[Fanfic] Kiss Me, Rose/Kanaya + Jade/Feferi
TO: puddleofbodka
FROM: jabberwockyx
Pairing: Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Jade Harley/Feferi Peixes
Summary: Rose and Kanaya invite Jade and Feferi, who are excited beyond belief at the prospect of a white Christmas, to spend the holidays with them. Fluff ensues.
Jade had never truly experienced snow before. Well, barring her time in the Land of Frost and Frogs, where she had been introduced to the mysterious cold substance, but the snow had only lasted a matter of hours, melting as soon as she stoked the forge and heated up her planet. Upon beating Sburb, she returned to her island home and, well, that was the end of snow for her. She didn’t mind though, as she had missed her little isle, and besides, she wasn’t so lonely anymore now that she had company.
With Alternia long since destroyed by Sgrub, Feferi was homeless and unwilling to follow in her ancestor’s footsteps, so she gladly came to live with Jade, enjoying the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. She had even gotten accustomed to sleeping in a human bed, limbs entwined with Jade’s and silky black hair fanning out across the soft white sheets. She didn’t really mind the troubling dreams that came with the lack of sopor slime – she was actually rather fond of the horrorterrors, having lived with an emissary to them for her entire life prior to the Vast Glub.
Jade, on the other hand, was less fortunate. Even now, years after Sburb, she was still plagued by recurring nightmares of horrorterrors and missed the familiar golden architecture of her dream home on Prospit. But Feferi was always there, and when she woke up crying in the middle of the night, she would hug her close and sleepily whisper soothing words of comfort into her ear until Jade finally fell back into a more peaceful sleep, safe and warm in Feferi’s arms. On mornings when she woke up cranky and sullen after a long night of fitful sleep, Feferi would kiss her in all of her most ticklish areas until she reluctantly giggled and kissed her back.
The two of them were happy, living together on their own little island, and both of them were used to relative seclusion from the world around them. Jade had, after all, lived alone on the island with only a dog for company for most of her life. Feferi was separated from her landwelling friends by the ocean, and she wasn’t friends with most of the seadwellers, with the exception of her ex-moirail, Eridan. The majority of seadwellers were either intimidated by her unique tyrian blood or rejected her because there was always the ever-looming possibility of her culling their lusii to feed Gl’bgolyb. She had learned to shrug it off, instead pursuing her passion of caring for aquatic wildlife and fostering friendships with the landwellers via Trollian.
But even with their happiness together, there were still times when they intensely missed their friends and craved physical contact with them. Pesterchum and Trollian only went so far and while they did have visitors every now and then, not many people wanted to or were able to make the voyage out to their tiny remote island.
So when Rose and Kanaya sent them a formal invite to spend the holidays, they accepted in a heartbeat.
Rose and Kanaya were presently engaged in a discussion about how best to decorate the manor in anticipation of their visitors. They had never bothered to properly decorate before, as they preferred to keep their Christmases low-key. In past years, their celebrations were quiet affairs. They mostly stayed in, curling up next to each other by the hearth and reading dark and sensuous tales of eldritch horrors and daywalkers before exchanging gifts by the fireplace.
Now that they were going to be entertaining guests, however, they were determined to show Jade and Feferi just what a proper Christmas looked like, and that meant pulling out all the stops. Unfortunately, both of them were headstrong individuals with very opinionated ideas about what appropriate holiday decorating entailed. Rose was determined to recreate her mother’s predictable over-the-top style of decking the halls with boughs of holly. She always knew when the first day of December rolled around when she emerged from her bedroom to find red and green splashed everywhere and wreaths and garlands lining the hallways.
Rising to the bait for passive-aggressive one-upmanship, Rose would then go foraging for pinecones and sprigs of greenery to laboriously make her own homemade wreaths and present them to her mother in a sincere fashion. In return, her mother would exclaim over them and spend a couple thousand dollars to have solid gold, ornate hooks installed, where she hung the wreaths and kept them there until well past Christmas.
Kanaya, on the other hand, had other ideas on the subject. With the critical eye of a fashion designer, she surveyed the mound of Christmas decorations that Rose had dug out from storage. “If it’s not too impertinent for me to say so, I must state that I find this choice of decorative schemes to be excessively stupid. I do not see how these colors are supposed to be festive. Also I believe that red and green look tacky when paired together.”
“Your alien and uncultured opinion notwithstanding, red and green are traditionally the colors associated with Christmas, Kanaya.”
Kanaya sniffed. “I would rather prefer to outfit the manor in bright, gay colors more suited to the festive atmosphere of the holiday season. In fact, I have some fabric that I have been saving for just this occasion, and I think it would look fabulous draped over the banister.”
Rose allowed a smirk to play across her lips and, unable to resist the temptation, said, “There is already enough ‘gay’ in this household, Kanaya.”
Her clever quip was met by a blank and uncomprehending stare. “What?”
“Never mind,” Rose said, waving the words away. “It’s simply another cultural miscommunication fostered by linguistic and societal differences. I’m sure your fabric is as lovely as always, but I fail to see how it will contribute to an appropriately festive atmosphere, seeing as how it has little to no relevance with the holiday in question.”
It was a stand-off, with each of them refusing to back down, staring at each other in determination. Finally, Rose sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It appears that this conversation is going nowhere. I propose a compromise, in which we reject both of our ideals.” She knelt on the floor, digging through the plastic garbage bags until she produced a long, white garland laced with small, shiny flecks of silver. “How about something suitably wintry? A winter wonderland, if you will.”
Kanaya smiled, her fangs gleaming. “Yes, I believe this sounds like a most satisfactory conciliation and a more aesthetically pleasing design overall.”
Having reached an agreement, they threw themselves headlong into their work, going all-out to transform their spacious manor into a glamorous, icy palace bedecked in white and silver. While Rose was occupied with hanging up the crystal icicle lights, Kanaya began sorting through one of the boxes and unearthed a sprig of what was unmistakably mistletoe. As someone who was well-versed in the various types of flora, Kanaya recognized it instantly, but she was surprised to find that humans apparently had the same plant on their planet as well.
She cleared her throat, and Rose gave her a quizzical look as she climbed down from the stepladder to survey her handiwork. “Rose,” Kanaya began formally, “I understand that human Christmas traditions are assuredly different from those of our 12th Perigee’s, but I would like to introduce you to a unique troll custom involving this mystical plant and its significance in regards to matespritship—”
“You’re rambling again, Kanaya.” Rose cut her off with a kiss, dipping her at the waist to more easily reach her lips due to the dramatic height difference.
A slight jade-green flush tinted Kanaya’s cheeks when Rose finally came up for air, the blush shining through the brightness of her rainbow drinker radiance. “Oh,” was all she could come up with, startled into silence by the pleasant surprise. “I suppose humans do share that practice with us after all.”
“Mistletoe is a universal constant,” Rose said, giving her one last quick peck before releasing her and turning back to the decorations.
Still a little flustered and giddy from the kiss, Kanaya self-consciously touched her hair, smoothing it back into place. “When do we forage for our behemoth leaving?” she asked.
“Well, it may come as a surprise to you that behemoths are not native to this planet, nor are their… leavings.”
“Oh,” Kanaya said, a little disappointed. “What do you decorate and place presents under, then?”
“Traditionally? A pine tree. But yet, in spite of the fact that our home is surrounded by vast quantities of the aforementioned trees, my mother insisted on buying the most elaborate and gargantuan artificial tree she could find. And while I secretly always longed for a true pine tree, I must grudgingly admit that our fake tree is quite pretty. Speaking of which, I suppose I might as well set it up now. Kanaya, if you could work on adorning the banister with that garland in the meantime?”
Kanaya nodded and picked up the fluffy white garland, admiring its beauty.
Ten minutes later, Rose was beginning to regret her insistence on setting up the twelve-foot tall tree by herself. It was bulky and unwieldy, and her slight stature was not up to the task. She let out an unladylike grunt as she stretched as high as she could reach and pushed the tree, trying to force it to stand upright. Her life flashed before her eyes as it wavered and fell back down on her, causing her to stagger beneath its weight. Her arms were full of branches and she couldn’t hold it up any longer.
Just as she was about to give up and collapse on the ground, she felt Kanaya’s body heat behind her.
Kanaya’s strong arms covered Rose’s, and she pressed up against her back as she pushed the tree to a standing position. Rose was suddenly grateful for Kanaya’s height.
Kanaya had always had a few inches on Rose, but as she matured, her already tall and slender frame slimmed further as she shot up to reach the six-foot-plus height shared by her ancestor. She developed modest curves of her own, her hips filling out to befit one raised by a Mother Grub. Jade-green blood gradually filled in her irises, and her horns lengthened, the tips ending in elegant, if razor-sharp, points.
Kanaya lingered where she was even after the tree had been secured, her hands shifting to settle on Rose’s waist. Rose smiled to herself and turned around in her grasp.
“Thank you,” she said simply and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Kanaya, wrapping her arms around her neck and losing herself in her warm embrace.
To say that Jade and Feferi were excited would be the understatement of the century. Rose had sent a small jet to the coordinates of their island, and they couldn’t stop chattering away during the duration of the flight, amazed by the breathtaking view of the scenery from above. When they finally arrived at the east coast and emerged from the airport, Jade stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the sparkling drifts of pure white snow, arrested by its beauty. She wanted to plunge heedlessly into the snow, but Feferi had grabbed her hand and was pulling her towards the waiting taxi.
“Come on, Jade! We can look at the snow when we get to Rose’s and Kanaya’s hive!”
Jade shook her head slightly to reorient herself and beamed at Feferi. “Yeah, you’re right! Silly me.”
Feferi wrapped herself around Jade as soon as they got in the taxicab, either unaware of or indifferent to the driver’s odd expression. Jade wasn’t particularly well-versed in socially appropriate behavior herself, given her upbringing, so she didn’t even notice anything strange about the look the man was giving them when he glanced in his rearview mirror.
“I’m just so ex-CITED!” Feferi exclaimed, burying her nose into Jade’s soft hair.
Jade giggled, unable to stop grinning herself. “I know, I can’t wait to see Rose again! And Kanaya! It’s been so long!”
The ride to Rose’s manor was on the lengthy side, given that she lived in a relatively isolated, private area, but neither Jade nor Feferi minded, too swept away by the promise of seeing their best friends and their joy over the unfamiliar sight of snowy fields. When they arrived at long last, they had to wade through waist-deep snow to reach the front door. Feferi was over the moon. “It’s like frozen water! This is so much FUN!”
Jade rolled her eyes and playfully nudged Feferi. “That’s because it IS frozen water, you silly goose!” She rang the doorbell and bounced on the balls of her feet, giddy with anticipation.
Rose answered the door, but before she had so much as opened her mouth to greet her guests, Jade was hugging her tightly. “Hi, Merry Christmas, Rose!” Jade said, the words tumbling out of her mouth in one big jumble.
“Hello, thanks, and you too,” Rose replied, returning the hug after a moment’s pause to collect her composure.
Feferi jostled past the two humans, her face lighting up at the sight of Kanaya lingering just behind Rose.
“Kanaya, HI!” Feferi squealed, flinging her arms around the other troll, who accepted her exuberance and offered a much more restrained hug in return. “Glub glub glub glub!”
“Hello, Feferi,” Kanaya replied. “It’s been a while. You seem more excited than usual. I think, I can’t really tell with the glubbing.”
“Of COURSE I’m more excited than usual, dummy! I’m here with you!”
“Is this the part when we do the thing where we bounce up and down together and squeal like shrill little oinkbeasts?” Kanaya said drolly.
Kanaya dutifully humored her whims, allowing Feferi to grab her hands and jump up and down. Rose was trying to hide a smile behind her hand when she felt something splash on her foot. She glanced down in alarm to realize that the wetness was stemming from the fact that both Jade and Feferi were dripping with melting snow. Peering out of the front door, she could see the path that Jade and Feferi had carved through the snow.
“I can’t believe I remembered everything except for shoveling the path to the front door,” she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Huh? What was that, Rose? I didn’t catch what you said,” Jade asked, glancing at her with an apologetic expression on her face.
“Nothing,” Rose said. “Sorry, it snowed overnight, and it didn’t occur to me that it would be prudent to clear the walkway of snow for your arrival. Hence the fact that you’re both wet and most likely freezing as well.”
“Oh, that’s okay, we didn’t mind!” Jade reassured her. “We wore warm clothes like you said, and we brought extras, so we’re fine, don’t worry.”
“And besides, I’m a seadweller, I’m used to being wet, duh!” Feferi added.
Rose still frowned, her brow knitting together. “Nevertheless, it doesn’t make me a very hospitable host. If you go get changed, you can at least warm up by the fire while Kanaya and I finish with the cookies.”
Jade’s ears perked up at that. “Did you just say… cookies?”
“Yes. Yes, I did. Sorry, we didn’t get around to finishing all of the holiday preparations before you arrived. We got a little… sidetracked, if you will.”
“I bet I know how!” Jade said, nudging Rose in the side and giving her a blatantly roguish wink.
“Oh, you do, do you? And how, pray tell, is that?” Jade opened her mouth to answer, but Rose stopped her before she could say anything. “Actually, I take that back, I don’t want to know what perverse imaginings you have about any shenanigans that Kanaya and I may or may not get up to.”
Jade laughed and rolled her eyes. “I’m just teasing! No, but seriously, can we help?” she asked eagerly, with Feferi nodding fervently by her side. They were already digging through their duffel bags for a change of clothes and stripping from the waist down in the middle of the living room. There wasn’t much of a need for privacy on their remote island, and neither one of them was particularly shy when it came to revealing their bodies.
Rose swiftly averted her eyes. “Jade, I know that due to being raised by a dog over on Hellmurder Island, you don’t have much experience with the concept of socially acceptable behavior, but I can tell you that it is generally considered inappropriate to disrobe in the middle of polite company.”
Jade looked down at her Squiddle-printed underwear then back up at her. “Oh, don’t be such a prude, Rose! And you’re not polite company – you’re being kind of snarky right now, honestly!” she said, tugging on a pair of long johns.
“No, I can affirm that she is not, at least within the confines of the respiteblock walls,” Kanaya added, and there was a devilish smirk on her face that made Rose shoot her a look.
“Oh, who cares!” Jade said as she pulled on a fresh pair of thick leggings and fuzzy socks. “We’re all friends here, and it’s not like it’s nothing we’ve all seen before!” She zipped up her skirt and rounded on Rose. “But you didn’t answer my question!”
“Yeah, we want to help make cookies!” Feferi chimed in while she finished getting redressed as well.
“I can’t imagine why you would want to do something so tedious, but if you insist, you certainly are welcome to.”
“Oh, but it’s fun!” Jade said in earnest as they followed Rose into the kitchen. “What kind of cookies are we making?”
“Well, we made gingersnaps earlier, and the first batch of sugar cookies came out of the oven just before you arrived.” Rose nodded at the cooling rack where the cut-out cookies were resting. “I suppose we can finish the rest of the shapes now and work on decorating these while the next batch is baking.”
Jade and Feferi held much more enthusiasm for the art of baking cookies than Rose did, and they gleefully used the dough to create a Pisces symbol and a dog’s head reminiscent of Becquerel’s to go along with the cookie cutter shapes. They spread out the decorating materials on the kitchen table and used the colored icing, melted chocolate, and sprinkles to decorate their cookies. Rose put aside her disdain for culinary matters long enough to create a reindeer of the darkest persuasions, with demonic red eyes and a satirical name written on its flank in the eldritch tongues, as befitting the zoologically dubious.
While Jade worked on decorating a Christmas tree, Feferi plucked a star-shaped cookie from the pile and used icing to reinvent it as a starfish. She scooted over to Kanaya’s side and rested her chin on her shoulder to survey the other troll’s cookie. Kanaya had chosen a cut-out that was intended to resemble Santa Claus’s boot but instead transformed it into a fashion statement, adorning it with crystal sprinkles and carefully piped details. Feferi wrinkled her nose and, with her customary frankness, remarked, “I don’t know, I think mine looks better!”
“Yes, your human artifact of confection is vastly superior to mine,” Kanaya replied dryly. “The aquatic life form is truly much more fascinating than the unique and elegant vagaries of fashion.”
“It’s still just as delicious though, I’m sure!” Jade said cheerfully, putting the finishing touches on her Christmas tree.
Feferi wasn’t listening anymore, however, distracted by the view outside. “Oh my cod, Jade, look!” she said, tugging on her partner’s sleeve in undisguised excitement and pointing out the kitchen window.
“Ooooh!” Jade said keenly, her eyes widening behind her glasses as she looked at the snow sculptures that Feferi had noticed. “Rose, I love your snowcat!”
“I never said that I was the one who made it, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless.”
"But you did make it, right?" Jade persisted. "That, and the, err... tentacle thing!"
"Nrub'Yiglith, the eldritch horror known as the Shamebeast King of Grotesquery and Writhe-Lord of the Moist Beyondhood."
"Uh-huh, and Kanaya made the Mother Grub — is that your virgin Mother Grub, Kanaya?"
Kanaya smiled at her. "You remembered. Yes, that was intended to be a representation of my lusus, although I regret that I couldn't capture her great size and elegance through such a crude material."
"Well, I think she looks pretty! And you probably made that ball thing with the icicles sticking out of it too, right? Umm, I don't really know what it is, though..."
"Yeah, whatever that thing is!"
"A very accurate summation of our snow sculpting exploits. I'm impressed at your ability to discern whose creation belongs to who."
Jade grinned and shrugged. "It's not that hard, really!"
Feferi piped up, her eyes shining in excitement. "I want to make a snowlusus too! Oh, Rose, Kanaya, can we?"
"I think I'd prefer to stay inside, given the subzero temperature, but I can't very well say no when you're giving me that look," Rose said, her resolve weakening at Feferi's puppy-dog eyes. "Tell you what: you and Jade are more than welcome to go play outside. Kanaya and I will prepare some hot cocoa for when you return."
"Yay! Oh, Rose, that sounds like such an awesome idea!" Jade said, giving her a quick hug before dashing off after Feferi to put on her jacket and boots.
They charged into the backyard with wild abandon, throwing themselves into the soft drifts of snow. Feferi pounced on Jade and started gushing immediately.
"Jade! What should we do first? I want to make a snowlusus of Gl'bgolyb, and romp in the snow, and Karcrabby was telling me about some violent Earth ritual called a snowball fight, which sounds so exciting— "
"I know what I want to do first," Jade interrupted, a sly smile forming on her lips.
Jade paused for dramatic effect before announcing, "Tickle fight!" She attacked Feferi's sides, tickling every inch she could reach.
Feferi shrieked with laughter and tried to wriggle away from Jade's relentless tickling. "Stop, stop!" she gasped, breathless from laughing too hard. Jade showed mercy on her and eased up, flopping onto her back and laughing herself.
Laying in the snow with her arms spread wide, an idea came to her, and she turned her head to face Feferi. "Hey, I have an idea!"
"Let's make snow angels!"
Feferi gave her a quizzical look. "What are those?"
"Like this!" Jade said, rapidly moving her arms and legs up and down.
Feferi's eyes lit up in recognition and mimicked Jade's actions. "Ohhhhh, I know what you mean! When I was a wiggler, I used to love doing that in the sand on the beach, only I liked to pretend that I was a starfish, not one of your angels. And to be honest, I don't know how it's supposed to look like an angel!"
Jade climbed to her feet, shaking the snow out of her hair and examining her snow angel. "See, those are the wings, and that's the head, and that—" she crouched down and used her finger to draw a circle above the indentation of her head "—is the halo!"
Feferi tried to stand up without wrecking her snow angel and stumbled into Jade, who caught her. "Oops!" she laughed, then regained some seriousness as she rested her chin on her hand and contemplated her snow angel. "Hmm... yeah, I guess I can see it," she admitted.
"Told you!" Jade said, sticking her tongue out in a display of amazing maturity. Feferi pulled a face at her in return, and Jade giggled and reached out to hold her hand. She looked up at the sky, still amazed that this was actually happening to her.
"I can't believe I'm finally getting a white Christmas," she murmured. "I've always wanted snow, for as long as I can remember. The only problem is, it's so cold!" She shivered involuntarily and let go of Feferi's hand to hug herself. "I wish I didn't leave my scarf inside..."
“Hang on…” Feferi said, fumbling to unwind her pink and green striped scarf. She hugged Jade tight against her and wrapped the scarf around both of them. “There!” she said in satisfaction. “Better?”
“Yeah,” Jade breathed, frost curling out of her mouth, and Feferi was acutely aware of the minimal distance between their faces. She was quiet, taking the opportunity to drink in the vision of her companion. Jade’s cheeks were flushed bright red, a combination of the cold and sheer, unbridled joy. White powder dusted her thick, dark eyelashes, remnants from her roll in the snow.
Feferi opened her mouth to tell Jade how beautiful she was, but she was momentarily distracted by the sight of snowflakes drifting downward, catching in Jade’s hair, where every crystal stood out in sharp contrast amidst the black canvas. Feferi tipped her head back to watch the snowfall, thick, dense snowflakes floating through the air in an almost dreamlike state.
“Jade…” she said. “Look.”
Jade glanced up at the sky, and Feferi could hear her breath catch in her chest. They stood there in silence for a few moments, awestruck and mesmerized, before looking back down at each other and grinning in shared understanding.
Jade laughed in delight and threw her arms around Feferi. “Kiss me, it’s beginning to snow.”
Feferi giggled and nuzzled her nose before obliging, capturing her lips in a soft, sweet kiss.
Rose smiled as she watched Jade and Feferi from the upstairs panoramic window, her hands curled around a mug of hot chai tea that Kanaya had prepared for her. She had already had enough snow for the day, after the hassle of putting up the Christmas lights on the house. She was happy to stay inside on this cold winter day, cozy in the loose purple jumper she had knitted and warm by the glow of the fireplace.
“They’re a cute couple,” she murmured aloud as Kanaya approached her from behind, having returned from the kitchen with a green tea of her own.
“Mmm,” Kanaya hummed in agreement, placing her teacup down on one of the hallway’s ornate tables. Rose smiled as she felt Kanaya’s arms circle around her, and she leaned back into her touch.
“Merry Christmas, Rose,” Kanaya said, smiling into Rose’s soft, flaxen blond hair.
“And a happy Twelfth to you, my dearest Kanaya.” Rose turned her head just enough so that she could kiss Kanaya, her lips lingering just a few moments too long, and she emitted a sigh of contentment, safe and sound in her lover’s embrace.
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