Boober and Jessa remained in the same spot, but now they were happily watching their friends dance with their partners. She was still cuddling Boober, but they had been flirting with each other after Jessa moved past the ordeal with Marlon.
"So that's how you got into cooking?" Jessa asked Boober.
"Yep."
Boober had told her about how much he enjoyed cooking. The conversation helped take her mind off being groped, and Boober smiled upon noticing her mood change. He also enjoyed talking to her, even when Sidebottom was nagging at him to let him out. Jessa smiled after they shared a laugh, and Boober melted at her smile. His tail wagged like crazy, and Jessa noticed and giggled. Boober blushed and bashfully looked away but still smiled. After the conversation came to a close, they both observed the dance floor. Dozens of fraggles danced with each other, some even dancing in groups. Despite what happened with Orzie and the bloodwraithes, everyone was having a good time. Upon seeing the couples dance, Boober glanced at Jessa, who was watching 3 fraggles play a game of pong. While she would normally join, Jessa wasn't too interested this time. Boober watched her for a bit, wondering if she would still be interested in a dance. He then inhaled and exhaled before asking her.
"Jessa?" He began.
"Yeah?"
"Would a dance be out of the question?"
Jessa looked at him in surprise, and Boober was ready for Jessa to reject him when she responded.
"I thought you'd never ask."
Boober grinned before standing up and offering his arm, which Jessa took as they headed out to the dance floor. As soon as they found a spot where they wouldn't get bumped by other fraggles, Boober wrapped his arms around Jessa's torso and pulled her close to him, Jessa wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I never got the chance to tell you this earlier," Boober said lowly.
"What is it?" Jessa asked, blushing from how low his voice was.
Boober leaned in closer before answering her.
"You look beautiful tonight," he murmured while caressing her back.
Jessa grinned like a dork and blushed, her tail wagging.
"Thank you," she replied sweetly. "You're looking pretty snazzy yourself, Boober."
Boober's baloobius lit up in response while they danced.
"So," Boober began. "I'm not too boring for you?"
"The way I see it, Boober, you look more handsome when you're in your element doing the things you love."
"You… think I'm handsome?!"
Boober stood there in utter shock, not sure whether to believe Jessa or not. Seeing his reaction to her statement, Jessa began to feel embarrassed about what she said and broke eye contact with Boober.
"So what if I do?"
Boober eventually regained his senses and placed his hand on her cheek, catching her by surprise. Without saying a word, both of them leaned in for a kiss. Boober melted when his lips met Jessa's, and she felt the same way. The kiss lasted for a minute, but it felt like an eternity for them. Jessa couldn't help but squeeze Boober a little bit, to which he hummed happily. Once the kiss ended, she smiled at him.
"You're never too boring for this loose cannon."
Boober grinned and hugged Jessa tightly, stealing another kiss from her jawline and making her giggle. At that moment, the slow music began to increase in both speed and volume, ruining the mood for Boober as he groaned in irritation. Jessa picked up on it and glanced around the room before speaking up.
"Boober," she began while cupping his face. "How would you like to go somewhere quiet for a while?"
"Oh, you read my mind."
"Come on, then," she said while grabbing his hand. "Let's get out of this crowd."
Boober let Jessa lead the way as she gracefully busted through the crowd, something he could never do as he was always bumping into people and objects. Once they were away from everyone, Jessa led Boober to the entrance of the gorg's garden, which he noticed.
"Jessa, not the gorg's garden," he whined.
"We're not going to the garden. I'm taking you to the stream that's on the other side of the rock."
"What?"
Boober watched as Jessa peeked outside to make sure the gorgs were nowhere to be seen, and before he knew it, they were both going to the stream.
"So this is where you went the other day," Boober said upon taking in the scenery.
"It's hella nice out here."
Jessa sat down in the grass while Boober remained standing, which she was confused by.
"There's a lot of germs in the grass," he said after noticing her expression.
"You can't let your germaphobia take over like that, Boober. Your feet are going to get tired."
Boober sighed, knowing Jessa was right, and he sat down next to her. He then put his arm around Jessa, which made her smile.
"Nice night," she said, "There's a lot of stars in the sky."
"So many constellations," Boober replied while snuggling closer to Jessa.
"You know you can find your zodiac in the stars?"
"So I've heard."
"When is your birthday?"
"May 2nd."
"So your constellation is right over there," Jessa said while pointing at the Taurus constellation.
Boober stared at it in amazement and smiled.
"When is your birthday, Jessa?"
"October 31st, so that would make me a Scorpio."
"Wait, you were born on Halloween?"
"I know, crazy."
Boober caressed her shoulder before she pointed to the Scorpio star alignment.
"There's my constellation."
"I can't imagine having a birthday on Halloween."
"It's no different than a regular birthday. Unless you count Trick-or-Treating as a way of celebrating it."
Jessa leaned into Boober and stole a kiss off his neck, which made him giddy.
"Seems like I have some type of effect on you," she teased.
Boober blushed while squeezing her gently.
"You do," he admitted. "You're just so wonderful, Jessa."
"Boober…"
Jessa blushed and felt her tail wag as he took her hand and kissed the back of it.
"I loved you the moment I first saw you in the Terrible Tunnel," Boober confessed.
"That long?"
"Yeah," he admitted shyly. "And I fell for you even more when seeing you do your shenanigans without a second thought. The gorg, the Fearsome Beast, that plant. You weren't afraid of them. You took them all on and came back alive."
Jessa listened while trying to not tear up at how sweet and sincere he sounded, but Boober continued to list off her good qualities so it was hard to maintain a poker face. Once he finished, Boober held Jessa's face and smiled.
"I love you, Jessa."
"I love you too, Boober."
Boober didn't remember leaning in for a second kiss, but it happened. And boy did he not want it to stop! He and Jessa remained lip-locked until a moment later. Jessa grinned at Boober as he grinned back, and she noticed his baloobius glowing brightly.
"When did you start loving me back?" He asked curiously.
"Weirdly enough, it wasn't until you dressed up in those clown-looking clothes and acted all silly that I started liking you."
It took Boober a minute to recall what Jessa was talking about, and Sidebottom let out a chuckle in the back of his mind.
"I knew it!"He bragged."Women love a man with a sense of humor."
Boober ignored him just as Jessa continued.
"But my feelings grew even deeper when you comforted me after I had that nightmare."
"Oh?"
Boober took her hands and held them, caressing the backs of them.
"I would have remained in that tunnel puking and hyperventilating like a motherfucker had you not approached me."
Boober tried to shut out the memory of hearing Jessa throw up when he followed her that night. He didn't need to remember how badly she hurled before he saw her.
"I've had nightmares before," he replied sympathetically while squeezing her hands. "So I know what it feels like to wake up out of a good sleep scared out of your wits."
Jessa stared at him before smooching him again, making Boober giggle.
"I can't thank you enough for putting up with me that night," she admitted.
"I wouldn't let you lose out on sleep for nothing," he said softly in her ear, making Jessa blush immensely. "It's not healthy."
Boober kissed her cheek a few more times, making Jessa chuckle. He then ran his fingers through her hair, careful to not mess up her style.
"It's easy to see why you changed your mind about coming to the solstice."
"I came at just the right time too. That creepy Marlon wasn't even supposed to be there."
"I wouldn't touch his nasty ass with a 10-foot pole."
At that moment, Jessa wished she had the tail spikes from her Bloodlust to impale Marlon's hands when he grabbed her tail.
"I hope he didn't violate you."
"He didn't get that far. I managed to slap his face a few times before you showed up. Gross son-of-a-bitch."
Boober kissed Jessa's temple out of sympathy, and Jessa smiled lovingly.
"Maybe I should've toned down on all the preening if I was going to attract so much attention from the others."
"You look lovely as you are."
Jessa kissed Boober once more, which made him so happy.
"Boober!"Sidebottom yelled from his subconscious."I want a turn! Let me smooch her."
"You got to kiss her the first time,"Boober replied in his mind while holding Jessa."Let me have my time with her."
Jessa groaned contently while Boober played with her hair, loving how it felt. He smiled down at her resting on him as she smiled while resting her eyes.
"Other than the gorgs, I can see why you like it out here," he said after a period of silence.
"Speaking of which, they must be asleep."
Boober glanced at the castle in the distance, amazed that the gorgs hadn't come out. No matter, at least they wouldn't get thumped. Jessa was about to doze off when she heard Sidebottom chuckle, prompting her to open her eyes and look over Boober's shoulder and see him blowing a kiss at her. Jessa blushed in response and felt her tail wag. Truthfully, she had seen Sidebottom linger next to Boober the whole night and didn't say anything. She heard him beg to be let out and saw him make flirty gestures at her. But Boober kept him pushed down. He didn't want another repeat of what happened on the castle roof. Especially when Jessa didn't reciprocate at the time. Boober then tightened his hold on her before kissing her.
"I figured you didn't like all that loud music, so I brought you out here," Jessa said to him.
"I appreciate it, Jessa."
"Did you not want to come to the solstice because of how loud it is?"
"Yeah."
Jessa rubbed his shoulders before he continued, which Boober loved.
"Not only that, but it's all the hooping and hollering. I hate it."
"You were right when you said you're not like other fraggles. Your pessimism is unmatched, and you like all the boring shit."
While anyone else would have found being called boring offensive, Boober took it as a compliment. He smiled and felt his tail wagging.
"Well…" he began while twirling Jessa's hair with his finger.
"You're not what I expected from a fraggle, but it makes you stand out."
"That wasn't my intention."
"I never would have pinpointed you out of all the other fraggles had you been like everyone else."
Boober blushed and felt his heart race. This was probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to him, and it meant a whole lot coming from Jessa of all people. He blushed even deeper when she leaned in to kiss him.
"Never change, Boober," she murmured before kissing him on the lips.
Boober squeezed Jessa before kissing her back. He felt happy knowing that he had her all to himself and didn't want to stop kissing her.
"I never liked change anyway," he replied sweetly.
Jessa chuckled in response and kissed his neck, which made Boober giggle. They sat in silence again, watching the stars while snuggling each other. This was so nice and romantic for both Boober and Jessa. Neither of them spoke for the rest of the time, but after a while, Boober could hear Sidebottom getting impatient.
"Are you going to hog Sugar Lips all night?!"
"If I let you interact with Jessa, will you promise to not be inappropriate towards her?"Boober asked him in his mind.
"Who do you think I am? Marlon?! At least I didn't grab her boobs."
"No, but that doesn't excuse what you did the first time."
"I did you a favor, Boober. Now Jessa loves you."
Boober thought for a minute. Despite Sidebottom's method of getting Jessa to fall for him, he did get the job done. Now this beautiful woman was snuggling him and stargazing. This was something Boober thought was completely unattainable. He never thought that he would be spending the summer solstice with Jessa. Yet here they were, out in the gorg's garden stargazing. Maybe he did owe it to Sidebottom.
"Just give me a few more minutes with Jessa."
Sidebottom laughed gleefully, happy he was being given a chance to see Jessa again.