Astudyiniris's wonderful fic Den Of Thieves had some Adelit smooches in it's last chapter, so I decided to one up her. ;D

More so based on a prompt than the theme (ssh! don't tell anyone) And the prompt is as follows:

alaskawaters answered: Lilit kisses Adela and Adela asks if she's the first girl she's kissed (which she isn't because Deryn)

... This is very fluffy, just a warning. I promise the sad stuff is coming soon. Heehee.

"OH GOOD GODDAMN"... I swear that's an anon, go check- thank you for the review. I think that's one of the best I've gotten. And i liked your joke. ahhaa

light

It is very early morning in New York City, the vaguest edges of salmon pink running into the dark blue watercolor sky, and Lilit is trying her hardest not to shiver. Despite wearing a dress with full, dark purple sleeves and a long skirt, sitting on a balcony in New York in late winter is cold. She turns behind her to look at the glass doors of the suite, and considers retrieving a blanket.

"I have to ask," she begins with a little shivery shake of her shoulders, shooting a look at Adela, who had, once again, dragged her along to work on a story. "Do you actually have a house in California, or do you always stay in hotels?"

"Hotels are my home!" She retorts, almost sounding offended.

"Of course." Lilit responds dryly, turning towards her. "And that will stop you from ever settling properly."

Adela looks shocked, face in shadow. "You, of all people, are telling me to find a husband and settle down?"

Lilit rolls her eyes. "Settling down doesn't require finding a man-"

Adela cuts her off. "Not a man? Are you trying to court me, Miss Lilit?" Adela raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow, expression frustratingly unreadable. It's been months since Adela figured out Lilit's little secret. (Lilit herself was not aware of where her gaze tended to fall- until Adela pointed it out with a smirk. At least she wasn't openly disgusted, though Lilit was expecting that to change any day, when Adela finally reached the end of the use for Lilit.)

"Stop teasing," Lilit glares at her, face turned away so she doesn't catch her cheeks reddening.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Adela's lips, painted a deep red, smile devilishly.

"Who said I was teasing?" She asks, a sliver of light falling across her fair features.

Adela uncrosses her legs, heel hitting the ground softly, her skirts settling gracefully. Pushing herself up by grasping the chair's arms, she leans forward in the chair, and her eyes are clos-

Oh.

Realizing she has but seconds before she messes this all up, Lilit grips the arm rest of her own chair to hide her shaking, and tries to remember she's done this before. Once before, in the aftermath of the battle, walkers corpses lined up like the skyscrapers all around them now.

But she didn't think she'd ever see Dylan again. With Adela Rogers...

She really hopes she wasn't teasing.

Lilit gathers her wits, pinches her arm, and leans toward the patiently waiting reporter.

She feels her smile into the kiss immediately, and for a few seconds, it's soft and warm and wonderful- but the other woman pulls back way too soon, to, of course, talk.

It's all she ever does, and Lilit finds herself strangely frustrated at the moment.

"It's about time. I've been dropping hints for months." She smiles smugly, looking perfectly calm and content compared to the ball of flustered nerves Lilit's turning into.

"Excuse me if I'm reluctant to kiss a woman I barely know," Lilit mutters in defense, still wondering what on earth just happened.

"Does that mean you've kissed a woman you did know?"

Lilit's mouth opens. And closes. She stares at the ground stubbornly, saying nothing.

"You have!" It comes out as a gasp, and Adela's eyes widen.

She shifts awkwardly. "I didn't know her that we-"

"But I'm not the first. Oh dear," she says, forehead crumpling perfectly. "I thought I might have been something special."

Lilit scoffs. "Something special?" She chokes back laughter. Unsuccessfully.

"Don't tease me. I thought I might have- I don't know, been an exception. Someone you really ought to not have fancied, but did anyway. That sort of thing."

"You really think it works like that?" She raises an eyebrow, almost smiling.

"That's how it worked for me," Adela says. Her voice lowers a little, but she keeps eye contact, mouth set stubbornly.

Lilit blinks, surprised.

She had somewhat foresaw this turn of events. Adela was right- she had been hinting at a more... intimate partnership the past few months. But a confession of this matter was a different thing entirely.

"You're a charming girl, Miss Lilit," Adela says, to fill the silence. She smiles coyly, tucking a curl behind her ear. "I couldn't exactly help it. I guess I had been hoping I was to you what you are to me."

Rather stunned, Lilit slinks back into her chair. What on earth what she supposed to say? She finds herself speaking to fill the silence, to comfort Adela, and... possibly figure things out for herself.

"If it makes you feel better," she says, standing up and walking towards her. "That kiss was much better than the previous one. You were actually expecting it. And there was less... dirt. And explosions. And I had been crying so- never mind."

"Oh dear." She tilts her head, looking straight up at the former anarchist. "What on earth was going on? And who was this mysterious girl? Do I know her? Oh, probably not, there's not a lot of women we both know, but you could describe her to me- all off the record, of course, I'm just curi-"

Lilit is kneeling in Adela's chair as she cuts her off, her mouth pressed against hers, knees on either side of her hips. Adela makes a muffled, pleased noise against Lilit's mouth, and she feels a hand move to her waist, holding it gently.

Lilit shifts, trying to find a more comfortable position-

And suddenly the hotel chair is tipping, flying over backwards and landing them both on the ground with an obnoxiously loud clatter. None of the legs are broken, but Adela is half upright over the back of the chair, with Lilit very nearly sitting on her stomach.

Adela bursts out laughing, so hard she snorts, arms clutching each other as Lilit moves off of her, righting herself.

"I could have told you that was a bad idea, my dear miss Lilit, if you hadn't insisted on quieting me."

"Shush," Lilit hisses, crawling away from the chair legs with a scowl. Neither of them were that heavy. It should have held their weight, easily.

"Not as much as a disaster as it could have been, though. You're very soft."

"Shush," Lilit repeats, sitting on the ground and crossing her arms.

Adela laughs again, pulling herself back up gracefully. "You'll learn with time," she says with a wink. She opens the doors behind them and retreats to her room in the suite without another world.

Lilit stays outside for the time being, righting the chair and sitting in it with her knees up, arms curled around the them, staring out at the lights of the city, waiting for the sun to rise.

She wonders if this was how miss Sharp felt when she finally kissed Alek. Like flying, she had told her in that dark movie theater.

But that isn't how she felt with Adela Rogers at all. It's more like being on solid ground at last, something to finally go right in her life, even with all the falls in their relationship. Including the literal ones.

She rests her cheek on her knee and sighs, feeling uncharacteristically optimistic.