Evy pulled into a small parking spot in an alley.

  “Yeah, I know you were expeg a b,” Evy said, sounding a bit bashful. “Or something probably better, but…”

  She weakly gestured past the backyard he parking spot, towards a oory house.

  “It’s cute!” Stel said.

  The snow falling on it made it look even cozier than the restaurant. Stel and Evy got out of the car, greeted by a good foot of snow on the ground.

  “Maybe we should walk around to the sidewalk.” Evy said.

  “Lead the way,” Stel said.

  The two penguin-walked down the alley and around the block through the snow and slick spots. Stel kept almost falling, but she could only giggle each time. There weren’t many other cars out, so the blizzard brought a gentle quiet to their surroundings, with only itent ughing from near falls eg around them.

  “I have one neighbor with a snowblower that gets to it pretty quick,” Evy said. “There used to be a i with snow powers that had a pretty affordable service but he moved to aown, and my ndlot cheap anyways.”

  “Well, your ndlord figure all this out then,” Stel said. “uess, our ndlord. For the night at least. And then maybe the month if I get the job.”

  “I already told you,” Evy said, suddenly grabbing Stel’s arm at her elbow. “Yon.”

  “I…” Stel said, internally screaming at Evy’s grasp on her arm. It was somehow f and powerful at the same time. “Thank—whoa!” While she was lost staring at Evy, she misstepped on a particurly icy patch fell over into puffy snow. With Evy’s firm grasp on her, she tumbled too, nding right on top of her. Stel’s heart ounding.

  “Oh my god, that could have been so bad.” Stel said. "Good thing you're a doctor. If I was hurt, you could...fix me up."

  Evy was on top of her still. Saying nothing.

  “Sorry!” Evy said, getting up quickly. “I was just spag out a bit. Sorry.”

  “I-it’s fine,” Stel said, admittedly a bit disappointed.

  “Are you alright?” Evy said, holding her hand out to Stel.

  “Yeah, the snow’s really soft and fluffy. I don’t mind this kind of blizzard, holy.”

  “And we’re home, so we don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the night.”

  “Yeah!” Stel said.

  Evy led Stel inside her rental house and the two stomped the snow off their boots and shoes and got their coats and gloves put away. With all of Diast’s talk about garbage, Stel didn’t really see much of a mess. It wasn’t a big pce, with mainly just a living room, two bedrooms, and a kit on the main floor. There were plenty of bookshelves that seemed to have a healthy mix of bound stific journals, mainly about i studies, and all kinds of fi. There were lots of figures on each shelf as well, which Stel found incredibly adorable. Evy scowled as she showed off her former roommate’s room, which was currently empty.

  “They really ed out quick, huh?” Stel asked.

  “Yeah,” Evy said. “They must’ve hired movers or something, ugh. But, thanks to you, I don’t have to worry!”

  “Yeah!” Stel said, holding her hand up for a high five. There was a moment of awkward waiting, but once Evy noticed she reciprocated with a smack that probably had some leftover, built up fiery rage reserved for the roommate that abandoned her.

  “So this would be my room, then?” Stel asked.

  “Yeah, once we get the stench out.” Evy said. “I’m not one for tours, so sorry if I showed you all that pretty quickly. I expitle stuff ter, like how you have to jiggle the stove hao get it to go sometimes. But…aside from that, what do you think? Are you still good about it now that you’ve seen the pce?”

  “It’s fantastic,” Stel said. “And it’s so close to the school and…”

  “What’s up?” Evy asked. “You’re trailing off there.”

  “Sorry, I was just thinking," Stel said. “You’re not this o every new recruit at the school, are you?”

  “Hell no,” Diast said. “Well, I mean. I’ll help out. Just. I want to help you out a lot more.”

  “Ah,” Stel said. Even though she was just lying down in snow for a bit, she still felt very warm. Evy led her to the cou the living room and handed her two remotes and a game troller.

  “It’s not a great couch but it works,” Evy said. “I don’t really have people over, so I use it more for when I want to give my back a different bed when Sare was out.”

  “Gotcha,” Stel said, sighing as she sat down on the couch.

  “And here, one sec,” Evy said. “Put whatever you want on, I don’t have cable but my eGame Home has all the good streaming stuff on it.”

  Stel nodded as Evy left.

  “I know I’m a jumpsuit girl, but when I’m home I gotta be a bit cozier.” Evy said. “I’ll go grab you some bs, too.”

  Stel tried not to think about Dr. Evy Diast ging clothes a room away from her. She tried very hard not to notice that Evy didn’t shut her door fully, leaving a sliver open that had Stel’s imagination rag. She made sure to text Zeta to let her know she was safe and had made it to her ‘hotel’ for the night.

  Thinking more about her own warmth than anything else, Stel abruptly took her sweater off; she had a camisole u but she still felt like she was doing something more akin to stealing a precious ruby from a highly guarded museum (a museum run by vilins or something nefarious of course, Stel wouldn’t even imagine herself itting crimes without some kind of noble pursuit behind it). Now that she was fier, she found an easy to watch sit on one of the streaming apps on Evy’s sole, happy to see they each had viewed the same hundred-plus episode show in full.

  Evy returo the room with a couple bs and some s of soda, and Stel tried really very hard not to stare at her sleepwear. It was just a t-shirt and shorts but seeing Evy in a t-shirt and shorts made her feel a lot of things at once.

  “I know it’s more caffei…” Evy seemed to pause seeing Stel in her camisole. She turo the TV. “Yes, Koz’s Pizza Pce, great choice!” Evy sat dowo Stel on the couch, with each getting under a b.

  For the length of one 22-minute episode of Koz’s Pizza Pce (with a few ercials thrown in, Evy had the basi for OKWatchThis), the two sat retively silently, chug a bit at the show, and for any brief arm bumps from how close they were sitting.

  “I could watch this all night,” Stel said.

  “Same here,” Evy said.

  “It’s just a perfefort food show. And not just because of the pizza.” Stel said. “It’s also a good background show. You know?”

  It took Stel a sed to realize what she had just said.

  “Yeah,” Evy said. “Really great to just have on in the background while you do…whatever.”

  The focus oV seemed to slip away. Stel found herself biting her lip with her fangs each time Evy leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs as Stel leaned ba the couch. After a sed episode, Evy yawned.

  “Are you going to bed soon?” Stel asked. It came out a lot whihaended, but she didn’t want the night to be over already.

  Evy seemed to think over her answer for a while.

  “That depends,” Evy said. “Do you wao go to bed?”

  “I…” Stel said, also thinking over her answer. “I think I’d like to put a few more episodes on in the background. While we…do whatever.”

  Evy smiled. “I wouldn’t mind joining you for that.” She sat down back beside Stel, a bit closer than st time. She leaned her head on her fist as she had her elbow on the back of the couch, eyebrows raised. “What kind of whatever were you thinking, Stel?”

  There was a brief pause betweewo, a st silent moment as they both had their eyes firmly locked onto each other, making sure they both wahe same thing. Then Stel ed her arms around Evy, and within an instant their mouths were desperately pressing against each other’s, their reciprocal affe finally erupting. Both took turns being more dominant, pushing the other bato the couch.

  “I like this kind of whatever,” Evy said between kisses when she was over Stel.

  “We are gonna be up all night,” Stel whispered as she trailed kisses up Evy’s neck, stopping at her ear. “Plenty of time for whatever. Right, doctor?”

  Evy’s shudderiion was just what Stel wanted, and when Evy caught Stel giggling at it, she started ughing as well.

  “We are going to have a very good night, Stel,” Evy said.

  * * *

  Stel stared up at the ceiling. She and Evy had eventually ended up in Evy’s bed, and ealy had a b c them as they caught their breath, both pretty sweaty but both also immensely satisfied.

  “Oh my god,” Stel said.

  “Good oh my ght?” Evy said.

  “Yes.”

  “Because yeah, me too,” Evy said. “Because. Wow.”

  “Yeah. Oh my god.”

  The two needed a few more mio catch their breath. Ohings were more settled, it started to sink in for Stel that all that had just really happened, and wasn’t an elongated daydream on a b work shift. Stel rolled over to face Evy, unsure of what to say .

  “You know, I was just happy to see you today,” Evy said. “So to say things weer than I expected is an absolutely absurd uatement.”

  “Me too,” Stel said. “I guess everything just fell so perfectly ionight, I’m still kind of in shock. Pretty good wele party…”

  “If you do suddenly regret all this and decide against payi or staying the month, I wouldn’t bme you.” Evy said. “Just so you know. I’d get it. And if yret…this.” She gestured to their bed bodies. “And rather would have this be a oime thing…I’d get that.”

  “Well, my first thought,” Stel said. “I’d hope you’d bme me if I turned down paying your rent after saying I would. That’d be pretty scummy. And also pretty stupid, because that was gehe best sex I ever had in my life and…yeah.”

  “I keep thinking ‘mindblowing multiwave of pleasure experience’ over and over in my head right now and that’s barely grammatically a phrase but yeah. It was that good.” Evy said.

  “That describes it pretty well for me, too.” Stel said. She winced as a thought suddenly hit her. “ we maybe…not tell Zeta yet? Obviously not about the sex, but the…once I’m at the library here…”

  “Yeah, nht. Don’t worry,” Evy said, sitting up. “And there are some paperwork things we would have to fill out if we…kept it going while you’re. It might be a bad look to e out of the gates at work swinging with. Announg…” Diast sighed and smeared her fa her hands. “You get me, right?”

  “Yeah. But I also I don’t want all this to be like. A one off.”

  “Oh.” Evy said.

  “Unless you want that? If you want that, I—I well I guess I could deal with that, too.”

  “No, no! I don’t want a night like this to be a one off either. This is the best I’ve felt since before I was with Caya.”

  “I don’t want to rush you,” Stel said. “And we are going pretty fast here, but…” Stel traced her fiips up and down Evy’s back.

  “We could take it slow,” Evy said, shivering at the goosebumps from Stel's touch. “Well, the slow parts slow. We already took some fast parts fast.”

  “I’m very much fih taking the fast parts fast if it stays that good.” Stel said. She sat up as well, and kissed Evy on her cheek. “We do have a month, after all.”

  “Yeah,” Evy said. “And we probably have a snow day tomorrow…”

  “And I am still keyed up from the caffeine...” Stel said.

  Evy didn’t hesitate to ask. “Ready for another round then?”

  “Yup,” Stel said, not hesitating to answer.