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ambssssssssss · 2 years

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Keep Me Warm

Juliantina surviving Snovid 2020 together

(read on ao3)

Whoever looked at Juliana as a baby and said the words ‘May you live in interesting times’ could stuff it, as far as Juliana was concerned. She did not want to live in interesting times anymore, felt like her entire generation had gotten more than their fair share of interesting times in the last year alone. She needed a break from the interesting times. God, she missed the days when the most interesting thing to happen was a bus delay.

Sure there were some good things that came out of the pandemic that forced all of them into lockdown for weeks on end and still impacted their day to day lives because despite what most Texans wanted to believe, the pandemic was very much not over; but those good things were pretty few and far between. Really, the only thing that Juliana considers to be objectively good in the long run is that she and Valentina moved in together. They’d been together for the past year, but with Valentina spending half of that time in Mexico with her family while Juliana was finishing her last semester of college at UTSA for a good portion of that time, it hadn’t felt like a good time to move in together. Still, when the choice became to live with each other and know for sure that the other was safe from this mess, or to live apart and without the option of even seeing each other for who knows how long, there really wasn’t much of a choice at all.

So, maybe Juliana had to have her long awaited graduation online rather than getting to walk the stage, and maybe she was struggling to find a steady job now that basically no one was hiring, but at least she was able to share those struggles with the woman she loved. They might have made the choice in unusual circumstances, but that didn’t mean that either of them regretted it. Sure it took some time to get used to each other’s habits and learning how to be together 24/7 can be difficult, but they’d managed to figure it out well enough. Even if there wasn’t a pandemic going on, Juliana couldn’t imagine not living with Valentina anymore. Their lives were so intertwined now and that was reflected in their apartment. It was easy to see in the extra set of keys that were hanging by the door, the piles of shoes on the floor, the soft blanket that’s draped over the couch. It’s Valentina’s favorite coffee in the cabinets next to Juliana’s favorite snacks and the shows that they’re not allowed to watch if the other isn’t home to watch too. It’s Juliana crawling into bed each night and finding Valentina there waiting for her, even if she’s already asleep Valentina will respond to Juliana joining her, wrapping her in a warm embrace or letting Juliana use her as a pillow.

It’s getting to love Valentina day in and day out that Juliana wouldn’t trade for the world.

It’s just all the other shit that she wouldn’t mind not having to deal with it.

Shit like pandemics and people not wearing their masks properly and not being able to see her mom on a regular basis and, the cherry on top, this fucking winter storm.

The thing about living in Texas for all her life, with occasional forays into Mexico, is that Juliana has no real experience dealing with this kind of cold. Texas winters are not cold. Sure the state would get some occasional ice and maybe even snow, but unless you were in the Panhandle all of that would be gone by 9 a.m. and life could continue as normal. Temperatures regularly climbed as high as the 90s in the winter months, making them only barely cooler than the harsh Texas summers. Juliana was aware of that and had understood that for all her life. As a result, she was not at all prepared for the blizzard that was descending across the state and a good deal of the United States as a whole.

Juliana wasn’t really concerned about the whole thing until Valentina returned to their apartment from her short trip to the grocery store a block over. Valeninta had come into the apartment shivering, even after climbing three flights of stairs with two grocery bags in each hand. Juliana had rushed to help her girlfriend put the bags down and remove the layers of damp outer clothes she wore.

“You’re freezing, babe,” Juliana murmured softly in Valentina’s ear when the other woman leaned into her, gratefully accepting Juliana’s body heat.

“It’s freezing outside,” Valentina said back. She still had her mask on but she tucked her nose against Juliana’s neck anyway. “It’s really starting to come down out there. This could get pretty bad.”

“You think?” Juliana questioned seriously. Valentina, unlike Juliana, had experienced a few northern winters when she was growing up, regular family trips to Canada around the holidays had been a staple of the Carvajal family until Val’s mom passed away. She’s told Juliana stories of the blizzards she’d endured as a kid, but she always said they weren’t actually that bad once you got used to them. Besides, most places up north were prepared for that sort of thing.

“There’s already ice everywhere and it’s started snowing,” Valentina extracted herself from Juliana’s arms and finally took her mask off, hanging it up with her keys. “I think we’re forecasted to get at least 4 inches of snow, or something around there.”

Juliana frowns slightly as she follows Valentina into the kitchen, unable to remember a time when San Antonio got more than an inch of snow before.

“I saw an article earlier about there being a chance of the power going out for a little bit because the Texas power grid is equipped to deal with hot summers, not cold winters.” Valentina continues as she puts away the groceries she had purchased. “But I think with the fireplace and all the extra blankets we have, we should be okay if the power goes out for an hour or so.”

Juliana hummed her agreement. They did have a surplus of blankets in the apartment, of varying sizes and materials. They’d be okay if the power went out for an hour.

“I did ask Guille to bring us a flat of bottled water though. Even if we don’t lose power there’s a good chance the pipes will freeze. He should be here in a few minutes.” Valentina put away their reusable grocery bags and came to stand directly in front of Juliana again. “Might be a good idea to shower now, when we still have hot water.”

“You’re really worried about this thing, aren’t you?” Juliana observed Valentina’s fidgeting hands and nervous bounce. “I thought these kinds of storms didn’t bother you.”

“They don’t when I’m somewhere that I know has precautions for this kind of thing. Do you even own a real winter coat?” Valentina places her finger over Juliana’s lips when she goes to answer. “No, your college hoodie doesn’t count as a winter coat.”

“Point taken,” Juliana pressed a short kiss to the finger pressed against her lips. Valentina smiled, retracted her finger, and replaced it with her lips. Juliana hummed against her, sliding her warm hands beneath the back of Valentina’s shirt. Valentina’s trip to the grocery had taken longer than it usually does and Juliana wasn’t above admitting that she had missed her love during the short time they’d been apart.

Their kiss only broke when a knock sounded on their door, Guille there with the flat of water Valentina had requested of him and with a box of pizza for them as well.

“You didn’t have to get us food,” Juliana said as she took the box Guille was balancing on top of the water. “But thank you.”

“I was there getting some for me and Renata anyway. I figured I would save you from Valentina’s cooking,” Guille joked, earning a punch in the shoulder from his sister and a laugh from Juliana. He set the waters down in the spot that Valentina indicated for him to do so and then stood up straight again. “You guys stay warm, okay? Let me know if you need anything.”

“We will, and you do the same,” Juliana accepted the hug Guille stepped forward to give her, releasing him a moment later so he could give the same treatment to Valentina. “And text us when you get home.”

“Sure,” with a last wave, Guille was out the door just as quickly as he had walked in.

“So,” Valentina turned back to Juliana once they were alone in the apartment again. “Pizza?”

“I have a better idea,” Juliana pulled Valentina back to her by the belt lips on her jeans, silencing the laugh Valentina released with a kiss.

After eating lukewarm pizza, their evening progressed about the same way it usually does. They took turns in the shower, though they both took the time to make sure their hair was completely dry before they headed back towards the living room, and then they curled up on the couch together to watch an episode or two of their current Netflix show before they retired to the bedroom for the night. As they climbed into bed, Valentina was beginning to think that she’d been worried about nothing. Juliana didn’t mind, saying that it was better to be safe than sorry. They fell asleep feeling fairly confident that the coming storm wouldn’t be all that bad.

Funny, how wrong they had been.

Valentina is the first to wake up, just before 1:30 in the morning. She’s a little more groggy than usual, having woken up in the middle of her sleep cycle rather than at the end as she normally does, so it takes her a little longer than normal to realize why she woke up. The answer becomes apparent when she takes a deep breath and her lungs are filled with cold air. She’s freezing cold, from the tip of her nose to the bottoms of her feet. That explains her sudden wakefulness. Valentina can’t sleep if she’s too cold and she’s nearly sure she can see her breathe in the air despite being inside so she’s definitely too cold.

She reaches out for Juliana first and her hand lands on Juliana’s blanket-covered arm. Following the familiar path in the dark of the room, Valentina traces her way up towards Juliana’s neck and frowns when she encounters the much cooler skin of Juliana’s shoulder. Juliana makes a soft sound in her sleep, one of discomfort Valentina thinks, and then moves a little closer to Valentina in search of warmth. Valentina moves so Juliana can settle against her more easily and lets the woman burrow into the slight warmth that Valentina offers her.

With the arm not holding her girlfriend close, Valentina reaches blindly for her phone on the nightstand. It takes a bit of fumbling and stretching but she manages to find the device, unplug it, and bring it to her line of sight. The battery level isn’t too low, which makes Valentina think that the power hadn’t been off all that long yet. A quick check as to when the phone stopped charging confirms that the power had only been out for about half an hour. Which was actually pretty concerning, given how cold it was in the room. If she felt this cold after half an hour, how cold would she be when the power came back on? Probably too cold for comfort.

It’s Valentina’s experience with colder winters up north that has her gently shaking Juliana awake.

“Wake up, my love, we need to change into something warmer,” Valentina says as she rouses her girlfriend from her sleep. Juliana mumbles a questioning sound into Valentina’s neck and snuggles closer to her. “I know you don’t want to, but the power is out and we need to make sure we stay warm.”

“Isn’t the best way to share body heat to take off layers, not put more on?” Juliana’s question is spoken slowly, her words sluggish as she reluctantly wakes up. Valentina rolls her eyes, endlessly amused that even barely awake and probably freezing her ass off, Juliana still tries to get into Valentina’s pants.

“We can’t share body heat if our bodies aren’t warm,” Valentina tells her, placing her cold hand on Juliana’s shoulder. The contact makes Juliana jump slightly in surprise at the normally warm touch being so cold.

“Okay, point taken,” Juliana grumbles as she rolls away. Valentina watches with an amused smirk as Juliana reaches for the lamp on the bedside table out of habit and then sighs when the light doesn’t come on. “Right, no power. You said that.”

“I did,” Valentina confirms, turning on the flashlight on her phone. Juliana looks over her shoulder at her, clearly not impressed with the amused grin Valentina wears. “You should put on something warm, and socks.”

“I hate sleeping in socks,” Juliana grumbles in a far too adorable way for an adult woman. Valentina can’t help the laugh that escapes her and leans over to kiss Juliana’s shoulder in silent apology when she glares at Val over her shoulder.

“I know, but your toes will thank you when you don’t get frostbite.”

Still grumbling, Juliana climbs out of the bed and moves towards the closet to change into a long sleeve sleep shirt and sweatpants. Valentina follows after her and changes as well before she digs through her sock drawer for two pairs of warm, fuzzy socks.

“How long are we supposed to be without power?” Juliana asks as they’re climbing back into bed together.

“An hour or so I think,” Valentina pulls up the extra blanket that she’d added to the bed and then gladly lets Juliana pull her close. “The article said something about rolling blackouts, so this’ll happen again in a few hours but we should have power when we wake up.”

“Good,” Juliana presses a kiss to Valentina’s hair and holds her closer. “I am not built for this kind of cold.”

When Juliana wakes up again, she realizes almost immediately that the power is still off and, after checking her phone, probably had been off since she and Val went back to sleep about 6 hours ago. She’s pretty sure that the rolling blackouts Val mentioned weren’t supposed to last this long, and she wonders if maybe something had gone wrong with the apartment building’s power supply.

Leaving Valentina in bed for the time being, after kissing her forehead and making sure she didn’t wake up when Juliana extracted herself from Valentina’s embrace, Juliana pulled a beanie over her hair and slipped into a pair of shoes before making her way down to the building’s lobby, mask firmly in place over her mouth and nose. It seemed that she wasn’t the only tenant to have this idea as about 10 other people were already downstairs by the time Juliana walked in.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s nothing wrong with the building,” the landlord was saying as Juliana joined the growing crowd. “Every time I call the power company, they tell me to sit tight and wait it out. We should have power in a few hours.”

“So what do we do?” A male tenant who lived on the floor above Juliana’s asked. She could tell by his tone that he was frustrated, but he seemed to be angry about the situation rather than at the landlord. “My wife just had a baby, we have to keep her warm.”

“Bundle up, use your fireplace for heat, and try not to leave your apartment too much. I have stores of firewood in the basement for people who don’t have any on hand, but we’ll have to limit how much every apartment can get.”

“Seems fair enough,” another tenant agreed, wearing mismatched pajama pants and an animae hoodie. “I’ll take some firewood.”

After collecting her own small bundle of wood, Juliana took a little less than the others because she knew she and Val already had some in their apartment, Juliana climbed back up the stairs and made her way home.

“There you are,” Valentina said in obvious relief as Juliana closed the door behind her. “I was starting to get worried.”

“Sorry, baby,” Juliana set the wood down with the rest and then pulled Valentina into a hug. “I went to check with the landlord about the power. Apparently we just have to wait it out.”

Valentina frowned against Juliana’s neck at the advice before she pulled away and made her way towards the kitchen area.

“I guess that means no morning coffee,” Valentina grumbled, reaching for a bottle of water instead of her usual coffee cup.

“I’m sure you’ll survive without caffeine for a day.”

“I will sure, but you might want to kill me by the end of it.” Valentina smiled as Juliana moved closer to her and wrapped her arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her neck.

“Never,” Juliana squeezed Valentina around the waist. “But I might kick you out of our blanket fort.”

“Really? In the middle of a panorama?” Valentina shook her head facetiously. “The nerve of some people.”

Juliana laughed and leaned over Valentina’s shoulder for a proper kiss before letting her go. Valentina moved around the kitchen to put together something for them to eat for breakfast without opening the refrigerator while Juliana set to work building a fire in their fireplace. Valentina found a box of poptarts hidden in the pantry and pulled out a package to share with her girlfriend before moving into the living room with her.

“You were serious about that blanket fort, weren’t you?”

In the middle of their living room is a rather impressive bundle of blankets stretched over the couch and chairs stands. Juliana can spot Valentina’s laptop resting there, along with pillows for them to lean against and extra blankets to actually cover up with. Valentina had built the fort while Juliana had coaxed the fire to life, the flames casting a warm glow around the room.

“Shut up and get over here.”

“Yes ma’am,” Juliana chuckles but obediently crawls into the space to curl up with Valentina.

They spend the next few days in a similar manner, waiting for the power to come back on. There’s a few times when they do get power for about an hour or so, long enough to take a quick shower, heat up some food, and get their phones and laptops charged up, but it takes about four days before they actually have power for real. They keep in touch with family as best they can, offer to have Juliana’s mother come stay with them until the power is back but she insists that she’ll be fine with Panchito. (Juliana does not appreciate the jokes Valentina makes about how Lupita might be staying warm.)

After, in the return to normal - if there even is such a thing as normal while in the middle of a pandemic, Juliana feels like she could make it through anything as long as she has Valentina by her side. She’s made it through college, Covid, snovid, moving in together, and through every step she’s had Valentina there. Valentina has held her hand and helped her study, made her tea when she needed to relax and coffee when she needed to wake. She’s had Valentina to curl up with at night and to keep her warm through freezing temperatures.

All in all, even with the world in complete chaos, Juliana doesn’t mind so much as long as she gets to come home to Valentina at the end of it all.

#juliantina #juliantina fanfic #my fics #eso es amor #found this on my drive #kinda forgot about it #but i miss them #ambs writes #ambs fics #remember when we were getting a movie

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