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Pomni was walking through the halls of the circus, she had decided not to go on the adventure Caine had planned even though everyone else had. She wouldn't mind the alone time even if it was just for a few hours. There had been a lot happening lately in the circus. They had found a way to reverse abstraction, Kinger had said it was something to do with corrupted files and finding their backups, so not only was Jax back, but so was everyone else. It was rocky for Pomni for a few months after, being a mediator between Jax and everyone else, meeting multiple people who had already been gone when she arrived, dealing with her own confused feelings having mourned someone close to her and them being back. Some of the others were just keen to move on, not caring that they had been essentially dead just glad they were back. And others, like her, were a little slow on the uptake.
The jester was heading up to the cafe, she wanted a hot chocolate to soothe her nerves. Before everyone came back, she often would go to the cafe to drink one in honor of Jax and Ribbit, but now it really was just a nice comfort. The warmth, though artificial, warmed her whole body in way that felt like a hug. She swung the door open, across the room, Jax sat up straight in her seat. Pomni jumped in surprise as she laid eyes on the rabbit, she could have sworn she saw her go with everyone else earlier. Jax wore an easy smile, long black hair cascading over her shoulders as she leaned confidently back in the booth.
"Wow Pompom you think you'd be used to seeing me buy now." The rabbit called, patting the spot on the booth chair next to her. Pomni walked over and slid into the spot next to Jax, there was a faint smell of daisies around her.
"I thought you went with everyone on Caine's adventure. Didn't you partner up with Ribbit?" A mannequin waiter came over, the jester pointed at the hot chocolate on the menu, and a second later she had one in front of her. As soon as she wrapped her hands around the glass, the fuzzy warmth enveloped her, having her feel like she was sinking into the strangely comfortable booth seat.
"What~? Jealous? You know Ribbit and I are just friends right" The Rabbit leaned her head on her hand and elbow on the table, her eyes were half hooded as she twirled the straw in her milkshake. She was joking, Pomni knew that by the singsong way in which she said it, but she still felt her heart skip a beat at the implications.
"Yeah, yeah I'm not worried about that Jax." Pomni waved her hand dismissively in the others direction, "Just thought I'd have some alone time is all."
"Well I was here first so deal with it." A purple elbow was shoved into the others side playfully. The two sipped on their drinks in silence, content just to be sitting next to the other. Their drinks slowly disappeared, silence being broken only once Jax reached the end of her milkshake, slurping its contents up obnoxiously, Pomni finished her drink a few moments after.
It was silent for two beats longer, then Jax smacked her hand on the table, standing up in one fluid motion with the abrupt sound, "Welp! Time to get out of here. Nice not alone time with you Pomster." The rabbit moved to slide out on the other side of the booth but the jesters hand shot out and grabbed the others hand before she got too far.
"Wait lets-" Pomni cut herself off, dropping the others hand as quickly as she had grabbed it, pink softly staining her cheeks "Let's hang out for a little bit?" Jax stared at her, eyes searching her face for something. "Please?"
A scoff, "Pfft fine I'll grace you with my presence for a little longer then." Jax slid her way back to Pomni, sitting herself down so she had both arms up on the back of the booth, one happening to lean on Pomni's shoulders just slightly.
Pomni opened her mouth up to talk, "So Pomni have you dealt with the fact that we're never getting out of here and I was right that none of this was real?" Jax cut her off.
"Yes I've already dealt with that Jax." She had a lot of time to think when there were just settling back in after everything that had happened. She had often visited Jax and talked out loud about the subject in length, did she remember thatr was she just asking to start something. "Lets talk about something not so depressing though." She scooted herself over an inch, another inch, a third, "When did you learn to play the piano?"
"Seriously, is that what you wanna know? Pfft okay," The two of them sat there for a while talking about their lives before the circus, a bit about Jax's time abstracted, and how Jax was considering calling herself Greznedge. Pomni really tried hard to be supportive of that last one but Jax got annoyed with all the support and said she was just going to think on it more instead. The two eventually settled into another comfortable silence. Pomni was leaning into Jax's armpit, the warmth from the hot chocolate was very similar to the warmth that was being in Jax's arms. Pomni's heart was racing and butterflies were storming up in her stomach.
"Pomni I-"
"Jax do you-"
The two broke the silence at the same time. Jax held her hand up, looking a bit serious, "I need to say something first. Before we go on any further, please just-" She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry for the way I acted before. I was repressing a lot but it didn't excuse anything. Out of everyone I want- I need you to know I'm sorry."
Pomni looked at the other in surprise. The rabbit had her shoulders hunched, and she nervously was looking between Pomni and anywhere else. The jester had never seen the other look so... nervous?
"Jax you- you don't need..." She sighed, "You were gone, and now you're back and I-" Pomni shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "I don't know what to do with all of these feelings about that." She made a twisted up movement with her hands against her chest, "Like you didn't talk to me before you abstracted, and then you were gone, and I mourned you, and now you're back and my heart can't stop pounding like its the happiest moment of my life every time I see you."
The rabbits ears perked up just slightly, "You're happy to see me at least?"
"Why wouldn't I be happy to see you!" Pomni looked at the other in an exasperated manner, smacking her on the shoulder gently, "I've been obsessed with you since I got here!"
Jax smirked and the jester facepalmed immediately knowing where the rabbit was going to go with this, "Wow do I have a stalker?"
"Shut up."
"Pomni I can't believe you."
"Shut up Jax."
"Should I be running away right now?"
"Seriously Jax shut up!" Pomni reached over and covered Jax's mouth with her hands. The rabbits eyes went wide in shock, not expecting the other to silence her in that way.
"I'm just trying to say," She took her hands off the others mouth, not trying to push her luck, "I care about you. Stop forgetting that please." She smiled softly.
Jax blink a couple times, long eyelashes blinking back a couple of the tears that had started to form. She cleared her throat, "I- uh... I care about you too..." The two stared into the others eyes, not even noticing how close their faces were getting at first. Pomni glanced at the rabbits lips briefly, deciding then that she was going to kiss her.
She started to lean in- "Ahem- Oh- Ah- Whoopsie guess we'll come back later! Get! Everyone get out!" Pomni and Jax jumped away from each other and turned to see Ribbit forcing the rest of the cast back out the cafe doors. The frog turned around and gave the two of them a wink and a thumbs up even as she started asking everyone if they wanted Italian instead.
The two had been caught, their faces were each bright red and Jax looked two seconds away from jumping out of her skin. Pomni took a deep breath and put her hand on the other cheek, thumb stroking gently up and down to try and calm her. The jester felt brave in that moment for some reason, though she wasn't sure why she wasn't going to question it. Plus she already made herself a promise.
"Jax I'm just going to say it. I really like you and I want to kiss you. Can I?" Pomni looked hopefully in Jax's eyes.
Jax snorted quietly, "Wow how chivalrous of you to ask me. Dork." A smiled twitched at the edges of her lips.
Pomni rolled her eyes and pulled in Jax by the cheek, pushing their lips together gently. Up close Pomni couldn't help but notice she smelled even more strongly of daisies and her lips were soft like petals. She could kiss them forever. Her heart was pounding and a smile pushed at her lips.
She was glad she didn't get her alone time today.