Chapter Text
“— and she thinks she can just, like, strong arm me into a marriage or something? I mean, for fuck’s sake, I’m gay! She couldn’t have, I don’t know, picked a woman?”
“You know she doesn’t care that you’re gay, Kit.”
“I know that. So, instead I get a toad-adjacent prepubescent looking man who’s going to have to hang off my arm for all eternity just so that our image can take the beating it’s definitely going to take when she’s announces the merger—”
Jade leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. She’d learned long ago that the best way to deal with Kit’s mood was to wait it out.
Kit was a hurricane; a fucking force of nature. Usually, she’d blow herself out and then collapse, exhausted, against Jade and mutter something unintelligible that rhymed with, “You-know-what-I-mean?”
Then, usually, Jade would provide some sort of reasonable sounding advice based on the contents of Kit’s rant, they’d gather themselves up, and go fix the problem.
This time, because it was decidedly not usual, Jade had nothing.
You couldn’t leash a storm, and yet, it appeared that Sorsha was going to try.
Kit had been tugging at her chain for years now, and Jade had watched, weary, as Kit’s frustration had mounted and her patience had thinned.
“You can’t just get a divorce in a few years?” she asked, even though they’d been over that idea nearly ten times already.
Jade was principled. Collected.
Of course, she’d thought about asking Kit to run away with her and live out the rest of their lives in Mozambique or Bhutan or something.
She knew what the answer would be.
Kit would say yes. Immediately. When she was upset, Kit never thought more than three steps ahead.
And despite the fact that all Jade wanted to do was wrap Kit up in a blanket, shove her into a suitcase, and flee the country, she was also in charge of the only bit of common sense her best friend possessed.
So she didn’t ask.
“Sure, maybe in twenty years once she’s passed away or something, but it's mainly the principal of this whole thing that’s the issue.” Kit said, turning around and pacing back across the room. “I have plans, goddamnit. And she’s holding them over my fucking head. She just wants a massive media wedding to cover over the merger and fuck whatever happens to me afterward, right?”
“Kit, she wants stability for you.”
Kit let out an anguished groan. “I don’t need stability! I need a couple million in the bank and a room full of people who actually want to do something instead of fucking around using exploitative capitalist labor for profit.”
Kit had taken a single economics course in college before deciding to major in Women and Gender Studies.
Jade sighed. “Kit.”
“Jesus, I’m being held hostage here. If I say no, she cuts me out of the company, I lose all of my funding, and my initiative goes fucking tits up. I mean, the whole I-care-about-my-daughters-goal jig’s up at this point, but she could try and fake it a bit better.”
“Kit.”
“And Graydon Hastur? Really?”
“Kit.”
“Stability, my fucking ass— she really wants control. And sure, after her mother, I get it, I really do. But you’d think she’d have a bit more perspective. She lived with a goddamn psychopath for her entire childhood!”
“Kit!”
“What!”
Jade had long ago stopped trying to prevent herself from being swept into Kit’s orbit. Kit’s enthusiasm was magnetic, her ideas, her passion.
“You have two minutes until your mother expects you to be on stage with her.” she said, instead of telling Kit she’d booked them both one way tickets to Argentina. “If you marry Graydon, you keep your company shares and the board’s support. You can do good in the world.”
You could stay.
There was silence for a moment as Kit digested. She smiled bitterly.
“At the price of losing my sanity?”
She was a forest fire, brilliant and all consuming. Kit Tanthalos saw what needed to be done and charged towards it with a burning, single minded focus.
“You might have to live in a house together, but that’ll be it.” Jade tried.
Kit wilted further.
“She’ll want kids, you know. Eventually.”
Jade sighed and reached for Kit’s arms. “We’ll deal with that one when it gets here. Maybe she’ll be more open to a divorce later on.”
Kit let out a sigh and crumpled against Jade’s chest. They were both silent. Kit’s skin was warm.
“Jade, you won’t let me do this alone, right?” Kit asked, quiet, but not scared; never scared.
“I won’t.” Jade promised.
And then there was a knock on the door and Prue's furious face hissed at them to “get a move on, ladies” because apparently Kit wasn’t going to make it on time. Jade followed Kit in a daze down the hallway.
The passages behind the ballroom Sorsha had somehow procured for her luncheon were a labyrinth. Prue seemed to know her way around like it was her birthplace.
It probably was. They were close enough to the first circle of hell.
They found themselves in the backstage area. Through the curtains, Jade could see Sorsha, dressed in red and glowing in the stage lights. She said something to the audience, who laughed, but her words buzzed in Jade’s ears.
Crowds were Kit’s thing. Wooing the room was Kit’s thing. Jade would rather scalp herself than leave the sanctity of the wings.
As if she could hear Jade’s thoughts, Kit’s hand slipped into her’s.
“I’m sorry, Jade.” she whispered, folding herself into Jade’s chest again.
“For what? You don’t need to be sorry.” Jade said, as Kit tucked her head under Jade’s chin and let out a shuddering breath. “I’ll be with you the whole way. I promise.”
Kit nodded, uncharacteristically without a word, and hooked her chin over Jade’s shoulder to stare vacantly into the darkness of the wings.
Prue’s intern, Elora Danan, sprinted out of the opposite hallway.
“The Hastur’s are in position. We are a go.” she managed breathlessly.
Kit pulled back and glanced up at Jade, searching Jade’s face for something. Perhaps she didn’t find it because she pulled herself closer instead.
“I really am sorry.” she whispered. And then she leaned up, and pressed her mouth to Jade’s.
Her lips were warm and soft. Her hands gentle where they held Jade’s face. Jade’s world ceased to exist outside of the feeling of Kit’s eyelashes brushing against her cheek.
It crashed back in with a roar and the whole moment was over faster than Jade could process that one, she’d never kissed anyone sweeter than Kit Tanthalos; and two, that she’d probably never get to again.
Then Prue was spinning Kit around, adjusting her hair, and shoving her out on stage.
Kit donned a new personality like a suit of armor. Her back straightened, her smile unfolded across her face, sharp and cold. She marched to her mothers side; the right amount of arrogance people expected, and enough humility to keep them pacified. The perfect daughter, the future of the company.
“— would like to say a few words of gratitude.” Sorsha stepped away from the microphone to exchange a wooden hug with Kit over the sound of the crowd’s applause.
Behind them, the Hastur family stood almost robotically in the harsh stage lights. Graydon Hastur wasn’t hiding his nerves as well as Kit was, but then again, no one could. His hands twitched in his pockets.
“My mother already said it, but I would like to thank you again for being here tonight!”
She sounded thrilled, excited even, but Jade had known how to spot Kit’s lies since she’d watched Kit vehemently deny punching a girl in the face for making fun of Jade’s hair in third grade. The girl in question had been bleeding profusely barely three steps away, and Jade was pretty sure that a teacher had watched the entire thing go down.
Kit had somehow gotten away with it.
“We’ve had a remarkably tough year, and I am in awe of the continuous dedication you have shown. In 1988, Tanthalos founded itself on commitment, resilience, and the shoulders of the few who rose to meet the demand for cutting edge medical technology. Today, thanks to each and every member of our greater family, Tanthalos continues to do the same.”
The applause was deafening. Kit grabbed the microphone.
Her hands were shaking which was weird because Kit’s hands never shook.
“I am thankful to the members of the press and to the families of our team that have shown up today. Your support as well, deserves recognition.”
Applause again.
“There is more I could say to thank you for your commitment, but I would instead like to talk about something close to my own heart. Something just as important.”
Jade’s head snapped up. Next to her, Elora and Prue sucked in matching breaths.
“Tanthalos was also founded on the promise of discovery. We are a mission driven company; bio-tech is, and always will be, about seeking new frontiers and pushing the boundaries of what we know to be possible.”
Jade had heard Kit’s speech nearly a hundred times over now, and she knew with 100% certainty that whatever that was, wasn’t in it.
Fundamentally, Kit couldn’t leave the company. She had things she needed to do with the money tied up in her shares that would be lost if she quit early. She needed the support of the board. That was what Sorsha was counting on, of course. Kit couldn’t afford to turn down the marriage proposal.
If she were pushed hard enough, though...
Kit was reckless and brash, something her polished armor always failed to completely hide.
“The world is wide, and filled with so many kinds of people.”
Jade wasn’t thinking. She turned to Elora and pointed to one of the rings on her finger.
“Give that to me.”
Elora handed it over without question, and then Jade was striding on stage.
She tried for Kit’s brilliant smile. To her right, Sorsha’s piercing stare was sharper than the spotlights. Jade swallowed her fear.
For Kit, and only Kit, would she endure this.
“It is why I would like to announce my—”
For an audience of several hundred, there was remarkably little noise coming from the direction of the crowd. Jade’s footsteps echoed.
Kit turned and her perfect expression cracked briefly.
Confusion, perhaps. Resignation.
Jade slid an arm around Kit’s waist and drew her close, hoping Kit was clever enough to get the fucking memo.
“— our partnership with the Trisha Davis Queer Youth Support Foundation.” Jade finished for her. She sounded fucking terrified. Next to her, Kit wasn’t breathing.
There was a weak smattering of applause.
Jade cleared her throat and tried for something more confident.
“In honor—” She squeezed Kit’s side.
Sorry.
“— of our upcoming wedding.”
And then Jade turned, bent down on one knee, and said with bravado she didn’t have, “Kit Tanthalos, will you do me the immense honor of being my wife.”
The crowd erupted.
—
“Are you insane! ” Sorsha snarled as she yanked Kit around the corner and into a backroom.
Kit hadn’t released her death grip on Jade’s hand, so Jade flew with her like a ribbon on the breeze.
“Of course not.” Kit answered with a sharp smile. She tugged Jade close. “You get your wedding. I get my funding. Everyone wins.”
Jade wasn’t sure that everyone was winning right now. She hadn’t thought that through. It had been rash, and stupid —
Sorsha scoffed. “I’m sorry? You expect me to believe that this isn’t something you’ve come up with to get out of any sort of responsibility I might offer you?”
Kit bristled. “Offer me? I wasn’t aware it was an offer, Mom. Felt an awful lot like a threat to me.”
“You are a child, Kit! A child!” In a rather spot-on imitation of Kit, Sorsha paced back towards the wall, her fingers on her temple. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“Yes, yes, you’ve promised a broodmare to the Hastur’s and now—”
“Our merger was based on your marriage. Ronam Hastur was under the impression that his son would receive 51% of the company, Kit. But the shares are, and always will be, in your name. As long as you could have convinced that stupid boy to sign a prenup, you would have owned both companies. Don’t you understand?”
“And what if I don’t want both companies?” Kit snapped.
“Let me guess, you want to make a difference in the world? ” Sorsha said tightly. “Kit, I’m handing you the world's largest hammer and you’re telling me you want to build with a fucking stick instead.”
Kit’s mouth snapped shut and she stiffened.
Jade had the immediate and overwhelming impression that she’d outplayed herself.
She’d thought she’d been protecting Kit, from Graydon, from some loveless marriage... she didn’t even know what at this point. Kit had just been so upset and Jade hadn’t thought it through—
“Sorsha, I’m sorry—”
“You can keep out of this for now.” Sorsha barked. She didn’t turn her stare away from her daughter. “As the heir to the company and as the one who is going to now have to be responsible for the fallout associated with pissing off our largest competitor, I’d like to hear Kit’s thoughts on how we might proceed.”
Kit’s jaw worked. She didn’t let go of Jade.
There was a long moment of silence.
“Fine.” Kit said. “Here’s my proposal. I’ve been saying for a very long time that we need to be doing more community outreach in order to solidify our brand as something more than a medical tech supplier. I will throw the world’s most elaborate wedding, market it as a publicity fundraiser, and donate 100% of the profits to Trisha Davis. I will work with outreach in the meantime to start the tech opportunities initiative with Trisha Davis— that I’ve been asking to start for two years now, by the way— in order to keep us in the headlines and bury whatever Hastur Industries attempts to use to compete with us until the wedding has finished. Sound good?”
Sorsha regarded Kit with supremely reigned in anger. The silence stretched thin.
“Fine.” she said.
Kit’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes.” Sorsha said. “I have conditions, of course. I want weekly reports emailed to Prue, and I want Elora Danan on your team for the time being to oversee and liaise with upper level management.”
Kit twitched but didn’t say anything.
“And you,” Sorsha leveled Jade with a chilling stare. “That proposal didn’t convince anyone. The minute the public figures out that this —” she gestured derisively towards the arm Kit still hard around Jade’s waist. “—isn’t real, the backlash is going to be swift and brutal. Prepare yourself accordingly because I will cut her out if, and when, she becomes an issue for the company. I really expected better from you.”
Sorsha slammed the door behind her on the way out.
Kit immediately unwrapped her arm and Jade’s stomach caved in. Of course Kit was mad. Jade had just single handedly ruined her entire future by proposing to her in front of a massive crowd, forcing her back into marriage just as quickly as she’d tried to get herself out of it, and ripping a fortune out of her hands.
“Kit, I’m so sorry—”
But Kit was grinning, brilliantly, honestly.
“You,” she whispered, grabbing Jade’s arms. “Are a fucking genius.”
“I am?” Jade asked, wearily searching Kit’s face. “You’re not... mad?”
“Mad?” Kit said. She looked surprised by the idea that ‘mad’ was an option. “Of course not.”
“But according to your mother it sounds like we’re going to have to actually go through with all of it and—”
“And? You’re my best friend, Jade! We already spend most of our time together, how much different is this going to be?” She suddenly spun back around towards Jade, face falling. “Oh my god, do you regret it? Did I make you feel like you needed to do that, or something? Shit, Jade—”
Jade shook her head and laughed weakly. “No, no, I don’t regret it... I just didn’t really think it through, that’s all. Sort of a spur of the moment decision.”
Kit’s eyes were twinkling again as she nudged Jade’s arm.
“Spur of the moment? Am I rubbing off on you?” she said, grinning. She turned towards the door. “Come on, this is going to be so fucking fun. You know, they always say your partner should be your best friend.”
Best friend.
The words sat funny in Jade’s chest, but for once in her goddamn life, she was done analyzing things. She was going to make this easy because they were best friends. And it didn’t matter that for some reason, Kit had kissed her right before going on stage.
Because friends kiss. Sometimes.
Add that to the list of things she wasn’t going to think about.
“Yeah, okay.” Jade breathed, and followed Kit out the door.