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Double Date - The Wilds (2020) - Fatin/Leah, Shelby/Toni

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Wilds (TV 2020) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fatin Jadmani/Leah Rilke, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe Characters: Fatin Jadmani, Leah Rilke, Shelby Goodkind, Toni Shalifoe, Martha Blackburn, Dot Campbell, Rachel Reid Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, The Unsinkable Eight (The Wilds), On The Island (The Wilds), Getting Together, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Humor, Awkward Dates, not proofread we die like the girls' heterosexuality Summary:

“One quiet and nice meal sounds about right.”

“Exactly!” Shelby gestured excitedly and sat down cross-legged across from Leah. “Look at all this delicious food. I mean, we have plates, cups, and forks? This gorgeous view, good company. God, if I close my eyes this feels just like a candlelit dinner at my favorite restaurant.”

Shoni and Leatin go on a double date, that's it.

“I know that we’re all about making the most out of the worst scenario ever,” Fatin said, “And suspension of disbelief is all the rage right now but, honestly, this feels a bit ridiculous.”

The four of them were on top of the hill, beside the hot springs, surrounded by a view so nice they almost forgot they despised the island as a whole. The area was decorated as well as possible with what little resources the group had, including some flower arrangements, and their best attempt at a romantic picnic with the party supplies they’d recently found.

“Oh come on, Fatin!” Shelby smiled at her with every single million watts her smile was capable of. “Don’t you think it’s kind of cute?”

Fatin sighed and turned to stare at the only reason in the world she’d agreed to go on a double date with a small jock that covered her anger issues with a pride flag bandaid and the self-righteous lesbian best friend of the virgin Mary… in a deserted island nonetheless. However, and unsurprisingly, Leah’s mind was completely elsewhere.

After being pulled back to reality by a gentle tug of Fatin’s hand on hers, Leah turned to her and said, “I’m so sure one of those trees wasn’t there yesterday.”

“It’s called the passing of time, babe, don’t worry about it,” Fatin replied with that combination of genuine concern, unavoidable amusement, and real love that only Leah could make her feel. Leah seemed comforted enough by that, and now her entire focus rested on the girl with the prettiest smile she’d ever seen.

Meanwhile, Toni had leaned in closer to Shelby and whispered, “You know I can only stomach cute shit when it’s you, only you. Remind me again why we agree to this?”

“Well…” Shelby tilted her head and looked upward, trying to pinpoint the exact moment this plan was conceived.

It was late one night, all the girls were lying around their camp, trying to fall asleep but not quite succeeding yet. Except for Leah and Fatin, who had wandered a few steps away from them. From what Dot managed, not willingly, to overhear, Leah was convinced there was something wrong and off-putting about one of the trees, she was determined to find out what, and Fatin, well, she never let Leah go off on her own. Before too long, the two of them had dozed off against the perfectly normal tree, with Leah resting her head against Fatin’s shoulder, looking perfectly at home.

“Do you think they know?” Martha asked the others, breaking the silence.

“Who? And know what?” Rachel replied.

“Leah and Fatin. Do you think they know they’re in love?”

Martha’s question was met with laughter from Shelby and Toni, a scoff from Rachel, and then Dot sat up in her makeshift bed and asked, “Wait, what?!”

“Oh come on!” Toni laughed, “don’t tell me you aren’t seeing that shit.”

“Uh, excuse me, but contrary to popular belief, I’m no expert in sapphic dating,” Dot grimaced, “I’m just seeing them have emotional breakdowns and shit.”

“That’s exactly it. Congratulations, you’re an expert now,” Shelby said.

The five of them laughed as quietly as possible so as to not wake up the two girls they were precisely talking about.

“Well, I don’t think they know,” Rachel spoke up. “Leah’s mind can’t possibly retain one more piece of information about what’s going on with her and this island.” Her statement was followed by general sounds of agreement.

“It’s so romantic,” Martha sighed dreamily. “I mean, it’s so unlikely! Isn’t it? Like, Toni, you owe me five dollars now.”

“Shit. You’re right,” Toni chuckled. “Those two were absolutely my last guesses out of all of you. What’s up with my radar, damn.”

“Oh? Those two? What about me?” Shelby asked her, her voice a little lower than it was before.

“You’re different,” Toni replied, fully whispering now. She shifted a little in bed to get closer to her girlfriend.

“Am I?”

“Yeah, there was some wishful thinking on my part, maybe,” Toni admitted, and interrupted Shelby’s sweet laugh with a kiss.

As it often happens when Shelby and Toni kissed, they lost track of time and forgot all about their surroundings. One kiss led to another, each touch brought them closer and closer, and before thinking about stopping they started thinking about going elsewhere on a midnight emergency. However, and this was also routinary, they were interrupted.

“Okay, it’s settled!” Dot clapped, and winced at the sound of it.

“I’ll distract them,” Rachel nodded confidently.

Martha couldn’t hold back her smile as she said, “It’s going to be great!”

Shelby and Toni exchanged a look of confusion, and they were equally scared when Shelby cleared her throat and in her most polite voice asked, “Um, excuse me, girls, what are you talking about?”

There was a moment of silence. Martha’s sweet and excited face in combination with Dot and Rachel’s smirks couldn’t be good news for them.

“You’re going on a double date, ladies,” Rachel said, trying her hardest not to burst out at the look of absolute terror on Toni’s face.

“Oh, right. We didn’t agree to this,” Toni said through gritted teeth.

“Hush,” Shelby whispered, kissed her cheek, and then turned to face the other two girls. “Alright! Should we get started?”

Leah frowned and scratched her forehead in thought, “Started with… what, exactly?”

“Well, I have my theories,” Fatin murmured.

“It’s just dinner,” Toni blurted out. She was aware of how excited Shelby was about the whole idea and she just wanted to get it done without any casualties.

“Because our dear friend got the batshit crazy idea that-”

“Because they’re very kind,” Toni interrupted her. “Because we’re taking turns having nice dinners now. So fuck it, we’re doing it. Okay?”

At this point in their friendship, none of them took Toni’s rough intimidation tactics too seriously, knowing it wasn’t personal. And yet, it still worked, sometimes. At least, Fatin was quiet, even if the suspicious look didn’t leave her eyes.

“I can do that,” Leah shrugged and settled down on the ground with a small smile. “One quiet and nice meal sounds about right.”

Fatin winced and whispered, “Nope. I’m not buying that.” But even as she shook her head, she sat down beside Leah. She was just a little unnerved by Toni’s smile. It just so happened that Toni knew perfectly well how denial looked on a lovesick girl.

With all four of them sitting on top of the red and white checkered tablecloth, there was a brief awkward silence. They studied their food, which was the usual and yet somehow looked a little better when served on a plate. Fatin attempted a sip of her birthday-theme plastic cup and immediately grimaced. “What the hell is this?” she asked.

“Martha attempted to make tea,” Toni explained, apologetically.

“It’s really good,” Shelby nodded and faked her best smile while her eyes watered after taking a sip of the improvised drink.

Then, Leah cleared her throat. “So, what now?” she asked, “I’m, uh, out of practice when it comes to candlelit dinners. I’ve been kind of busy surviving a deserted island, you know how it is.”

Leah was startled to hear Fatin scoff beside her, “Girl, you can’t blame the island on your lack of social life.”

While Shelby and Toni chuckled, Leah put on an expression of mock outrage. “I have friends, a friend, I have, I have had friends,” she stuttered.

“Yeah. Totally. They’ve just never been this good-looking before, have they?”

“That’s true,” Leah shrugged. Fatin’s eyebrows rose in her face, her curiosity piqued. “I mean, the bar is kind of pretty low? But you do look… I mean, you are… yeah.”

Oblivious to the conspiratory looks exchanged between the two girls sitting across from them, Fatin squinted her eyes at the sincere little smile on Leah’s face. Of course, it was far from the first time someone complimented Fatin, and it wasn’t even close to more poetic or eloquent attempts. Then why did it feel so big, so significant, so warm in Fatin’s chest? She leaned in closer to Leah, closer than she had to perhaps, and she whispered, possibly in a lower and more sultry tone than necessary, with a touch of eye contact that went beyond what was required, and said, “You too.” Leah’s smile was absolutely worth it.

Shelby looked very proud of herself. Toni, on the other hand, examined the plastic cup in her hand and said, “Do you think if I drink enough of this it’ll kill me so I won’t have to see them like that?”

“Actually, yes, I think so. So, let’s not do that,” Shelby replied, taking the cup away from her girlfriend. “So, Leah, Fatin, I would normally ask about your day, but I think we all know everyone's schedule minute by minute now.”

“Hm, not exactly,” Fatin said playfully in a low voice, “but I don’t want to know the hottest details about what you guys do in your private time.”

“Oh, are you sure about that?” Toni retorted and cocked her head.

Shelby intervened right on time and jumped to the next best question she could come up with while on a double date with two girls that weren’t even together yet. “So, how did you two meet?” she asked, genuinely interested.

Leah hummed thoughtfully while chewing on her food. “We didn’t,” she replied.

“Oh that’s not… true,” Fatin protested, albeit weakly.

“We existed in close proximity at school… sometimes,” Leah explained, trying to hold back her smile. “She was just on an entirely different level above us mere mortals. Kind of fair though.” She shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the way the other three girls simultaneously tilted their heads, trying to determine if Leah was in fact flirting or not.

Just a little nervously, Fatin rose to the occasion. “Oh, okay, forgive me for trying to hide your very judgmental laser beam gorgeous blue eyes,” she said, raising her hands in playful surrender.

At first, Leah scoffed, and all of them laughed. “You’re not hiding now,” she pointed out.

There was something about Leah’s words, her tone, everything about the way she just said that, that completely disarmed all of Fatin’s defenses. She opened her mouth and willed the words to come out but there was nothing. Eventually, she settled on gently placing her hand in the back of Leah’s hair to smooth her hair and affectionately say, “I swear you say the most random shit out of everyone I know.”

“You like it,” Leah replied without missing a beat. Everyone was rendered silent, marveling at the fantastic results of giving Leah Rilke a nice day out, or the next best thing considering their circumstances. After a beat of silence, while all of them enjoyed their food, Leah added, “Oh I like this.”

“See!” Shelby exclaimed, perking up, “The presentation of the food matters.”

Toni only shook her head affectionately, and her eyes said everything, every ounce of love she felt for the girl sitting beside her.

Taking all the others a little by surprise, Leah spoke up again. Okay, now question for you two,” she said, waving a piece of her food.

“Oh shit,” Toni laughed.

“What would you like to know?” Shelby smiled warmly at her.

Leah scrunched up her face in thought. “I… actually don’t know,” she laughed, “Fatin?”

Fatin told herself she did not have time to analyze why her heart skipped a beat right then and there. Was it Leah saying her name? It couldn’t be about being put in the spotlight, she was quite comfortable there. Did she actually have some questions for the only lesbian couple she’d been this close friends with? It was to deflect with humor. She laughed a little awkwardly as she was capable of at the moment and asked, “Oh, I don’t know, weirdest island bug that caught you getting it on?”

“Dot,” Toni replied with a deadpan tone.

The four of them burst out laughing, with Shelby nearly falling backward onto the ground. They didn’t expect Leah’s next question.

“Did you talk about it?” Leah wondered. “I mean, not the Dot thing, that’d be fucked up. But like, did you, um… Did you have to put it into words when, uh, when you went from nearly killing each other to… this?”

There was an immediate change in atmosphere, but it wasn’t exactly awkward, just the kind of sincere and real kind of conversation that most of the girls had only experienced on that island with each other.

“Yes, we’ve talked,” Shelby said softly and nodded.

“I mean, it’s kind of difficult to get Shelby to shut up, actually,” Toni added, and the softness of her voice completely gave away how little she was bothered by it all. “But it’s good, yeah.”

There was a small frown on Fatin’s expression, she was suddenly thoughtful, trying to downplay it by avoiding eye contact with the other girls, looking anywhere but at Leah, and playing with a random loose thread on her pants. “I thought,” she said, “I don’t know, you just, you strike me more as an actions over words kind of gal, I guess.”

“You need both,” Toni answered without hesitation. “That’s the only way you know it’s fucking real.”

“Real?!” Leah blurted out. Her face had changed into a look that Fatin knew very well.

“You okay?” Fatin whispered cautiously.

“Hm? Yeah, cool. Just casually overthinking the correlation between the words and actions of every person I ever met. I’m chill.”

“What about your own?”

Shelby was even more surprised than the others about her question. But they all had planned that double date for a reason, and she wouldn’t forgive herself if she let her chance to plant that seed in Leah’s mind. She was well aware of the terrible price to pay for missing your chance at saying or doing the wrong thing, just as she had recently learned the delightful rewards that could be earned by doing the right thing and saying the right words.

However, “Let’s not help her spiral down, okay?” Fatin said before they lost the already unsteady hold they had on Leah’s mind.

“Yeah let’s… let’s stick to more lowkey shit,” Toni agreed, “Like, Leah, care to explain why Rachel is saying she wants to be Jesus now?”

Those were the magic words. Although she started a little off, Leah resisted the temptation to get lost in her thoughts and she laughed along with the others, staying in the present moment. “Yeah, okay, that one’s on me, I guess,” Leah winced, “But wouldn’t she be a hot carpenter?!”

“I could be a hot carpenter,” Fatin said.

This sparked a series of “No. Nope. Hm, a carpenter? Absolutely not. You?” from her friends.

“Whoa, rude,” she scoffed and crossed her arms. Then failed thoroughly at keeping her fake angry expression on. Not when her friends were joyfully laughing like that. Not when their other friends planned this whole thing for them. Not when Leah looked more present and happier than she’d probably ever seen her. Though perhaps she could try to stay mad if it meant Leah would lean close and kiss her cheek in sweet apology again, and again, and again.

It seemed hard to believe, but Toni and Shelby hadn’t had a moment to enjoy the hot springs together yet. Let alone have it all to themselves. After trying their hardest during dinner to avoid chaos and as gently as possible urge Leah and Fatin in the right direction, the two girls were exhausted. If the other two wanted to wander by themselves for a little bit, they wouldn’t stop. They couldn’t. Not when the waters were so delightfully warm and they fit in each other’s arms so perfectly. To be fair, there was an annoying little rock that every few minutes seemed to hit Toni’s back just wrong, but it was all absolutely worth it, as long as she got Shelby in her arms just like that.

It felt like the perfect moment. Still, it was never too much to ask, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Shelby replied immediately, and continued to trail her fingers over Toni’s arms. “I just hope this works out. I mean, I’m so much happier since… well, you.”

The two of them laughed softly, and Toni whispered, “Flattered,” before pushing her face closer to Shelby’s neck to place a kiss there, and delight in her girlfriend’s perfect laugh. Because she couldn’t help it, she also had to add a more sincere, “Me too.”

“So happy that I just feel like this, you know? I want this happiness for them. God knows they deserve it,” Shelby said.

Toni hummed thoughtfully in agreement. However, she wouldn’t have forgiven herself if she missed the opportunity to smirk and say, “I’m that good, huh?”

“Shut up!” Shelby laughed without an ounce of genuine annoyance in her voice. She shifted in place so she could face Toni. That was all it took to change the mood once again. There wasn’t a single time when she locked eyes with the other girl and didn’t feel her heart soar with love. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too,” Toni replied without missing a beat, and gently pulled Shelby’s face closer to her for a kiss. She hoped Leah and Fatin took their sweet time without returning, or at least gave a loud warning before getting too close.

Fatin had been genuinely confused when, right after they were all done with their food and a pause in the conversation signaled it was time to move on, Leah jumped to her feet and grabbed her wrist. Leah dragged her away from the other two girls in a haste. Bless her, because Fatin was sure that any second longer and Toni and Shelby would tear each other’s clothes off regardless of who was watching. But usually, it was her dragging Leah away to talk some sense into her, not the other way around. She just hoped whatever was terrorizing Leah’s mind this time wasn’t too bad. She was starting to feel like some of Leah’s breakdowns hurt her more than Leah herself.

“Bitch I promise that tree was there yesterday! I swear,” Fatin complained, but let herself be led into the woods.

It came as a huge surprise for Fatin and, judging by her wide-eyed expression, even a mild surprise for Leah, when very suddenly and without warning, Leah pushed Fatin’s body against a tree and held her there, standing maddeningly close to her. This felt familiar to them, but also a completely new experience for Fatin, who used to pride herself on being quite experienced at social interactions.

“Am I doing it wrong?” Leah asked breathlessly.

“Um, what exactly?” Fatin had to ask, because Leah’s hands were still on her shoulders and for some reason that she’d been refusing to analyze for a while now, that was considerably distracting.

“Words and actions. What they said,” Leah explained, or attempted to.

Fatin relaxed just a little and rolled her eyes. “Leah, don’t lose it for what two extra lovey-dovey lesbians just told you. They would have said the key to real love is, I don’t know, knowing how to juggle pineapples on fire, if it meant they would get laid tonight,” Fatin protested.

“Pineapples?” Leah frowned. “Nevermind. Look I know you all think I’ve been saying some crazy shit, and maybe acting insane too… okay, there’s no maybe. But there’s also more than that, right? Like you have seen more than that, haven’t you? You more than anyone else have to know I’m more than that.”

“Hey, calm down,” Fatin whispered, and placed her hand on Leah’s cheek, desperate to offer any kind of support that would soothe the other girl’s racing mind. “Yeah, I’ve noticed you’re so much more than that, Leah. I’m almost ready to admit the embarrassing fact that I kind of even like you for who you are,” Fatin said with a playful smile. There was an almost imperceptible twitch in Leah’s lips that told her the compliment was well received, but Leah wasn’t done.

“But am I doing it right though? Like, am I doing enough?” Leah wondered, almost just to herself. “I don’t think, I don’t know if I’ve shown and said everything I feel. As in, do I have to go out and tell the girls that they’re my best friends and I’m sorry for my mistakes and I’d do anything for them and then actually do that, but how do you even do that…”

“Leah, it’s just something people say, a way of speaking. You don’t actually have to do anything right now. I’m sure they know.”

“But what about you?”

That question landed a bit more heavily than the rest. In fact, it was like an entire additional present had joined them in that secluded part of the island. Leah even took one small step forward, feeling like she had to give Fatin some sort of breathing space to answer. She couldn’t know that Fatin missed her warmth and proximity the second she stepped away. Fatin didn’t like losing. “What do you mean?” she asked, using the momentum to take Leah’s hand and gently pull her closer again.

Leah shrugged, and her face went through a very particular rollercoaster of expressions, from nervous to apologetic, amused to earnest. “I’m not stupid. They were clearly alluding to something… something,” she said, gesturing between them before taking a deep breath and that she let out in a heavy sigh, “Something I’ve been taking for granted without the right words and actions.”

There was a knot in Fatin’s throat and part of her wanted to hide it as best as she could, but it felt a little ridiculous, trying to hide her feelings from a girl that did nothing but feel things deeply and extremely and openly all the time. “You don’t have to say anything,” Fatin said softly, wondering when they had transcended into the land of whispering to each other as if the rest of the world didn’t matter, “I know we’re ride or die.”

Leah nodded and although Fatin found it incredibly easy to get lost in her eyes, she couldn’t help but notice Leah’s smile didn’t meet her eyes. There was something wrong. Did she say the wrong thing? Fuck. How could she fix it? What even did she do wrong? How on Earth was she losing her cool for Leah Rilke of all people? And most importantly, why didn’t it feel the slightest bit wrong? She opened her mouth to say something, anything to make things better, but Leah beat her to it.

“Nothing else?”

It was Fatin’s turn to look like a deer caught in the headlights, and she mildly welcomed the unfamiliar feeling of being thrown out of her comfort zone. “Do you… you want something else?” She asked with wide eyes and her voice trembling a little.

Leah shifted in place a little, squinted one eye as she looked for the words in a way that Fatin was almost done with how adorably she found it. “I thought… I mean, it feels…” Leah sighed, “What I have with you feels like something I can’t do anything about, it just is. It’s something I can’t put into words.”

There was a brief pause and there was a good chance that Leah was even holding her breath. But then Fatin couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Oh God,” she groaned, and covered her eyes with her hands.

“Oh!” Leah blinked, as her panic grew inside her chest. “Oh? I’m sorry. Did I get it absolutely wrong?”

“You little shit!” Fatin exclaimed and poked the center of Leah’s chest with one accusatory finger. “I never picture someone like you in my life and you’re here being an absolute mess and I’m crazy about you! I went and fell in love with your stupid, brilliant, cute, impossible to understand, beautiful ass, and it’s so infuriating!” Despite Fatin’s somewhat aggressive approach and use of words, at the end, she laughed happily, in contrast with Leah’s absolutely terrified awkward laughter. “In a good way,” Fatin added eventually.

“Oh.” Leah gasped and relaxed like she hadn’t gotten to relax since even before reaching that island. Pieces of the puzzle of her mind and her heart finally fitted in a way that was far from painful, desperate, and fundamentally wrong. It all finally made sense. The peace she felt in her heart at that moment looking at Leah was somehow much more exciting than any ounce of risk and victory and terror that she felt while pursing what she’d misguidedly thought was her previous love.

Leah could take her time thinking things through. Fatin genuinely adored the perfect chaos that was Leah’s thought process, but she also believed that could wait. “Leah, you know I hate to push your buttons… actually that’s not true, sometimes that’s either exactly what you need or the funniest thing in the world,” Fatin said with a smile, “but I think you have to kiss me now, you idiot.”

There was nothing left to say. It was a little bit of a shame that they’d have to stop looking at each other’s beautiful, earnest, overjoyed smiles. But they didn’t have it in themselves to regret it. They put everything they had into that kiss. It started sweet, and tender, an expression of pure affection and adoration from each of them. But their feelings and their kisses were unstoppable. Fatin wanted to be the best she could be for Leah. Leah wanted to pour every thought in her mind into the kiss. They wanted every touch to be the single most real thing each of them had experienced in their lives. They kissed like two people that had nearly died or watched others die repeatedly, people that had wasted too much time faking so much of their lives, so many of their feelings, and missed too many opportunities to be right where they were always meant to end up, in each other's arms.

Somewhere downhill, in the comfort of their makeshift camp, three other girls were on the verge of falling asleep, each of them curled up in their favorite spots.

Before letting go and saying goodnight, Martha asked the others, “Do you think they’ve killed each other up there?”

“Yes,” Dot and Rachel replied instantly and simultaneously, “Yeah, totally.”

#they're gay <3 #the wilds #leatin #shoni #the wilds fanfic #leah rilke #fatin jadmani #toni shalifoe #shelby goodkind #leah x fatin #shelby x toni #my fic

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