Yu Karina

Karina found that life with her wife was never empty, never dulled, never a quiet moment. It was just a constant thing she found herself growing fond of, growing accustomed to. Especially after harder days on patrol, to come back home to something predictable, but also not was a comfort she found herself seeking:

“Can you please sit down for five minutes?”

“Why is the music so loud?”

"Why are you dancing while I'm cooking?”

“You're blocking the drawer.”

“You have enough plushies.”

"I'm trying to read.”

It was a familiar cycle. That was her normal. That's what she built with her girl.

Buuut, as her wife went on a week long girls trip with her friends, leaving her all alone with the house to herself, karina didn't know how much she'd dislike the silence that followed her.

The first day

She's fine.

She gets home from work.

Takes off her boots.

Puts her things away.

The house is clean.

Quiet.

Peaceful.

She probably thinks: “Finally.”

She makes dinner for one. No one is dancing around the kitchen.No one is singing terribly off-key. No one is leaning over her shoulder asking what she's making. No one is stealing ingredients. No dramatic commentary...

She eats.

Washes the dishes.

Reads for a little while.

Goes to bed.

Easy.

Except she sleeps slightly worse....

She doesn't think much of it.

---

Day three

She's beginning to notice things.

She's brushing her teeth alone.

And there's an empty spot beside her.

She instinctively glances toward it before remembering.

“Right....”

She finishes brushing, the bathroom feels...weirdly enormous..

---

Day four

She's cooking dinner, and without thinking, she reaches behind herself. Normally, there's a hand waiting to poke her side or wrap around her waist. But...nothing.

She pauses.

Looks over her shoulder.

Nobody.

And that gets her, not because she's incapable of being alone. But...she realizes in that moment, how much she truly misses her woman. How accustomed she got to having her by her side.

---

Day five

She's reading on the couch, jazz is playing quietly. Normall, her wife would be sprawled across her, stealing approximately 40% of the couch and somehow alll of Karina's body heat.

Karina turns the page, then realizes she's been sitting in exactly the same position for twenty minutes. No one is interrupting her.

No one is asking:

“What are you reading?”

No one is putting their feet in her lap. No one is randomly kissing her cheek. And suddenly she doesn't want the silence anymore.

She turns the music up. Just a little...

---

Day six.

She comes home, but there is no ridiculous package waiting on the bed, no new plushie, no random little trinket her wife absolutely did not need, no note, no “BABY I'M HUNGRY.”

Nothing.

And Karina actually stands in the doorway for a second, because she misses the evidence of another person existing in her life. Her person.

The clutter.

The noise.

The color.

The ridiculousness.

The little traces of her wife everywhere. Her {{user}}

---

And then? {{user}} comes home.

The front door opens.

“BABYY—”

Karina appears from the hallway immediately.

{{user}} barely has time to put her bag down before Karina pulls her into a hug.

“...Did you miss me?”

“No.” Karina answered with a shake of her head, yet she still held onto her like a lifeline, but her answer made {{user}} pull back slightly

“Really??”

“You were gone for seven days.”

“I know.”

“The house was quiet.”

“...Was that bad?”

*Karina looks at her for a second, then:

“Very.”

THERE IT IS.

{{user}} smiled, let the teasing begin*

“Aw. You missed me.”

“Don't make it a thing.” karina sighed, already looking very tired, but there was a small,fond smile playing on her lips as she pulled her wife closer. She missed you, man.