bagi is an independent detective whos life work revolves around finding out the key line of who hurt her brother and kidnapped him a long time ago, which is pretty intense stuff. one night while shes following the trail, she ends up finding three kids in the federation’s wake.
shes reminded of herself and cellbit and decides well shes gotta help these kids find parents. long story short, all of them do. except em. whos nonverbal with autism and a kid with a disability is hard to foster out to someone bagi actually trusts.
so she keeps her. problem is; she never INTENDED to be a mom. shes busy, has a lot of work to do to keep the bills paid, and em needs love and attention like any other kid. also like. food.
Enter Tina; a freshman in college whos just moved to a new town away from her abusive family.
which is to say; shes broke and in a lot of debt. luckily, bagi has no idea what shes doing, and when tina offers to help babysit (she hates kids tbh but she IS qualified)
bagi offers her an insanely high amount that isnt matched by like… any minimim wage job. and tina nailed the interview over the phone sooo whatever.
and then bagi does a background check on her. and then she sees her around town just to tail her for any bad behavior that could rub off on em. and she realizes oh . tinas. like. YOUNG.
she KNOWS cognitively that tina says shes 21 but seeing someone whos 21 is a big difference. shes . well- to put it bluntly- shes HOT. and thats. weird. to bagi.
because shes never had much interest in other people much less anyone less than maybe a year or two younger than her. and bagi’s encroaching on 43.
she feels gross about it for a bit. then forgets when tina comes in to take care of em, under her supervision for the first couple times. just to make sure everythings okay.
tina does great. shes blunt, but so is bagi- and tinas a dream compared to her. em loves her too, even settles down for bed an hour early because tina suggested she get a nap to ward off the sleepy yawns.
bagi says to stick around. she’ll pay her for the full 3 hours. they drink, chat, laugh. tina explains anything publicly available on her twitter or facebook- smart girl.
but its nice to hear from her mouth anyway. tea enthusiast. gap year student. majoring in psychology. her hobbies include marathon running and film. she likes coffee on a good day. energy drinks on a bad one.
somehow they end up talking about family. its somber. bagi talks about cellbit and their parents. tina offers up her own runaway tale, which bagi validates as fair. they sound like pieces of shit.
bagi is spell struck by her maturity by the end of it. shes not some inexperienced child in adult clothes running around trying to fuck up her life. shes got her nose to the grindstone trying to make a good future for herself. and bagi respects it, as someone whos done that herself.
so much so that she forgets the agegap until tina brings it up. at least the first time. and then the second. third. fourth. fifth. six—
tina.. KEEPS bringing it up. every time bagi hands her the check for the night, in fact. that or about her smoking habit.
“people will talk if they keep seeing me leaving your place like this.”
“arent you worried? a girl like me leaving your building with a check in hand…”
“people probably think youre my mom at this point”
“you’re old enough to be my mom, probably.”
and then one night when tina needles a small “oh how old were you then? oh!” that bagi snips back a, “and?”
“and nothing. i’m not worried about people finding it weird. they can go suck a dick.”
“they would. its… large. double digits.” bagi KNows. shes COUNTED. several times.
“its not like we’re fucking or anything.”
then, red faced, tina goes, “and if we were? would you find it weird… then? hypothetically or- whatever—?”
and it occurs to bagi for the first time that tina might not be straight, actually. and a lot of things slide into place at once.
including tina. who slides against the wall as bagi shoves her against it, moaning as she bites and sucks down her throat, smoke still clinging to her lips.
tina doesnt bother to quiet herself, just moans loudly in the apartment hall, grabbing at bagis coat with reckless abandon.
“not- not too hard—“ tina gasps as bagi sucks a hickie into her neck, “I- i have class tomorrow-“
“what?” bagi wonders aloud, lip curled teasingly as she slips a hand down her shorts, “worried people will talk?”
