FicWad

“Did you guys have classes on curtseying?” Jax asked.

“What?” Quinn looked over at him. They were sitting on the counter in the shop. It was dark, the shop was closed, and they were passing a bottle of rum back and forth and were teetering on the edge between being tipsy and drunk.

“Did they teach you how to curtsey in your school in Auradon?”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “There wasn’t a whole class on it, but yes, we did. In ‘Court Manners.’”

Jax snorted. “What else did you learn in Court Manners?”

Handing the bottle back to Jax, Quinn leant back on her hands. “Most of the really dumb stuff was in the younger grades – walking with a book on your head and all that.” She mused. “Some weren’t all bad; I quite liked the dance classes.”

“That reminds me, you haven’t been to a rave yet, have you?”

“I don’t think we learned that kind of dancing.”

“Well,” Jax hopped off the counter, wobbled a bit, and turned to her. “Teach me.”

“You want to learn how to waltz?” Quinn asked incredulously.

“And then I will teach you how we dance here.” He held out his hands to her and when she took them, he pulled her off the counter into his arms. Quinn stayed there for a second longer than was necessary before stepping back.

“Very well,” she said and took his hand in hers. “Place your free hand on my waist.” As he did so, she put her hand on his shoulder.

“Are you sure we’re not supposed to be closer?” Jax asked with a smile, stepping in closer to her.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Quinn rolled her eyes again, pushing him back gently with a smile. “Now, the waltz goes in threes, so you step, step, and step together.” After some shuffling, Jax got the basics and soon they were step-step-togethering across the room.

Unprompted, Jax spun her, hand trailing around her waist as she turned. Once she faced him again, he held her much closer and reached out to the radio on the counter and a very irate jig began to play.

This dance was a fair bit easier to learn than the waltz. Jax, confident and smiling, led her around the room, pushing her into twirls and pulling her into dips.

Soon they were both breathless and laughing and Jax dipped her one last time and then pulled her up into a kiss. And Quinn realized that she had not had fun in a long time. Sure, fighting had an element of fun in it – but this was pure mostly-innocent fun.

The next song began to play, a slower one, and Quinn wrapped her hands around Jax’s neck and buried her head in his neck. Jax wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer as they swayed to the rhythm of the song.

“What type of dancing is this?” Jax said quietly beside her ear.

“Something we were definitely not allowed to do at school dances,” Quinn said with a smile.

•••

One day, after sparring with Blake, Quinn was reorganizing first aid kit. It was not much; just some bandages made of old rags, a bottle of whiskey, and a needle and thread. She had asked Cyrus if there was any medicine in the warehouse that Maleficent was keeping for herself, but he had told her that medicine was never sent to the Isle.

Slow, measured steps sounded in the hallway and a long shadow darkened the doorway.

“I heard there was a new recruit.” The voice was smooth, almost gentlemanly.

Quinn looked up and her heart skipped a beat, for there stood Captain James Hook, more terrifying than she could have imagined. She rose slowly, trying to keep any fear from her face. Captain Hook crossed the room, his walk much more dignified than Jax’s swagger. But they had the same piercing pale blue eyes.

“Quinn,” she said, with a curt nod. She was not sure how much respect the villains were supposed to be given, so quickly added, “Cap’n.”

“You’re a bit of a mystery, Miss-?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Just Quinn,” she said, trying to maintain this façade of confidence as long as she could. “And I find that a bit of mystery can be beneficial.”

He tilted his head to the side, his eyes never breaking contact with hers. He studied her. “My, you seem very familiar. We haven’t met before, have we?”

“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” Quinn said, conveying as little emotion as she could.

Captain Hook smiled an almost genuine smile. “I do hope you stay around a bit. The art of politeness seems to have escaped most of my son’s little... gang,” he said dismissively.

Quinn resisted the urge to defend Jax and nodded as a goodbye and quickly left the room, going downstairs into the shop.

Jade was just coming out of the back room. “Did someone come in?” she asked.

“Yeah, uh,” Quinn said, still trying to shake the nervousness away. “Your dad.”

She paled and almost dropped the crate she was carrying.

“Hey,” Quinn rushed forward, taking the crate from her trembling hands. “Are you alright?”

“He doesn’t usually show up unannounced,” she muttered. “I needed to go get Jax.” She rushed towards the door. “Mind the shop, okay, Quinn?”

Quinn nodded, still a little confused as Jade ran out the door.

A minute later, Jax burst through the door, out of breath, with Jade and Saoirse at his heels.

He looked almost afraid as he made eye contact with Quinn for a moment. “What did he say?” he asked, distracted and looking around quickly.

She shrugged. “Not much. Wanted to know who I was.”

His head jerked around, so he faced her again. Then he cleared his throat. “Saoirse, go up and stall him.” She nodded and took a breath before walking calmly up the stairs. He turned to Jade. “You know what to do. Stay away until I send someone to get you.” He squeezed her arm for a moment and gave her a meaningful look, jaw clenched. Once she had left, he turned to Quinn. “You didn’t tell him who you are, right?”

“Of course, no–”

“Right,” he interrupted. “otherwise, you’d probably be dead.”

“Wait, what?” Quinn asked. Everything was moving too quickly, and she did not understand what was going on.

He shook his head. “Just make sure to stay out of his way, okay?” He ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end more than usual.

Before he went up the stairs, he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were hard and cold like his father’s.



“What was that all about?” Quinn asked Jax after his father had left.

“Not now, Quinn,” he said.

“Yes, now,” she demanded. “You’ve been not telling me something important ever since we met, and I need to know.”

He sighed and pulled her into the back room. That action in itself was not exactly new territory, they had slipped away into dark alcoves many times before, but this was clearly a different situation. Jax was pacing and looked worried – not as worried as he had when he found out that his father was in the shop, but worried nonetheless.

“Jax?” she asked quietly. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

“Do you know how the villains were defeated?” Jax asked suddenly, turned away from her.

“Yeah, we learned about it in class, the Evil Queen fell down a ravine, Maleficent was killed by Prince Phillip, Lady Tremaine just kinda –”

“No, the final battle.”

“Final battle?”

Jax turned to Quinn. “When the villains were all brought back to be punished, or whatever, the heroes didn’t expect that they’d have the power to fight back, but they did. I don’t think it could be called a war, but they gave the heroes a run for their money.” He sat down on a crate and she sat beside him. “We were finally defeated because someone betrayed our plans.”

“Starkey,” she realized.

Jax nodded. “We never knew why he did it and he died soon afterwards, but.”

“It was because of me,” Quinn said. “He must have made some sort of deal with King Beast, that I would be raised in Auradon.”

They sat there in silence for a moment as Quinn processed this information.

“But,” Quinn said. “You realized this the day we met.” She looked back up at Jax. It was hard to see his expression in the dark of the room. “If you knew that my father was a traitor, why would you want me to join?”

“How many times are you going to ask why I recruited you?” Jax said, his voice turning back to its light, charming tone. “I might start to doubt my decision.”

“Seriously, Jax,” she said.

“It’s like I said before,” he said. “I was impressed. I saw potential.” He paused. “Plus, since you told me openly who your father was, you clearly had no idea about any of this.”

Quinn nodded. Dad had probably known this and would have told her if she had let him. Her father had wanted to give her a better life in Auradon, she supposed. But he likely didn’t realize what type of society Auradon would morph into. Beast and Belle had been good rulers in the beginning, from what she could tell. It was just that in a country in which the heroes were the elite, performative goodness was bound to become a problem.

“You alright?” he asked, hand resting on her knee.

“Yeah,” she said.