Carmilla grinned as she entered the room, finding Laura laying on the vampire's bed instead of her own, flipping through a book while popping pieces of candy into her mouth. She was entirely too cute. Before she knew what was going on, Laura found herself on her girlfriend's chest, her arms tight around her waist while she nuzzled her neck.

"Hey to you too." Carmilla smiled into her neck, pressing a light kiss behind her ear. Her fingers began to creep up Laura's shirt.

"What are you reading?"

"Their Eyes Were Watching God."

"Ah. The Harlem Renaissance."

"I thought you weren't…um…around then?"

"I was not but I discovered Hurston in a pile of books Maman gave me in an attempt to make amends for my punishment."

"Oh."

"It was a long time ago. Do you like the book?"

"I'm actually rereading it." Laura ducked her head a bit and blushed while Carmilla chuckled and pressed another kiss to her neck. They lay in silence for several minutes while Laura read, Carmilla content to hold her girlfriend, her wandering hands only mostly distracting. Her hands paused near Laura's chest when the smaller girl opened up another piece of candy.

"What are you eating?"

"Starburst."

"Are they related to that Alina girl?"

"What?"

"The Sun Summoner. Her symbol is the starburst, is it not?" Laura nearly choked while she laughed.

"You really need to stop pretending that you hate your e-reader. You clearly love the books I put on it."

"I love you, not the books." The comment earned the vampire a kiss.

"That's sweet but you still read an entire trilogy of 'childish cliché trash' as you put it."

"The Russian influence was interesting."

"And now you're defending it."

"Just tell me about the damn candy." Laura laughed and turned in Carmilla's arms to face her, placing her book down and throwing her arms around the vampire's neck after grabbing a handful of Starburst.

"Starburst. They're fruity and chewy."

"They're not shaped like a starburst or stars."

"It's because they burst with flavor."

"They're not even bright."

"Yes they are!"

"That one is purple, creampuff."

"Oh, shut up and eat one." Laura unwrapped an orange piece and popped it into the vampire's mouth. Carmilla looked offended for a moment before she reluctantly began to chew. "So, what did you think of the ending?"

"Of the candy?"

"No, of Ruin and Rising."

"It was alright. Certainly better than that Allegiant nonsense. I am upset that she lost her power. I was disappointed. I am more bothered, however, that she ended up with that dumb boy." She cringed when Laura squealed.

"I knew it! I knew it! You ship Alina and Nikolai!"

"Nikolai is my favorite character, yes, and I'd rather Alina have ended up with him. She would have been a queen! But what does 'ship' mean? Is this like those Snape/Ron fics you read?"

"I do not read Snape/Ron fics!" The vampire laughed while Laura hit her chest. "But yes. It is like that. If you ship them, you want them to get together."

"But what does any of that have to do with ships?"

"That's just what they're called."

"Yes, but why?"

"I don't know! Maybe because they have names and you name real ships?" She sighed at Carmilla's blank expression. "Ship names. Harmony is Harry and Hermione. Drarry is Draco and Harry. Our ship name is Hollstein."

"So you just smash names together?" Laura nodded. "And you all make fun of me for my anagrams. Wait. Why do we have a ship name?"

"The viewers."

"What?"

"The people who watch our videos. Some of them ship us and they came up with a ship name." Carmilla recalled a few usernames with Hollstein in it now that she thought about it.

"But we're already together."

"It just means that they like us together."

"Fine, yes, I ship Nikolai and Alina. What's their ridiculous ship name?"

"Nikolina."

"Oh, that actually sounds like a name."

"I think it's cute."

"Sure, buttercup." She reached for another Starburst.

"So you like them even though they have nothing to do with the books?"

"Yes. They're different." She ate a few more pieces. They made faces at each other while they ate the candy, pausing briefly to exchange short kisses. "I think they taste better on your lips."

"I think that's the corniest-" Carmilla shut her up with another kiss. "Okay, nevermind, we should always eat candy like this." The vampire smirked as their lips met again. The next Starburst had her cringing, however.

"Ugh."

"What's wrong?"

"It's all stuck in my teeth."

"Yeah, they do that. Can't really eat a lot of them."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It's all stuck behind my fangs." Laura laughed while the vampire attempted to work the sticky candy out of her teeth with her tongue. "I take back every good thing I said about this damn candy."

"Aww, Carm."

"I don't like having food stuck in my teeth."

"Finicky vampire."

"Why can't you eat normal candy?"

"And what's 'normal candy?'"

"Chocolate and peppermints."

"That's boring."

"You eat an entire package of chocolate chip cookies every day."

"Yeah and I like fruity candy too sometimes, that's why I got the Starburst. Which you have eaten half of and did not enjoy. Thanks for that."

"I'll buy you some real fruit."

"Ew. No thanks." Carmilla rolled her eyes and relaxed, finally managing to clean off most of her teeth.

"It really wouldn't hurt to add a bit more sustenance to your diet."

"Says the vampire."

"I eat what I'm supposed to."

"And my cookies."

"Only because they're your cookies. I eat them so you don't."

"Oh, right sure. Altruistic cookie eating vampire. Right."

"You wound me." Laura rolled her eyes and huffed, turning to rest on her back, but Carmilla stopped her, tightening her arms around her waist. She nipped at Laura's ear, grinning at the sound of her heart picking up. "There's a package of cookies in my bag for you."

"No way."

"Mhm." The vampire's lips trailed down her girlfriend's neck.

"You're the best."

"I know. Hey! Wait!" Laura had wriggled free of her grasp to run over to Carmilla's bag. "Did you just choose a package of cookies over me? Cookies I bought?" Laura rolled her eyes at the dramatic words, climbing back on to brunette, the cookies in hand.

"I thought we could try eating cookies like we ate the Starburst."

"Oh. Good idea, creampuff." They only managed to eat three cookies before they abandoned the game, their clothes joining the container on the floor. Carmilla liked the taste of chocolate even better on Laura's lips.

The vampire started bringing Starburst with her surprise cookies and grape soda and though she complained constantly of their annoying texture and strange shape, "They're not even shaped liked stars! What a foolish name," she ate nearly as many of them as Laura. Around Easter, she brought back a bag of Starburst Skittles by mistake.

"How do you get Starburst and Skittles confused?"

"I don't know! It says Starburst on there!"

"Wait. What? Oh my god, Carm. You got Starburst Skittles!" Carmilla had no idea why Laura was jumping around but she gladly accepted her grateful kiss. "These are the best!" The vampire quickly found herself agreeing. Starburst Skittles were much better than normal Starburst.

"But they're still not shaped like stars!"

"Stars aren't shaped like stars." Laura worried that she had broken her girlfriend with her exasperated comment, the vampire having sat in stunned silence for three minutes. She timed her.

"These are definitely closer to stars than those damn devil squares." When Carmilla crammed another handful of the Skittles into her mouth, Laura allowed herself to laugh.