Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Doing anything exciting on Friday?” Palamedes asked.

He said it casually, without even looking up from his battered old notebook. Gideon didn’t mind that he was studying at the same time as they grabbed coffee. She knew how busy he was. To avoid feeling awkward just sitting there, she was playing a random mobile game that she didn’t remember ever downloading. It had cute girls in it.

“Nah, Harrow says she hates Valentine’s Day.” Gideon shrugged like she didn’t give a fuck.

Palamedes lifted his gaze from his notes. The look in his intense grey eyes told Gideon that not only did he know that she gave a fuck, but that he also knew exactly how much of a fuck she gave.

“Harrowhark says that she hates most things, including you,” he said carefully.

“Well, yeah,” Gideon shrugged, “but she really means it this time. She keeps saying it is a capitalist ploy to sell more engagement rings, heart-shaped chocolate boxes, or whatever.”

“She’s not exactly wrong about that one.”

“I guess.”

To stop being assaulted by the pity in his weirdly pretty eyes, she looked out of the window. The weather was as grey as Palamedes’ sweater. She knew that he was not easily distracted, but that he was nice enough to let things go, for a while, as long as she’d come up with another conversation topic. Her mind supplied her with a sarcastic remark.

“So what about you? Are you getting a big bouquet of roses for your girl or something equally soppy?” She asked.

Palamedes smiled a bit. “Which girl?”

Without her explicit permission, Gideon’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Palamedes flipped through his notebook, searching for something while continuing to look smug. It was an annoying look on his pointy face. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of asking anything, Gideon waited for him to speak.

Eventually he said, “Camilla and I are seeing someone new.”

“Cool,” Gideon replied.

She refrained from asking for details, and he volunteered none. When all the coffee was gone, they ended their hangout. Gideon knew she should make an effort to see him more often, she didn’t have too many friends. The bullshit upbringing of both her and Harrow had made both of them really bad at friendship. The shared misery had also somehow made them a perfect fit for each other. It was a mixed bag.

Gideon left the cafe feeling pretty good but didn't even get home before her phone rang. She fished the phone out of her pocket and looked at the cracked screen. Her grin widened as she read the caller ID affectionately labelled "my lamentable queen." Gideon answered the call, but couldn't even get a witty greeting in before Harrow started talking in an annoyed voice.

“Griddle, why is Sextus asking whether you and I would like to join his table reservation for Valentine’s Day?” She demanded.

“Either he is planning to add you in his polycule, in which case I’d appreciate it if you politely declined,” Gideon said.

“Or?”

“Or it's because I bitched about you not wanting to do anything for Valentine's, and he’s trying to help,” Gideon admitted a bit sheepishly.

People said emotional vulnerability was the key to a successful relationship, but talking about feelings was dreadful.

“Sextus should learn to keep his large nose out of other people’s business,” Harrow replied.

“Wow, rude.”

“What did he tell you about his new girlfriend,” Harrow asked suddenly.

“Just that he has one. Why? Do you know her or something?” Gideon said. She hadn't really been thinking of Palamedes and Camilla’s new girl. She had briefly known their last one, and attended her funeral a few years back.

“We have met,” Harrow said delicately.

There was an unsettling quality in the way she said it that instantly set off the alarm bells in Gideon’s mind. She couldn't see anything obviously wrong with what Harrow said, but she had learned to trust her gut around Harrow. There was a trap here. Harrow’s next words made it clear.

“Well, I shall agree to this, if it would make you happy,” she said.

Gideon had the sinking suspicion this would not make her happy. It would be clever to decline the invite.

“It’s a date,” she heard herself saying anyway.

Friday evening came fast. The downtown was always busy, but Valentine’s Day had encouraged annoying amounts of people out to the streets. Shivering in the jacket Gideon had chosen because it looked cool and not because it was warm, she waited for Harrow at the bus stop right next to the restaurant Palamedes had chosen for the evening. Or Camilla had. She seemed keen to micromanage all of their affairs. Maybe she had even chosen the new girlfriend, Gideon could ask. The bus pulled up, and suddenly Gideon did not think of Camilla. Gideon’s date had shown up wrapped in enough black lace to clothe an army of haunted porcelain dolls. As soon as Harrow stepped out of the vehicle, Gideon snatched her into a bear hug, lifting Harrow’s feet off the ground.

“Unhand me, you brute,” Harrow complained, but there was no bite to these words.

Gideon unhanded her, but only after she had given Harrow a little spin to which Harrow responded with an undignified yelp. Gideon was about to give Harrow her gift, which was safely tucked in her pocket even though she knew how Harrow felt about Valentine's Day gifts, but she got distracted. When she had not been looking, Palamedes and Camilla had arrived. Next to them, leaning against the restaurant’s wall and smoking a cigarette was someone else Gideon knew.

Pyrrha winked at her.

“Oh fuck,” Gideon muttered.

“I never said I met her through Sextus,” Harrow said, looking all too pleased with Gideon’s annoyance. “I simply recognised her from a picture Hect posted.”

“You could have warned me.”

“It is much funnier this way.”

Unfortunately, it really was sort of funny.

“You are such a bitch,” Gideon said anyway.

Judging by the identically raised eyebrows, Palamedes and Camilla weren't aware of the connection either, and Pyrrha was giving them a quick rundown. It didn't take Gideon and Harrow long to get close enough to hear Pyrrha talking.

“-not really a tale to be fully recounted in front of a polite company, though,” she was saying.

“Are any of your stories?” Camilla asked.

“Of course not.”

“I see the local zoo is missing its cougar,” said Gideon, who had never been to the zoo and didn't know if they even had cougars.

Pyrrha remained as impossible to insult as ever and just smiled. With a casual flick of her wrist, she extinguished her cigarette.

“I knew it would be you as soon as Palamedes told me his friend’s name. No one else in the whole world is called Harrowhark,” she said.

The uniquely named Harrowhark was already halfway through the restaurant door. Gideon followed her, glad not to have to talk about the weird parental relationship her dead mother’s ex tried to maintain with her. Pyrrha could talk about it to her partners later. Way later, far away from Gideon.

“Thanks for the invite, I guess,” she said to Palamedes.

“It is alright, we had to get a table for four anyway,” he replied. “It's a difficult day to book anything for three.”

The restaurant was adorned with tacky paper hearts draped across every possible surface, and everything was pink. Gideon knew there was a lot of money riding on Valentine’s Day, but it amazed her how much weird effort the place had put into the, frankly terrible, decor. Harrow looked at this over-the-top display with such pure disgust on her cute little face that Gideon already felt better about the whole thing.

The waiter greeting their weird group thought it was a joke when Palamedes said they had a reservation under the name Sextus. When he finally believed that actually was his name, they were crammed at a table really meant for only four people. Harrow and Gideon got one side of the table and the rest of their group crowded the other side, Palamedes looking quite comfortable between his girlfriends. Gideon knew Pyrrha had more game than should be legal for anyone over forty, but she still had no idea how she had pulled this off. Previous experience told Gideon that she would definitely hear about it later.

The menu was kind of uninspiring, so Gideon ended up choosing the largest burger available. She also expected to get like half of whatever Harrow had ordered too. She paid very little attention to what others ordered. The waitress bringing their food flirted shamelessly with Pyrrha, clearly thinking she was someone’s single dad dragged for a family outing on Valentine’s Day, instead of the girlfriend of two people in the party. Camilla rolled her eyes.

Next to Gideon, Harrow picked at her plain chicken salad and looked so out of place in this pink hell that Gideon suddenly was overcome with a strong urge to kiss her. She didn't do so, partially because Harrow wouldn't appreciate her burger-stained lips on her makeup, but also because while looking at Harrow, she spotted someone she knew just one table away at Harrow’s left. Gideon hadn't noticed her before, because her attention was elsewhere.

“Isn't that?” She said, trying and failing to be discreet as she nodded toward that direction.

Everyone turned to look.

“It is,” Camilla confirmed.

Judith Deuteros looked somehow even more ill at ease among all the romantic decor than Harrow did, which was frankly quite impressive. Everything from Judith’s sharp blazer to her rigid posture made her look like she was waiting for an unpleasant business meeting rather than a date. She was so tense she didn’t notice a whole table full of people gawking at her. Opposite to Gideon, Palamedes leaned closer to whisper to Pyrrha what was probably an explanation where everyone else knew this woman.

“Who do you think she’s waiting for?” Gideon whispered.

“Dyas?” Harrow suggested in similarly low tones.

“Let's ask,” said Camilla in normal volume.

Before Camilla could get Judith’s attention, the restaurant’s door swung and everyone in the restaurant turned to look. Coronabeth had that sort of effect on everyone, even usually, when she wasn’t wearing a very short and very pink dress. Coronabeth did not look at anyone, and simply sailed through the restaurant to Judith. When she got to their table, Judith stood up, prim and proper, to pull a chair out for Coronabeth. She said something which no one heard, and Coronabeth giggled. Everyone heard that.

“Well, that is unexpected,” Camilla commented.

Gideon agreed. Judith Deuteros having the hottest date in the restaurant, likely the entire city, seemed even less probable than Gideon’s nerdy friends getting together with a middle-aged woman who considered herself to have some parental authority over Gideon. Coronabeth looked pretty happy with her pick though, she was leaning forward in her seat and twirling her hair, so good for her.

“Hey, at least Corona is not out with her sister for Valentine's,” Gideon shrugged.

“Griddle,” Harrow said warningly.

“I’m just saying,” Gideon defended herself.

“Please don't.”

“Agreed,” Palamedes said.

The rest of the dinner passed in relative peace and just a few occasional glances at Judith and Coronabeth. While this group dinner had not been in Gideon’s cheesy daydreams about her and Harrow, it was pleasant enough that Gideon found herself thinking that they could do it again sometime. She finished her and Harrow’s meals with a good appetite while Harrow and Palamedes argued over some nerd shit. It was the foundation of their friendship.

Pyrrha covered the entire bill, which impressed the waitress more than it did her own partners. As they left, Gideon wanted to say hi to Coronabeth who still hadn’t noticed them. One of the restaurant’s paper hearts had found its way into Coronabeth’s hair, and she was holding Judith’s hand over the table. Both of them were smiling. Gideon wasn’t sure if she had seen Judith smile before, so she left them to it.

Outside the restaurant, Palamedes fiddled with his phone trying to get a taxi, which was difficult because it was Valentine’s Day evening since everyone was going somewhere. Their destination was Pyrrha’s house. Somehow this bit of info made it real instead of just a gross idea for Gideon that the three of them were dating.

“Thanks for this! I guess I’ll see you guys sometime,” she said as she dragged Harrow away.

She would not stay to witness Pyrrha kiss Palamedes and/or Camilla. She kept her arm around Harrow even after they were safely behind a corner. She looked up at her.

“What?” Harrow asked.

“So, do you come here often, beautiful?” Gideon asked back. Harrow rolled her eyes at what wasn't even a bad line. It was a classic for a reason!

“Never before have, and hopefully never again will,” Harrow said. When Gideon continued to stare at her, she added, with a slightly softer tone, "Though it wasn't... a completely unpleasant experience."

“I'm glad you liked it. Perhaps we should get Sex Pal to plan our dates for us more often then.”

“Probably not a good idea.”

“Yeah.”

Gideon let go of Harrow and put her hands in her pockets. She was reminded of what else was there than a single glove, pocket knife and a tube of lip balm. She closed her hand around the object and took her hand out without revealing what was in it to Harrow.

“I got you something,” she said.

“You shouldn't have,” Harrow said. “Seriously, Nav, I am not being coy here. You shouldn't have done that.”

“Just take it,” Gideon demanded.

Harrow reluctantly offered her hand, and Gideon dropped the gift on Harrow’s black-gloved palm. Harrow surveyed the unassuming metal object with overt suspicion. She was always so suspicious about everything Gideon did.

“A key?”

“Yeah, key to my place to be precise,” Gideon said like she didn’t care if Harrow wanted it or not.

Like she had not gotten a copy for her in a fit of bravery and then agonised over if she should give it to Harrow or not for a whole week. Harrow considered the gift for a while, took out her own keychain which looked like a bunch of teeth out of the depths of her skirts, and added Gideon’s key next to hers. She smiled a bit and made no comments on how cheesy the gift was.

“Could I use it tonight?” She asked.

“Be my guest.”