Chapter Text
The next morning, no one came to bother them. Of course not; this was a chance to sleep in for all of them, and everyone took it. It would probably be some hours before anyone would end up in the common area, and Caine was busy with his date planning. And Bubble? Who knew, or cared? Maybe the little AI was enjoying his free time as well right now, but he certainly wasn't bothering them, and that was enough for Gangle and Jax.
They had the morning all to themselves. Gangle smiled as she slowly began to wake up, nuzzling her mask against Jax's chest.
Even though he was asleep, his arms were wrapped tightly around her in a protective embrace. She closed her eyes again, deciding that she didn't have to rush waking up today.
She really just wanted to stay in his arms for as long as she could, so she snuggled up to him again. He was so warm, and comfortable to lie on. Like the comfiest bed she had ever owned.
Eventually, Jax began to stir, and for a moment Gangle feared that their cuddling was over now. She was about to mourn the loss of his body heat, but he only shifted a little, keeping his arms around her and pressing a tired kiss to the top of her mask. Gangle smiled again, feeling butterflies in her heart at the gentle brush of his lips against the porcelain.
“Morning, honey bunny...” She said, her voice still sleepy.
“Mornin' Precious...” He replied, caressing the ribbons of her back.
She sighed in contentment, ribbons flattening to be even closer to him, fully relaxed. Now that he was awake, the rise and fall of his chest became more prominent, her pillow moving up and down rhythmically in a way that made her want to fall asleep again.
“Mhh... do you want to get up?” She asked, because she still worried about being a bother.
“No, not really.” He replied. “You?”
“Not at all.” She smiled against his chest, the fluffed up fur tickling her mask.
“Great. We're on the same page.”
She chuckled, then she yawned, and they fell asleep again.
~~~
When they woke up again, they still stayed in bed. Cuddling, holding each other, sharing kisses. Gentle kisses, like yesterday, soft lips against smooth ones, moving slow and sure and full of love. Fingers playfully moving through ribbons and fur, sweet touches filling the space between them. Maybe it was a little tentative here and there, a little hesitant, especially from Jax.
Still unsure if he deserved this kind of affection, if it was really his for the taking even though Gangle was giving it to him freely. She could understand his fear, of course. She was no stranger to feeling unworthy of love... but not lately, not when she was with him. Honestly, it was kind of cute. How worried he was, all because of her.
It felt like even more proof of just how much she meant to him. Jax wasn't used to taking off his mask, laying down his role, and now he was vulnerable and unsure of what to do with himself. Clearly enjoying this shift in dynamic, but unsure nonetheless.
And still he did it, because he wanted to change. For her more than for himself, probably. That was okay, they were here for forever and Jax had more than enough time to learn to be kind to himself. That was something Gangle had to learn too, if she was honest with herself.
But it would be easier like this. When he looked at her the way he did lately. When he held her like she was something precious.
She looked up at him with a lovey-dovey smile, a ribbon hand on the back of his head to tilt his head down gently, meeting his lips in a kiss. She smiled against his lips when he kissed back, looking at him when she pulled back. “How are you feeling?” She asked.
He looked away at that, clearly uncomfortable. “Eh... not sure. You mean about yesterday, right? Because I'm feeling pretty good about how this morning is going.” He smirked.
Gangle smiled back, but she could see through his attempt at changing the topic. “Yes, yesterday. You got pretty emotional, and that's awesome-” She quickly reassured him, “just untypical for you. I just wanna make sure you're doing okay. I don't know what was going through your head while you were quiet for so long, but it seemed like a lot.” She put her hands on his chest to calm him. And to show him that she was there for him.
His heart was beating like crazy again.
“...It's exhausting.” He admitted with a sigh, still avoiding eye-contact. “Feeling that much.”
“You've always felt that much.” Gangle chastised. “You just bottled it up. That wasn't good for you, or for us. Letting all of that out now has to be exhausting, I imagine... but it's a good thing.” She smiled.
He huffed, pulling her closer. “I hope you're right, Ribbons. Just remember to not make me regret this.”
She nuzzled her mask against his chest once more. “I'll try my best. And you try fighting your fears, alright?”
He pressed a feather-light kiss to her mask. “For you? Always.”
~~~
Eventually, as much as they wanted to, they realized they probably shouldn't laze around anymore. Cuddling was great, but Gangle wanted to see what the others were up to, and Jax needed something to do or else he always started causing trouble sooner or later.
So they made their way to the common area, where the others were already gathered.
“Oh, hey, there you are.” Pomni greeted them with a smile. “We were starting to wonder when you were gonna get out of bed. Had another slumber party?”
“Yup.” Gangle lied through her teeth. Jax was a bad influence on her.
“Hey, do you know why we get a free day? Since you're the one who told us.” Zooble asked her. “Not that I'm complaining, it just doesn't feel very... Caine.”
“O-oh, who knows, really...” Gangle replied, sitting down on the couch next to them.
Great. Two minutes in, an lying was already starting to become hard. Man, Jax made it look easy. “Caine just said he needed extra time to plan an adventure, something extra special? Whatever that means, haha.”
“Man, Zooble, you're really never happy, are you?” Jax asked, plopping down on their other side. He had an elbow resting on the back of the couch, his chin propped up against his hand, giving Zooble his most s[#!%]-eating grin, to annoy them and hopefully distract them from asking Gangle more questions that she wouldn't find answers to.
Who said he couldn't amuse himself and help out his girlfriend? Man, being a boyfriend was easy. This was going to be a blast.
Zooble, as planned, turned their attention on him with an unimpressed frown. “Don't you think this is weird? I'm just worried that this is bad news for us in the end, and if he's planning an 'extra special adventure' I'm probably right.”
“Or maybe it's nothing, and the bee freak is just running out of ideas.” Jax countered, shrugging. “Either way, there isn't much we can do to stop him from whatever it is he's planning right now. Worrying your little triangle head isn't gonna do anything except ruin our day.”
Zooble rolled their eyes and turned away from him again, deciding that this conversation wasn't worth it. Basically no conversation with Jax was ever worth it.
“So, uh, did anyone have plans for today?” Gangle asked.
“Honestly, we thought we'd just chill.” Pomni said with her typical nervous smile. “We don't get such a chance often... I mean, I haven't been here for long, but Ragatha said it's been a while.”
“I, uh...” The ragdoll chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head. “I honestly can't remember. I know there has been days like this before, far and few in between... I'm talking years in between. Kinger can't remember either, obviously...”
She gave the chess piece sitting on the ground a sad look. He was playing peek-a-boo with a potted plant, and somehow the plant scared him every time. Ragatha sighed and turned to look at Jax. “Do you still remember the last day like this, Jax?”
“Duh.” He said. “I remember everything. Last free day happened because Caine was glitching out. He said that he needed to take a 'spa day', which really just meant fixing his issues with the oldest trick in the book by turning himself off and on again. He left Bubble in charge, but Bubble just flew around splashing us all with champagne and yelling 'Freedom from the bourgeoisie' all day, so we were pretty much left to just do whatever.”
“Caine glitching sounds really terrifying...” Pomni said, hugging herself.
“Naaah, it was funny.” Jax waved her off with a grin. “Bubble made the champagne strong. You should have been there! Kaufy could not hold his liquor!”
“Haha, yeah... Bubble was way too generous with the champagne, but it was a nice change.” Ragatha said, a small smile tugging at her lips. She quickly schooled her expression back into something more serious. “But, still, that was getting too wild.”
“Oh, yeah, you were so stressed trying to protect me from the champagne, I thought your doll body would grow veins just so one on your forehead could pop.” Jax said, snickering.
Ragatha pouted, balling her fists in her lap, though she didn't seem as mad as he usually made her. “Well, you were a minor! And Bubble wanted to give you alcohol!”
“You were a minor?” Pomni asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I'm twenty-two now, Pom Pom, do the math. I was a minor literally two years ago.” Jax shrugged. “But we don't have bodies here, and the alcohol is literally just ones and zeroes, so who cares?”
“I care! Your body isn't in here, but your brain is! And that's where the damage is done!”
“Maybe if Ragatha succeeded you wouldn't be so braindead now.” Zooble commented.
Jax smirked at them. “Oh, she did succeed. I didn't get a single drop of champagne, no matter how hard Bubble tried. The brain damage was caused by hearing you talk, actually.”
“Then you won't mind if I add more brain damage in the form of blunt force applied to your head.” Zooble narrowed their eyes at him.
“Okay...” Ragatha interrupted with a nervous chuckle. “Let's not let this escalate any further, okay? Today is our first free day in years, let's enjoy it!”
“Oh, I'm planning to!” Kinger exclaimed. “I'm going to explore the grounds and catalogue insects! Wait... did Caine even program insects to be out there?” He tapped his chin, thinking hard. Then he shrugged. “Oh well! I've got all day to find out!”
“Oh, uh... good luck with that, Kinger!” Ragatha replied, waving as he left the Tent.
“Thank you! I'll need it!” He replied ominously, already out before anyone could comment on that. Ragatha looked a little worried, but Pomni assured her that he would be fine.
“Do you maybe wanna draw something together?” Zooble asked Gangle, a soft smile in their eyes. Gangle returned it with enthusiasm, nodding. “Oh, I'd love to!” She replied.
Then she paused, and Jax saw how her eyes flickered over to him for a second. It was like he could read her thoughts in that moment, because he smiled lazily and threw one arm around Ragatha and one arm around Pomni, making both of them frown in discomfort. “Guess that means I'm bothering you ladies today.”
The rabbit turned around and led them to walk away, but not before he winked at Gangle and said; “Don't be jealous, Ribbons, you're on my list for later!”
“Leave her alone, d[!<%]wad.” Zooble warned him.
Gangle, who knew that he meant that quite differently this time, had to stop herself from giggling. Her boyfriend turned his smile on Zooble then. “Oh Zoobie, are you worried about getting left out? There's no need for that! You're getting your Jaxxy-time later, I promise!” He said cheekily.
Zooble growled, turning away. “Come on Gangle, let's get away from here.”
“Oh, sure! See you later guys!” Gangle waved at the others, following Zooble, the two of them walking in the opposite direction of the others.
“Uh, see you later!” Pomni said, miraculously still in Jax's arm even though she usually didn't like physical touch. Ragatha had no problem with touch, but she looked a little afraid of what was going to happen now. But if Pomni wanted to hang out with Jax, she shouldn't leave them alone... It probably was best if she kept an eye on him, and she wanted to spend time with Pomni, so... Win-win?
“Yeah, bye Gangle, bye Zooble!” She called out.
“See you later, don't get killed by the rabies edgelord.” Zooble said.
Jax raised the arm that was previously around Ragatha to give an obnoxious wave as well, not turning to look over his shoulder. “Bye Ribbons, bye clown vomit!”
“F[§%!] off, furry boy.” They showed him a censored middlefinger, also not turning around.
This was promising to be a good day already.
~~~
Jax was having a really good time.
Pomni was fun company, and he loved watching Ragatha get an aneurysm every time he made the jester laugh. He didn't get what her problem was, maybe she was jealous or something, but it was hilarious either way. She was constantly giving him that look, only to immediately switch to a smile as soon as Pomni turned to look at her, laughing nervously or agreeing or offering commentary like she wasn't just glaring daggers at Jax. And while she fought to seem positive, he just gave her a three-shaped grin, watching her struggle with great amusement.
Of course, Ragatha had her fun today too. And whenever she seemed to be genuinely happy, Jax would try not to look at her, but his eyes always ended up being drawn to her cute little laugh. Brows furrowed even though he didn't want this to bother him, arms crossed and fingers digging into his arms, a nostalgic kind of cold gripping his chest, like a weaker version of what he felt when he first realized that Ragatha had never really been honest with him.
Whatever. That's why he stopped feeling. Only brought problems.
Except, Gangle had proven that this wasn't true, right? She had said so just this morning.
He had allowed her in, and it hadn't ended in catastrophe so far, so... maybe he could allow the others in too, at some point. Slowly. When he was sure that letting Gangle come closer to him wasn't a terrible mistake.
He was not scared, thank you very much. He was Jax, and Jax wasn't scared. He was the funny one. Being scared wasn't in his archetype. He was just... careful. You couldn't be careful enough with your mind in this place, it was all that mattered here. The others didn't seem to understand that, being so focused on their avatars and protecting their bodies from harm, as if they were real. Nothing here was real, except for their minds and the risk of abstraction looming above them, so he thought it was pretty reasonable to focus all his efforts on protecting his mind instead of his body, and he did so by distancing himself from the greatest source of mental harm to ever exist: other people.
But now Gangle was in. She'd made it past the distance and the walls he had built around himself. And as if that wasn't enough, now Pomni was sprinting after her, attempting to get inside as well! If he knew his girlfriend, she would even hold out a helping ribbon to pull the jester up.
And maybe he would let her, if he felt safe enough with it.
But not Ragatha. Never again Ragatha.
Jax was sure that sentiment was returned by her, judging by her tired glare.
He was just about to make her day worse, when he noticed a piece of paper just... appearing in his hand. He frowned down at it, looking up to make sure the girls were talking amongst themselves. When he saw that they weren't paying attention to him right now, he opened the paper and saw a message written in what he assumed must be Caine's handwriting, because there were lots of bee drawings around it, along with a mini message saying 'look at this cool S I can draw!'
Jax rolled his eyes at that, getting to the actual message;
It's date time!!!
Please proceed to your room, a new outfit based on your recorded preferences in clothing has spawned on your bed! Change, get ready, and meet your beloved outside of the Tent!
In love!!!!!
Caine!!!!!
PS: I love you guys :))))
Jax folded the message again and tucked it away in his front pocket, looking up at the girls again. “Welp, this was fun, but I believe that I promised Gangle to bully her today too, so I gotta go now.” He said, standing up.
Ragatha frowned at him. “Come on Jax, go easy on her. She's having fun with Zooble right now. Don't ruin that for her.”
“I'm not gonna ruin anything.” He said, smirking, because this time he actually meant that.
“Jax...” She warned, using that disappointed tone.
“Why not just stay with us?” Pomni asked, showing him a nervous but genuine smile. She didn't want him to bother Gangle, but it was also true that she wanted to spend more time with him. That she wanted him to stay.
Pomni really liked having him around, and... when he fought his fears like he'd promised Gangle, then he could admit that someone actually wanting him around felt really nice. Just not out loud. Not yet.
Still, he had a date to go on.
“Another time, Pom-Pom. My evening belongs to Ribbons.” He did a finger gun at them and left. He heard Ragatha sigh behind him, asking Pomni if they should intervene, to which the jester answered that Zooble would probably handle him if he overstepped.
He'd like to see the geometry class try.
He sauntered to his room, lazily spinning the key around his finger as he approached the door. Inside, he found the new outfit Caine had promised waiting on his bed, just as he was told. Humming, he picked up the clothes to take a look at them.
A dark purple dress shirt, way darker than his fur, a pair of black pants, and even some black shoes. Not a bad choice, he had to give that to the flying dentures. He went to the bathroom to smooth his fur down once more, just to be sure. He had to look good for his date, after all. He got dressed, leaving the first few buttons of the shirt undone, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
He took a look at himself in the bathroom mirror, really liking what he saw. Of course, that was nothing new, Jax was just handsome, what could he say? The ladies love him, the fellas love him, every enby but Zooble loves him, and he was pretty sure Zooble just didn't know any joy in life. Still, that outfit was a hit, made him look nice like in that bar adventure.
With one last smirk at the mirror, he opened his door to make sure that no one was in the hall. They'd definitely ask questions if they saw him in this outfit, especially because it was a new one. Caine didn't give out new outfits for no reason, and the others would want to know that reason. And Jax... wasn't ready for that.
Sure, part of the reason he kept their relationship secret for now really was that it made things funnier and kept it more interesting, but the other part of the reason was just as Gangle had guessed, even though he wouldn't admit that to her. He had an image to maintain, and that image was his emotional shield in this wacky world. Without it, Jax didn't know who he was anymore. Being with Gangle was helping him find out, but until then, he couldn't show the others.
It had been a hot minute since he was fully honest about his real wants and needs as a real human, as a real person. He'd talked himself into believing he was a two-dimensional cartoon character to the point where he had to rediscover those wants and needs for himself now. He was willing to share that finding process with Gangle, because she was the whole reason he was putting in effort now, but the others were best kept out of his personal business for now.
Besides, if anything went wrong in their relationship, everyone would blame him.
Again. He didn't want to go through that again.
But there was no one in the hall, so he wouldn't have to.
He snuck out of the Tent, waiting for his girlfriend by the exit. There were some way signs put up, all reading something like 'If you're Gangle and Jax, go this way! If you aren't, ignore this!'
Jax rolled his eyes. Subtle, Caine. Real subtle. He could only hope that Kinger hadn't seen the signs while looking for insects, even though Hoo Ha probably wouldn't think too much of it anyway.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking up at the simulated nightsky, enjoying the artificial breeze on his skin. The Moon was up already, smiling down at him gently.
“Why, hello there little bunny.” She greeted him. “Come to keep me company this lovely night?”
“Nope, sorry.” He replied, a slightly annoyed smile on his face, eyes drifting away from the Moon. “I'm just waiting for someone.”
“Oh, is there a special someone in your life?” She asked sweetly.
“No.” He replied curtly.
He was just grateful that, despite being a celestial body, she knew how to keep her voice down. Caine should take notes.
“Aww...” She sounded disappointed on his behalf. “I know that feeling. Don't worry, little one. There is someone for you.”
Jax rolled his eyes. “Not for me, Moon. I'm a lone wolf.”
She giggled. “Lone wolves howl at the moon, too.”
He raised a brow at her. Was that supposed to be an innuendo?
He just... he was just going to ignore that. He really didn't want to continue this conversation. What was taking Gangle so long? Had she not noticed Caine's message?
But just as he was wondering that, he heard her sweet voice call out behind him; “Jax!”
He turned around, a smooth greeting on his tongue, but stopped with wide eyes when he saw her. She wore a black, lolita-style jumper dress over a white blouse, a neat black bow tied at her collar. There were four golden buttons at the front of the dress, and cute ruffles at the wrists of the sleeves and the bottom of the dress, which ended about halfway down what her shins would be. Her long white socks reached until about where her knees should be, black bows in front that matched the ones on her collar, and wearing black mary janes as shoes.
She looked stunning.
There were a smile and a blush on her porcelain face. “Oh... Jaxxy, you-”
“You're gorgeous.” He interrupted her, unable to tear his eyes away from her.
Gangle's blush deepened, eyes widening. “O-oh... oh, thank you...” Her smile widened, and she had to look away out of embarrassment at his breathless compliment. Her whole face was red. Looking up at him again, she saw small white hearts in his pupils as he looked at her.
She felt her heart beat against her non-existent chest when he looked at her like that.
Jax stepped towards her, cupping her mask in his hand, running a gentle thumb over the edge. Gangle tilted her head up, and after a quick look over her shoulder he determined that no one was near the entrance to see how he kissed her.
Gangle wrapped a ribbon hand around his wrist, smiling up at him. “You look really handsome...” She said, looking up at him with a love-sick smile. And, oh, he looked so cute when he blushed. Because of something she had said, at that.
“Your... your legs look really good in those pants.” She added, but her eyes were not on his legs.
He clearly noticed that, judging by the smirk on his face. “My legs, huh?”
Gangle blushed, trying to fight her smile. “Among other things, yes.”
He looked away with a shy smile, cheeks still darker than usual, and took her ribbon hand in his. “Come on, let's leave before someone sees us out here. Caine marked the way for us.”
Jax led her down the path the signs marked, the two of them walking hand in hand.
“Aww, you have a special someone after all...” The Moon cooed.
Gangle raised a brow as she looked up at the sky. “What?”
“Ignore her.” Jax instructed. “And you!” He pointed up at the sky with a sharp look. “Not a word of this to anyone!”
The Moon sighed wistfully. “I wish Caine would take me on a date sometimes...”
~~~
The signs led them to a fancy restaurant that definitely wasn't on the Grounds before.
“Oh, good, he stuck to my idea.” Gangle said. “I told him to keep it simple for his first time and just send us to a restaurant.”
“Don't get too excited yet, Precious.” Jax replied. “Let's see what's inside first.”
They went in, being greeted by a mannequin with a fake mustache. “Ah, Mister Jax, Miss Gangle! We've reserved a table for you, this way, follow me please.”
The interior of the restaurant was surprisingly nice, too. Not that Caine hadn't created pretty surroundings in past adventures as well, but there was always something happening, or rather, going wrong. But here, there was no chaos in sight, at least not yet. Just the pleasant buzz of conversation at the tables, the waiters zipping around, delicately balancing plates, and the soft music in the background. They were led to their table, a candle and a rose on the white tablecloth. The mannequin handed them their menus and politely excused himself.
“Huh, so this really is a restaurant.” Jax stated, brows furrowed as he opened his menu.
“What else would it be?” Gangle asked.
“Have you met Caine?” He asked in return, raising an eyebrow at her. “It could be literally anything. It's more surprising that it just is what he said it would be.”
“Well, I think you really got through to him about having to learn. He actually stuck to my notes!” She exclaimed, a smile on her face. “Maybe you could try to talk to him about adventures too?” She asked.
“Nah, that wouldn't work.” Jax replied, eyes scanning the menu.
“How are you so sure?”
“Because I already tried that, years ago. Worked about as much as it does with Zooble now. Everyone tries it at some point, but Caine never listens. Do you think that wine can actually make us drunk?” He squinted at the drink section.
“You already tried?” She asked, frowning. “I thought you liked Caine's more... chaotic adventures.”
“Oh, I do. But I still had my own suggestions, you know.” He waved a hand around. “The suggestion box is older than you might think, but he always forgot that it was there, even back then. I tried to get him to use it more, because me and my friend had hilarious ideas. Besides, Raggy didn't like the chaotic adventures as much, even though she never admitted that.”
“And you... cared?” Gangle asked carefully.
Jax rolled his eyes. “If you have a question, Gangle, just ask it. Don't beat around the bush.”
“W-well...” She cleared her throat, putting her menu down and looking up at him. “I've actually been wondering about something lately. You said that you used to have pajama parties with Ragatha, so, you were close, right?”
He sighed and put his menu down too. He frowned at her, clearly annoyed. “Yes. We were close. And?”
“What happened for the two of you to end up like... this?” There was a sad look in her eyes, despite the comedy mask on her face. He always knew the thing was fake.
For a moment, Gangle thought she spotted something like sadness in his eyes too, but it was gone again in a flash, his pupils expanding until they took up most of his eyes.
“I realized who she really is. And she realized who I really am.”
His monotone voice worried her, but he quickly regained his smile, shaking his head. “Pretty, is that really how you want to spend our date? Talking about Ragatha?”
She wanted to talk about this topic, but Jax was right, she didn't really want to do it right now. Tonight was date night, their first one at that! Surely there were more pleasant topics for now. Gangle smiled, picking up her menu again. “Y-yeah, you're right. Uhm...”
She clearly had trouble coming up with something, but Jax was eager for a topic change, and he probably never once in his life had a problem finding something to say, if Gangle had to guess. With a sigh and a softer smile, he asked; “How was drawing with Zooble? Did they bore you to death?”
She giggled and rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. You know, hanging out with Zooble is really fun when you don't antagonize them the entire time. They're really good company.”
“Sounds fake, but okay.” He raised his hands in surrender, making a show of not buying it.
“And drawing was nice. I actually got a lot done today! It was like I hit this creative flow!” She said. “It's been a while since that happened!”
“Oh, maybe you can show me what you made.” He rested an elbow on the table, leaning his cheek against his palm as he looked at her with a loving smile. “That, or I'll just steal them.”
“Jax!” She scolded playfully.
“What? You know I'll get my hands on those drawings one way or another!”
Soon the waiter came by to take their order, and they decided to try the wine, no matter if it would have an effect or not. The waiter thanked them and took their menus before leaving them again. They were pretty impressed by Caine's programming for the NPC staff of the restaurant, and the whole interior and atmosphere was really nice too. Now they only had to wait to see if the food was going to be any better than the polygonal meals they usually got, always with a slight taste of static behind the actual flavor.
The wine came first. Since Caine didn't know any actual wine – and honestly, Jax wouldn't know any real types of wine either – they just chose one of the made up wine names on the menu. Gangle had picked a black cherry wine called 'Ringmaster's Choice', even though her boyfriend frowned at the name.
“Hey, I like sweet wine. And if Caine puts his brand on it, he must think he did a good job with it, right?” She had reasoned.
“I want you to think really hard for a moment about what Caine considers 'good'.” He'd countered. She had stared at him with big blinking eyes, and he'd just frowned at her.
But now that the wine was here, he had to admit that she'd picked well – not that he had any references on fancy wines, but this was tasty, even though it didn't make them feel inebriated. They hadn't planned to get drunk tonight or anything, but Jax wouldn't have said no to smuggling a bottle or two back to the circus. That was probably exactly the reason why the wine didn't work. Wine wasn't family friendly, but Stupid Sauce was? Really, Caine?
“Just getting out is really nice already.” Gangle commented as she took a sip of her fake wine. “Well, we're still on the Grounds, but... you know.”
Jax looked up at her. “Yeah.” He said, for once with no humor in his voice, just really sympathizing. “I know.”
“It's nice to have a change of scenery other than adventures that constantly try to kill us...” She sighed.
He smirked again. “Well, you know how much I love almost getting killed, but this isn't bad, either.” He said.
Gangle smirked back. “Oh? I thought you dreaded this date?”
“That was until I saw you in that dress, Pretty.” He replied with a wink, reaching over the table to hold her hand. Gangle smiled and blushed again, raising her free hand to her cheek. She giggled. “Oh... You're cute, Jaxxy.”
“I sure hope so.” He said, taking a sip of wine. “I put effort into looking good for you, you know. Would be a shame if I didn't at least look cute.”
She giggled again. “No, you are cute. I mean, you look cute too. You always do!” She smiled at him. That happy smile and her genuine tone of voice made him look away from her in embarrassment. “...Whatever.” He mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Gangle squeezed his hand in hers to get his attention again. “But you do look very dashing tonight. And... you wanted to look good for me?” She tilted her head slightly, porcelain cheeks a lovely shade of pink.
Jax leaned his cheek against his free hand again, turning his face slightly into his palm as if to hide. The only thing that achieved was to make him look even more adorable, which was probably the opposite of what he wanted. “...Pffr. 'Course I did. You're my girlfriend.”
“Aww, Jaxxy!”
“Shut up, it's not even a big deal.” He murmured.
Before they could continue that thread of conversation, Bubble floated next to their table, wearing a tiny little white apron, a red bowtie and a fake mustache to match that of the mannequin who had led them to their table.
“Mmmmm good evening!” He greeted them. “Would you like a serenade this lovely evening?”
“Oh, no, thank you Bubble, but we're goo-” Gangle was about to politely decline, but he was already clearing his throat and started to sing;
“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That is violence!”
Gangle widened her eyes at the changed line, and of course her boyfriend just looked amused. Violence always had that effect on him.
“She is probably mad because Caine doesn't answer
Her emails!
I can tell that he likes her but he is too scared of
Commitment!
Now he's glaring at me real angry like he's just gonna
Kill me!
Bye bye!”
The little AI zoomed away, and Jax and Gangle turned to the direction he had looked in, finding their ringmaster sitting a few tables away, poorly trying to hide his huge denture head behind a menu, obviously watching them, and now glaring at the retreating form of Bubble.
“Caine.” Jax called out, frowning. Caine ignored him and raised his menu a little, which did nothing to hide him. “Caine. We can see you.”
The AI lowered the menu and cleared his throat. “Oh, Gangle, Jax, I didn't even see you there!”
“Are you... watching our date?” Gangle asked, a brow raised.
“What? No! I'm just making sure everything is going well!” Caine replied. “Just go on, pretend I'm not even here! You were being so cute just now! That means my date is good, right?”
“Okay... Creepy, Caine.” Jax said, before turning back to his girlfriend, because there really was no stopping Caine when he had gotten something into his head.
The couple looked at each other for a moment, before bursting out into giggles because of how absurd this was.
“So, uh... The Moon is sending Caine emails?” Gangle asked.
Jax smirked. “What, do you wanna draw ship art of them now?”
Gangle went quiet at that, averting her eyes from him. Jax's grin went huge and his eyes widened. “No way. You already did?!”
~~~