Work Text:
“April!” The redhead shoe shiner shouted to the brunette strolling down the hallway decorated in paintings of questionable scenes of the town’s history. April greeted him with their classic hand shake, laughter flowing freely from Andy. April wished she could feel free and light like him. It seemed nice.
They had been dating for over a year now, much to Andy’s excitement, but April’s deep down shame. She liked Andy. As a friend. He was sweet. So sweet. Nice. Kind. Compassionate. Funny. Caring. She mostly enjoyed being around him. But she didn’t enjoy the part where they made out. Or when they had sex. She wouldn’t want to spend the rest of her life with him. But she had to. What else could she do? She lived in Pawnee, Indiana. She worked for the government. Her family wouldn’t ever talk to her again. So she hid. She lied. Even to herself.
The couple fell into an easy conversation as they sat on the shoe shine stand. April let her feet dangle off the platform, swinging them back and forth as Andy showed her his new favorite meme.
“Wait babe! Don’t you need to get back to work?” Andy suddenly remembered.
“Yeah, I guess I should head back.” April inquired, before pecking Andy on his prickly cheek.
She headed back into the department, walking hastily to avoid Jerry beginning a conversation. Settling down at her desk, Chris Trager approached her, Leslie in tow.
“April! My favorite negative nelly!” Chris’ overwhelming optimism made the brunette want to vomit. Literally vomit.
April rolled her eyes, wanting anything more than to have whatever conversation was about to happen.
“We have an assignment!” Leslie dropped a blue binder onto her desk titled LUDGIN PROJECT with Ann and April photoshopped in front of the Pawnee Zoo.
“April… before you start with all your complaining, it involves animals- which we know you like. And it should only take a week.”
April dropped her head onto her desk, groaning in the most dramatic way possible. She liked acting like this. Putting on a mask; covering herself up. She could be and do anything she wanted this way. That way, she wouldn’t have to actually be true to herself, or to anyone else .
“April, Please !” Leslie began to beg.
“Have you even asked that old hag yet anyways?” April mumbled from her face down position.
“Great point, April!” Chris exclaimed. “We will be right back.” Chris stated as the two exited April’s area.
“Ann Perkins! My favorite, most beautiful friend!” Leslie marched up to Ann’s desk, Chris following close behind. “How do you feel about working with April on a super fun project?”
“ April? There’s no way she agreed to this. Leslie, she will literally murder me.”
“ Pleaseee ? Both of you have the skills for this. It’s fun. And you can bond!”
“You will literally become best friends, Ann Perkins.” Chris added.
Ann groaned, leaning back in her chair, staring at the tiled ceiling above her that she’d counted too many times. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
April sighed as she went to answer her doorbell, knowing who stood on the other side. She was dressed in sweats and a high school sweatshirt, her hair in a ponytail. The doorbell rang again as she reached for the door, seeing snow falling from the window.
“April! Hurry up! It’s cold as shit out here!” Ann shouted through the door. The other woman was wearing leggings and Uggs, with an old pullover from a concert.
Before swinging open her red door, April shoved her middle finger in the window beside, making sure that Ann saw, before begrudgingly swinging the door open.
“Lovely welcome, April.” Ann entered the house as the younger woman smirked.
They made their way to the kitchen table, Ann smacking the blue binder down.
“This is so fucking stupid.” April groaned, pulling out a giant bottle of liquor.
“At least we have this!” Ann giggled, grabbing the bottle from April’s clasp, taking a giant gulp out of the liquid.
Already slightly tipsy, the two women got to work taking notes with ideas for the event at the zoo, as unmotivated about it as they were. April typed on her laptop, Ann leaning behind her, resting her hand on the top of the chair touching April’s back. As April typed their bullet points, Ann suddenly pointed, leaning forward.
“You spelled a word wrong, April.” Ann jokingly whispered in the younger woman’s ear, the sides of their faces almost touching. This sent shivers down April’s arms. She felt goose bumps pop up underneath her gray sleeves. Turning to face the hazel eyes staring into hers, April joined the eye contact, lowering her head, but keeping the interlock.
“You’re blushing.” April quietly observed. Ann felt her spine prickle, breaking the tension by tearing her face away with taking another swig from the glass bottle.
Somehow, the two women awoke in April’s bed the next morning, Ann’s long fingers draped across the younger woman’s chest. The sheets were a mess all around them as the sunlight streamed in through the window, both women lay naked.
Ann moaned, the weight of her headache setting in as the sunlight streamed in through the windows. Squinting her eyes, she realized she wasn’t in her own room, at her own house. Retracing her night, Ann sat up with a jolt, awaking the younger woman next to her.
“What the fuck?” April began, sitting up against the headboard, keeping the sheets drawn over her breasts. Observing Ann’s body, she bit her lip as her cheeks began to glow a warm red.
“...Do you have any… recollection of how the fuck this… happened?” Ann turned to face April, suddenly coming to her senses that she was completely exposed. “Shit.” Ann mumbled, searching the room for her strewn bra.
“Um, I can grab it for you.” April offered, using her arm to conceal herself, spotting it across the room in the open doorway. As she reached down to grab the bra (a task she would never usually do, but the girl felt bad enough considering having no memory of the events of the night before), a voice entered the house.
“Babe? You here?” Andy’s voice inserted into the chaos.
“Shit!” April whispered, leaving the bra behind as she scurried into the closet, yanking Ann off of the bed in the swift motion.
Concealed in the dark of the closet, both still completely naked, they could hear Andy trampling around the house, talking to himself.
“April. Why are you hiding?” Ann whispered.
“I don’t know! I don’t really want to talk to him anyways?” April shot back. The closet was small. Each woman stood on the wall across from one another in the pitch black, their bodies closer together than they realized.
“I still find it weird that you dated him. It doesn’t make sense. You’re so much smarter than him, and you’re so independent and you can do so much in the world and he’s just bringing you down and-”
Interrupting Ann’s rambling, April whispered something she had never told anyone else. “Yeah, I know. But he’s my friend and there aren’t many other people I could…” She faltered, not knowing where to go from there. “Like… I don’t want-” April’s words jumbled as she wracked her brain on how to get out of what she was saying. Avoid something she didn’t want to be spoken; put out into the real world. She didn’t want it to become real . Andy’s voice still calling out in the background, April lunged forward to Ann. Her hands moved to the sides of Ann’s face, the older woman accepted the kiss, opening her mouth.
“Babe! Where were you?” Andy jumped up from his spot in the hallway with April’s entrance to the building.
“I decided to grab breakfast.” She mumbled, fiddling with her sweater. Ann was still sitting in April’s car, after they had decided that she would enter the building a few minutes later, so as to not raise any eyebrows.
As Ann strode in, she was composed completely different than she had been less than fifteen minutes ago with April. She carried herself differently, her posture was more perfect, each step seemed as if it was placed so carefully, as if she had been planning it for months. But when she was just in the gaze of the young brunette, she was much more relaxed, more carefree. Sort of like how Andy was always. However, somehow, April appreciated this more. This little attribute of Ann Perkins felt special. It made April feel special. That she got to see a different side of this woman.
Shaking her head to get out of her thoughts, April made her way into Leslie’s office, hoping for some kind of task that would involve her to not think. She didn’t want to.
She shouldn't.
She wouldn’t.
“April!” Leslie jumped to her feet as the brunette entered. “I was thinking we could go do some girl talk at JJ’s right now? You’ve seemed happier! I need all the deets, girlfriend.” Leslie went on and on, planning their meal, talking out loud to herself about what she wanted them to converse in. “What if we invite Ann? I’m sure she’s not busy! I want to know all about how the project is going and-” Leslie began.
Interjecting, April stopped her- “I’m sure she just ate. I mean, she hasn’t been here very long. At least I think? I don’t really know. Or care. I hate that old-” She sputtered.
“ANN? Brunch at JJ’s?” Leslie ignored, shouting into the office.
“You know I’m always up for a girls day!” Ann replied.
“April’s coming this time!” Leslie announced, her smile wide as always. Suddenly, Ann appeared into the office.
“Oh. I actually think I have work I need to-”
“No you don’t, Ann! Get it done later, come on!” Leslie prodded.
Soon enough, the trio ended up pulling into the parking lot, April in the back behind Ann, with Leslie behind the wheel. Making their way to the usual table, April rushed ahead, sitting on the far side of the booth in hopes of Ann and Leslie sharing the other side.
“Oh come on, Ann; just sit next to April, it’s not that big a deal,” Leslie shook her head. “She won’t kill you.” April stared at the table, shaking her head without a sound.
As Ann slid into the small booth, she noticed the brunette staring out of the corner of her eyes, her cheeks glowing, contrasting the small sprinkle of freckles dancing across. Locking eyes, both women felt a flood of a memory of the night before; their locked eyes, both hazel. As the women settled in, April could see Ann’s hand creeping across the booth, concealed from the tablecloth and the womens’ legs. The older woman placed her hand inside of April’s thigh, a slight nod from the woman allowed her to continue, rubbing her thumb on April’s soft skin. A hint of a smile tainted April’s face as she composed herself, trying to bring herself back to the moment here, in JJ’s, with her boss, and Ann.