Work Text:
The theories all started with the necklace.
Kit Tanthalos is always wearing a necklace. A pendant of a crystal on a chain, a black cord for a few years, then back to a silver chain. In all of her photos dating back to as early as 2014 when she was fourteen and all over Tumblr for her haircut and infamous photos of her beat up Converse, if you look closely she dons the pendant in all of her posts. Into her modelling career - the catalogue shoots and odd pieces of promo over the years - the necklace hangs around her neck still, sitting high in her clavicle or deep against her chest. The only times she's not been seen wearing it are on the runway and handful of high fashion shoots.
It was in a livestream where people (people referring to the fans she has collected over the years, majority of whom are queer, and the majority of them have her entire career engraved into their minds like it's as necessary as blood, from the few cameos she made in her father's movies as a very small child, to every single music video she's appeared in, to each runway she's walked) connected the dots. Sort of.
The question sent in was Where did you get your necklace from? <3
Kit's hand flew to the pendant as she read it out loud. "Oh! It was a gift!" She held the stone up to the camera - screenshots of this would circulate around the internet. "I don't know where from. My girlfriend got it for me."
Now, Kit Tanthalos' relationship has been topic of speculation for the public for years now. She has never shied away from her sexuality and never hidden the fact that she is in a relationship, but with whom has always been up in air. For a few years in the late 2010s, rumours spread around that Kit was in a relationship with the heir to the GALLA FILMS production company, son of the current owner, Graydon Hastur. Countless times, she had to come out and say that, no, she was not all of a sudden interested in men, yes, she was still a lesbian and yes she is still with her girlfriend. Majority of people didn't have a problem with maintaining anonymity. But a scandal on Twitter began a summer or so ago when a fan claimed Kit to be queerbaiting for not revealing her girlfriend. Chaos ensued, Kit left the app, all was forgotten when the next celebrity dating scandal came along.
"It's jade," Kit entertained the people in her live, showing off the done again before letting it fall back onto her chest. Quickly, Kit reads of another question and answers that with glee.
*
The Tanthalos Twins' debut at the MET gala saw Kit and her brother Airk donning a suit and dress respectively. It caused as much controversy as a man in a dress and a lesbian in a suit does in the modern day, but the focus was on the interview held between the twins and the vlogger sensation Ella Montgomery interviewing for Vogue.
"Tell us about what inspired you for this look! Is it a performance, is it drag?" The interviewer is donned in white and gold and wearing a tiara.
(Note: it would be silly though unnecessary to mention how both twins at some point in the interview struggled to keep their eyes up.)
"It's not drag, no," Kit answers first and proudly. "This is just- Like, this is just who we are, I think? I've always leaned towards androgyny and while queer people wearing the opposite gender's clothes-"
Her brother cuts in with a charismatic grin. "Not that we believe clothes are gendered."
"No, no. Of course not," Kit agrees. "But, yeah, while it isn't ground breaking to be dressed like this, especially now, it still means a lot, mostly for the queer people in the world who'd be in danger if they dressed like us."
"I love that!" The interviewer entertains with a nod.
"As far as gender expression goes," Kit continues with her signature cheeky smile, "for me I'm comfortable with the label of girl still wearing a suit. I think I struggled with identity for a while, swapping between labels for a lot of my later teen years because things were all a bit jumbled up. Now, though, I'm inclined to use lesbian as an identifier for my sexuality and gender because nothing makes me feel more like a girl than liking girls." As she laughs, her brother nods along and smiles with pride. "And as much as the internet likes to debate my sexuality and relationship, I can once again confirm I am a lesbian in a relationship with a woman, thank you very much."
"I can also confirm," Airk adds with a laugh. The interviewer waves them away and comments to the camera about good looks and good genes.
The interview goes on the record as the first time she addresses the comments about the so-called queerbaiting.
At the afterparty, the twins were seen with their plus ones, musical duo Wand and Flute. Kit arm in arm with one half, Elora Danan, and Airk side by side with the other half, Graydon Hastur. Photos of the their night, expertly took on a film camera by Airk, were well received on the internet and made their rounds through all sorts of Pinterest moodboards and pins.
Controversy struck when they were put on the worst dressed list in the following week.
*
Wand and Flute first went viral over the pandemic with their cover of a Hozier song. They'd had a very, very small following of fans prior to this, and quickly their fanbase expanded as they posted more covers and, finally, an original song: yours truly.
It was compared to Lorde's Ribs and many of Clairo's songs, similarities were drawn to too many indie pop songs to keep count. It went big for a song recorded in a pantry and produced themselves.
The music video was a home video style film, starring the Tanthalos twins. People donned it the biggest crossover of the twenty-first century since a multitude of references to Disney Channel crossover movies and musical duos. It was hard to keep up The twins and the couple went live together and revealed they'd been friends since they were children, and that some of the home video footage really were just candid clips of them being friends. All the footage of the music video (directed and produced by Airk Tanthalos, his first official credit) contained short videos of their whole friend group running around in a park, enjoying a picnic, pushing each other on swings, et cetera. It was titled, by the media, as the epitome of teenage bliss.
After this discovery, a theory was planted that Elora was the girlfriend Kit mentions so often.
In fairness, there is less evidence for the argument against for dating than there is against. On their social medias there are posts after posts of them together. One of them dancing at a New Year's Eve party where Elora is grinding on Kit, tongue out and clearly wasted (despite being underage, some fans feel the need to point out). Several of them kissing, never more than a staged peck on the lips. Holding hands, matching outfits, dancing together, being spotted by paparazzi hand in hand, attending events together. Hell, a verse in yours truly is dedicated to the girls' relationship. It's easy to see how this assumption was drawn.
All of this, however, is useless next to the fact that Elora and Graydon are married.
Some theorists don't believe this, or, rather, don't care about it and choose to ignore it for the sake of their ship.
So the question still, is who is Kit Tanthalos' girlfriend?
*
yours truly
we
oh, we used to be
seventeen, and
drunk and wild and free
satin on leather, you
you said forever
forever ago, urgh-
kiss my cheek, please
kiss it better, cheek
and i will
and you need it
i can't keep
oh-
hands in your pocket
armed with a crystal and a locket
initials to your
yours truly, i-
i won't say it
but i know
you know it.
*
Excerpt from an interview with Wonderland for the Spring '22 issue between Julianna Oh and Kit Tanthalos:
JO: You were recently included in the nepo-baby New York Magazine article She Has Her Mother's Eyes and Agent. What is your take on this sensation hitting the media at the minute?
KT: I think it's a bit absurd. I mean, of course in some areas it makes sense. We all went to school with the kid who's parent was on the PTA or a teacher and got away with everything. So, like, for those celebrities - I won't name names, I'm not feeling petty today - I get it. I think we should call them out on being handed their jobs. But that article really had to stretch in some areas.
Like, my friend Elora [Danan] (of Wand and Flute) is on there 'cause her dad [Willow Ufgood] is a light technician for theatres and has, like, three short film credits. I'm not being funny, but how do his behind the scenes skills have anything to do with the video she made in her bedroom in her apartment and going viral on its own?
As for myself, I can understand some people are upset. Of course I know my brother and I are privileged for coming from such wealth and talent, and we are eternally grateful for being put into acting classed young and stuff like that. But I think people should start looking at some of the context of our lives before jumping all those hurdles to come to the conclusion that we've never had to work for anything.
Firstly, my mom (Sorsha Tanthalos, actress, singer, runway model) started her career in figure skating. Neither me nor my brother have ever stepped foot on the ice. Part of that comes from [Sorsha's] own upbringing where she was forced into a career that became her own downfall. She, too, was on that nepo baby list because her of her mom (Bavmorda Tanthalos, d., figure skating coach for the Russian Olympic team), but she worked for everything she has now, you know? It's not quite the same for me and Airk, of course. We've been able to get a couple of acting roles because of our dad (Madmartigan Doone, actor) and our mom was booking us for modelling gigs from the minute we could sit up right. But Airk taught himself how to use a camera and film. I- You know, I had to work hard to get out of the typecast I'd been placed in for gigs and get myself into the androgynous category, something I had to really challenge my mom for.
So, yes, I am very privileged and grateful for everything I've been given to help me in my career. That being said, I think people need to consider all factors in someone's life before slapping a potentially harmful label on someone. I hope I worded that right, I'm a bit of a rambler.
JO: I think you worded that perfectly. Now, everyone knows the story of how your parents met on the set of Little Women where, despite playing Amy and Laurie, they couldn't stand each other. Of course they eventually fell in love, but their relationship began as such a scandal. How does it feel to follow in their footsteps and be in your own relationship scandal now?
KT: Laughs I think it's funny! And ridiculous. There's nothing scandalous about my relationship, just with the fact that we both prefer privacy. Plus, we're young, you know? We were childhood sweethearts, we got together before I had any sort of mass following or career. This year we'll have been together for eight years, I think? God she's gonna kill me if I got that wrong! No, but it's not a scandal to, like, not be public.
JO: Do you think you'll ever come out?
KT: I mean, it's not up to me, really. I have no issue with the spotlight or anything, not anymore. It's [her] who likes her privacy. Actually - laughs - Actually, it's really a whole ordeal, 'cause she can get really protective. Like, whenever we went to her friends' places for parties and stuff she loved to show me off and I loved hanging on her arm for the whole night. But it's different when the whole world knows about you, I guess.
*
It's common knowledge that, in between shows and shoots, her brother's premiers, her friends' gigs and her work, that Kit Tanthalos spends almost all of her free time doing charity work. Fundraisers and field trips and galas. Her money spreads across many non-profits, including but not limited to organisations supporting women's rights, black lives matters, trans and queer rights, and many more. She's most well known, though, for supporting Wild and Bone, a profit focused on supporting and housing homeless queer youth.
Stranger, though, is the location of the organisation in the East Midlands in the UK. None of the Tanthalos family are located in Britain. Airk has a house in Malibu, Sorsha swaps between her houses in Los Angeles and Italy, Kit has a penthouse in New York City, and her father resides in Perth. So there's been speculation on why this was her main charity of choice.
No one conspired that Wild and Bone might be located in the home town of Kit's girlfriend's family. Blood family, that is.
Because while the expert eye may connect dots between one of the members of the friend group between the Tanthalos twins and Wand and Flute having a British accent, it's near impossible to dig deeper than a private account. Even more unlikely is it that you'd learn this person's multitude of lives across the Atlantic ocean.
So the mystery of the girlfriend continued.
*
Her name is Jade Claymore, the video began. Some streamer explaining their theory on the girlfriend.
A keen eye can find her everywhere Kit goes. Parties, mostly. The kind with press and photos and important people with press and photos less so, but college and holiday parties definitely. She'll appear in the background of photo dumps. Shows up in videos from time to time. She's there more often than Elora is. Kit's story is always full of photos of the two of them anywhere.
A keener eye will take you down the rabbit hole. The streamer went into stalker-levels of detail about every sighting of the two ever.
Same middle school, same high school. Prom together, graduation photos together. Same city for college, roommates since.
(An even keener eye will take you to Jade's family. Her adoptive father has worked for the Tanthalos' as a security guard for twenty five years, giving Jade an immediate in with the family. As well, her biological sister, found only after the death of her adoptive dad through Facebook, lives in the UK, working for a charity supporting queer teens in the Midlands. But only the keenest of eyes will find this.)
Most photos of them together have been taken by paparazzi or fans of them going to or leaving the gym. Though, there are a number of photos of Kit seemingly on dates with any number of people during this timeline, so it doesn't all check out.
Even Kit's brother knows the girl. In fact, she shows up in his feed more than on Kit's, so speculation of which twin she may or may not be involved with was up for debate now, too.
In the music video for yours truly, scenes of Kit and Jade show them relaxed and comfortable, but more notably always touching. They're sitting in their laps or hugging, always in contact.
This one streamers conspiracy set off a rampage of delving into the new idea of the identity of Kit's girlfriend.
One person found a JayClay on Spotify who had one playlist called "competition" and included every music video Kit had made out with a girl in, and another with the black heart emoji as the title. These songs (including but not limited to The Only Exception by Paramore, Dress, Lover and Style by Taylor Swift, $20 by Boygenius, Ribs by Lorde, and many more) were less conspicuous, except for the fact that every time Kit posted a picture of the two of them on her story it featured a song also on the black heart playlist.
Another person posted a photo from a Wand and Flute show, a grainy screenshot from a video. It's a small venue, the stage as big as a DDR floor. The early days of them performing, The video is angled from behind, but front and centre of the crowd you can clearly see two people holding each other and watching the show. A shorter person, with short shaggy hair and a brown leather bomber jacket, and a taller girl with a halo of red curls with her arms around the other's shoulders from behind. The screenshot is awful. The quality is just God awful. But it's pretty obvious it's Kit and Jade.
Any number of accounts across all platforms come out and say they used to go to class with one of the girls and could confirm they've been dating for a long time. But it was impossible to tell our of these who's account was sincere and who was clout chasing.
Eventually, people gave up, though. Kit had no response to the chaos, nor did any of her friends. No one came forward with more evidence. The world moved on.
Wand and Flute released their debut album 'across a shattered sea' featuring songs 'kit' and 'stone'. 'Kit' was this prose-like song that had a few people asking the same questions as before about the ins and outs of Kit and Elora's relationship. It was 'stone' though what would eventually have people losing their minds.
The picture was posted on a random Wednesday. On a new account, @user287773910, with no followers and no following. One post.
It's horrible quality. Blurry and grainy, maybe a finger in the shot as well. A photo taken of the photo on a digital camera, so a glare covers the screen partially too. But it's enough.
Half of their faces are cut off from the poor angle, but it's clearly Kit and Jade. Kissing, smiling into each other's mouths. It's overexposed, a horrible shot really.
It's captioned "mine, all mine. have you seen my pretty stone?" followed by a green and black heart. Kit's account is tagged.
Less than twenty four hours later, the photo and the account have been deleted, but the photo already exists on every fan and theorist's phones.
*
stone
'mine, all mine!'
she says, all the time
'have you seen my pretty stone?'
i say 'why there, not there
'on your finger to wear?'
she says, 'mine and mine alone.'
*
At a red carpet for Madmartigan Doone's new movie, the actor is joined by his two children who both feature in the movie (Airk as his younger self in a short flashback, and Kit in the background of a wide shot. No credits). Kit is donned in a cropped suit jacket while her brother is wearing a Canadian tuxedo with a big belt buckle and bolo tie. Their father wears a simple black suit and stands behind his kids with a hand on both shoulders.
Though not a star, Kit is still interviewed on the carpet. She is asked who her date tonight is and laughs with her head thrown back.
"My date's at the hotel."
"So you won't be leaving here tonight with anyone special?" The interviewer pried.
Kit just shook her head. "I don't think she'd appreciate me taking a date to our hotel room. No, just family tonight."
Whenever the twins are photographed with their father, a new article is always written about how alike they look. No doubt aided by Airk's role as a young Madmartigan. This time around, the article draws the physical comparisons, then makes a side note titled 'Like Father Like Daughter Likes Redheads', a whole paragraph about Sorsha being a ginger and two of the girl's rumoured to be Kit's anonymous partner also having red hair.
Someone on Twitter tagged Kit and asked if she'd seen the article. She responded with a simple tweet.
@patronsaintkit: lol so true
And thus, the internet took this as solid evidence of Kit dating Jade (or Elora).
*
Extract from an interview with Variety: Kit Tanthalos on Being Enough, Queerness and Mothers.
I met with 23 year old model Kit Tanthalos in a speakeasy of her choosing one evening. There were drag queens practicing performances around us as she sucked on the lemon that came in her vodka diet coke. Immediately, I could tell she was cool. Not this trend of the cool girl going around on social media, but cool in the sense that she was comfortable in her own skin. "I think it's rare these days to, like, express yourself, insecurities and all," Tanthalos tells me. "I don't know, actually. I think we're at the dawn of this era. More and more people are starting to accept all of themselves thanks to the online presence of imperfect people. I know I'm attractive and fit very much into the beauty standards today, but at the same time I'm visibly queer. Obviously a good thing, but I like to think not shying away from this might be helping people."
Tanthalos goes on to say, "I have my mom's nose. If I had red hair and a curling wand, I'd be the spitting image of her." For a Halloween costume two years ago, Kit and her brother, Airk Tanthalos, attended a Halloween party dressed as their parents iconic roles. Kit donning a red wig curled and high, sparkling hot pants and cowboy boots making her Sorsha Tanthalos' twin from fifteen years ago in her music video for 'The Archer'. Her brother wore a stage accurate remake of his father's armour from Madmartigan's 1997 movie 'Knighthood'.
"A lot of my childhood and teenage years, especially the ones in the spotlight, were spent comparing myself to my mother and her success, asking whether I was enough for her. I know she wanted me and Airk to be like her, you know? That's why she got us modelling so young. But I know she had a hard time with her mom and being enough for her. As I got older, I understood her more. It was hard, but I stopped resenting her so much for how I felt in my teens."
*
She's asked about the picture in a livestream with her brother.
"Which photo?" She answered the question with a mischievous grin. "You'll have to be more specific." In the background of one of the twin's streams, someone laughs.
"Oh, you mean the photo of the kiss? Right, right," Kit replied, never the actor her father is. "I dunno. I mean, there are plenty of photos of me kissing girls, so I don't know what to tell you."
Which sends her fans fucking crazy.
Worse though? She starts to play into it.
Kit posts a photo of her in the middle of Elora and Jade and captions it "with the gf"
She posts photos from a promotional shoot for Wand and Flute, featuring Elora dressed up like Marie Antoinette and Kit, Graydon, Jade, Airk and a handful of their other friends dressed in the same era of clothes surrounding her like a religious themed painting. The first photo is from the main shoot, then behind the scenes photos follow in which Kit is kissing every girl on set that day. She captioned it "let WHO eat this cake?".
It's theorised that Kit pays Elora to play along, too, since the common assumption is that the girl wouldn't hurt a fly let alone start a fire in the lesbian community on Kit's behalf. This assumption would be wrong, as she loves chaos as much as Kit. Regardless, Kit features in a music video for a queer artist where she makes out with the artist on a pink backdrop, very But I'm A Cheerleader style. Elora posts two pictures from behind the scenes after the video is released. One selfie of her and Jade with their mouths open looking past the camera, and one of what they're looking at: Kit getting it on against a set of lockers. It's captioned "looks like we've got competition."
*
Transcript of an excerpt from an episode of popular podcast Live Minty Reaction that Kit Tanthalos guest starred on, hosted and created by Ella Montgomery:
Ella: You've been in a lot of people's mouths over the last year or so.
Kit: I- Are you talking about the rumours? 'Cause that's a weird fuckin' way to put it. Laughs.
Ella: Yes! Oh, yeah. Sorry. In my head that was a good phrasing but in the context of it all- Oh my God!
Kit: To all of my fans and the conspiracists out there: I have been in one person's mouth! My girlfriend's!
Both laugh.
Ella: I see what you did there
Kit: Thank you. I try.
Ella: No, but back to my point before I made a fool of myself. How is this drama actually affecting you? I know you keep a lively personality online but it can't be all sunshine knowing how many people out there doubt your sincerity.
Kit: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's not been great. We have the privilege of a guarded life, you know? Security cameras and staff always keeping us safe, especially now people are finding our address and trying to get, I don't know, proof of the relationship. It's absurd. We actually had a huge falling out 'cause of it, 'cause I'd said we might as well just go public forgetting everything she stands for. We're fine now, though. It's just causing a lot of stress.
Ella: Yeah.
Kit: It's easier now I've made us have fun with it. You know, reducing the pool to just two people means I'm not, like, being stalked as often-
Ella: Did you actually have a stalker?
Kit: Laughs. Yeah! We had to file a restraining order against one guy, and this group of teenage girls, unfortunately. It's hard, I think. 'Cause I feel guilty about doing that 'cause I know they're just following trends and, like- I don't know. Do you see where I'm coming from? I can't really say much 'cause I'm the same generation as them, I think, but they're grown up in this world with less restrictions and I think they can forget that the world is a very private place still. And it's hard to picture celebrities and influencers as private people because our whole lives are being documented for the masses.
Ella: I know the feeling. How is your girlfriend handling all of it? It must be hard watching your partner be suspected of being with another girl so often.
Kit: She's having a laugh with it mostly. Laughs. Like, I think because we've been together for so long we've cemented this trust with each other. And we're soulmates, you know? We know we aren't off with other girls. It's laughable.
Ella: That's so cute! Good for you guys!
Kit: My public life has always been separate to our life, if that makes sense? Like- Like when she went to college and I was invited for the first time to fashion month we sat down and we said, like, you know- Oh, sorry, this is weird saying this out loud now.
Ella: It's okay. You don't have to
Kit: No, it's fine. I haven't shared this before. Can I say this?
(off-camera) Anonymous: Go for it.
Kit: Yeah, so this was like our first big separation and we'd been together for five years or something by then, most of them being high school bliss and not really feeling like a real relationship. So before I went away we sat down and promised to each other to still love each other, but with an understanding that, yeah, we have needs. As long as we told each other, we could do whatever we wanted with whoever.
Our worlds are different. We have to come up with all these compromises, you know? I've had people speculating my entire being my whole life, more often than not one dressing room down from me or across the makeup station, or, hell, from the top of my stairs while my parents went through their divorce and after.
People can say whatever the fuck they want about me and my relationship and they can believe I'm dating whoever they want, but my life with my girlfriend is ours and nothing is going to change that, going public or not.
Wait- Am I allowed to swear on here?
*
Eerily enough, after the episode airs, Kit drops off the face of the earth it seems. She's spotted a handful of times, at the gym or her modelling agency; a couple of times at brunch or coffee with her mom and brother.
Her socials are silent, though. While she appears in an odd photo from the members of Wand and Flute, or makes an appearance on her brother's story and livestreams, Kit doesn't post anything on any of her public accounts.
The longevity of the radio silence sends everyone off on the latest TV show or dance trend. Soon enough, Kit and her relationship have been long forgotten.
Until a random Friday when Kit posts on her Instagram a photo of two hands next to each other, one slim and pale, and one tan and covered in freckles. Both hands have a ring on the third finger, Kit's with a small green stone. The caption reads. "before anyone asks, the ring is Jade."
*
Kit kicks her boots off in the hallway, aiming them at the shoe rack but not bothering to actually put them where they belong. Not right now. It's been a long week.
She'd spent four days in Tokyo for photoshoots for different brands. The latest required waking up at three in the morning to be driven up to the top of a mountain to pose with the sun at the perfect angle. Look, she's a model not a photographer, none of what she does actually makes sense to her. Most of the time she's not got a thought in her head except for reminding herself to keep her expression the same. She'd gone straight from the mountain top to the airport for a fourteen hour flight, which she'd have struggled to sleep through had she not woken up at three in the morning and instantly passed out.
Kit glances at her watch. It's eight o'clock, but it feels like ten in the morning, and she's so tired she actually doesn't know what time it feels like for her.
Before her departure to Tokyo, Kit had posted the picture of the rings and promptly logged out of Instagram. She'd have turned her phone off if she didn't need it for work. Logged out of all the other apps, too. Didn't need to be bothered by more speculations, even if it was her own doing. She likes chaos, okay?
Kit drags herself through the hallway and into the living room. The TV is on, a random episode of Bondi Beach playing quietly. On the couch, Jade turns her head up and looks at Kit, her face splitting into a pearly grin.
"You're back!" She says, folding up a laptop on her lap and putting it to the side.
Kit can't smell food so Jade must have waited for her. She always does this. Kit smiles and climbs over the back of the sofa, lying down with her head in Jade's lap. Immediately, Jade's hands fly to her hair.
They've spent so many evenings like this over the years. Kit wiped out after press and shows and walks, needing to decompress. The other way around, too, Jade's head in her lap after she'd exhausted herself writing her dissertation or spent too long looking at photos of broken vases from however many thousands of years ago. Someone once suggested they buy weighted blankets to help with stress, but who needs a blanket when you have a cuddly partner?
"How was it?"
"Missed you," Kit says, prior to everything. "Woke up at the ass crack of dawn to climb a mountain for a spring summer collection. I got some chocolate we can try, some fun flavours. Have you had dinner?" She knows already but it's good to ask.
Unsurprisingly, Jade shakes her head. "I was waiting for you."
"I figured."
"Do you wanna order in? What mealtime is it for you?"
"Brunch, but I'll eat anything. Oh! Can we get something from that new Vietnamese place?" Kit sits up to cuddle next to Jade to watch her place an order of food they both like.
Quickly, Kit sinks into her couch and is absorbed into the television. Just when all thoughts of work are replaced with Australian rip tides, she gets a reminder to make a post from her trip of some of the photos from the first day.
She'd almost forgot about the ring photo until the flood of notifications hits her screen. Kit posts the new photos then checks the other post, can't forget to do her job and all.
"Oh, people are loving that photo," Jade says over her shoulder. "There's, like, a Twitter account dedicated to our hands now. And people have gone back to the very beginning of this whole thing- Like, it's crazy."
Kit wrinkles her nose as she scans the comments. "You're so weird." She feels Jade's hand on her waist. "I can't believe you got more into this than I did."
Jade hums. "I like keeping up to date with what people are saying about you," she says. It's code for keeping her hit list up to date.
"Yeah, sure," Kir muses. "And reading fanfiction helped you with that?"
Jade shrugs. "You have talented fans."
"You read the most lewd shit I've ever seen."
She blushes but slightly. "It was interesting."
Kit laughs. "Yeah. Right."
She scrolls some more, considers even logging back into the other apps. She's been tagged in a bunch if posts, too.
Jade leans over her lap to click on one post. "I love that one." It's fanart.
"They're drawing us now?"
Jade smiles. "They know everything about us now, babe."
She pulls out her own phone and presents Kit with videos and links and edits all dedicated to their relationship and all the details of it found through past theories. One video is an hour and forty minutes long and explains the entire drama over who was suspected her girlfriend, fit with a red string suspect board and everything.
It's still funny knowing Jade loved the mystery. Half the stuff was her idea, the little slips of information here and there. She was the one who captioned the picture of the rings. Said it was a callback to the start of everything, said it was smart to capitalise the J in jade so she was actually telling them. She'd told them right at the start, by that logic, and Kit likes that. She thinks Jade's cute when she's conspiring.
"I'm gonna have to tweet something confirming this, though," Kit groans
"Or you could keep playing your game." Jade's smile is teasing and playful.
"My game?" Kit laughs, unoffended scoff. "You're the one who posted the picture of us kissing!"
Jade shrugs. "I like people knowing your mine."
"Thinking," Kit corrects.
Jade touches her hand, featherlight and promising. Her fingers dancing across her knuckles and tap the ring on her finger. "You're mine either way," she says, leaning in for a kiss. It's a soft, slow one. Jade always initiates like this. Kit loves to tug and pull and bite to start their evening, but Jade will smile and lean in and suck until Kit's liquid in her hands.
"All yours," Kit says, feeding her the words. "Do they know about this?" Kit spins the matching ring on Jade's slender finger to ask the question. Do the fans know we're married?
Jades shoulders reach her ears as she pulls back, unzipping her hoodie. "Dunno."
"We'll keep it to ourselves," Kit says, pulling Jade back to her with an open mouth and warm hands.
(And it stays that way, to themselves, until Kit accidentally drops 'my wife' in an interview for a short film.)