Hikaru Works Early

Hikaru yawned, long and hard, shaking her head as she tried to wake up. She’d already sat up, having slapped her phone off the bedside table by accident while turning off her alarm.

Her barista job at the coffee shop was great for a lot of reasons, but not the early morning shifts.

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, rubbing her face. She’d worked the afternoon shift and learned how to do Closing yesterday, and she probably should have just spent the night in but she’d already had plans to meet up with Margot. Ever since they’d admitted their… thing… to each other they’d been spending a lot of time together. It wasn’t always about trying to figure out what their plan was going to be, a lot of it was just them feeling so much closer now that they shared the secret. Last night they’d started watching Heartland, which Margot swore was great and that Hikaru got big K-drama vibes from even if it was based on an American farm.

Standing with a groan, she found her housecoat and slipped it on, wrapping herself up in it before heading out of her room and towards the washroom. She wasn’t going to be the first person in at the shop - that would be the two bakers and whoever the manager was that morning - but she didn’t have any time to waste.

Hikaru didn’t notice that light on in the bathroom, gleaming from under the door, until she was a few paces from it. What the heck was Oliver doing up this early?

Hopefully, he isn’t sick or something, she worried. He said April was picking the place they were eating. She better not have gotten him food poisoning. Hikaru knew that wasn’t fair to suspect her of, especially since April had been nothing but pleasant so far and made Oliver happy, but that little spike of jealousy that had only gotten bigger over time was dug deep into her.

The sink was running, so whatever he was doing he was finishing up, so Hikaru just let out a little sigh and leaned against the dining room table, waiting for him to come out.

She wasn’t ready for the door to open and a woman to come out.

A naked woman.

A tall, lithe, naked woman with red hair.

“Um,” Hikaru said loudly, having a hard time processing the nude stranger backlit by the washroom lights.

“Oh, sorry,” the woman said, flipping off the light. That put the apartment living space back into darkness, though her skin was pale and caught the city glow coming in from around the window shades, leaving it still very obvious she was naked and not even attempting to cover herself. “You’re… the cousin, right? Hikaroo?”

“Hikaru,” she responded with the proper inflection. “Who- Why are you naked in our apartment?”

“Yeah, didn’t mean to do that,” the redhead said. “I figured it wasn’t a big deal, didn’t think anyone would mind. Or be up. I mean, what are the chances?”

“But… why?” Hikaru repeated herself.

“Well, that’s probably something you should talk to Oliver about,” the redhead said, slipping by Hikaru and padding lightly on her bare feet over towards Oliver’s bedroom. She got to the door and looked over her shoulder with a distinctive smirk, the shadow and light exaggerating it. “Good night. Or good morning. Whatever. It’s early.” She opened the door and Hikaru had a brief view of Oliver and April both lying in bed as the naked woman slipped inside and shut the door.

“What the fuck?” Hikaru muttered to herself, her eyes wide as she kept staring at the door. “What the fuck?”

She shook her head, then almost tripped over her own feet as she started to head to the bathroom on autopilot. She went through her morning routine, muttering to herself at multiple points, “What the fuck?” In the shower. Looking at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. Pausing in the middle of getting dressed. Heading out the door.

Hikaru stopped in front of Margot’s door, her brain finally catching up with her body.

April had slept over. That meant her and Oliver had probably had sex again while she was at Margot's. But another woman, this naked redhead, had been with them. That meant he’d had a threesome.

It hurt her heart that some woman, some other woman, had just had sex with Oliver. Her Oliver. Margot’s Oliver. She didn’t want to share him at all but was willing to with Margot and April. Who was this other… this other bitch? This homewrecker?

And why the hell was April inviting her into Oliver’s bed?

It wasn’t fair.

But it also meant that the plan… might actually work. April might actually, really be willing to… share.

Hikaru fished out her phone from her purse and quickly texted Margot, but didn’t get a response. She considered just knocking on her door, but it was just a little after 4 AM. There was no way the blonde would be awake even if she did still keep ‘farm hours.’

‘We need to talk,’ Hikaru sent her. ‘ASAP.’

For now, though, she had to get to work.

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