Chapter Text
Courting a free spirited young woman like Jade required quite a bit of planning, of course. Quickly, Kanaya had insisted that before they truly go ahead with their plans that she get to know Jade better. After all, Rose's infatuation was long standing and rooted in emotions of trust and friendship, but her own was based on superficial attraction.
Of course, the easiest way to become closer as quite simple- she would join gardening duties with Jade and Roxy. Jade was quite the avid and talented gardner, but Kanaya was no stranger to the art of growing and landscaping, so it really was a perfect fit. Rose was happy to give her the space to cultivate her feelings like a seedling, germinating into a true budding plant.
For the first few days, it was routine. Rose spent her time discussing the future with the others, and made sure to thoroughly enjoy her hour long time with her three closest friends each day- the routine time they'd set aside for each other. Similarly, she saw Kanaya off with a kiss in the morning for each gardening session, and at night for each evening watering.
After that, they'd sit somewhere together, sipping tea and working quietly on their writing, and Rose would ask, “how is she, darling?”
Each time, Kanaya would reply with something along the lines of, “I'm fond of her,” and that would be that.
Then, after five days of this routine of gardening and quiet talk of Jade, Kanaya had come running into Rose's room, her cheeks practically glowing as she gripped Rose's arms, staring at her frantically. “Rose, darling, it's awful!”
“And what could possibly be so terrible that you felt the need to run to me?”
“She must know what we're planning. Rose, she's very smart you know.”
“Yes, I'm aware of Jade's intelligence. What's the matter?” Kanaya averted her gaze then, as if she hadn't expected Rose to ask for clarification, which was clearly ridiculous. The full story was essential to formulating an opinion. When she did not immediately continue, Rose sighed. “I suppose she did something to embarrass you then. Did she ask you to bite her?”
“I wish, that would have been easy. No, it was.. Worse.”
“Oh? And what could have possibly been worse than a sly werewolf asking you to sink your teeth into her skin?” Rose teased her fingers up Kanaya's arm, and Kanaya coughed, taking a step away from her.
“Well, that is exactly the problem. You do remember when I got into your books, yes?”
“I do. You were quite enamoured with a certain pair of vampire woman in one of the series I own.”
“Aside from a few factual errors about the true nature of Rainbow Drinkers, it was a riveting read. That does not matter,” she pushed a hand towards Rose, who was smiling at her in a way that suggested Kanaya was not really being taken seriously, the kind of look she could only muster a sigh for before she continued, “Rose, this is incredibly dire. It appears Jade is also well acquainted with that story.”
“Gasp! Are you suggesting that, perhaps, our dear sweet werewolf might have once enjoyed the fine literary work that is Twilight?” Rose feigned a look of scandalized shock, but Kanaya only nodded solemnly, hands clasped in front of her. Stepping into her personal space, Rose grabbed Kanaya's hand from her front, kissing it gently, “while I understand your excitement that Jade might have once read a book containing vampires, I'm not quite certain I understand why this is such a concerning event.”
Immediately, Kanaya explained with a frantic urgency, “your dear sweet Jade touched my hand and stood extremely- and almost uncomfortably for a platonic engagement, might I add- close to me, and she spoke in that overenthusiastic woofbeast voice she uses, but much lower. Then, she told me that she believed the book would have been more palatable if the werewolves and the vampires had simply dated each other and put aside their problems.”
“Yes, Jade always did love her happy endings, however irrational they might have been in the context of the story.” Rose spoke with a detached interest, but she was smiling quite widely as she did, “did this upset you? Perhaps further attempts to romantically engage her should be halted.”
“No!” Kanaya coughed immediately after her exclamation, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, “er. Perhaps, instead, we should further engage her.”
“This could become dangerous, Rose.”
“Then it is a good thing we adore danger, isn't it? Although most traditional daredevils prefer sky diving to navigating polyamorous interspecies crushes.”
Rose knew Kanaya was not really putting up a fight at all- she was officially interested in Jade, beyond simply superficial standards. Rose assumed there was more than just a sidelong comment about a teen romance novel afoot, but she made no effort to force Kanaya to divulge the information, happy to leave her girlfriend with her secrets. Aside from that, she was not too surprised at what the tipping point had been, just endlessly endeared with both of her romantic interests.
The two of them had to actually sit down and plan after that, but a small change of routine was no problem. It was just a matter of Jade, really.
That afternoon, Rose left Kanaya with Karkat and Roxy to go meet up with her friends, the four of them settling on a sandy outcrop on the beach in their swimwear. Dave insisted on sitting his whiny ass on a beach towel, and John sat with him, while Jade bravely sat on the sand and sank her toes in it, encouraging Rose to do the same. Reluctantly, she sat herself down.
John piped up quickly, a wide smile on his face, “Dirk and Dave had a rap battle today and it was just as shitty as you'd think it'd be.”
“Is that so?” Rose quirked an eyebrow, and Dave glared, shoving at him.
“Fuck off, asshole. Not my fault the world blew up and the only relevant thing to happen before that was Obama.”
“Actually, a lot of shit happened, but you are full of it and have no idea what pop culture is.”
“Says Mr. Shitty-nineties-action-films. Fucking ugly deadpan acting and fancy ass CGI doesn't make a good movie, you asshole.”
The two of them kept going, and Rose turned to Jade, gesturing towards them with a roll of the eyes. Jade nodded her agreement, and then stood up, right as John and Dave began toeing the line between acceptable public conduct around ectobiological siblings. “Rose and I are going swimming! So keep doing whatever you are doing, it's fine. Even though I've caught you doing it at least ten times,” she scowled, turning away, “and heard it even more. Eugh.”
Despite the fact that Rose had never actually agreed to Jade's plan to wade into the ocean, she stood and followed her into the water anyway, the cool wash of the waves nice on her warm feet. Jade was already waist deep, and Rose took a deep breath, channelling her inner New York cold tolerance before she plunged in after her.
Rather than actually swim, she grabbed Jade's hands tight, keeping her from going any further. “It's. Quite chilly, out here. Somehow, I did not anticipate that,” despite her tolerance, she shivered- but then silently thanked her lack of foresight when Jade enveloped her in a hug, her body heat strong. The shivering subsided, but Jade didn't move away, instead rubbing Rose's back gently.
“Don't worry, I've got you Rose! I'll protect you from the big scary hypothermia monster, I promise.”
“Oh, what a true charmer, chivalry has been reborn in your hands,” she would have feigned a swoon, but Jade was comfortably warm and Rose was unwilling to compromise her comfort. “Jade, I have something to ask you.”
“Ask away, princess.” Well, that was a nickname Rose hadn't heard since third grade Halloween, and she couldn't help smiling at the reminder.
“Kanaya and I,” she paused, really letting the dual invitation sink in before she continued, “would like you to join us after dinner, outside. For some tea.”
Jade gasped, squeezing Rose tighter for a moment, “you want me to interrupt your special girlfriend time?”
“I- Pardon?”
“Special Girlfriend Time. You two are always out there, doing that thing where you're comfortable with someone and can hang out without blabbing at each other constantly.”
“Yes, well, I suppose so- but we can do that with many people. I can do that with Dave and Dirk and even John. You're free to approach us then.”
“You say that, but it's definitely your 'us' time. Which just makes me think, 'Wow! I must be really special to be invited.'” More than you know, Rose thought, smiling into the crook of Jade's arm.
“Then, I'll see you tonight, with Kanaya.” She paused, and then peered up at Jade, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “I don't suppose the boys are missing us right now, are they?”
Jade squinted, and then scrunched her nose up in distaste, “I think Dave's tongue is in John's mouth.”
The two of them actually swam after that, with John and Dave joining them soon enough, and the four of them were splashing around and laughing like there was nothing else in the universe more important. Which, for them in that moment, was true. When they got tired of swimming and dragged themselves to shore, they all squished and squeezed on top of one another, falling asleep in the sun.
Dave woke up with a tanline in the shape of Rose's arm, and a nasty sunburn. Rose woke up with sand in her mouth. The sun was waning as well, leaving the beach chilly enough that they all departed to shower the sand and salt out of their hair and change.
By the time dinner rolled around, Rose was prim and proper once more, refreshed from a thorough scrubbing and a preemptive application of a sunburn salve that Kanaya had created to help Karkat adjust to the sunlight on his skin. She was pretty sure she saw Dave caked in the salve as well, and wouldn't be at all surprised if whoever had helped him with the application would find their hands sticky with it for many hours.
Feeling fresh, she settled at the table between her brother and her girlfriend, and while she ate calmly, on the inside she was buzzing with excitement. Under the table she gripped her hand, and then leaned in, whispering, “Jade said yes.”
There was nothing more to say. The two of them shared a smile before continuing to eat, and after dinner they were the first to excuse themselves to go set up for tea. Kanaya noted that Karkat would be on tea duty for the night, thank god. It would turn out decent then.
When they set up, the routine comfort and relaxation that normally permeated their evening time together was replaced with a heady sort of excitement, the kind that thrummed in their veins. Rose would have been uncertain if that excitement was shared, if not for the fact that each time she looked at Kanaya she was met with that same shy, eager smile.
By the time Jade came over to them, they were sipping a mug of tea each, and a third sat on their designated grass blanket, Jade's name written all over it. She took two sugars and no cream, and Rose watched the way she smiled at the cup, pleased to see no milk. Someone always messed it up and put milk.
“Hi you two!” As if she was made to break tense silences, Jade beamed at them, her tail wagging behind her. “You wanted me to come to your quiet girlfriend time, right? I brought a book, it's alright,” she started muttering to herself, and right as Rose realised she was opening her sylladex a hefty textbook on molecular theory landed in her arms. “Tah dah!”
“Jade, no, it's alright- Although that looks like quite the riveting tale you have there, Kanaya and I wanted to speak to you this evening, if that's alright.”
“Oh,” she recaptchalogued the textbook, brushing her hands clean of book dust, “alright! Speak away, I'm all ears.” Jade's ears twitched then, and Kanaya giggled, leaving Rose overwhelmed with a feeling of adoration. She was enamoured with them both so much, her heart was overflowing.
She couldn't at all resist asking anymore, despite her nerves, and she gripped Kanaya's hand as if the two of them were trying to approach Jade about adoption, smiling at her, “we've been speaking, Kanaya and I, very intently.”
“Oh?” Jade perked up, curious, and Kanaya nodded, following Rose's lead.
“Yes, we have. We often do, but lately the topic of interest has been everyone's favourite werewolf,” she coughed, and Jade blinked a few times, before gasping.
“You two talk about me?”
“That's what we've been explaining, Jade,” Rose leaned over to touch her hand as well, creating a linked chain between them, “you see, we've both noticed you... Flirting. With us both.”
It was that moment that she watched Jade's face crumple in guilt, taking Rose's words much differently as she brought her hands in closer to herself. Before Rose could interject, she muttered out a quiet, “so you noticed,” and then sighed, “I'm really sorry you two, I know you both like each other and I don't want you to break up but you're both really, really pretty and smart and nice and you smell good and I kind of let myself forget you're both taken! But obviously it is really not appropriate, especially since you brought me here to tell me to sto-”
“Jade!” While Rose had been happy to let Jade get it all out, Kanaya interjected, glaring at her, “be quiet, please! You are being stupid and overreacting. Does Rose look upset?” Really, Rose felt that she looked surprised at Kanaya's outburst, and Jade looked the same, too shocked to be upset at the scorn. Shaking her head, Kanaya gripped Jade's hand firmly, forcing eye contact. “We brought you here because we decided werewolves and vampires should not fight.”
Blinking in confusion, Jade's eyebrows furrowed together as she thought, and she turned to Rose for help, only getting a smile in response. “Uh... What?”
Kanaya groaned, her head tilting back to the sky, “it is Twilight, Jade! I am suggesting we engage in polyamorous interspecies lesbian Twilight.”
While Jade gaped at the words, Rose moved closer, gently running her hand down Jade's shoulder, “you're a very big and strong werewolf, it would be a great shame if you turned us down and left me vulnerable to the hands of my dangerous, sharp, unpredictable alien vampire lover,” while she spoke she leaned in, and by the time Rose had finished speaking she was doing so into Jade's ear, her voice barely a whisper.
Jade swallowed, and then licked her dry lips- before she finally nodded. “You're right. That would be, uh.. Very bad! I have to be there to keep her in check, obviously. It will be very dangerous for you otherwise, and you are such a frail and weak human who I must protect with my big wolf body,” Rose kissed her bare shoulder, and Jade shuddered, her face reddening in embarrassment and excitement.
Kanaya looked on in amusement, before Jade pointed at her, hand only slightly shaking from the kisses Rose was already laying onto her skin, “and you! Foul, gorgeous, seductive villain! I must keep you in line and show you the way of the light, even though you are the pretty glowy one and I run around at night howling. But that is just specifics!” She gestured Kanaya over, frowning, “come on, I'm not a writer like you, I can't keep doing this. Can we just kiss?”
It must have been a moving enough suggestion, and Kanaya finally relented, moving in to kiss her forehead gently, “I apologize. It was too amusing watching you flounder around in your honest attempt to woo me with your regretfully mediocre prose.”
“I'm quite happy to admit I don't like you for your writing,” Rose added, kissing Jade's cheek. “I suppose then, you'll be happy to call yourself taken?”
“Obviously! I've been flirting with you two for ages! I didn't think I could have both. Does this mean I can join special girlfriend time?” Rose peered at Kanaya from behind Jade's head, shooting her a sly smile.
“That was what we hoped, Jade,” she kissed Jade's cheek once more, and Kanaya stole a kiss on the neck, before the three of them laid down on their blanket, further detailing the specifics that navigating such an unconventional romance, especially for Kanaya. Rose felt giddy with excitement, high on the feelings of romance in the air, and she was sure by the smile on both of her girlfriend's faces, the feeling was mutual. Surely, Bella Swan would have wished she was this lucky.