Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Beau had not intended to sign up for a mission when she visited the Cobalt Soul in Zadash. Really she’d only been looking for the library to find a particular book for Caleb, but as soon as one of the monks — one she vaguely recognised but who seemed to know who she was very well — saw her he’d pulled her into another room, explaining that they had a situation.

Apparently, a very important ball was going to be held that night, the Cobalt Soul had received word that multiple someones would be in attendance for nefarious purposes. The only problem was, it was invitation only, and the someones that the Cobalt Soul were keeping an eye on were unfortunately aware of many Cobalt Soul members, making it difficult for them to infiltrate since this particular ball was known to have many magical measures of detecting disguise spells and other such tricks.

But perhaps it would not be so difficult for Beau and her forgery-inclined friends, who were unlikely to be on the radar of the supposed evil-doers.

Oh, and the ball was also one of the most important balls on the yearly calendar for any noble in Wildemount, which made everything slightly more complicated. The Annual Dance. Its official title was far longer and more tedious than that, but just about everyone defaulted to calling it the Annual Dance.

Why? Well, it was really quite simple.

“A dancing competition?” Jester’s face with alight with joy, her hands clapped on her cheeks as she bounced on her toes. “That’s so exciting!”

“It’s way stuffier than it sounds.” Beau grimaced, folding her arms. She’d returned from the Cobalt Soul with notes on the book Caleb had asked her for, and news of the mission, which she hadn’t yet properly accepted.

“Wait, so it’s a dancing competition for rich people?” Fjord scratched his head, squinting. “The Empire is weird.”

Beau shrugged. “Basically. It started off as mostly an excuse to make connections and broker marriage deals, but then some people actually started to take the dancing seriously, made up a prize. Now it’s a whole thing.”

“It sounds so amazing!” Jester had a faraway look in her eyes like she was imagining it. “It would be so fun!”

“Did you go to many of them, Beau?” Yasha had her arms folded, one eyebrow raised the entire time Beau had been explaining the mission she’d been offered.

“Yeah, my parents dragged me to a bunch. The official competitions and stuff were always super bland, but usually, once that was all over they’d let the kids take the floor and have some actual fun.” Beau’s lip quirked up a little, remembering the fleeting moments of fun she’d been able to have before her parents would always drag her away from the dance floor, insisting that wasn’t how proper ladies should dance. It happened every time, but it didn’t stop her and the other enterprising rich kids from across the Empire from trying year after year.

She was pretty sure she’d had her first kiss behind a curtain at one of those dances, actually. With a girl from Rexxuntrum.

“I went to one of those once.” Caleb spoke up, wincing a little.

“Really? I didn’t know you were a ricchhhh kidddd, Caleb~” Jester leaned up against Caleb, elbowing him gently in the ribs and resting her head on his shoulder.

Caleb nudged her away, looking slightly uncomfortable. “It was while I was with the uh-Cerberus Assembly. They often scouted it to establish connections and look for promising and physically fit young people to recruit.”

“Ah.” Jester blinked, obviously a little caught off-guard by that response.

“Of course there’s a conspiracy behind it.” Fjord sighed. “Does that mean we’ll have to worry about those assholes being there if we accept this mission?”

Beau shrugged, and Caleb shook his head. “Not if it is in Zadash this year. They tend to leave it alone unless it is held in Rexxuntrum. It is not that important to them.”

“Wait, are we actually going to do this? How will we even get in?” Nott spoke up.

“The Cobalt Soul has two invitations they managed to get, they just can’t send any of their operatives because they risk being recognised. But we’re all from out of town, so we might be able to slip by. They suggested two of us cause a distraction while the rest of us sneak in to go looking for the whoevers they want us to investigate.”

“That sounds fun.” Caduceus said. “But who gets the invitations?”

Beau folded her arms, fiddling with the ends of her wrapping. “So we’re doing it? You guys are all cool with it?”

“Do we get paid?” Nott asked, hands on her hips.

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m in. But I’m definitely not making a distraction.”

“What kind of distraction would they need?” Yasha asked. “I could make a big distraction.”

“They said it needed to be subtle, not… big and massive. Something like just joining the dance competitions. It’s almost always the same people every year, so new faces get rich people and everyone who works for them interested like moths to a candle.” Beau said.

“Rich people love gossip.” Jester nodded knowingly, and Beau smirked at her, knowing that Jester loved gossip just as much as other rich people did. To be fair, she liked gossip as well.

“Well then, who’re the best dancers?” Fjord asked, and they all looked around at each other.

Immediately, Jester thrust her hand into the air, bouncing on one spot. “I am! I’m a wonderful dancer, my Mama taught me and she’s so good I could do it I’ve always wanted to go to a ball and a dance party!”

No one was at all surprised by this, and Jester was quickly confirmed as the recipient of invitation number one. Which then left the question of who would get invitation number two. No one put their hand up, and Beau bit her lip. Sure, she’d taken/been forced into dance lessons when she was young, but chances were one of the others would be better at it than her.

Sure, a part of her actually really wanted to do it, but she couldn’t just say that out loud. One of the others might be better. Yeah. 

Nott suggested both Fjord and Caleb, reasoning that one of the two would make an inconspicuous match for Jester and definitely not at all because Nott was deadset on getting Jester a boyfriend. Not at all.

But both men denied being good dancers, even when Jester wheedled Caleb about having danced with her in Hupperdook.

“Firstly, I was drunk. Second, we spun in circles. I don’t think that counts as the caliber of dancing that blending into a competition would require.” Caleb had folded his arms, looking flustered and holding up two fingers as he made his points.

“Well someone’s got to dance with me!” Jester spun in a little circle and pouted. “I’m a very cute dance partner, you know.”

“I’m sure you are. I just don’t know if any of the rest of us can match your skill.” Caduceus was smiling, and Beau could have sworn he was looking right at her. She quickly turned away, feeling her cheeks flushing and praying no one noticed. Gods, he could be eerie sometimes.

“Then I’ll just have to dance with all of you and pick the best one!” Jester proclaimed. “Can any of you play an instrument?”

As it turned out, Caduceus could play the flute, which Jester had to paint using her magical paint. Once he had it, it also turned out that he could play quite a few songs on it, cycling through a couple before he picked one with a tune that Jester was satisfied with, warm with a quick tempo.

“Come on Yasha, you’re first!” Jester called out, bouncing on her toes and grabbing Yasha’s arms, pulling her towards a relatively open space amongst the group. Yasha went along with it for a while, soon proving to not be a very good dancer, but very talented at spinning Jester around so many times she got dizzy.

“I do not think I would be very good for this.” Yasha eventually pulled back, an awkward smile on her face. “Undercover work is… not my style.”

Caleb was next, proving to be at least reasonably competent in exactly one kind of dance, the most boring waltz imaginable. He also claimed an unwillingness to play the part to begin with, and soon enough Jester let him go, where he stood next to Yasha.

Fjord proved similarly incapable of keeping time with any song Caduceus could think of, sheepishly admitting that though he could do a pretty mean line dance, it probably wasn’t appropriate for the kind of event they were hoping to infiltrate.

Nott was ruled out on account of height difference making it a bit difficult, though Jester swung her around in a dance for a few minutes anyway, the both of them laughing the entire time. Then it was Beau’s turn.

Jester let Nott go, spinning up to where Beau was leaning up against a tree trying very hard not to look like she’d been watching Jester laugh and spin and dance the entire time.

“Come on, Beau~” Jester grinned widely at her, her teeth shining as she took Beau’s hands in hers, pulling her into the makeshift dancefloor. She squeezed her hands, taking the lead in a simple dance, full of spins and twirls.

At first, Jester kept it a little slow, but when Beau was able to easily keep up and avoid stepping on her toes as Fjord and Yasha had, she shot her a mischievous grin and called for Caduceus to play something faster. After a few moments, an old folk song that had been famous in Wildemount for centuries began to play, something that both Jester and Beau knew well, a song that was designed to get faster and faster as it repeated, with the dancers speeding up accordingly.

Beau knew a challenge when she saw one and grinned, the both of them pausing for a moment to get into the proper position to dance to the song, staring at each other in a silent promise of competition. Jester’s eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were a light shade of purple, and if Beau was blushing too, well she’d blame it on all the spins Jester had already put her through.

They began to dance, Beau’s left hand holding Jester’s right and their other hands resting on each other's waists, their feet moving back and forth in a complicated step that had taken Beau weeks to get right as a child. Every now and then they’d separate, spinning away where usually they would find a new partner to dance with, but instead coming back to one another to start it all over again.

Jester’s melodic laughter carried through the air and soon Beau was laughing too. She could hear a few of the others cheering them on as they got even faster, felt her cheeks getting hotter from the thrill and the exertion. Every time Jester’s hand found its way back to her waist again she felt her heart leap into her chest, and every time they met to restart the dance she locked eyes with her, smiles wide, and Beau’s stomach twisted into knots. She chalked it down to wanting to win.

Finally, the song stopped abruptly, and Beau and Jester jolted to a stop in the middle of a spin, breathing heavily but neither willing to be the first to declare defeat. Caduceus coughed lightly, taking a drink from his waterskin.

“Sorry about that.” He said, a slight smile on his face. “I’m afraid I’m a bit out of practice.”

“I think that settles it.” Caleb was smiling too. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits actually, a little bit of fun being just what they needed after a few long weeks of travelling. Even if they were going to be jumping right back into high-stakes adventure, perhaps this could hopefully be a bit of fun too. “I think you’re the only one who can keep up, Beau.”

“I would’ve beaten you eventually if Caduceus hadn’t stopped,” Beau smirked and winked at Jester, who covered her mouth with a hand, sidling up next to her.

“We’ll have to find out at the Dance, partner .” she hip-checked her and Beau felt her cheeks flush again. Oh, gods, she was going to be Jester’s dance partner. And undercover partner.

“Does this mean you will have to pretend to be a couple?” Caduceus asked innocently, and Beau shot him a look of betrayal. He knew exactly what he was doing, dammit.

Jester gasped like she hadn’t considered the idea yet, but she looked genuinely excited about it. “Oh, that would be so great! We can pretend to be loveeeeeeers-” She drew out the last syllable for as long as she could and Beau had to hide her face in her hands, hastily trying to disguise it as a cough.

Pretend. Hah. Yeah.

“Sounds great, Jes!” She choked out. Gods help her.

“This is going to be so amazing!” Jester shouted, throwing her arms up in the air. “A super fancy dance party with rich people!”

“Yeah, you two get to dance the night away while the rest of us do the real work.” Nott stuck her tongue out at them, folding her arms but not looking entirely serious.

“I feel like you missed the part where I said how boring most of it was.” Beau couldn’t help but smile at Jester’s infectious enthusiasm.

“Then we’ll just make it fun! We’ll have to be a distraction, won’t we?” Jester turned to face her, striking a pose that was unfortunately attractive, her voice dropping low in a facsimile of seriousness. “Attract the attention of all the rich people, make them wonder who we are ~ where we came from ~ what two mysterious strangers are doing at the most important dance of all of eternity.”

Beau snorted, stifling it with a hand. Yeah, they’d manage to attract attention simply by virtue of both being girls and Jester being a tiefling.

Jester’s face lit up, and she broke her pose to hold her hands close to her chest, jumping up and down on the spot and squealing.

“Plus we get to crush the competition.” Beau pointed out, and Jester stopped, her eyes lighting up.

“We will destroy the competition.” She said solemnly. “They won’t know what hit them.”

Chapter Text

Once they’d decided that Beau and Jester were going to be infiltrating the Annual Dance as competitors and attendees as a distraction while the others snuck in the backway, they realised that they had very little time before the Dance would actually begin, so they split up.

Beau, Caleb, Nott, and Fjord went back to the Cobalt Soul to formally accept the mission and find out all the information they would need to know, leaving Jester, Yasha and Caduceus to try and gather anything else they would need for the job itself.

Which of course, led them to the shopping district, looking at all the dresses they could find.

“What about this one?” Yasha asked, holding up a soft green dress with lots of ruffles and lace.

“Hmm.” Jester eyed it critically, before shaking her head. “It doesn’t go with my eyes. Or Beau’s eyes.”

Yasha looked down at the dress again, looked back up at Jester, before throwing the dress over her shoulder into a pile alongside the other rejected options. In the corner of the store, a clerk looked like she was about to have an aneurysm, but a few shakes of Jester’s coin purse (thankfully rather heavy at the moment) was enough to get her to leave them alone.

“I don’t know if this store will have the right dress either.” Caduceus said, looking around.

“I don’t understand why the first one wasn’t good enough.” Yasha frowned slightly. “It was practical and the right size. You could even hide a dagger in it.”

Jester sighed theatrically. “Those are all very important, but I want my dress to be perfect .” She picked up another dress. If they’d had more time she’d be able to design one and get it tailored just for her, but unfortunately they didn’t have that kind of time.

“Why? Just for curiosity’s sake.” Caduceus asked. Jester sighed again, a bit more dreamily this time.

“I’ve never been a ball or a big fancy dance before, but I’ve always wanted to. I’ve read stories, where the princess descends from the tops of the stairs in the most beautiful dress imaginable, with a crown on her head and her hair braided and decorated, and sparkles in her eyes, and at the bottom of the steps her prince is there to take her hand and they can dance the night away, and it’s so romantic ~” She realised she’d closed her eyes, getting lost in the fantasy a little, swaying from side to side as she imagined the slow, romantic dance. Of course, once the dance was over the prince would lead the princess out to a balcony, where they’d share a kiss under the moonlight-

“Jester?” Her eyes burst open, seeing both Caduceus and Yasha were looking at her, the latter with one eyebrow raised.

“And… you want to do this with Beau?” Yasha asked, and Jester froze. Wait, hang on. Beau was her friend .

“I-I mean, obviously it’s different with Beau. She’s my friend, and it’s for a mission so it won’t be actually romantic.” Instinctively Jester dusted off the skirt of her dress, rolling her eyes dramatically and pretending she hadn’t already suggested she and Beau pretend to be lovers. That had just been a joke .

Yes. Definitely just a joke.

“I’m just saying , dances are suuuuuuuuper cool and I’ve always wanted to go to one so the dress has to be perfect.”

She waved a hand dismissively, turning around so they couldn’t see her cheeks flushing. Oh, how embarrassing. “Wow, it’s really hot today, isn’t it?”

“It’s autumn.” Caduceus said mildly.

“And what a hot autumn day it is then. Wowlookatthisdress!” Jester pulled a random dress from the pile in front of her, holding it up. “Oh.”

It was a tea length dress, with a wide layered skirt that was white at the tips and faded into a soft blue as it got closer to the waist, which was held by a soft ribbon that matched the white of the hems of the dress. It had an asymmetric neckline, the fabric looping over the left shoulder, and the top half of the dress was fully baby blue, with sparkles shimmering from every single inch of it. It was simple, but it was soft, it was beautiful, and the waistline was high enough that her tail would fit easily under the skirt. If properly accessorised, it would be perfect.

“Wow.” She said, before turning around. “I’m going to try this on!”

She didn’t wait for Yasha and Caduceus to respond before racing around to a small room that had been designated as a changing room.

When she came back out with the dress on, Caduceus and Yasha nodded appreciatively, even though both of them had very little idea of what constituted high fashion. But they were supportive, which was all Jester needed.

“I like the sparkles.” Yasha said. She tilted her head, before continuing. “And it is easy to run away from guards in.”

“The colour goes well with your skin and hair.” Caduceus said, and Jester twirled in the dress, grinning.

“It’s perfect!” She threw her arms up in the air, already imagining how hot she was going to look. This was going to be amazing.

They paid for the dress (after Jester changed back into her normal clothes) and quickly vacated the store, with no time to waste on the search for the rest of her outfit. They met up with the others for lunch to compare notes, and Jester stubbornly hid her dress from everyone who hadn’t yet seen it.

“It’s a surprise~” She winked, casually batting Nott’s hands away from the bag. “But it’s very beautiful and you’ll all faint from how pretty I am.”

“Ah shit, I need to get clothes too.” Beau scowled, pulling at her jacket. “I don’t think showing up in monk gear will help with blending in.”

“Where are you going to find a dress?” Nott asked, raising an eyebrow, before looking Beau up and down. “Is it even possible for you to wear a dress?”

“I will kill everyone at that damn dance before I wear a dress.” Beau hissed, her eye twitching.

“I saw some wonderful suits while we were out looking for dresses for Jester.” Caduceus said, handily avoiding a rant about how much Beau hated dresses.

Beau seemed slightly mollified by that, though still muttered under her breath about having to dress up in fancy clothes.

They split off again fairly quickly, to finish up all the shopping they needed to do to get ready for the dance. The others knew who they were trying to find and what they were trying to do, locate some shady family that would be in attendance and swipe some documents from them, but Jester didn’t really pay attention to the details, since she wouldn’t need to worry about that part of the mission anyway.

Instead, she got to dance the night away in a beautiful dress with Beau, who was probably going to wear an amazing suit and it would be so fun and romantic totally platonic! Just two best friends dancing together while the rest of their friends committed various felonies! Nothing strange about that!

Once she’d gotten everything she needed, they met up again at the Pillow Trove, where they’d rented out a few rooms for the night for purposes of helping Beau and Jester blend in with the rest of high society that would be attending the dance.

Jester went in one room with Nott, Caduceus and Caleb to make sure she had everything, with the added job of making sure she looked super cute.

They weren’t very good at it, to be honest, since none of them could do makeup better than Jester could do herself, and Caleb was banned from touching anything since he was so dirty.

At first, Jester was almost bouncing off the walls from excitement. She pulled on her dress, just as pretty as when she’d first tried it on, slipping on the heels and opera gloves she’d found to match the colour of her dress, carefully doing her makeup just like Mama had showed her. Just a little bit of blush, a little bit of eyeshadow and mascara, lipstick to make her smile pop. She had a silver necklace that she’d brought from the last time she’d been home in Nicodranas, with a deep sapphire hanging off the chain, sparkling in the fading sunlight.

Nott and Caduceus offered to do her hair, brushing it through and braiding it as much as they could. It forced Jester to sit still and not fidget, leaving her with nothing to distract herself with but her thoughts.

Inevitably, they were focused on the night that would be ahead of her. And Beau. Her heart fluttered at the thought of it, her hands feeling a little clammy. It was just… so exciting. Her first dance, her first ball. That was all.

There was a knock on the door, followed by Beau’s voice, “Jes, you ready?”

Jester felt her heart leaping into her chest, as Nott called out that they only need a few more seconds. In the mirror, Jester watched her two hairdressers put the finishing touches on their work. They’d left her bangs alone for the most part, but had braided the rest of her hair into a crown, tiny little flowers that had been plucked from Caduceus’ staff tucked into the folds. Her regular silver charms and chains hung from her horns, wiped clean of any dirt and grime from weeks of travelling, shining brightly.

“There we go.” Nott stepped back, admiring her handiwork. “Perfect!”

“You look very nice, Jester.” Caleb voiced his approval from where he had been standing very carefully and not touching anything.

Caduceus was nodding as well. “You and Beau will make a lovely couple.”

Cheeks flushed, Jester grinning. “We will , won’t we. Everyone else will stop and stare, we’ll be so beautiful and good at dancing.”

Caduceus just kept smiling, the same smile he’d have when he knew something the others didn’t. Which was almost always.

“Okay I’m coming!” Jester called out, standing up and walking to the door, throwing it open.

Beau was leaning in the doorway, and the first thing Jester noticed was that Beau’s hair wasn’t in a bun anymore. Her undershave had been cleaned up, the shaggier bits from weeks of travelling shaved off, perhaps by Yasha or Fjord. The longer parts of her hair had been braided from her forehead to the back of her head, trailing down her neck and eventually tied off with her usual ribbon about halfway up her back.

She was wearing a soft off-white cotton shirt, a little loose in the sleeves and tighter around her wrists, and a dark navy blue suit vest that she hadn’t yet buttoned up, with matching trousers and an untied bow tie that hung around her neck underneath the collar of the cotton shirt. She wasn’t wearing much makeup besides her usual eyeliner, though it was a bit cleaner than usual.

Beau straightened up from leaning on the doorway, her eyes widening a little when they made eye contact, and Jester’s heart skipped a beat.

“Uh, wow.” Beau’s voice was soft, before she coughed, running a hand along the side of her head. “I mean-you look great.”

“You too.” Was all Jester could think to say for a few seconds. Blood rushed to her cheeks, and before she herself she’d slapped her hands over them to hide it, quickly gasping to try and disguise it as her just being excited. Thankfully she was excited, so it wasn’t hard.

She took Beau’s hands, mentally explaining away the way her heart seemed to explode into firecrackers when she did it as more of the excitement over going to her first ball. “We’re going to be so amazing!”

Beau matched Jester’s grin, and behind her Jester saw Fjord and Yasha walking up, both of them with very smug looks on their faces.

“Now you better not mess up that braid, Beau.” Fjord folded his arms. “It took us way too long to do that for you.”

“Fjord, you didn’t help at all.” Yasha said with a satisfied smile. Fjord whistled lowly when he looked properly at Jester, and Yasha’s smile widened a little, even though she’d already sort of know what the ensemble would look like, having been present when she bought all the individual pieces.

“Wow, you look great, Jester.” Fjord said, folding his arms. “You two are definitely goin to be drawing some attention.”

“If we need to draw any more, I’ll just rip these sleeves off.” Beau picked at the loose sleeves of her cotton shirt, smirking in such a way that made it difficult to tell if she was serious or not. Knowing Beau, she was probably was.

“Well, I think you are both ready.” Caleb said, standing just behind Caduceus and Nott in the doorway to the room Jester had been getting ready in. “You had better get going to the estate.”

Jester glanced at Caleb over her shoulder, before realising she was still holding onto Beau’s hands. She quickly removed them, distantly wondering why the thought of it made her so flustered now. She’d held hands with Beau a lot . She’d held hands with everyone in the Mighty Nein at some point or another. But never in this kind of scenario.

“Do you have the invitations?” Fjord asked, and Beau groaned lightly like it wasn’t the first time she’d been asked the question, patting a pocket on her suit vest where two gold-lined cards were just poking out.

Jester glanced up to see Beau with a cocky half-smile on her face, one hand held out in front of her, cheeks slightly red.

“I guess it’s time to pretend to be a couple and destroy the competition.” Her voice tripped just a little over the word ‘pretend’, so subtly Jester barely caught it.

She smiled back, placing her hand in Beau’s and stepping out into the hallway, side by side with her partner for the night.

“We’ll be the cutest couple, won’t we?” Jester winked, looping her arm into Beaus, sidling up close beside her.

Beau stifled a chuckle, her smile becoming confident, her hand squeezing Jester’s ever so slightly at the joke. Because it was totally just a joke. Beau was her roommate and one of her very best friends and they were just pretending to be a couple, the absolute cutest couple ever.

Maybe a part of her wished it wasn’t pretend. Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. Maybe.

“Definitely.”

Chapter Text

Beau and Jester said their goodbyes to the rest of the Mighty Nein as they headed down to the lobby of the Pillow Trove. They were far from the only attendees of the Dance to be staying there, so there were multiple carriages waiting to ferry them to the estate that would be hosting the event, making it a bit easier for Beau and Jester to blend in.

The rest of the Nein would be waiting for Beau and Jester to get a decent head-start before leaving for the estate themselves, though they’d be travelling by foot rather than by carriage. They’d sneak in through the back while the two infiltrators did their best to attract the attention of most of the nobility that would be present, allowing them to scope out the scene and find, lure and steal from their targets.

Really, Beau and Jester had simultaneously the easiest and hardest job. They wouldn’t have to worry about any of the actual stealing, and chances were they wouldn’t have to worry about guards as long as their fake invitations held up. But they also had to draw and hold the attention of hundreds of snooty rich people, without starting a fight or doing anything too inconspicuous. It was a careful line, but Beau was pretty sure they were up to the challenge.

After all, half the work was done for them just by virtue of being two girls going together, one of them being a tiefling, and one of them wearing a suit. Any one of those things alone would be worth little more than a few minutes of side-eye and perhaps a few passing rumours, but all three together was bound to cause a stir.

Even as they entered the lobby, skirting the edges of the groups of nobles that were all dressed to the nines ready for the dance, Beau could already feel eyes on her, looking her up and down, silently judging every part of her. A part of her cringed, painfully reminded of all the times she’d endured the same thing while she’d still lived with her parents, constantly expected to maintain the highest level of composure and grace and dignity and… ugh, it made her stomach turn just thinking about it.

Jester hardly seemed to notice the extra attention, carrying herself not quite with the trained and practised posture of someone who had gone through years of classes on how to stand and wait properly, but someone who belonged there regardless. She looked right at home in her dress, didn’t seem to find her opera gloves itchy or the bow around her waist tight. Hopefully her confidence would make up for Beau’s instinctual discomfort at being dressed so elegantly once again.

Beau accidentally locked eyes with one woman, a tall one on the arms of some man who was probably richer than everyone in the Mighty Nein combined a hundred times over, and a part of her felt like she was twelve years old again, paraded to an event with her mothers hand tight around her wrist, enduring stares after stares and whisper after whisper about whatever thing she’d done recently to bring shame upon the Lionett name, waiting for the chance to escape from the room and rip off the dress.

“You okay?” Jester whispered, and Beau suddenly realised she’d tensed up, her shoulders stiff and her teeth biting the inside of her cheek as she tore her gaze away from the noble woman. Her fingers twitched towards the undone buttons of her suit vest, a harsh voice whispering in her ears to do them up, no matter how tight it was.

She forced herself to relax, taking a deep breath. “Yeah. High society is the pits, is all.”

Jester pressed her lips together, surreptitiously glancing around at some of the other couples that were waiting for carriages, perhaps noticing for the first time the looks they were already receiving.

“Well, that’ll make it more fun when we show them all up, won’t it?” She whispered, pressing in a little closer and covering her mouth, as if delivering a particularly dangerous secret.

Beau exhaled and couldn’t help a small smile. Her younger self had certainly devoted a lot of time plotting and fantasising ways to lighten up (read: absolutely ruin) the events she was forced along to. She only managed to gather the courage to actually execute one of her plots a grand total of once before the rest of her illegal and parent-disappointing actions caught up to her, and she was sent to the Cobalt Soul.

But what a wedding that had been. She’d never heard so many of her aunties and uncles swear like that before.

If only her younger self could see her now.

“It will, won’t it.” She said, and Jester’s smile widened a little, squeezing Beau’s arm as they found a carriage, showing the invitations to the driver before climbing in.

The carriage ride was fairly short, and Beau was content with just fiddling with the sleeves of her shirt and pulling her braid over her shoulder, running her fingers along the bumps down to the ribbon while she waited to arrive. Jester, of course, started chatting.

“This is going to be so much fun!” She gushed, leaning onto Beau and hopefully not noticing how quickly her heart was beating. “Did you go to these all the time when you were a kid?”

“For about seven years in a row.” Beau said. “Last time I went I was… fifteen.”

“What if someone recognises you?” Jester’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh, we should have thought of that.”

“I doubt they’ll recognise me. I looked a lot different back then.”

Jester looked at Beau for a second, curiosity plain in her eyes, quickly joined by an unfairly cute smile. “Reaaallllyyyy? What did you look like? I bet you were adorable!”

Beau scoffed and didn’t bother trying to stifle it. “My hair was a lot longer, for one. And I didn’t have any piercings yet. I was also probably the most uncoordinated kid you’ve ever seen.”

Uncoordinated? I’ve seen you jump from wall to wall three stories up!”

“Yeah, if current me is like a grown horse, pre-Cobalt Soul me was a newborn foal. All legs and nothing else. I had… some very awkward growth spurts. Did not help with me looking at graceful and delicate as my mother hoped.” It was odd talking about her childhood, when she’d spent so much time after leaving her childhood home trying to forget about it completely, or at least to just leave it in the past where it couldn’t hurt her. But talking about it with Jester, even just in small doses, wasn’t so bad.

Jester leaned back into the plush seating of the carriage, a dreamy smile on her face. “Wow. I bet if you and me had met while we were kids, we would’ve been best friends.”

“Yeah. That would’ve been nice.” Having a friend at all, much less a best friend, would’ve been nice. She shifted around uncomfortably, beginning to feel an itch to change the subject away from her, and remembering something Jester had said when they’d been deciding who would get the invitations. “I guess you didn’t go to many parties in Nicodranas, right?”

Now the tiefling sighed, and when she spoke, she sounded slightly resigned. “No. I’ve always wanted to, though. They always seemed so incredible and romantic, and so much fun. I remember having dances with the Traveler all on my own when I was little, and he would be able to make some music play and he taught me some dances and it was so nice… but it would have been nice to go to a real dance.”

Jester leaned over, her head resting on Beau’s shoulder. For a moment they lapsed into silence, and Beau focused hard on her own breathing in an attempt to not focus too hard on Jester’s hair tickling the back of her neck, the soft coolness of her skin.

Just about her entire childhood, Annual Dances included, probably could’ve been improved if she’d had someone like Jester by her side throughout it. But at least she had her now, and Jester had her too.

There was a small bump, and the carriage began to roll to a stop, and both women perked up, the quiet moment fading away as their energy began to pick up again.

The door was opened for them before either of them could reach the handle, and both of them had to quickly retract their hands to pretend that of course they’d known they wouldn’t even open the door of their own carriage, of course there were people to do that for them.

Gods, Beau hated high society sometimes. A lot of the time. Almost all the time.

“Thank you, good sir.” Jester said in a slightly posh accent as they climbed out of the carriage, holding her head high and shooting Beau a grin when she snorted at it. For her part, Beau just patted the man on the shoulder as she got out, tossing a gold piece to him as she passed, linking arms with Jester again.

When she looked back over her shoulder, the servant who’d opened their door was watching them walk away with a befuddled expression, the gold piece in his hand. Good.

The estate was one of the largest in Zadash, chosen because it was one of the only places actually large and fancy enough to suit the tastes of the Annual Dances attendees. Their carriage had dropped them off right at the front door, which was as wide, large and ornately decorated as the homes of rich people tended to be, in a colour palette of creams and gold.

Guards were stationed at the door, looking on warily as couples and families filtered their way inside, the invitations looked over by one of the guards before they were allowed entry. Once inside, they’d be introduced to the ballroom by a servant of the house, and then they’d be home free to dance, chat, gossip, be terrible people, everything rich people liked to do in their spare time.

“Ladies… Shereen and Celesta Augustine?” The guard read off the invitations, looking them both over with a critical eye.”Where are you two ladies travelling from?”

Jester, who’d chosen the cover name Celesta with great glee (there were also half a dozen middle names that she was probably itching to bust out if given the opportunity), cleared her throat, plastering on a beautifully smug smile that fit in perfectly with the upper class.

“My partner and I are from Nicodranas, you see. We’ve heard about this event and we’ve desperately wanted to go for years, and now we finally have the opportunity! Isn’t it wonderful?” She said, her own excitement shining through. For a moment, Beau’s brain short-circuited. My partner . Of course Jester couldn’t pretend they were married, they didn’t have rings. But even the vague term ‘partner’ felt like a needle in her heart.

The guard blinked at her, taking another look at the invitations. Beau recovered herself, huffing at each passing second, tapping her foot on the ground and channelling all the impatience she could gather to try and stop the blood rushing to her cheeks. Just as she’d hoped, the guard quickly handed back the invitations, waving them inside.

“Have a good night, miladies.” He said quickly, tipping his head as he ushered them in. Jester thanked him politely before turning back and flashing a wide grin. “Wow. That was so fun.”

“It was great. Lovers from Nicodranas, way to amp up the mystery.” Beau winked, her voice only skipping a little at the word ‘lovers’. “They won’t be able to take their eyes off of us.”

Sure enough, when they were announced to the ballroom as Ladies Shereen and Celesta Augustine of Nicodranas, Beau could practically hear peoples necks swivel to get a look at them. It was pretty simple when it came down to it. All they had to do was be an unknown, and rich peoples natural gossip tendencies would do most of the distracting for them.

They could walk around, dance, make some small talk (hopefully just a little), and the other attendees would practically fall over themselves trying to figure out who they were.

The eyes seemed to bore into Beau’s skin, setting every hair on edge, and she could feel herself begin to get antsy again, before Jester squeezed her arm, a bright smile on her face and putting a little extra swing in her step and sway in her hips, which probably went a long way to drawing a little more attention to her rather than Beau.

Beau had no idea if Jester was also trying to attract her attention, but if she wasn’t then oh gods she really was doomed because it was suddenly very difficult to keep her eyes away.

“So when does the competition start?” Jester whispered, as they carefully navigated their way through loose clumps of people. Beau couldn’t help but find herself recognising family crests, emblems of people she’d thought she’d forgotten, and her nose crinkled at the sight of it.

“Soon. After everyone’s arrived.”

They did their best to be mysteriously coy, never staying still long enough for someone to stop and chat with them, breezing from table to table, collecting some food before vanishing again, never making eye contact. It was infuriating the other guests, Beau was certain.

Jester was absolutely radiant in her dress, her hair seeming to sparkle in the night, her smile never wavering. Beau couldn’t help but try and puff out her chest a bit, stand as tall as she could, trying to compete for the lingering gazes of other attendees. Whenever they looked at each other they’d smirk, never leaving each others side.

But finally, finally , the band began to play, always starting the proper competition with the same song, an old ballad from dynasties ago, slow and soft.

“Oh, I don’t know this one.” Jester’s smile faltered for the first time that evening. “I don’t want to lose.”

“I know it.” Beau unlinked her arm, taking Jester’s hand instead and leading her towards the dancefloor. Her voice was soft, her thumb rubbing circles in the fabric of Jester’s gloves. “I’ll show you.”

Whenever Beau had watched the adult couples do this dance as a child, she’d always thought it was so boring. It was a slow dance, full of long, graceful movements and careful turns. She’d watch some noble dip his wife so low her hair would brush the ground, and they would stare into each others eyes like nothing else existed. They would cup one another’s cheeks with their hands, seeming to forget they were being judged, that it was a competition. Sometimes they would steal a kiss, on the hand or the cheek or the forehead, and they would blush. Sometimes people said that the Annual Dance was one of the few places where the nobles typical facades would drop, even if it was only barely.

Beau had always thought that was so strange. She would look at her parents when they danced and they never let their guards down for anything. Hardly showed any emotion besides the tiniest of smiles or, more often, frowns directed at her.

But now that she was doing the dance with Jester, she could imagine the feelings that some of those couples might have been feeling. Jester was looking down at her feet, the tip of her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth, careful not to mess up the unfamiliar steps. Her cheeks were a light shade of purple, candlelight reflecting in her eyes. She really was beautiful.

Beau spun Jester around and lowered her into a dip, wincing just a little as she tried to hold her steady. She was strong, but not quite in the ‘could lift and throw Fjord thirty feet’ kind of way. Jester seemed to notice her slight struggle, giggling when Beau lifted her back up.

“I think I’ve got it now.” She winked, shifting her hands and taking the lead, sweeping Beau up into the next movement. In what felt like only a few moments Beau found herself being dipped, hearing the end of her braid brush against the floor, her still untied bowtie dangerously close to falling off completely.

Jester was grinning down at her, her teeth sparkling and her eyes shining. Her lips had been painted a deep purple with a hint of red, and suddenly all Beau could imagine was pressing her own against them. Just leaning up a little, pulling Jester down, meeting in the middle and…

Oh no.

In a split second, she’d been pulled back to her feet, her heart skipping a beat as Jester spun her, the song beginning to fade out and polite claps beginning to sound from those who had been watching the dancing.

Beau was breathless, even though the dance had hardly been a workout. Oh boy. Yeah, there was no coming back from that. Tonight was going to kill her.

She was in love with Jester.

She’d known it for a while, she’d known it in her heart for a while now, but she’d tried so hard not to admit to herself. Admitting it made it real. But it had just gotten very real.

And now she had to pretend like they were already lovers for the rest of the night, with absolutely none of the rest of the Nein to deflect anything onto.

She was doomed.

Chapter Text

Together, Jester and Beau danced to five songs in a row together, carefully maneuvering their way close to the centre of the ballroom, making sure everyone would be able to watch. Beau had said it was only a matter of time before a song involving switching partners would play, and when it did, that was when they really got to work.

Jester sort of wished she didn’t have to worry about other people, and just dance with Beau all night (in a totally platonic way, obviously), but this was important, and when the song changed and all the dancers began to shift into new formations, she couldn’t help but feel a little excited at the confusion they were hoping to create.

She and Beau still danced together for the first part of the song, but soon enough a man and a woman glided up to either side of them, hands shifting from one person's shoulder to others, And then Jester was on her own.

Her new dancing partner was a woman a few inches taller than her, a fair-skinned human with light strawberry blonde hair who looked to be nearing middle age, but still rather active. For a few moments their movements were awkward, the woman hesitating and seeming slightly uncertain where to place herself before Jester took the lead, taking the position that a man would traditionally take in that song.

“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of seeing you around here before.” The woman said politely, but behind her eyes Jester could see the curiosity, her gaze shifting from the necklace around her neck to her horns to her ears. “It’s… rare to see one of your kind invited to events like these.”

Jester just smiled pleasantly. Time for the bullshit. “Oh, it’s a great honour. I’ve always wanted since I was but a small child, but alas, there was always something barring my family from attending.”

“Oh?” The woman’s eyes widened, interest and curiosity clear in her gaze, hungry to perhaps be the first to share new information on these mysterious attendees to the rest of her friends. Bingo.

“Yes, one year our estate caught on fire, another my brother became deathly ill.” She sighed with as much melodrama as she could bear to put in without bursting into laughter.

“That’s terrible-uh, my condolences.” The woman’s voice was a little quick, and Jester just nodded, another partner arriving to whisk her away before anything else could be said. Wonderful.

The next partner, this time a handsome-looking elven man in a sharp suit and just as sharp eyes, seemed just as inclined to make small talk, all carefully curated to hopefully allow him to learn something about her.

Luckily, Jester was happy to wax poetic about her entire life story to each eager listener. Except of course, her life story changed with every new partner.

“I was an orphan you see, adopted into the Augustine home as an infant by my mother, bless her soul.”

“My mother was arrested by the guards in Port Damali for fraud. It’s taken years for our family to recover from the scandal.”

“You see, I spent many years living in the wilderness in a monastery. It’s amazing the things you learn when you take some time to be at one with nature.”

“I can actually trace my lineage to Tal’Dorei, you know. The royal family, even.”

“Oh I met Shereen during a dinner party. She’s always been such a charmer.”

“ Technically , I’m not actually a tiefling.”

By the time the dance was done, Jester found herself on one edge of the room, basking in the newly invigorated whispers she heard around her, the careful glances from other guests. Anyone she’d danced with would surely go to tell all of their friends about her, which would then in turn spread to everyone around them, only to hit a brick wall when someone else had a conflicting story.

With Beau doing the same thing with anyone she danced with, hopefully soon the attendees would be too busy trying to parse through what was the truth and what was a bald-faced lie to notice the rest of the Mighty Nein, wherever they were. Jester could’ve sworn she saw a red-haired man dressed up in the slightly-ill-fitting clothes of a servant nod at her, but by the time she looked to be certain, he was gone.

“Hey Celesta-” Jester turned to see Beau side-stepping her way around guests to get to her, a smug look on her face. “How was the dance?”

“Absolutely wonderful.” Jester smirked, holding her hands behind her back and lightly knocking her hips against Beau’s. “Would’ve been nicer if you had been my partner the whole time.”

Beau’s lips quirked upwards at the same time as her cheeks began to flush, running a hand over her hair and chuckling lightly. “You’re not too bad yourself, for someone who’s never been to one of these before.”

“I’m just naturally amazing at everything, you know.” Jester held her face in her cheeks, winking at Beau before dropping her voice, moving her hands so they cupped around her mouth. “Do you see how everyone is looking at us?”

Beau’s eyes flickered around and she nodded, fiddling with the undone bowtie around her neck. “I told them all about how all ten of my siblings drowned in a horrific ship sinking, leaving me as the only survivor.”

“Well, I told them all about how we’d probably be married already, if you weren’t so insistent on waiting until you found the perfect ring to ask me with.” Jester leaned in a little, poking Beau’s nose and grinning.

Beau sputtered for a few moments, looking quite flustered, and Jester couldn’t deny that it was very fun to see Beau flustered, as flustered as Beau made Jester feel sometimes. Because playful flirting was what they did, right? It was normal. Totally normal.

Beau opened her mouth to retort before music began to fill the air of the ballroom again, and Jester felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked to see a brown-skinned human, about the same height as Fjord though about half as built, holding out a hand for her to take.

“May I have this dance? I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance.” His voice was crisp, an easy smile on his face. “If your partner is alright with me stealing you away.”

Jester looked over her shoulder at Beau, who had raised one eyebrow, but didn’t seem about to object. After a few moments she nodded slowly, excusing herself to go find a drink with far more decorum than she would use if they had been in a tavern. For one thing, she’d actually said ‘excuse me’.

Regardless, she soon slipped in amongst a crowd, leaving Jester in the seemingly capable hands of her new dance partner.

“Lady Augustine, if I’m not mistaken?” The man said once they’d made their way to the dance floor, one hand resting lightly on her waist, his other holding hers loosely enough that she knew she’d easily be able to rip hers away if she really wanted to.

“Lady Celesta Giovanna Theodoralorentina Fanciness Elizabeth Augustine. The fourth.” Jester said quickly, feeling quite pleased with herself. Beau had talked her out of some of her craziner fake middle names, but Theodoralorentina was a work of art and Jester refused to let it go wasted.

The man blinked, his carefully groomed expression dropping for a moment. He actually looked quite young, Jester thought to herself. Maybe only a few years older than her and Beau. he chuckled.

“Donovan Alastair Jamieson de Kennis. The first.” The corner of his mouth quirked upwards into a sly smile. “You certainly attract some attention, don’t you.”

Jester tried to put on her best slightly shocked, slightly amused face, though Donovan didn’t seem convinced. “Oh? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Indeed. Your… partner? She does as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in an unbuttoned suit vest at one of these before.”

“She has her own style.” Jester said, smiling warmly. No, Beau wasn’t one to allow others to tell her what to wear if she could help it. “I think it makes her look very dashing.”

“I figured you would. I noticed you two dancing together earlier, you seem very happy with each other.” Donovan spun Jester around the dance floor, his words easy and his smile seeming genuine, but Jester felt her own freeze up a little.

“Oh?” That was good. That meant they were good at acting, at pretending to be a couple, right? For some reason that idea that they were good at looking like they were in love made her heart skip a beat.

“Yes. It can be rare to find love, so I am envious of you. I admit, I asked you to dance in the hopes of perhaps discovering how you two came to be together. I’m afraid I am not so lucky in love.” Donovan’s smile turned sheepish.

“Oh.” Jester repeated, before Donovan’s words truly processed. “Oh! You want advice?”

Donovan shrugged lightly, twirling Jester around as they swapped positions, swaying in time with the music. “If you have any you are willing to give. It can be hard to get genuine advice among high society, but you two seem… different.”

Genuine. Heh, funny that, considering they were both pretending. Jester wasn’t in love with Beau, not in the romantic sense that Donovan was talking about. Still, there was no reason she couldn’t try and give him some advice anyway.

“Well.” She cleared her throat, trying to think. “Love… it’s funny.”

It was hard to talk about love, even though Jester had so much of it to give. She loved so many people, but in so many different ways and for so many different reasons. She loved her mother, she loved the Mighty Nein, she loved the Traveler. But love love, romantic love, that was different.

She’d thought she known what love love was about. Thought she’d had it for a bit with Fjord. But then that had faded and now she wasn’t so sure anymore.

“First… first you’ve got to know that it’s someone worth being in love with. That’s the hard part, falling in love with someone that’s good for you, and knowing that they’re good for you.” She finally said.

“I think I know someone who would be good for me.” Donovan pressed his lips together, seeming to think seriously. “I think I might be in love with him. But how can I be sure?”

Jester knitted her eyebrows together, determined to offer some good advice. “Well… have you ever kissed him before?”

“No.” Donovan said, looking down.

“Do you want to kiss him?” Jester pressed. “Like, on the lips, super romantically?”

Donovan paused, their dance stuttering for a moment before they both remembered themselves, continuing to move, the steps thankfully simple enough to be easy to do.

“I think so. I-Yeah. Yeah, actually, I think I do.” He eventually said, nodding.

Jester smirked, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Do you want to have sex with him?”

Donovan’s eyes widened, before he had to quickly remove his hand from Jester’s waist, covering his mouth and snorting. A few other dancers glanced in their direction, eyebrows raised judgmentally, but neither of them paid any mind.

The man stifled his chuckles, whispering just barely loud enough for Jester to hear. “I think that’s a little further down on the agenda.”

Jester nodded conspiratorially. “That’s okay. There’s a lot more to love than just kissing and sex. Wanting to be with them, thinking about them, wanting to see them happy. Like, if you picture your life ten years from now, is he there by your side?”

Donovan took a very long time to think about that, the pair lapsing into silence for a few moments.

She was pretty good at this love advice thing, Jester decided. Very solid advice for someone who’d only been kissed once, and even then it had only technically been a kiss. And it was from Fjord, who she was pretty sure she didn’t want to kiss anymore.

Yeah, if she had to pick someone from the Mighty Nein to pick, she’d probably pick Beau.

Wait.

Jester’s brow furrowed together, thinking a little bit carefully, reflecting on her very own advice that she’d just made up on the spot, niggling feelings that she’d pushed to the back of her mind coming to the forefront.

Beau. Did she want to kiss Beau?

She thought about that very carefully for a moment, her cheeks heating up, imagining what it might be like to feel Beau’s lips against her own. Oh boy.

Did she want to see Beau happy? Well, yeah. She wanted to see all her friends happy. She wanted to stay with the Mighty Nein for years and years and keep them safe and watch them smile and laugh, not just Beau. Even if seeing Beau happy made her stomach flip in a way that none of the others did.

If she imagined her life ten years from now, who did she picture standing by her side? In that vacant position she’d left for her partner. Boyfriend. Girlfriend. Husband. Wife.

Fuck.

This wasn’t platonic.

“Wow. That’s actually really helpful.” Donovan said, startling her out of her thoughts. The man was smiling, an added spring to his step. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” The words flowed off Jester’s tongue automatically.

Well. This certainly was a bitch of a conundrum, wasn’t it.

The song slowly drifted to a close, and Donovan bowed respectfully, Jester responding with a half-hearted curtsy, stuck in a haze.

She found herself standing near the edge of the dance floor, twiddling her fingers together, her tail swishing restlessly under her dress.

Shit.

Fuck.

Balls.

She was in love with Beau. She was in love with Beau and she was currently at possibly the most romantic dance she’d ever get the chance to attend and oh gods there were so many opportunities for romance she’d already missed!

She was literally pretending to be lovers with Beau while actually being in love with her how the hell had she not realised it sooner?

“Hey Celes!” Beau sidled up to her side once again, looping an arm around her shoulder, two wine glasses in hand. She passed one to Jester, before taking a long sip of the other. “Hmm. I’ve tasted better.”

Jester took a sip of her wine, her brain breezing past the shock and settling into planning mode. For as much as she loved spontaneity and being slightly impulsive, sometimes it was important to take a step back and think carefully about what she wanted to do next, usually when she had an important goal to work towards.

She now had a very important goal. Namely: Make Beau fall in love with her before the end of the night so that she could kiss her super romantically, like in the middle of the dance floor or behind some curtains somewhere.

She was gonna be the best damn fake-wish-it-wasn’t-lover Beau had ever seen.

“Heeeeeey Shereeeeeeeen~” She drawled, waggling her eyebrows suggestively up at Beau, who glanced at her, grinning but not in a romantic ‘I’m totally in love with you way’. More a ‘we’re totally still friends but we’re pretending to be in love way’.

Perhaps this would be a bit harder than she thought.

Chapter Text

“So how was your dance with Mister Whatshisface over there?” Beau leaned into Jester’s shoulder, gulping down the rest of the wine in her glass. They hardly even filled it halfway, she’d have to find more.

Sure, she’d already drunk like three while waiting for Jester to finish her dance with that rando. Which she definitely hadn’t been watching from the sidelines, watching them giggle and chuckle at something the other had said. She hadn’t been jealous at all. Definitely not.

Jester sighed deeply, swishing around the wine in her glass. “It was okay. You’re much better.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm.” Jester leaned into Beau, looking up at her with a cheeky smile. “I’m definitely glad I picked you to come with me.”

Beau couldn’t think of anything to say to that, settling for returning the grin. “In that case, would you like to dance again?”

Jester’s giggled, coyly playing with one of the charms from her horn.

“Maaaaaybe in the few minutes. There’s something I want to do first.” She twirled her way out from under Beau’s arm, winking before striding off into the crowd, hips swaying noticeably as she went, looking over her shoulders as if to double-check she was watching before she slipped behind some particularly tall people.

Huh. Beau couldn’t imagine what Jester might be wanting to do, since the whole reason they were here was to dance, win the competition, and attract a lot of attention. Skipping one or two dances was fine, but if they missed too many, they wouldn’t have a chance. And then eventually it would be over and Beau would go back to pretending she didn’t have feelings for Jester, as opposed to pretending that she was only pretending she did.

Gods, this was confusing.

She waited a few minutes for Jester to return, watching the dance floor and pointedly avoiding eye contact with any of the other guests, scratching at her sleeves. Finally, Jester returned, one hand held behind her back and a mischievous smile on her face. She cleared her throat probably louder than was necessary, since she already had Beau’s attention. It really didn’t take a lot for her to get Beau’s attention.

“Lady Shereen.” Jester’s voice oozed poshness, her lips quirking like she was barely holding back laughter. “My future wife, love of my life, absolutely most beautiful woman in the entire world.”

What. Future wife ?

Jester pulled her arm out from behind her back before Beau’s brain could catch up with her ears, revealing a freshly cut rose, holding it out to her. “May I have this dance?”

She winked, and Beau just stood there for a moment, barely stopping her mouth from dropping open, feeling her heart begin to thud. She glanced around quickly, noticing quite a few people looking their way. Right. Acting. They were acting, Jester was just playing it up, like she always did.

Gods she couldn’t help wishing it were real though.

Still, resting her empty wine glass on a nearby table, Beau cleared her throat, taking the rose in one hand, and Jester’s waiting hand in the other. “Of course.” She injected just a little bit of poshness into her voice, knowing it would make Jester chuckle.

As they walked out to the dance floor again, Beau leaned in to Jester’s ear, whispering, “So are we just giving up on being subtle?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Jester whispered back, while Beau tucked her rose into a pocket on her suit vest.

“We’re going all ham on the lovers thing?” Beau tried not to sigh when she said ‘lovers’, chuckling nervously. “Cause I mean, I’m all for it, but I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or anything.”

If they went all ham on the lovers thing, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t survive.

Jester’s mouth hardened for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing before relaxing, smiling again. “Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll make me uncomfortable at all .”

As she said it, Jester bumped her hip against Beau’s, winking. “Isn’t this supposed to be romantic?”

Beau shrugged. “Technically, it’s supposed to be a competition.”

She could’ve sworn Jester’s eye twitched at that, but figured it was a trick of the light. Either way, they reached the middle of the dance floor hand in hand, facing each other and preparing for the next song to start.

“Well.” Jester said. “We can make it romantic.”

Oh jeez. Sometimes it felt like Jester was purposefully trying to kill her. When the dance started, she even seemed to be moving a little differently. Her steps were a little less free-flowing and quick, a bit more careful and deliberate, designed to get as much attention as possible.

She winked and waggled her eyebrows at Beau every chance she got. Determined not to be outdone, Beau tried to match her, blowing kisses and flexing her arms while the both of them simultaneously tried to dance to possibly the most boring waltz imaginable.

There may have been some not-so-subtle chest-puffing, some lingered looks on Jester’s eyes, her arms, her waist. In the same way, Beau could sense Jester’s gaze drifting over her, biting the corner of her lip.

Acting. It was just acting. Don’t get your hopes up Beau, she’s just acting .

One song seemed to fly past, and then another. When they finally stopped for a break, both of them catching their breath, Jester looked very smug and pleased with herself.

“So, was that romantic enough?” She winked again, and Beau distantly realised that Jester had done a lot of winking in the past half hour or so. Way more than usual.

“It was great.” Beau grinned, stretching her arms. “We are totally killing it.”

She was momentarily distracted by a waiter walking around with trays of food, each portion barely enough to be considered bite-sized. While she stalked the man until he allowed her to take half the tray, she missed Jester facepalming, an exasperated expression on her face.

The next hour or so was, from Beau’s perspective, a competition in how openly sappy and romantic they could get before she spontaneously combusted or one of them burst out laughing on the dance floor.

From Jester’s perspective it was an experiment in how long it would take before either Beau realised she wasn’t pretending anymore, or Jester ripped her own hair out. But alas, Beau was unable to read minds, and was competitive enough that trying to one-up Jester was a welcome distraction from how much she wished they weren’t pretending anymore.

It was a mess.

They danced what felt like a hundred more dances, spinning and twirling around the dance floors shooting each other the most romantic looks they could manage.

Jester got banned from being within ten feet of any of the flower vases after she stole a good half of the roses just to rip off the petals and throw them over Beau. Beau responded by striking a very suggestive pose as they rained around her, assuming Jester quickly turned around to stop herself from giggling, while the tiefling frantically tried to stop herself from blushing so hard.

Jester then got banned from being within ten feet of any of the lanterns that illuminated the ballroom after making them glow the same colour as Beau’s eyes. Beau assumed she’d made them the same colour as Jester’s hair instead, making up a hundred metaphors for how her beauty couldn’t compare to the brightest star in the sky, how her laugh was sweeter than any melody anyone could play.

It was so easy to make it up when she believed every word she was saying, though she couldn’t quite figure out why Jester was practically banging her head into a nearby pillar.

At some point they stopped caring so much about whether or not the other guests were paying any attention, too busy trying to one-up each other. At least, that’s what Beau thought was happening. After Jester somehow managed to arrange fifty platters in a loose depiction of Beau’s face and thus got banned from the food table, they were left with the only place they could still be freely without half a dozen servants glaring daggers at them, the dance floor.

Jester tried to suggest places they could hide from the servants to make out but Beau was pretty sure disappearing from the ballroom wouldn’t help them with their distracting, so they stayed in the room. Jester probably meant just pretending to make out so that the other guests would think they were, Beau thought to herself. She was incorrect, but that’s what she thought.

The dances became slow, soft and romantic, and Beau’s heart ached as they danced to them, both leaning on the other as if they truly were lovers, as if they weren’t able to let go of each other.

“Ya know, tonight has been amazing.” Jester’s voice was dreamy, her eyes closed as they danced so close together they were almost pressed up against each other, so close Beau could feel Jester’s breath on her shoulder. It sent a shiver down her spine, reminding her of nights where the Nein weren’t able to afford many rooms, where she and Jester had had to share a bed, curled up with one another. Beau rarely got a lot of sleep on nights like those.

“Yeah. It’s been… incredible.” Beau sighed, her voice murmured. “I’m really glad we got those invitations.”

There was a loose pause, and Jester rested her head on the crook of Beau’s neck, her cheek resting on her shoulder. Beau thought she could feel her heartbeat, and it was almost as quick as hers. She felt Jester’s hand pressing against the small of her back, her other squeezing Beau’s hand, thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand.

She heard Jester murmur something, only a few words, but so soft Beau didn’t have a chance of hearing.

“What did you say?” Beau asked. Jester lifted her head up again, eyes shining. For a moment she just looked up into Beau’s eyes, and she held the gaze, spellbound. “Jes, you alright?”

Jester cracked a smile, looking down and pressing her forehead onto Beau’s chin, a tiny laugh rippling from her body. “Of course you notice that .”

Beau blinked, running through the last few seconds of conversation to try and figure out if there was something she’d missed. “You’ve lost me.”

Jester just kept giggling, the arm around Beau’s back moving upwards until it was looped under her armpit and holding onto her shoulder. Beau frowned, absolutely confused and not liking to be left out of the loop.

“I love you, Beau.” Jester finally said, looking back up again, a smile on her face.

Beau’s entire mind froze. Halted. Every single brain cell and ounce of common sense she had completely still, processing what Jester had just said.

“That’s not my codename.” Was her dumbfounded reply, even though neither of them were speaking loud enough for anyone else to hear anyway.

Jester. In love with her. That couldn’t be right. No, she was still acting. Had to be. The alternative didn’t make sense.

Jester burst into laughter again. “You are such an idiot sometimes! You’re so smart but you’re such an idiot.”

“Wait.” Beau’s brain was still stuck somewhere on the word ‘love’, trying to connect it with the words ‘I’ and ‘you’. “Wait. No, we’re pretending, we’ve been pretending the whole night. I-I mean-”

“I’m not pretending anymore, Beau.” Jester bit her lip, a glimmer of doubt showing on her face for the first time. “I love you, okay?”

Oh gods. Holy fuck.

“I do too.” She was stunned, and now it was Jester’s turn to blink, her arms loosening and drifting down to her side.

“Wait, you do?” She asked, taking a tiny step backwards. Beau nodded, realising they’d stopped moving in the middle of the dance floor, other couples carefully weaving their way around them.

“Well then why the hell have I been trying to woo you for half the night?” Jester’s voice became indignant, her hands flying to her hips.

“ What?!” Beau snorted. “You’ve been trying to woo me?”

“Yes!” Jester folded her arms, pouting. “It was going to be super romantic and then you’d kiss me and it would be great, but you had to be a total blind idiot.”

Beau covered her mouth, feeling laughter begin to bubble up from her chest. Oh gods , everything was starting to make sense now. The half a dozen sly comments, the cheeky suggestions that they go find some private . “I’m a totally blind idiot.”

Jester’s lips were quirking into an uncontrollable smile, both of them standing in the middle of the dance floor trying to hold in their laughter. “Yes you are!”

“But, how long have you been in love with me?” Beau asked, distantly sensing a few raised eyebrows from other dancers but pointedly ignoring them. Fuck their cover story, this was way more important. If the others hadn’t sorted out their mission by now, then too bad.

“I don’t know, but I figured it out tonight. How long have you been in love with me?”

“Way too long.” Beau ran a hand over her hair, chuckling nervously. “Holy shit.”

“You know, I gotta say, this is not how I thought my first love confession would go.” Jester said, scowling. “I thought there would be a lot more romantic kissing.”

Beau’s heart leapt into her chest, a realisation suddenly dawning. “I mean… we can do that.”

Jester’s eyes flickered to her, eyebrows rising. Beau shrugged loosely, smirking and tossing her braid over her shoulder, puffing out her chest. “We are lovers, after all. We’re allowed to kiss.”

There was a moments pause, Jester’s scowl slowly creeping into a sly smile. “Why yes. We are.”

She slid forwards, placing her arms over Beau’s shoulders, her hands hanging over her back. Beau placed her hands around Jester’s waist, both of them automatically beginning to sway along with the music again, grinning giddily.

They let the music carry them for a few moments, looking into each other’s eyes and trying to figure out just how stupid they could’ve been not to have realised this sooner. But Beau couldn’t really find herself caring, because she knew now, and it was perfect.

Beau leaned in, resting her forehead on Jester’s, eyelids closing. Her skin was always cold to the touch, a contrast to the way Beau felt like her blood was always boiling. There was a soft scent of sugar and roses, and she felt Jester’s arms link together behind her neck, pulling herself in closer so that they were pressed together.

She felt Jester tilt her head upwards, lips ready to meet-

And then Jester stiffened. Beau froze, momentarily worried she’d done something wrong before opening her eyes to see an odd expression on the tiefling’s face, that quickly shifted into annoyance, her ears pricking up before pinning back against the side of her head.

“Gods fucking damnit Nott.” She muttered.

At the same moment, across from the ballroom, there was a shriek.

“Thief! Thief! Someone’s stolen my jewels!”

Chapter Text

“ Hey Jester we got the stuff but I kinda stole this super pretty necklace and I think the lady noticed so we’re probably about to-”

Jester loved her friends. Not all of them in the same romantic, would totally kiss and bang you kinda way that she’d recently realised she loved Beau, but she loved them all.

However, in that moment she decided they were very lucky that none of them were within eyesight because if they had been standing anywhere close by she probably would have strangled them.

It had been perfect .

She and Beau had been dancing, and Beau’s cheeks were an adorable shade of brownish-red and when she smiled her teeth were so nice, and they were so close together that all she would’ve had to do was just lean up a little bit and kiss her and then the moment had been completely ruined.

Fortunately for the rest of the Mighty Nein though, they were already blitzing their way out of the estate entirely, well out of range of anything Jester might’ve done to let them know what terrible timing they’d chosen, and soon the brief moment of rage passed, settling back into a general sense of ‘well great, now we need to make sure we don’t all die or get arrested tonight’, which was a very familiar feeling for them all.

Her arms still wrapped around her waist, Beau sighed, probably realising what had happened. They caught each other’s gaze, mourning the loss of a perfectly romantic, kissable moment. Now Jester had to go through all the effort of building up a good atmosphere again.

“Do they need help escaping?” Beau whispered, shifting so that she was standing side by side with Jester, one arm looped around her shoulders. Her body heat seeped into Jester’s skin, and if she leaned into it, well she was just pretending to be in shock at the sudden declaration of thievery, like every other attendee.

“A distraction would probably be appreciated while they run away.” Jester said, a few ideas already forming in her mind. “Follow my lead.”

Remembering all the talks her mother had given her about what it took to have a good stage presence, what it meant to be an actress , Jester quietly cleared her throat before pointing very dramatically at a random door that some poor guard had just opened and hoping dearly that it wasn’t the one that Nott and the rest of the Nein were trying to escape through.

“Over there!” She shrieked, plastering her other hand to her cheek. “I see the thieves escaping!”

A murmur rippled throughout the crowd and half the guests and guards looked towards the door Jester had pointed out, some swarming towards it while others pushed away.

“No, I saw them go that way! ” Beau shouted out, pointing in another direction.

“What a tragic end to such a beautiful night!” Jester bemoaned, resting the back of her hand on her forehead, leaning into Beau. “I can’t believe, criminals in our midst!”

Around them, a burst of panic was blooming among other guests, all of them clutching at their valuables, searching through pockets to make sure they hadn’t been hit. The woman who’d initially cried out about thieves was inconsolable, wailing on the ground with half a dozen men by her side about how she’d only bought the pearl necklace or whatever it was but a few days ago.

Imported from Whitestone, apparently. Wherever the hell Whitestone was, Jester didn’t care. That lady was providing a real high bar for her to try to clear in term of theatrics.

It also became apparent that Nott had really outdone herself that night. Soon more cries of thievery sprung up from amongst the crowd, missing rings, bracelets, necklaces, even a pair of earrings. She’d been very busy indeed, and Jester was mildly impressed.

Next to her, Beau was doing her very best to play up the drama as well, gasping and covering her mouth and holding Jester close, as if to protect her from any would-be thieves still roaming around. When they caught each others eyes they couldn’t help but grin, which may have ruined the effect a bit but fuck it, because Jester had just realised that now they could hold each other all the time so why not do it as often as possible.

“Please calm down!” Guards were trying desperately to contain the situation that was quickly spiralling out of control. Some guests marched up to them, demanding the thieves be found. Others were asking to be shown out to carriages immediately. “Everyone stay where you are! We’ve got to sort this out!”

“How dare you try to keep us in! This is barbaric!” Jester shouted, jabbing a finger at a guard and swooning into Beau’s waiting arms at the same time. How had it taken her so long to notice how beautiful Beau’s arms were?

“Do you know who we are? If word of this spreads, there’ll be an outrage!” Beau held onto her tight, as a few people looked their way.

“Actually, I don’t know who you are!” One guest shouted, eyes widening. Oh balls. “Maybe they’re working with the thieves!”

“What? Nonsense! Just wait until my father hears about this!” Beau blurted out, seeming to cringe as soon as she said it, glancing down at Jester with a dumbfounded expression.

“Ladies, please calm down.” A guard walked up to them, hands held in front of him in a peaceful gesture.

“No! I thought these two were strange as soon as they arrived! She says her father will hear about this, but I heard her father is dead!” The guest continued to shout, one hand hovering protectively over her fancy necklace.

“I thought her father owned a dozen merchant ships!” Someone else called out, and soon Jester realised that they were drawing a lot of attention. Far, far more than they really needed to be drawing. Guards were beginning to look at them suspiciously, guests drawing further and further away, their initial curiosity now blossoming into something far more sinister.

Ah the rich. How quickly they could turn on you.

“Jes-” Beau whispered, her hands twitching like she was barely restraining herself from dropping into a fighting stance. If she did, it would all be over. “I think we’ve got a problem.”

Jester sighed, giving one final goodbye to the most romantic night of her life. It had been beautiful while it lasted. Now it was time for pure anarchy.

“Please!” Jester cried out, making her lower lip tremble as she looked upon those gathered around them, drawing their gazes to her. Right where she wanted them. “Please, we haven’t done anything wrong- Quicklookoverthere!”

The vast majority of guests that were looking her way followed her frantically pointing finger, up to a grand chandelier that currently had half a dozen glittering candles on it, gems or very pretty looking glass hanging from it. She picked the first candle she laid eyes on and narrowed her eyes, sending divine energy shooting through her fingertips, buzzing through the air, invisible.

In a split second, the entire ballroom was filled with blinding light, like the sun itself had appeared, centred around that single candle. There were multiple shrieks and shouts, but Jester just fumbled for Beau’s hand in the chaos, fingers curling around hers and pushing in the direction she’d last seen a soon.

Stars stopping dancing around her vision somewhere close to the door, and around her people were shouting and wailing, guards desperately trying to regain calm. Just get out of the ballroom and everything would be fine.

“Hey, stop them!”

Justgetoutoftheballroomjustgetoutoftheballroom-

She heard Beau let out of a yelp of surprise, looking over her shoulder to see some particularly enterprising guest latching onto a poofy part of her sleeve, earning a sharp kick the jaw for his efforts. There was a gasp, other guests around them immediately drawing back, mouths dropping open.

Beau huffed, looking at the man now nursing a probably-broken jaw on the ground, then at the scandalised looks of other guests close by. “Wow. That felt just as good as I always thought it would.”

“Who are you?” Some man called out, looking absolutely disgusted.

Neither of them answered, Jester too busy kicking the door down and Beau too busy lauding in what was probably a very cathartic moment for her.

“Don’t you kick people in the face all the time?” Jester called out, summoning her spiritual weapon lollipop on her backhand and wacking it at any guards who came close.

“Yeah, but I’ve never done it at a ball before. Always wanted to.” Beau said, glancing over her shoulders with a giddy grin on her face before her eyes lit up. “Oh! That reminds me.”

Jester finally managed to wedge a high heel through the lock of the door, glancing back to see Beau raising her hands to just below her shoulders, clutching the soft, probably expensive fabric of the shirt she was wearing and ripping it to shreds with her bare hands.

“Hah! Suck it!”

She tore the sleeves off her shirt and dumped them on the ground, giving Jester a very very nice view of her arms, toned and very attractive. With arms like those, Jester couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to realise she was in love with Beau.

“Wow.” She said, and Beau glanced at her over her shoulder, smirking.

“Like what you see?” She said, gesturing at herself before striking a pose.

“Definitely.” Jester grinned, pushing the door open. “I’ll like it a lot more if we’re still alive after tonight.”

At that moment one of the guards gathered enough courage to dodge past Jester’s spiritual weapon, going to tackle Beau, who neatly sidestepped out of the way before running past Jester, grabbing her wrist as she went.

Jester took the opportunity to salute the ballroom as she began to stumble away, waving her fingers and casting a final flourish of thaumaturgy, making the massive doors slam shut in the faces of the guards who were already trying to follow them. High heels were abandoned, leaving Jester barefoot but at least less likely to trip and sprain her ankles.

They ran through the halls, dodging past confused guards who had only heard vague shouts about thieves and runaway guests, taking turn after twisted turn to somewhere that hopefully lead away eventually, trying to lose any pursuers as they went.

Eventually they turned a corner, ducking into a side closet and hiding. Jester’s eyes quickly adjusted to the dark, and she saw Beau standing opposite her, chest heaving, a breathless grin on her face. She was looking at the door, from which barely a sliver of light was coming through. Her bowtie had been lost somewhere in the chase, a rose still tucked into the lapel of her suit vest.

Jester rested her head against the wall behind her, catching her breath. This was definitely not how she had ever dreamt a romantic ball would happen. When she’d fantasised about it as a little girl, she hadn’t imagined having to run from dozens of guards, of making up a million lies to rich people, of hiding in a broom closet with a brash monk who didn’t like dresses and could kill you in one punch but still wasn’t always sure how to hug properly.

“What a night.” Beau joked, covering her mouth with one hand to try and stifle her snickers lest some guard come prowling through the halls.

She wouldn’t have changed a single thing.

For a few moments there was nothing but the sound of their breathing. Actually, Jester thought to herself, there was one thing she wouldn’t mind changing.

In an estate as large as this, it would probably take a while for guards to find them...

“It’s not over yeeeet~” She trilled, taking a step forward in the darkness, brushing her fingers along Beau’s exposed arms.

For a moment Beau stiffened, her eyes widening and looking in Jester’s direction but not quite focused on her, her night-vision goggles unfortunately left with the others. Or perhaps not so unfortunately. Jester had a feeling they’d probably just get in the way.

She stopped just before pressing her chest up against Beau’s, taking her hands and letting her tail curl around her leg. “Besides, I think we got interrupted.”

Beau exhaled shortly, a nervous, flustered grin on her face, before she squeezed Jester’s hands, moving her arms to bring them around Jester’s waist, pulling her in and closing the distance between them. “We did, didn’t we?”

It was certainly not how Jester imagined her first real kiss to be. Hiding in a broom closet with the possibility of guards descending upon them at any moment. Beau’s skin was warm, her kiss sure, hands letting go of hers and riding up her back, holding her close like nothing could make her let go.

Jester brought her hands to cup Beau’s face, pushing against the wall. It was messy and the initial kiss was quick, both of them separating for a moment, staring at each other with racing hearts and exhilaration in their eyes before diving back into it, deeper this time, fingers pressing into skin, weeks or months of unrealised or unnoticed love spilling out into just one beautiful moment in time.

It was hard to tell how long it lasted, because the rest of the world just seemed so insignificant compared to this, compared to Beau.

A slight shaking began to emanate from Beau’s chest and Jester hesitated, pulling back for a moment before realising that she was laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Her mouth was already quirking into a matching smile anyway, her shoulders beginning to vibrate.

“I’ve spent weeks imagining what it would be like to kiss you.” Beau said, pressing another kiss to Jester’s forehead. “I didn’t think it’d ever actually happen.”

“Omigosh you must’ve been dying when I said we should pretend to be lovers for this!” The giggles came bubbling from Jester’s throat, and Beau just began laughing harder, both of them still entangled with one another, neither of them making an attempt to separate. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I didn’t think you liked girls!”

“I probably would’ve figured it out quicker if you told me!”

Jester buried her face into Beau’s neck, distantly feeling her heartbeat through her chest, strong and fast. Their laughter slowly simmered down, until they were quietly chuckling.

“Well I’ve figured it out now.” Jester said, wedging her arms around Beau and holding tight. “You’re stuck with me.”

“There’s no one else I’d rather be stuck with.” Beau pressed more light kisses into the top of Jester’s head and she smiled. There was a short pause. “Though we might not be stuck with each other for very long if we don’t get out of this building.”

Jester thought about that for a moment, not wanting to let go of Beau just yet. “I don’t suppose the guards will just think we snuck off to make out if they find us.”

“After I kicked a dude in the face? Probably not.”

“Sad. More dances should have people kicking each other in the face.”

“Fully agree with you there, Jes.”

They lapsed into a sweet silence, not awkward or odd but just sitting there. It was within that silence that they began to hear approaching footsteps, distant voices filtering through the door. Well, sounds like their cue to get the fuck out of dodge.

Jester tilted her head upwards, looking up at Beau again, a grin spreading across her face. “One more kiss for good luck?”

By the time the guards found the closet they’d been hiding in, they threw the door open to find nothing but disturbed sheets and knocked over coat racks. In a clump of bushes a good five hundred feet away, Beau and Jester tumbled out of a magical dimension door onto the ground, trying and failing to stifle their giggles, pulling one another to their feet and racing into the streets, never letting go of each others hands the entire time.

They ducked through alleyways, climbing over fences and pushing up behind boxes whenever guards walked by. If they snuck in a few more kisses while they were waiting for them to pass, well, that was just a bonus.

They headed back towards the Leaky Tap, the group having previously decided not to head back to the Pillow Trove once they finished their mission, lest something like exactly what had happened occurred. They ignored the odd looks they got from the few patrons that were still up at that hour, who were rightfully confused by the sight of two ladies dressed in very fine clothes that looked like they’d gotten in a fight with a bear, from all the scratches and rips they’d gotten during their run away from the estate. They were planning to leave Zadash the next day anyway, by the time the guards caught wind of where they were staying, they’d be long gone.

The innkeeper told them which rooms the rest of their friends were staying in, all of them having managed to get back safe, sound and not arrested. The two women couldn’t help giggling the entire way up the stairs, already plotting the best way to tell their story of how the night had gone.

When they opened the door to the first room the innkeeper had pointed out to them, they found everyone all seated or standing inside, peering over Caleb’s shoulder, who was looking carefully at some documents. They glanced up when Jester and Beau walked in the door.

“Wow.” Nott said blandly, and Jester glanced at Beau. Surely they didn’t look that weird. Yeah, they were a bit dirty and Beau now had no sleeves but that was normal. Then Jester actually processed what Beau looked like.

Oh shit, Beau’s face was absolutely covered in smudged lipstick. Her lipstick. In the shape of her lips.

“I fuckin knew it!” Fjord slammed a hand on the desk, making Caleb jump. “Who did it first? Who kissed first?”

Next to her, Beau’s mouth dropped open, and Jester just began giggling again thinking about it. They were still holding hands, and as Fjord badgered Nott to pay up some indeterminate amount of coin (which Nott refused to give up), Jester squeezed, letting her giggles spill out as she rested her head on Beau’s shoulder.

“So I suppose your night was fun?” Caduceus was sitting on one of the beds in the room with Yasha, and Jester hadn’t realised that both of them could look so smug .

“Congratulations.” Caleb called out from the desk, tapping Nott on the shoulder. “You also owe me gold now.”

“Hey! Even if they kissed that doesn’t mean they’re in love !” Nott had clambered on top of a closet, batting away Fjord’s hands.

“Oh we are .” Jester beamed, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. “We definitely are.”

“Fuck. I thought I had at least another month before one of you would spit it out!” Nott sighed, scowling at Fjord and Caleb, who both had hands held out expectantly.

“I’m amazed it took so long for us to figure it out.” Beau said.

“Trust me, the rest of us are amazed too.” Fjord drawled. “I thought Jester hadn’t even realised it yet.”

“Oh I didn’t!” Jester said. “I only figured it out tonight while we were dancing.”

“Ah, very romantic.” Yasha said, nodding approvingly.

Soon enough, they all began to disperse to their own rooms, with vague notions of debriefing and sorting out what they’d gotten in the morning. The others had rented the ordinary number of rooms, Beau and Jester automatically taking one and collecting their things from the others, changing out of their fancy clothes and back into their ordinary ones.

After a few moments of looking at one another, they both climbed into a single bed, automatically cuddling close, tucking arms around and underneath one another, tangling their legs together, but now it all seemed to take on a new meaning, a new brand of intimacy. They pressed tiny, brief kisses to each others cheeks, foreheads, necks and lips, smiling and giggling and still riding the giddiness and energy of the night.

“I love you Beau.” Jester whispered, once they’d settled down, her head tucked beneath Beau’s chin, their hair probably already hopelessly tangled together.

“Love you too, Jes.” Beau’s voice was warm, a little drowsy, her finger drawing loose circles on Jester’s back, her breath tickling the top of Jester’s head.

Jester closed her eyes, exhaling softly, basking in Beau’s warmth, in the memory of the night. She slipped into sleep, dreaming of dances and music and roses, of romance and kisses and Beau. She slept soundly, knowing she loved Beau, and Beau loved her back, and who knew how many more dances and kisses they’d be able to share.