Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rose Lalonde leisurely sat in the armchair, polishing her fingernails with a newly alchemized file. It looked very lovely, with a pattern of kittens and balls of yarn on the violet plastic handle. Quiet noises of abrasion and her thoughts on how to spend the rest of the day were all that accompanied her in the main room of the meteor. It was uncharacteristically quiet in there, with no presence of Karkat and his shouts over Dave's another penis ouija, or Terezi's loud giggles after another dirty joke from Vriska. Even Gamzee seemed to not be in his honking mood, probably snoring peacefully inside his fridge.

The room was inviting in its calming emptiness, allowing Rose to relax and put her lithe legs onto the footrest while she admired manicure on each finger she's finished her work with. There was a good reason behind her titivating, and she stood behind Rose next to the doorframe, not bothering with hiding a light smirk. Kanaya couldn't bring herself to avoid staring at all the Seven Wonders of this flying rock combined into a fabulous young woman she had the privilege to call her Matesprit.

Her maturing body challenged Kanaya many times to just say "Screw It" and start making out in front of everyone else, but she glad she took it slow. With Rose unwrapping her barriers of snarky bullshit one by one, her heart melted with a delicious slowness. Right until the Final Lalondian Surrender on their first date, when she felt a love so concentrated it made her heart evaporate entirely, her whole being held by nothing but the charming human attached to her lips. And the fire resting inside troll's chest since then never dared to burn out.

She walked with careful, silent steps in order to approach her lover. God, she looked so well rested, so composed. Kanaya bit her lower lip in delight when she managed to surprise Rose by touching her shoulder. What sort of Good Fairy Troll would she be if she didn't use her vampiric predatory abilities exceptionally for adorable goals like these? Spooked Rose acted like a similarly spooked kitten – body tense, tuning her head abruptly, eyes wide, staring for a solid couple of seconds before realizing there's nothing that endangers her. Quite the opposite, actually, it was somebody she felt herself the safest with since ever.

And with that, Rose hovered her godlike body upwards to plant a kiss on Kanaya's cheek in a record time interval, not providing any space to dodge her devotion. Of course, it made Kanaya's face fill with slight blush as she coquettishly avoided eye contact. She was so lucky to have Rose, to have her gentle pale arms resting on her shoulders and interlocking behind her head. This relationship was a heaven for both of them.

Kanaya looked into lilac irises and slightly opened her mouth, as if to say something, yet no sound escaped her throat. From the way her brows became raised, and her pupils enlarged, Rose could tell that whatever her girlfriend had to say was hopelessly lost into another cavity of her unmatched mind. She almost regretted being so stunning for her, but there was a plus side as well, in form of a gorgeous chance to give her another smooch to fill the silence. In the lips, this time. Minding her fangs, Kanaya easily gave up into the kiss, closing her eyes to better feel Rose's tongue lightly touching the black lips. The image of a horizontally flying beauty with her face so close to Kanaya's travelled from her short-term memory into a long-term section this instant, to give warm memories whenever she felt lonely.

Not like Rose ever gave her a chance to feel isolation. She didn't even have to use her Seer abilities to find out when Kanaya needed someone on the receiving end of a hug – she was always there, guided by nothing else but her heart's instincts. "Accidentally" finding Kanaya in the library reading an unlabeled book, then joining her and alternately giggling at the absurdity of its scenes either of them would skip in silence if reading alone? That's a usual occurrence. Deciding to roleplay that exact scene with each other like two theatrical rejects with no audience? Failing to suppress laughter when it's their line to read, or their turn to mimic a hideous facial expression described as a reaction? They had a lot of fun doing such silly things. No matter how, but they constantly discovered more and more ways to enjoy their time together, rarely repeating themselves or doing something resulting in mutual disappointment. But never ever during the last year of journey towards alpha session, they were regretting time spent together.

The company of each other woke up some genuine type of fun inside of them, buried long ago. It almost felt... Childish? But in a good way, in the best way actually. Unspoiled, pure, memorable. No surprises that Rose was remarkably playful right now; not opting for brief kisses, but not pushing far enough to make them proper either. And Kanaya adored this side of her partner so much, in fact, that she forgot how to operate her lungs.

Kanaya instantly remembered why she needed to see Rose in the first place. She gently shooshed Rose away (and it took a while because of little loving pecks she was fending off with) to start checking her pockets. Where did it... Yes! The captchalogue card with Rose's gift was hiding just behind her golden rin- behind nothing important inside her left pocket. The time for that will eventually come today.

A nervous giggle escaped Kanaya's mouth, joining a hearty one of Rose's.

Kanaya leaned closer to Rose's ear, who had problems maintaining her composure already.

Kanaya Maryam, why is it so easy for you to make Rose burst in laughter?

When it was 8 PM, Rose fully uncaptchalogued her new dress and examined it closer. The color palette was similar to her old dating dress made months ago on Alchemiter, but the way fabrics flowed was hypnotizing. The texture was exceptional as well, silky to the touch but not entirely. There was something else about the way it feels, slightly denser while still maintaining fabric's unnatural thinness. There is no doubt it was Alterenian highest quality material. And of course, no visible seams whatsoever, even when she tried to seek out for them from the inside. The procedure of putting it on took mere seconds thanks to the proper designing, and voila - Seer of Light, upgraded looks.

Rose's new outfit felt incredible to the skin, as if Kanaya herself caressed Rose's every inch with immense tenderness through this piece of clothing. Rose rarely took a break from appreciating the amount of love her girlfriend was willing to share. That sweet, demonic-looking girl. With beauty so stunning and worldview so mature for her age. A shy exhausted wellspring of selfless care that fades underappreciated under everybody else's ignorance. She deserves all Rose's love in return, and then some more in tow.

When Rose arrived to a designated place, she was stunned by amount of work Kanaya has put into their romantic dinner. She was greeted with a soothing quiet music, ambient candle lighting, more than pertinent decorations, a table with an exotic home-cooked (she could just alchemize some!) Alternian cuisine, and of course, Kanaya herself. Just for this evening, she redesigned her hair into a more wavy style as much as her length allowed, with a little heart barrette on the side. Honestly, if not the pin's smile-evoking cuteness, Rose would faint from her lover's looks. Her makeup was deep and dark, with both eyeliners and eyelid shadow skillfully applied. Her dress was a piece of art Rose never saw before, mostly black in color, however with many little red accents she started to notice the longer she looked at it. Despite the visible nervousness, her smile was as inviting and effulgent as ever. Simply put, today Kanaya appeared as the most elegant and charming being she was ever lucky enough to witness.

She smiled and winked, and stepped towards Kanaya, nearly tripping over the chair because of how concentrated on her, over other surroundings, Rose was. She put one hand on the shoulder and suggestively stretched the other one out, watching how Kanaya's gaze followed it, full of curiosity. They were so close Rose could feel her breathing.

Kanaya politely nodded after an awkward silence and put a hand around Rose's waist, accompanied by giggles emerging either from Rose or herself. Was it possible to be from them both? More than likely.

The band currently playing dictated a slow rhythm of the movements, and so they quickly found the right mood to flow into. None of them knew how to actually dance, but they tried their best and after all, is there someone to judge their technique? They only had each other, nobody but their partner to demonstrate their skills to, and the whole world could just go to hell. Well, it actually did.

They were happy in a company of their respective matesprit, stepping on each other's toes followed by heavy excuses at first, then silently, and then laughing about it yet not caring enough to actually stop embarrassing themselves. Rose's body felt ideally warm in Kanaya's hands as she hugged her closer, heads resting on each other's shoulders. Then Kanaya noticed a key appearing on the table while Rose was murmuring soft nothings into her ear. This must be from her sylladex.

Is she going to do this? Will she succeed with it? With that- That Ring Showcase thingy? Her heart started to pound with a bigger desperation that usual. This is the most delicate situation she's been into, and she'll manage it. Get yourself together, Kanaya! She won't reject you.

And then Kanaya threw up on your dress because the perfume you used provoked some weird allergic reaction. She's more embarrassed than ever, runs away to her respite block; and you let her. You are a true gentlewoman, knowing when someone needs some privacy, so you end up stuck alone, standing in the middle of an empty room.

Shit's wild, I know, but how else do you expect her alien senses to work? To just sniff at whatever abomination grew up on Earth, got refined into strongly smelling liquid, and be perfectly okay with it? Yeah, sure. At least pretend they came from a different universe, will you? It sucks how uncreative their appearance is. Guys are so humanlike that they were given two circulatory systems, second being red for all castes, just so they would look more like us when their eyes are irritated. Remember drunk Terezi? God, how quickly have we started to forget about drunk Terezi. Try suggesting her some Faygo when you're done with the installation, Rose.

ROSEBOT: I assumed you were busy re-watching Evangelion for the nth time. Got bored?

Uh-huh. Pretty much like all of us here. I recently alchemized new garments for myself because I'm too male to do the laundry. I'm not suggesting anything, but the vacant duty is so desperate for a hero to appear and save the day.

ROSEBOT: If you think I'm going to do the hous- shiphold chores for you, then your rags are most likely to be thrown away behind our Alcubierre bubble until it finds a star to get burnt from.

Lack of enthusiasm will be corrected by the line #1293. I've had several sleepless nights because of this update. You'd better be satisfied.

ROSEBOT: Analyzing answer. Stand by. Search for satisfaction reasons. Robo-noises.
ROSEBOT: Detected – my father's another whining about his disrupted internal clock. Additional data detected. Analyzing. Stand by. Additional beeps.
ROSEBOT: Final analysis completed. Conclusion. Output amount of fucks I give. Calculating.
ROSEBOT: Output number is. Zero. Point. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. One. Three. Four. Percent.
ROSEBOT: Now once an incredibly rare "Ask Robotic Rose Lalonde's Opinion X1 Combob" was gotten over, let me receive an important answer to the obvious question:
ROSEBOT: Is there a better reason for interrupting my read?