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Fantasy Cosmical Glitch ( ellarose & starboob. )

When Juno reaches for one of the strawberries, Lettie bats her hand away and insists she be fed like a queen. This visibly confuses the pirate, but she does as her wife instructs, tilting her head back until it rests on the soft bed of moss behind her, and opens her mouth. Her wife then plucks one of the skewered strawberries and waves it in front of Juno, then gently lowers it into her mouth. The chocolate around the fruit snaps while the rest of it bursts over her tongue, the sweet and bitter notes blending together and becoming a new favorite food in an instant. Juno hums softly, blinking her eyes open without ever realizing she had closed them. Her eyes are stuffed with stars. Another strawberry descends into her mouth.

After two glasses of champagne, Juno’s cheeks adopt a pleasant rosy hue and that warmth spreads over her chest. She dips one of those strawberries in champagne and holds it beneath her teeth, beckoning her wife to take it from her. When she comes to capture it, Juno pulls her in, wrapping her solid arms around her while Lettie’s legs tangle around her waist so they’re flush together, leaving no room between them. Their lips brush, briefly as she takes the chocolate and champagne dipped strawberry for herself and as she eats, her eyes are roving over Juno as much as Juno’s single eye is lapping over her skin.

It’s rare Juno would ever describe Lettie as demure—to call her demure is like calling a porcupine kind—but in this moment, through hooded eyes, it’s all she can think. This look is reserved for the pirate alone and she knows it.

The swell in Juno’s chest pulls on her like gravity and Lettie is the star at the center of her universe. Her arms, solid and sure, hold her wife, keeping her flush to her torso. It’s not long after that Lettie squeezes her thighs around Juno’s middle. The tips of their noses brush and when their lips meet, the two become one, like a stellar collision. All of Juno becomes Lettie; all of Lettie becomes Juno as the boundaries of themselves become blurred, as the insistence they get closer tugs at her drumming heartbeat.

She parts Lettie’s lips with her tongue, demanding and gentle as she strives for that impossible closeness. It’s not soft. It’s ravenous, an insatiable hunger that floods her veins with lightning. Warmth pools in her belly and stirs lower.

When they come up for air, they’re drunk on more than champagne. It’s in their hooded eyes, heaving chests—Juno doesn’t take in more than that, instead dipping her head to brush her lips against Lettie’s neck. Her tongue laves over her pulse and when she’s rewarded with the heavenly sigh she’s been searching for, she latches onto her skin and nibbles at her pulse.

Lettie’s fingers press gently into Juno’s hard biceps. One hand smooths up to her shoulder and winds into her hair, holding her there as she arches into the pirate.

This is a perfect night. It’s the beginning of the rest of their lives.

***​

They wake the next morning tangled in the tall grasses surrounding the hot springs. It’s the morning birds and the sunbeams that poke her eye through the tree canopy that rouse the pirate. Lettie is in her arms, tucked safely against her chest. For a second, she expects the cube to show up. She expects Abigail to walk-in. She expects something to slide down the mountainside and threaten their lives, but none of that happens. It’s not the first morning where they’ve woken up without a disturbance, and Juno’s not sure if she’ll ever get used to it.

She savors it. The sweet morning air. The bugs and birds fluttering around them. The gentle waterfall. All of it. “This is it, isn’t it?” This is their life now. They fought for it and now they get to share it with each other.

***​

Eventually, they make their way back to their airship and bonehead crew. Nothing has fallen apart in their absence, though Lady has seen better days. Party streamers line the railings, shipmast, and decorate every possible rafter within the ship. Barrels have been turned over and roll down the halls with abandon. Someone has sprayed, “Inez wuz here,” in shaving cream on the ship’s hull—Inez insists it wasn’t her, but they both know better than to believe her. Faeries are passed out wherever they fell. Some of them are from Thistle’s crew, but more of them are strangers to Juno. Phillip has three sleeping inside his ribcage and holds a finger to his teeth when Juno and Lettie find him. He waits patiently for them to wake up.

It takes the better part of the day to clean up the ship, but Juno doesn’t mind. They make it fun. It starts with Juno spraying Lettie with the hose as they’re cleaning off the shaving cream and Lettie retaliating by dumping a bucket of water over her head. As the other faeries and skeletons wake (or pretend to), they split into teams and wage a vicious prank war on each other. Water balloons are thrown. Ambushes are executed. There are traitors on both sides and it quickly devolves into a free for all. By that point, Lettie and Juno sneak away to make out and when they’re caught, they’re dragged from the supply closet and everyone gangs up on them, dousing them in water until they’re shivering, soaked to the bone. Their grins couldn’t be wider.

At dinner, a truce is called and they all come together to share a meal of whatever the fuck is in the fridge. Juno and Lettie share a chair, the original one that started so many arguments. The pirate has one arm around Lettie’s waist while her chin rests on her shoulder. Titania has half the table captivated as she regales them with a story from her past. Thistle feeds one of her carnivorous plants scraps from the table. Ravan, Ariel, and their moms are right beside them. It’s nice.

And still…

“I miss Desdemonia.” Juno mumbles it without thinking much of the admission. She squeezes Lettie. “Never thought I’d say that about the shithole.” Then again, it’s not a shithole anymore and she’s got family there now. “We should… We should visit. Maybe even have the wedding there, if the Elders are going to piss themselves over us being a thing?”
 
Their dinner conversation makes one thing abundantly clear. All this time they'd been discussing which world to settle down on and hadn't even considered where to hold the wedding! Oof. (However, Lettie feels like this lapse is justified. It makes perfect sense why neither of them have given it much thought, because for as long as they've known each other they've have had every destination decided for them by cubes.) It would have been simple to decide on Desdemonia as the destination right then and there, but Lettie could tell from the expression on mother's face that she had thoughts about them holding their wedding on another world. (Just as she undoubtedly has thoughts regarding her refusal to settle on Avangeline.) Without addressing her directly, the faerie nodded, affectionately patted her wife's knee and promised they'd talk about it after they eat.

Lettie still hasn't had a proper chat with mother. While she can say it's because she's been busy as of late (which she has been) it'd be a lie to say she's not been searching for opportunities to put it off. This spontaneous trip to Desdemonia is another one. Maybe there's this selfish, childish part of her that hopes mother will approach her first. (The same part that had her hoping Juno would show after she lost her wings...) Anyway. It's becoming quickly apparent that if Lettie doesn't make a move, no moves will be made. From mother's perspective, it could very well be an attempt to respect her space. A lack of communication is exactly what causes conflict like this. She knows from experience.

Decisions, decisions. They're sitting at the bar Lettie and Thad crash-landed into months ago. The place has been cleaned up since then, all set up with brand new tables and chairs. The faerie sips on her drink, watching everyone mingle. Thad and Ravan are already trying to out-nerd each other, discussing the various features of their respective nerd caves. ('Dark fortresses' they call them... but they're not fooling this little faerie. Ainsley catches her staring and rolls her eyes, expressing solidarity on this stance. Nerds.) Raven's in the process of discussing the features of his coffin, which can open and close at his command when he claps his hands.

Meanwhile, Ariel's making fast friends with Eliza's crew. She draws a fascinated crowd as she coaxes a potted plant on the windowsill to head bang along to the sound of her guitar. (Mauve has an obvious crush. Having been there once herself, Lettie's heart goes out to her.) The barkeep even goes as far as to ask if she'd like an official gig performing live on the weekends. Ariel, intrigued by the offer, says she'll think about it. Lately she's been busy scoping out places to set up her next flower shop. From there, they're quickly able to bond over the agony of having to rebuild their businesses from the ground up. Lettie turns her face away awkwardly. She may have been responsible for a smidgen of the damage that day. But it's mostly the cube's fault! The cube and the ruffians, waving those horrid wanted posters and endeavoring to do the Duchess's bidding.

Watching them like this, Lettie realizes it's not as daunting as she once worried it might be to bring their two worlds together. In fact, it's easy. (Maybe because it's just Ravan and Ariel. They're great company.) The decision of where to get married won't matter nearly as much as the person standing by her side. She wants to enjoy this time instead of stressing and nitpicking every little thing... and this also attributes to her hesitance to approach mother. Growing up, the faerie would have described her mother as the queen of nitpicking. If she's ever going to relax, she'll have to settle this sooner rather than later. She's not a little kid anymore. She can hold her own, lay out her terms, and then it will be on mother to decide whether she still wants to be a part of her life or not. Hoo boy.

'Just know that we’ll all be here for you if you even want to have that conversation with her. No judgment from me if you choose not to.'

It's time. Lettie resurfaces from her reverie when Eliza decides it's time to shoo her and Juno out of the bar. (They'd been talking to her about the Desdemonian traditions they want to incorporate in their wedding and listened as she regaled them with stories about her own special day. Though there's a clear sadness in her eyes, having lost the one she loved, it's sweet to see her looking back on those fond memories. Makes her wonder what kind of person Eliza was in love with all those years ago.) Based on the little smirk on the woman's face when she sees them out the door, Lettie suspects that the plans she's intending to make involve mischief, alcohol and muck.

Lettie and Juno walk hand in hand, sightseeing and appreciating just how much Desdemonia has changed. Juno tells stories as they pass landmarks, about the tales and fearsome creatures associated with them. It's hard to imagine that this world used to be so dangerous, so wholly unsafe that being stuck on the ground could be considered a death sentence. Now it's healing and they're still in a state of disbelief that they did that. While they'd visited briefly during the battle, neither of them have truly had the opportunity to take in the fresh grass or the sky. They approach the site of their fight, the massive flower field still spans out as far as their eyes can see. It's breathtaking.

"Did you hear what Nico said earlier?" Lettie asks Juno when she recovers, playfully nudging her wife's elbow. "Initially, they were going to call it 'Juno Fields'." She grins knowingly, "Eliza said you wouldn't like that one bit, so they named it 'The Garden of Lady Vengeance' instead." She nods her head, gazing out at the flowers in the moonlight. Desdemonia has their own Star Grove now... only this place isn't haunting so much as it is hope itself. The name suits it, she thinks. The faeries souls are freed and Desdemonia is alive again. They've taken their vengeance. "I think it's perfect."

"Sorry if I've been a little spaced out tonight. I've just been thinking... I know we just got here, but I should probably head back to Avangeline in the morning." Lettie admits, motioning for Juno to sit next to her amongst the flowers. She reaches for her hand, idly stroking her knuckles. "I'll go dress shopping with my mother. I need to talk to her. I've put it off for long enough." She bites her lip. "I guess 'cause... I want this to be our wedding. Mother will surely have her opinions. She used to take over everything when it came to how I looked, how I acted. I used to bend over backwards to please her." She shakes her head. "But I know things have changed since then. I want to give her a chance."

Lettie stares out thoughtfully at the flowers... and she's struck with a vision.

"Do you want to get married on Desdemonia, Juju?" Lettie asks, tilting her head to the side. She looks up at her wife, bringing her hand to her lips. She kisses her knuckles, her bicep, then her cheek. "This would be a nice place for it, don't you think?"
 
When Juno closes her single eye and breathes in, filling herself up to the top of her lungs, it’s like she’s on a whole new world. And maybe it is a whole new world, because the Desdemonia that Juno last left is not the same one she has come back to. Even the landmarks have changed. The once steel skeletons from an age no Desdemonian remembers are now overgrown with twisting vines and pulsing flowers. They’re no longer the same structures that had been used for sparse shelter by nomadic grounders like herself and Eliza. It’s new. It’s different. It’s not a bad thing, but even these landmarks remind her that she’s an alien on her own world.

Desedmonia isn’t the same. Maybe that’s a good thing too. If it means no one else will have to live like she and James once had, then it certainly is. As soothing as that thought is, it doesn’t take away from the feeling that she doesn’t belong here.

(So where does she belong?)​

Even if all of the people are still the same, it’s hard to imagine herself fitting in this picture. This is not to say that she regrets coming back here—it was her idea, after all, and it hasn’t all been disorienting. Catching up with Eliza and the company filled Juno’s eye with sparks as she listened to their stories of stewards, thieving elites, and what they’ve done to keep this world free. She wishes she could have been there for it. Maybe it wouldn’t feel so weird to be here on this new world had she been a greater part of its rapid change. (Never mind that she is the reason Desdemonia was given the opportunity to change at all.)

Desdemonia isn’t the same shithole she remembers.

Lettie pulls her out from her thoughts, nudging her elbow. (Does she always know when Juno’s starting to spiral?) She curls her lip at the mention of Juno Fields. Aside from her own belief that she’s not worth any honor, it’s a terrible name. The second at least has a nicer sound to it. “If it’d been up to me, I wouldn’t have attached anything that’s connected to my name.” She tilts her head back to look up at the stars, suddenly realizing she never really thought much of Desdemonia’s skies until now. On the ground, you keep your gaze low. Less chance that the nightmares will get in. “I would have chosen something for the faeries. More explicitly, at least.”

She does understand why it was chosen, ultimately, and also understands how it does memorialize the faeries. They’re free. Their vengeance is in their memory. Any necromancer can feel it when they step onto these fields. It’s not even hostile. It’s somehow playful, like they’re the ones who get the last word and she supposes they do. Just looking at this overgrown field is proof. She can see the areas where the border has expanded, where the souls of the dead are now traveling, leaving their trail of flowers and grass for others to follow. This is the epicenter of Desdemonia’s first Spring. Soon the whole of it will be covered in green.

As Lettie continues on, Juno keeps her gaze soft on the field. (The blue gladiolus flowers glow brighter than the rest. Juno wonders if this is because of Lina and then, after a moment of thought, she knows that they are. Just as she can feel every spirit roaming the garden, she can feel Lina's presence enough that she can parse her from the rest. She feels the same as she had in their shared nightmares.) For a brief moment, an old part of Juno worries that Lettie might be having second thoughts and that she, like everyone else, will leave. But that thought only exists for a second. Lettie loves her.

“You’re a lot stronger now.” Juno kisses the top of Lettie’s head, then moves to wrap her arm around her wife. “I know you won’t give over to what she wants.” She also knows that Titania won’t necessarily expect that. Not at her core, at least. “It’ll be good for you two to clear the air. She keeps asking in roundabout ways what you’re thinking.” Juno is pretty sure Titania mostly wants confirmation that Lettie isn’t using this opportunity to ditch Avangeline to ditch her by extension. “Honestly, if it—oh.”

She was going to concede to having the wedding on Avangeline—it’s not like Desdemonia really feels like a place she knows anymore—and then Lettie suggests that. The pirate blinks, then pans her gaze back over the glowing field. The fae spirits around them are abuzz with the thought there might be a celebration here—a proper party, more specifically.

“What better place for a faerie and a necromancer to have a wedding than in a graveyard garden?” She smiles—one of her wide smiles that makes her dimple most prominent and reaches her eye. “I like it. It’s like a little of Avangeline is here too.”
 
"The satin is classic, don't you think?" Mother holds the dress by it's straps in front of Lettie in the mirror, looking her up and down with a discerning eye. It has a square-shaped neckline and an hourglass shape meant to hug her in all the right places. "Timeless."

"...It's boring." Lettie pulls a face like Prissy does when she's held over a tub of sudsy water, scrunching her nose. When she notices mother's frown in the mirror, she backtracks. "Safe? I mean, it's fine. It's just not me." She sighs and shakes her head, gently pushing the dress away. This one's not it. Nor are any of the others on the rack mother pulled over for her to peruse. They're all way too minimalist. Pretty enough, but hardly the kinds that will make a lasting impression. She wants her wedding look to be memorable, mesmerizing, iconic! Most importantly, though, she wants it to reflect who she is.

Stars knows how many would thrash Lettie for sticking her nose up at the Titania Lycoris Radiata's advice-- let alone calling that dress boring.

'You’re a lot stronger now. I know you won’t give over to what she wants.'

Lettie takes a step back from the mirror, resolute in her decision. So far, so good. Her dress needs to fit her the same way her engagement ring fits her. It's got to be dazzling. (Juno knows what's up. Juno knows her better than anybody else.) The ring glitters brilliantly on her finger as she trails it along the gowns on another rack. It distracts her, she scarcely even notices that she smiles like a total dork whenever she stares at it. The faerie's got to get with it sooner or later. She's got mountains of tulle, frills, lace, peals, and embroidered flowers to sort through.

"What are you smiling about?" When Lettie catches mother smiling plainly at her, her own fades. (She just vetoed all of her choices... she would've expected a different reaction.) She reaches over for her champagne flute and takes a long swig. The attendant in the room silently refills it when she sets it back down. They've been cordial so far... it's been fine. They still haven't really talked.

"You're happy." Titania observes with a breathy little laugh. She dismisses the attendant with the elegant wave of her hand, soundlessly asking for privacy. The attendant seems hesitant, no doubt wanting to eavesdrop, but eventually thinks better of it and scurries off. "I'm glad you invited me. I never got to shop for dresses with my mother."

"You never got married." Lettie observes. Then she looks off to the side. "Well... you were going to..."

The Belladonnas. That family's a whole can of worms-- she almost regrets bringing it up when she sees the stricken look on mother's face. But it's about time they stopped beating around the bush.

"I was... But I thank the stars every day I didn't. We didn't have what you and Juno had. You knew better than anyone, Lette. It was all about publicity. I was told it'd repair my 'tarnished image' to marry a respected business man." Mother sighs, settling herself down on the plush sofa. She glances longingly at the champagne for a moment and then reaches for her water instead. "I was told a lot of things by a lot of people. When I lost my title, I vowed not to make any more mistakes... I thought that meant listening to everyone except for myself." She sighs. "The real mistake was allowing those parasites to use me. To use us. I should have protected you from them."

"You tried. I know you did." Lettie bites her lower lip. Even if her ways of doing so were completely misguided, controlling, or outright wrong. Mother had to grow up too soon-- she was cast into the spotlight, disowned, and had a kid to raise at her age on top of that. Back then, she was younger than Lettie is now. Every decision she made was splashed over the tabloids. While she still had loyal fans, it was hardly a charmed life they led. In the midst of living that life, as a child, it was easy to get angry without considering the whole picture.

"I should have tried harder. You always took such good care of me, Lette. I should have been the one taking care of you..." Titania sighs. "And now here you are, taking care of yourself. Ready to take on the worlds."

"I learned a lot of what I know from you." Lettie offers, plopping down next to her on the sofa.

"I'm sorry." Titania offers, her voice soft and faraway. "I should have said it sooner. But I am." She rests her hand on top of Lettie's. "I'm not going to tell you what to wear, or what you're supposed to look like on your wedding day. I know you're not going to let me." She smiles. Lettie's chest swells with warmth. "You've grown so much. You won't let anybody boss you around. I'm so thankful that you didn't end up like me. I'm so goddamned proud." She exhales, the sound a bit shaky. "And now you're leaving."

"Just so you know... I'm not leaving Avangeline to leave you." Lettie says. It's the truth. "It's just Avangeline. You know? It took leaving for me to realize that I never really felt at home here... and I know Juno doesn't, either." She shrugs her shoulders. "We're going to travel and build a cottage wherever we feel happiest. Our doors will always be open to family." She looks at her mother pointedly. "That includes you."

"But, I should have..." Mother rarely gets flustered, but she's flustered. Her sky-blue eyes are misty with tears. "I don't deserve--"

"Aht, aht, aht." Lettie shakes her head resolutely and wags her finger. Mother's punished herself for long enough. Asmodeus tortured her long enough. She's not who she used to be. It's clear as day that all she wants now is a sincere, healthy relationship with her daughter. "No more buts or should haves. From this moment on, the past stays in the past." She holds mother's hand between her own. "Let's agree to start fresh as the people we are today."

Titania rubs her thumbs under her eyes, nods, and stands. She surveys the room, the dresses around them, and then looks back at her daughter. "So you like dresses with all the drama..." She flaps her hands extravagantly around her waist to indicate a full skirt and then strikes a pose. "Then we need more of that in here." Mother snaps her fingers decisively, summoning the attendant back into the room. In a flash, all the minimalist dresses are carted out and replaced with rows and rows of dresses that sparkle like the stars.
 
Juno rubs the palm of one hand over her knuckles, wringing them fiercely as she has been since Lettie’s departure. They’re starting to turn red. Eliza’s taken note, though she has yet to say anything. She hides her concern behind her mug of coffee, allowing the silence to settle between them as they sit across from each other in the booth of the same establishment as the day before. (Café by day, dive bar by night. It’s a smart operation, now that the area is getting more travelers.) The older woman watches as the pirate’s eye flits from patron to patron, reacting to every noise that is a hair too sudden or abrupt. But eventually, it becomes too painful to watch Juno tear herself apart over threats that aren’t coming.

“You miss her already?” Eliza teases, breaking their long silence and nudging Juno’s shin with her foot. Her brow raises. “You’re so soft, Juju.”

That earns a scowl, but it doesn’t mean anything and they both know it. Old habits. Something about always feeling like a kid around Eliza—a teenager, more specifically. She sinks down in her seat, fully slouched. “I mean, yeah. I do. But it’s…” Here, she struggles for her words. She rolls her wrist, as if that might help her find them, but all she manages is a pinched expression before she’s leaning against the side of the booth, avoiding Eliza’s gaze. “Don’t pretend you can’t feel it, those fuckin’ hateful glares. Shit, that mom herded her kid out the café when she saw us—me enter.”

“You fucked up a lotta lives, Juno. That’s not a secret.” Eliza shrugs, speaking far more cavalierly than Juno would like, but it’s honest. She can appreciate the honesty. The battle hardened woman sets her mug to the side and leans in. “I’m not gonna pretend you’re ever gonna be forgiven. No one owes you that. Savior or not. You did a few things right for this world, but that doesn’t mean people owe you shit.”

“I know—”

“I’m not finished,” Eliza interrupts. Juno instantly closes her mouth. “I don’t know how you’re going to make your peace, but if you keep holding yourself to that period of your life, you’re never gonna move forward.” She reaches across the table and squeezes the kid’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ve been told this before and I’m sure you’re too smart to not realize this. Wallow in your guilt for as long as you need, but don’t let it become you. You’re more than that. Let those fuckers stare. Let ‘em gawk. No one’s gonna fuckin’ mess with you.”

Those words hang in the air between them. Juno stares softly into her mug of coffee, holding it more firm than is necessary, knowing that what Eliza says is true and that she’s heard this before from her own wife. She believes them both, and, at the same time, she doesn’t. It's hard to reconcile with both truths, and in her heart, she knows they're both right. It's just going to take time, like Lettie's been saying.

After a moment, Eliza slides out of her seat and whirls around to slide in next to the kid, putting her arm around her shoulder. “Any of them try anything and I’ll kick their teeth in. You know that.”

Juno doesn't say anything nor does she indicate that she's heard. Eliza doesn’t press her. “C’mon. Let’s ditch this joint. You said Lettie’s getting a dress, right? Have you figured out your ensemble?”

***​

“What the fuck is up with these shoulder pads? It’s like I’ve got fuckin’ lances on my shoulders.”

“I dunno, Cap’m,” Abigail sighs dreamily, kicking her legs up behind on the bench she’s laid out on. She props her palms under chin, managing to grin without a mouth. “I think you look dreamy. I bet Miss—Mrs. Lettie will think so, too.”

Ordinarily, Juno would have ditched her boneheaded crew and gone shopping with Eliza alone, but the clothiers still mostly reside in the city and her ship was the fastest way to get there, especially with Lettie’s upgrades. Once word got out that they were headed there to shop for a suit, it was impossible to deny the boneheads. (She really has gone soft.)

“Cheetah print would be better.” Inez nods, popping the collar of the suit she's trying on. “Everything looks better when it’s cheetahlicious.”

“Be serious, Inez.” Marjorie puts her hands on her hips while Eliza helps Juno out of the lance-shoulder suit. It gets tossed into the growing pile of rejects. “Cheetah isn’t the captain’s print. Disco tits are her thing.”

Juno could throttle them. Another version of herself would have, but these skeletons are her boneheads and she’s grown to love them. Took her a while to admit, but these boneheads have been her family since she deserted her service as a steward. For as bad as she was, she would have been worse without them. “Fuckin..." She pinches the bridge of her nose, exasperated still. "You promised you’d be fuckin’ helpful if I let you come.”

“And we are!” Marjorie insists. “Our opinions are very honest.”

“Oh!” Abigail leaps up from her position, stamping her feet excitedly. “Let me pick the next one Cap’m.”

“Fine, sure.” Juno waves off the space cadet then turns to Eliza, leveling with her. “This place is too stiff. Reminds me of the fuckin’ Duchess.” Not that the Duchess had bad taste, it’s just… She’d rather not wear something that reminds her of that woman on her wedding day. She needs something that’ll keep Lettie blushing all night. (Goddess knows her wife is on the same mission.) “I don’t wanna feel like an ass.”

“What about this Cap’m?” Abigail comes back in before Eliza can suggest they leave, twirling around a piece of fabric like it’s ribbon. “So flowy. Like your freed spirit.”

“Ab—”

“Wait.” Eliza puts her finger to Juno’s lips, eyeing the piece the skeleton has selected. She reaches for it and pinches the end between her finger, then looks over at the pirate, then back at the skeleton (who is now tangled in the piece). “Try it on, Juno.”
 
"Stars, my skin is so clear right now." Lettie assesses, slurring her words. She spins away from the mirror, idly twirling the strap of her plush cheetah print robe, and grins seeing Juno on the bed in her matching one. (The robes were an early wedding gift from Inez. The box was on the bed when they returned from their muck-splattered parade in the streets along with a note that read 'Cheetahlicious'. A winky face was drawn beside it.) The faerie had declared the gesture sweet and insisted they wear them after their shower. All she had to do was bat her eyes to get her exasperated wife to agree. (But not without jutting out her lower lip and blowing a raspberry first. Hehe. So cute.) "Admittedly, I wasn't so sure about the muck at first... but it was one hell of an exfoliant." She fans herself dramatically. "I'm gonna look so hot on our wedding day."

Lettie curls her toes and smiles like she has a secret when she thinks about her wedding dress. The dress. Juno will just have to wait until the wedding day for the grand reveal! Thanks to the skellies teasing, she is positively dying to know what Juno picked out in turn.

The faerie hops up onto her feet, wobbles, and then skips her way over to the bed. She flings herself onto pirate, shimmying herself comfortably into her stupidly buff arms when they wrap around her. Her sparkly cheeks are flushed bright pink. Speaking of hot. It's the alcohol. (...Okay. And it's also the muscles. Or a lot the muscles.) She could fall asleep just like this. But she doesn't want to sleep just yet.

"Now everyone on Desdemonia knows this little faerie can hang." Lettie boasts, nodding her head pridefully. It's a miracle they showered and made it into bed, to say the very least. No crimes against seashells were committed tonight-- no siree! They're not about to go and get themselves arrested a mere two days before their wedding. They have changed and grown since then. "Everybody else drank themselves silly. Silly, Juju! An' I outdrank everybody in that bar."

Naturally, this declaration is equivalent to a declaration of war. Before long, they're rolling around on the bed, play-wrestling as they argue over who outdrank who ...Okay, so maybe they haven't changed that much. Juno's on top of her when her robe opens up slightly, exposing a glimpse of her chest and her toned abs. Lettie melts against the mattress beneath her, turning to jelly. It's getting hot in here. Toasty toasty, as they say. (But not in the bad way.)

"You..." Lettie's at a loss for words as she stares up at Juno, the blush on her cheeks spreading all the way to her pointy ears. She squints, struggling to keep her wits about her. They're in the middle of a legendary battle here! She brushes a lock of hair out of her wife's face, sensing that it's starting to bother her. It has gotten quite long. "Need a haircut, missy! I'm gonna cut it." She nods resolutely. The faerie leans forward, capturing the pirate's lips in a kiss. "Tomorrow morning. When I'm sober."

Ever since Lettie left to shop for dresses, they've been up to their necks in wedding prep. Coordinating, confirming their location, their visions, sorting through the RSVPS, preparing the gifts, the food, and everything else. They've hardly had any time to themselves. (To her credit, mother has been an amazing help since their talk. Once Lettie explained her vision, put together a mood-board for the aesthetic, she was determined to make as many arrangements as she could to ensure that they'd have the wedding of their dreams.) Tonight was fun, though, letting loose and partying with their Desdemonian family. Ruling the streets, taking over the bars. Now that they have this moment to themselves, she wants it to last.

Though maybe that's a bit silly. They'll have their wedding, their sugar getaway, and then the rest of their lives to spend together.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Lettie smiles fondly, taking her fingers back further through Juno's hair and ruffling it. "What was your favorite part? Beating Thad at arm wrestling a bazillion times in a row?" She smirks and lowers her voice conspiratorially. "That was hot."
 
“You’re beautiful.” It’s not an answer to Lettie’s question, but how can Juno help herself? Love drunk and illuminated by the moon beams streaming in from the window, there’s nothing else for her to say. This is the woman she has married and will marry again. This is the woman who has taken her heart and now keeps it safe. This is the woman who she raised Hell for (and she’d do it again).

Olette Lycoris Radiata. She is the fucking faerie and she’s got Captain fucking Juno’s heart in a vise.

When her sparkles flush with more pink, they twinkle like the stars outside. Her eyes are two iridescent pools that Juno would happily dive into and get lost in. She’s got some scars now, like the five lines across her abdomen from Calytrix’s claws and the hairline on her lip from Angelus, and she’s still the most beautiful person in all the worlds. (Juno, having traveled the worlds, has it on good authority that this is a true statement.) Then there’s the pirate. Her hands are calloused and rough. She’s littered with scars. She’s only got one good eye left and, even with all of this, Lettie still chooses her. Not in spite of these flaws or because of them, but because they are Juno and Juno knows she’s more important to Lettie than all that superficial bullshit. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

She leans down, resting her forearm beside Lettie’s head to prop herself as she brings her other hand up to brush the constellations on her wife’s cheeks. Her favorite freckle shines the brightest, so she kisses it, her lips just touching the corner of Lettie’s eye. Then she kisses her second favorite freckle (on her ear), followed by her third (on the tip of her nose), and forth (on her lip), and on and on until her entire face has been peppered with kisses. “Didn’t want anyone to feel left out,” she grins, falling onto her side shortly after. The room spins before it settles again. “I got to hang out with you all day. That was my favorite part.”

That’s… really fucking gay, and Juno doesn’t care. She’s a gay pirate who is gay for her gay little faerie. “I liked watching you outdrink everyone except for me,” she teases, letting out an airy laugh when Lettie puffs her cheeks. Juno pokes them. “And I liked watching you get flustered whenever I beat Thad. And I liked it when you tackled me just to get a kiss, ‘cause you hadn’t gotten one in five minutes and that was too unbearable. Gay ass nerd.” She laughs when Lettie nudges her shoulder and rolls on top, holding the pirate’s shoulders down and staring at her with a faux scowl. Juno’s hands find a home on her hips, keeping her firmly in place. “I just liked sharing time with you. Looking up and always seeing you nearby, either taking shots with Eliza or talking with Mauve or playing pranks on Thad, that was nice. You were my favorite color today: Happy.”

Lettie calls her a dweeb then she kisses her.

***​

The next day starts early, despite everyone's collective hangovers, but with only a day left to prepare, it's all hands on deck. The first order of business, however, is Juno's haircut. Lettie shaves off the length on the sides, tapering it along the curve of Juno's skull to create the basic shape of a wide mohawk. Then she cleans up the length on the top, keeping it on the longer side to give Juno styling options, such as slicking it back, sweeping it to the side, or wearing it up. Her wife hints that it'd be lovely to see her wife's face on their big day. Then she's swept away by her mother and an entourage of faeries who all need the fucking faerie's opinion on how to fold the napkins (or something like that).

That's the last time Juno sees her wife. (It has her wishing she had savored their last kiss.) Soon after Lettie leaves, the skeletons find their captain and Juno is summoned to put out several fires (one literal one; fucking Fred). Inez and Marjorie are having a blow out fight over the arrangement of chairs, with Marjorie insisting on theater style seating and Inez championing for the chairs to spell out her name. "I'm the star, Captain."

"You are not upstaging my wife on our wedding day," Juno pinches the bridge of her nose. "Listen to fuckin' Marjorie or you're gonna be on vomit clean up. Again."

"You are making a huge mistake. Terrible," Inez nods resolutely. Even so, she backs down from her idea and goes off to help.

After that, Juno finds Nico and Thaddeus arguing over the best technique for making the pergola out of bone. Nico's got Thad's arm twisted behind his back. "Say it! Say I'm right!"

"I won't. Your method puts the structural integrity of the edifice—"

"Both of you. Shut the fuck up." Juno crosses her arms, obviously unimpressed. Nico immediately disengages, releasing the geek who rubs his arm and scowls at the teen. "Do it Thad's way. He's a fuckin' nerd. I trust that."

It’s like that from morning to night.

By dinner, Juno almost falls asleep on top of her pile of pancakes. She doesn’t even remember walking off to bed, but either she did or the skeletons carried her because the next time she opens her eyes, she’s in bed with Lettie nestled in the crook of her arm. She smiles in her dopey way. ‘We’re getting married tomorrow. Again.'
 
Rain patters softly on the windows. The thrum of it alongside her love's heartbeat is the sweetest music to her ears, the sound Lettie could contentedly sleep in all day to... until it dawns on her what day it is. Hold the fuck up. 'How dare it rain on this, the day of my wedding!?' She jolts upright in bed and cheek puffs at the window. (...Nope. That's not gonna be enough to clear these skies. They're not soft for her like Juno is.) Despite the dramatics of her reaction, she realizes after a beat that she's not panicking. For all the adversity they've faced together, a little rain on their wedding day sure as hell isn't going to stop them. It's so innocent in the grand scheme of things.

Beside her, Juno is sleeping soundly. Knowing how long it took to convince the pirate it was okay to rest, to let her guard down from time to time, it warms the faerie to her core to see her like this. Content. At peace. Gently, she pushes her hair out of her face and presses a kiss to her temple.

"Maybe the goddess likes playing a good prank." Lettie tells herself, turning back to the window to watch the rain. "She's gonna give us a rainbow during the ceremony. Mhm. I see what's going on here." They're so gay the forces of nature would conspire to give them a rainbow.

That's it. I'm a genius. Lettie squints, pointing back and forth from her discerning eyes to the window. Juno rouses beside her and sleepily observes that she's talking to herself again. "Nerd." The faerie puffs her cheeks once more and lovingly tackles her wife. They roll around in bed, getting tangled up in the sheets as they laugh and bat at each other like a couple of puppies.

"Oh, heavens to Betsy... break it up, you two!" Marjorie shakes her head at them in the doorway. Her skeletal foot tap-taps against the floor. "We're on a tight schedule today!"

Lettie wheezes and snorts, which only causes them to descend into a fit of laughter that lasts until their sides ache. It's not until Marjorie threatens the cube acting as their means of transportation for the day to keep them in check that they take her seriously. (No more cube blips for them, thanks!) The faerie rubs at the tears that have formed through her giggles and presses a kiss to Juno's forehead. "See you soon. I love you." As she leaves out the door, she calls out behind her dramatically. "I miss you already, babe! They can't keep us apart forever!"

***​

It's a good thing the ceremony is at sunset for all the time that's required to put Olette Lycoris Radiata's ensemble together. While she won't allow a sprinkling of rain to dampen her spirits, it's still crucial that this she look her best on her wedding day. She's still the fucking faerie and that won't ever fucking change. She smiles, tracing her finger along the faerie crown Ravan and Ariel presented her with earlier. It's a twist of glowing branches from Avangeline's enchanted forests adorned with sparkling gems, flowers and iridescent wings.

Mother and Ariel ran off to fetch some spare pins so they could fasten it into place. Lettie taps her feet against the floor as she copes with the butterflies turning cartwheels in her chest. Then she'll be walking down the aisle. She'll get to stand beside Juno in front of all their friends and family, speak her vows, proclaim that she chooses Juno and she'll love her forever and ever. And they can celebrate afterwards without any catastrophic--

"Well, well, well. Look at you." Catastrophic bullshit. Lettie tenses, staring into the vanity mirror to see none other than Phobos Algol standing behind her. Her so-called father. Fury rises quickly in her chest. No one was supposed to touch this day. Their day. "I must admit, I'm offended. No one asked for my blessing... I didn't even receive an invitation." He drawls, waving his hands in the air as if to announce his presence. "Father of the bride, right here."

"You're a demon. Blessing's not exactly your business." Lettie rises from her seat, regal in her wedding dress as she narrows her eyes to slits. She reaches on the vanity behind her for her butterfly knife. (Even though their days ahead have been promised to be peaceful, Juno asked that she have at least one weapon on her at all times.) "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"Can't I pay my own daughter a visit on her wedding day?" Phobos presses his hands to his chest, wearing a faux innocent expression. "I thought I might convince you to come home with me."

"Have you gone senile, old man?" Lettie clutches the knife tighter behind her back. Damn it. She really doesn't want to have to get blood on her dress. The dress. A little rain might not bother her, but bloodstains certainly will. Not to-fucking-day.

"Let me rephrase that. You're coming with me." Phobos smirks, advancing on her. "The media's going to hear all about your change of heart, how you came home and accepted me as your father, and the story's going to sell--"

"Lette, stand back." Unquestioningly, Lettie takes a step back at the sound of Titania's command. What happens next happens in a flash. An ornate blade sticks out through Phobos's chest. The faerie's gaze pans between his shocked expression and the blood dribbling down the end of the blade. "...I didn't want to get any blood on your dress."

Titania pulls the sword back, her eyes shining with satisfaction. After all these years... she's finally got him. Phobos gasps, coughs, and his body hits the floor with a thump.

"You..." Phobos wheezes pathetically. "You were supposed to make me millions, you useless fae bastard. You owe me!"

"Don't speak to my daughter that way." Titania stomps on Phobos's back, pinning him in place before he can reach for the hem of Lettie's dress. The harder she presses, the quicker the blood spills from his chest... and eventually, his eyes roll back and he goes still.

Lettie takes another step back. She blinks once. Twice. Her father is dead, but her dress is spotless. Well. Thank stars for that.

"That was badass." Lettie says. It's all she can say. The man on the floor might be her father, but he's not her father. He's a stranger who did far more harm than he ever did good. (Especially to mother. If anyone deserved to end him, it was her.) Now he's gone.

"We'll get this mess cleaned up." Titania promises, looking sheepish. While she spared Lettie's dress, her own is splattered with blood. "Several of your guests brought weapons. I'm not entirely sure why... this is a wedding, after all, but I'll ask them to keep an eye out for stragglers." Lettie doesn't point out the fact that mother was carrying a sword. "Do you want to post--"

"No. We are not postponing the wedding." Lettie crosses her arms, stubborn. "He's not ruining this day for me."

"Okay." Titania nods, mildly bewildered but willing to roll with whatever she wants. "Okay. I'm going to tell Juno. The sword's a wedding gift, by the way. I'll have that cleaned, too."

"...Don't let her in here! She can't see me until the ceremony!" Lettie calls out as Titania makes her exit. It's not because of the old fashioned superstitions, either. Her grand reveal is at stake! "Tell her I'm okay! I'm good."
 
“You what—!?”

Titania puts her hands on the pirate’s shoulder, letting them slide down the length of her arms. She squeezes Juno’s biceps, stilling her before she unsheathes the bedazzled dagger attached to her boot and instead directs her to sit down in the cheetah print armchair. “I killed Lettie’s father,” Titania repeats, as cavalier as she had been the first time. She smooths out the wrinkles on her gown, grimacing over the splotches of Phobos’s blood. “He was trying to kidnap her, so I killed him. Save your worries, Juno. Lettie is fine. The dress was not ruined at all. Unlike mine, which will need to be burned…”

That actually is reassuring, because Juno knows she’d have to raise Hell again if someone ruined the fucking faerie’s dress on their wedding day. She sinks a bit into the seat, though she's far from relaxed. Her eyes dart around the room, searching for threats. (Are the shadows in the corner too dark?) “How’d he even get here? Are ther—”

“It’s all fine, Juno. You have no reason to worry.” Titania nods, patting Juno’s shoulder. “It’s your wedding day. Like, chill.”

If only she could. Eliza knocks on the doorframe a second later, splattered in blood. Casually, she undoes the buttons of her stained shirt while Marjorie mops up her face with a damp washcloth. “Wrangled the last of ‘em, T. Her brothers won’t be an issue.”

“What the fuck!?”

***​

It takes nearly an hour for Juno to calm down and she’s still not quite back to baseline. While Eliza and Marjorie were able to convince the pirate that there wasn’t the need for her to start patrolling the grounds, that Eliza and the company were now on alert, she hasn’t stopped bouncing her leg or chewing on the corner of her thumbnail. No one has been able to convince her to put her bedazzled knife away either, but the mothers seem to quietly agree that so long as Juno isn’t attacking anyone, it’s mostly harmless. Eliza and Marjorie most of all understand the pirate’s need to be in control of her survival.

When it's five minutes to the start, Titania reenters Juno’s quarters in a fresh, blood-free dress. “It’s time.” She smiles, then offers the pirate her arm. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m going to throw up,” Juno admits, taking the angel’s arm. (Desdemonian custom calls for the future in-laws to walk the brides, or grooms, to the wedding fane. Lettie had been surprised to learn this, until she found out that it was a way for the future in-laws to do away with suitors they did not approve of. Thankfully, neither of them have to worry about their moms coming between them.) “Anything happen?”

“No.” Titania shakes her head, then taps the pirate’s white knuckles, gently insisting she put the knife away. “Eliza and her company took care of Lette’s brothers. When that goth boy summoned Phobos’s spirit, the rest fled. It was perhaps the only good decision the lot of them have ever made.”

Reluctantly, Juno slips the knife back into her boot. Some part of her, at least, trusts the goddess’s word. She said they’d be protected. She never said they wouldn’t have close encounters. This time her protection came in the form of their family and, with everyone here, she supposes this is the safest place for them to be. Though she’ll feel the most secure once Lettie is by her side.

“What is that phrase Lettie told me…?” Titania taps on her chin, squinting up. “Ah. We’ve got you.”

***​

One minute. Juno sucks in a deep breath until her chest is full. The butterflies are fluttering about, buzzing through her veins. Her palms slick with sweat (not cute) and her head starts to feel light, causing her to lean against Titania. The angel looks down at the pirate, smiles, and rubs consoling circles over her arm. “She loves you. And you’re already married.”

“I know.” She rubs the back of her neck, a blush already creeping down her neck. “But she’s so beautiful and I haven’t seen her all day. I always get butterflies when it’s been a while.”

Titania doesn’t respond with more than a misty smile, content knowing this is who her daughter chose; some pirate with no name from a world that, until very recently, was a desolate wasteland. No, not just some pirate. A pirate with a heart as golden as the sun.

When the music cues, the pair of them exchange a glance, then a nod, and take their first steps towards the bone pergola, now adorned with twisting vines and flowers. While they originally had planned for Thistle’s crew to decorate the pergola, The Garden of Lady Vengeance took over with full understanding of the assignment. Along the six giant rib bones that curve into a dome shape, soft purple and pink roses, stems of lavender, hydrangeas, sweet peas, lilies of the valley, completely encompass the rib bones. Within the pergola, iridescent veils criss cross and drape over each other between the bones, leaving only an opening at the front. They billow with the breeze, resembling spider’s silk. The drizzle catches on the fabric and the droplets glisten, brightened by the dipping sun.

Juno and Lettie enter the field from opposite ends. Their guests rise to watch them make their way to the wedding fane, temporarily blocking the couple’s view of each other. (A good thing, too. Juno’s legs would have jellied and Titania would have had to carry her.) Centi jumps up and down excitedly, shaking the ground and knocking over a few guests. She waves her arms, all six of them, to make sure her bug of a feather sees her. (Why did they invite her?) Sir Regis sobs into Calytrix's shoulder. The Fabel Star swipes her thumbs beneath the shark's eyes and holds a handkerchief for him to blow into. The adult villagers from Fabel have to hold their children back before they interrupt the whole wedding ceremony and tackle their favorite hero. Marjorie and Abigail hold hands, while Inez pretends she's too cool to be affected. All the skeletons, including Fred, are dressed to the nines. (Though, in Fred's case, it had not been by choice. Phillip had to restrain him while the other skeletons wrestled him into a suit. Prior to that, he'd been wearing cargo shorts, a tank-top, and socks with sandals. Fucking Fred.)

As they get closer to the pergola and as Juno gets closer to seeing her wife, in her wedding dress, on their wedding day, for the first time, Juno's legs start to give. Titania gives her a reassuring squeeze. It's enough for the pirate to pull herself together. (Thank fuck they'll get to sit down for the ceremony.) Juno tugs at the collar of her mock neck muscle tank. It's black, cropped at her waist, and made from a sheer material that leaves little to the imagination. Over that, she wears a ribcage harness made from opalized bone. A crystalized blue butterfly rests between the fourth and fifth rib, right over her heart. Her black trousers sit comfortably below her belly button and taper into her polished black boots. From the belt loops, three strings of opal beads wrap loosely across her legs, like a belt chain. Her hair is slicked over to one side, showing off her face and her black butterfly inspired eyepatch.

She sees the top of Lettie’s crown first and when she takes in the rest of her, the whole world stops spinning and gravity pulls her the rest of the way towards her star. It's not part of the ceremony, but she can't help it when she wraps her arms below Lettie's hips, lifts her into the air, and spins her around. This is the goddamn love of her life.
 
This is the goddamn love of her life.

"Juju!" Lettie giggles as Juno spins her around in circles, getting herself wrapped up in the long train of her wedding gown. "What are you doing?" She raises a hand to ruffle her hair and pauses when she considers how she styled it. She knows from experience what a chore it is to keep the unrulier locks from falling in front of her face. Instead, she lovingly pats her on the head as not to mess it up. Best believe she'll have her fingers in her hair later.

Poor Eliza hurries around behind them, lifting armfuls of fabric to ensure they don't get themselves tangled before the ceremony begins. Thankfully, Titania is able to step in and lend her help in the matter. They exchange a fond, knowing glance as they do and share a hearty laugh. The faerie's heart warms at the sight. She didn't know what to expect, bringing their worlds together like this... but everything's okay. Outside of her father and brothers unwelcome visit, there's been no drama. No impending disaster.

When Juno sets her back down on the ground, Lettie reaches for her hand and examines it. When she notices the pirate's chewed thumbnail, she presses a light kiss against it, soothing the nail and reddened skin around it. (Juju always does that when she's worried.) She offers her hand a reassuring squeeze. I'm okay. When the raindrops fall harder and faster than before, the water faeries rise from their seats and raise transparent leaf and mushroom shaped umbrellas over the procession to keep everyone dry.

The whole crowd murmurs softly amongst themselves as they take in the spectacle that is Lettie's dress, their voices blending with the patter of rain against the magicked shelter.

The entirety of Lettie's white gown sparkles like the sun on the surface of a lake, reflecting subtle shades of the rainbow depending on which angle the light hits it. Swirls of pastel butterflies and flowers cascade down her full skirt and train like waterfalls. This detailing also adorns the bones of her corset, covering the back of it entirely, and it's tied with a pretty bow that rests just beneath her phantom wings. Upon close inspection, it can also be noted that the outermost layer of the dress is a thin, iridescent lacework of a thousand tiny skulls. Naturally, there's a slit in the front of the dress that shows off an appealing glimpse of the faerie's left leg. If she's a smidge shorter than usual, it's because she's wearing lace barefoot sandals on her feet instead of her usual heels. (It's a fae tradition. They're no less stunning, however, glimmering just as brightly as the dress.) Her white hair is styled half up with two loose braids that come together in the back, where a dazzling skull clip connects them.

Even when she has the attention of an awestruck crowd, Lettie only has eyes for Juno. Her pink cheeks say more than words possibly could as she admires her ensemble, gently running her fingers over the butterflies on her chest. Seeing the commitment and attention to detail the pirate put into her own look? Ooooh. Hoo. That does things to her.

"You're so beautiful." Lettie says like they've made a game of trading secrets in front of their guests, so quietly she might as well be mouthing them as a smile forms on her lips.

Their officiant, a fire faerie who had been briefed on Desdemonian traditions beforehand, offers them both their cords so they can begin. (Melvin offered to officiate and they turned him down. Immediately. However, there are two rows of seats reserved for the cubes. Abigail made sure of it. They're little bastards, that's for sure... but in a chaotic and unequivocally fucked up way, they're their little bastards.) Lettie's cord is rainbow and Juno's is black. From what she can recall of their conversation, they have to tell their guests their story and tie knots along the way.

"So... I just sorta fell into Juno's life and nothing's been the same since." Lettie starts with a grin, her eyes flicking between their guests and her lovely wife. Is she doing this right? From there, they go on to tell their story-- how they started at each other's throats. It's such a contrast to how hopelessly love they are now, isn't it? (Centi and Sir Regis can attest to this, much to the shock of those who have only witnessed them in the later stages of their relationship.) Aside from their brief arguement over whether or not Juno tried to kill Lettie with a bomb when they were running from the ice abomination, they're able to look back on those days and laugh now.

"Juno didn't sell me off. Despite all the risks, she chose me over the Duchess." The story takes a serious tone they get to their dinner and subsequent escape from the Duchess's mansion. "My wing was broken, I was in so much pain and we were in so much shit... I thought I was a goner for sure. But Juno refused to leave me behind. She carried me all the way back to the ship." She loops their cords together, tying a firm knot. "Then she healed my wing with her necromancy, even though it nearly took the life out of her." The faerie ties yet another knot, because it's a feat that deserves recognition. "Everything changed after that. I started to see who Juno really is, beyond the face-punching, homicidal pirate I thought I knew." She smiles. "Who knew she could be so loyal, dependable and funny? Not to mention thoughtful! And... um." She blushes a deep red, realizing she's getting carried away. It's not time for their vows. (...Noy yet, anyway.) "Where were we again?"
 
“Mhm, yeah.” Juno isn’t paying attention, to no fault of her own. Her eye is completely glued to Lettie's thigh, tastefully exposed by the slit that runs up the front of her dress. At this point, she's openly devoured her wife a thousand times over in her mind. She's gone so far as to strategize the best way to free her from that silk and lace prison when they finally have their moment alone. She's even considered stealing her away right here, right now, because it is torture to wait. She is just one gay homo pirate. How can she reasonably be expected to function under these conditions? Her fingers itch. Her mouth waters. Heat builds in her loins. "Totally."

Behind them, the skeletons are privately marking tallies on a miniature scoreboard. Inez and Fred are collecting bets measuring how long it will take Captain Juno to realize she's openly undressing her wife. As the seconds tick on molars, phalanges, and jaws are passed around.

It’s Eliza’s pointed cough that causes Juno to blink, then blush deep maroon when she realizes that everyone is staring. (Well, they were technically always staring.) Lettie mouths the word, “Dweeb,” as she lifts up their knotted cords to remind her that they are still very much in the middle of their wedding ceremony. Juno laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as the blush fades, trying to remember where exactly Lettie had been in their story. When she recalls something about the Duchess and herself being more than just a face-punching homicidal pirate, she nods and clears her throat.

“I was pretty much yours after that. And I think you started to figure that out after I made my sacred vow that you thought was a proposal.” Even then, some part of them must have known that their feelings would lead them exactly to this moment, in a deluge of rain with the sunset dipping lower in front of them on their wedding day. Juno continues on to explain the first world they healed, rather than wrecked havoc upon, and how scared they both had been to lose each other to death or dust.

“But no one’s got me like you.” And Lettie proved that time and again, always protecting Juno as much as Juno was protecting her. From tearing up space station abominations to fighting the Duchess herself. Juno looks up at their huddled audience, finally addressing them. "Lette never fuckin' hesitated."

She talks about all the almosts, how torturous it was to know the faerie liked her and still worrying that she didn’t and never would. “I was just some rapscallion from Desdemonia. No name or title, just a pirate. And that’s where my head was at when we got to Avangeline the first time.”

She adds more knots to their cord, fumbling, shoulders shaking as she talks about that day, then that night, and everything that happened afterwards; from her experiments that led her strip of white hair turning into a whole patch, to the research that brought her to the Rainbow Springs on Fabel. (Here, Calytrix winces in sympathy. The little ones lean forward, knowing exactly what Juno’s supposed to relay next.) There's a knot for when Lettie found her, confessed her feelings, and threatened her with a whole light show if the pirate refused to get the message. "Goddess. I was so scared to kiss her." Juno grins as she ties this knot. Thinking back on it, it never should have been so scary. "I’d been wanting it for months, thought about so many scenarios where I’d just do it. Then I went through an entire period of fuckin' mourning thinking it'd never happen, 'cause I fucked up… And when she was basically telling me to go for it, I was so scared I’d fuck up or forget how lips worked.” Her cheeks turn bright pink, like Lettie’s favorite color. “And then Lette kissed me and I was still scared I was fuckin’ up, but she kept kissing me and…”

And everything was right with the worlds. They survived and they have continued to survive. They made it through being separated, Juno losing her necromancy, Lettie getting paired with a new dork-ass necromancer (“Hey!”), a crystal curse, and death herself. "Lette brought me back to life." She lowers her voice to a whisper, tying another knot in their cord, "You saved me."
 
Mission accomplished. Lettie can't help beaming with mischievous satisfaction knowing that she nailed her wedding look. Juno is smitten with her and everyone knows it. Hehe. Though it's not as though she's faring any better, staring at the pirate's hands as they tie more knots in their cord, thinking of all the places she'd like them when they're alone. Her thoughts of what comes later are outright intoxicating and she bites her lip, reminding herself to hold it together. They'll have the ceremony, the reception, and then... excitement sparkles through her body like champagne bubbles.

It's sobering to touch on the most painful parts of their journey. Lettie nods thoughtfully, remembering all too well how it made her feel. Like she was going to fall to pieces alongside all of her plans. However, it doesn't bother her the same way it used to. It's in the past now. Revisiting it now only reminds her how far they've come. They survived all of that and then some. They're still standing in spite of the obstacles they faced, in spite of all the people who thought they could bring them to their knees, and in spite of their own mistakes. It took looking inward, learning what it could be like to be apart fueled that fire in them to fight for a future where they could be together. This future, the one that's getting started right now.

You saved me. Lettie only has eyes for Juno, she's captivated by her. The rain slows to a sprinkle and the setting sun cuts through the clouds, setting her handsome edges aglow in incandescent light. (That's her pirate. Her wife.) This isn't the first time she's said those words to her, but they never lose their meaning. She can still feel their gravity when she speaks them. The rain stops and the water faeries lower their umbrellas. The evening breeze is soft against her skin, sifting through her white hair. The sun illuminates her misty eyes.

Lettie would have never thought she'd go without the usual cosmetic glamours for her wedding day. But here she is. Juno still makes her feel like the loveliest faerie in the universe.

"You saved me, too." Lettie whispers back, her voice tinged with fervor. That's when she summarizes their most recent fights, adding knots as she recalls Juno's promises, how she reassured her that this next visit to Avangeline would be nothing like the first. "She kept her word. She was there for me... wouldn't let me give up on myself. She helped me break my curse, helped me visualize a real future for myself." The faerie goes on to describe how they were faced formidable foes-- whose names she refuses to call any special attention to now-- challenged fate itself and brought hell and the stars to the battlefield. "Then we partied, bringing us full circle to night one."

Lettie grins and throws the rock symbol into the air, pleasing the skeleton crew. Their scoreboard and spare bones go flying as they whoop and holler, throwing their arms over their heads. (Their night one rager was the stuff of legends, what can she say?) The other faeries join in. For them, the party still hasn't stopped. Even now, they're sneaking sips from the flasks they sneaked in. Seeing them all together, it's really no wonder she was able to make herself at home on Lady Vengeance so quickly.

"This isn't exactly what I imagined my wedding would look like when I was a little girl. But it's not like I could have predicted all of this." Lettie gestures to everyone in attendance. A shark. A centipede woman. Skeletons. Faeries, angels and demons. An ex-bathroom ghost confined to a bucket. This coaxes a knowing laugh from everyone in their mix-matched crowd. "I'll be honest. For a while, I couldn't see my future at all. I didn't think I'd get married. Didn't think I'd make it that far by any means. But you believed in me. You saw me, all of me, and you inspired me to keep fighting." She smiles at Juno. She was there to see the highest highs and lowest lows. "I'd been holding up this front for years, wearing glamours and acting like I was hot shit. You were there when those walls came down. You showed me I could be loved for the person I am underneath that mask I constructed to be liked."

It means everything. Lettie clutches tightly onto their cords, tied entirely together. It's their stories and souls entwined. She takes a deep breath in and continues.

"We grew up on entirely different worlds... we couldn't be more different. What we do have in common is that we're both survivors. We fight hard and love harder. We're so much more than the horrors we've lived through." Lettie reaches for Juno's hand. "Captain fucking Juno is a badass. She's strong and brave and has extremely attractive muscles, yes... but that's not all. She's a legend and a friggin' genius who can heal bones, resurrect faerie wings and summon fire." The kids lean forward in their seats, their eyes bright with memories of their hero on Fabel. She grins knowingly when she sees it.

"Her dreaminess is a twenty-four-seven gig and she has the most charming smile I've ever seen. She's an amazing cook. Learned to make the best damned pancakes in the worlds because she knows they're my favorite. She doesn't mind when I take forever to get ready and protects me from messes when I wear my favorite outfits. I love how we can make any task a game when we're together. I can always rely on her to catch me. She knows me inside and out, better than anyone else... and she makes it no secret that she loves me. All of me. Even the parts I used to hide away." Lettie grins, bringing her wife's knuckles to her lips. "I love you so much, Juno. I want to hang out with you forever."
 
Lettie's dress sparkles like lake water dancing in the afternoon sun. The last bits of light catch on the mists sprinkling around them, projecting miniature rainbows over the gayly married. It casts a heavenly glow over the faerie, complemented by the last rays of daylight streaming in between the bone arches. The flowers that cling to the wedding fane croon towards them, twisting, and sashaying their petals as if trying to encourage the couple (Juno) to continue.

But the pirate struggles to swallow the lump in her throat, sniffling as tears well in her eyes and her lower lip trembles. Never before did she think that a love like this would ever be possible and now she’s floating on clouds and has been since the faerie first kissed her. (And maybe even before that.) Her body tenses, trying to stifle her bubbling emotion before it boils over and she becomes a mess who’s unable to speak her vows.

She’s never rushed, even as the silence turns to quiet sobs. No one says anything. And despite all of the eyes on her and the usual shame she’d feel, exposing herself in front of so many, the only person who matters is the woman right in front of her and she loves her soft teddy bear pirate. Lettie reaches up to catch her tears with the pad of her thumb, gently lifting her eye patch to clear away the blocked up stream. Lettie’s thumb then slides down the pirate’s scar before she cups her jaw, asking without words if she’s okay. Juno nods, doing her best to pull herself together, even if she knows she has all the time in the worlds. They fought for it, after all.

Juno tilts her head back and pinches the bridge of her nose like she’s plugging up her tears. It half works and she offers everyone a wobbly smile, before staring into the depths of Lettie’s dreamy eyes. “I just love you so damn much. I never thought I’d ever be able to have a love like ours. I told Eliza once that I’d never be that soft and look at me now, just some soft pirate for a badass faerie.” She hiccups, grinning, and reaches for Lettie’s hands. “I know it took me forever to learn your name, but I’ll spend the rest of my life memorizing every inch of you until you’re the sharpest image in my mind.” This isn’t to say that Lettie isn’t already, and they both know that. Everyone present probably knows that. “I’m not just talking about your favorite things or other superficial bull. I’m gonna know and memorize the depths and corners of you, because every damn time I’ve paid attention to you, I’m fuckin’ floored. You’re so damn smart, probably the smartest person in the worlds, and kind in spite of everything survival made you. You’re tough as nails, a real badass and Desdemonian at heart. Shit, you’re the realest person I know.” She lifts Lettie’s hands and kisses the knuckles of one hand and the palm of the other. These are the hands that have held her and protected her. There isn’t a safer pair in all the worlds. “Olette Lycoris Radiata, you are my heart. You don’t just have it, it’s you.

“And for as long as we’re alive, I’m gonna protect the shit out of you and I know you’re gonna protect the shit out of me, because that’s what we do. I got you, you got me.” Strange to think how those three words were their first declarations of love, even if neither of them would have conceptualized it that way back then. They were still doing backflips to avoid what they were feeling, too scared to watch all their hopes come crashing down. “We’ve got each other.

“You taught me what it means to live. Even while we were out there, jumping across the worlds, and just trying to survive an impossible mission, you taught me that the most important part of survival is living, dreaming, and having hope for a future where survival isn’t the day-in, day-out bullshit. I’m gonna keep living for you and with you. We’re gonna hang out for so damn long.”

Juno can’t help herself at that point, overwhelmed and intoxicated on something more powerful than alcohol, she grabs Lettie's waist, tugs her forward, and captures her wife’s lips to the applause of their audience. As much as she wants to take things further, as much as her hands are itching to explore, she restrains herself, reminding herself that they have tonight. (And those oils.) She pulls away grinning, oblivious to the double rainbow arcing over their wedding ceremony. (The skellies’ scoreboard disintegrates in Fred’s hands, unable to tabulate any further who is the gayest of gay. The goddess has spoken. They both are unequivocally the gayest of gays.) “I love you.”

Before they can go any further off script, their wedding officiant politely coughs, commanding their attention. Both of them light up bright red, as if they'd forgotten they had an audience at all. “The cord, if you will.”

Once she’s handed the cord, the fire faerie instructs the lovers to stand. (Around them, the audience rises and shuffles in closer for a better view. The little Fabel children wriggle through the leg forest, making their way to the front, even if the kissing stuff is kinda gross.) Lettie and Juno turn to face each other and clasp each other’s forearm. The adjoined cord is then wrapped around and woven between their arms. Their officiant steps back, traces an orange glyph and casts it over their arms with a finger gun. "Pew."

Their cord lights with fire, never once hurting them, and it burns until it’s ash, leaving the faintest pink marks over their arms. The fire faerie grins and claps her hands together, pointedly looking at the homo pirate. “Now you can kiss the bride.”

“Lay it on her sloppy, Cap’m!" Inez hollers. "I got bones to win.”

***
​
Approximately seven hundred years later, by Juno’s conservative estimate, they are released from the hell that is taking post ceremony wedding photos and are allowed to rejoin the rest of their loved ones at the outdoor reception. (It’s a good thing Lettie had the forethought to pack those orange peanut butter disks that she likes so much. Juno was starting to get irritable in a face-punchy way towards the end.) By the time they arrive, their loved ones have gathered into knots and converse amongst each other as they pick at the hovering platters of finger foods. (A concept Lettie had to gently explain to the necromancer the second she recognized Juno’s mind going to a much darker place than necessary.) The skeletons have already taken over the bar, along with the faeries. Juno watches as the faeries get beneath the skeletons to catch the cascading alcohol that splashes through their rib cages. She rolls her eyes with a smile, nudging Lettie. “Even your sisters are fuckin’ boneheads.”

The reception is held on the plateau above Ripr’s Ravine. It’s barren, mostly, and reflects a world still healing. Wiry bushes push through the surface, offering some sprinkle of green, but it wasn’t the landscape that drew them to this location. While the skies are just starting to darken, hundreds of stars already twinkle above them and by nightfall, the sky will be full of them, cosmic clouds, and the phantom lights that now wave over the goddess’s temple. Until then, the necromancers built a series of bone arches to cover the reception area while the faeries, angels, and demons helped string lights across them to create the effect of a canopy.

Three long tables made from slabs of fallen trees are spaced evenly underneath the archway. The wood is left exposed to go for a more rustic look—not that it really matters with all the platters of food that cover them, barely leaving room for the table settings. Though preserved and kept fresh under the magicked silver domes, the smell of roasted meats and other delicacies waft from under the covers and fill the air. Juno's stomach growls. ‘Food…’ Suffice to say the orange disks are only doing so much to tide the pirate over.

She doesn’t even make it three steps towards their seats before the children of Fabel take note of their heroes' return and stampede towards them, using their heads as battering rams against their knees. Juno stumbles back a few steps, throwing her arm out for Lettie to grab, should she need it. “Oi, watch her dress, you little sh—”

Lettie squeezes her arm and gives her a look, barely suppressing her cheek-puff.

“—shheeps.” Yeah. That sounds natural and right. This also causes the children to burst into fits of giggles and acts as an invitation for them to practice their sheep impersonations. (Something that Juno will only come to regret when it’s hour three of small tiny children pretending to be sheep.) Their herd of bleating sheep (children) draws the attention of their loved ones. They pause their conversation and crowd the newly weds, offering congratulations and tearily expressing their favorite parts of their story. Not before long, Juno and Lettie both are handed pitchers of something alcoholic—something that Inez calls her "secret party potion"—and the crowd eagerly chants for them to down it.

Inez, knowing exactly how to goad them, adds, "Whoever finishes first will win the title of 'Queen of Fun.'"
 
"I'd have thought your skeletons were all faeries... you know, if faeries left skeletons behind." Lettie laughs heartily, thinking back to how they all rallied that first night. "I knew I liked them from the very beginning." She wouldn't be surprised if she'd been on the floor doing just the same thing. The memories are a bit fuzzy... like, she still has no clue why she woke in her underwear the next day. That set was damn cute, too. One of those things that just gets lots amidst the adventure, she guesses. Oh well. It's got nothing on the set she's planning on wearing tonight. Although if the way Juno was staring at her during the ceremony was any indicator, she won't be in it for long. Hehe. There will be quite a bit of ribbon to untie.

The faerie briefly loses herself in thought as she peers over the rest of the party, cast in a celestial glow from the twinkling lights above them. Having seen a lot of these people last gathered on a battlefield of some kind, it's a comfort to see everyone safe and enjoying themselves. Sir Regis is playing cards with Calytrix, Centi has made a game of guessing all of the faeries 'soul bugs' (often getting them completely wrong), and Eliza and mother are off to the side chatting. (Lettie has caught them looking their way more than once.) Thad and Ainsley are about to kiss. "Oh my stars." The faerie blushes a deep red and covers her eyes like she's in kindergarten again when an avalanche of children slams into them.

Thankfully, Juno's got her. When Lettie reaches out she's there, steadying her before she can lose her balance. Before long, they're swarmed by sheep and guests alike. Many of them tell her to soak it all in, to pause every now and again to take all this in. A very nice sentiment, don't get her wrong, but it does get redundant after hearing it the first few hundred times. Especially when she's already been giving herself those moments. She and Juno both know how precious this time is. It could be rare to snatch those moments between their adventures.

"Oh, you. You're trying to get us drunk before our first dance." Lettie accuses Inez when she offers her the secret party potion. There's got to be another bet going on right now. Inez presses a hand to her chest, as if to say 'who, me?' The faerie puts her foot down, handing her pitcher back and crossing her arms. She will not succumb to peer pressure. Not this time! Nope. "We'll share Juno's. The competition will start after we've had our first dance." Moreover, it's urgent that she changes into her reception dress first. She's not going to risk spilling anything on her wedding gown. The wedding gown. She offers Juno her pinkie to seal it. "Deal?"

***​

It was the right call to wait. Half a pitcher of secret party potion is enough to leave the two of them buzzed-- not full on wasted. As they sit to dine, their family and friends make their heartfelt toasts. (Ravan cries halfway through his.) When Eliza finishes her toast, it's Juno who's crying. (Thankfully, Lettie brought emergency tissues in her pockets. Yes, the dress has pockets. It's the dress.) From there, they're able to feast with their guests, ensuring that they don't drink on empty stomachs later, and then proceed to their first dance. The kids (sheep) all sit in a line up front to make sure they can see.

Juno's dancing skills surprise a vast majority of their guests-- just as they'd surprised Lettie, once upon a time. They oooh and aaah (and baah) as the pirate dips and twirls the faerie around like a princess. While dancing together been magical the very first time, she can fully appreciate the experience now as they do so without a time limit ticking down on her wrist. Doubt no longer clouds either of their minds. They're in love, unashamedly, and there's no question that they want to keep hanging out for the rest of their lives. She can look Juno in the eye without wondering whether or not she holds a place in her heart. Whenever they pull in close together, they whisper inside jokes. The last time it happens she tells her she loves her.

They grin knowingly at each other as the music picks up. Thanks to their height difference, they're able to pull off elaborate lifts and flips that dazzle the whole crowd. Lettie doesn't even need to flap her wings to fly as her wife lifts her up in the air and spins her around. Towards the end of their dance, Juno gives Lettie a skeptical look. During their practices, the faerie insisted that she throw her as high as she can in the air without explaining why. She bops her gently on the nose, nodding encouragingly. "Do it, Juju. Trust me!"

When Lettie's up in the air, she flutters her wings to keep herself there. The butterflies on her gown spring to life one by one, flying circles around her as they dissolve into a diamond dust. Her dress completely changes shape, becoming a shorter and slightly more casual version of its past form. She lets herself glide right back down to Juno, looping her arms around her shoulders and nuzzling in against her chest. That's the way to do a dramatic outfit change. Now she's officially dressed to party.

"Hand me that pitcher, Inez! I've got a crown to win." Lettie grins mischievously as the raver music starts bumping.
 
Lettie is going to win. Maybe that should have been obvious from the start. Maybe the pirate never should have even tried to compete with the fucking faerie—especially after watching her down her pitcher in a single go, not stopping once for even a breath or break—but what would their wedding be without their classic antics and competitions? The competitions won tonight, after all, will set the tone for the rest of their married life together and Juno will be damned before she gives Lettie an easy victory. So in spite of the foregone outcome of this, she’s leaned into what her wife has taught her about fun. From push-up contests with sheep stacked on her back to the performance she put on removing Lettie’s garter with her teeth, she’s done everything to pull ahead. And it has worked, but only for minutes at a time. Her wife always comes back with a counter strike that doubles, triples, quadruples her points and leaves Juno in the dust. She makes it look easy, like she was born for to have fun, and Juno gets to spend the rest of her life with her. She couldn't be happier.

The night is just starting to wind down. Most of the sheep have passed out underneath the tables though a few insist on staying up so as to not miss a single ounce of the action. Though, the later it gets, the more difficult it becomes for them to keep their eyes open. A couple of the remaining ones start to lull at the edge of the dance floor. One little girl with blue hair has completely passed out on her half-eaten piece of chocolate cake. It doesn't matter that music is still pumping into the night air, these sheep are exhausted and well past their limits. Not even a sugar rush could revive them (and goddess knows they've had way too much as it is).

On the dance floor, faeries and skeletons still bang their heads with no signs of stopping. They take shots, chug space beers, and cheer for each other as if the party is only just getting started. It's a stark contrast to the angels, demons, and humans who have started to slow down. Several of the established couples, like Marta and Delaney, are slow dancing to the raver music—Thaddeus and Ainsley too. (They're about to kiss. Again.) Eliza is getting surprisingly cozy with one of the demons who helped them rescue Lettie. Mauve is embarrassing herself in front of one of the faeries who tried to burn down the estate—though the faerie seems charmed by Mauve's awkward efforts to impress her. She even takes her nervous hands and pulls her into the thick of the dance floor. If the stars weren't shining so bright, Mauve's face might have become their source of light for the minutes it remains beet red.

When Juno's eye finally finds her wife, her cheeks warm and her heart swells. She can still feel her lips on hers (and on her), reminiscing on the single moment they found to escape from their own wedding receptions to make out in private. (Some things never change.) If she concentrates hard enough, she can still taste the cherry coating Lettie added just for her. Right now, Lettie whispering something into Calytrix's ear. The sparks of mischief in her cool eyes are visible even from across the dance floor and when Lettie catches her staring, she winks and wiggles her fingers under her chin.

‘Fuck. Should I be worried?’ The obvious answer to that question is, yes. This is the fucking faerie, but even that knowledge fails to spur the pirate to action. She sighs, dopey grinned as she sips her drink and watches for a few more minutes. (Or at least for as long as the solace will last. It’s her first moment alone since the wedding started and she intends to savor it.) For the first time in forever, Juno is relaxed and free of worry. No steward will attack them. No guardian will rise from the depths of the ravine to swallow them. No cube is going to whisk them away. It’s just them and their family. She can pause. She can enjoy it.

Once she’s had her minute, she makes way across the dance floor, weaving and dancing between the skeletons and faeries to make it over to her wife. When she reaches her, she immediately wraps an arm around Lettie’s waist and pulls her flush against her. “Sorry not sorry to steal her from you,” she says to Calytrix, “but she is my wife.”

“Of course not,” she grins, then turns her attention to Lettie. “I’ll just,” she makes some vague, semi-worrying hand gestures, “until you’re ready.”

Juno narrows her eyes as the other faerie slinks into the crowd and joins Phillip for a dance. ‘Should I be worried?’ The question repeats itself in her head, but she decides to not fret over it and instead finds a distraction in Lettie, swaying gently with her while Inez and Barbara with a B engage in the worlds’ worst rap battle on stage. (“The name’s Barbara with a B, don’t you dare mess me. Your name is Inez, you’re gonna put us to bedz.”)

“We should kick them off stage.” Juno mumbles into Lettie’s hair. “And get the gifts. I’m about ready to, ah…” Now it’s her face that turns beet red and brightens the dance floor. “Take care of my wife. With the oils.”
 
"Barbara with a B, I'm gonna spill the tea. Your skull's lopsided and I was knighted. That's right, I'm a knight! You wanna fight?" Inez shakes her hips threateningly and shimmies her skull to the left and right. "Snooze through my tunes and you'll have the blues. I'm gonna drink the rest of the booze!" She turns around to discover Fred sneaking off with her secret stash of space beers. "Fred, you goon!"

This is bad. Like, really bad. They ought to kick them off the stage... but how can Lettie be expected to worry about that when she's a bit preoccupied with Juno's second suggestion? Just a bit. (...Or a lot.) Her sparkly cheeks light up like the stars in the night sky above them and she bites down on her lower lip. It still tastes faintly of cherries, transporting her to those fleeting moments they stole alone before. Her wife's dreamy muscled arms wrapped around her middle, the heat of her breath against her neck, the feel of that slicked back hair underneath her fingertips. (She'd resisted the temptation to muss it up again, knowing that they'd get to that... eventually.) As sweet as those make out seshes had been, they'd all been previews of something sweeter yet to come.

All this waiting has been driving her nuts. Lettie almost lost her cool when Juno removed her garter with her teeth. It'd flooded her mind with all the other garments she might be able to remove with her teeth, and...

Whew, stars. Is it just her or is it getting hot in here? It's not like this is going to be their first time or anything! But there's still something about it... whether it be the electricity in the air, the romance of the evening, that they're dressed to the nines or the fact that they've professed their love for each other in front of all these people. Maybe it's the way Juno's voice sounds when she calls her her wife. It has the little faerie desiring her more than ever. They've waited patiently enough, haven't they?

"Psh. It's our wedding night! Someone else can kick them off the stage." Lettie has her priorities in order. (Namely that pleasuring her wife comes first.) She seizes Juno's hand and leads her over to the gift table. When she finds the ones she's looking for, the ones with the oils, she gazes up at Juno through her eyelashes and grins. She kisses her hand and then peppers them up her muscled arm. "Let's take care of each other, shall we?"

***​

It could be said that these two are certified experts at taking care of each other by now. The months-- years-- of gay science pay off when they consummate their marriage. In the same way they know how to push each other's buttons, they also know exactly where to kiss and touch to please each other. They know each other better than ever and still never lose that spark of curiosity to learn more, to know each other better than they did before. Lettie can feel it in the slow and careful way Juno savors each touch, tracing the shape of her ears and the scars on her back, committing every detail to memory. She used to shiver when she kissed the places she once thought herself flawed. Not anymore. The faerie still shivers, but now it's for less, ah... introspective reasons.

Juno says her name like it's a sacred vow, like she's never going to forget it. Lettie unravels, showing herself without fear. She's never felt safer than she has in their bed. For a time, she thought she'd never know a love so gentle and true. (And exciting.)

The addition of the oils and the vampire fangs they'd been gifted certainly introduces some uncharted territory for them to explore. For instance, Lettie learns that Juno is indeed capable of untying a corset with her teeth when she's determined enough. Of course, she loses patience about halfway through and goes about untying the rest with her fingers. Then it becomes a competition to see whether or not she can get her out of the corset faster than she'd been able to put it on in the first place. Juno wins that one... Lettie doesn't mind much when she gets to work covering that newly exposed skin with kisses.

And at last, Lettie gets around to messing up Juno's hair.

***​

"Mm." Lettie wakes with a soft, relaxed sigh. How long has it been since she last felt this rested? Any sense of tightness that might have remained in her body in the aftermath of their mission officially unraveled after the night they shared. It was... magical. It was love. There's nowhere she needs to be except for right here in bed next to her wife. (Her wife.) She opens her eyes and smiles when she sees Juno, illuminated by the morning light, squinting back at her. "Hey you." She giggles at the sight of her tousled hair and affectionately runs her fingers through it. "How'd you sleep?"

They spend the remainder of their morning whispering sweet nothings and cuddling in bed... which later leads into a few other fun activities. They go on to take a shower and eventually end up sitting on the floor with a plate of freshly cut orange slices between them.

"So..." Lettie starts after she swallows her most recent bite. "I've been thinking about our sugar getaway. There's a fuck ton of worlds to choose from and we're used to the spontaneity at this point... should we just, like, throw a dart at a map and see where it lands? Draw one at random? Or..." She picks up an orange slice, which she holds up for Juno to take into her mouth. "Do you have one in mind already? Anywhere you'd like to revisit?" She tilts her head to the side, genuinely interested to know her wife's thoughts. "Maybe someplace you're curious about?"
 
As Juno sips on her fourth cup of coffee, she swears she can hear the bugs that live isnide Lettie. They are so happy to day. (Maybe it’s time to put down the coffee?) The pirate squishes her cheek against her propped up palm as she thinks over her wife’s questions. She then leans forward to take the orange slice into her mouth, playfully licking the tips of Lettie's fingers as she does so. She grins when she’s rewarded with her wife’s stuttered breath and dusty pink cheeks. Teasing her will never get old.

“Yeah, I got some ideas.” She pulls the peel of the orange from her mouth and flings it into the trash can. Swish. (So far she’s only missed twice.) “I want to see Caelum again.” Sir Regis’s home world, that is. “He said he got our names cleared with the forest guardian and apologized to Old Humperdinck on my behalf.”

***​

To be perfectly honest, her desire to return to Caelum has little to do with her own curiosity. This isn’t to say the world doesn’t interest her—it is the first one where she discovered that the skies really could be blue. (And the skies that day were as blue as Lettie’s hair the day they first met. It’s impossible to forget and now that shade and those skies hold a particular place in the pirate’s heart.) But it’s less about revisiting the place where she first experienced one of her top favorite colors and more about wanting to see Lettie fly with the fish.

Lettie’s wonderstruck look when she first saw the whales swimming past their airship is forever burned in Juno’s memory. (It’s her favorite wanted poster picture, even if Lettie hates it because she still had a black eye from being dropped on the ship deck.) And if there is one thing that Juno wishes for during their sugar getaway, it’s that she gets to see her favorite color, Lettie’s happiness, everywhere they go.

So Caelum seems like the logical place to start.

…Or perhaps it would have been. They manage a solid five hours of innocent shenanigans and forest foraging before they get into trouble—a personal best by their standards. It starts with a parking ticket, followed by an obstruction of traffic citation, followed by “the unlawful failure to alert the local government of the saviors’ arrival.” From there, the charges get more inane or otherwise nonsensical. It takes everything in the newly weds to not outright laugh at the angler fish officer as he writes citation after citation. He complains under his breath about the paperwork nightmare headache they’re giving him. Juno doesn’t help the situation by pointing out he could just ignore the rules. This earns them both a “bribery” charge and a “attempt at resisting citations” charge.

But all in all, the citations aren’t even that bad. They’ve faced worse. After the officer leaves, having practically covered Lady in tickets, the pair of them laugh and jokingly blame the other for the trouble they’ve got themselves in on their sugar getaway. It doesn’t stop the shenanigans from continuing. (Or the tickets.) Not too soon after Officer Lumos leaves, Lettie challenges Juno to a race. And Juno, being a good and faithful wife, humbly accepts. “You’re going down, punk. You’re gonna be eating my bubbles for your next six meals, baby.”

While Juno is confident that her noble steed, Sir Regis, can outfly the little faerie, the necromancer forgets that her wings have some ghostly upgrades. Juno knows she’s lost when Lettie morphs them into powerful dragon’s wings and leaves her behind in a trail of raver bubbles. (Little shit.) By the time Juno and Sir Regis catch up to her at the finish line, she’s laying languidly on a grassy knoll as she inspects her nails. She doesn’t even look when Juno hops off of Sir Regis, but Juno can hear her shit eating grin when she asks, “How were my bubbles, Juju? Tasty?”

That starts them on a whole new activity of play wrestling until they’re rolling and tumbling down the knoll in a fit of giggles. They arrive at the bottom in a familiar heap, Lettie on top of Juno. This time around, there’s no rush to peel or push themselves off of each other and they just laugh until tears are streaming down their cheeks. Neither of them can say what they’re even laughing about. They’re just a nerd and a dweeb having fun.

That is until the flying fish bitches arrive.

“Oh, look at that little bug.”

“Doesn’t she look like a creepy little fly crawling over our dinner?”

As if it isn’t bad enough that Caelum has mermaids, they also fly and they’re still bitches. Juno sucks in a deep breath before she sets her wife gently to the side. “I got you.” She kisses Lettie’s head and before she can protest, stuffs her ears with cotton. She then grabs the nearest bitch’s tail and slams her into the ground. “Only I get to call her bug, ‘cause when I do it it’s fuckin’ cute!” She knocks out the first bitch with a single punch square to her jaw. The remaining two go down just as easily.

Before the brigade of officers can arrive, QB exasperatedly blips them off of Caelum. Wherever they end up next, Juno doesn’t know. She only knows that once the cube’s light fades, they’re back in their bedroom. Before Lettie can even feel sorry that their sugar getaway started off with a fight, Juno first assures her that she’s okay and then points out that, “knocking around some skulls is fuckin’ nothing for a couple of badasses like us. I’ll always punch a mermaid or weird chicken for you. Sugar getaway or not. I’ve got you. Always. It's not fighting if it's for you. Just defending my wife's honor.

“And, honestly. Fuck QB. This is that bastard’s fault.” Since they’re far past the era where they blame each other for every minor inconvenience and major snafu, it makes sense to redirect that energy towards the little six-sided bastard. “He’s a little freak who’s studied us. Like, he recorded us sleeping.” Juno shivers, not wanting to even entertain what other footage he might have. “He knows better than to let us go to some mermaid hellscape. Didn't even fuckin' warn us that those ones can fly.” She shakes her head. "The next place we go should have no mermaids; no one who's gonna aggravate us in general. And it should have, um, hot springs! With, like, the best massages in the worlds. Somewhere we can really relax, you know? What do you think, Letts?"
 
"If you need to chill out, Captain, then allow me to suggest..." The cube interrupts, beaming them off abruptly, and Lettie braces herself for trouble. Sure enough, when the blinding light fades she feels a familiar cold digging to the marrow of her bones and as she peeks through her fingers, she finds they're on the ice encased world where their travels truly began. Uh oh. "Mount Penguin. Enjoy." While the cube has the foresight to supply them with winter clothes this time, it makes great haste in blipping away to escape any wrath it might (rightfully) incur for these transgressions.

"No one asked you, Cubey! Geez." Lettie huffs at the space the cube once occupied, punching into the snow at her sides. It's powdery, spraying outward in clouds of glacial sparkles. When she looks down, she's distracted by the adorable gloves she's wearing, dotted with embroidered pink skulls with little hearts for eyes. "Oh. At least these gloves are cute..." Snap out of it, Letts! She squints. "What's up with the name Mount Penguin anyway? I don't remember seeing any penguins. Just some angry snow abominations." She grins at the memories. "And an even angrier pirate with stupidly buff muscles." Then she puffs her cheeks. Yep, here it comes. "...Who threw a bomb at me!"

Juno, of course, sticks to the argument that she was trying to save her. Lettie's not sure who tackles who first-- but at some point, they end up rolling around in the snow. As fun as it is to, ah, playfully wrestle each other like this, they both quickly come to the conclusion that it's too damn cold for this. "It's fucking cold." Juno says and Lettie agrees with her. They stand, brush the snow from their clothes, and the faerie casually hitches a ride on her wife's back. While she could just as easily fly to save herself from waddling through the waist-deep snow (she's short, okay?), it's so much warmer when they're pressed up against each other. It's all about that sweet, sweet body warmth! And maybe some stupidly buff muscles. Broad shoulders... whew. Lettie's gay and she's heating up at a record breaking pace.

Lettie makes sure that Juno is taken care of in return. Once her fingers thaw, it becomes her mission to give her the best massage that ever was. (Damn. The delightful noises her wife makes has her wanting to explore the skin hidden beneath that pesky jacket... if they weren't at risk of literally freezing to death, she'd have tried.) Instead, she proceeds to press soft kisses to her neck and earlobes to thank her for carrying her, taking satisfaction in the way that her rosy skin turns rosier under her touch.

By the time the sky turns pink, casting a romantic glow over the sparkling snow, they come upon a lantern lit village with cobblestone streets and adorable snow-capped cottages. It's surprisingly quaint, though it simultaneously reminds them of the other experience they had on this world. The one they speak of less for how horrific it was. Mammy. Lettie bites her lip, scoping the place out skeptically. Eventually, she realizes she doesn't sense any weird fairytale magic at work. The wives exchange a wary glance and decide to approach with caution.

It turns out there's nothing particularly sketchy about this place. It is strange, though. Like, there are indeed talking penguins-- but they end up being super hospitable and friendly? When they inform them that they're on their sugar getaway (Lettie quietly peeks out from behind Juno and mouthes 'honey moon') they're told that they can rent out one of the cottages in their village free of charge. Figuring it's late and they have nowhere else to go until the cube returns, they decide to give it a try.

It's nice. They cook dinner together in the kitchen. Or, rather... Juno does the cooking. Lettie makes a game of hiding the ingredients like the little shit she is, only giving them back in exchange for kisses. Once they've finished their dinner they rest by the fireplace in the bedroom and promptly get to business after pining for each other all afternoon. Afterwards they enjoy the hot tub in the backyard beneath the stars. Though they're both exhausted once they get back into bed, they end up talking the rest of the night-- about how this is exactly the kind of life they want except for the fact that they don't want it to be cold all the damned time. It's abundantly clear that they have the capacity to keep each other warm... but forever winter is definitely not their thing. A sometimes winter is more their speed.

When Juno finally falls asleep, Lettie sneaks out of bed to put the finishing touches on her gift. When she notices the sun creeping through the curtains, she hides her project, sneaks back into bed and snuggles in close to her wife.

When Lettie's out, she's out. She sleeps in late the next morning and while her favorite thing is to wake up next to her wife, she'd consider waking to the smell of her pancakes a close second. Juno even brings them to her on a tray so she doesn't have to leave the warmth of her blanket cocoon.

"I love you." Lettie sighs out after the first delicious bite melts in her mouth. She takes another bite, and another, and once she's had her fill she leans back contentedly. "Mm. I have something for you! I needed a little extra time for the finishing touches, since... well. You'll see!" The faerie has to work up the courage to leave the comfort of the covers and peel herself out of bed to fetch the wedding gift she prepared.

"It's a photo album." Lettie explains, finding that she's starting to feel nervous when Juno opens it. (...She hopes she likes it.) Naturally, the pages display their many wanted posters and photos-- but she also took the extra care to write in the dates that she could remember, paste snippets of her relevant journal entries and songs alongside them. She even included the scrap of paper containing the signatures of their contract-- Lettie's cursive next to Juno's pissed off chicken scratch. She included candy wrappers and even some pressed flowers from the night they spent exploring a forest under the stars, drunkenly raising their insect army in the process.

The most recent pages include cut up news articles from Avangeline about their concert and the way they'd liberated the faeries and took over the streets. There are the recent additions-- pictures from their wedding night (pictures she'd been waiting on!) as well as the program and other favors. She also made sure to include some of the pictures she got from their recent adventures on Caelum, as well as a few of the tickets they got. They burst into laughter again thinking about all of those citations.

"The cubes can definitely be creepy... but they did have a bunch of cute pics to lend me for this." The last page she worked on includes pictures from their day yesterday. There's a picture of Juno cooking dinner, another of them cuddled by the fireplace and one of the stars. Lettie wrote in a caption that reads 'Cubey blipped us to Mount Penguin of all places, but we made the most of it. Look at how cute Juju is when she cooks!' It should be noted that this is not the last page of the album, though. Not by any means. Lettie presents Juno with another box-- this one including a camera and some scrapbook supplies.

"I thought we could keep working on it together." Lettie shrugs her shoulders, wearing a sheepish smile. "What do you think?"
 
Juno loves the wedding gift from her wife. It ranks among her favorites, if not the fucking favorite. She traces her fingers over the pages, careful to not get her fingerprints on any of the photographs. It’s a binder full of their memories and the blank spaces in the back promise more to come.

She flips through the pages, smiling or rolling her eyes; usually both. ‘How many damn times did she turn me and my crew pink?’ Annoying as that had been back then, she sniffs now, eyes watering as she closes the scrapbook and leans forward to kiss her wife. (Her lips taste like maple syrup and pancakes.)

“It’s perfect.” She punctuates this by kissing her favorite freckle, then the rest, because she never wants any of them to feel left out. One arm winds around Lettie’s waist while the other pulls her legs around her middle. “But I thought you were calling Cubey, Q-B this entire time.”

***​

Juno waffles on whether or not to present her own gift to Lettie. But when she considers what it is and how it might be better saved for their cottage, it seems the better idea to wait. She mentions this as they’re toweling off from their shower, promising it will be well worth the wait. (Not that she thinks Lettie would doubt her.) To make up for the lack of gift now, she, uh, offers a few placeholders instead.

Needless to say, Lettie is more than satisfied with this compromise. After they finally untangle from each other and take yet another shower, the cube is less than pleased with their tardiness. He huffs and claims that he has important affairs to attend to himself and can’t be kept waiting on them; that he can’t be expected to be at their beck and call. Lettie and Juno exchange one look before they flip him off.

Cubey responds with a blip!

Surprisingly, he doesn’t take his frustrations out on them. In a rare show of thoughtfulness, he takes them to Strawberry Coast where the sands are as pink as Lettie’s hair and the water is the clearest blue that Juno has ever seen. It’s so clear, it glitters like diamonds. Every hour is golden hour. There’s not a fish bitch in sight. It’s a sample of paradise.

Juno spends most of the day observing Lettie through the lens of her new camera, snapping pictures of all her good angles. (Which is all of them, to be clear.) Her wife teaches her how to build castles out of sand. She shows her tide pools and how to hunt for sand crabs. (Juno goes for a rather impressive looking one and yelps when the little guy turns out to be as big as her palm, dropping him carelessly back into the sand. He burrows immediately, escaping the intimidatingly buff homo pirate.) When they stumble across some seashells—rather angry looking ones at that—they hesitate before reaching for them, somewhat recalling their first drunk experience together. “The fuck are ‘crimes against seashells’ anyway?”

Lettie shrugs, at a complete loss and they decide to leave them alone. Fun as it is to run from the authorities, neither of them are in the mood to ruin their perfect day. They walk hand in hand along the shore, playing games of imagining what their life could be like here.

It’s sunset when the waterworks start. Juno doesn’t know exactly what causes them. At this point, she’s sitting on the beach, going through their sea glass collection, while Lettie searches for more. Every now and then she’ll steal a glance of her wife and her heart will swell just watching her. Lettie isn’t even doing anything in particular. She just tucks a loose strand of hair behind her pointed ear and Juno’s eyes start to well with tears. And, as if sensing this cosmic disturbance, Lettie turns around not even a second later. The moment she recognizes that Juno’s shoulders are shaking, she drops what she’s doing and glides over to her pirate, landing right in front of her with her thumb ready to collect Juno’s tears.

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” the pirate insists and, for once, not even out of stubbornness. “I’m just… happy.”

***​

After Strawberry Coast, they continue their sugar getaway and exploration of the worlds in search of the perfect one for their new home and fresh start. Strawberry Coast does make the short list and is one they circle back to each night as they talk about their dreams.

While other worlds might be pretty, they still fall short. Some, for example, are too grassy and stain all of their clothes. (To be fair to Grünfeld, it may or may not be their own fault for tackling each other every six seconds.) Another is full of hills that exhaust and put aches in Juno’s thighs. More so when Lettie decides to hitch a ride on her wife’s back, though she never complains. She likes the feel of her wife pressed comfortably against her. Though the views on Bird’s Eye are spectacular, the pirate considers how her body might age. (Something she never thought to consider before, but as the reality of their new life settles and takes root in the Desdemonian’s mind, she starts to think in the long term.) “I’m strong now and I hope I always will be, but I think we should be safe.”

Then there are the flat out dangerous worlds, like Dominia. Lettie cringes and winces each time Juno hops between the lava pits or leaps onto a floating rock—the very ones they know are liable to shake and fall out from under them. Cubey then “accidentally” sends them to a world that rains glass. Sideways. He gets an earful that night from the wives and the magistrate. From there on, he only sends them to magistrate approved worlds. Mystique comes in to deny any world with mermaids, helping them avoid any undue trouble.

On one of the last worlds they visit, it has a sky full of giant floating skulls that spill water from their eye sockets. The water flows into various lakes and rivers, most of which also float. When they discover that the floating rivers will carry them despite having no bottom, they spend the day wading through them, pointing out various spots that might be good for their cottage. Then they happen upon a city and discover that this is the goth world that put Lettie on trial for “frivolous use of the color pink” or something to that effect. Not only that, but it’s Skullville. Thaddeus’s home world. That alone is enough for them to summon the cube and request immediate relocation.

blip!

When the cube’s light dissipates they find themselves on a world with lilac colored skies. Sprays from the floating cotton candy waterfalls lightly mist over them from above. It even smells as sweet. Juno, however, waits for her wife’s okay before she opens her mouth to taste it. Blue raspberry. They trawl through a forest full of pink and purple trees and Juno jokes about the time she almost died from attempting to lick one. She even playfully sticks out her tongue and feigns like she’s going to make that same mistake. Lettie tackles her, as she had last time, pinning the pirate down to the forest floor. The wind sifts through her long tresses, combing through them. Birds fly behind her, courting each other. Backlit by the rays of sun, she looks like heaven. Juno’s swallows, helpless. “I love you.”

Eventually they make their way through the forest and stumble into a village. Neither Juno or Lettie place where they are until Lilian, the blue haired little girl, crashes into their legs and throws her arms around them. “You came! You came! Yay!!” She hops back from them and stamps her feet excitedly. Before either of them can respond, she dashes off and, soon, all of Nightwood Village is welcoming them. Praise and congratulations come from all directions, overwhelming the pirate at first, but Lettie is right there next to her. She squeezes her hand and Juno knows she’s okay.

Once the initial commotion settles, they’re offered lodging at the inn. The innkeeper starts to say that they’ll be in the “honeymoon suite,” and Lettie hurriedly interrupts, ensuring Juno never learns the true phrase for sugar getaway. As they’re eating dinner at the inn, the village children politely join them, each one of them fighting for their heroes’ attention. While Lettie makes a game of changing the kids’ hair colors, one of them sidles up next to Juno and asks, “Do you hafta leave?”

Until that moment, Juno had never really considered staying. But as she looks around the inn full of children and villagers, sees how welcoming they all are, it starts to make sense. It seems obvious, even. ‘Why not here?’

Later that evening, Juno brings it up with Lettie. “I mean, we already have friends and connections here.” Aside from the villagers, there are Calytrix, Dream Weaver, the Cypress forest, and Juno’s rock brothers. They’ll be taken care of. It will be safe for Lettie, as a faerie. They are known here, but neither of them have a negative past on Fabel. (Aside from that devouring incident and everything with the Guardian of Light.) “It could be worth at least exploring, right?”

So they start looking. Lettie requests her motorcycle from Cubey—a gift from Valerie and Mirabelle. Though based on the look of horror on Mirabelle’s face and her repeated requests that Lettie drive safe, Juno gets the idea that it was really Valerie’s idea. Titania also looked concerned, though she took to blessing the bike to cope. But even knowing that the bike is blessed, Juno starts to turn green.

“Hey, Letts…” Juno starts, nervous. “Could you, uh, drive a little slower. Just to, uh, make sure we don’t miss any prime locations for our cottage.”

Obviously. It’s not like the pirate is terrified of the faerie’s driving or anything ridiculous like that. Pfft.
 
"I always wanted to be in a motorcycle gang." Lettie says casually as she slows her speed to one she'd consider leisurely. (An improvement, but still quite fast.) She breathes in deeply, relishing the feeling of the wind in her hair and of Juno's arms snug around her waist. "Just think. I could've called it the Raver Riders. We'd have matching jackets and everything!" It's all about the matching jackets with this little faerie. She nods confidently. "Never imagined I'd be part of a pirate crew one day. That's infinitely cooler. I was so excited when my position was made official-official." She tilts her head to the side. "Y'know, I always wanted to be in a band, too."

Baby Lettie sure was ambitious. She was gonna make the world her bitch. Now that she's grown her goals have changed completely. She's content to rest easy with the love of her life, just hanging out and discovering new hobbies together. And, of course, making sure that Juno experiences some of the joyful things she never got the chance to experience as a kid. Like birthdays. Since all Lettie has to go on is Capricorn, the entirety of January will be Juno appreciation month in their house. Like, as a rule. She's adamant about this and is already drawing up the plans.

Lettie continues to make this bubbly chatter, going on about her childhood dreams and silly flights of fancy as they ride all morning long, weaving through the candy-colored forest and out closer to the mountains. The faerie insists she gets her photo made by some pretty trees with roses woven around their trunks. While they're stopped, they find a lookout point overseeing a sparkling lake where they agree to stop for a picnic. Lettie forages for berries while Juno sets out the sandwiches she prepared in advance. While they agree that this spot is pretty, it's not quite what they've been searching for. They didn't necessarily want to be at the heart of the village, it's why they went off on this search to begin with, but this spot's still rather far out for their liking. It's not quite right. And while it could be a comfort to have Juno's rock brothers overseeing them from the mountains... at all times... they agree they'd rather have a place with a bit more privacy than that.

They ride back into the village, deciding they haven't found the ideal spot for their home yet. However, neither of them are particularly downtrodden about it. The day certainly didn't feel like a waste of time when they spent it hanging out, picnicking and having deep talks about their thoughts of the future. When they grab a drink in the village tavern that night, Calytrix mentions that they could use their wish, which would automatically guide them to the perfect place and spare them the effort. Lettie and Juno agree that's not what they want. They've been having fun, exploring Fabel and talking, and agree that this journey will be a part of what makes finding their place special.

"I have a good feeling about today." Lettie mentions on the morning of the third day. She goes on to tell Juno about the number three in stories and the fact that there's always magic in it. They head east of the village this time, having gone west and north before, and a soft drizzle falls from the skies. Instead of panicking over her hair, the faerie smiles and remembers their wedding day. "We're gonna find our home today. I'm sure of it, Juju."

After crossing a quaint meadow and finding yet another cozy forest, they come across a cottage nestled in a beautiful spot by a stream. It looks... rough. The shutters are breaking apart, half the roof has caved in, and ivy has completely overtaken one of the stone walls. However, it's plain to see how it might have been a charming little house before time took hold of it. It must have been abandoned for decades.

"Careful." Lettie says, sniffing the air as they cross the wooden bridge over the stream. "Smells like rot." She glides the rest of the way, pursing her lip as she approaches the house. She touches the door, noting the chipped paint. It's not their home. (Not yet.) Though it could be... couldn't it? It's not too terribly far from the village, ensuring that their walks to the market would never be too strenuous. There's also a nice plot of land nearby, ideal for their dream garden. "I see potential in this place. Like, obviously we couldn't move in today or anything, but..."

Sure, they could use their wish to fix it up instantaneously. Still, Lettie finds herself hesitating. Juno has confided in her about her fears, wondering whether an untroubled, peaceful life would suit her. While things have been going well so far, she sees the value in making a project of this. Besides, relying on magic for this somehow feels like relying on glamours. (She'll still use them for fun, but significantly less than she used to. She doesn't need them to make her happy anymore.) For it to feel real, like it's theirs, maybe they'll need to get their hands a little dirty. "...Hey, Juju? Should we make this our next mission?" She flies around the house to get a better look at it from above. "I bet it'd make a nice home if we fixed it up." She nods sagely. Yep. She's already got a vision. This could actually work!
 
It’s not easy, but neither of them expected it to be—the challenge is half the fun for the wives.

They don’t immediately invite the crew back, deciding they want to spend some time with their found home alone. After Juno carries Lettie over the threshold, something she insists upon, they spend the rest of the afternoon imagining how they might set-up their new home, the color schemes, and aesthetics. A lot of this flies right over Juno’s head—aside from the color stuff—but Lettie makes clear that her wife will have a say in making their house a home. The Desdemonian figures she’ll learn what phrases like, “mid-century modern” and “bohemian,” mean over time.

They don’t have blankets or pillows, but they spread themselves out of the floor anyway. (After kicking away the dust and dirt, of course.) Juno clasps her hands behind her head and Lettie uses her wife as her mattress. Through a hole in the roof, they can see the stars and as they talk, their fantasies become new dots in the night sky.

The next morning begins with a rude awakening. Juno doesn’t initially notice anything is amiss. (Unsurprising since she’s been known to sleep through raver ragers and skeleton parties.) It starts with a concerning crack and by the time Lettie rouses to look, she has exactly one second to glitch them through the collapsing roof. They’re both wide awake after that and, somehow, manage to laugh about it not even five minutes later.

It’s the first of many disasters, and, in spite of all the chaos, their attitude is hardly affected. When Inez “accidentally” takes out a load bearing support beam, Lettie and Juno just shrug and tell her to add it to the list of things that need to be fixed. (Well, Juno might have had a conniption over it had Philip not been right there to catch and hold the structure. That, at least, gave Juno and Lettie enough time to come up with a temporary fix using a combination of their magic.) After everything they have been through, the only thing they really care about is each other and their loved ones. A downed support beam is nothing.

Each day brings a new challenge, but as the weeks turn to months, they start to see progress. Once they’ve fixed the walls (and that damned support beam) and have the plumbing set up (with help from a former sink ghost), everything else goes smoothly.

… Mostly.

It’s the day after they’ve finished the bulk of the construction that Abigail decides to take Lady Vengeance on a joyride. Straight into their newly finished roof. (This is something that gets a rise out of the wives. More so Juno than Lettie, and not even the faerie can stop the pirate captain from reprimanding her boneheaded crew member. “C’mon, Abby. You know that was dangerous as fuck. Your license is only good for your cloud counter!” It’s the gentlest reprimand from the pirate to date.) By some miracle, the structure of their cottage remains intact and the only damage is to the attic and roof. Lady herself sits almost flush to what little remains of the roof.

When Lettie and Juno finally take a step back to assess the damage, Juno bites the inside of her cheek. Lettie leans over, resting her head on Juno's bicep. She whispers, "I kind of like it."

“Oh, thank the goddess,” Juno sighs with a breathy laugh. "Me too."

And just like that, they decide to keep Lady as their roof. Neither of them understand how their cottage can bear the weight of their ship, but they decide against questioning it after their contractor (the cube) confirms it'll be structurally sound with some non-invasive adjustments to Lady's hull—namely by applying some magic features that will allow Lady to float, slightly, like the islands on Avangline. While Lady is a weird addition to their home, it's them. The subject of their ship had also been a point of uncertainty, neither of them sure of what to do with her and neither of them wanting to sell her. She’s home. She’s where their story first started—the dent is still there and all. In the end, Abigail’s accident becomes a happy one, one they feel comfortable accepting.

The hiccups after the incident with Lady are so minor in comparison, they barely register. Like deciding on how to paint their home. While Juno mistakenly assumes defaulting to Lettie’s preferred aesthetics will be fine, it quickly becomes clear that her wife doesn’t want the home to feel like solely her own. She wants Juno’s style reflected as well, even if the pirate insists that she has no preference and, “Anything that reminds me of you makes me happy.”

Her excuse doesn’t work and Juno spends the next four days thinking over what kind of house she’d like to live in. An idea hits her while they’re sipping on fresh squeezed lemonade, watching as the sunset sparkles over the stream in front of their house. “Each room can be themed after the sky. At least, I want the kitchen to be sunset themed." It faces the direction of the sunset, after all, and they've spoken about how to make sure those front rooms absorb and complement all the natural light they have. "The walls can be a peach-orange and the cabinets will be mustard. What do you think?"
 
"Juju." Lettie's eyes shimmer like diamonds. Did her wife just describe the colors she wanted for their kitchen? Yep. And she did so with a certain specificity that sends the faerie's heart aflutter. (Like. She didn't just say 'yellow'. She specified the shade of yellow. This is big!) She suspects it's because she's spoken about color swatches at length, but it's touching to see that Juno has been listening to her ramblings. "I think a sunset kitchen would be lovely." However, she has to look at her wife carefully, searching her expression for genuine interest. Making sure she's not just saying that because she thinks it's what she'd want. (After all, Juno has yet to suggest any black or neutrals-- she shades she wanted to be associated with whenever she styled her outfits in the past.) Lettie grins and gives Juno a playful nudge. "You spend more time in the kitchen than I do. I think it's only right that you make the call on what we do with it. It should be a place that makes you happy when you make me pancakes in the morning."

Tastes do change. Lettie would know, she used to change the color of her hair more than once a day! Juno has been experimenting with more colors in her own wardrobe as of late. Shades of yellow was a plot twist to be sure, but a welcome one. Yellow's a sunny color that evokes optimism, joy and happiness. Maybe this change is a reflection on Juno's views for their future? If so... it's nice to see her coming out of her shell, trying new things.

With a solid concept for their kitchen in mind, Lettie grills Juno for all of her preferences and ideas, compiling a list of all the tools, paint colors and decor they'll need. The faerie takes before pictures and quizzes her wife on all the things she thinks she'll need to make the kitchen feel like hers. (She cooks! Considering Lettie's usual kitchen tasks are to sit on the countertops and look cute, taste test the batter, or clean-- which are important jobs, don't get her wrong-- the cook unquestionably has the most important job.) Besides, the layout is important for organization and ease of access.

They tackle the floors and construction first. (The faerie is insistent on ensuring the color of their wood floors and window paneling compliments the sunset shades they chose before they get started on the walls and the cabinets. This requires a few adjustments.) When Lettie and Juno start painting their sunset kitchen, they're content to listen to the radio and make light conversation. They leave the side door open, inviting in the sunlight, birdsong, and a crisp breeze. Sometimes they'll have guests over who are content to hang out with them while they work. They spend one of these afternoons engaging in girl talk with Ariel and Mauve. The teen is crushing on a girl and needs some advice because Nico, in her words, is clueless. Lettie melts when Mauve admits that her and Juno's relationship is the kind she aspires to have. Ariel goes on to floor her when she agrees that they are indeed goals.

Once they finish painting, they lay on the floor together and admire their work. Lettie's tired, her back aches, and she can't help but fall into a fit of delirious giggles. After all, there was a time she'd simply snap her fingers to change the color of a wall. While that magic is convenient, it's not permanent. She wouldn't trade the time they spent painting together for anything.

The wives take the next day off to rest their aching muscles in Fabel's hot springs. (Fabel having hot springs did factor into their decision to move there, yes.) Lettie makes arrangements for them to go on a shopping spree around the worlds to find everything they'll need for their kitchen. The magistrate is more than happy to collaborate with her on this task. Their day off isn't all business, though, when Juno playfully distracts her with splashes and then kisses.

When their big shopping day arrives, they decide that splitting up at a few of their stops would save time. (They realize they're on a tight schedule when they consider the various stores and their closing times... and they're going to purchase the things for their new home instead of going on a grand heist because they promised Eliza and Titania they wouldn't get into trouble with the law in pursuit of making their home feel like home.) Before they part ways, Lettie is sure to hand Juno a binder containing the mood board they made together and their color swatches.

"You can have fun with it, baby. Just make sure to stick to our color palette." Lettie says. (She just has this thing about color palettes. It's-- Juno knows this about her.) Naturally, to spice things up, they do make a competition of who could find the coolest stuff. And to her credit, her wife returns with some excellent finds for their kitchen beyond the basic silverware, pots and pans. The cutest of which being the small, cloud shaped rug that they end up placing on the floor in front of the sink. Keeping with the sky theme, she also found some unique dishware with hand painted clouds and butterflies from a craft market in the candy currency world of all places. Since she wasn't stealing, Juno was then informed that her candy would not count as currency... for most people. But the artist really liked candy. The wives agree that the artist was probably just messing with her. It's candy currency world, after all.

Lettie produces her own finds, the standout being the overhead lamp. It's colorful stained glass (adhering to the color palette of course, with yellow and peach along with certain shades of green and blue) and it ends up looking quite quaint over their kitchen table. Their kitchen starts to look quite quaint in general as everything comes together. They put their spices in little glass jars, weave baskets for fruit and fresh flowers, and hang photos on the wall to make it theirs.

Once Lettie sets their plants in the windowsill and hangs a bit of greenery, it's finally complete.

"Well, that's one room down." Lettie remarks, offering Juno a celebratory fist bump. Success! Still, their work's far from finished. The kitchen was one room of many she has planned. (...Just wait till she gets started on her walk-in closet. She fully intends on carving a hole in the wall and constructing a miniature faerie workshop. It'll be the perfect place to hide presents and future surprises for her wife!) They've got this, though. Now that they're into a routine, the rest should be cake! Well, maybe not. But that doesn't change the fact that the faerie has cake on the brain. "Should we make a cake?"

Juno makes the cake while Lettie sits on the counter (and looks cute doing so), kicking her legs idly as she brainstorms ideas for their next project. "I'm thinking living room next? Shades of blue could be nice... just need to decide if it's more of a nighttime or daytime vibe." The faerie scrunches her nose, deep in thought. "Since it's right next to the kitchen, maybe daytime? Then we could do a night theme upstairs."
 
Juno has been smiling more these days. She’s been smiling more ever since they went from enemies to this; and in the aftermath of their mission, she has had more reasons to smile than ever before. Lettie tells her one afternoon that she might have invented smiling. Juno blushes like she’s their sunset kitchen. Her face, especially her dimple, get a lot of kisses after that.

Each day has a pattern to it and even though the work of putting their cottage together gives her new ways to ache, she doesn’t mind so much when Lettie is there to massage her muscles in the evening. After they agree on a daytime aesthetic for the living room, they return to their mood board. They clip pictures and paste them to the pages, occasionally pasting funny images onto each other. (Like when Juno found a picture of a zoraptera and stuck it on Lettie’s back without her knowing. She went hours with it there. It wasn’t until one of the kids came over to ask Juno for cookies that it was brought to the faerie’s attention. By the scandalized twitch of her brow alone, Juno knew to brace for impact.) They find color swatches, tape those to walls, and stare at them for hours. Eventually they decide on a sky blue color that they’ll paint over with some white-pink to give the effect of wispy clouds in the morning.

The cotton-candy theme goes with the pink velvet couch they already own, too. (This comes as such a relief to Juno that Lettie can't hide her snicker. It's not that the pirate dislikes choosing pieces for their cottage; it's just that all this shopping has exhausted her in ways she hadn't even known she could be exhausted.) It also makes finding other pieces a lot easier since their focal point has been decided and they really only need to match it in color and style. To keep with their theme of cloud-like rugs, they find the perfect fluffy rug to go under their coffee table. Prissy immediately claims it as hers and swipes at the feet of anyone who even dares to edge more than three inches around the border. (Well, she swipes at anyone who isn’t Juno. She mostly leaves Lettie alone.) Lettie finds some white bookcases and bats her eyes for Juno to build them. They both know the faerie could do it and they both know the gay little faerie wants to watch her wife's muscles. Juno doesn't mind. While she puts together the shelves, Lettie continues decorating. (Not without spending at least twenty minutes ogling her wife. Naturally.) She places a boucle skull-shaped throw pillow on the couch, arranges a blanket over one arm, and stacks and restacks the books on the coffee table until she has everything just so. When the shelves are finished, they reserve the top shelf for framed photos of their favorite wanted posters of themselves, placing them side by side. They don't quite have enough books to fill it out just yet, but they're surprisingly excited for the chance to sit down and read together, adding to their collection as they do.

In one of their hallways, Juno surprises Lettie by putting up all the baby pictures she stole from her old apartment and Mirabelle’s scrapbook. A few days later, Lettie surprises Juno by putting up pictures of her younger self. (The cube is apparently far more stalkerish than they initially realized. Both of them elect to not think about it.) Her eyes well with tears when she spots a picture of her and James together, laying head to head on the ground. She doesn't remember what they were talking about, but to see his smile again when she thought she never would? She melts into a puddle. "You would have loved him," Juno sniffs, hiding her face in the crook of Lettie's neck. "He would have loved you, too."

While they still have the entire upper level to figure out, the pictures of their younger selves and the dear ones they lost inspire them to start thinking about their garden. Lettie gets particularly excited about this, jumping around from talking about “curb appeal” to what kind of herbs and vegetables they might grow to how they might want to set up their hedges. Juno puts her head in Lettie’s lap and listens. Together, they make a list of supplies they’ll need and make plans to head to a garden center a few villages over. (Lettie says it’s important to not introduce potentially invasive species to Fabel, hence not going off world to shop.)

It’s the morning of their errand day and Lettie’s still asleep. Juno strokes the pad of her thumb over her wife’s cheek, observing the ways her sparkles change as her thumb smooths over them. She mutters something incoherent, but doesn’t seem to be having a long-necked-chicken nightmare so Juno doesn’t wake her. (In fact, she may or may not have purposefully worn Lettie out last night with wifely activities to ensure she’d get up before her.) She kisses her wife’s temple just as she’s starting to stir. “Shh, shh. Stay in bed, baby. Get some rest. I’ll go get breakfast started.”

Lettie must be tired, because the second she sinks back into the mattress, she’s out again. Juno smiles, watching for a few more seconds, then treads down the stairs to their newly finished kitchen. (The bedroom might still be a mess, but they insist on sleeping in their new cottage most nights. Mostly, they're just too lazy to climb aboard Lady after the long days they've been having.) She decides to bake banana bread, feeling somewhat nostalgic as she recalls one of their few days off on the mission. It was right after that awful space station, after Juno finally worked up the nerve to admit her fears to Lettie; after finally confessing why she hadn’t taken off the jumpsuit. Lettie kissed her forehead; Juno wanted to kiss her. Now she gets to kiss her wife whenever she wants.

***​

When Lettie comes down from their bedroom, Juno is waiting for her at the table. It's set for just the two of them. Coffee (well, coffee flavored milk and sugar) waits for the faerie at her place, along with a thick slice of banana bread (a middle piece, of course), a bowl of yogurt drizzled with honey, and some fresh cut up fruit. At the center of the table, however, is a bright pink bow that sits atop a pair of hedge shears with a note that reads, ‘To keep and protect our garden.’ (Juno asked Marjorie to write it, so it is legible, save for the signature that is in the font of a pissed off chicken.)

The shears gleam even though direct sunlight hasn’t quite hit their kitchen. The handles are wrapped in sturdy tan leather, hand painted with a variety of flowers—the same flowers that were on display at their wedding, to be precise. Along the blades is an etching of two butterflies chasing each other and when they're opened and closed, they peel off the blade and fly around the shears, one pink and one blue. Depending on the angle, sometimes it looks like the pink one is trying to tackle the blue one like the little shit it's meant to represent.

“I know it’s not anything like what you gave me,” Juno can’t even think about the scrapbook for too long without getting a little bit teary over it, “but I hope it suffices for a wedding gift.” She rubs the back of her neck, as she tends to do when she’s nervous. “Oh, and the shears split up into swords. I know we’re safe and all, but… Just in case, you know?” She clears her throat. "...It's okay if you don't like them."
 
Lettie uses the long, bell-shaped sleeve of her nightdress to rub the sleep from her eyes as she makes her way down to the breakfast table. Though she anticipated a pleasant surprise waiting for her downstairs when she smelled the aroma of a sweet breakfast baking all the way from their bedroom, she couldn't have expected this. The faerie's hands clasp over her fluttering heart in an instant, her mouth forming a tiny surprised 'o'. She takes one step forward. Then another. Then she gingerly takes the shears into her hands, observing all the whimsical, sentimental details that went into their design. Her eyes sparkle with childlike wonder as they trail after the pink and blue butterflies.

The resemblance hits her like she hit the deck the first day they met. Lettie breathes in, frantically fanning herself with her free hand as her eyes fill with tears. And-- and-- and! They turn into freaking swords! They're perfect.

As married, home-owning adults, they did make sure to grab more than one chair for their kitchen table. This does not stop Lettie from taking her favorite seat in the room. Her wife's lap. Naturally. While they very well could have kept up with their one chair tradition, they agreed that it'd be good and practical to have more chairs around if they intend to have guests over.

"Juju." Lettie puffs her cheeks, cups her wife's face in the palm of her hands, and firmly meets her one-eyed gaze. "I don't like them." She leans forward so their noses are touching. Why would she insinuate that this gift is anything but perfect? "I love them." Determined to emphasize her point, she peppers little kisses all over Juno's face before capturing her lips.

Lettie props the shears up on the table so she can gaze wistfully at them while she eats her breakfast. Her mind is already seven steps ahead, thinking of all the cute sundresses and outfits she could wear while using them in the garden. She also points out different places on their wall that they could place a hook especially for them.

"They're too cute to put in a drawer somewhere. These babies need to be out on display for everyone to see!" Lettie insists, nodding sagely. Ultimately, she settles on the place right next to the side door leading out to the garden. "I just know I'm gonna be using them all the time."

Out in the garden, yes, but you better believe she's going to get dressed up and strike badass poses with her adorable swords on the daily.

Once they finish their breakfast and tidy up the kitchen, Juno helps Lettie position and install a hook for her new shears. They fist-bump after the faerie grandly places the shears in their place of honor on the wall. Afterwards, Lettie gets so distracted admiring the shears that Juno uses it as an advantage when she suddenly suggests they race each other upstairs to get ready for their errands, effectively getting a head start.

***​

The interior of their cottage is put on hold as they devote their spring months to their garden. They prepare their land, map out the landscaping, select their flowers and bushes and even a few fruit trees. Each day they rise early together and Lettie walks Juno through their new morning routine. She shows her how to check the soil and explains how some of their plants don't need to be watered every day, how it is indeed possible to water a plant too much, and how they need to keep track of the rainy days as well. "If they start yellowing, that's a sign that they need something to drink." The faerie says as she struggles with the full watering can she's carrying. She smiles gratefully when Juno takes it from her. (Okay, maybe she was being a little dramatic... but she likes to watch the way her wife's muscles flex when she lifts things.) "If they look wilted but the soil's still wet, that means they're being over watered. Might smell a little funny, too. That's a sign of root-rot."

After they share a laugh over how funny 'root-rot' sounds, Lettie goes into her instruction on pruning dying leaves and deadhead flowers with her shears. Later, they join hands and enlist their insect army with monitoring their garden for unwelcome worms, pests and eggs. (To be safe, though, she mentions that they should keep an eye out for holes in the leaves and monitor the new seedlings.) "If we do good this year, we can see about planting fruits and veggies next year." She doesn't want to overwhelm her wife with everything all at once, even though she is adorably determined to learn.

Most days they rise together and tend to the garden side by side, making sleepy conversation as they watch the sunrise. Some days they switch off, allowing each other to get a little extra sleep in. And them being them, sometimes they make a competition of it-- seeing who can wake up earlier and finish the morning chores first. They also take a few days to train the skeletons, making sure that they can trust them with the garden if they ever need to take off on a trip somewhere.

Every single day, Lettie uses her shears. She takes good care of them, always cleaning them off carefully before she hangs them back up on their hook.

As spring turns to summer, Lettie notes how especially adorable it is when Juno notes that their butterfly bush is blooming. (The faerie did have to explain to her that this bush would not grow actual butterflies and that the flowers simply attract them.) It's especially cute when a yellow butterfly lands on her finger one afternoon-- the way she goes still as a statue as not to scare it away... Lettie may or may not have tried the butterfly's tactic to get her attention later that evening, shrinking herself down and lounging like a supermodel on Juno's finger.

Lettie introduces Juno to more than just gardening that summer. They have pizza nights and go for swims in the lake by their cottage. They climb trees and read to each other up in the branches. Sometimes Lettie brings her guitar along and writes new love songs, asking for Juno's input. There're afternoons where they'll make picnic lunches and lemonade and paint silly pictures in their garden. (Juno builds a whole ass fence in their yard the day after a harrowing goose incident. It's a long story.) They make cookies and blanket forts for movie nights-- Lettie paying close attention to see what resonates with Juno the most whenever they're not chucking popcorn at each other. Lettie finds the cutest roller skates when she's out shopping one morning. Naturally, she decides to buy a pair for them both and make a whole afternoon of teaching Juno how to roller skate through the streets of Fabel. (It's as chaotic as it sounds. Lots falling and tumbling over each other into the grass. After Lettie, the children are Juno's most enthusiastic cheerleaders-- encouraging her, offering to hold her hand, and breaking into applause when she starts to get the hang of it.) Many a night is spent under the stars, listening to the crickets sing. It's summer and they're in love.

***​

At the end of summer, Lettie and Juno finally make good on their promise to take Nico and Mauve to Avangeline. It's the week of one of the traditional faerie festivals, making it one of the best possible times to visit. It's a chance for Lettie to introduce Juno to her home world through a positive lens after all the danger, turmoil and heartbreak of their previous visits. (And a chance for Mauve to see her faerie crush again.) While they're there, Titania lets them stay in her stunning new penthouse apartment. She made a massive comeback since they saw her last, her newest album breaking all kinds of records. The angel has been on the forefront of organizing support for faeries and mermaids who still suffer from curses. She's advocated to make Avangeline more accessible to humans and the wingless. And, to Lettie's relief, there's no alcohol at all to be found on the countertops or in the cabinets. It's proof that she's been doing better in so many ways.

As word gets out, they end up accumulating an even bigger group for the festival. Thad, Ainsley, and even Eliza decide to come along with Nico and Mauve. Ariel and Ravan appear at the doorstep when they hear they've all come to Avangeline as well.

Lettie is positively giddy as she flits back and forth around the massive dressing room, helping everyone get ready for their day at the festival. She suggests that they all get dressed up in faerie-made garments and do what they can to show their spirit for the occasion. This means flowing fabrics, bare feet, and-- of course-- flower crowns for all of them.

When Lettie sets a crown of yellow and blue flowers on Juno's head, she notices that she's grinning down at her wife wallet. The faerie casually leans to the side to see what she's looking at, and... Oh. It's that picture of her as a little kid, flowers in her hair, grinning. (Preparing to go to a festival just like this one, as a matter of fact.) A piece of a happy memory she shared with Juno, once upon a time.

"Hmm." Lettie wraps her arms around Juno's shoulders from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. "You know... I think I might be happier than the Lettie in that picture right now." She kisses her cheek and presses a grin against her neck. "Ready to party like a faerie?"
 
Juno isn’t sure that she will ever be ready to party like a faerie. She’s been to Hell and raised it. Her entire life has hardened her to the point she thought she lost everything soft about her. Survival used to keep her up for days on end. And yet it’s these mischievous little forest ravers who truly test the limits of the Desdemonian’s stamina.

By the third straight day of drinking and dancing, Juno hits a wall and has to be escorted back to Titania’s so that she can rest. The second her head hits the pillow, she’s out and she doesn’t wake up until nearly twenty-four hours have passed. Her first instinct upon groggily opening her eyes and checking the time, is to think that she must have only slept for a few minutes and that her nap on Titania’s back when she took her back to her penthouse must have been all that she needed. This delusion is short lived.

Lettie breaks the news as she glides in, chipper and singing songs of nonsense. After throwing open the curtains, she zips over to nuzzle into her still sleepy wife, ruffling her tousled locks, and makes a passing comment about Juno’s old sleeping habits compared to now, praising her for resting for twenty-four hours. (Though she does admit it was a bit concerning.) Juno’s mouth parts into a small ‘o,’ disbelieving and unsure; and while Lettie might be a pranking little shit, the way she praises her is all the confirmation Juno needs to know her wife isn’t messing with her. This fact takes several confusing hours to set in, but her wife is right there and catches her up on all she missed (which is mostly just drinking and dancing and Thad getting thrown into a river; again).

Eventually, they make their way back to the festivities and when her feet touch down on the soft grass, she can’t help the way her toes wriggles into the dirt. She can sense the worms, bugs, and critters moving beneath her. She can sense the souls bound to this island and she can feel them reaching towards the festival to join the living. She hums without realizing it.

As her gaze pans over the crowd, she takes it all in as a momentary outsider. Faeries and skeletons are locked hand in hand, dancing in wide rings. They pull in new participants and let go of others, allowing them to stumble dizzily as they make their way to food and drink. Thistle is ignoring the advances of another faerie, either oblivious or not interested. Eliza is in the arms of a demon; they’re swaying gently in the back. The older woman reaches up to cup the demon’s cheek, gently pulling her lower to capture her lips. Meanwhile, Mauve struggles to keep her cool just holding hands with her crush. Juno can hear her nervous laughter from across the clearing. Nico has made friends with a group of Avangeline teens and they seem to have organized a rather disorganized game of kicking a ball between them, zigzagging through the dancefloor. Juno only watches for a few seconds and she’s already witnessed five separate near collisions.

She smiles. Her family is all here and they are safe.

***​

The trip to Avangeline lasts longer than they originally planned. After the festival wraps up with an exciting show of raver magic and fireworks, Titania hints that it would be nice if they stayed a little longer. So they do. It’s only supposed to be another week, but that week turns to two when Ravan and Ariel invite (beg) them over to stay with them. (Okay, it wasn't so much as begging as it was Ravan getting too teary during their near-goodbye. Seeing his big sad eyes convinced them to stay.)

They spend their time on Avangeline doing everything and nothing. Some days they merely hang around the house with their loved ones, running the occasional errand with them. Other days they make adventures of it, Lettie determined to show Juno everything she never would have experienced on Desdemonia—like, amusement parks. (The roller coasters remind Juno of Lettie’s driving, but she doesn’t say that.) A few days are even spent helping Ariel set up her new shop, since her last one was trashed by estate demons.

When it's time for them to return to Fabel, when they both start to get antsy about finishing up their cottage, they say their goodbyes and promise to invite everyone over for dinner once it's all finished.

***​

Everything is exactly as they had left it when they return. The only thing different are the trees. Where they once were a vibrant green, they're now shifting to a fiery orange. While Juno has been prepared to expect this, her mouth still hands open as she spins, wonderstruck, in their front garden. "Wow."

Lettie then reminds her that once the leaves all fall and dry up, they’ll be able to crunch them and can even gather them into a pile to jump into. To be quite honest, Juno is not exactly sure why that’s even a noteworthy activity until she steps on her first perfectly crispy leaf a couple weeks later. Her eye sparks with magic and they make a game of finding the best crunchers, forgetting entirely about raking them into a pile. Not that it matters, because they have fun either way. This, of course, happens after a long day of painting their bedroom, the guest bedroom, and Lettie’s workshop upstairs. It leaves them laying in the grass when they're finished, giggling intermittently.

***​

Finishing up the interior of their cottage takes them through Fabel’s chillier winter months.

For the upper level of their cottage, they paint night skies on the ceiling (that is technically Lady's underbelly). Juno asks if they should make the star patterns random. Lettie thinks on this, then suggests that they paint the night sky of their wedding over their bed and identifies other important dates for the guest bedroom and her workshop, like the first day they met and the night they became friends. (While her workshop does break the theme of the house, since it is her space, she does stick glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling.) They find lamps that resemble bursting stars and brighten the upstairs with white and gold accent decorations.

By the end of the year, they start to see a clear finish for their home. Enough that they set a date for a housewarming party that will also double as a New Year's celebration. With the party fast approaching, Lettie makes some plans to go off to the market to pick up some supplies for the festivities while Juno makes up some excuse to stay home, wanting to use the opportunity to surprise Lettie. She tells her wife that she wants to spend the day doing some prep work for the party and while not technically untrue, she leads her wife to believe she'll be starting on early on some of the marinades and sauces when, really, her plans are more in the realm of... Painting the house pink.

She enlists the skeletons and Fabel children to assist her with this endeavor, feigning that they're going to be the extra hands she needs for her dinner preparations. The skeletons manage to keep their cool, for the most part (Abigail almost slips, but Phillip comes in for the save), while the Fabel children can barely contain their giggling. Lettie gives them a skeptical look, but doesn't say anything about it to Juno. (Which is a relief, because Juno would have crumbled. She hates hiding things from her wife and, frankly, she's not good at it either.)

When the faerie is well out of sight, Juno rounds up the children and skeletons and orders them into a few rows. She places buckets of pastel pink paint in front of them and hands them each a brush. (She immediately has to break out two play fights between the children. ...Then another between her boneheads. Goddess, give her strength and patience.) Once everyone is settled, she paces back and forth, hands clasped behind her back like an old drill sergeant. “Alright, you little cat-or-pillars, you all know the mission: Paint Captain Juno and Miss Lettie's cottage fu—”

“Ahem,” Marjorie coughs.

“Pink. 'Cause it'll make her happy as shit and that's my favorite fuckin' color." Marjorie shakes her head, exhausted. Juno doesn't notice. "We only have a few hours to get the first coat up. So I don't want any funny business. I need you serious." She walks down the line, eyeing each of the children and her skeletons carefully, paying particular attention to Fred and Inez. Both of them act innocent, as if they've never caused her trouble and hardly know the meaning of the word. When she's sure everyone knows the gravity of the mission, she continues. "Phillip, you’ll supervise the skeletons. Marjorie, you’ll help me with the kids. Now.” Juno turns on her heel to face her little cat-or-pillars, pausing for dramatic effect. “Are. you. ready?”

“YES, CAP’M!”
 
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