#i'll probably toss this up on ao3 later but i'm not even awake yet

[throughtosunrise]

Beau/Yasha. Beau drags Yasha down to the second Level in the tower and slow dances with her.

"Come on." Beau laughs a bit as she says it, tugging at Yasha's hand.

"You haven't told me what we're doing yet," Yasha points out, but Beau's hand is warm and solid in hers, and the expression on her face is a unique blend of eager and slightly nervous that is an absurdly new, endearing look on her, so Yasha's voice is only low and amused as they drift downward through the middle of the tower toward the Great Hall.

"Well, yeah, it's a surprise." They touch down on the second floor as Beau says it, already leading Yasha toward one of the sliding wooden doors. She ducks her head, just a trace of sheepishness visible in her posture, and Yasha can definitely appreciate the way that the floating magical lights that illuminate this floor outline Beau's features in profile as she says, "I don't get to do this kind of thing for people very much."

"Beau." Yasha squeezes her hand, though it's nothing compared to the way that confession wrings at her heart, and pulls her just a touch closer. It takes a moment, but when Beau lifts her head again Yasha meets her gaze and murmurs, "You have done nothing but surprise me over and over again since we met. In a good way, I mean," she amends quickly at the flash of hesitation in Beau's eyes.

Beau chuckles, and it's one of those low, brief laughs of hers where Yasha has learned to read uncertainty into what sounds like obnoxiousness. "As long as it's in the good way."

They've come to a stop at the doors by now; Yasha pulls Beau's hand up to press the back of it against her lips just so she can bask in the way Beau's face lights up, all giddy and pleased, at the gesture. "Only the best, I promise."

(She might be making a resolution right here and now to get that reaction out of Beau as often and in as many ways as possible. She's got years of neglect and missed casual affection to make up for, and she'd better get started immediately.)

The faint flush to Beau's cheeks as she looks at the back of her hand is, Yasha decides, absolutely adorable.

"Well, shit," says Beau with another self-deprecating laugh. "Now I hope I can keep the streak going."

Yasha's about to say something, assure her that there's no pressure, really, but with a visible deep breath to brace herself Beau slides the door open. She leads Yasha into a small, modest dance hall — nothing terribly fancy, more reminiscent of Caleb's dance hall in Rexxentrum than anything else, and vacant except for the quintet of fey cats with instruments held in their prehensile tails, which they start to play in some sort of waltz as soon as Yasha shuts the door behind her.

A small laugh bubbles up from Yasha's chest, and it's so easy; it's gotten easier to laugh these past couple of months, with the Mighty Nein, but Beau especially coaxes that lightness out of her without even trying. "What's this?" she asks.

Beau rubs at the back of her neck with her free hand and mumbles, "Something I've been thinking about for a while. Hey, Fluffy!" One of the cats looks at her with what Yasha would swear is a long-suffering air. "Waltzing sucks. Can we, like, change this music up a bit?"

Fluffy's disdainful look intensifies, it seems like, but the song changes to something that Yasha doesn't recognize, but it's languid and gentle and strikes her as one that doesn't call for an especially structured kind of dance. And that's just fine with her — even if she knew much about waltzing, being this close to Beau guarantees that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her steps if she tried.

They make their way out into the middle of the dance floor, Beau's hands coming to rest on Yasha's hips and Yasha's arms draped over her shoulders. It's easy enough to just sway in time with the music like this, matching goofy smiles on their faces as they look into each other's eyes. No defenses, no holding back, just a raw vulnerability that's so intense that it spills over from terrifying to euphoric.

"I've been thinking about this for a while," Beau says again when they finally remember how to speak. "I just didn't want, you know, an audience for it."

Yasha ducks her head down and kisses her in appreciation for the thoughtfulness; Beau makes a soft happy noise against her lips and shifts closer so that they're pressed together, then when they pull apart tucks her head in under Yasha's chin and almost snuggles into her. Really, what can Yasha do in response to that but slide her arms all the way around Beau's waist?

"Since when?" she wants to know.

"Hmm?" Beau sounds so cute when she's blissfully distracted.

"How long have you been thinking about this?"

"Since I met you?" Beau laughs. "No, but seriously — I mean, that's true too, but what you're asking — I think it was on Rumblecusp, when I was watching you out on the dance floor with Jester."

"I thought about it then too," admits Yasha, "but I wasn't sure yet how you felt, and there were so many people, anyway."

It's impossible to see Beau's expression when they're standing like this, of course, but Yasha can feel the way her face pulls into a grin, and she's been watching Beau for so long that she knows exactly what it looks like.

"Too many," Beau agrees, and she doesn't have to elaborate; they've always gotten each other on some unspoken level, since well before either of them was willing to admit it. Anyway, it wasn't as if they would have been ready for it at the time. "Next time, maybe... since when have you been thinking about this?"

Yasha nuzzles into her hair, just breathing in her scent, as she laughs. "Since I met you."

She doesn't need to elaborate on that either, and she's warmed by a sudden overwhelming sense of gratitude that Beau completely understands the arduous journey she's had to take to be able to be here now. She does pull Beau a little more closely against her, though, and feels Beau's arms tighten around her waist in response.

"Dope," Beau says, her voice slightly muffled against Yasha's chest, and then there really isn't anything more to be said. There will be other taverns and dance halls on their travels. Other times when Beau can, as she's said half-jokingly a few times, make everyone else jealous that her girlfriend is the hottest. (And that's still a new enough word that Beau breaks out into a dopey smile every time she says it and it feels like an entire herd of Jester's hamster unicorns is carousing merrily in Yasha's stomach.) Other opportunities for Yasha to revel in the novel and heady thrill of finally, finally being able to love someone openly and without fear.

Happiness is always better shared, Yasha's always thought that, and it was never in question that there's a euphoria in letting everyone around her see how deeply she cares for Beau, but sometimes...

Sometimes happiness is an intimate thing, best shared with only the people who are the cause of it. Tonight it's just the music (and the cats) and the two of them in each other arms, and that's more than enough for now.