The Good News

The more Kaylee spoke about Belle, the more Tatiana smiled, just imagining her saying those things. Even when they were in hiding mode, she still wanted to give her props and push her up, showing that all her compliments weren’t just blowing smoke. She believed what she said about Tatiana. Every single word. It was one thing to hear it firsthand, but to hear it from someone else saying she said it to them only reinforced the notion. She wasn’t even around, and she was still finding ways to build Tatiana’s confidence.

Tatiana closed her eyes and steadied her breath, letting a wave of relaxation run through her body. She wanted Belle here for this, but a growing part of her wanted to do this herself, now. By the time Belle arrived, she would already be out, and they could have a pleasant dinner talking about how crazy their lives had been for the past few months.

”Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like her.” She looked off to the side for a moment, running through a few thoughts, before she focused back on Kaylee. ”Okay, so, I need to tell you something. Something sort of big. But I’m not super sure how to do it, how to ease you into it, I guess. So I might ramble a bit. I do that sometimes. But here goes.”

She took a deep breath and rose up with it, her finger pointed upwards, until she exhaled and pointed straight to Kaylee with her right hand. ”I paint. I’m a painter. It’s a hobby, I’m not good enough to be in galleries or anything, but I’m good. I’ve been working on portraits recently, getting really good with those. Really good.”

She brought up the left hand and started to bring it near the center. ”Soooooooooooo...two or three months ago, did you happen to notice a portrait Belle brought over? With her in this sultry kind of Venus pose?” She titled her head to the side, inch by inch, hoping Kaylee could connect the dots and that she wouldn’t have to just blurt it out.

Because that was what she was on the verge of doing. This way just felt easier for the both of them.

"Oh? Alright, I am all ears." Kaylee straightened up in her seat, giving Tatiana her undecided attention. The blond nodded along with the redhead for awhile, though it slowed to a stop as she went into details of her paintings. Slowly her head cocked to the side, leaving her to blink at all of this coming out into the open.

"No… I don't think I've seen it… perhaps she was embarrassed. She doesn't like to watch back things she is part of or look at photoshoot prints…" She seemed to mull over that for a moment, not latching onto the parts of Tatiana's confession the redhead likely hoped she would. It left the blond smirking for a long moment before her lips curled into a slight frown.

"Oh… were you considering retiring from wrestling to pursue your painting? That… would certainly change things. Rather significantly." There was a concerned knit in her brow now, waiting for the other woman to clear the air.

Swing and a miss. Good job, Tatiana.

”Ugh, ради всего святого.” She brought her hands up and covered her face for a moment, retreating into her shell. ”No. No, I’m not retiring.” She’d imagined doing this for how long now? Since she and Belle went official. It was just words, and it wasn’t like Kaylee was about to stab her with a fork or anything. Just simple words. Get them out. No beating around.

When the moment passed, Tatiana dropped her hands, reeled back and let it fly.

”Okay, so, after our first match, me and Belle met and went out and had this really sweet, nice time together at a bar, though it was a little awkward because I don’t drink for reasons I don’t want to get into now, and we went back to her place...er, your place, your house mansion, and we hung out and made out a little and we kind of started hanging out together and it turned into this whole thing where I’d sneak over to see her and we’d chat and send messages and it was this big Romeo and Juliet sort of thing, and one day she asked me to be her girlfriend and I said yes and it was romantic and it just felt so right, so we were item, but we still in secret about it, and I’m hiding in your mansion like a thief, like, if you remember that time you thought you heard a noise and you went to look and you didn’t find anything, that was me, and I got hungry and ate this parfait in your fridge once, sorry about that, it was tasty, but anyway, Belle and me kept seeing each other, and it’s gotten really serious, and after she got attacked, I climbed up a building and snuck into her hospital room and we agreed to come out to you here, like she’d say that she didn’t want to come to you, but then you’d come and she’d be here and we’d tell you everything together, only she’s not here, which is kind of sort of freaking me out because, you know Belle, she’s not late for anything ever.”

Huh. That wasn’t so bad.

Tatiana knocked her knuckles together for a couple of seconds, going over her mental notes. Was that it? It felt like that was it. ”Sooooooo...TLDR? I love Belle. I love Belle more than I thought I could ever love anybody. We’ve been doing this ninja thing for a while, but we’re not doing the ninja thing anymore, and we wanted you to know that before we go on.” She managed a weak sheepish smile, not sure what was about to happen. It felt good, though. One way or another, she’d take that.

"Alright…" Kaylee nodded slowly, seemingly glad to hear her prospect wasn't actually retiring. The blond straightened herself up as Tatiana geared up for round two of his explanation. She perhaps thought she was ready, then the dam of the redheads mind cracked open and exploded in a torrent of exposition.

Kaylee's expression changed quite a few times along the way, her initial concern becoming confusion, then interest, confusion… concern… when as was said and done she remained quiet, leaving the two in an awkward silence even after the acrobat had summarized it all into a concise bite sized bit.

At that very moment the waiter had come, setting their entrees down before each woman and setting traditional sake cups beside each with a tiny clay pitcher. There was no doubts beside the soft clink of plates and the quiet, polite words of the waiter as they excused themselves with their tasking being complete.

"So… you will still be wrestling then?" Kaylee inquired with an almost childlike innocence, trying to confirm the thing that meant the most to her out of everything that Tatiana had shared. Though it should of just been the shell shock of having all of this dumped in her lap.

"I appreciate your... urm… openness with me, but you don't have to feel the need to inform me about your love life. I mean, if you need some advice, I would be more than happy to listen and try to help, but it's not something you have to tell me… I am flattered you decided to?" There was no explosive outrage, no flipped tables… the blond just seemed mildly confused by it all and possibly how it relates to her in any way.

After a moment of further thought, she sat forward, reaching her arms out across the table to attempt to collect the redhead's hands in her own, trying to give them a light squeeze.

"Well… congratulations to the both of you I suppose. Belle is… a very special woman though it sounds like you already know that." Kaylee bit her lip her, eyes scanning Tatiana's face. When she spoke again it was a soft nonaccusatory tone that seemed like more of an honest plea than anything else. "Just… please don't hurt her, okay? She has been through so many messy relationships. She really deserves a good one."  The social media star in an off moment of vulnerability gave Tatiana an uncharacteristically somber smile… was her eyes watering a bit?

Tatiana had run this scenario through her mind how many times now? Hundreds, definitely. Maybe a thousand. Imagining the ways she could come out to Kaylee, how she could tell her about this, where they would be when it happened, how she would react to it. It had been the thought in the corner of her brain for ages, the nagging fantasy that kept popping up over and over, with different variations each time. She’d even had nightmares about it, including a weird one where Kaylee responded to it by transforming into a Predator and chasing them around the forest.

This was somehow even weirder than that. Kaylee’s reaction was no reaction at all. Like she had just changed the conversation to baseball games or pink unicorns or something else equally unrelated to the situation between them.

”Oh. Ah. Yes, yeah, I’m going to keep wrestling.” Her own face was a puzzled mess, not looking too unlike Valerie’s at the moment, only breaking when the waitress came over with their sake cups. It was like she’d battened down the hatches for a typhoon that was never coming, braced herself for a punch she didn’t have to endure. She tipped her head from one side to the other, as if seeing Kaylee at different angles would help. Did she even really process what she’d just said.

Regardless, she was happy to just get that all off her chest - she’d underestimated how freeing it was to just talk about Belle to another person, a simple luxury she’d never before gotten to indulge in with their relationship. A calming high came over her now, as if she was only now shifting off weights she’d been wearing for nearly a year. She was so taken with the euphoria that she jumped a little when Kaylee reached out to take her hand, cupping them together and giving her a heartfelt plea.

Tatiana blinked, taking her turn to be surprised as Kaylee gave her a small battering of warmth, but her shock turned to understanding soon enough, and a soft smile came across her face as she leaned forward as well. ”I swear, I’ll never hurt Belle. Never. Meeting her, knowing her, it’s been the best thing to happen to me since...ever, and I want to be by her side as long as she’ll have me. I can’t even-”

She cut herself off before she went on a gushing rampage, looking down to her chest for a moment before she brought her gaze back up again. ”I’m a little mad, now. Like, if I’d known this was how you’d react, I would’ve told you way sooner, and me and Belle wouldn’t have had to sneak so much, and I could’ve spent so much more time with her.” She looked off to the side with a huff, but nodded. ”I owe her so much time, but I’ll make it up to her.”

Kaylee gently rubbed a thumb over top of Tatiana's hands as she held them, listening quietly to what the girl had to say. How empowering the sudden shift must have been, after all the time spent hiding from Kaylee as if she were some horrible boogie woman to see her as she was now.

"I believe you… this explains so much. It's a bit embarrassing I didn't see it sooner somehow. All the unexpected plans and vague excuses… I just thought I was pushing her away with all this new wrestling stuff. It's why I wanted to give her space and do this actually… So I wasn't always breathing down her neck to push Party Hard." The blond gently turned her hands over, setting Tatiana's back down on the table as delicately as possible with a small pat before withdrawing.

"It's okay… I am sure Belle was only doing what she thought was right… she has a big heart that not many get to really see. I keep trying to get her to open up on her channel, but she is just so guarded. I sure you've seen that, especially since you seemed to have broken through to her." Kaylee breathed a small sigh of relief as she looked appraisingly over at Tatiana.

"The two of you would look so cute together... And here you were asking why I thought you were special. Clearly Belle and I have impeccable taste." A small laugh bubbled up from her as she looked down at the plate in front of her remembering their food had just arrived.

This was nice. Nicer than Tatiana could have ever hoped for. While her opinion of Kaylee had lowered after they first met, it was rapidly rising again now that they were having this talk. She’d always wanted to like the blonde, for varying reasons. First because she was a fan, but these days more because she wanted to see what Belle saw in her, why the two of them remained such steadfast friends despite having such wildly different personalities.

Now, it was becoming much clearer. Kaylee had a good heart. She wasn’t perfect, maybe a little pushy and too enthusiastic, but she meant well, and she wanted the best for Belle. That was all that mattered.

”Thank you. For everything. I appreciate this, and easing off Belle a bit, and all of it.” She reached for the sake cup and rolled it about in her hand, still smiling as she replayed the past few months in her head. ”God, I feel so silly now. All that sneaking around. I climbed a building to get into her room!” She giggled, really seeing how nutty that was, now. ”I’d be lying if I said it was kind of fun, but I’m super glad it’s over.”

She exhaled, still beaming as she started to bring the sake to her mouth. ”Belle’s taste is awesome, yeah. You should see her, she likes to get me to dress up in these outfits, because I have literally zero fashion sense, and we have these little fashion shows sometimes. Which reminds me-”

Tatiana was just about to ask Kaylee to give Belle a call and see what was up with her, when finally sipped the sake. She blanched and immediately sat the cup back down, forcing the liquid down her throat as it all hit her like a punch. Eyes twitching, she looked down at the cup like it was dripping with boiling acid. ”Wow. Wow. That’s sake?” She squinted and blinked as the aftertaste had its way with her mouth. ”Bit of a kick. Bit of a kick. Oooooooh.”

"Yeah… I am pretty sure you said that somewhere in that mouthful earlier." The blonde smirked across from Tatiana, much of that professional air that circled the social media star seemed to have chipped away. While she still certainly looked the part, it was clear she had relaxed out of the mindset she had first come here with. It was more casual now, just friends having a meal and having girl talk. "So... Give me the dish on you two. Don't skip the juicy parts."

"Ah, heh, did she ever tell you I use to use her as a model? Back when I was trying to launch my clothing line I use to test out all of my newest fashion on her, since I very well couldn't just do it myself and tailor it properly." She smiled wistfully, going through the motions of pouring a bit of soy sauce into a swallow square bowl on her plate. She scooped up the chopsticks, letting them slide into place place between her fingers as if they were a natural fit. She clearly was familiar with their use.

"She was sooooo miserable… like a wet puppy, all pouty and huffy as I put her in the cutest little dresses." She smiled fondly at the thought, this seemed to be something the two of them looked back on and laughed about these days.

"Christ Kay... More frills, seriously? I look like a crumpled pile of lacy napkins in this shit… can I go?" The sudden impression of Belle was pretty spot on, nailing the lower, flatter tone that Tatiana would be familiar with when her girlfriend was at her most dry and sarcastic. "I may have put a few more on just to bother her… God that dress was horrible. I bet she still has it. The girl never cleans out her closet." Kaylee cheerfully pinched a piece of vibrant red tuna between her chopsticks, giving it a light dunk into the sauce before popping it into her mouth. She hummed, pleased as she chewed, the delight visible in her eyes.

"This your first time trying sake? I'm actually surprised. Belle use to always get those… hrm…" Her eyes drifted skyward as she snapped her fingers with her free hand, trying to recall.

"D-dirty bombs... oh, no, sake bombs. Duh. They are a mixed drink, party stuff. She use to get them all the time. I remember this one time she had so many…" the blond trailed off, stopping herself short. Clearly whatever she was about to let slip was either something too personal or embarrassing to be shared. "... But it's an acquired taste. It's good when paired with the sashimi. Cleanses the palate. Brings out some of the flavors. The soy sauce helps to cut the aftertaste."

"So, tell me more about yourself. I am really curious about your upbringing with a circus. Belle and I obviously have our fair share of entertainment ridiculous horror stories from our younger years on set. I can only imagine you have some fantastic ones of your own. Bonus points if they include monkeys." She poked at the air with one of her chopsticks as if to emphasise the last point before looking to Tatiana expectantly. Ever the performer, a new spotlight shining down on the redhead.

Tatiana was starting to go into a giggling fit as this went on, just happy about this whole situation. She’d never known how much she’d been craving to talk to someone about Belle, but now that it was out there and in the world, it was like a dam burst that that she didn’t even know existed. She was already imagining all the new options this would add to their relationship. She could call Kaylee for advice when she wanted to surprise her girlfriend or figure out if she might like this or that, maybe do little double dates with her, or get the dish of embarrassing little anecdotes, like the one she just shared.

”Oh my god, that’s such a good impression! Surly Belle is one of my favorite Belles, I love when she gets pouty, it’s adorable.” She had to cover her mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter, probably looking like a total idiot in the middle of this upscale restaurant, but she couldn’t have cared one iota less. ”But yeah, there’s nothing too juicy to talk about...yet. We kiss and cuddle a lot, making out, but I’ve been taking my time with the heavier stuff, you know, and she’s been so patient with me.”

She took another sip of the sake, slower this time, handling it better. She only squinted a little this time, a minor wince. ”Uuuuuuuh oh! Yeah, yeah, I have had one of those bombs, now that I think about, it’s just been a while, forgot it. Belle got me one that first night we met, and I seem to recall not taking it all that well back then, either. ‘Acquired taste’ is dead on, yeah.”

She shimmied in the seat as Kaylee put the spotlight on her, puffing her chest out, finding some new pride. It was weird to think someone like this could be interest in her life, but she was more than willing to share if she wanted to hear.

”Oh, boy, do I have monkey stories. This one time, they forgot to lock up their cage, and they got loose and it was just crazy night.” She reached into her purse, fishing around. ”Quick, give me your number, I’ll send you some pics of-”

Tatiana froze in midmotion, remembering that she didn’t have her phone. And also remembering she still had no idea where Belle was. Two very distressing facts.

She frowned as the nervousness from before started to come back with a vengeance. ”Hey, Kaylee? I forgot my phone this morning, and maybe it’s nothing, but I’m still a little worried about Belle not being here. Like, this is the latest I’ve ever known her to be by a long, long way.” Tatiana drummed her fingers on the table, just wanting to have something to keep her occupied. ”Could you send her a message, call her if you can, just see what’s up? Please?”

Kaylee hummed softly, making a small sound of surprise when Tatiana explained how the two were taking things slow, and it was working well. The blond didn't say anything, nor did her face give much away… but that sound. It spoke volumes to the fact that Tatiana's own relationship with Belle was well outside the norm. All she offered was and acknowledgement of something could speak freely on. "Yes, Belle's very patient."

"I don't drink often, though when I do I try to stay away from things like that. Too many needless carbs and sugars." She lifted her small cup of sake between both hands, giving it a small sip. "Today is a very special occasion though, so I'm being a bit naughty." How scandalous! She smiled across at the redhead before setting the cup aside, taking up her chopsticks again.

Kaylee quietly ate, but most all of her attention was on Tatiana, appearing eager to hear all about the woman's circus escapades. When the mentions pictures existed of all of this chaos, she sat forward slightly, excited to see what Tatiana had captured. Without hesitation, though in a whisper, she rattled off her phone number to the redhead.

"Hm?" The blonde tilted her head slightly at Tatiana's inquisitive tone of worry. "Well, I know you said you had both planned to be here, but maybe she really did get wrapped up in a photoshoot she couldn't get out of. A lot of the best cameramen in the business are very particular about scheduling. She might have called or messaged you about it and you didn't have your phone…" She spoke very letter of factory on what was seemingly a normal every day happening for the busy life of a celebrity. While it didn't seem she intended to sound dismissive, it came across as slightly out of touch. When Tatiana requested her assistance though, she was quick to come feed and to put the redheads mind at ease.

"Sure. If she is at a shoot though, she might not respond right away." Kaylee glanced to the side, checking to make sure the aisle was clear of servers walking by before she slipped from her seat to move to the next one down to Tatiana's right, where her bad had been set down. She hefted it up into her lap, clearly weighed down with an overabundance of supplies that made it a wonder she had carried the bag with such easy elegance earlier. She was able to find her phone almost immediately, slipping it from the bag. The sleek thin phone appeared nearly brand new, either well maintained or a recent upgrade.

"Here we go." She tapped the screen, swiping her finger in short motions to unlock the device. Whatever her password was it seemed long, probably a lessoned learned after Tatiana had thrown her old phone into the arena crowd. When she lowered it back down into sight, she went to her contact list. No need to scroll, Belle was at the top. With a small tap, she field her partner and set the phone on the table, poking the speaker button so it rang for both women to hear.

Once… twice… three times.

"Hey, I'm probably working or sleeping. Drop a line, I'll ring you back." Beeeeep

"Hey Belle, it's Kay, here with Tatiana…" The blond looked to the redhead, motioning her hand for th girl to come closer and join in on leaving a message with her. "Just wondering where you are."

"Mmm, nomnomnom. The food is soooo good here, you're really missing out. Call or text back when you get this." She leaned down, making a few chewing a lil smacking sounds, pretending to eat. Kaylee would wait until Tatiana had also said her piece before hanging up, giving a small shrug