A Dance Under The Stars A Garroth/Zoey Oneshot
Summary: Garroth and Zoey share an impromptu dance as night falls.
Helpful Context: A moment from my rewrite. Takes place sometime around season two, near the end or post. Lynn is the name Lillith Garnet has in my rewrite (her full name being Lauralynn Garnet), and while Garroth and Aphmau are coparenting they are not romantically involved at this point
While I didn’t incorporate Aphmau seeing it, thank you @freddiefagbearsdiner for plaguing me with the wonderful image of Garroth and Zoey dancing
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The stars were just appearing across the sky as Garroth and Zoey made their way down the path from Aphmau’s house, having just joined her and Lynn for dinner. The night was peaceful and the town below them was quiet, most noises they heard coming from the wind and wildlife.
Garroth was usually one for silence, he enjoyed the clarity it provided his senses, but something about being with Zoey made him want to speak, “I’m sure Aphmau already told you, but dinner was wonderful,”
Zoey gave him a small smile, wondering when she would get sick of compliments to her cooking, “Thank you, it’s always nice to know it truly is enjoyed,”
“Your cooking actually reminds me of my mother’s, it’s...it’s nice,” Nice did not begin to describe the nostalgia Zoey’s dishes occasionally captured, but it was the only word that Garroth could think of.
“Really? Was she a big cook?” Zoey nearly pounced into the opportunity to learn about Zianna, memories of her always seemed to bring Garroth more joy than pain compared to the rest of his family and her bloodline was truly fascinating.
“Oh yes, she practically lived in the kitchen. It...it was her happy place I think,” Garroth’s words trailed near the end, voice getting a little quieter as bittersweet memories from the kitchen flickered through his mind.
Zoey could feel the sad edge to the statement, something rustling just under the surface which she would help him face another day, “Did she ever teach you how to make anything?”
“No, not for a lack of trying though. I...I just never took that time. My days were often filled with lessons and the free time I did have I just...I didn’t want to spend it in the kitchen so she always cut me loose,” Garroth tried to keep his tone light, as if he was making fun of the restlessness of his child self, but the regret plaguing his words was hard to miss.
“Was there anything she did teach you?” Zoey tried to pull him away from the feeling, hoping whatever he could think of might bring a smile to his eyes.
“...Dancing. She was...very insistent we all learn how to properly dance with a girl. I was somehow the best at it between the three of us,” Garroth didn’t think that was all too impressive though, considering how Vylad had nearly lost a tooth and Zane could never stop stepping on people’s toes.
However Zoey’s interest was piqued, part of her wondering why she had never even considered the fact he would have skills like that, “You know how to dance? Ballroom dance I’m assuming?”
“If I remember any of it, yes,” Garroth doubted he did, at least doubted he remembered anything beyond simple steps.
“...Will you dance with me?” Zoey stopped in the middle of the flat part of the path, suddenly overcome with a need to see this man dance like a noble.
Garroth had to turn back and step over to where she had suddenly stopped, a look of confusion on his face from her request, “Here? Now?”
Zoey nodded, this was the flattest part of the pathway down and was safe from foot traffic because of the time, anyone coming up would be doing so because of an emergency, “Yes here, yes now. I want to see how good you are,”
“I-I can’t just start dancing, I would need some music,” Garroth stammered out his reasoning, still not over the nearly out of the blue request he doubted he could fill.
Zoey reached out and tugged him a step closer, determined to get him to dance, “That is a problem I can solve,”
Zoey rested a hand on his shoulder and pulled one of his hands into a waltzing position and then started singing to continue to try and get him to dance with her. The song was an Elvish one, he was able to make out the occasional word from what Zoey had been teaching him but most of it held no meaning to him. Her efforts were rewarded thoughts he finally relented, his other hand resting on her waist as he tried to fall into the flow of the song and give her the dance she had somehow roped him into.
And so they danced. Garroth knew it was not his best, probably for a large variety of reasons ranging from their ballroom floor being an uneven path to years of rust on the skill. He couldn’t help but think if he was back in O’Khasis the dance wouldn’t have lasted three steps before getting corrected and criticized to the point of insult, but he wasn’t in O’Khasis. He was with Zoey. She didn’t seem to mind any of the mistakes, a smile clear on her face as she continued to sing after they had found a beat.
Even when Zoey had stopped singing, the song being done or the rest of the words escaping her, they still slowly swayed. The hand that was rested on her hip was now instead an arm wrapped around her waist that had pulled her a step closer to him, while her hand placed at his shoulder had turned into an arm wrapped around his neck with her head placed against his chest. Their other arms were no longer held in the rigid position for the ballroom style dance, instead held loosely at their sides with their hands more comfortably intertwined together. The moment felt nice, felt solid.
“You have a beautiful voice,” Zoey felt Garroth’s chest move with his words, though he said them soft enough to where only she would hear if they had an audience.
The compliment made her heart feel warm, she had heard the exact same and similar variations of it throughout her whole life but something about it coming from him felt so powerful, “You’re a good dancer, didn’t even step on my toes,”
Garroth let out a soft laugh, the fact he was able to clear the low bar was nice at least, “I’m sure you’ve danced with better,”
“No, I don’t think so,” Zoey shook her head enough for Garroth to feel, her hand squeezing his as they continued to sway to no music, “No dance has ever felt better than this,”
Their soft swaying eventually also stopped, leaving them standing and leaning into each other under the rising moonlight. Zoey was the one who started to move away first, lifting her head from Garroth’s chest and loosening her arm from around his neck. He started loosening his own arm from around her waist, however Zoey’s hand moving to his cheek caused him to pause.
He met her eyes and was able to understand the silent questions that this was. He wondered if she didn’t dare say it out of fear, thinking he would reject her and it would harm the moment they were sharing. That was not the case, he leaned into her hand and a little bit downwards, asking his own silent questions of Meet me? Kiss me?
And she did. She lifted herself enough to brush their noses together and pressed their lips together. The kiss was soft, simple even. There was no desperation or fear laced into it, nothing looming over them other than the night sky. It was nice, it filled Garroth with the feeling of ease Zoey always seemed to fill him with and his arm securing itself around her waist brought Zoey the feeling of safety Garroth was always able to provide.
The moment was truly far from ruined, it was now rooted securely into their hearts as something to remember, to cherish. Though it did have to end, both of them pulling away and taking slow breaths and pink cheeks. Garroth wasn’t quite ready to let go of the moment though, leaning down just a little more to press their foreheads together.
Zoey didn’t want it to end either, it felt too good to end now and she felt comfortable enough with taking a risk to keep it, “If you...if you’d like, you could spend the night with me. Stay the night, stay for breakfast, and then we can do your elvish lesson,”
“That...that would be nice,” Once again the word nice seemed to fall flat compared to what he really meant, but from the smile on her face he thinks she understands anyway.
They finally separated, arms unwrapping from around each other but hands still intertwined as they continued down the hill and towards Zoey’s house. Something new had just started. They would talk about it in the morning, perhaps even share another kiss, but for tonight they would find comfort in how this felt easy despite being scary, unlike so many things in their lives. It wasn’t even that becoming something together was what felt scary, so maybe it wasn’t scary at all. Maybe they just had to learn how to feel excited again.