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He had barely just sat down with a newly acquired novel, excited at the prospect of a couple of hours to himself in a near-empty tavern on the road to Zadash when Jester's horned shadow had blocked his limited reading light.
"Cayleb?" she whispers, leaning down until her mouth is very close to his ear.
Caleb resists the urge to freeze up and instead keeps his position relaxed. He's gotten much more used to the easy closeness and affection that Jester is so very good at. He can feel Jester's cold presence all along his back and he can picture the dimpled smile on her face as she disturbs his reading. Strangely, he isn't too bothered.
He hums out a response and keeps his eyes trained on his book. Jester takes it as a confirmation to continue and plows on, "Can I borrow Frumpkin? I just wanted to pet him." Her voice is innocent which is a clear sign she's up to no good. Caleb tears his eyes away from the book and turns around in his seat, bringing them face to face and extremely close.
Jester makes a sound and backs away quickly, her cheeks darkening even as she sways in place. "What exactly are you going to do with my cat?" He doesn't mean to sound as accusing as he does, but Caleb has travelled with Jester long enough to recognize her tells. Her tail is moving excitedly behind her, her fingers fidgeting and twisting, and she's nearly bouncing on her heels even as she waits. She is certainly up to something.
"I just want to pet him! Don't you trust me Caleb?" Her eyes go wide, eyebrows knitting together as she gives him her best pleading expression. They both know he's already agreed, will always agree, to what she wants.
He sighs dramatically and pretends to consider it. "Fine, fine," Caleb finally murmurs, turning to scoop up the cat in question from the bench next to him. His familiar let's out a meow of disapproval but the wizard holds him out to the eagerly awaiting Jester.
She squeals, reaching out to grab the cat. Caleb carefully deposits Frumpkin into her waiting arms, wondering if he'll have to find more incense to bring him back once Jester is done with him. "Just be nice to him, ja? He's not like your dog, he doesn't like to be treated rough." Jester nods, face solemn even as she presses a kiss to the top of Frumpkin's furry head.
He sends a command to Frumpkin in his mind, "Let her hold you as she wishes" as he remembers the broken look on her face as she dropped to the floor after the dragon, sobs pulling at her chest even as she tried to smile.
"I will be, like, the most careful," she promises before turning and heading up the stairs to her room for the night.
--
"What are you doing?"
Jester jumps a good foot in the air and turns around to face Caleb. Her hands move quickly to hide whatever she's got behind her back. He resists the urge to laugh and instead cocks a brow.
He'd spent a couple quiet hours reading, Caduceus comfortably at his side sipping tea and people watching when Caduceus had mysteriously told him, "You may want to find your cat. Just a feeling I have." Caleb had packed up his book and made his way to Jester and Beau's room and stumbled upon Jester and Frumpkin crammed into one side of the room. On the other side was a straining and barking Nugget, a piece of long purple ribbon tied to his collar and connecting him to the bed frame.
"Cayleb! Hi! Jeez, you scared me, you're so quiet sometimes maybe you learned it from Frumpkin, because you know, you're as quiet-" Jester is nervous, that much he can tell. She's obviously up to something no good.
He interrupts her nervous tirade with a nod to the space behind her. "What are you doing with my cat?" Jester's face twists into a guilt-ridden expression. She shuffles a little to her right, attempting to cover the very obviously frustrated Frumpkin with the folds of her skirts.
She blinks prettily, offering him a sweet smile and Caleb is almost, almost distracted enough to forget what he was doing.
"Jester," he warns, a scowl pulling at his lips even as amusement washes through him.
Jester brings her hands in front to show him the slimy looking fish clutched in one blue fist while the other hand spreads out in a placating gesture. "Okay, okay, I was just trying to give Frumpkin a treat, okay?"
Caleb looks from the fish, to the dog straining against his makeshift leash, to his frazzled looking cat in the corner. He can't possibly begin to imagine what Jester is even up to at this point.
Caleb shuts the door behind him and steps further into the room. Jester gulps, looking ridiculous with that fish held like a sword out in front of her. He leans against the small writing desk and sends Jester a questioning look.
Jester's eyes glance between Caleb and the tied down Nugget before her shoulders drop with disappointment. "Okay Nugget, nevermind, you're a good boy," she says in a defeated voice as Nugget yelps excitedly and blinks out of the ribbon leash, out of the room, and silence is all that's left in his wake.
A moment later he reappears at Caleb's side, yipping excitedly and licking at Caleb's exposed ankle. The wizard rolls his eyes but allows the frantic licking to continue without complaint. "So are you going to tell me what you were doing?"
Jester pushes her lip out into a pout and Caleb pretends that his heart doesn't start dancing double time in his chest. She's so beautiful standing there in her dirtied traveling dress, her hair mussed and tangled around her freckled face, and a fish in her grasp.
He distractedly thinks, Ah, I love this odd woman.
"Well..." she begins nervously, finally dropping the fish in front of Frumpkin with a wet slapping sound before taking a few steps towards Caleb. She sinks onto the bed, her legs folding beneath her while she chews gently on her bottom lip. "I just thought, you know, Nugget and Frumpkin could learn to be best friends and then they could spend time together and it would be, like, really cool for them."
Caleb's mind goes blank. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you understand how their strange mind works.
"You wanted... my cat and your dog to be... best friends." He's so incredulous that he can't even bother putting the proper inflection a question would need.
Jester flushes but raises her head stubbornly. "Yes, okay, I thought maybe if they could get along then..." her words fade away as a tiny shrug moves her shoulders. "I thought then it would be okay for us to spend more time together."
The logic is so simply Jester that he can't help the soft smile that curls at his mouth. Jester misreads his expression and hunches miserably into herself. "It's a stupid idea." Caleb pushes off the desk and walks carefully to her side, avoiding the excited mutt and the angry glare of his cat. He settles across from her on the bed and folds his own gangly legs underneath him.
"Nien, I do not think it is a stupid idea." He waits for Jester to look at him, for a glimpse of those shining eyes, but she remains focused on the bed. "I think it was very sweet, libeling. You are very..." Caleb searches for the right word in an endless list of Jester's good traits. "You are kind." He reaches out and catches her hand with his own, giving it a light squeeze.
She sighs. Finally, her eyes lift to meet his. "I just thought then we could share a room. I'm tired of sleeping without you," Jester admits in a quiet, honest voice that she reserves for their time together. He brings her hand to his lips, presses a sweet kiss to the top and waits for the rest of what she has to say. "The others know. They're okay with us but you still haven't asked me to stay with you. So I figured, okay you know Nugget is really difficult and makes Frumpkin scared so maybe that's why you don't want to share a room."
Caleb is shaking his head before Jester has even finished speaking. "Nien, my thoughtful girl, I just did not think..." he sighs and brings her hand to rest over his heart. "I did not think. I can be a very stupid man sometimes. You will need to tell me what you need."
Jester peers up at him and he relaxes as the beginnings of a smile form on her full lips. How quickly she is to forgive, to love him despite his countless faults. "I want to share a room with you. Tonight and every night, even if it means Frumpkin and Nugget are difficult." Caleb laughs and chances a glance behind him.
In the corner sits Frumpkin and Nugget, side by side, sharing the remains of the fish from Jester. Jester cheers, her arms wrapping around Caleb's neck as she throws herself onto him in her joy. He flops back on the bed, wrapping his own arms around her waist to pull her close. She snuggles into his chest, mindful of her horns, and sighs happily.
He would gladly walk through fire to hear nothing but those sounds come from her lips for the rest of his life.
"I love you," she mumbles into his shirt, the words muffled but no less true.
Caleb smooths a hand over her tangled hair. "I love you too," he whispers.
They continue to lay there together and resolutely ignore the bark of excitement and hiss of rage that comes from the corner of the room.
At least for a little while.