A One Time Thing

Hope already regretted coming here.

It had been about an hour. An hour of dealing with drunk or high (or a solid mix of both) teenagers. An hour of sipping from a single plastic cup of cheap beer. An hour of standing by a keg, trying and failing to hold up a conversation with Josie. She was in the middle of getting her third, lame nod from Josie when Hope finally sighed and tilted her head back, draining the last of her beer.

Somewhere around the party, Penelope Park was surely lurking around with a beer, a devious smirk, and all the bad intentions to mess with Josie that night. It wasn't that Hope hated Penelope - in fact, she actually enjoyed talking to someone who shared her quick wit and commitment to magic. Hope just hated this whole back and forth thing that Penelope had going on with Josie for the last couple months. Josie was her best friend and they rarely got to see each other now. When they did hang out, Josie was usually spacing out or rambling angrily (fondly) about Penelope.

A much dumber Hope from a few hours ago had thought that if she forced herself to come to this party with Josie, then they would actually get a chance at spending some time together. Hope even made the effort of dressing relatively nice. Her comfortable black sweats were swapped for a tight skirt and a white blouse with the top buttons undone, her hair neatly brushed down past her shoulders.

She shifted, feeling the cold breeze flow up her skirt and dance across her thighs again. It didn't help that she was freezing her ass off and the music was on the verge of making her ears bleed. Hope glanced over at Josie, who was admittedly dressed much better than her, and sighed when she saw her best friend scanning the crowded field for Penelope.

The bottom of her cup was visible except for a leftover ring of gold liquid and Hope figured she should fix that. "I'm going to go get another drink. Do you want one?"

"Mhm, that sounds crazy." Josie replied absentmindedly, making it obvious she was not really paying attention at all. Hope rolled her eyes before dipping her fingertips in Josie's half full cup, flicking beer at her face.

"Hope, what the hell?"

Josie jerked away, clearly having not expected that. She took a quick moment to look over her outfit, making sure it hadn't gotten wet in the process, and then pouted at Hope like the action had been undeserved.

"You've barely said a word to me the whole party." Hope said with a shrug. The sight of Josie's scrunched face a few seconds ago had been amusing, but she tried not to let it show in an effort to keep Josie around. "You didn't tell me we'd be Penelope watching. If I got a warning I would have brought some binoculars or a glove to slap you out of your daze with."

"I'm not looking for Penelope." Josie protests but even she can tell its weak. She deflates within seconds. "Okay, fine. I was hoping we could actually talk tonight but… I think she disappeared with some blonde."

Ex-girlfriends and emotions aren't exactly the first thing that came to mind when Hope envisioned what they would be talking about tonight, but whatever. At least they're finally speaking to each other. Hope perks up at the idea of being the one Josie comes to with all of this. Mikaelsons aren't usually the best at friendships, but Hope is willing to try, especially for Josie.

Now that Josie's attention is on her, Hope realizes she's expecting some type of advice in return. Hope scrambles, trying to think of all the techniques she had used to get over Landon last year.

"Maybe you could find a blonde of your own." Hope says.

When Josie's eyebrows furrow and she opens her mouth, not looking convinced at all, Hope explains further. "You know, there's that whole 'the best way to get over someone is to get under someone'... not that I assume you're a bottom, or anything. It could help. Maybe. Distractions are a good thing."

Someone else could have probably given a better answer, but Hope thought hers was decent. Decent enough for Josie to pause and mull the question over in her mind a couple times, visibly considering it. While Josie worked on a response to the advice, Hope focused on the party for the first time since she'd been here.

These parties definitely weren't her thing. Crowds like this made her nervous. Though she probably had years of experience in monster fighting and trauma, she had almost nothing under her belt when it came to socializing. She suspected the only reason people gave her a chance in the first place was because of her good looks or snark.

A lot of people thought of her as cool and mysterious. At least, she'd been told that on multiple occasions by MG. It didn't make sense to her. Hope had a pair of cupcake pajamas back in the dresser in her room and she rewatched all the Star Wars movies at least every couple months. At one point she even went through a phase where she thought these thick rimmed, absolutely nerdy looking glasses made her seem attractive.

All the school probably saw of her was Hope, returning late at night from a blazing battle with monster slime running down the sides of her foce. Hope, disappearing in the middle of class to enter a secret meeting with Mr. Saltzman. Hope, the hero everyone apparently wanted to know.

Josie suddenly touches her hand, a gentle smile on her face. "I thought we weren't spacing out anymore?"

"Sorry." Hope breathes, having the decency to blush. "Did you come to a decision about Satan?"

The nickname went unappreciated (Lizzie would have loved the jab towards Josie's ex).

"Yeah. I think you're right, I do need a distraction." Josie explains and her eyes find the crowd again, just for a second though.

Hope feels a bit of relief at the fact that she'll be able to return to her room but also disappointment, thinking about how she'll fall in bed painfully sober and alone. Maybe she should try to find one of the werewolves, just for a one night stand or more. It wouldn't hurt to have another boyfriend. It's been long enough that she doesn't think it would make Landon uncomfortable.

Her main problem is actually listening properly apparently, because the hand Josie has on her gets tighter and Hope steals one last glance at the lively (soul-sucking) party before she's being pulled into the woods. Not wanting to sound like a hypocrite for scolding Josie earlier about not listening, Hope refrains from asking questions about where they're going.

She puts two and two together pretty quick anyways. They pass familiar trees and when Hope breathes, she smells less alcohol and more nature. It takes her a whole thirty seconds to realize they're heading back to the school and even less than that to fall into step with Josie, their hands still loosely clasped together in the dark.

The faint lights of the school get brighter once they get closer. Some point after that, Josie shudders a little dramatically (she is still Caroline's daughter, after all) and releases Hope's hand, in favor of wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. Hope does the same. Their skimpy clothing doesn't do much to protect them from the breeze.

Once Hope can see the obvious shape of the in the darkness, Josie speaks again. "What movie do you want to watch?"

Movie night. Okay, cool. Not like Hope's mind had rushed through all the possibilities of what they would be doing - including some type of freaky, forest sex.

"Comedy, maybe? Or horror." Hope glances around at the night surrounding them and thinks about the literal monsters they had left less than a mile behind them. "It's a nice night for that. Your distraction, your choice, of course."

Josie shrugs and seems to sober up a bit. "What about romance? I feel like torturing myself a little bit."

"Anything you want." Hope nudges her friend's shoulder with a smile, just to see Josie perk up.

They reach the school gates soon enough. The next five minutes feel like a spy mission. Josie siphons magic from a brick wall near the school (which never fails to amaze Hope) and then puts a silencing spell on them. The problem with it is, Josie messes up the spell a bit in her drunk state and they end up not being able to speak either.

It's a temporary spell anyways, so Hope doesn't bother trying to take it away. If she's honest, it is kind of funny to walk around doing aggressive hand motions like they have their own code. They move through the school undetected, making a quick stop at the kitchen to grab snacks. Josie dumps a bag of pretzels into a large bowl while Hope piles various soda cans into her arms, enough that she almost tilts over and falls on her ass on the way out of the room.

Josie spends the climb up the stairs laughing. Of course, Hope and the rest of the school can't hear the usually bubbly sound, but she imagines Josie calling her the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

They both make it back to Hope's room unharmed. Hope's room has surprisingly turned into a bit of a social space for her and her few friends, due to the fact that she doesn't have to deal with a roommate like everyone else. Josie doesn't waste time in rooting through the drawer of spare clothes Hope keeps specifically for times like these.

Hope crawls up onto her bed and grabs the remote. She starts looking through the categories in the rental section when the bed suddenly creaks under her weight, alerting them that the spell has worn off.

A soft, small body brushes against the side of Hope's forearm and then tiny claws dig into her shoulder. The last few months of having a cat have made her used to randomly being crawled on. Yoda, her pet, purrs gently and puts his full weight on her shoulder. Hope absentmindedly raises her hand and drags her palm along the side of his furry, reddish body.

"You have a cat?" Josie questions.

"Yeah." Hope tries to pick him up but he hurries away from her and jumps to the floor, walking slowly around Josie. "He's usually invisible when I have company, but whatever."

Josie kneels down to pet Yoda. The little monster actually stays put while Josie runs her hands over him. He usually lives as a ghost in Hope's room. The litter box fills and Hope cleans it, the food mysteriously disappears and Hope adds more of it. Most of the time she sees Yoda only once or twice a day when she's coming back from training or leaving for class, and he's perched up on her pillows.

Yoda disappears into thin air after a minute or two - and okay, so maybe Hope got the invisibility spell wrong because she had read about it only briefly in a book Penelope gave her, and now she's created some type of superhero cat that can turn invisible at will. She's thought of reversing the spell a couple times but never actually does it, mostly because he seems to generally stay hidden but also because it's kind of awesome.

"Woah." Josie stands and turns to go looking through the drawers again. "Dad would freak if he knew you were doing anything other than training in your free time."

Hope shovels pretzels into her mouth. "Yeah, well… It isn't really my cat anyways. It's MG's. He's afraid his roommate, Kaleb, might eat him."

"Speaking of MG, remember when we got him to wear this?" Josie asks, holding a dark red crop top that definitely looked too tight for even his relatively slim shoulders. The image of him practically popping out of the top like the Incredible Hulk fills her head. Hope laughs and nods.

She turns her attention back to the television when she sees Josie starting to strip off her shirt. "Any particular movie you have in mind?"

"If there's angst in it, I'm fine." Josie speaking made Hope's eyes quickly look towards her on instinct. She felt an odd warmth grace her body at the sight of Josie's back as she unhooked her bra.

The slope of her back was tan and even from this angle Hope could tell her friend was toned from all of their training. Hope's muscles felt stiff. The amount of effort it took to turn her head back to the TV was surprising, but Hope shook it off. It wasn't like she had seen a lot of people naked, she just needed to get used to it.

Not really thinking much about it, Hope clicks on a random movie and rents it without reading the description. The movie cover looked kind of sad, so she hopes it turns out to be what Josie wants.

Josie joins her on the bed, wearing a faded, baggy hoodie and some sweatpants. She looks more relaxed in it, moving lazily to Hope's side. They both have to maneuver themselves around the sodas and bowl of pretzels, but as the opening credits start to play they're pretty comfortable.

"Hey, what's…?" Josie trails off, patting the lump in the hoodie's pocket. The lump turns out to be a couple forgotten joints, wrapped in a bag. "Is it cool if we smoke one?"

Hope hasn't smoked in awhile (barely ever did it anyways, it made her horny and stupid) but Josie was opening the bag with a sort of hopeful look on her face, so there really was no point in protesting.

"Sure."

They take one and then put the rest in the bag and back in Josie's pocket. Completely ignoring the movie, Josie lights it with the tip of her finger. She blows out the flame casually, as if her finger was a candle.

The next ten to twenty minutes are spent passing the joint back and forth, blowing smoke out of their mouths and laughing at the cool shapes they can make with it. It goes from Josie being able to blow rings to Hope using magic to do a smiley face, and suddenly there's a smoke elephant lingering in the air as the main character runs into her first obstacle.

Another minute or so passes of Hope lazily watching the movie when she notices there's been no guy in the film whatsoever. It's just this girl and her friend and- oh.

She glances over at Josie awkwardly, but Josie seems to have no problem with it. So she shouldn't either. Hope sinks into the mattress a little more. This isn't her typical choice for a movie but it's fine, she can deal. Nothing is really even happening yet.

The movie seems kind of unrealistic. Not that Hope would know exactly, but she's watched Josie and Penelope enough to guess that no one really does things like that.

The girls are kissing now, for long enough that it feels like this movie is secretly porn. Hope shifts a little and feels fur that probably belongs to Yoda brush against her ankle. He doesn't appear to be there, of course, so she makes no move to touch him. The weed is starting to take full affect and she feels awesome, but also horny.

It definitely isn't the time to be aroused. Not while two girls are kissing in front of her, with Josie at her side. Hope tries to ignore it, but really she could be doing a much better job of not paying attention to her body's needs if she were sober. These are the moments where Hope is glad to not be a boy, because if she were it would make for quite an awkward time with Josie.

"Penelope and I used to do that." Josie says, speaking for the first time in awhile. She gestures to the screen with her free hand, the other one preoccupied playing piano along the sheets.

"What? Kiss?" Hope asks dumbly.

"Yeah."

No shit. Not only did they date, but Hope and Lizzie and all of the school had to watch them maul each other's mouths in the halls between classes.

"I haven't kissed anyone in awhile." Josie continues. "Or done… stuff. I haven't really gotten off since the breakup honestly."

The admission should be weird to hear, but it isn't. They're friends. Friends who have never talked about sex together before, but still friends. Hope can have this talk for Josie - she'd do anything for Josie, really, she's just glad and surprised that they've gotten so close.

"Oh. What about, you know, masturbating." Hope makes an odd gesture in the air, not really knowing where she was going with that. Her hands feel light.

Josie shakes her head. "I tried a lot. Trust me. I just never really did anything before Pen. It's not the same without her, and I think she knows that. I think she likes having that over me."

"I can help." Hope says immediately once Josie's done talking.

She really doesn't think it through. All it took was Josie's lips descending into a frown and some ex talk for Hope to be on the defensive, already claiming that she's going to help. What does helping even mean in this situation? If they had been talking about something else then maybe Hope would have to drive out to a Target and return with a bottle of wine, face masks, and some chocolate to ease Josie's suffering - but this conversation has been more about the physical for a bit now.

"Help?" Josie, curious, turns on her side to look at Hope. "How?"

Hope glances at the movie that's still playing, the one they're supposed to be watching but ignoring. She's dug herself into a hole here - no sex joke intended.

"Well. I could show you what usually works for me. It might, I don't know, help." She explains, not really thinking that Josie will accept her offer.

They're high anyways, it's no big deal if they laugh and shrug it off and act as if Hope had never spoke the words, but Josie isn't laughing. She's actually thinking it over, picking at the last couple pretzels at the bottom of the bowl and drinking a considerable amount of Coke Zero before answering.

"Okay." Josie says finally.

"Okay?" Hope questions, surprised.

She nods and grabs the remote, pausing the movie. "Okay."

So, the most bizarre moment of Hope's life starts like this: Josie stands up and lingers near the side of the bed, looking awkwardly around the room for a quick second before pushing the sweatpants down to her ankles. They've changed in front of each other before, obviously, but they've never gotten naked with the intent to stay naked for awhile.

Like Hope was thinking earlier, Josie has a great body. Boys and girls and whoever else Josie might want must love touching her. Her legs are something to be admired and the dark blue underwear she's wearing go well with her skin. Hope is kind of staring.

Josie sits on the bed again, a lot farther from Hope then she had initially been now that her pants are off. "So, how are we going to…?"

Hope gets what Josie means and crawls off the bed, not too sure how they're going to do this either. She's definitely not going to touch Josie. She doesn't swing that way and besides, they're friends - Hope doesn't want to make this seem like something it's not. So she sinks to her knees in front of Josie.

It's really the only reasonable position to be in. She has to be able to see to make sure things are going properly.

"Okay, uh." Hope says and lets her eyes grow a bit wider when Josie's legs spread instinctively for her. "What do you usually do when you try to get off?"

Instead of explaining it verbally, Josie moves her hand from where it rests on the mattress and to her thighs. She drags her fingers down the skin there then to the front of her panties and- yeah, maybe this is a bad idea, because something is suddenly wrong with Hope. The air in her lungs has decided to fucking ditch her and she feels kind of nervous, but not really nervous. She can't place the feeling and it's very frustrating.

Then, Josie is drawing small circles around her clit and dropping down to rub at her entrance through the fabric, repeating those two actions over and over. At some point her other hand slips under the hoodie, goes up to one of her breasts and starts moving. Her skin gets a little pinker, her breath coming a little more ragged. It's a pretty good start to this, whatever they're doing.

Eventually, Josie looks at Hope expectantly and Hope settles on the ground, going into full teaching mode.

"Alright. You should take off your underwear." Hope says. Josie does as she's told and Hope kind of helps her in the process, pulling the fabric down once it's past her knees. "And spread your legs a little more."

Again, Josie complies. Hope stares straight ahead, being eye-level with everything between Josie's legs now. It's different. Well, it's all the same, but still different. Not in a bad or good way but like, Josie looks softer and a little darker than Hope - but it's not like Hope has ever taken a mirror and gotten a good look at herself. She knows what to do. She's got this. It's just a different angle and a tad strange to explain the actions.

"Okay." Hope tries not to stutter or say anything stupid because that would totally crush Josie's mood. "Just… start off slow and gentle. Collect some wetness and tease yourself. Try touching around your clit but don't actually touch it yet."

Josie is good at following orders. Her fingers follow the instructions easily. She must be thinking about Penelope or something, because Hope can see that she's really wet. It's kind of great. Hope is mature enough to admit that she's a competitive person, and right now some part of her is proud of herself for doing well so far.

They do this for awhile until Hope is sure Josie is getting worked up. Hope kind of wants to know what Josie's into, but she can't think of a way to ask without bringing up Penelope, and that would ruin their progress. She brings her eyes up to Josie's face and notices that Josie isn't looking at her, but the spot where the wall meets the ceiling.

Good. It's less intimate this way.

"Is it good?" Hope asks.

Josie nods a little shakily. "Yeah- it's, yeah."

"Try fingering yourself, now. Add two, if you're wet enough."

Two of Josie's fingers slip past her entrance easily and soon the wet, slick sounds of Josie fucking herself start to fill the room. Hope feels her body throb desperately and tells it to stop. This so isn't the time for her hormones, especially with Josie there. She's not even horny because Josie is there. It's just, the noises remind her of porn and sex and those two things are hot.

Besides, she's a teenager.

A teenager who is supposed to be focusing on her friend right now.

"Okay, crook your fingers up a little and towards me." Hope says. "Press with some force, then repeat."

And Josie definitely listens. Hope knows this, not because she's Superman and has the X-Ray vision to see inside of her friend, but because Josie makes this choked, whimpering sound. She sounds like she's close to cumming, at least Hope guesses she is. It's not really close to the sound Hope makes when she's about to cum, but there's something about the way Josie rocks forward into her own hand and absolutely fucks herself that makes it so Hope just knows.

Hope leans back and watches, not able to think of anything else she can add at this point. Josie had said earlier that it had been months since she'd had an orgasm, so Hope isn't surprised when a few more thrusts and a flick of her clit with her thumb has her gasping.

"Fuck." Josie rasps after, breathing hard. A small smile crawls across her face when she finally feels comfortable to meet Hope's eyes. "Thanks for that."

"It's no problem. Everyone deserves some stress relief." She responds. Hope gets to her feet as Josie begins to pull the sweatpants back up around her waist.

They must be really good friends now. Hope can feel it, like they have taken another step up in their friendship. It's similar to the feeling of when Josie first cried in front of her or when Hope opened up about her dad while sitting with her on the roof awhile ago. They'll be closer now.

Hope grabs the hand sanitizer and tissue box on her nightstand and gives it to Josie, letting her wipe her hands off and clean them. She crawls back onto the bed and eats a broken bit of leftover pretzel before moving the now empty bowl onto the floor. Hope cracks open another Dr. Pepper because she finds her mouth is dry and her throat is a little scratchy after the whole experience.

When Josie comes back from throwing away her trash, she sets herself down a respectable distance away from Hope. It's a pretty small bed, anywhere she sits still puts her at a point where she can reach out and touch Hope if she wants. They usually cuddle a bit or sit close enough to brush knees and elbows but this time they don't and Hope is kind of glad about it.

Things surprisingly aren't weird, but cuddling right after the whole event feels like... too much. So they keep away from each other.

"Do you want to keep watching the movie?" Hope asks.

"Sure." Josie grabs the remote and hits play. "Can I get a sip?"

Hope passes the can over to her and though Josie favors Coke over Dr. Pepper, she takes a rather long slurp from it. Not that Hope has the energy to care about something as simple as soda.

"Sorry if I doze off during. I get pretty tired after." Josie says, snuggling against one half of their shared pillow. Hope gets that. She's probably had an embarrassing amount of orgasm-induced naps.

"It's fine. Goodnight in advance, J." She replies softly.

Josie yawns. "Night."

-

The next morning, Hope wakes up to a shit ton of bright light coming through the windows and a very slight headache. Maybe it's because she drank a bit last night or maybe it's the lack of water in her system at the moment, but her head has a dull throb to it that isn't entirely pleasant. She also wakes up to an empty bed.

Which is fine. Really. She hadn't expected breakfast in bed or anything, Hope knows that even on the weekends Josie is busy with training, studying, and whatever Lizzie needs her to do. Still, she had kind of hoped they would get time to grab a protein shake - Alaric says she needs them in her diet - together.

It makes her seem a tad desperate if she complains about it though, so Hope crawls out of bed alone. Well, not alone because Yoda is currently circling his empty food bowl and making small, seemingly hungered noises.

Hope walks over to go get him his food and notices that there all still hints of Josie around the room. Her hoodie is folded and resting on the corner of the bed. One half of the bed is a bit neater than the rest of it and there's an apple with a sticky note next to it on her nightstand. She ignores the note for a minute to fill Yoda's bowl. Then she stares, sort of in awe, when he goes invisible and the food starts slowly disappearing, soft crunching noises coming from that spot near the floor.

She checks the note after that but makes sure to keep Yoda (or at least, the fleeting food that he's obviously eating) in her line of sight because with his powers, there is the chance that he could choose to randomly maul her. Thankfully, he keeps eating while Hope reads.

Had to go for a run with Lizzie. I took the pants to wash them. Thanks for last night. - J

That explains things. Hope feels some relief at the fact that she had to leave for a run. She knows exercise is important and all of them should be good at running, considering how much they do it these days with all the monsters lurking around. It's nice to not feel ditched, even if some part of her knows Josie would never actually ditch her.

Her phone starts ringing but Hope can't find it. She looks around and scrambles through everything in her room to find it, but not very quickly because Dumb, Last Night Hope had not taken off her party clothes before falling asleep for some reason. Despite the bad choice in clothing, Hope fishes her phone out from under a spare blanket and takes the call from Mr. Saltzman.

"Hey, what's up?" Hope asks, trying to sound like she hadn't gotten sort of up close and personal with his daughter's vagina last night.

"Hope? Where are you? I was thinking we should add another sparring session to today's schedule, just in case another monster shows up." Mr. Saltzman explains. It's a good idea. The monsters never really stop coming, they both know that, and they should be prepared for that.

So Hope throws away her Normal Teenager Mask and slips on the one labeled hero, then starts to strip off her clothes and find something appropriate to wear.

"I'll be there in five." She tells him, already pulling a pair of grey leggings up to her thighs and trying to find a tank top or some type of shirt acceptable for working out. Most of her stuff is in the laundry at the moment.

Of course, any one of the witches in the academy could do a spell to clean their clothes, including Hope, but that's frowned upon here. Mr. Saltzman wants them to have human experiences as well as magical ones. Apparently trivial things, such as weekly laundry and homework, keep people sane. It makes no sense to her but most of her time is spent following the rules briefly and then later breaking them, so she'll have to see how long it is before she has spelled clothing.

Before she goes, she checks Yoda's water bowl one more time and grabs the apple Josie had left for her off the nightstand.