Chapter Text
This was not how he had expected his leave to go. On the bingo card of possible activities, kissing her was not even listed. But he was kissing her, and she was kissing him back. It was so wrong, his head was screaming at him to step away. Unfortunately, there were louder parts that were pushing him forward, convincing him to deepen the kiss instead. Her lips were soft yet demanding, and he felt her fingers pulling on his shoulders to get him closer to her. His hands reached out for her, one landing on her waist, the other on her thigh, her gorgeous thigh. He had never allowed himself to realize just how much he loved her thighs before this moment, but now he wasn’t sure he could ever get enough of them. He wanted them wrapped around him as he buried himself inside her.
Fuck. Just the thought of doing that with her snapped him back to the reality of his current situation, and he pulled back from her lips. Moving as far away from her as the small couch would allow. They were both breathless, and Tim could see the flush in her cheeks and the dilation in her eyes that probably matched his own. He reminded himself that she was friends with his little sister, and years younger than he.
Hell, he’d know her all her life.
Lucy’s family had moved into the neighborhood just after she was born. They were quiet, and mostly kept to themselves, and always working. The nanny they hired was very friendly though and would take little Lucy on walks in her stroller, when weather permitted, to the same little park that his mom took him and his sister to in the afternoons after he got out of school. Lucy and Genny were born just a few months apart and as they grew up, they became friends. Tim was a good six years older and had no time for girls at the time.
Once Genny and Lucy started school they became nearly inseparable, spending most afternoons at the park. Tim didn’t pay much attention to them, he was too busy with little league.
He did spend time keeping his dad’s attention off of Genny when they were at the house though, and soon even his mother was encouraging Genny to have sleepovers at Lucy’s house whenever her parents would allow it. Once Tim got to high school, their dad had left, so he was able to focus on football rather than Genny. As well as that, the girls were able to spend more time at his and Genny’s house. It felt like he had gotten another sister, and he treated Lucy as such, with fond annoyance.
At least when he was there. With their dad gone, their mom worked a lot of overtime and Tim got a part time job on the weekends to help make ends meet. It was tough to keep his grades up with everything he was dealing with, and pretty soon he found he was failing history. He knew it was only a matter of time before he got benched because of his grades, but he just couldn’t wrap his head around the words on the page. He was in the garage, working out his frustration on his dad’s old heavy bag, when Lucy wandered into the space. “Hi, Tim,” she called out to him as she took a seat on a metal stool next to the tool bench where he had dropped his history book.
“Hey Luce, Genny’s not home right now. Mom had to take her in for a doctor’s check up,” Tim explained and then went back to hitting the bag.
“Oh, okay. Can I hang out here anyhow? No one’s home and I don’t want to be alone,” Lucy asked as she leaned over to look at the books on the table.
Tim just nodded, “Yeah sure. That’s fine”.
“Hey are you studying World War 2? That’s pretty cool, I really liked The Diary of Anne Frank,” Lucy said as she pulled his history book into her lap.
“Isn’t that a little above your age level?” Tim chuckled, he knew that Lucy’s parents always pushed her to excel academically, so she was way ahead of her classmates. She often helped Genny with her math work.
“Probably,” Lucy shrugged. “You want me to read to you while you work out, that way you can do both at the same time?”
Tim turned to look at her, she was six years behind him and she wanted to help him study. That was something that the other guys on the team would rip into him for, but honestly how would they know. Besides, she just wanted to read it for herself, reading it to him was just an excuse. He shrugged, “Sure, it couldn’t make things much worse”.
She smiled so brightly at him he couldn’t help but smile back. So she read the chapter out loud, making little comments along the way and Tim continued his work out. The next day when he got to his history class he was surprised with a pop quiz. He groaned but pulled out his pencil and started going over the questions. He was surprised at how much he actually was able to answer. It was all the stuff Lucy had been reading to him the night before, he had retained it, actually learned it.
He didn’t understand it, but he knew it worked so he had Lucy read from his text book while he worked out or made dinner. Genny was a little upset that he was stealing time with her friend, but he did his best to make it up to her when he could. His grades improved and he wasn’t as stressed about it.
Tim graduated from high school, and went on to get an associates degree at the local community college. Genny and Lucy were about to start high school and Tim had decided to enlist in the army. It seemed like a good idea at the time, a paycheck and a chance to get some experiences he wouldn’t get anywhere else.
It was a tearful goodbye when he left for basic training. His mother could barely speak between her sobs and Genny hugged him like she was never going to see him again. Lucy gave him a hug too, whispering to him, “Be careful Tim. Come home safe.” It warmed his heart.
The years went by. After basic training he was deployed to the middle east and he got those experiences he had been promised, although he was starting to regret wanting them to begin with. The only thing keeping him from screaming some days were the letters he would get from home. His mom never said much, but Genny wrote volumes. She told him all about high school and the boys she liked and the ones she didn’t. It was funny to watch the names change from one column to the other with each passing year. She told him about all the fun things she and Lucy did together, and he loved hearing about it all. Sure it was all teenage girl stuff, but he wanted to know, wishing he could be there to see it himself. Finally he was back stateside in time for her graduation, and he couldn’t be happier.
Of course Lucy was there too, and she looked so different, so grown up, and pretty. She was really pretty, Tim could just imagine all the boys falling all over themselves to get even a moment of her attention. He took loads of pictures of them both in the gowns and mortarboards, holding up their diplomas and smiling, before Lucy had to go back to her parents and Tim took Genny and his mother out for a celebratory dinner.
He had managed to save up enough leave over the years that he was able to stay there for a couple months over that summer, and he was looking forward to the relaxation. Genny had a boyfriend she spent a lot of her time with and his mother was still working a lot of hours, so most of his days were spent alone at the house. Which was fine with him, he’d had enough excitement to last a good while. He would clean up around the place and make everyone dinner, to give his mom a break, but mostly he watched tv.
Which is what he had been doing when Lucy knocked on the door. He invited her in and told her that Genny was out for the day, but that didn’t matter. “Actually I wanted to talk to you,” she explained as she sat down next to him on the couch.
“Ok, what’s up?” Tim settles back on the couch and goes back to mostly ignoring the basketball game that’s on as he tries to think about what to do with his future.
“Well,” Lucy began, “As you know I’ll be leaving to go to college in the fall, and it will be the first time my parents won’t be able to dictate my every move. Where I'll be surrounded by new and interesting people.” She’s wringing her hands as she stumbles over the words.
“Skip to the point Chen,” Tim grumbles roughly, trying out his army voice on her. She scoffed and smacked him in the shoulder, he makes an exaggerated face as he mouths the word, “Ow,” making her laugh.
“The point is,” she sighs and closes her eyes as she quickly finishes her statement, “I don’t want to be the sheltered girl who shows up on campus who’s never been kissed”.
Tim blinks, his can of soda stopped halfway to his lips. He can’t believe what he’s hearing. Lucy is gorgeous, how could she not have guys lined up around the block. “I thought you were dating that Justin guy, what was his name, Justin Lum?”
Lucy rolls her eyes, “It was one date with him and his parents. He wouldn’t even hold my hand, let alone kiss me”.
Tim shakes his head, “Sorry,” he can’t look at her though. “Oh, what about that Jackson guy, Genny was saying how you were always hanging together at school. Anything there?”
Lucy laughs, “Uh, no. We are just friends. Jackson is great, but it seems that we are both looking for the same thing in a romantic partner”.
“Oh? What’s that?” Tim takes a sip of his soda.
Lucy smirks before she answers, “A penis”.
Tim’s spit take is glorious, and he’s left coughing hard as Lucy laughs, “Jesus Lucy”. Once he’s stopped hacking up a lung he turns to her, “Alright, I get it, but what does any of this have to do with me?”
Lucy gives him a look of disbelief, “I’m a girl and you’re a boy”.
“A very handsome boy,” Tim jokes back, “You’re practically my sister, it wouldn’t count”.
“But I am not your sister, so it would count,” Lucy argues.
“It would be weird though,” Tim counters, “It would be right?”
“I don’t know, maybe, but it would still count. And I trust you not to make fun of me if I suck at it,” Lucy says.
“Of course I wouldn’t,” Tim agrees and knows deep down, this was going to happen. He’s not sure how to feel about this, but he figures better him, than some horny college guy who is going to take advantage of her. “Okay, I’ll do it. One kiss”.
Lucy smiles brightly, “Really! Oh thank you, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just do this,” Tim says with a roll of his eyes.
“Well that’s romantic,” Lucy scoffs.
“I’m not trying to be,” Tim replies.
“Well, you’re succeeding,” Lucy replied sarcastically.
Tim just rolls his eyes as he turns his body to face her. He leans in slowly and gives her a quick peck on the lips. Then he leans back and smiles proudly. Lucy just looks at him, “Is that it?”
“You know what, if you’re going to criticize…” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Lucy made a desperate sound and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling his face to her’s and kissing him soundly. It had gotten heated immediately as the only thing left in his brain was how good her lips felt against his, and how this was nothing like kissing his sister. He pulled away from her eventually, but not before his whole world was turned on its head.
Breathless, they stared at each other, unable to speak. Until they hear a car pull into the driveway. “That’s my mom,” Tim says.
“I should, I should go,” Lucy stands and starts for the door. She turns back for a moment not meeting his eyes, “Thanks again, Tim”.
“Yeah,” Tim stutters, “anytime”.