come away with me
There are things, you know, that people don’t understand, no matter how long they look or how hard they try. Lily thinks that sums up their relationship pretty well sometimes. [Lily Loveless/Kathryn Prescott, Skins RPF, PG-13, for unconditional_w]
come away with me
1. in the night
[Thomas]
Their first meeting back goes a little like this:
“Lily.”
(There’s a smirk here, and a look, always with a hint of something.)
And then-
“Kathryn.”
(The tension feels tangible in the air, and they haven’t even touched yet, but one of them reaches out - you’d like to know who, wouldn’t you? - and their fingers just barely brush, before-)
“Oh, Jesus Christ.”
…It’s Megan.
“ Kathryn, go room with Lily, and fuck until you’re both able to be in the presence of other people without wanting to rip each others’ clothes off.”
And Kathryn laughs and Lily flushes bright red and everything is the way it’s supposed to be.
(It’s like you haven’t seen her since, Megan says. Please. You’ve been at her flat every other weekend all break. And then summer-
It’s nice to know you’ve been keeping track, Meg, thanks. Miss me much?
Fucking hell, you’re such a wanker.)
;;
“Excellent first episode for you two,” Jack tells them later, setting up for the club scene. “You have it rough.”
Lily giggles and Kathryn kinks an eyebrow, and he can hear the whispering though they’re not moving their mouths; it’s in the air. Yeah, fucking on camera is the worst.
“It is difficult, actually,” Kat says, a smile playing on her lips, “pretending like I enjoy snogging Lily for hours on end.”
Lily smacks her arm jokingly, and Kat turns to her and her hands go from cupping Lily’s cheeks to tangling themselves in her hair (you wondered why Lily grew it out? Really?) and their lips meet halfway, once, twice, three times - what was he talking about again?
(We need practice. We’re planning on really going for it today. One-hundred and ten percent.
These two. He’s not going to lie. They drive him crazy.)
2. and I will write you a song
[Emily]
“You fucking cow.”
Kathryn’s reading her script in bed.
Lily’s just out of the shower.
“You. Fucking. Cow.”
Lily steps into the room, only in a small towel. “What?”
…
Silence.
“I - hm. Right.” Kat only knows how to make sounds. And one word.
…
Lily’s a little confused.
“Kat?”
“…Yes?”
“You were calling me a fucking cow.”
Kathryn blinks.
(You haven’t seen Lily in a towel. She’ll do this to anyone.)
“Right.” Kathryn realizes that yes, she does have a brain. “You - ah. You cheated on me.”
“What?!” Lily’s clearly as shocked about this as she is.
“Yeah,” Kathryn says, shaking her head to clear it up, but Lily chooses that exact moment to bend over and her cleavage is basically in Kathryn’s face-
“No, this can’t be real,” Lily says, frowning. “I wouldn’t cheat on you. Kat - what do you think about all this?”
Kat swallows.
Her mouth is dry.
“I think we should fuck,” Kathryn says brilliantly.
Lily looks mildly surprised. “Now? I just took a shower.”
Kathryn kisses her. “We’ll take another one,” she promises, and pulls Lily down, and after that Lily doesn’t care about anything.
(Megan bangs on their door and tells them to quiet the fuck down; she and Kaya are trying to sleep - yes, really, not everyone’s having sex -and Kathryn rolls her eyes;
We take our job seriously, Megan, the shagging has to look realistic.)
;;
How’s your boyfriend Ben feel about this? Our sex scene?
My boyfriend, Ben, who’s dating your boyfriend, Ollie?
…We’re brilliant people, aren’t we? Nobody will suspect a thing.
Oh, they’ll suspect. They’ll just never know.
(By the way, I promise to never cheat on you.)
Thank you, love.
3. on a bus
[Cook]
(We’re not in this one either. Excellent.)
It’s because we’re going to be all over Megan’s in a couple weeks.
(That’s plenty of time.)
Oh? To do what?
…
This is one of those things you’re shown, and not told.
;;
Kathryn hooks her leg around Lily’s in her sleep. Her head rests in the crook of Lily’s neck. She’s so small - remember, she’s like, five feet? Yes literally - and her hand is draped over Lily’s waist and Lily couldn’t move if she tried. When she breathes she catches the scent of Kathryn’s hair, limes and jasmine, like the shampoo she uses, and then there’s something else: the air just after a thunderstorm, crawling wet clouds and damp grass.
Lily thinks that sums up their relationship pretty well sometimes. The air after the thunderstorm. The patches of bright blue sky peaking through the banks of mist.
What you don’t know is, it wasn’t easy for them to get together.
Kathryn may somewhat like blokes too, but Lily’s the gayer of the two, no contest. And she spent her whole life dating men. And then - this is the good part, so pay attention - Kathryn entered her life, playing her love interest, no less. And Lily liked Kathryn.
A lot.
Probably more than she should have.
But she never did anything about it, until-
(Should she talk about this part?
…
Yes. Yes. It’s embarrassing as hell, though.)
They were in the red room, sitting on the couch, when Kathryn (in a completely innocent gesture, might she add) put her hand on Lily’s thigh as she laughed at something Lily said.
And Lily-
Well. She lost it.
She turned, placing one hand over Kathryn’s on her leg, and the other she placed on the side of Kathryn’s head - you know, thumb in front of the ear, palm on the jaw line, fingers tangled in her hair - and she kissed her.
What? You don’t believe her?
Well fuck you then.
…
Okay, okay, she confesses. That actually came after their first kiss. Yeah, yeah, Kat kissed her first, Kat’s the domineering one, the outgoing on, and of course she made the first move.
(Just for that, though, you don’t get to hear the real story.)
4. where they can’t tempt us with their lies
[Katie]
Hey, Kat, remember me? I’m that girl who resides in your bed? Lily?
Oh, fuck you, don’t make fun of me.
I’d appreciate it if you’d stop fucking this scene up. I’m tired of watching you kiss girls who aren’t me.
I’m tired of doing it, Lils, I’m tired of doing it.
(Lily, then, kisses Kathryn for good measure.
She doesn’t want you to know this, but she’s actually jealous.)
;;
Lily isn’t one of those people who feels the need to voice every thought out loud. Kathryn’s realized this. It’s been a learn-as-you-go process with Lily.
And so later, in bed, Lily’s worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and she’s being strangely quiet as Kathryn whispers about her scenes with Meg and what an annoying prat she is. It’s not like her and Kathryn recognizes it, she knows these signs; Lily wants to talk but she doesn’t know how.
“Lily.”
Lily looks at her, and Kathryn doesn’t say anything, just waits. Lily lifts a hand and cups Kathryn’s cheek, her thumb running over Kathryn’s cheekbone.
She smiles.
“I love you,” she says, and kisses Kathryn on the forehead and the nose and the lips.
There; that’s it.
Kathryn can read into it enough to know that this is about Naomi and Emily and all the shit they’re in right now, and how insecure Lily feels about it. It’s gotten her into a weird frame of mind. Lily takes these things seriously. (SERIOUSLY.)
But now Lily’s closing her eyes, and her hand finds Kathryn’s under the covers, linking their fingers together.
(“I love you,” Kathryn replies much later, and Lily smiles in her sleep.)
5. in fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
[Freddie]
They’re not in Freddie’s, either, so they go out for a drink.
Or two.
Or twenty.
(The bartender recognizes them.
That says it all.)
They’re so off their faces by the end of the night that they’re referring to each other as ‘Emily’ and ‘Naomi’ and telling the very kind (VERY. KIND.) bartender all about series four and making him pinky-promise not to tell anyone.
Shit, Kat thinks before she passes out, We’re so fired.
;;
“Kathryn, you fucking useless prick, get up. It’s one in the afternoon.”
And Kathryn. Nearly. Dies.
Megan is in her room.
Talking at a very loud volume.
And her head is about to explode.
(No, she’s not over-exaggerating.)
Lily stirs beside her, and Megan pauses for a moment, before slapping Kathryn’s arm.
“Get up,” she demands, opening the blinds. “You have things to do.”
Kat, at this point, is planning all the ways she can slowly and painfully murder Megan. She watches those crime shows. She could do it.
Lily yawns next to her. Kathryn sits up and almost vomits.
“Good,” Megan says, heading for the door. “Hey, Lily.”
“Hey, Meg.”
“You can go back to sleep.”
“Thanks, Meg.”
(Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyou says Kathryn’s brain.
Once she’s up, she can’t fall back asleep.
It’s something she envies about Lily.)
“I don’t have anything to do today, you fucking bitch!” Kat screams after her, and she sees the flick of a middle finger, and hears Meg distantly shouting payback.
6. and we’ll kiss on a mountaintop
[JJ]
“Well, look whose career is really taking off,” Lily says mockingly, reading the script for Oli’s episode. “You’re just dominating this one.”
“I have, like, one more scene than you. Shove it.”
“We’re still not back together.”
“I know. It’s shit.”
“They’re saving our reunion for the big finale, you know, to really go out with a bang.”
(Cue: rolled eyes.)
“Then there’ll be a movie.”
“Yeah. And it’ll be you and I fucking in Goa.”
Kat lies back, her hands behind her head and smiling radiantly. Lily continues reading in her chair, and for several moments they peacefully coexist.
(Later, when all of this comes true, it’s Kathryn who answers the phone at Lily’s flat to receive the news. Lily is watching the telly from the couch, drinking tea, and Kathryn is beaming at her as she hangs up.
We should have bet on it, she’ll say, kissing Lily on the cheek, and Lily will laugh before their eyes meet one final time.)
;;
Kathryn rubs her eyes furiously in between takes. “Fucking hell,” she mutters under her breath, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.”
“What,” Oli says, “being a sobbing mess every episode isn’t working out for you?”
“Oh, it’s great,” Kathryn deadpans. “My eyes hurt.”
“Emily’s such an emotional little thing,” Lily says, coming up behind them. “Glad I’m not you.”
“It’s Naomi’s fault in the first place,” Kat shoots back. “And unfortunately for me, apparently Naomi can’t cry without Emily breaking down as well.”
“Ah, the power of love.”
“Shut up.”
(There are things, you know, that people don’t understand, no matter how long they look or how hard they try. Oli thinks that Lily and Kat are one of those things.)
7. and I’ll never stop loving you
[Effy]
Everyone is shocked at the read-through when Freddie dies.
Kaya cries, and Lisa, and Megan, and even Lily manages to shed a few tears.
All the girls except for Kathryn, who honestly doesn’t think she’ll be able to cry ever again.
Jack just keeps repeating fuck in that heavy accent of his, and Oli is just staring around the table with his mouth open, and Luke is smiling comfortingly (he knew this was coming, that bastard) and no one really knows how to react.
Lily’s hand finds hers under the table, and the feel of the pulse in Kathryn’s wrist seems to comfort her slightly. Kathryn squeezes her hand back, and hears a shuffling of chairs as Kaya moves to hug Luke, and Jack follows, and then Lisa, and amidst all the chaos Kathryn turns and kisses Lily on the head.
(The small gesture goes unnoticed, the way these things are meant to.)
;;
At the goodbye party, Lily kisses Luke.
On the cheek.
(Another thing you don’t know is that Luke and Lily are best friends.
She’s one of the guys.
Ironic, isn’t it?)
“I’m going to miss him.”
“I know.”
“I can’t imagine the finale without him.”
“I know.”
Lily smiles at Kathryn. “You just know everything, don’t you?”
Kathryn pauses. She can feel the inch of space between them pulling her like a magnet.
“About you? Yes.”
And Lily shifts and wraps her arms around Kathryn, because there’s nothing else she can do.
8. while I’m safe there in your arms
[Everyone]
“Everyone? Please,” Jack says over breakfast after reading the script. “This is your episode, Loveless.”
Lily shakes her head, but she’s grinning. “You’re in it quite a lot yourself.”
“Yeah. At your house. You’re taking over the world, one lesbian at a time. Starting with this one.” He gestures to Kat. “Oh. And your girlfriend over there.”
He points, and Kathryn follows his finger to…
Kaya.
Lily rolls her eyes. There’s not much she can say to that.
Kathryn kicks him under the table.
(Accident, she says, accident. Was that your shin? So sorry, Jack, hope you don’t have any tough scenes to do today that involve the use of your legs.
Jack winks. In his opinion, those two girls can do whatever they want to him, whenever they want.
…
Come on. Don’t look at him like that. You know you’re thinking the same thing.)
;;
When it comes time for The Speech - yes, that speech - everyone (no, seriously, EVERYONE) is there, waiting in anticipation to see how brilliantly Kat and Lily can pull of something as cheesy as this.
(Let’s not lie, Lily says. I’ve loved you since I was twelve? Really?
As long as we both cry and snog, the fans will love it.
Cry, huh? I thought you couldn’t do that anymore.
Oh, you’re hilarious.)
So the director calls action and Lily says her lines, crying the whole time, and Kat cries too - somehow - and then they kiss like the fucking world is ending. When they cut everyone applauds, sighing, and Kathryn and Lily share a look as their make-up is retouched, and it’s back to business as usual.
They’re sitting on the couch after their scene, as the rest of the cast is pretending to party, taking shots of water and dancing around the room, while Kat is smoking one of those herbal cigarettes for the effect. Lily meets her eyes and opens her mouth to say something but what comes out instead is, “Move in with me.”
Kat looks at her blankly. “What?”
Lily shrugs, but she knows she’s blushing. “Well, it’s not like we don’t already live together.”
(This is true. Kat knows it’s true. Fuck, everyone knows it’s true.
You know, Kat and Lily? They’re not very subtle. About, well, anything.
But this.
This.)
YESYESYES Kathryn’s screaming in her head.
“All right,” she says, trying to be nonchalant. She blows smoke into Lily’s mouth, and Lily laughs as Kathryn leans in to kiss her, once, twice.
(Months later they see this moment on camera, near the end of the series finale. They’re sitting on Lily’s couch, Kathryn’s head in Lily’s lap, Lily’s fingers combing through her hair lightly.
There’s a startled silence as Lily pauses the show.
Well, Kathryn says smiling, who’s going to know.)