Work Text:
Around the time Fjord makes his second loop around the hut is when Jester makes her decision.
Ever since she was a child, hoarding books overflowing with sugar sweet romance and filthy sex, she had decided she would be the girl that waits. She told her Mama with a big smile that she was going to gift her first time to the person who she loves more than the world itself and she had meant it. At the time. Now, Jester is…less patient. It’s not that she doesn’t want that same thing she wished for as a child, it’s simply that she realizes how difficult it is. For her. Jester finds people too beautiful and tempting and she burns for a touch and aches to finally experience the things she knows and reads. It’s the way Fjord’s eyes look when he is charming and the way Beau smiles when she folds her arms and tips her chin back. It’s the bar keep that ran her fingers along the inside of Jester’s wrist a week ago and gave her the flirtiest of looks and how it had made Jester’s mouth dry. It’s the mundane things and the obvious things and mindless things. Jester needs and she’s tired of waiting. If she can’t wait to have her first time be with the love of her life then she can settle for someone she trusts implicitly.
There is only one option.
“Beau, wake up.” Jester presses on Beau’s lump beneath her blankets. She has to be extra quiet because they are huddled together in the hut and Fjord is not far away, keeping his lone vigil. It’s not cramped but they are close, Jester especially to Beau.
Unlike some of the other members of the Nein, it’s not very difficult to wake Beau and not nearly as dangerous. Whereas Nott usually jerks awake with a war cry and weapon in hand, Beau comes up with perfect silence and a savage stillness. It’s like watching a wild cat lounge up until it realizes there is game to be had. Her reflexes come awake before she does, all defined muscles coiling tight in anticipation, and she does little more than tilt her head to get a full view of the area surrounding her. Her eyes are cloudy with the dredges of sleep but her fists lift slowly. When she comes to realize there is nothing but Fjord out there, the muscles relax, and she sinks back into her bed with a sigh that blows long strands of her loose hair around.
“…fuck?” She mumbles, and Jester knows Beau enough by now to parse together the question in a single word.
“Beau,” Jester scoots a little closer, feels their knees bump through the layers of their respective bedrolls, “can I come in?”
Beau blinks slowly at her, lids heavy from a tiredness that wants to reclaim her, “Cold?”
“Sorta.”
“M’kay.” Beau fumbles to peel her covers back and Jester hurries to slide from hers into Beau’s space. The warmth that seeps into her instant and sets the ever-present coals in her belly ablaze. She doesn’t feel a shred of guilt for sliding against Beau, arms winding around Beau’s waist to hug her close. Feeling the bare skin of Beau’s lower back pass over her palms makes the breath in her lungs rattle and pierce her throat. The want beats beneath her skin, drumming against her bones and each beat echoes in her veins. Beau smells good and she feels good and Jester needs.
“Beau.”
There is an annoyed grumble and those pretty eyes blink back open.
“I wanna have sex.”
Beau yawns so hard Jester hears her jaw crack, “Who doesn’t.”
“Beau, I wanna have sex with you.”
It takes a long while for it to fully sink in. The moment it does, she sees it in the way Beau’s mouth opens and closes and the fog of sleep is burned from her eyes. There is a quick glance cast around the dome at their slumbering party members and the one still making circles around the dome.
“Like…right now?”
Jester’s skin prickles with desire, a flare of heat scorching up the back of her neck. There is nothing she wants more. She doesn’t care about how unromantic it is, really. She had high hopes and dreams and an endless amount of fantasies but none of them will compare to the real thing. Honestly, just having Beau—a very attractive woman who she loves and trusts—get her off would be satisfying enough. More than enough. She hopes her answering nod isn’t too eager.
Beau licks her lips and her next question is hushed, in a lower octave than Jester is use to it and it trickles down her spine like hot wax, “Can you be quiet?”
“Probably,” Jester bites her lip, feels her breaths turning hot and her belly melting into liquid that pools low and tugs, “Maybe.”
And Beau is starting to look nearly as affected as she is when—Jester thinks—she realizes this is real and happening. Jester likes the way her lids hang heavy over eyes that have grown dark and piercing and travel over Jester like a heavy hand. They move closer. Beau’s breath tastes sweet, minty.
“You sure?”
“Just cover my mouth if you’re worried.”
Beau sucks in a quiet gasp, those heavy lids fluttering momentarily. Her body leans into Jester and she thinks they are going to kiss but Beau simply hovers close, on the edge of it. Her eyes watch Jester’s mouth and they wait, both of them letting Beau collect herself.
“No, ah,” Beau licks her lips, “I mean, are you sure? You still haven’t…?”
“Oh. Yeah, I’m sure. Actually, that’s part of why I want this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I really don’t want to be a virgin anymore, Beau. And you’re,” Jester flexes her fingers against Beau’s back, scratching ever so lightly, “really hot.”
Beau gives her that wicked, cocky smile that makes Jester want, “Knew you couldn’t resist me.”
“So…you’re good with this?”
There is a tug at Jester’s waist that is strong and sure and brings them flush and Jester nearly melts there, into the bedding in a messy heap of want. Beau makes this low sound of pleasure while she feels Jester’s body for the first time, dragging a hand from the curve of her hip up over the dip of her waist and ribs to the slope of her shoulder and stopping on her neck. Just that has Jester trembling with need.
“Really good,” Beau ducks her head beneath Jester’s chin to press a hot kiss against her throat, “I’m honored you came to me instead of some creep.”
Jester’s nose crinkles with distaste, even while her fingers begin tangling in Beau’s soft hair to keep her mouth and those searing kisses against her, “I have standards Beau.”
Beau’s tongue is hot against her pulse and when she breaths a laugh against it, Jester’s eyes flutter shut from the pleasure it causes, “I just didn’t think I fell into those ‘standards’.”
“Why not? You know how hot you are.”
“Sure but you’ve never really said anything ‘bout liking girls.”
“Don’t be dumb Beau,” Jester is panting because Beau has pushed her onto her back and is moving her mouth down, kissing against the swell of her breasts, while her hands have begun pushing up her skirts, “I’ve said loads of times you’re beautiful and Yasha and Reani and, um, other girls too.”
“Oh,” clever fingers brush the inside of Jester’s thigh, “I never really thought you meant it in, like, that way.”
Jester feels possessed by her own need. There is a heaviness that is slowly seeping into her, keeping her lax and heavy, and unable to do more than arch into Beau’s touch and wish for more. Her head is filled with nothing but filthy wishes and obscene demands. It’s like all that it took was one meaningful touch to wake up this part of Jester that was lying in wait, not ready to be birthed but fully realized and patient up until this moment. Patient but not at all, also. Jester slides her knee up the outside of Beau’s thigh and hooks it over her lower back, pulling to limit the space between them to nothing. Their noses bump.
“Do I need to be clearer, Beau?” There a new sound to Jester’s voice that is foreign to her own ears but makes Beau hiss a curse. “Kay, I would really, please, like it if you fucked me.”
Beau sucks in a sharp breath and her hands squeeze Jester’s hips in a pleasant way and Jester thinks, this will be it. It’s going to happen, well honestly, probably pretty quick because Jester is very ready but its going to be perfect. It’s not going to be the perfect fairy tale way she imagined when she was a teen but its going to be better because Beau knows what she’s doing and she’ll make it her mission to ensure Jester enjoys herself. She’s so ready for this to be the moment.
It’s not meant to be. As Beau is pressing a hand over Jester’s mouth and moving the other between her legs, they both hear footsteps. Jester tilts her head away—with great disappointment—to see Fjord, at the very edges of her vision, stepping out of the tree line and coming straight towards the hut. Jester scrambles to push Beau off her quickly as she can manage, and Beau goes with an unhappy grunt. Her fingers smooth through her hair anxiously and then she rips them away because so what if her hair is messy, she’s been in bed. It should be. Just as he steps through the bubble, Jester squeezes her eyes shut to at least give off an air that she was sleeping. A moment passes. Then, gently, Fjord drops a hand onto Jester’s shoulder over the covers and gives it the lightest of shakes.
“Jess, wake up. It’s your shift.”
Fuck. She forgot she offered to take second watch. Had it been that long? She was going to be so tired in the morning and no less sated than she was the day before.
--
After their first failed attempt, they do a lot of kissing and kissing is so nice when it’s done while half the party isn’t drowning. Maybe its extra nice because Beau really knows her stuff and Jester feels safe and confident even though she’s thoroughly inexperienced. Well, growing less inexperienced as the time passes. They start making a game of it. How long can they sneak off to press against each other and dress kisses along exposed skin before the others notice? Beau starts smiling at her a little differently but Jester doesn’t mind. In fact, she quite likes this new smile because now, she knows, its full of their secret and its made wholly for Jester. Jester learns that Beau makes soft little keening noises when you suck marks into her skin and that she mewls if you get a little rough. Jester learns that she rather likes dragging those sounds out of Beau.
As for sex, they still hadn’t managed it. For whatever reason, their fellow party members always seem so keen on when they are trying and always find a way to interrupt or ruin the mood. Honestly, none of them know what they are doing and Jester thinks if they did there would never be another interruption again. It’s frustrating none the less. Beau gives up on trying to make it sweet for Jester and dragging out the foreplay. Now they hurry, reaching for each other in stolen moments and trying not to get too lost in the haze of kissing. They get so close, once.
For a small time, they have a few days of quiet in Rosohna at the Xhorhouse. There is simply too much that needs done and all of it feels like it needs their immediate attention so they, as a collective, decide to go home and spend a few days planning. Which was fine and good and Jester was in agreeance but after the first day and a half, the need comes rushing back with a vengeance and she can’t keep her eyes off Beau. The shit that Beau is notices and gives her that new just-for-Jester smile and it makes Jester squirm in her chair. It becomes overwhelming but she waits it out, waits until they decide to take a break, then she drags Beau to their room and pushes her into her bed.
“You’re the worst.” Jester hisses between the teeth that drag over Beau’s throat and snag down on warm skin. Beau arches up into her, fisting her dress, and makes one of those sounds that turn Jester’s bones heavy.
“You’re just horny.”
Jester whimpers and drags her nails down Beau’s flexing belly, trailing kisses up her jaw to her mouth, “I promise I wouldn’t be if you just got me off already.”
“Fuck dude, I’m trying! I fuckin’ swear, the Gods or whoever the fuck really don’t want you to get laid.”
“Don’t say that, Beau! You’ll jinx it!”
Beau tugs at Jester’s dress, not bothering to unlace the corset for the considerable time it will take, and pulls on the peasant shirt until it slips over freckled shoulders and down past Jester’s breasts. Beau wiggles to sit up, adjusting Jester with her, until she’s comfortable in Beau’s lap and Beau is at a height to drag her tongue through Jester’s cleavage. Jester gasps and tilts her head back, eyes slipping shut in delight. Beau’s rough hand closes around one of her breasts and squeezes, thumb flicking against the nipple and Jester can’t be quiet. A moan rattles against the back of her teeth and she tugs, hard, at Beau’s hair to pull her into a rough kiss that makes their teeth click together. It’s this need in her that has only gotten worst since they started because now its been honed to a point that is an arrow, aimed only for Beau. All she wants now is another kiss, a touch, anything, so long as it comes from Beau and Beau alone. Most days, now, all the fantasies she occupies herself with are filled with Beau’s lazy smiles and Beau’s soft morning kisses and Beau brushing their hands together when they walk side by side. All those mundane things that turned her on before remain except they have to come from Beau to do anything to her. She still finds passing attraction but, blessedly, perhaps worst, they do little more than catch her interest for a moment in time. Perhaps it’s the fact that they get so close but never quite reach the passionate end that has Jester so entranced. Perhaps not. Beau is, after all, nothing short of breathtaking. And there are new layers to her that Jester has been finding now, revealing themselves slowly but surely.
Beau is tooth achingly sweet sometimes and Jester never would have guessed it possible until she’s the one on the receiving end of it. Jester knows in her soul that there are precious few people who have been privy to this confection so Jester keeps it secret, keeps it safely locked away in the depths of her heart. Sometimes when they finish a long day, Jester is just too tired to try and put out the flame inside her and Beau knows without needing to be told. She rubs the soreness from Jester’s muscles and, if they are alone, presses a series of kisses against her shoulders, nape, and face before she lays Jester down and curls into her. The just-for-Jester smiles, she thinks, are precious too and she locks those away with Beau’s sweetness. More than that, there is just a different way they interact now. It’s not bad, not at all, just new. They were close before but now they gravitate to each other, reaching out to touch where Beau would have been a stone wall before. She smiles now when Jester drapes herself over Beau or nearly knocks her off her feet from a running hug. Their hands reach for other and Jeter realizes she smiles differently at Beau too. She feels it saturated in a feeling that is blooming deep in her, next to the place she’s been storing all things Beau. Now, too, after all the time they have been spending learning each other’s bodies, there is some sort of connection there that lets them speak with nothing but passing looks. Jester feels like she knows Beau, knows her to the bone and back. Sometimes they just talk and, while they did that before, Beau is much more open now. It’s like she’s eager to share herself with Jester. Before, there might have been walls. Now there is nothing but open space and Beau’s open arms. It’s maddening and Jester’s weak heart is getting so wrapped up in it that she can’t tell anymore if her need isn’t synonymous with this feeling that Beau has tended to and brought to life in her. Whatever it is, it makes their time together all the more potent.
Which is why, for fucking once, Jester wishes they would be left alone but they were never a lucky bunch. Just as Beau’s mouth has moved down to take a sensitive nipple between her teeth, the door to their room opens. They freeze, moving only to swing their heads towards Caleb who steps into the room before he really sees what’s before him.
“Ladies we—oh, scheiß!” Caleb jerks and turns away quickly, growing rigid from head to toe. Jester can’t see his face but she’s certain he’s turned that particular shade of pink that only humans can manage. Beau quickly yanks Jester’s shirt back up and narrows her eyes at the back of Caleb’s head.
“Dude! Haven’t you heard of fucking knocking!?”
“Yes I, yes—this is my bad. I wasn’t aware that you two were—that I needed to—”
“We haven’t told anyone.” Jester slides from Beau’s lap without a hint of shame. It’s not like they haven’t seen each other naked before and, really, why would she be embarrassed about what he saw? Two people interlocked in an act of passion is one of the most beautiful things there is to see.
“Was there a reason you wanted us, Caleb?” Jester asks sweetly, hanging close to Beau because this damn need in her demands it. She leans into her side, hooking her tail around Beau’s ankle, and waits for Caleb to turn back around. He never does.
“Ah, yes, we…we have decided to resume our planning but, ah,” He clears his throat to rid it of the slight croak, “I can alert the others that you two are…indisposed.”
Beau huffs and folds her arms with a roll of her eyes, “No need, you already ruined the mood.”
Caleb cringes.
“And also, we haven’t really decided if we want everyone to know about this?” The end of it tips into a question that she turns on Beau, brows pinching in consideration. Beau tilts her head and shrugs.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s our business what we do or don’t do to each other in private.” Jester’s answering grin nearly reaches from ear to ear.
Caleb mutters a curse and flaps his hands, “You could have phrased that differently, Beauregard.”
“I meant what I said.”
Jester snickers.
“Very well. Shall we walk down together or would you like a moment to,” His hand motions and it’s funny when he does it without looking at them, “collect yourselves?”
“We’ll be down in a minute, Caleb.”
--
Caleb doesn’t tell the others what he saw and he’s awkward around the both of them for a short time after that. It takes the rest of their time in Rosohna before he returns to his normal self and Jester is grateful. She hadn’t felt odd for what happened until Caleb got weird. As they are leaving for another journey, he saddles up beside her on his horse and, without looking at her, simply says, “I think you two fit each other well. I wish you all the happiness.”
And if not for the horses between them, Jester would have hugged him because his words grip her heart. They loosen a fear that had been choking it for some time. One she didn’t realize was there until she felt a lightness to her body and an ease to her breathing that finally let her sit up straight. She slows her horse so she can ride beside Beau and really, truly lets herself enjoy the way Beau laughs after Jester blows her a kiss.
--
They end up in Nicodranas yet again as they always, somehow, inevitably do. This time they need to stay the night and this time they get there early enough that Jester can enjoy a proper bath for once. The kind she remembers with scented oils that make the steam smell like clove and honey and lavender and have a film layer of bubbles. The kind in a great big brass tub with ornate feet and that which keeps the water hotter for longer thanks to the series of enchantments that line the lip of the tub. She intends to soak until her skin goes wrinkly and people begin to think she may have drowned.
Her feet dangle over the end of the tub along with her arms over the sides, head lolled back against the cloth folded over the edge of the tub. Lazily, she swishes her tail through the water to disturb the bubbles and hums a little tune to the tempo of her splashing. It’s more relaxed than she’s had the luxury of being for such a long time that she does feel a little guilty for it. It’s almost completely perfect. It’s only missing one thing.
And, as if summoned by the thought, Beau steps into the open doorway with a hesitance and a piece of paper clutched in both hands. Jester tilts her head in Beau’s direction, offering a lazy smile soaked in that feeling, and revels in the way her heart thumps happily against her ribs.
“Hi, Beau.”
“Hey Jess—sorry, you look like you’re having you time. I can come back?”
“Mmm mm,” Jester drops her feet back into the water so she can scoot up a bit, “Was just thinkin’ about you.”
Beau’s eyes sparkle from the precious little smile that splits her face, “Oh yeah? Dirty stuff?”
Jester twinkles with laughter, “No,” She sings the word sweetly, curling her tongue around it as it slips free, “I was just kind of missing you.”
Beau brushes her hand over the nape of her neck and smiles away from Jester, casting her gaze to the wall, “Well, shit, that’s cute.” And it’s a fun new thing Jester likes to do. Beau is usually so infallible, unflappable. Sex doesn’t embarrass her and gory things make her laugh but when Jester is genuine and doting? Beau blushes and fumbles and stutters and it’s Jester’s favorite.
She props her chin on the arm draped over the tub, smirking up at Beau, “Like you.”
Beau huffs, “Knock it off.”
Jester won’t—not ever, not anymore—but she’ll relent for now. “Wanna join?” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. Beau huffs again and journeys further into the room, hooking a stool with her foot and kicking it to the side of the tub so she has a place to sit.
“Sounds like it could be fun but with our luck I’m not willing to risk getting walked in on.”
Jester pokes her bottom lip out in a pout, “You sure?”
“Yeah, I—fuck, you’re cute, knock it off seriously—I need your help with something.”
Jester perks up. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s so annoying. Caleb and Fjord fucking cornered me and practically forced me to agree to write a letter to my Dad. Caleb is worried that there is some fucking witch trying to grab me for some payment and, its total horse shit, but it’s sweet that they care so whatever, I said I would. And Fjord is such a sucker for family. I think—whatever. So, will you help me? You’re the only one I trust to, yanno, make sure I get it right.” And now Jester understands the parchment and the quill tucked behind her ear. It touches deep. She is Beau’s person now. The only person that gets these moments of trust and need. She wants to cradle it and hide it where it’s safe so she can keep it all her own forever. Locked away with all of Beau’s sweetness and touches and secret smiles.
“Obviously,” She leans further over the tub to peer down at the scribbles already scratched into the parchment, “I am, like, the best at writing letters. What do you have so far?”
“Ah, just, ‘Dear Father, this is your daughter, Beauregard. You remember, the one you sold off?’. What do you think?”
“Hmm, just a touch bitter, maybe?”
Beau nods, like, duh, “I was going for bitter.”
“Oh, well, good! But not very subtle. Did you want subtle?”
Beau makes a displeased sound that she rolls across her tongue a while before blowing it out in a sigh, “Maybe.”
“Okay, well, what do you want?”
“Okay so I wanted it to be like, fuck you but also maybe like are you doing okay? But not like in a way that makes it seem like I, you know, care.”
Jester nods empathetically, “Of course. ‘Cause fuck him.”
“Yeah, fuck him!” Beau rolls the quill between her fingers, biting into her lip, “But I do wanna know about my brother maybe. Like, a name? I didn’t care before because, like, he was everything to them I couldn’t be and it...hurt. But after traveling with you guys, I realized…I dunno. I don’t know if I care yet, but a name is a start.”
There is a pride that tickles against Jester’s swelling heart and fills hers until she can’t help but to reach out for Beau, as far as the tub digging into her will allow. Beau, graciously, meets her halfway with an outstretched hand and the feeling settles once their fingers link.
“Okay, let me finish up here and then we’ll go to my room and I’ll help you write thee most perfect letter.”
Beau’s face pinches into a deep frown, “No, dude, you said you wanted to be in here forever.”
And now Jester is frowning too, except hers is more pronounced. She sits up in the tub fast enough that the water sloshes over the side and bubbles drip over her shoulders in clumps. Beau jerks back, lifting the paper high to avoid the wave that washes over her feet.
“But Beau! I wanna help! I mean that’s what girlfriends do!” And, oh. She hadn’t meant to say that. They’ve never talked about that. They haven’t even managed to have sex yet. Oh no. Beau has never shown an inkling that she is the sort to even do committed relationships. Oh, Traveler, did she screw up? She can’t handle screwing this up. It might shatter her. Beau’s eyebrows rise over rapidly widening eyes and her lips part a fraction in shock. Jester fights the urge to sink beneath the bath water.
“I mean, or whatever.”
Beau blinks away her shock and shakes her head quickly, “No, girlfriends sound…good. It sounds great, actually.”
She doesn’t want to let herself hope because, now she realizes after having slipped the word out, that it’s all that she wants. To have Beau to herself—knowing that only Jester is privy to all these private parts of Beau—warms her to the tips of her toes. She feels protective of it. This promise is something Jester wants to wear each day so that everyone can see who Beau chose and who Jester has too. She wants them to be a pair. Because, somehow, this need in her has bloomed into something that wants more than sex. She hungers for companionship.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, dude. I mean, I don’t really know how to be a girlfriend? No really. It was different with Tori. So, I dunno how good this is going to go, but I for sure want that,” Then, in that rare way, Beau shines with a clear vulnerability that is raw and tender, “I want you.”
“Oh my gosh,” A tremble wracks her and she’s up and out of the water before she can consider it to wrap Beau in a tight hug, “Oh my gosh, I want you too. Beau that was so romantic! I can’t wait to tell Nott!”
“Okay, well,” Beau makes a disgruntled sound that is muffled with Jester having her head hugged against her bare skin, “Don’t fucking make me sound like a softie. I have a reputation.”
Jester cards her fingers through the fuzz at the back of Beau’s head and stoops to press a quick peck against Beau’s lips. One, two, and after pulling back she reconsiders and steals a third.
“But you are a softie.”
Beau rolls her eyes and grumbles and Jester doesn’t think her body can hold all the feeling swelling inside her.
--
Essek has decided to start calling in his favors. The real miracle is that these favors are not too strenuous and, almost barely, within their range of capability. It’s not that he is asking a lot of them physically—if they can handle anything, it’s a fight—but rather, they present a mental challenge. Planning has always been their largest fault and these favors require a lot of consideration. It should be simple considering that all they need to do is sneak in, steal something, and sneak out. They’ve done that a couple of times before. The difference here is that this place is heavily guarded and the only way to sneak in is to do so in plain sight. Their plan to combat this is not overly complex but offers multiple issues if one small thing goes wrong.
The camp is a group of Anti-Human folk and, after a few days of surveillance, a few scattered demons. Which is a startling thing to discover even here in Xhorhaus but not totally surprising considering their history. They deal with a lot of human trafficking here—mostly stolen from the Empire and smuggled over the boarder—which has made business boom thanks to the war. It’s harder to keep track of folk when so many are shuffling around and dying on the daily. This isn’t the issue they came for but, once they learn of the fact, they can’t in good conscious walk away so in natural Mighty Nein fashion they take what should be a simple mission and turn it ugly. The plan is for two teams of two—Fjord and Caleb, Jester and Beau—to enter the camp under the pretense that they wish to buy slaves of their own while the others sneak to the underground levels. Below is where the item Essek wants is hidden but they plan to, after lifting it, plant a series of Nott-made explosives that they will set off after the slaves have been freed. The bulk of the plan rests on Nott and Fjord. Nott, who needs to get down there safely, and Fjord who needs to keep the man overseeing the slaves distracted long enough that the others can preform a break out. Jester’s and, by proxy, Beau’s duty is to put on a good enough show that they keep a large portion of the eyes on them.
“I can’t believe I agreed to do this. Again.” Beau grouses from where she sits on the floor at Jester’s feet, legs curled beneath her and chin propped on Jester’s knee. A series of leather straps circle her chest from a large metal ring at center of her torso. A delicate pair of chains run from the ring to the metal cuffs on both her wrists, limiting her movement severely. Around her neck is the same collar she wore in Rosohna except this time a metal leash made of delicate chain links is tethered to it and Jester holds the controlling end. Jester whom has slipped into something pressed and fine, made of silks and treated wool, and embroidered with golden threads. Her boots reach to her knees and the cape that hangs off her shoulder pools at the floor, around Beau’s legs. She looks miles above her actual station and, even Beau, is dressed in finery beneath her binds. They do have to play the part, after all. Jester needs to look like an extremely wealthy slave master who is here to purchase all the slaves. It’s the only thing they think will get the level of attention they require.
“It isn’t that bad. You look cute, Beau.”
“It’s been over an hour, Jess. I’m getting sweaty and they brought you all that food and I can’t have any. I mean, how fuckin’ long does it take to check if a piece of paper is real?”
“We want them to take forever. That why I made the forgery so complicated. ‘Cause I’m super talented and super smart. Don’t worry, it will be over soon, I promise. As soon as Nott sends me the message, we can get out of here.”
Beau makes another displeased sound, tilting her head to lay her cheek against Jester’s thigh.
Jester rips off a piece of bread from the assortment they provided her and dips it into honey before bending to hold it against Beau’s lips. Beau takes the morsel with the subtlest of pouts. She watches the gathering around the small table they set up for her in the middle of the large chamber as she feeds Beau, trying to take note of what they might face if things go south. There are, for the most part, an assortment of different races. Drow, Orc, teiflings, a few gnolls and one very large hobgoblin. They migrate slowly around her, chatting among themselves as they openly point and gawk at Beau. On just the cusp of her hearing, Jester can make out snippets of conversation about how ‘well behaved’ she is and how ‘comfortably obedient’ and, the more important part, their curiosity in the mystery Jester presented in her own form. ‘I’ve never seen someone command one of them with such ease’ she hears, whispered in awe. Jester isn’t a fan of the pretense but if they see something they like, they will be more apt to listen to the bullshit Jester is going to spin them later. Them and their whispering she can ignore. It’s the red skinned demon sitting not far from her, his wings folded around his shoulders, and eyes dark and piercing as he watches her that deeply unsettles her. The discomfort of seeing him is not only in the fact that if something should happen, he will be their largest threat, but also in the visage. He looks painfully like the one that took Yasha from them. It dredges up that old ache she works to keep tamped down, one that is stained with anger born of loss. His eyes have not left them even once since they arrived.
Jester meets his gaze and holds it, teeth set into the inside of her cheek and fingers petting through Beau’s loose hair. His brow lifts in surprise and the chuckle that comes from him rumbles through the room like thunder. The challenge makes him stand and clap to command the four humans who were perched at his feet to follow him as he strides towards Jester. She can feel Beau tense up. Jester does too but she does not let it show. Her cool gaze slides back to the array of treats and plucks a small cookie to nibble on.
“Hail,” The voice that comes from him is akin to boulders sliding down a mountain side and crashing into one another at the bottom, “I must apologize for my ogling. It is only that I have not yet seen anyone in this place as capable as yourself. You would fit right in at home.” When he smiles it is truly the most wicked thing Jester has seen.
She ignores the wobble of her stomach and the shaking that settles into her limbs and forges on in her posh accent she donned with this attire, “I apologize too for I can’t seem to understand why it is you’re talking to me.”
There is a flicker to his smile that belays the insult Jester absolutely intended. A bit of it is her misplaced anger for another demon in another place. A hand squeezes her ankle as a warning to cool it and Jester takes it in the form of loosening her mask enough to offer the tensest of smiles. The demon takes it with another rolling laugh and waves a finger at her.
“Ah, a practical joker. Fascinating,” He snaps his finger and one of his humans grabs a chair from under someone to offer unto their master, “Would you mind if I joined you while you wait?”
Fuck. “Not at all.”
The chair scrapes as he sits down and the sound crawls across Jester’s skin unpleasantly. His dark eyes watch her for a long moment before dropping to Beau on the floor and remaining there. His head tilts and turns to inspect Beau at different angles, even leaning closer to sniff the air near her.
“She’s in excellent condition. May I touch her?”
Something in Jester coils tight and sets ablaze, something fierce and nasty and protective. She curls her fingers into Beau’s hair, sliding behind her ear to cover the side of her face and pull Beau’s head into the curve of her waist. “Absolutely not.”
His eyes flash and his teeth show in a less than pleasant way, “Not even once?”
Jester narrows her eyes to a fine point, “Not even once.”
“Ah, now, you are clever. You don’t fall for the tricks all these louts do. Tell me, did you know what I was going to do? I stole Markduk’s prized slave that way,” The demon lifts his hand in a wave to a glowering Orc half way across the room, “I hoped you would not be any wiser.”
Adrenaline spikes through Jester’s veins suddenly and fierce enough to make her head swim. She most certainly did not know he was going to do something and she’s afraid to even guess what it could have been. Jester just barely hears Beau’s sigh of relief. It takes great commitment to keep up her act and remain nonplused.
“I am not very kind to men who try to take my things. Especially when they are my favorite things. Maybe our time here is done.” And she makes a pointed look at his previous chair.
“Now hold on, I understand that, I do, but give me one more minute. I have a question and I’ll make it worth your time.” This piques Jester’s interest and Beau’s too. She can feel Beau’s muscles twitch and gets another squeeze around the ankle.
“Yes, well, I’m a very busy woman and,” Jester clears her throat and lifts her chin, “My time is worth a lot.”
“Naturally,” Jester doesn’t like his smile or his tone of voice or anything about how he leans on the table, eyes always going back to Beau, “How else would a lone woman and a single human slave be able to walk into a place like this and demand to buy out the lot of our stock?”
Jester offers him nothing.
“Right, you’re a bargaining woman, I can tell. I will be blunt. I want your slave and I am prepared and willing to pay a great sum for her. There is something about her loyalty to you that makes me…envious. I must have her. I spent some time watching you, trying to figure how you keep her compliant and happy to sit at your feet, and cannot fathom how. My first guess was magic but its clear she is under no spell. She literally eats from your hand. I thought maybe it is you who simply holds the power to influence humans this way, but I have concluded that it’s her. There is something special about her and I want her. So, what do you say?”
Jester’s answering laugh is a genuine one that makes her eyes sting from tears, “You think there is anything you can offer me? That’s…oh, you’re silly.”
He leans on his elbows on the table, “Everything has a price.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Forty thousand gold.”
Beau makes a choking sound that she covers up with a cough, dipping her head down to no doubt hide the widening of her eyes. Jester smacks her lips in boredom, sliding her hand over Beau’s cheek to hook a thumb into her collar and pet at her neck. “No.”
“Fifty thousand.”
“No.”
He snarls, “Seventy thousand and I will go no higher. She can’t be worth more than that.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. There is no price you can say that will sway me. She’s priceless to me. She always has been, and she always will be. I will not part with her, not for anything or anyone, and you insult me and yourself by staying here and begging for her. Leave my sight.”
He slams his fists into the table as he rises, and it startles Jester, the platters of food jumping with the impact and spilling the contents. Beau’s head snaps up faster than lightening and she is on her feet, pushing the table into his body to force him back a few, stumbling steps and stands between Jester and himself. Jester stands too though much slower and smoother, wiping away the wrinkles from her gown, and takes her place at Beau’s side.
“I think we’re done here. Clearly these people have nothing of value to offer us. Wouldn’t you agree, pet?” Jester loops the leash around her knuckles and gives a light, playful tug. The glint in Beau’s eye is all Jester needs to know that she had not gone too far.
“I don’t think we are! I think we have just gotten started,” The demon stands to his full height, wings unfurling behind him, “No one in their right mind would deny that much coin over a single human. I don’t trust you and if I don’t trust you, we don’t do business with you.”
Beau lifts a notched brow and tips her head back with that cocky smirk of hers, “It sounds like you’re just throwing a shitty fit over not getting what you want.”
The demon snarls and it echoes around in Jester’s head, reaching with shadow hands into the core of her to shake her bravery, “Slaves don’t speak that way and get away with it.”
“Well,” Beau tugs on the chains keeping her arms restrained and—as they planned it—the weak links snap in both, “Good thing I’m not a slave.”
Things spiral out of hand very quickly in the span of four blinks. The room explodes with action that moves too quickly for Jester to track. Most the masters run but leave their slaves to fight and Jester watches them rush in like an incoming tidal wave of fists and violence. The sound of a bowstring being released catches her ear and before she can find the arrow, Beau has it in her hand mere inches from the side of Jester’s head. More sound and Jester feels a sharp pain in her arm just as she grabs Beau and casts the spell that will get them away very quickly.
The sounds of the fight vanish, and they fall into an empty office, bumping into the desk and sending an uncapped ink well over in a spill of jet. She’s not entirely certain where they ended up but she shot for somewhere closer to the lower levels where they intended to navigate their way to Nott. Jester hisses when the wood nudges the arrow stuck halfway through her bicep.
“Well that went to shit.” Beau steadies Jester against the desk by the hips then reaches for the arrow with a cute frown. She starts to push it through and Jester flails, jerking away.
“Ow, ow, ow! Beau, that hurts!”
“I know but I need to push it out a little more, so I can break the tip off. Then you can heal it after,” A pause that morphs into a stricken face, “Right? You have the energy for that?”
“Yeah,” Jester pouts, shoulders rising to her ears in defeat, “Okay, just do it.”
Beau gives her an apologetic look that makes Jester want to kiss her because its sweet and molds all the usual sharp edges of Beau’s face into softer lines. So, Jester does, quick and hard.
“So,” Beau licks Jester’s residual sweetness from her lips and grips the arrow shaft, “’Priceless’ huh? You should have taken the seventy thousand gold. I bet dad paid the colbolt soul like twenty gold, tops.”
Alarmed, Jester jerks her gaze away from the arrow to pin Beau down with, what she hopes, is an outpour of her every overwhelming feeling, “Beau! You’re—ow shit, fuck, balls, fuck ow!”
“One more.” And, with the arrow head snapped off, Beau pulls the whole thing clean from her arm. Jester lets out a long line of obscenities, leaning in to press her forehead against Beau’s collarbone. Beau laughs, quietly, and kisses the top of her head while she gently rubs her back. And it’s so nice that it dulls the pain that throbs with each heartbeat.
“That was quick thinking with the spell. We were totally fucked.”
Jester splinters with an outpour of girlish giggles, “So fucked! Did you see how many of them there were!? And—oh my gosh—you caught that arrow before it killed me! I could have died. You’re a good girlfriend, Beau.” Jester gifts Beau with her usual cheery smile, eyes glittering with the stars her explosive feelings have birthed. They reflect in the cool blue pond in Beau’s eyes. They swallow her in a crash of cool waves and keep her under for a long while, washing away pain and worries and leaving nothing but the pleasantness of Beau’s feelings for her. It’s the look alone that Beau offers as a thanks to the compliment because Beau still doesn’t know how to face all her feelings head on.
Beau pushes Jester’s cloak over her shoulder to admire her dress and how it clings to her figure, “If you didn’t end up with us, you totally could have been an actor Jess. You killed it.”
The sugar between Jester’s teeth melts way to the sudden flare of wicked delight, “Beau, did you like it?”
“Not gonna lie, it was kinda hot.”
“I knew it. You like when I’m in control, don’t you?” Jester works the leach around her knuckles and tugs hard, unbalancing them both because Beau stumbles forward and pushes Jester into the desk. The legs squeal from being pushed a smidge from their combined weight. Beau plants a hand on the desk top by Jester’s hip, angling her head so their noses brush.
“Oh, you wanna do this now, huh?”
And they really shouldn’t because there will be people looking for them and Nott is getting ready to blow this place to bits, but Jester has never had much impulse control. Especially now, with all that Beau offers and how many times she has tasted the possibility of that sweet release Jester needs.
She rucks her skirts up hastily and lifts herself onto the edge of the desk, pulling Beau between her spread legs, “Make it quick.”
A pleased rumble of a sound vibrates in Beau’s chest as her hands smooth up Jester’s bared thighs and she leans in to nip at Jester’s lip, “You say the sweetest things.” And, Traveler, Jester yearns. That feeling thunders through her to pierce her belly hot and quick, consuming her rational thought quicker than flame to dry kindling. It’s the same rich syrupy feeling that coats her bones every time Beau says or does anything. It’s deeper than any feeling has ever grown within her outside of her love for her Mama. There, at that thought, it’s when Jester realizes what it is.
“Oh,” She sighs her utter joy, clawing up Beau’s back over her layer of clothes, “Oh my gosh, Beau.”
Beau snorts, “I haven’t even touched you yet, Jessie.”
“No, Beau, I just realized,” Jester grabs Beau’s shoulders to pull them enough apart that she can drink in the woman she loves and smiles with every bit of that feeling sugaring her tongue and misting her eyes, “I just realized the most important thing. Beau, I’m in—”
And that’s when an explosion rips through the air and fills the room with a sudden flash of harsh red light and the floor beneath them shudders, cracks, and gives way. Together they fly, fumbling for each other and, distantly, Jester hears the echo of her own screams mingling with Beau’s hoarse cries of her name. Fingers brush her wrist and then grip, tighter than a smith’s vice, and yank her. The last thing she feels is colliding with Beau’s body and those strong arms forming a steel circle around her and then the pain of an impact.
--
She wakes up to the sound of ringing in her ears and the sight of Beau sagging and gripping an arm that hangs at an odd angle. Then, Nott’s voice fills her head.
I, ah, may have missed a trap that may have triggered the explosion early. Where are you? You can reply to this message.
Jester clutches her head—its fucking pounding—as she looks at the burning wreckage around them, mounting against the rock walls encircling them. They must have fallen clean through the second story into the lower level. Then, she checks on Beau with blood dripping from her hairline and head swaying forward, chin bouncing from her chest.
“I dunno exactly but Beau’s hurt. I’m gonna get us out. We’ll go to the meeting spot.” Jester moves to stand and her leg protests something awful but allows her weight. She realizes she should be hurt worst than she is. Beau must have cushioned her fall.
“Beau? Are you awake?”
Beau’s head lolls back and there is a glaze to her eyes that Jester doesn’t like. She blinks, slowly. “M’fine.”
“So, that’s a lie. I’m gonna,” Jester clicks her tongue against the back of her teeth, “magic us out of here. Can you hold on to me?”
“Yeah, totally.” She grabs in a direction that Jester is not, pawing at air with one hand.
“You’re so fucked up right now,” Jester grabs the wandering hand and slides it around her waist, pulling Beau into her arms and lifting her onto swaying feet, “I’m gonna fix you once we’re safe. And put you in bed and lay with you ‘till you feel completely better.”
Beau’s head lolls forward again, bumping against Jester’s horn and they both wince from it. Jester holds tight and pictures the spot above ground furthest from the building they had been in before it collapsed.
--
“I can’t believe Nott blew us up.”
“Well,” Jester defends, cheek pressed into the sweet-smelling pillow beneath her sore head, “she has blown up Cad, twice. It was our turn.”
Against the small of Jester’s back, where Beau’s head rests, she feels Beau’s deep sigh, “Pretty sure her tally is higher than just Cad.”
“But we got out alive, though.”
“Barely. And we got interrupted, again. Leave it to Nott to actually fucking blow us apart.”
A happy laugh is pressed into the pillow before she starts wiggling so she can turn over, mindful not to jostle Beau too terribly. They had made it out but only by a hair’s width of luck. Jester doesn’t even really remember Caleb casting the teleportation circle that brought them home to Rosohna. Both she and Beau had been severely concussed. Between Caduceus and herself they could deal with the worst of everyone’s injuries but even they had their limits and had to leave the rest to time. Beau’s concussion and dislocated shoulder had been sorted as well as her shattered wrist, but the soreness and bruises and cuts could not be willed away. There was an awful mottling along the length of her back where she taken most of the impact when they hit that Jester was being as careful of as she could be. First thing in the morning, she swore she would exhaust herself erasing each awful mark
“That’s okay. All that matters to me is that you’re okay, Beau. I was really worried about you.”
Beau props her chin on Jester’s belly with her usual tilted smirk, “I’m built to take hits.”
“Maybe but not that bad. Do you even remember what happened?”
“I remember the important stuff like what we were doing before we got interrupted. Which we could give another go? Cad is the only one here and I’ll take my chances with that. Doubt he’ll bother us.”
The need that Jester has been filled with for so long hardly even stirs even from that deliberate prodding. It’s too blanketed now by the quilt of Jester’s deeply woven love and, distracted, by the sparks of her protectiveness.
“You’re still really banged up. We should wait.”
Beau scoots up Jester’s body slyly, “I’ve been way worst.”
Despite her insistence, she tilts her head back for Beau when the human drags her nose along Jester’s jaw to press a trail of kisses against her neck. One of Beau’s hands slide up the taper of Jester’s waist to cup her breast over her clothes and Jester arches into the touch. The need shakes awake and tries to slip from beneath the blanket keeping it down, but the protective sparks flare up, burning it back. She puts her hand over Beau’s cupping her and moves it up to her cheek, smiling sweetly and rubbing over the inside of her wrist.
“Nope. You need rest. And if we do that, I’m going to end up hurting you.” Jester rubs a hand over Beau’s back to demonstrate her point and watches how Beau’s face scrunches up in a wince just from that light touch. Beau relents with a sigh and flops back on top of Jester, nose pressed against her throat where she had been working valiantly on sucking a mark into existence.
“If you’re gonna be a fuckin’ mom about it…”
Jester tilts her head against Beau’s, “Is that another one of your kinks, Beau?”
Beau snorts, “Shithead.”
“It’s just ‘cause I care.”
“Which reminds me,” Beau pulls away, so she can prop herself up on her elbow, gazing down at Jester in a somewhat serious manor, “Before Nott interrupted us, you actually stopped me because you wanted to tell me something. Care to share?”
“Oh.” Jester’s heart swells into her throat, spilling over with the rich taste of love that has been stopped inside her for so long. There’s such an uprising of it that she wonders how she ever managed to keep it all in for such a long time. How did it take her so long to realize? And, honestly, she should have expected it. Beau was the first of the Nein to say it to her when it meant something different and the first one that Jester clung to. Spending all this time with her, kissing and touching and sharing themselves with each, Jester should have expected it. Jester frames Beau’s face between both her hands and when she speaks, her voice is all high and tight the way it gets when she’s really excited about something, “Oh, well, you know, just that I love you is all.”
“Wha—like you love me or you love me?”
“I love you. So, so much.”
“Oh, dude,” Beau whispers, voice cracking with emotion and her head tips down to hide her eyes, “That’s not what I was expecting.”
Jester practically purrs from the happiness inside her. Beau knows now and she’s not taking it back. Her thumb swipes along the sharp ridge of her cheekbone.
“What were you expecting?”
“I dunno. Probably like ‘you’re the best kisser’ or like ‘being girlfriends with you is actually pretty great’ not like—are you sure?” The eyes return to hold Jester’s gaze and there is a sheen to them that belies her shock and vulnerability.
Jester nods with absolute conviction, “Super sure. I love you.”
“Okay, well, fuck. I mean,” And the uncertainty burns from Beau’s eyes to be replaced with the glitter of joy and devotion, “I love you too.”
“Well, duh.”
“Oh my god, Jess,” Beau overflows with laughter that’s still breathless from her wonder and delight at loving and being loved, “You’re such a little dick but fuck man, I really love you.”
Jester curls some loose wisps of Beau’s hair around her fingers and gives it a light pull, “You should probably kiss me now. You know, to show me how much.”
“You said we can’t do that, remember? ‘Cause I,” Beau makes air quotes with one hand and does a poor mock accent of Jester’s own, “‘need to rest’ so.”
“I never said anything about kissing. We can just kiss. Kissing is nice.”
“Our kissing never stays just kissing. You’re handsy.”
Jester pouts, “I can behave.”
Beau’s smile is dripping with love that presses against Jester’s cheek, “No you can’t.”
And Jester can’t fight that because she really can’t. Sighing, she loops her arms carefully around Beau’s hips and leans her head against Beau’s once more. “Tomorrow. I’m gonna make you all better with my magic and then we’re going to lock the door and have I so much sex. I don’t care what happens.”
“Don’t jinx us. That means the house will probably burn down.”
As it turned out, Jester ended up being the girl who she dreamed of being after all. The girl who waits to have sex with the love of her life.