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Dance with me?
“…and so I was wondering if you’d be okay with pretending to be my date tomorrow night?”
Caitlyn claps her hands once, looking expectant and nervous, but not as nervous as she’s probably going to be in a few hours, Jayce thinks. He nods slowly to his friend, not entirely sure how to put into words what he thinks about Cait’s plan to ask Vi to be her fake date for the Snowdown event her mother is hosting.
“That’s great Cait,” he eventually says, as her eyes grow more pleading by the second, “might seem a little elaborate if your plan is just to ask her out but–”
“I’m not asking her out,” Cait cuts him with a frown, and is that pink on her cheeks? Yeah that’s definitely pink on her cheeks. Jayce gives her a doubtful look, and she rolls her eyes. “I just need her help warding off all the suitors mother is obviously going to throw at me all evening.”
“You didn’t look like you needed any help last year,” Jayce retorts with a grin, “one glare and they all left you alone. Besides, isn’t this what you want? To ask her out?”
Caitlyn stays quiet, looking thoughtful, and then she shakes her head like she’s actively trying to talk herself out of something. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I just need her help.”
“Right,” Jayce nods slowly, amused by the deep denial Caitlyn seems to be in. Idiot lesbians. And Vi isn’t much better! They’re made for each other, in Jayce’s opinion. “You definitely don’t need her to fake-dance with you and look fake-dashing in her suit for you and maybe probably definitely fake-kiss you just to keep your cover intact and–”
“Ugh! I knew I should have gone to Viktor for this, you’re the worst!” Caitlyn exclaims before he can finish, cheeks very red by then, and storms out of the room as Jayce laughs.
“Bye Cait, love you!” he cries after her, chuckling when he hears her groan in exasperation. “Not as much as Vi does though!”
“Shut up!”
***
“So what are you gonna say?”
Ekko is tinkering on his watch, only half listening to Vi as she paces the length of his room, visibly agitated. To be fair to him, it’s the fourth time this month. The fourth time she comes to ask him for advice on how to finally ask her topsider out, and the fourth time she doesn’t even listen to a word of what he has to offer.
Vi is dumb like that, sometimes.
Ekko guesses that’s what being head over heels for someone does to you. Caitlyn isn’t much better, so deep in denial even Jayce noticed. Ekko thinks it probably means they’re made for each other, being both that dumb and oblivious.
“Obviously ‘hey Cait’ at first, or, wait, should I call her cupcake? Fuck, why is this so complicated?”
Because you’re making it complicated.
“Have you ever thought of just–” Ekko voluntarily trails off, turning to Vi and shrugging, “I don’t know, walk up to her and just kiss her?” Vi frowns then, and Ekko adds hurriedly, “or ask her if you can just kiss her, consent is important!”
Vi makes a face, hiding her blushing face in her hands, and groans: “I can’t do that, that’s–”
“Hey guys.”
Ekko almost bursts out laughing as Vi jumps, cheeks very red, and turns to the newcomer. “Cait!”
“Vi, hey,” the topsider grins, fidgeting, barely glancing at Ekko as he waves at her. “Can I… talk to you?”
“Sure yeah whatever,” Vi nods with a weird little grin that she probably means to look unbothered but isn’t. Then she turns to Ekko and makes terrified eyes at him. “Help,” she mouths, and this time Ekko does laugh.
“See ya later Vi,” he retorts with a smug grin, and she glares at him before following Caitlyn out of his room. He watches them leave, shaking his head, wondering what they’re both going to think of as a pretext to not date each other this time. One time Vi insisted that Caitlyn was actually straight, what a dumbass. Cait definitely had her scheming face on, and Ekko isn’t sure if it bodes well or not.
Oh boy.
***
Vi is very nervous when she knocks on the Kiramman’s front door the next day. She still can’t quite believe Cait asked her to be her fake-date for the evening. Emphasis on the fake. Ekko told her she was being an idiot, and she glared at him and didn’t talk to him after that, because she hates it when he puts hopes in her head like that. He seems certain that Cait likes her back, and Vi hates it, because why would Caitlyn Kiramman like her anyway? She’s nothing.
She feels out of place in the dark red suit Caitlyn got her, out of place in the grand hallway of the Kiramman’s estate, out of place in the middle of all those disgustingly rich people.
This is Cait’s world, it’ll never be Vi’s.
She's overthinking all of this, but then it doesn’t matter anymore, because she sees Caitlyn from afar, and her heart skips several beats in her chest. She’s wearing a long dress that matches Vi’s suit, and she’s looking absolutely stunning. When she meets Vi’s gaze, her face lights up in the most beautiful way, and she hurriedly makes her way to her, ignoring everyone’s attempt to drag her into a conversation. Vi watches her walk to her like in a dream. The dream doesn’t even end when Cait stops in front of her, because she leans forward and gives Vi a soft kiss on her cheek.
Fighting the urge to brush her fingers where Cait’s lips touched her skin, Vi gulps, eyes traveling down and then back up before settling in Cait’s warm gaze. “Wow,” she whispers without thinking, and then without thinking again, she reaches forward and brushes her cheek, heart skipping a beat when Cait’s breath hitch. “You look stunning.”
Cait’s cheeks are a little pink as her gaze travels down Vi’s body before meeting her eyes again. “You look quite dashing yourself,” she retorts, and Vi’s mouth goes dry. They stare at each other for a moment, and Vi is under the impression the air around them is tense with something she can’t quite put words on. Cait is looking at her intently, the expression on her face open and expecting, and it makes Vi’s heart pound hard in her chest.
Then laughter erupts to Vi’s left, and she’s brought back to reality. She scratches the back of her neck with a nervous smile, and Caitlyn’s expression morphs into her usual, neutral one – and Vi is a little disappointed, but hopefully it doesn’t show. “So, what do you need me to do?” she asks quietly, not entirely sure what Caitlyn is expecting of her tonight.
She’d rambled about keeping suitors away from her, the day before, but Vi figures she probably doesn’t want her to punch anyone who so much as looks at her – even if that’s definitely something Vi would be willing to do. She watches as Cait considers her, apparently hesitating.
And then, in a surprising, hopeful tone, Cait asks: “Dance with me?”
***
Vi looks taken aback by that, and for second Cait thinks she’s made a terrible mistake. She’d thought the look on Vi’s face when she first saw her had meant something, but maybe she was wrong after all. Maybe she had imagined the look of awe, of love, of pure want on Vi’s face, and maybe this was all an act after all, just like she’d asked her.
It’s her own damn fault anyway. She should never have asked the woman she has a crush on to be her fake date at her parents’ Snowdown party. That was stupid.
But then a lovely grin slowly stretches Vi’s lips, and Cait’s heart skips a beat in her chest. “After you, cupcake,” she nods with a wink, and maybe Cait is imagining things again, but her cheeks look a little flushed.
She definitely doesn’t imagine Vi’s lingering fingers on her lower back as they make their way to the dance floor, and the way said fingers shake ever so slightly when Cait places them on her own waist. She doesn’t imagine the way her grey eyes dips to her lips, and then lower to her neckline, or the way her cheeks grow pink when she realizes Caitlyn’s noticed.
They don’t do much dancing, just stand there holding each other and gazing into each other’s eyes, and Cait thinks it’s perfect. She never wants this moment to end, and Vi definitely doesn’t look like she’d want to be anywhere else but here, and for once Cait’s crush on her best friend isn’t crushing her under false hopes and hesitant thoughts.
She’s just here, in Vi’s arms, and she thinks she’s right where she’s supposed to be.
They remain quiet for a long while, holding each other, and then Vi takes a sharp breath, making Cait jump in surprise. “Can I kiss you?” she blurts, cheeks as pink as her hair, and Cait’s heart starts hammering in her chest.
“Because you want to or–”
because I asked you to be my fake date?
She doesn’t find the courage to finish her sentence, hoping she doesn’t look as hopeful as she feels herself to be, just in case it doesn’t mean anything. Vi stares at her for a moment, like she’s trying to read her mind, then offers her a shy little grin that completely messes with Cait’s brain.
“Because I want to?” she says with a small shrug, like she isn’t just turning Cait’s insides into jelly. “I always want to kiss you.”
It’s interesting, Cait thinks, how some words can be responsible for such a life-altering realization. She stares at Vi, mind running wild with everything that these little words mean, and then she grins too, heart jumping in her throat. “I always want to kiss you too,” she admits very quietly, and Vi gasps, lips parting invitingly.
They stare at each other quietly again, until Caitlyn finds herself too impatient to wait for whatever Vi is waiting for. She raises an eyebrow at her, shifting her hands on Vi’s shoulders to brush her collarbone with deft fingers, and grins to herself when she feels Vi shiver under her touch. “Kiss me?” she asks, wetting her lips, and the hesitation on Vi’s face vanishes.
Caitlyn expects a strong, engulfing kiss, one that matches Vi’s powerful personality. And in a way it is, because it steals her breath away and makes her mind stop working, and thousands of butterflies erupt in her chest as Vi presses her lips to hers.
But it’s also so soft. So caring. So warm and gentle and loving.
Exactly like Vi, Cait thinks.
When they part, drawing shaky breaths, Cait leans her forehead against Vi’s and doesn’t open her eyes just yet. There’s a very small part of her that wonders if this was for real, and somehow despite being small, it’s also the loudest part of herself. She blurts the question before she can stop herself, much like Vi did when she asked if she could kiss her.
“Was that real?”
or was it just for show?
She feels Vi’s breath on her lips and opens her eyes, and Vi is staring at her very closely. Her grey eyes are a little unsure, but there’s so much love in them Cait wonders how she could miss it before. Vi’s words only come confirm her thoughts:
“It’s real if you want it to be, Cupcake.”
And she does, she really, really does.