Her

She tried to reach down between them, to guide the head into place, and Ade laughed into the kiss.

"No," she murmured, half-heartedly, half-laughingly, but Frankie was set in her intentions.

She got about half of a thrust before the toy tried to bend right back out of her. She cursed and tried to move, to fix it, but Ade bit her lip playfully.

"Ah," Frankie whined. "Ow!"

Ade hooked her hands into Frankie's armpits, and held her close. "Listen," she said, quickly. "Listen. Listen. Are you listening?"

"Yes."

She laughed, this time biting her own lip, which was so freaking adorable Frankie almost died on the spot. "You know you don't have to impress me, right?"

Frankie merely stared back silently as a response.

"It's not gonna work from this angle."

"Yeah," Frankie said, blushing. "I'm kind of figuring that out."

"You want to come at it from, like, straight on?"

"Yeah," Frankie said, her eyes sliding to the side thoughtfully. "Maybe where I can keep my thighs together."

"That'll help," she replied, "but it's not a one-for-one replacement. It doesn't work for everything."

"I wanna try," Frankie said, bouncing up to her knees and walking backwards until she was standing flat footed on the floor again.

Ade giggled as she started squirming across the bed, and shrieked happily when Frankie grabbed her ankles and pulled her to the edge. With Ade on her back, and Frankie's legs planted slightly wider, the height was just about right. She squatted just the little bit extra she needed, guided the tip back inside of Ade, and gave a few slow, experimental thrusts. The toy stayed more firmly in place this time, though she felt like she was having to clench her entire core to keep it there.

It would have been a stretch to say she got the hang of it, but once she found a rhythm that resembled the real thing from a distance, through a fog, while squinting, it went a little bit faster. And then a little bit faster. And then a little bit faster. Ade moaned softly, and craned one arm around to support her neck as she stared up at her. Frankie chanced to return the glance, and was rewarded with an absolutely incredible view. Ade was a gorgeous woman, with graceful lines from head to toe, but watching her bounce and rebound with every push was magnificent.

"Slow," Ade said, letting her head fall back against the bed. "Go slow."

Frankie nodded, and found that going slower was both easier and harder. On the one hand, she'd quickly worked up a sweat trying to rush into it. On the other hand, going slower meant working a half dozen different muscle groups, through a motion she'd never tried, evenly.

"Under the base of it," Ade whispered. "Little nub of a button."

Frankie paused just long enough to reach down, find it, and turn on a vibrating action she'd had no idea the toy possessed. The little heart-shaped section inside of her thrummed to life, near something that just about made her eyes cross. She tried adjusting the toy, pushing it downward slightly, but that just made it want to slide out of her again so she let it rest where it wanted to rest.

"Tired yet?" Ade said, smirking.

Frankie reached down, cupped the back of Ade's neck, and pulled her into a long, slow kiss. The toy thrummed inside of her, inside of them both, sending little tingling waves over her skin. When she stopped, her eyes slitted, she was privy to Ade's subtle shuddering, in-drawn breath.

"No," Frankie said, softly.

This time, Ade's shudder was more noticeable.

The truth was that she was indeed tired; not gassed, by any means, but a plethora of muscles were telling her quite insistently how unhappy they were to be being worked so without any warm-up. Frankie pushed on, listening to her body as much as pushing it. It felt good, and it looked good, and Ade was smiling, and it felt really good, and oh good lord it was starting to hurt.

The wrong kind of burn started in her thighs, but her abs, glutes, and hamstrings all wanted a word with her as well.

She bit her lip and tried to push through, emboldened by the warm tingling in her core, but no amount of wanting to be able to finish was going to overcome the burn. Frankie slowed to a stop with a wince, and Ade made every ounce of doubt disappear when she curled those beautiful legs around Frankie's waist and locked her ankles.

"You know," Ade purred, which was a tone of voice Frankie hadn't realized Ade possessed but now kind of wanted her to only ever speak in until the end of time, "that was working for me."

"Yeah?" Frankie asked, panting and quietly hating how much she sounded like a gawky teenager again.

Ade licked her lips, making them glisten in the low light. "There's a reason that one was at the bottom. It doesn't get used a lot. Not easy to get the hang of, right?"

"Oh I... I don't..." she said, chest heaving. "I mean..."

Ade smiled so hard her eyes squeezed shut. "I love how hard you're trying right now. It's adorable."

Frankie was crestfallen. "I wasn't going for adorable!" she cried.

Ade unlocked her legs and scooted away from her, back toward the center of her bed, and the toy went sproing as it bounced back into place. The jolt on the inside made her quiver, and she suddenly became aware again that the toy was still buzzing away. She quickly reached down, hit the button, and spread her knees slightly to ease the rest of the toy out of her.

The strapless strap-on was forgotten as soon as it was out of her hand, as she watched Ade bend over (a visual she hoped she would never forget) and root around in the toy box. She came back up a few seconds later with one of the toys she herself had discarded: the one shaped like an apostrophe, or perhaps a lazy question mark.

Ade smiled and said, "Lie back." She had such an easy posture, with one hand on her hip and her shoulder cocked ever so slightly. The thing in her hand looked more like a deep tissue massage tool, for working through knots buried under layers of muscle, rather than a sex toy, but Frankie had to admit that her knowledge on the matter was pitifully amateur. As Ade stalked closer, Frankie crawled back onto the bed a bit more, putting herself near the center of it, and was treated to the incredible sight of Ade crawling toward her on hands and knees. It made her breath catch in her throat.

That breath came out in a rush when Ade slowly pushed the toy inside of her, and Frankie had a kind of blinding epiphany; of course she didn't recognize it as being a sex toy, because in her mind all sex toys had to be shaped like penises. This was a thing purpose built for women, designed to reach a spot that Frankie had come to believe she didn't actually possess. Many spots, in fact, all at once, making her twitch and shiver. Her limbs moved in short, hard bursts as she tried to escape, and grab hold and stay right where she was, and whatever she could do to make it happen more. Make it happen again. And again.

Ade smiled, gave the toy a little twist, and Frankie saw stars.

She couldn't be sure if she'd orgasmed. The sensations were happening differently, in new places, and at different times. It was like nothing she'd ever experienced... because of course she hadn't. In her entire life, she'd only ever had one other sexual partner. Their sexual experience had been one thing, over and over, with only minor variations on the theme; facing down rather than facing up, and other similarly same-ish permutations.

This was... different. Better. There was a woman nestled between her legs, and that woman was relishing in taking her time with Frankie's body. It was a revelation for her. Sex with women, with Ade, was capable of the same acute bursts of need and intensity, but also so much more intimacy. So much more vulnerability. She was exposing herself in a way she had never done before.

Was she crying? She might have been crying.

So much more of her mind was engaged in that moment. Thinking where, before, she'd just turned off and let her body take over. She reached down and patted the bed next to her, and Ade crawled over her leg with a slow smile. Nothing about what was happening to her changed, but with Ade beside her she could reach her. She could touch her back. Frankie really wanted to touch her back.

As her fingertips played along the inside of Ade's thighs, tracing waves, Frankie fell into something completely new. Something cooperative. Something shared, with the only person she'd ever told about that time when she was thirteen and she stole a pack of gum. She was sure the manager had seen her, and when he didn't chase her outside she convinced herself it was a test, so she waited for a crowd and snuck back into the store to return it and ran the whole way home. The only person that, until recently, she'd ever cried in front of.

With her best friend. No matter what else they might become from that moment on, Ade was still going to be her best friend. She was still going to be able to tell her secrets, and cry in front of her, and wake up in the morning with her, and—

Frankie's hips shot up off the bed, back arching, as her entire body lit up like a jolt of electricity. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, a tiny voice said, Now you've orgasmed.

The moment/second/instant that Frankie got her legs under her again, and could control her limbs again, Frankie rolled onto her side and started pushing Ade. Spreading her legs apart. Getting her down on her side as well. It was the first time Frankie had ever gone down on another woman, but she knew immediately that she was doing something right. Ade made more noise, and squirmed more, in those first few seconds than she had in the entirety of her time using the strapless strapon.

The sounds were magical. Ethereal. Heavenly. Never mind that Ade curled into the same position, pushing Frankie's left leg up and away while she used the right thigh as a pillow, with their arms cradled around each other's bodies. Never mind that Ade's tongue was as good as the toy. Never mind how good it felt.

Frankie was a part of something, and it felt amazing.

She was determined to outlast Ade, and threw herself at that task with her entire being.

***

"Oh," Ade said, surprising her. "You're awake."

Frankie blinked several times, each time making the pre-dawn room slightly less blurry. "Yeah, but... why are you awake? It's, like, six!"

Ade, who was sitting upright against the head of the bed next to her, shrugged slightly. "Couldn't sleep."

"Are you okay?" she asked, dragging herself up into a vaguely similar position through sleepy limbs and an ache in her core like she hadn't felt since the last time she'd tried to do five hundred situps.

"Yeah, yeah," Ade said, tiredly. Her gaze was far away when she added, "I... um. I broke a rule last night." She laughed softly and shook her head. "My mind just kept going and going."

"What rule?" Frankie asked, and then she added, "Was it important?" when she realized that Ade was unlikely to explain herself when asked a direct question. That wasn't her way.

Ade turned to her, smiled, and said, "It certainly felt like it at the time."

Frankie sat with that for a moment. She said, "So, you had some time to think about it?"

Ade laughed. "Yeah."

If Ade had something to say to her, Frankie thought, then Ade was going to say it to her; that's just who she is. Armed with that knowledge, that there would be a talk if there was something to talk about, Frankie nodded emphatically and took a deep breath. "Alright. Then I have an important question for you."

Ade froze and stared back at her, blinking her wide, brown eyes.

"Do you," she asked, pausing for dramatic effect, "have any chocolate chips?"

"Oh my god," Ade said. "I had forgotten, until this moment, that you're a morning person!"

"I wanna bake muffins," Frankie said, excitedly. "I really wanted to make lemon poppy seed muffins, but somehow I don't think you'd have poppy seeds and a rind for me to zest."

Ade blinked and licked her lips. "I... um... yes?"

"Yes to having chocolate chips?" Frankie asked, as she crawled backwards out of her best friend's bed.

"Yeah," Ade said, laughing again. It was so good to see her laugh. To hear her laugh. Ade had an amazing laugh. "I think so."

Frankie moved slowly, giving Ade every opportunity to interrupt her, but Ade just sat there smiling at her, eyelids drooping. When she got out into the kitchen, she felt better. Whatever it had been, Ade had processed it. She'd probably tell Frankie about it later, as was her way, and Frankie would listen. In the meantime, though, she had some baking to do. She hadn't done any kind of breakfast cooking, her favorite kind of cooking, in months, and it felt good to be doing it again.

She peeked her head in ten minutes later, once the muffins were in the oven; Ade was still sitting in the bed with a distant look in her eye. Frankie looked over her shoulder, making sure the timer was going, and went to crawl back into bed beside her friend. Ade gave her a tight smile.

"It was about me being straight, wasn't it?"

Ade's eyebrows only rose a fraction, but her that was very telling.

Frankie nodded, and reached over to take Ade's hand. "It's okay to be nervous. I'm... maybe dating my best friend. The stakes are... high."

"Sky high," Ade said.

"I'm nervous as hell. Feels like I'm flying blind." Frankie pursed her lips. "Are you wary of straight girls... because you don't want to be seen as a novelty?"

"You know, this is..." Ade cleared her throat. "This is who I am, you know? I've been out since I was fifteen, and I knew it... years before that. I'm not a—"

Frankie sniffed, and when she went to move a little closer Ade scooted in as well. Under the covers, Ade curled her leg around Frankie's. She let go of Ade's hand, and wove her arm behind and under Ade's so that their fingers interlaced tightly, and when Ade squeezed back it was good.

"What I realized," Ade said, smiling, "somewhere around three in the morning, is that that rule isn't so important when it comes to you."

Frankie squealed excitedly, and quickly composed herself despite the fact that her heart was racing.

"It was a good rule," Ade said, "under other circumstances, and yeah, the fear isn't gone." She licked her lips, and leaned over until her head was resting against Frankie's. "I want to try though."

"I want to try too," Frankie said, voice coming out in a whisper.

All it took was a slight turn of Ade's head, enough for them to make eye contact, and they were kissing again. Bodies coming together in a vortex of sinew and flesh.

When Ade's roommates showed back up several hours later, the smell of burned muffins was still heavy in the air.