Rena Fic Chapter 4

        Bridgette shifted the tupperware container full of macarons to her hip before knocking on Rena’s door.  It had taken ages to figure out the right way to give the pastry part a smooth finish, but she was sure that her nemesis was going to love the things to death.  She began to fidget uncomfortably as the door remained shut though, and her mind began to come up with progressively worse scenarios as she waited.  Rena had taken it upon herself to show off the cooking skills she had learned, and had decided that she would cook dinner for them both, which could only mean disaster in her experience.

        Bridgette was pulling up the fire departments and takeout diners in the area on her phone when the door finally opened, revealing a very flushed and very frazzled Rena holding a wooden spoon.  “Hey Bridgette!  Sorry for the wait, I wanted to make sure the vegetables didn’t catch on fire like last time.  Come and have a seat.”

        She gestured at her couch before snapping upright with a panicked expression, “Oh god, I forgot about the rice!”

        The hero quickly fled back into her kitchen while Bridgette watched her progress with a bemused smile.  She wasn’t sure if Rena had noticed or not, but her hair was full of small carrot bits.  Deciding that checking on the meal’s process would probably be a good idea, she wandered into the kitchen as well, setting the macarons down on the counter before sniffing at the air.  To her surprise, nothing smelled burned, and her shock deepened as she realized that it actually smelled quite tasty.

        “Hey, not bad.  I’ll have to save my judgment until I can shove some in my face, but I’m impressed,” she said, smiling as Rena whipped around in surprise.

        “Out of the kitchen!  I said I’m doing it by myself and I meant it,” Rena said with mock severity, though the proud grin that she tried to hide ruined the effect.

        “Oh, and I know that the super strength takes some getting used to,” the villain said, leaning forward and plucking a few stray bits of carrot out of her nemesis’ hair, “But launching veggies all the way into your hair takes some serious skill.”

        Rena’s massive blush and mumbling about how hard it was to cut vegetables was a glorious enough victory that Bridgette decided to have mercy and go to the living room and leave the girl to cook.  Normally she wouldn’t pass up on a chance to make the hero blush, but she was pretty hungry and she really didn’t want to have to help put out a fire this time around.  She contented herself instead with petting Kitty and watching Rena bustle about the kitchen, which was adorable in its own way.

        The hero was a blur of motion, constantly stirring the vegetables, checking on the rice, and adding corn starch to the soup.  After a few rather tense minutes, she finally flipped off all of the burners and did a small victory dance, a look of utter triumph on her face.  She came to a sudden stop and turned to glance at Bridgette guiltily, as if noticing her for the first time. The villain tried to keep a straight face to keep some of the poor girl’s dignity alive, but had to bury her face in Kitty’s belly to hide her smile.  Rena ferried the various dishes to the table in a rush, obviously trying to hide her faux pas, and Bridgette decided that it was about time to release the rather miffed cat before she got a claw to the face.

        She settled into her seat and gave the food an appraising look.  Simple fare really, a spicy vegetable stir fry on rice, egg drop soup, and some edemame.  Deciding that it didn’t look like it’d kill her outright, she scooped some up a few of the carrots and peppers and gave it a taste.  Her eyes widened as the flavor hit.  Heavier on the soy than she normally went, and it had a hell of a kick, but it was actually –edible-.  Delicious even, if she was feeling charitable.  She glanced up, starting as she realized Rena was staring at her like a scientist observing something under a microscope.  “It’s, um, really good?  Awesome job,” she said nervously, the sheer intensity of the hero’s gaze unnerving.

        Rena sagged in her seat, a long sigh of relief dragging all of the tension out of her.  “I’ve been working on getting that recipe right all week so that I wouldn’t mess it up.  You don’t want to know what the first few tries were like,” she said.

        Bridgette had no doubt about that, even thinking about the quiche incident was enough to make her want to gag.  She quickly suppressed that horrifying memory and tucked into the food, deciding actions were better than words for proving how tasty it was.  Rena still glanced up at her every now and then to gauge her reaction, so Bridgette made a good show of enjoying it, throwing in an ‘mmm’ or ‘good job on that’ where appropriate.  It wasn’t the most amazing food she’d ever had, but Rena making it was like chimps building a functioning space program, so she was quite content with stroking her nemesis’ ego.

        She couldn’t help but notice the…interesting choice in décor as she ate though.  A gorgeous red tulip sat in a thin vase at the center of the table, and Rena seemed to be relying on candles and dimmed lights for some reason.  Better not to ask, she thought as she tore into her soup, she really wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.  They settled into a companionable silence once Rena was finally certain that yes, the food was quite fine, and Bridgette was quite happy to do justice to the meal without meaningless chatter.

        “So, want some help with the dishes?” she asked as she popped the last few edemame into her mouth.

        “Nah, just leave them, I’ll take care of them later.  I left a stack of movies on the coffee table, go pick one,” Rena said as she began to clear the table.

        Bridgette was only too happy to comply, she had offered more out of courtesy than anything, especially since the clean-up was the worst part of cooking.  She flipped through the movies idly, glancing briefly over the title and blurbs: Imagine Me & You, Lost and Delirious, Fried Green Tomatoes, nothing really stood out to her.  Then she noticed a DVD sitting near the TV.  She picked it up curiously before grinning in excitement.  Hell yeah, she had wanted to watch this one for months now!  

        Bridgette glanced up as Rena came into the living room carrying the container of macarons, one of the villain’s creations already crammed into her mouth.  The girl’s euphoric expression and barely suppressed groan made the troubles that Bridgette had had with those damned things worth it.  Well, that and confirmation that she could whip Rena’s cooking even when it came to baking, she thought with an evil little smirk.  “Enjoying yourself?” she asked smugly.

        “Oh my god, you never get to leave, bake for me forever,” Rena moaned, grabbing a few more of the desserts before flopping on the couch.

        She paused before popping a blue macaron into her mouth, asking “Did you pick a movie?  I’m leaning towards Fried Green Tomatoes, but-,”

        Bridgette held up her find, grinning fiercely.  “Did you watch this yet?  ‘Cause I’ve been aching to watch Pacific Rim for months now!”

        Rena seemed to deflate at this choice, but said with a forced cheerfulness that Bridgette found rather worrying, “Nope, didn’t get a chance to.  Go ahead and put it in!”

        Bridgette almost wanted to argue the point, but her inner fangirl for giant monsters finally overrode her desire to figure out what was wrong with her nemesis.  She slid the DVD into the player and ran to join Rena the couch, snagging a few pastries on the way before settling down, and was almost wriggling in excitement as the movie started.  The first fifteen minutes had her hooked, though she was rooting for the kaiju and not those stupid looking robots, but she began to get a bit bored as things got into the ‘story’ that the directors had to tack on to excuse the preposterous fights.  

        She glanced at Rena to see how she was reacting to things, and was surprised to notice that the girl had somehow crossed a good three feet of couch while the villain had been distracted, and was now a few inches short of cuddling against her side.  The arms that wrapped around her waist a minute later weren’t that much of a surprise, though they weren’t that welcome either.  Rena had always been clingy, trying to hug her at any chance, and now she was distracting Bridgette from the movie.  Still, she thought with a sigh, maybe she should be nice and just let the girl cuddle.  Maybe as a reward for dinner or something.

        The rest of the movie passed in a blur of massive robots, punching, and awesome creatures that were really giving her some cool ideas to try out.  “So, what did you think?” Bridgette asked enthusiastically once the last of the credits had rolled, glancing down at the hero who was latched onto her like a limpet.

        “It was pretty cool,” Rena said, though her pout didn’t do much to make Bridgette believe that.

        Damn it, something was wrong.  The villain tried to think about what could be causing an issue, but everything had been fine.  Lots of home-made food, a good movie, she had even let Rena hug her.  The damned woman should be ecstatic. “Um, how about some video games then?  I still need to beat you in Smash Brothers after you cheated on me,” she said, trying her usual solution to Rena’s moping.

        “Sure, sounds fun,” her nemesis said, though she didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic as she booted up the GameCube and put in the proper disk.

        Her mood seemed to improve after a few warm up rounds (and her bullshit spamming of Pikachu’s thunder attack), so Bridgette just shrugged it off as her not liking the movie or something.  If anything, Rena’s bad mood seemed to have translated into some rather vicious combos.  Bridgette growled in irritation as the furry yellow menace sent Link flying off the screen for what felt like the thousandth time. “How did you get so damned good at this game,” she complained, dropping her controller in defeat.

        “I always played it with my friends back in high school since there was nothing better to do where we lived,” Rena said, a smug smile tugging at her lips as Pikachu’s victory animation flashed on the TV.

        “Huh.  My brother and I always used to play, though we normally did dares based off of who won.  The bastard would always blow through me then demand that I clean his room for him,” Bridgette said, picking out her next character, “Also, no Pikachu this time you cheater.”

        Rena smile had become quite eager when she glanced over.  “Hey, let’s try that too!  Whoever wins gets to set the dare.”

        Bridgette couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s enthusiasm.  Videogames never failed when it came to cheering her nemesis up.  “Okay, you’re on,” she said, picking Pikachu for herself.

“What?  No fair,” Rena said, huffing at her.

“I said that YOU couldn’t pick Pikachu.  I didn’t say anything about me,” she replied, noting happily that Rena had chosen Yoshi.

        The battle was short, quick, and kind of embarrassing.  The poor dinosaur didn’t stand a chance against the fluffball’s attacks, and Bridgette turned to her nemesis and said sweetly, “Well then, now that that’s settled.  Guess who gets to make me banana bread?”

        “I would have done that anyway!  Come on, rematch,” Rena complained, already picking out Diddy Kong.

        “Fine fine, have it your way.  Just be prepared to clean my apartment once I whoop you again,” she said in response, selecting Pikachu.

        This match was much more intense, though Diddy’s speed, constant attacks, and accursed bananas finally proved too much for her, and Pikachu went flying off the screen for the first time that evening after a vicious combo and smash.  Bridgette groaned, already mourning all the time she’s have to spend picking up the clothing that littered her apartment.  “Okay, you got me.  What’s the dare?” she said resignedly.

        To her surprise, Rena was blushing instead of doing a victory dance as usual.  “Um, could you, uh, kiss me again?” she asked, gaze firmly fixed on the floor.

        Bridgette felt an answering blush spread across her cheeks, but nodded.  A deal was a deal after all, and this could be a perfect opportunity for vengeance for Rena’s cheating.  She placed a finger below the hero’s chin, gently pressing upwards so that Rena was staring at her rather than the floor, then simply pressed her lips against Rena’s at first to lure her into a false sense of security.  When she felt the hero’s hands begin to tangle in her hair, she pulled back slightly to break the kiss, then lunged in and lightly nipped the redhead’s bottom lip.

Rena shot backwards, squeaking in surprise, before turning back towards the television in a futile effort to hide her blush.  “Back to the game then,” she said a bit too quickly.

        “So eager to lose, are we?” Bridgette drawled, completely satisfied with her victory.

        The next match flew by, with Rena barely putting up a fight at all as Pikachu steamrolled over the once unbeatable Diddy Kong.  It seemed that the villain’s plan had worked almost too well.  It almost made her feel bad about taking advantage of how flustered the girl was.  Almost.

        It certainly didn’t stop her from capitalizing on her advantage though.  “Okay, lose your top.  You wanted to bring kissing into this, and I’m going to make sure you pay,” she said, pointing at Rena’s t-shirt.

        Bridgette was caught completely off guard when the hero didn’t put up any form of protest, instead quickly pulling her shirt up and tossing it to the side.  Now it felt like her turn to be completely embarrassed as she stared at Rena’s gorgeous body.  “Nice, uh, bra,” she said nervously, trying to drag her eyes away as Rena leaned forward to pick up her controller.

        They both turned to the screen as an excuse to not look at each other, and Bridgette hurriedly selected the next map to keep her mind off of the half-naked hero that was sitting next to her.  She couldn’t focus on the match at all, as her eyes kept insisting on focusing on her opponent rather than her character, but Rena wasn’t doing that much better.  Diddy Kong must have walked off the side the floating castle they were fighting in at least three times, while Pikachu was calling down lightning almost at random.  The announcer’s deep voice booming out Pikachu’s victory caught her by surprise, and she dragged her eyes from Rena’s delicate collarbones to stare in confusion at the screen.  How in the hell had she won?

        “What’s the dare?” the redhead asked quietly, seemingly intent on fiddling with her controller.

        Bridgette was at an utter loss for words.  She hadn’t expected things to go in this direction, and she was even more surprised that she didn’t mind in the slightest.  Not trusting her voice, she crawled next to Rena and began kissing her properly this time.  No tricks, no biting, just a beautiful dance between their tongues and lips.  She then moved her attentions lower, kissing along Rena’s cheek, then neck, before finally tugging at the hero’s bra with her teeth.  Every brush of her lips caused the redhead’s breath to hitch, which only made Bridgette even more focused on removing the girl’s clothing and seeing what other sounds that she could make.

        The moment that Rena’s bra strap slipped off her shoulder, though, she stiffened up and pushed the villain firmly back.  Bridgette immediately stopped and said, “Oh god, did I do something wrong?  I’m so sorry, I just thought…”

        “N-no, it’s fine, I guess I’m just not quite ready for that yet,” Rena said nervously, extracting herself from Bridgette’s arms and quickly scooting over to her shirt.

        The silence that fell as she wriggled into her top was painfully awkward, and the passion that Bridgette had felt roaring through her only a few seconds ago was now nothing but cold ashes.  She couldn’t believe that she had pushed herself on Rena like that.  Desperate for any way out of this, she reached for her cell phone and said in a voice that sounded fake even to her ears, “Well, it’s been really fun and all, but it’s getting late and I’ve got a group battle tomorrow that I need to prepare for.”

        Rena just nodded, helped her grab her hoodie, and walked with her to the door.  Bridgette nearly shot out of the doorway, wanting nothing more to escape the shame and awkwardness, but a sense of decorum made her turn and face her hostess.  “So…thanks for dinner.  It was really good,” she said, at loss for any better words.

        “Thanks, and don’t worry, I had a good time.  Your desert tasted really awesome,” Rena said gently.

        Bridgette finally looked Rena in the eyes, the hero’s tone giving her hope that she hadn’t screwed things up too hard.  “Yeah, anything for my arch-nemesis,” she said, palpably relived, before turning and finally making her escape.  

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        Rena closed the door, turned, then sagged against it.  Everything had been going perfect, Bridgette had been decently romantic, the kissing was awesome, but Cynthia had gotten in the way again.  She slowly slid to the ground and rested her head on her knees.  If only that damned woman could stay out of her affairs, she could be proper girlfriends with Bridgette.

        She sighed in irritation as her mind played with the word ‘girlfriend’.  Bridgette still hadn’t called her that, or even mentioned anything about love.  How could she kiss her like that and not be brave enough to just drop the entire ‘arch-nemesis’ pretense?  Deciding that letting her mind dwell on all of her problems probably wouldn’t do her any good, she reluctantly stood and made her way to the kitchen.  Washing dishes should keep her mind off of things, she thought wearily.

        Her phone’s ringing startled her so much that she nearly jumped out of her skin.  She looked at the number that was calling her confusedly, not recognizing the number, before she flipped it open and hesitantly said, “Hello?  Who is this?”

        The warm purr that answered her made her stomach clench in dread, “Good job on following directions, my little pet.  Meet me at that little French restaurant tomorrow, I think you’ve earned a reward.  Also, open your door.  I’ve left the first part of your gift on your doorstep.”

        Rena stared at the phone as the call ended, fear and anger roiling in her in equal measures.  The anger finally won out, and she stormed towards the door, wanting nothing more than to yell at that damned woman and finally end the stupid agreement that she had been forced into.  She swung the door open, ready to give Cynthia the tongue lashing that she had so rightfully earned, but stopped in confusion.  No one was there, just a small package.

        The anger that had flared in her faded as quickly as it had come, and she stared at the plain brown box with a mixture of confusion and irritation.  Well, she’d tell Cynthia off tomorrow, she decided, she might as well see what the woman was planning by checking the package.  She quickly pulled the flaps open, and her eyes widened when she saw a beautiful dress and lingerie set nestled in tissue paper.  A small note sat on top, which simply said:

 

I did owe you an outfit

          <3

          MM+