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The entire walk around the Royal Academy was awkward.
Not because Lapis felt out of place — Citrinne made sure of that — but because Goldmary was distracted. The guided tour Goldmary was giving her in the wintry mix of snow was becoming less guided. It seemed as though Goldmary was looking for something in particular.
Which was odd. She worked here, after all. She should know where everything was, right?
“Hey-“ Goldmary tugged on Lapis’ arm. “Are you listening?”
“Yes,” Lapis answered. She pulled her hand from the pocket it was sequestered in, letting Goldmary’s hand travel down her arm to lace their fingers together. “You stopped talking.”
The snow crunched under a booted foot. “No,” she said, brushing loose brown hair behind her ear. “I was just telling you about the little museum we have on campus. It has exhibits from all the Elusian Royalty from the last one thousand years.”
She pointed across the way. Lapis followed the pointed direction, tilting her head. Goldmary had mentioned it when they first walked through the gates. “Do you… want to go in?”
Goldmary’s eyes lingered on the doors. They narrowed, flickering around and making Lapis’ brows furrow. She swallowed. “We don’t have to-“
“No, let’s.” Goldmary brightened up. She seemed to have found whatever she was looking for. Tucking her arm through Lapis’ to keep the pinkette close, she smiled. “I think you’ll like some of the ingenious things the rural Elusians did, back in the day.”
Lapis knew Goldmary didn’t mean it in a bad way. A backhanded compliment, but a compliment nonetheless. Happy, Lapis’ cheeks flushed as she turned to head in the direction of said museum. With a soft laugh, Goldmary followed — she made only a small noise of complaint when Lapis decided to stomp her way through snow drifts toward the entrance, instead of the liberally salted and magically warmed walkway. She lagged a little behind, their arms stretching back to linked hands. When Lapis stomped onto the walkway and shook her boots of the clinging snow and ice, she glanced over her shoulder. Goldmary followed suit, having taken care to step in each of Lapis’ imprints, making the pair look like only one person with comically large feet had walked over.
The thought made Lapis bite back a chuckle. Instead, a surprised “WHOA-“ burst out as Goldmary took the lead again to the doors. Thank goodness for the salt and the warmth on the walkway, otherwise…
“You first,” Goldmary chirped, letting go of Lapis to grab the handle and pull. Warm air from the inside wafted out against their faces; Lapis hardly registered the hand on the small of her back guiding her in.
Clarity hit when the door rattled shut behind them and Goldmary’s hand became an arm around Lapis’ waist. With a squeak quite unbecoming of a Brodian, Lapis stumbled back against Goldmary. Holding her hat with one hand, she lifted wide pink eyes up to the brunette. “Goldmary- what-?”
All further words were cut off as Goldmary’s smooth, soft hand cupped her cheek. She swiped a thumb against Lapis’ red, chapped lips, before leaning in and kissing her. Another squeak was swallowed by the kiss, Lapis feeling her face grow even warmer as her core felt mushy all the way down to her feet.
“I was looking everywhere for this,” Goldmary finally explained when she parted.
“For… w-what?”
Goldmary pointed above them with a happy, rosy hued smile of her own. Glittering in the snowy sunlight through the windowed doors behind them was a sprig of mistletoe. “…really? Goldmary-“
“What?” Goldmary smiled sweetly. “It was the perfect excuse to kiss you!” She giggled, finally letting go of Lapis to get their tickets for the museum. Stomping her feet on the entryway may, Lapis rubbed her cheeks, willing the embarrassing shade of red to fade.
“Since when have you needed an excuse…?”