Chapter Text
Taking in a deep breath, Jax releases a content sigh.
“Y’know, today’s adventure wasn’t a total snooze.”
Hearing a chuckle and a sigh beside him, he smiles.
“Yeah. I’m glad Caine extended it to let us stay the night.”
“My only complaint? The hot cocoa sucked. Literally tasted like car oil.”
“Well, Bubble did make it. What else did you expect?”
Snorting, Jax gives a lazy stretch, his long limbs cracking in harmony with the fire beside him. Its warmth feels amazing after all the snowy outdoor activities he and the gang had had all afternoon.
Feeling her shift beside him, the rabbit sleepily grins. As good as the fire’s glow feels, it’s nothing compared to the warmth radiating from the woman beside him.
He cuddles her close, although not needing to. She quickly nuzzles him, causing him to pull their shared cozy comforter further up around them.
“Think the others are asleep already?”
“Last I saw, Space Cadet was doing a butterfly puzzle in the master suite,” he muses before continuing. “Crybaby and Blockhead were watching some dumb movie. Kaufmo was reading and snacking. Well, actually, it was more like shoving popcorn into his mouth like it was his last meal-”
“He’s always had a big appetite. Even though we don’t even eat here.”
“Hehe, yeah,” Jax smiles, closing his tired eyes. “I think the only one who checked out for the night was Ribs.”
“…Yeah.”
Hearing her tone shift, Jax blinks his eyes open. He silently watches as she adjusts to lay her head on his chest. Her one good eye stays focused on the dancing, crackling flame. For the first time all day, she actually looks stressed.
“Everything okay, baby doll?”
She doesn’t answer. Just stares at the fireplace beside them in a worried daze. Slowly, she lifts her head and turns to face him.
“Do…do you think Ribbit is okay, Jax?”
Her sincere yet strange question makes Jax tilt at her.
“Whatcha mean?”
“I don’t know. She just seems…off lately. Especially today.”
Eyebrows pinching, Jax stews over her words. Finding they had no grounding he could think of, he shrugs.
“She seems fine to me,” he admits, brushing red yarn from her face before affectionately rolling his large yellow eyes. “Remember how she and I won the Snowdown earlier? Man, she tackled me like a linebacker, she was so excited-”
“But she scrambled away the second she did,” Ragatha points out, scooching up to mindlessly stroke one of his long ears. “Then she said she needed to go back inside the cabin for something. Remember how her face was all flushed and embarrassed looking?”
“Yeah, but that ended up just being a ruse,” he counters, one of his legs to bending. “She came out minutes later with buckets of snowballs she’d snuck into the backyard to make.”
“She threw, like, one, Jax,” she lets go of his ear to hold a finger up for emphasis. “Then she just wanted to take pictures.”
"...And that’s unusual why?” Jax ask pointedly. “You know Ribbit is the Camera Queen. She takes more stupid Polaroids than the head photographer at National Geographic-"
“Yeah, but not at the expense of having fun,” Ragatha shoots right back before looking away in thought. “Here lately, she’s been more on the sidelines with her camera than in the middle of the adventures. That’s not like her.”
Touched by her concern, Jax smiles and reassuringly rubs her shoulder.
“I’m sure she’s fine, babe. If something was bugging her, she’d say it. Trust me- she’s more outspoken than I am.”
To his surprise, Ragatha doesn’t look so convinced. As she peers back at him, she hesitates before opening her mouth.
“Do you think she’s really okay with… well, us?”
Her blunt question makes Jax’s eyebrows shoot up.
“What…?”
“I mean, it seems like she’s only been acting weird since we started dating-”
“But her and I talked about the possibility of us for a long time. Me liking you was a secret she and I shared for years," Jax offers, resting a casual hand behind his head. “So when I realized my like had turned into love, I asked her what I should do. She said I should go for it-”
“But what if our shifted relationship bothers her deep down?”
“Why would it?”
“I mean, two of her three closest friends suddenly dating? Especially her best friend?” Ragatha points out, gesturing toward him. “That would be weird and hard to get used to.”
“Rags, she knew my confession of love for ya was eventually going to happen. It didn’t exactly come out of left field," Jax points out. "Besides, she was so happy when we got together. In fact, she told Kaufy before we even could!”
“But that doesn’t mean she was okay with how it suddenly changed things.”
“The only thing that changed was I started holding your hand and calling you my girl,” Jax presses, running a hand through her wild red hair. “That’s all, baby.”
The ragdoll bites her bottom lip and furrows her eyebrows at him. She's so cute when she gets concerned like this.
“Then why does she seem so… distant?” she pushes further, her voice revealing her pain. “Especially from us?”
For a moment, Jax doesn’t answer. He blinks up at the ceiling, chewing over her words.
“I mean, you two have been best friends since she came into the circus,” she adds, capturing his gaze again. “You know her best. Doesn’t she seem different these past few weeks?”
Her pressing causes Jax to peer back toward the fire. His mind starts to reexamine his best friend’s actions, trying to see what his girlfriend is saying- but it just couldn’t.
“I think you’re just reading too much into it, baby,” he finally says nonchalantly. “Really.”
His words seem to dissatisfy Ragatha, but she doesn’t press any further. Instead, she lays her head back down on his slowly rising and falling chest.
The cozy cabin living room falls quiet, making Jax close his eyes again. He starts to doze off-
“Maybe I should talk to her… or maybe it’d be best if you did.”
Blinking his golden eyes open, he sees Ragatha peering up at him. That lone eye of hers is filled with worry and concern as one mittened hand clutches one of his overall straps.
Unable to bite back a smile, the rabbit affectionately rolls his eyes. He gently shifts her closer up his chest so she can be cozied under his chin. Stroking her back with one hand, he plants a soft kiss on her forehead.
“In the morning, I will. If it’ll make you feel better.”
“It would. Thank you, Jax.”
Giving in to his rabbit instincts, he rubs his chin against her head. He finds himself chittering happy bunny noises he can't hide when feeling her soft body partially draped over his.
Hugging his girlfriend close, he sighs into her hair, his voice soft as he whispers into her ear.
“No matter what happens, everything will be okay.”
Hearing her sigh one last time is all it takes for the conversation to be over. She wiggles closer to him and, within moments, is fast asleep by his side.
Feeling his girl’s breath on his chest and hearing the popping lullaby of the fire, Jax feels his eyelids grow heavy. He fights to stay awake, wanting to soak up this wonderful moment as much as he can. As hard as it is to explain, his heart takes a snapshot. Jeez, who knew I was as camera crazed as Rib?
His fingers begin to smooth out the blanket pallet beneath them on the floor before the fireplace. As he fidgets with a faded edge of an old quilt, he can’t help but smile at the memories bouncing around inside. More snapshots, he guesses.
When they were all tired from the day and retreated inside for the night, everyone went their separate ways- with the exception of him, Ribbit, and Ragatha.
It was about then that Ragatha had said she wanted to be as close to the fire as she possibly could. Close enough to feel its warmth, but distant enough to avoid getting burned.
So Ribbit had suggested building a makeshift pallet of blankets just before the fireplace. She helped not only collect the stray quilts around the cabin but also lay them out, fussing and messing with them until they were just right to sleep on.
Rolling his eyes at the mental image of her excited hopping around, Jax’s face lights up.
See? My best friend's acting the same as ever…
But another memory dances in, making his peer upward in thought.
...Though, her smile fell a bit when Rags and I laid down. After that, she quickly headed for her room here at the cabin. We told her there was plenty of room if she wanted to join us…
But she said she wanted to rest alone…
Heart beating a bit faster, the rabbit gulps.
That is being off for her. Different. Distant…
Especially when she had just taken a quick picture of the two of them getting cozy on the blankets.
“Here lately, she’s been more on the sidelines with her camera than in the middle of the adventures…”
Shaking his head, Jax forces the cold thoughts away.
She’s just tired, his mind argues. I bet she’ll be fine in the morning. And if not, I’ll figure out why.
He eyes the fire one more time. Its red and orange flames seem to dance to an unheard beat, making his smile return. Another snapshot.
Turning to rest his chin against his girl’s head, Jax finally gives in and permanently closes his eyes. His own words echo in his mind- his last thought before falling into warm sleep.
No matter what happens, everything will be okay.