her work up the courage to say something she'd been rehearsing for weeks.
Alexis tossed her suit into the laundry chute with a casual flick of her wrist. She stood in nothing but her sports bra and compression shorts, and even that felt like too many layers. Her blonde hair was a mess, tangled from the wind resistance of her own speed. She stretched, arms overhead, spine arching, and Umeko forgot how to breathe for a second.
"You're staring," Alexis said, not looking at her.
"I'm not."
"You are." Alexis turned, and there was that smile, the one that made Umeko feel like the only person in the world who mattered. "It's okay. I like it when you stare."
Heat climbed Umeko's neck. She looked down at her towel, at the way her fingers had gone white against the fabric.
They'd been together for seven months. Seven months of stolen kisses between patrols, of tangled fingers and whispered goodnights, of Alexis taking everything at exactly the pace Umeko needed. She'd never pushed. Never asked for more than Umeko was ready to give. And that patience, that endless, gentle patience, was the only reason Umeko trusted her enough to want this at all.
But wanting it and saying it were two different things.
"Hey." Alexis's voice softened. She crossed the room in three easy strides, stopping just short of touching. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
Umeko's throat tightened. She'd faced down metahuman criminals twice her size without flinching. She'd taken bullets off her chest plate and kept moving. But this, standing in front of the woman she loved with nothing but a towel between her and the truth, this terrified her more than any of it.
"I want to tell you something," she said.
Alexis waited. She was good at that. Waiting.
Umeko forced herself to meet her eyes. Alexis's gaze was steady and warm and impossibly blue, and for a moment, Umeko felt like she was drowning in it. The good kind of drowning. The kind you chose.
"I've been thinking about," she started, then stopped. Swallowed. Started again. "About us. About what I want."
Alexis tilted her head. A strand of hair fell across her cheek, and Umeko wanted to brush it back but didn't trust her hands not to shake.
"You can tell me anything," Alexis said. "You know that."
"I know." Umeko's voice came out smaller than she intended. She hated how small she sounded. "It's just. It's stupid."
"It's not."
"It feels stupid."
"Then it's important." Alexis took a half-step closer, close enough that Umeko could feel the warmth radiating off her skin. "You don't get this nervous over stupid things."
Umeko laughed, but it came out breathless and wrong. She pressed her back against the locker, cool metal biting through her towel. The room felt too big and too small all at once. The mirrors multiplied them into infinity, a thousand Alexises and a thousand Umekos all frozen in this moment, all waiting.
"I want you to be my first," she said.
The words hung in the air between them, heavy and electric.
Alexis didn't move. Her expression flickered through something Umeko couldn't read, surprise maybe, or want, or both tangled together. When she spoke, her voice was low and careful.
"Umeko."
"I've thought about it." The words tumbled out now, fast and messy, like she'd opened a dam she couldn't close. "Not just tonight. For weeks. Months. I've thought about it, and I know I'm ready, and I know it's you, it's always been you, and I just. I need you to know that. I need you to."
"Hey." Alexis reached for her then, hands settling on her shoulders, thumbs brushing the bare skin above her towel. "Breathe."
Umeko breathed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You're not just saying that because you think I want to hear it?"
"I'm saying it because I want it." Umeko held her gaze, forced herself not to look away. "Because I trust you. Because I've never trusted anyone the way I trust you. Because I want you to be the one who. Who shows me what it's like."
Alexis's grip tightened, just slightly. Her pupils had gone wide and dark, the blue almost swallowed up. Umeko watched her throat move as she swallowed.
"If we do this," Alexis said slowly, "and you want to stop, we stop. The second you want to stop, for any reason, we stop. Understand?"
Umeko nodded.
"I need to hear you say it."
"I understand."
"And if I go too fast—"
"You won't."
"I might." Alexis's voice cracked, just a little, and Umeko realized she wasn't the only one nervous. That knowledge steadied her more than anything else could have. "I might, because I want you so much it scares me, and I need you to promise you'll tell me. Promise me, Umeko."
"I promise."
Something shifted in Alexis's expression. The careful control she'd been holding onto slipped, and what was underneath was raw and hungry and so full of want that Umeko felt it like a physical blow.
Alexis kissed her.
It wasn't like their usual kisses. Those were soft and patient and full of unspoken promises. This one was different. This one was heat, teeth and tongue and the taste of salt still clinging to Alexis's lips. Umeko made a sound she didn't recognize, something low and desperate, and her hands came up to fist in the front of Alexis's sports bra like it was the only thing keeping her upright.
Alexis pressed forward, and Umeko's back hit the locker hard enough to rattle the metal. The cold shock of it made her gasp, and Alexis took advantage, dragging her mouth down the side of Umeko's neck. Umeko's head fell back. The mirrors caught everything, a thousand reflections of Alexis's mouth on her skin, and she couldn't stop watching, couldn't look away.
"Tell me," Alexis murmured against her throat. "Tell me again."
"I want you." Umeko's voice shook. "I want you to be my first. I want you, Alexis, please."
"Please what?"
She was being cruel, and she knew it, but Umeko couldn't bring herself to care. The heat building in her stomach had nothing to do with the steam from the showers.
"Please don't make me wait anymore."
Alexis pulled back just enough to look at her. Her lips were swollen, her hair a disaster, her eyes half-lidded and burning. She looked like something wild. Something barely contained.
"My pace," she said. "My rules. And when you want me to go slower, you say so."
"Yes."
"When you want me to stop, you say so."
"Yes."
"When you want me faster—"
"Alexis." Umeko grabbed her face in both hands, pulled her close until their foreheads touched. "I love you. I trust you. Stop asking me if I'm sure and show me."
For a long, suspended moment, neither of them moved. The ventilation hummed. Somewhere down the hall, a door opened and closed. The world kept spinning outside this room, but in here, time had stopped entirely.
Then Alexis smiled, that slow, devastating smile that made Umeko's knees weak, and said, "Slow. Until you beg me not to be."
She didn't wait for an answer.
Her hands found the knot of Umeko's towel and pulled it loose with a single, fluid motion. The fabric pooled at their feet. Umeko's breath caught in her chest, every nerve ending firing at once, but she didn't look away. She held Alexis's gaze as the heat of the room wrapped around her bare skin, as the steam curled around her ankles, as the mirrors showed her everything she was and everything she was about to become.
Alexis's fingertips traced down her ribs. Feather-light. Torturously slow.
Umeko's head fell back against the locker, and she let herself feel it.
All of it.
Alexis's fingertips traced down her ribs. Feather-light. Torturously slow.
Umeko's head fell back against the locker, and she let herself feel it.
All of it.
The chill of the metal against her shoulder blades. The heat of Alexis's breath on her collarbone. The way her own hands trembled when she reached for Alexis's waist, fingers splaying across the hard muscle of her stomach, feeling it twitch under her touch.
"You're shaking," Alexis murmured.
"I know."
"We can stop."
"If you stop, I will literally die."
Alexis laughed, low and warm against her skin. "Dramatic."
"You have no idea." Umeko's voice came out ragged. "I've been hyping myself up for this for weeks. If you back out now, I'm going to have to find a new girlfriend. One who actually follows through."
"Shut up." Alexis kissed her again, harder this time, and Umeko melted into it. The kiss was deep and searching, like Alexis was trying to memorize the shape of her mouth. Umeko's fingers curled into the waistband of Alexis's shorts, tugging her closer, and the contact of skin against skin sent a shock straight through her.
Alexis pulled back just enough to breathe. Her forehead pressed against Umeko's, her eyes closed.
"Tell me what you want," she said.
"You."
"Be specific."
Umeko's face burned. She was not good at this part. The talking. The asking. In combat, she never hesitated. She saw an opening and she took it. But here, naked and pressed against a locker with her girlfriend's hands hovering just above her hips, words felt impossible.
But Alexis was waiting. Patient as always.
"I want your hands on me," Umeko managed. "I want. I want you to touch me. Everywhere. I want to feel you."
"Where?"
"Alexis."
"Where, Umeko."
Her breath hitched. "Everywhere. I want you everywhere."
Alexis smiled against her mouth. "Good girl."
The words hit Umeko like a strike to the solar plexus. She made a sound, something between a gasp and a whimper, and Alexis swallowed it with another kiss. Her hands moved then, finally, sliding down Umeko's sides, over her hips, gripping the backs of her thighs. She lifted, and Umeko's legs wrapped around her waist instinctively, ankles locking behind Alexis's back.
The locker room spun. Alexis carried her three steps to the nearest bench, lowered her onto the cool tile, and knelt between her legs.
Umeko's heart stopped.
"Okay?" Alexis asked.
"Yes." The word came out breathless. "Yes, okay, yes."
Alexis's hands slid up her thighs, thumbs tracing slow circles on the sensitive skin just below her hips. She leaned in, pressing a kiss to Umeko's knee, then another to the inside of her thigh, and Umeko's entire body arched off the bench.
"Too much?"
"No. Don't stop. Don't you dare stop."
Alexis didn't stop.
She was methodical. Deliberate. Every touch placed with intention, every kiss a question Umeko answered with her body. She worked her way up Umeko's thigh, inch by agonizing inch, and by the time her mouth found the crease of her hip, Umeko was gripping the edge of the bench so hard her knuckles had gone white.
"You're so beautiful," Alexis whispered against her skin. "Do you know that? You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
Umeko couldn't respond. Words had abandoned her entirely.
Alexis's mouth moved lower, and Umeko's vision went white.
The sound that tore out of her was not dignified. It was raw and desperate and echoed off the tile walls, and she didn't care. She didn't care about anything except the heat of Alexis's tongue, the pressure of her fingers, the way she seemed to know exactly where to touch, exactly how hard, exactly how fast.
Time became meaningless. The steam from the showers wrapped around them like a blanket. The mirrors caught every angle, every arch of Umeko's spine, every flex of Alexis's shoulders between her thighs. She watched in the reflection as her own hand found Alexis's hair, tangling in the blonde strands, holding her in place.
"Alexis." Her voice cracked. "Alexis, please."
Alexis pulled back just enough to speak. "Please what?"
"Please. I need. I need you to—"
"Tell me."
"I need more. I need you closer. I need—" She broke off, gasping as Alexis's fingers found her entrance, teasing, circling, not quite pushing in. "Please. Don't make me wait. Please, Alexis, I've waited so long, please just—"
"Slow," Alexis reminded her. "I said slow."
"I don't want slow." Umeko's voice broke. "I don't want slow anymore. I want you. I want all of you. Please."
Alexis's eyes darkened. Her jaw tightened.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"You'll tell me if it's too much?"
"Yes. I promise. Just. Please."
Alexis kissed her. Soft and deep and full of something that felt like forever. And then her fingers pushed inside, and Umeko forgot how to breathe.
It didn't hurt. Not really. There was pressure, fullness, a stretch that was uncomfortable and perfect all at once. Alexis moved slowly, carefully, watching Umeko's face for any sign of pain. Her thumb found Umeko's clit, circling in time with her thrusts, and the pressure inside Umeko started to build.
"Okay?" Alexis whispered.
"More." Umeko's nails dug into her shoulders. "More, I can take it, please."
Alexis's rhythm quickened. Her fingers curled, hitting something that made Umeko see stars, and she cried out, back arching, hips rising to meet Alexis's hand. The mirrors showed her everything. The way her body moved. The way Alexis's muscles flexed with every thrust. The way they fit together like they'd been made for each other.
"Don't stop." Umeko was babbling now, past the point of embarrassment. "Don't stop, don't stop, please don't stop—"
"I've got you." Alexis's voice was rough, wrecked. "I've got you, baby, let go. I've got you."
The pressure crested, and Umeko shattered.
The orgasm ripped through her like a wave, pulling her under and holding her there. She heard herself crying out, felt her body clench around Alexis's fingers, felt tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. It went on and on, wave after wave, and Alexis didn't stop, kept moving, kept touching, drawing it out until Umeko was boneless and trembling and completely spent.
When she finally came back to herself, Alexis was lying beside her on the bench, stroking her hair.
"Hey," Alexis said softly. "There you are."
Umeko couldn't speak. She turned her head, pressed her face into Alexis's neck, and breathed.
"You okay?"
She nodded against Alexis's skin.
"Good." Alexis kissed the top of her head. "Because I have to tell you something."
Umeko looked up, suddenly nervous. "What?"
"I love you." Alexis's smile was soft, almost shy. "I've loved you for a while now. I just. I wanted to say it. After that. I wanted you to know."
Umeko's heart swelled. She reached up, cupped Alexis's face in her hands, and kissed her. Gentle this time. Tender.
"I love you too," she whispered against her lips. "I've loved you since the first time you saved my life."
"That was literally my job."
"Shut up." Umeko laughed, really laughed, and it felt like sunlight breaking through clouds. "I'm trying to have a moment here."
Alexis grinned. "Sorry. Continue."
"I love you. I trust you. And if you think we're done for the night, you're wrong."
Alexis raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I've got seven months of waiting to make up for." Umeko's hands slid down Alexis's stomach, fingers hooking into her waistband. "And I'm a fast learner."
Alexis laughed, bright and surprised. "You're going to be the death of me."
"Probably." Umeko kissed her jaw, her throat, the hollow of her collarbone. "But what a way to go."
The steam curled around them. The mirrors watched. And somewhere in the quiet hum of the ventilation system, the world kept spinning, carrying two women who had just crossed a threshold they could never uncross.
Neither of them wanted to.
Neither of them wanted to.
The words hung in the humid air like a promise neither was ready to break. Umeko's fingers stayed hooked in Alexis's waistband, her breath still coming in uneven bursts against Alexis's throat. The bench was too narrow for two people, but neither of them moved to find somewhere more comfortable.
Alexis's hand traced lazy patterns on Umeko's bare hip. "You're thinking too loud."
"I'm always thinking too loud."
"True." Alexis tilted her head, catching Umeko's chin with her thumb. "What's going on up there?"
Umeko didn't answer right away. She was cataloging sensations instead—the cool tile against her back, the warmth of Alexis's body pressed along her side, the way the steam had started to dissipate and left the air feeling thinner, sharper. Her body was still humming. Still hungry.
"I want to do something for you," she said finally.
Alexis's eyebrow arched. "You just did."
"That's not what I mean." Umeko pulled back enough to meet her eyes. "I want to... I want to make you feel the way you made me feel."
Something flickered across Alexis's face. Surprise, maybe. Or concern. "You don't have to."
"I know I don't have to." Umeko sat up, the bench cold against her thighs. "I want to."
"Umeko—"
"Stop." She pressed a finger to Alexis's lips. "You've been taking care of me for seven months. Let me take care of you."
Alexis stared at her for a long moment. The mirrors caught them both—Alexis sprawled on the bench, still in her sports bra and shorts, hair a wreck; Umeko perched beside her, naked and flushed and utterly serious. The contrast would have been funny if the moment hadn't felt so heavy.
"You're sure?" Alexis asked.
"I'm sure."
"You don't have to do anything you're not ready for."
"I know." Umeko swung her legs off the bench, her bare feet hitting the tile with a soft slap. "But I've been thinking about this too. Not just tonight. For a while."
Alexis propped herself up on her elbows. "And what exactly have you been thinking about?"
Umeko's face burned. She looked away, toward the row of lockers, toward the steam still curling from the showers, anywhere but at the woman watching her with those impossibly blue eyes.
"That I want to know what you taste like."
The silence stretched. Umeko's heart pounded so loud she was sure Alexis could hear it.
Then Alexis laughed—not mocking, not cruel, just warm and surprised and a little breathless. "Jesus, Umeko."
"What?"
"Nothing. Just." Alexis shook her head. "You say stuff like that and I forget how to function."
"Good." Umeko turned back to her, emboldened. "That's the point."
She slid off the bench entirely, knees hitting the cool tile. The floor was hard and unforgiving, but she barely noticed. All she could see was Alexis above her, propped on her elbows, pupils blown wide, lips slightly parted.
Alexis's breath caught. "Umeko—"
"You'll have to tell me what to do." Umeko's voice came out steadier than she felt. "My first time doing this."
Alexis opened her mouth to respond, but whatever she was going to say died in her throat. Umeko's hands found her thighs, slid up the smooth muscle, hooked into the waistband of her shorts. She tugged them down slowly, deliberately, and Alexis lifted her hips to help.
The shorts hit the floor. Umeko's mouth went dry.
She had seen Alexis naked before—showers after missions, changing in the locker room, the occasional night when clothes became optional and hands wandered. But not like this. Not with Alexis spread out beneath her, waiting, watching, trusting.
Umeko leaned in.
She gave Alexis's clit a nice slow lick.
Alexis jerked like she'd been electrocuted. Her hips bucked, her hands flew to Umeko's head, fingers tangling in dark hair. The sound that escaped her was somewhere between a gasp and a curse.
"Fuck." Alexis's voice was wrecked already. "Okay. Okay, that's—yeah. That's a good start."
Umeko smiled against her skin. "A good start?"
"Don't get cocky."
"I'm not cocky. I'm motivated."
She licked again. Slower this time, broader, dragging her tongue flat and firm from bottom to top. Alexis's thighs trembled on either side of her head. Her fingers tightened in Umeko's hair, not pushing, just holding on.
"Circle your tongue," Alexis managed. "Around the—yeah, just like that. God."
Umeko obeyed. She circled, then flicked, then pressed flat again, cataloging every reaction, every twitch, every broken sound Alexis made. It was like learning a new kata—each movement precise, purposeful, building toward something.
"More pressure," Alexis gasped. "Suck a little—yes, yes, that. Don't stop."
Umeko didn't stop.
She found a rhythm, her mouth working in tandem with her fingers as they slid up Alexis's thighs. She pressed one against Alexis's entrance, testing, and Alexis groaned.
"Can I—"
"Yes. God, yes."
Umeko pushed in slowly. Alexis was wet and hot and tight around her finger, and the sound she made when Umeko curled it inside her was something Umeko wanted to bottle and keep forever.
"Another," Alexis breathed. "Add another."
Umeko did. Two fingers now, curling, thrusting, matching the rhythm of her tongue. Alexis's hips rocked against her face, and Umeko let her, let her take what she needed, let her chase the pressure building between them.
"I'm close." Alexis's voice cracked on the last word. "Umeko, I'm—"
Umeko sucked harder. Flicked faster. Curled her fingers just right, and Alexis came apart.
She didn't scream. That wasn't her style. Instead, she went silent, body locking up, back arching off the bench, mouth open on a sound that never quite made it out. Umeko kept moving, kept licking, kept thrusting, riding out every wave until Alexis collapsed back against the bench, boneless and panting.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. Umeko's cheek rested against Alexis's thigh, her fingers still inside her, her breath warm against oversensitive skin. Alexis's hand stayed in her hair, stroking now instead of gripping.
"Holy shit," Alexis whispered.
Umeko grinned. "Good?"
"Good?" Alexis laughed, breathless and incredulous. "You just—for your first time—did you do research or something?"
"I watched a lot of videos."
"Of course you did."
"Justin—wait, no. That's not—" Umeko pulled back, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I asked Scarlet for advice."
Alexis sat up so fast she nearly fell off the bench. "You talked to Scarlet? About this?"
"She's been with women. I needed pointers."
"Oh my God." Alexis buried her face in her hands. "Scarlet knows what I taste like. That's—I can never look at her again."
"She didn't tell me what you taste like." Umeko rose to her feet, knees aching, and settled onto the bench beside Alexis. "She told me technique. The rest I figured out myself."
"The rest you figured out." Alexis peeked through her fingers. "You're a menace."
"You love me."
"I do." Alexis dropped her hands, and her expression softened into something almost unbearably tender. "I really, really do."
Umeko leaned into her. Their shoulders pressed together, skin warm against skin. The locker room had gone quiet around them, the steam mostly dissipated, the mirrors showing two women who looked thoroughly wrecked in the best possible way.
"So," Umeko said after a minute. "Was that okay? For real?"
"Okay?" Alexis turned, cupped her face, kissed her slow and deep. When she pulled back, her eyes were bright. "That was the best first time anyone's ever had. I'm pretty sure that's a scientific fact."
"You're biased."
"Completely." Alexis kissed her again. "But also correct."
Umeko laughed. It bubbled up from somewhere deep, warm and real and totally unguarded. This was what she'd been waiting for, she realized. Not just the physical part, not just the orgasms and the pleasure. This. The ease that came after. The trust. The way Alexis looked at her like she was something precious.
"Hey," Umeko said softly.
"Hey yourself."
"Thank you. For being patient with me."
Alexis's thumb traced her cheekbone. "Thank you for trusting me."
"Always."
They sat there for a while longer, wrapped up in each other, until the ventilation system clicked off and the silence became too heavy to ignore. Reality was creeping back in—cold floors, tired bodies, the inevitable return to the world outside this room.
"We should probably shower," Umeko said eventually.
"Probably."
"Separately or together?"
Alexis grinned. "You're asking me that after what we just did?"
"I'm being polite."
"Since when are you polite?"
"Since I found out what you taste like."
Alexis laughed and pulled her toward the showers. "Come on. I'll wash your back."
"And I'll wash yours."
"Mmm." Alexis's smile turned wicked. "That sounds like a euphemism."
"It could be."
The water hit them hot and stinging, and they stayed under it until the steam built up again, surrounding them in a cloud of citrus and salt and something that smelled like the beginning of everything.
The water ran hot over Umeko's shoulders, and for a while they just stood there, rinsing off the night. Then Umeko's eyes drifted, tracing the line of Alexis' body from throat to hip.
"So not fair," she muttered.
Alexis tilted her head back under the spray. "What isn't?"
Umeko reached out and cupped one of Alexis' breasts with both hands, her small fingers barely covering the weight of it. "Your body is incredible. I need both hands just to cup one of yours. The blonde hair. Your incredible long legs." She huffed, cheeks going pink under the steam. "I'm so damn tiny and petite."
Alexis looked down at her, water streaming between them, and smiled. It was the soft smile, the one Umeko only saw when nobody else was around. "I think that's what makes you so damn hot to me."
"You're just saying that."
"I'm really not." Alexis reached out and placed one hand over Umeko's left breast. The entirety of it fit in her palm, warm and small and rising fast with her breath. "See? Perfect. I can hold all of you at once." Her thumb brushed over the nipple, and Umeko's breath stuttered. "Besides, I can do this."
She bent down and took all of Umeko's breast into her mouth.
Umeko grabbed the shower rail with one hand and the back of Alexis' head with the other. The heat of the water and the heat of Alexis' mouth blurred together until she couldn't tell which was which. Alexis' tongue worked slow and unhurried, tracing around the peak, then flicking over it, then soothing it when Umeko's knees buckled.
"Alexis." Her voice bounced off the tile. "I just showered. You're going to get me dirty again."
"Mm." Alexis released her with a soft pop, lips curving. "That's the plan."
"You're insatiable."
"You made me insatiable. You and your videos and your pointers from Scarlet." She kissed her way up Umeko's sternum, along the column of her throat, until their mouths hovered a breath apart. "You have no idea what it did to me, watching you learn."
Umeko turned her face, caught her mouth. The kiss was slower this time, languid, with water running down their joined lips. She pressed her whole body against Alexis and felt, for the hundredth time, the absurd arithmetic of them. Her head fit under Alexis' chin. Her hips met Alexis' thighs halfway. Every angle was a reminder that she was small, and every reminder landed differently now.
"Your turn to learn something," she said against Alexis' mouth.
"Is that right?"
Umeko slid down just enough to reach. She took one of Alexis' nipples between two fingers, rolled it, and watched Alexis' eyelids flutter. "I pay attention. It's my best skill."
"Among other things." Alexis' voice had gone rough.
Umeko leaned in and used her mouth, mirroring what had been done to her, taking her time because Alexis had taught her the value of taking her time. Alexis' back hit the tile wall with a wet slap. Her hand found the rail. Steam billowed around them, thick and white, and the room filled with small sounds, gasps and hums and the endless drumming of water.
When Umeko finally pulled back, Alexis was watching her with heavy-lidded eyes. "You're going to be trouble," she said. "Real trouble."
"I've been trouble since the day you met me. You just didn't notice."
"I noticed." Alexis tucked a wet strand of hair behind Umeko's ear. "I noticed immediately."
They stood there under the spray, foreheads touching, both of them breathing hard. Alexis' hands settled on Umeko's waist, fitting around her completely, and Umeko understood what she'd said earlier without needing to explain it. Being held entirely was its own kind of power.
"So," Alexis said, "do we actually finish showering this time? Or do we keep defiling the team facilities?"
"Defiling. Obviously."
"Good answer." Alexis reached past her for the soap, poured a line of it down Umeko's spine, and started working it in with both hands. "I'll be thorough. It's the responsible thing to do."
"You're terrible."
"I'm an excellent teammate." Her thumbs kneaded the muscle at the base of Umeko's back, and Umeko made a sound that had nothing to do with pleasure and everything to do with the bruise the van door had left there. Alexis paused. "You're hurt."
"It's a bruise. I'm fine."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because you were busy making me feel good, and I didn't want to interrupt." Umeko glanced back at her over her shoulder. "Priorities."
Alexis was quiet for a moment. Then she bent and pressed a kiss to the bruise, feather-light, her lips cool against heated skin. "Next time you tell me. Even if it interrupts."
"Deal."
They finished the shower for real after that, mostly. Alexis washed Umeko's hair, working the knots out with her fingers while Umeko leaned back into her, eyes closed. Umeko washed Alexis in return, mapping her like terrain, committing every plane and curve to memory. The water eventually ran lukewarm and they shut it off, standing in the quiet drip of the stalls, towels back around themselves.
Alexis toweled her hair, and for a second Umeko just watched her, the way the blonde strands stuck up in wet tufts, the way she looked ordinary and extraordinary at once.
"You're staring again," Alexis said.
"I'm allowed. I have seniority now. Seven months plus tonight."
Alexis laughed and threw the towel over her head, dragging her close, and Umeko went willingly, laughing too. "What's the plan? The team's not back until tomorrow afternoon."
Umeko's heart kicked. She pulled back just far enough to look at her. "My room has a bigger bed than yours."
"Correct. Anything else?"
"It has better locks."
Alexis' grin went slow and wicked. "Say less."
Umeko caught her hand and pulled her toward the door, her sore hip and aching knuckles and trembling legs all forgotten, the whole night still stretched out ahead of them like a highway with no speed limit. "Then stop drying your hair," she said, "and keep up. You're the fast one."
"Not tonight, I'm not." Alexis killed the lights, and the locker room went dark and quiet behind them, keeping everything it had seen.
The hallway was empty and dim, motion lights flickering on as they padded through it barefoot, towels clutched to their chests. Alexis broke away at her own door, disappearing inside for barely a second, and came back with a small black bag slung over one shoulder.
Umeko eyed it as they walked. "What is that?"
"You'll see when we get to your room."
"That's ominous."
"That's a promise."
The bag swung between them the whole way down the corridor. Umeko tried to peek twice; Alexis held it out of reach both times, grinning, quick as ever even at a walking pace. By the time they reached Umeko's door, she had constructed at least six theories and discarded five of them.
She keyed the lock, pulled them both inside, and shut the door behind them. The bolt slid home with a solid, satisfying click.
"Better locks," Alexis said, approving.
"Told you." Umeko dropped her towel without ceremony and turned to face her. "Okay. We're here. Door's locked. Show me."
Alexis set the bag on the desk instead, unhurried, taking her time. She stepped in close, slid a hand around the back of Umeko's neck, and kissed her. Deep and slow, no rush in it at all, her other hand splayed warm across the small of Umeko's back. Umeko melted into it, fingers curling into the damp fabric of Alexis' towel, and for a minute the mystery bag might as well not have existed.
Then Alexis broke the kiss, walked back to the desk, and reached into the bag.
She pulled out a strap-on, harness and all, and smirked.
"If you're feeling adventurous."
Umeko's brain stopped working.
She stared at it. Then at Alexis. Then at it again, heat flooding her face so fast she felt dizzy. "You had that. In your room. The whole time."
"I bought it three weeks ago." Alexis stepped out of her towel and started shrugging into the harness with the easy confidence of someone who had done her homework. "I was waiting for you to be ready. Then tonight you kind of skipped ahead of the schedule."
"You planned this."
"I hoped. There's a difference." She tightened a strap, adjusted another, and looked up. "It's optional. If tonight was already enough, we put it back in the bag and I'll happily go down on you until sunrise. No pressure."
Umeko's mouth was dry. Her heart was hammering, but not with fear. She thought about the pressure and the fullness of Alexis' fingers, the way her body had opened for them, the ache she'd carried home from that and wanted more of ever since.
"I want to try," she said. "But slow. Really slow."
"Slowest I've ever been in my life." Alexis crossed to her, took her hands. "We'll use my fingers first, get you relaxed. You tell me everything. And if it's too much, we stop, no matter how far in we are. Deal?"
"Deal." Then, before she could lose her nerve: "The size is. It's kind of intimidating."
Alexis laughed and kissed her forehead. "That's what all the fingers are for, baby."
She walked her backward to the bed. Umeko sat, then lay back against the pillows, and Alexis climbed over her, kissing a line down her body with unhurried patience. By the time her fingers slid between Umeko's thighs, she was already aching, already slick, her hips lifting to meet the touch.
One finger, then two, moving in that same careful rhythm from the bench. Umeko closed her eyes and gave herself over to it, letting the stretch ease, letting her body remember. Alexis murmured against her throat, little instructions and softer praise, adding a third finger when Umeko's breath went ragged instead of tense.
"You're doing so well," she whispered. "Breathe for me. Just like that."
"I'm ready." Umeko's voice came out low, certain. "Alexis. I'm ready. I want it."
Alexis pulled back and knelt between her thighs, guiding herself with one hand, resting the other flat on Umeko's stomach. She pressed forward slowly, so slowly, pausing at the first resistance, watching Umeko's face the whole time.
"Breathe out."
Umeko exhaled, and the head slipped past, and the fullness made her gasp, one hand flying down to grip Alexis' wrist.
"Okay?"
"Okay. Keep going. Slow."
Inch by inch. Alexis stopped whenever Umeko's breath caught, waited for the nod, moved again. The stretch burned and faded in waves, and underneath it was something deeper, a pressure that built and built until Alexis was fully seated and they both went still, trembling.
Umeko laughed, shaky and disbelieving. "It's. Wow. It's a lot."
"You look incredible." Alexis' voice was wrecked. "Tell me when."
"Now. Move. Slow."
The first thrust was barely anything, a slow rock of Alexis' hips, but Umeko felt it everywhere. Her spine arched off the mattress. Alexis found a rhythm, shallow and patient, her thumb circling in time, and the pressure that had frightened Umeko a minute ago turned into something else entirely.
"More," she heard herself say. "You can. Harder. Please."
"You beg so pretty." But Alexis obeyed, deepening the pace, and Umeko stopped forming words after that. The headboard tapped the wall. The room filled with sound, her own cries, Alexis' rough breathing, the creak of the bed. In the dark window she caught their reflection and couldn't look away, small and large, tangled together.
The orgasm hit her like a wave hitting a seawall. She came with Alexis' name breaking apart in her mouth, clutching at her shoulders, pulsing around the slow, relentless rhythm until it was too much and she pushed weakly at her hip.
Alexis withdrew immediately, careful, and collapsed beside her, pulling her into her chest. They lay there gasping, limbs tangled, the strap-on digging awkwardly into Umeko's thigh until Alexis fumbled it loose and kicked it off the end of the bed.
"Verdict?" Alexis managed.
Umeko lifted her head, hair plastered to her forehead, and grinned. "I'm keeping the bag."
Alexis laughed until she had to wipe her eyes. "Three weeks of stress about whether you'd freak out, and you're keeping the bag."
"You bought it for me. It's practically a gift." She settled back against Alexis' chest, listening to her heartbeat slow. Then a thought surfaced, and she tilted her chin up. "Wait. You never got to finish tonight. First on the bench, then me twice. That's not fair."
"I'm thoroughly wrecked and completely satisfied."
"You're a liar is what you are." Umeko rolled her over, pinning her wrists above her head with both small hands, and smiled down at her. "You have all night. And so do I. Start talking, girlfriend. Tell me exactly what you want."
Alexis looked up at her, eyes dark and bright at once.
"Everything," she said. "You heard me."
"Everything, huh." Umeko sat back on her heels, considering. "That's a big order for someone who learned this toy exists forty minutes ago."
"You're a fast learner. You said so yourself."
"I did." Umeko reached down the end of the bed and fished the harness out of the tangled mess of towel and sheets. The straps were still warm. She stepped into it with more determination than grace, fumbling buckles, and Alexis reached down to help, tightening the last one against her hip with two efficient tugs.
"There." Alexis looked up at her from the pillow, and something in her expression had changed. The playful smirk was gone. What was left underneath was pure, undisguised want. "How does it feel?"
"Weird. Powerful." Umeko rolled her hips experimentally and watched Alexis' breath catch. Her eyebrows went up. "Oh. You liked that."
"I liked that a lot."
"Interesting." She did it again, slower, and Alexis' hands fisted the sheets. "So when you said everything, you meant you want me to fuck you."
"Umeko."
"Say it."
Alexis laughed, low and rough. "You're enjoying this way too much."
"Maybe. But I'm still waiting." Umeko leaned down until her mouth hovered over Alexis'. "Tell me what you want. Your rules were my rules all night. Fair's fair."
Alexis held her gaze for a long moment. Then, quietly: "I want you to fuck me. Hard and deep. That's what I like. That's what I've wanted all night."
Umeko kissed her, brief and hard, and reached for the small bottle in the desk bag. She took her time with that part, careful where Alexis had been careful with her, and Alexis' teasing died in her throat under her own fingers. When Umeko finally settled between her thighs and pressed forward, Alexis was the one gasping at the first slow inch.
"Okay?" Umeko asked.
"Okay. More. You can give me more."
Umeko pushed deeper and watched Alexis' face do something she'd never seen it do. The confident, unshakable Vixen Velocity, the woman who outran explosions, arched off the mattress and went red to the ears.
"God." Alexis' voice cracked. "You feel so good."
Umeko set a rhythm, slow at first, the way she'd been taught tonight. But Alexis' hips came up to meet her on the third thrust, demanding, and by the fifth she was muttering, "Harder, baby, come on, you won't break me."
"You said slow until I beg."
"I'm begging." Alexis grabbed the backs of her own knees and pulled them up, opening herself completely, and the sight of it knocked the air out of Umeko's chest. "I'm begging right now. Hard and deep. Please."
Something clicked in Umeko then. The same thing that clicked in a fight, the moment the opening appeared. She braced one hand on the headboard, gripped Alexis' hip with the other, and drove in hard.
Alexis shouted.
The headboard cracked against the wall. Umeko didn't stop. She found a pace, deep and relentless, and Alexis met every thrust, heels digging into the small of her back, crying out with each one. The room was loud, skin and springs and Alexis' voice breaking apart against the ceiling, and Umeko realized she was laughing, wild and breathless, because this was Alexis, undone, because of her.
"You're so hot like this," Umeko panted. "All that speed and you can't go anywhere right now."
"Shut up. Shut up and keep doing that."
Umeko angled her hips, chasing the sound Alexis made when she hit the spot inside, and when she found it she stayed there, pounding into it, and Alexis stopped forming words entirely. Her hand shot down between her own thighs. Umeko knocked it away and replaced it with her fingers, circling fast, the way Alexis had done for her on the bench.
"Yes. Yes, don't stop, I'm close, I'm so—"
"Come for me." Umeko heard herself say it and didn't blush until afterward. "Come on, Alexis. Let go."
Alexis' whole body seized. She came silently again, that same locked-up, airless silence, back bowing off the mattress, and Umeko kept moving through it, slower and slower, gentling her down until Alexis collapsed with a long, shuddering exhale that sounded almost like a sob.
Umeko stopped. Disconnected carefully. Lay down beside her, heart slamming, legs trembling like she'd run the patrol twice.
The room was wrecked. The sheets were half off the bed. Somewhere down the hall a sensor light clicked off.
"Holy shit," Alexis said finally.
"My line." Umeko pushed damp hair off her face. "Also, I think we cracked the wall. There's a mark."
"I'll fix it before the team gets back." Alexis turned her head. Her eyes were wet at the corners, her hair a disaster, and she was grinning like an idiot. "Umeko. That was. Where did you even learn to."
"Judo. Hip rotation. It's all in the hips."
"I'm marrying a martial artist and I just realized what that means for my life."
Umeko's heart stopped, then restarted double time. "Marrying?"
Alexis froze. "I said that out loud."
"You said that out loud."
"It's been eight months of patrol and four months of." She gestured vaguely at the destroyed bed. "I wasn't going to say it tonight. Tonight was supposed to be about you."
Umeko rolled over, propped her chin on Alexis' sternum, and looked at her. Sweaty, wrecked, blushing to the hairline. The fastest woman alive, trapped under four foot nine of girlfriend and unable to move.
"Ask me properly," Umeko said.
"Right now?"
"You started it."
Alexis took a breath. Slid her fingers into Umeko's hair. "Umeko. Crimson Lotus. Menace of the locker room. Will you marry me? Eventually. When we're ready. No date pressure."
"Eventually," Umeko agreed, and kissed her. "Yes. Obviously yes. Ask me again tomorrow with a ring so I can cry about it."
"You're crying now."
"I'm not." She was, a little. She wiped her face on Alexis' shoulder and laughed into it. "This is all your fault. You bought the bag."
"Best purchase of my life." Alexis pulled the sheet up over them both, tangled and twisted as it was, and gathered Umeko against her chest. Outside, the base went quiet, the last sensor lights dimming down the empty hall. "Hey. Umeko."
"Mm."
"When I said everything, earlier. I meant it. Tonight. The rest of it. Everything."
Umeko pressed her ear to Alexis' heartbeat and let it slow her own. "I know. I heard me."
They lay like that while the adrenaline drained out, limbs heavy, the strap-on harness still buckled somewhere under the sheet between them. Alexis reached down, fumbled it loose, and dropped it off the side of the bed with a soft thud, next to the first one.
"Two of those now," Umeko observed.
"Ours."
Alexis pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Umeko felt her smile against her hair, and felt her breathing start to lengthen, going slow and deep, the way she only slept after patrols that ended clean.
"Don't you dare fall asleep before I do," Umeko murmured. "You're the one with the super metabolism."
"No promises." Alexis' voice was already slurring toward the pillow. "Wake me if you want round three. I'll be fast."
"You're always fast. That's the whole point of you."
But Alexis was already gone, out like a light, arms locked around her, and Umeko lay in the wreck of the bed and the wreck of the night, sore in muscles she'd forgotten she had, staring at the ceiling with a ring-shaped future sitting quietly in her chest.
She decided she'd ask Scarlet to help her pick one out in the morning.