Work Text:
The sun is hot against Apo's skin, even though the air carries a slight chill. It's only late may, so the cool air hasn't quite left, but Apo relishes in the patches of shade, and the spattering of sunlight that the leaves cast across the ground. Of course, they were in the orchard. Her and Cherri, that is.
It was Apo's favorite time of day. Cherri was about to try and convince Apo she wasn't tired. Cherri had gotten off a brutal shift at work, and come straight to the farm, with a simple 'wanted to see you'. It made Apo's ears feel hot, but now, sitting under the grand tree in her yard, Apo can't help but smile as she anticipates Cherri's next move.
The next move, of course, being to yawn. Apo elects to keep her mouth shut for now, ignoring how Cherri is inching closer to her every time the other woman shifts her weight.
After all, Apo is nothing if not patient. She'd wait until Cherri crawled into her lap, if the other woman would do it. Unfortunately, that was off the table. No matter how much Cherri was unable to hide her emotions from flashing in her eyes, it was obvious that she still was somewhat repressing those feelings.
Unfortunately, Apo was totally into emotionally repressed women. The way the barely restrained yearning in Cherri's actions sometimes manifested, and Apo's reaction, was proof of that. Apo's chest would tighten, and she would always wonder just what would happen if Cherri's tense hold on her emotions were to snap.
Unfortunately, it was always with an air of excitement, rather than apprehensiveness, as it should've been. Apo wanted to know what would happen. How would emotion leak through?
The only time she got a taste of it was when Cherri was tired. It didn't happen often, because they didn't have much reason to be together in the evenings.
That is, until very recently. Cherri had been coming by to pick up her 'personal order' of fruit, (A stupid flirting tactic gone horribly wrong. Now, Cherri places an order every week for fruit. Apo knows it's just to be together. She thinks it's horribly attractive.), and then she would just… stay. Cherri would stay until the sun went down, making excuse after excuse, and then she'd rip herself away from the farm with a level of restraint Apo didn't think was possible to display.
"You should go home soon." Apo tries, if only to stifle a smile as Cherri goes still beside her.
"I think this tree would miss me." Cherri looks away, towards her car, and Apo's farmhouse. Then, she launches into a tale about how there was actually a stink bug in my apartment, I'm not kidding. The whole place stinks so I'm airing it out.
Apo tunes it out in favor of the echoing the tree isn't the only thing that would miss you, in her head. Apo bites her lip to stop the smile that threatens to jeopardize her cool, nonchalant exterior. (Her exterior is not any of those things.)
"Okay, okay. You can stay for a little longer." Apo ignores the fact that she couldn't kick Cherri out if she tried. One frown, and Apo would trip over her own feet apologizing. "I just thought you sounded a little tired."
Cherri looks over to Apo finally, making eye-contact with her, for the first time in awhile. The jagged scar makes it hard to look at Cherri's eyes from her side profile. Apo is endlessly grateful that Cherri turns her face sometimes, just so she can see the blue of Cherri's eye glinting in the sunlight. She relishes in Cherri's face almost breathlessly, until Cherri frowns, and yanks Apo's heart closer to her as a result.
"I'm not." Cherri insists, looking down at her hands, curled in her lap, before looking back up towards Apo's face.
"If you say so." Apo shrugs, looking at the stick she's been fiddling with for the past hour. She's trying to skin it from the bark. It gets under her nails, which… hurts, but Apo ignores it in favor of prying the bark off. She's never been able to sit still, and as much as she prides herself on being a leg up from Cherri when it came to her feelings, Apo was still nervous with the other woman sitting next to her. You really couldn't blame her, though. Anyone else seated next to Cherri would feel the same.
"You… started growing peaches." Cherri mentions, and it's almost painful how much she's trying to sound casual about it. "They're my favorite."
I know, Apo wants to scream, I know, I also started growing cherries, in case you were wondering how obvious it is that I'm pretty close to saying 'fuck it' and just kissing you.
"Really?" Is instead what Apo says, trying to sound like she hasn't been thinking about it since they met.
"Yeah," Cherri says, turning back towards the small orchard, "I- uh… I mentioned it when we met."
"Ah, that's right, you did, didn't you?" Apo says, feigning remembrance. As if she could have ever forgotten. As if their first meeting wasn't practically burned into Apo's very soul.
"It's nice." Cherri says, and then clarifies, "It's nice that you planted them, I mean. Even if you didn't know I liked them."
Apo smiles a little, shifting to sit a little closer to Cherri. Her voice comes out a little more breathless than she wants it to. "Yeah? It's… nice?"
Cherri turns her head, and Apo avoids her gaze. Cherri regards her, almost thoughtfully, before speaking. "Yeah. You're… nice."
Apo is nice. She could die. Cherri thinks she's nice, and Apo thinks that's great.
Cherri yawns again. "Mmm… fine. Maybe I'm a little tired."
"Have you been sleeping?" Apo says, and Cherri clings to Apo's arm, as she responds.
"Wow, I hadn't thought about that Apo," Cherri rolls her eyes, but doesn't remove her hands. "You're right! Next time I'll just sleep."
Apo snorts a laugh, if only to hide the way that the point of contact between her and Cherri makes her cheeks burn. God, if she was flustered while Cherri was touching her arm, Apo would never survive a kiss.
If she got one, that is.
"Why are you so tired then?" Apo pushes the thought from her mind. Something she was rapidly learning, was that thinking about kissing Cherri too much was horrible for her mental health. Cherri's expression grows unreadable, surprisingly, and the other woman looks at Apo thoughtfully.
"You're… um…" Cherri seems lost for words. "Nevermind. It's… stupid."
"I promise it isn't." Apo offers. Cherri seems to take the bait. As usual, a flare of triumph runs through Apo's chest.
"You're comfortable." Cherri says, looking away nervously, and Apo's heart could burst, the way she's holding back her smile. Apo is now woefully dissatisfied with the amount of touch. God, what she wouldn't do to be all over Cherri, kissing her face, and hands, and neck—
Like Apo was saying. Bad for her mental health.
"But um…" Cherri continues, "You're- yeah. Comfortable. It makes me tried."
"Go to sleep, then." Apo blurts, before she can even quite register it. Because she's woefully weak to Cherri, and woefully ready to become the other woman's pillow for as long as is humanly possible.
"I- what?" Cherri looks awestruck and incredulous all at the same time, and all of it is attractive too, is what Apo's brain supplies. Cherri is pretty in the way that people think puppies are cute. Wide-eyed, and not quite sure of the world around them quite yet. Apo's chest tightens.
"Use my shoulder. I'll wake you in half an hour." Apo is such a liar. Such a terrible liar, that her voice cracks, and Cherri knows Apo is lying, 100%, but—
Cherri drops her head onto Apo's shoulder.
She's practically cuddled into Apo's side now, her arms around Apo's arm, and her head nestled in her neck.
Fuck. Apo has to force herself to relax, stiffening up as soon as Cherri touches her.
"Half an hour." Cherri affirms, and Apo knows that now she'll have to keep her promise. "Wake me up in half an hour, okay?"
Apo ignores how she already offered, and nods, then affirms it aloud. Then, she promptly shuts down completely as Cherri almost nuzzles her head closer, into Apo's neck, as if to breathe in her scent.
God, and Apo had been worried about Cherri's hold on her emotions. No, Cherri seemed completely fine with Apo's silent crisis. More than fine, actually, as Cherri begins to thumb at Apo's arm. It brings a rush of emotion to Apo's chest, and she opens her mouth, and closes it again, in favor of just… resting her head on top of Cherri's.
Apo could scream. She could probably cry too. She could bang her head against the tree behind them, and still, she'd feel like she was repressing her emotions far too much.
"Night, Apo." Cherri is so far gone. Apo can hear it in her voice, in the way Cherri whispers her name like a prayer.
"I'll wake you in thirty minutes. I promise. Goodnight, Cherri." (I love you too, Cherri)