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"We're not dating," Clarissa insisted, looking for a way out of the conversation Emma had cornered her into. Admittedly, Clarissa had originally been the one to seek her out, needing a second opinion on whether it was strange to be making a 10-year-plan with a woman she wasn't romantically involved with. At some point, though, the tables had turned.
Emma refrained from shouting, attempting to tame the vein that was popping out on her temple. She schooled her voice into an almost patronizing calmness. "Clarissa, you take her out every Friday."
"Yes, there's a lot to do around town, and it's simply not very much fun to try to enjoy it all by yourself."
Clarissa was glad she had Leonora to do it all with. In all her years at the school, she had scarcely left the grounds until she and Leonora started becoming friends. She had never had a reason to, and she hated being out in public alone. Now her standing appointment with Leonora on Friday evenings was one of the highlights—fine, the highlight—of her week. If she had known she enjoyed going out so much, maybe she would have braved the town sooner. Still, it didn't have the same appeal when she thought about going alone.
"You live together," Emma tried.
Clarissa frowned. "We're roommates."
That had only made sense. With the two schools joined in unity, why shouldn't the two deans embrace the lack of separation, too? And besides, someone had to keep an eye on the Storian, and how were they supposed to choose which one of them should take on that task? It was only logical for them to both move into the School Master's tower. This way, they got to spend a lot more time together, too, which was always nice.
Emma could feel the exasperation building in her voice, no matter how much she tried to suppress it. "You kiss her."
"Well, she's surprisingly affectionate."
That had been unexpected, but Clarissa wasn't complaining. She had always liked to express herself with touch, even platonically, but it often didn't feel appropriate with her coworkers and definitely not with her students. Considering Leonora refused to give even the expected handshakes when greeting important guests, Clarissa had always thought she was touch-averse.
Apparently, it was just part of her menacing facade. Behind closed doors, she always seemed to be brushing up against Clarissa, reaching for her hand, leaning against her on the loveseat. And sure, they kissed, but wasn't unusual for women in Clarissa's social circles to kiss each other hello and goodbye. Granted the kisses she shared with Leonora had moved far past the usual chaste, closed-lip ones Clarissa was used to in friendly platonic relationships, and they did seem to kiss much more often now than just when they were greeting each other or leaving. But maybe that was the custom for Nevers.
And anyway, it was nice. Clarissa liked kissing, especially someone whose lips were so soft and moved so easily against her own. She liked that she could smell Leonora's pine perfume, and she liked the way Leonora would gently cradle her cheek or thread her fingers through her hair. Gentle had never been a word she associated with Leonora before their newly united friendship, but it seemed to fit oddly well when they were alone together.
Emma cleared her throat loudly, startling Clarissa from her daydream. She wondered if pointing out the blush on her cheeks or the dazed, starstruck look in her eyes would get her any further in trying to make Clarissa understand, but she had a feeling it wouldn't. Emma sighed deeply, already hating herself for bringing up what she was about to say. She earnestly tried to think about it as little as humanly possible, even when Clarissa was rhapsodizing about it over their afternoon tea.
"You have sex with her," Emma gritted out. She knew that sex didn't equal a relationship, but when combined with all the other things they did together, she wasn't exactly sure what else Clarissa thought their relationship might be.
Clarissa blushed as if she hadn't spilled several details too many to Emma on multiple previous occasions. "I mean, it just makes sense since we're already living together and going on dates and kissing anyway. It would just be an unnecessary amount of work for both of us to try to find other people to sleep with instead. And besides, we don't need other people, because we have each other."
Emma stared at her. She was out of words. She could practically see the "..." appearing above her own head.
Clarissa's eyebrows pulled together as she contemplated what she had just said, looking down in thought, and Emma hoped to all things Good that what she was seeing were the wheels starting to turn. Clarissa started breathing more shallowly. She blinked twice, her lips falling slightly open and her eyes widening. Emma raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"Oh my god. Are we dating?"
Emma looked up to the ceiling, willing the gods above to grant her patience as she heaved an extensively world-weary sigh. "Yes, Clarissa."
Clarissa looked at her, an almost comical expression of shock gracing her face as, thank the lucky stars, the realization dawned on her. She grabbed Emma's arm. "Does she know?"
Emma opened her mouth to say yes Clarissa, everyone knows, then closed it, chewing the inside of her cheek as her brow furrowed in thought. Did she? She had always just assumed that Leonora's...questionable approach to romance came from her being a Never. When she thought about it, Emma realized that it was quite possible the only two people in the entire school who didn't know they were dating were the two women themselves.
"No, you know what, this is way above my pay grade. Why don't you go find her and you two can sort this out for yourselves?" Emma suggested. She was simply past the point of being able to guess about either of their actions. Somehow, together, they were the most puzzling people Emma had ever known.
Clarissa watched Emma turn on her heel and march away, muttering something under her breath. She caught the words oblivious and just right for each other. Clarissa frowned. Well, how was she supposed to know that they had been dating this whole time? Nobody had bothered to tell her.
On the other side of the school, in the Doom Room she was now forbidden from using for student punishment, Leonora had Manley trapped in the chair. She hadn't actually restrained him—her imposing form leaning over him and jabbing him in the chest with the end of her cane did the trick. The small man's eyes shifted as he nervously wiggled one of his teeth with his fingers.
"Tell me again," Leonora demanded.
Manley's eyes darted to her, then almost immediately back down to the floor. He wasn't sure what he had done wrong, but having Lady Lesso's undivided attention was less fun than he had previously imagined.
"She's...your girlfriend, ma'am," he wheezed, as Leonora's cane pressed horizontally against his windpipe.
"Did she say that?"
Manley hesitantly shook his head, eyeing the cane at his throat as he carefully considered what he should say.
"No, ma'am. But everyone knows."
Leonora's eyes narrowed. What was that supposed to mean? How could they all 'know' something that wasn't even true?
Unless...it was true. She would admit that she wasn't exactly well-versed in romance and courting rituals. She had always sort of hoped that Clarissa might be interested in something more with her, but she didn't dare to ask. They had gotten exponentially closer since the two schools united, and she wasn't willing to risk what they did have. Which was suspiciously close to what she thought romantic relationships were supposed to entail.
"Why would we be girlfriends?" she hissed, removing her cane from Manley's throat to slam the tip of it against the floor, the sound echoing loudly and ominously throughout the room. She needed more information, though it was a particularly unpleasant twist of fate that Manley seemed to be the one to have it.
Manley swallowed. "People have noticed that both of you disappear every Friday night. They think you go on dates. But maybe not!" he added quickly, seeing the temper spark in Lady Lesso's eyes. "People have been known to be...wrong." Although he would bet on his largest wart that, in this case, they weren't.
Leonora rolled her eyes. If that was what this was all about, it was a ridiculous waste of her time. She and Clarissa liked to make time for their...friendship...by going out on the town. It was true that, in years past, Leonora had turned down countless offers to join people on their outings by saying that she would rather amputate her own arm without numbing potion, but the past was the past. Things were different now. Going out seemed much more pleasant than it ever had, particularly (only?) if Clarissa was by her side.
"Is that all?" she asked, projecting boredom into her tone. She may have been desperate to know more about what Manley—and apparently everyone else—thought they saw between her and Clarissa, but Manley didn't need to know that.
"Erm, no?" he answered, his voice pitching up at the end like a question. Under Lady Lesso's unrelenting glare, he forced himself to continue, picking his words very, very cautiously.
"People—" meaning literally everyone in the entire school, including himself "—have picked up on the fact—" have witnessed with their own eyes and ears "—that you two are affectionate with—" definitely fucking "—each other," he said.
Leonora scowled. "People are affectionate with each other all the time. I fail to see how that has any bearing on anything."
Sure, she may have noticed that their...physical activities had possibly moved past the realm of merely friendly, but maybe Clarissa was just a very emotional and demonstrative person. Maybe that was how she liked to show her friends that she loved them. Platonically. Leonora couldn't quite picture Clarissa doing the same with Emma—and thank the gods for that—but the two of them had a unique and complex relationship, and that was different. And if Clarissa wanted to express her feelings that way, Leonora was certainly not going to stop her.
Manley wanted to ask her if she knew that, when the windows of the School Master's old tower were open, any sounds coming from inside were heard quite clearly by anyone who happened to be walking past on the bridge, but he valued his pleasantly miserable life a little too much.
"What?" Leonora snapped, seeing him seemingly swallow his words.
Manley weighed the balance of whatever he said next getting him released from the Doom Room safely versus getting him a particularly sharp axe in the head. "Have you, maybe, ever, possibly discussed the nature of your...relationship with Professor Dovey?"
"Who would I discuss it with?" Leonora asked sharply. It wasn't like she had a lot of friends around here, and she was hardly going to bring a question like that to the Seer.
Manley looked at her, trying to suppress the incredulousness from showing on his face. "With...with her, ma'am."
Leonora scowled. Well...no was the short answer. It didn't seem like the thing to do, especially when their friendship was otherwise going so well. Anyway, she couldn't really think of anything that would change if they decided to be in a relationship. They were doing it all already.
The creases between her eyebrows deepened. They were doing it all already.
She jerked back suddenly, eyeing Manley suspiciously. What could a stupid little man like him know? And yet...
"Go," she ordered, stepping away from him and gesturing to the door with her cane.
Manley jumped up quickly. He wasn't sure if they had reached an understanding, but that wasn't his problem, and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity to get out of the vicinity of her vast weapon collection as soon as possible. He darted for the door.
Leonora watched him leave, then began pacing the floor, tapping her cane loudly with each step. Maybe she should talk with Clarissa. What if they had been in a relationship this whole time and she hadn't realized it? She should have been buying her more flowers. And maybe a ring. Was Clarissa wondering why she hadn't proposed? She would have done it by now if she had known, considering they were already living together and sleeping together and planning their future together and couldn't imagine life without each other.
Leonora brushed out the door, determined to find Clarissa and figure this all out.
They met each other halfway across the bridge. Leonora was planning on getting the question about their relationship out of the way before anything else, but then Clarissa just looked so beautiful with the setting sun backlighting her, making her glow like a goddess of light, and she decided speaking was not the best use of her lips right then.
Clarissa let herself be pulled into the kiss. She had intended to ask Leonora if they were dating before they did anything else, but she was only human, and she certainly wasn't going to pull away when Leonora was pressing her close and kissing her like that. Maybe Emma was onto something...Clarissa supposed she had never felt this kind of warmth, this desperate compulsion for more when embracing a regular friend.
Maybe Manley was onto something, Leonora thought. She could see how people could get the impression that they were more than friends when they kissed each other like this. It wasn't her fault that it hurt to be away from Clarissa for even a matter of hours. Anyone with a brain must have felt that way when someone as captivating as Clarissa was out of sight. Other people at the school felt like a piece of them was missing when Clarissa wasn't in their near vicinity, too...didn't they?
They broke away for air.
"Are we dating?" Clarissa blurted out before she lost her nerve, her question partially covered by Leonora asking "Are we girlfriends?" at the same time.
They looked at each other for a moment.
"Yes?" Leonora ventured.
Clarissa nodded. "I think so."
Leonora let out the breath she had been holding. Clarissa looked up at her, her face splitting into a smile.
"You didn't know, either, did you? I told Emma that it wasn't that obvious—"
"No, but Manley just informed me that everyone else in the school knows, so..."
"They do?" Clarissa asked, glancing around as if to check if they were listening in now. "How?"
"I...I suppose we have been going on dates, and moving in together, and doing...other things that might lead people to believe that we were romantically involved."
Clarissa tried to wrap her head around it all. "And they're okay with that?"
"I suppose so. No one said anything to me until Manley offhandedly mentioned my 'girlfriend.'"
"And that's...me?"
"Yes, Dove."
"Oh," Clarissa said, giving an adorable little nod. "Well, alright, then. That's good."
Leonora couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Clarissa's face, looking as if they had just come to an amicable business agreement.
"Would you like to shake on it?" Leonora teased her.
Clarissa, evidently not understanding the joke, earnestly held out her right hand. The grin on Leonora's face widened. She took Clarissa's hand in her own, bringing it up to her lips and softly kissing the back of it.
"That was a joke, Princess," she said, not letting go of her hand.
Clarissa blushed. "Oh. Well, it does seem like we should make it official somehow."
Leonora raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I have some ideas."
Clarissa giggled as she let herself be pulled up the stairs to their tower, certain that she would be rather pleased with the things Leonora had in mind.