Fic: An Afternoon in a Tree - Theo, Ver - PG
It occurred to me this morning that since this little story is about BD!Theo and BD!Verity it should be posted here too, for all who like the game to see :) I hope you enjoy (it will most likely be the only time you get to see Theo climbing a tree *lol*)
Title: An Afternoon in a Tree Author: millieweasley Pairing/Character: Theo, Verity (no pairing, just friends) Rating: G Warning: None Wordcount: 1290 Beta: vermillionrho Summary: One warm summer's day, in the middle of their summer holiday after Theo's second year, Theo overhears his father talking about marriage contracts. Will he and his best friend, two year older Verity, have a choice in who they marry, or will best friends be forced to be more? And how do they feel about that?
A/N: This is Theodore Nott and Verity O'Shea as they're played in the RPG beyond_dark. The story takes place in their early teens and is written for Lynn. I hope you like it, hon.
The sun already hung low on the sky when the boy swung his leg over another branch in the large oak, aiming ever higher, never looking down. His movements were smooth, agile, almost cat-like in nature, in spite of his limbs looking too long for his skinny body. There was a look of concentration on his face, a determination as he looked up to the nearest branch above, calculating the distance, the closest path, the safest way there.
'Theo, wait for me!'
The sound made him stop in the middle of a movement, breaking his concentration as he looked down at the girl below. She was several branches behind him, as the branches must seem much farther apart for someone so much shorter. Still she did not let that stop her as she focused and climbed, her expression determined and her blond hair in disarray in a way that seemed not to fit with the rest of her.
The lanky boy watched her, then cast a look at the branch above him one more time before abandoning the thought for now and settling on the branch he was already on, his back against the trunk as he leaned back. For anyone watching it was an odd sight. A lanky boy, sitting in the tree, not like other boys his age did, but relaxed and with a confidence that made it seem as if he was sitting anywhere, not meters off the ground. By the looks of it, he could have just as easily been sitting in his favourite chair in a fancy sitting room. Fancy because there was no doubt he had money to his name, tree climbing aside. It showed in every movement he made, in the way he kept his eyes on the girl, how he refused to even acknowledge the rather spectacular view from the tree.
'I heard our fathers talking today,' he said casually once she was close enough to hear him speak without him having to raise his voice. The girl looked up, frowning as she climbed the last branch and settled before him, looking a bit more unsteady than he did, though that could very well be the lack of a trunk to lean against. She was still breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling quickly as she tilted her head and looked at him.
'You always listen,' she stated, and one could sense that she perhaps was a bit older than the boy, though there was no lack of maturity in his voice for someone so young. 'So what did they say this time?' she finally asked when he didn't pick up the thread.
The semblance of a smile crossed the boy's face. A thin, small attempt, so strange on his face that one had to ask oneself if he ever smiled, or if this was just a practice to learn something for him foreign. His eyes, however, were full of amusement as he looked at her, leaning his head against the trunk so he had to look at her over the top of his nose. The pose made him look quite smug and arrogant – a look that surprisingly enough suited him quite well.
'Listen yourself and you'll see,' he teased lazily, the amusement clear in his voice. Shaking his head, his expression changed as he went on. 'Marriage, contract, your name,' he said with a shrug. 'I don't think they were talking about dad for some reason,' he added. A joke perhaps, if a poor one.
The girl however, did not seem to care about the joke. Her blue eyes were wide, her face flushed and her mouth open as she stared at him.
'You think? Me?....Us?' she asked, the question hanging between them. The boy shrugged again.
'Seems that way,' he said, looking back up at the branch above them.
'But…' She went quiet, chewing her bottom lip as she watched him without seeing, clearly wrapped up in her own thoughts. 'What do you think about it?' she finally asked.
'Huh?' The boy looked down again, his concentration lost for now. 'About marriage?' he asked, though it was a redundant question. They both knew what she was asking. The boy shrugged again, looking back at the branch.
'I don't,' he answered, getting up and reaching for it. 'What's the point?' he then asked.
'What's the point?' she asked, her voice rising fast. 'If they're…If we're…If – There is a point!' she said firmly, as if annoyed with herself for not being able to come through with the sentence. The boy simply raised an eyebrow.
'It's a moot point, Ver,' he said calmly. 'If there is a contract we can be sure not to get out of it, if there isn't there is no point in worrying about it.'
'But you've never thought? I mean not once…about marriage, in general I mean?' she insisted, a hand on his arm keeping him from climbing higher. He shook his head.
'Not really. It's not like I care or have a choice. I'm the last in my line, I need an heir, that means marriage.'
'But have you ever…I mean…thought about me? Us? If we were to…you know,' the girl asked, almost blushing as she looked down, still chewing on her lip.
'Ver, no!' the boy exclaimed, frowning and pulling away, pulling himself up to the branch above. 'I can't think of you like that. You're…you!'
If before she'd been blushing, she was not she looked up, her arms crossed as she took a pose that was most likely never meant for trees as she suddenly wasn't holding herself steady. 'What's that supposed to mean?' she asked, staring him down. Or well up, depending on how you saw it.
'Because you're my best friend, Ver,' he said frowning. 'I mean, I don't think of you as a girl. You're more than others. You're you. I can't think of you like that. Well until I have to,' he added.
In spite of his attempts to explain, the girl was clearly not impressed. Instead she huffed. 'So now I'm not a girl?' she asked, glaring at him, though she averted her eyes quickly again. 'I know that's not what you meant,' she then added, backing down as she moved on the branch, taking up the boy's previous position. 'Would it be horrible?' she then asked, purposely not looking at him as she spoke. She didn't explain what, though she attempted to open her mouth several more times. Before she spoke, however, the boy cut in.
'Ver,' he said softly, climbing back down and sitting in front of her, reaching out his hand to her. She took it, drawing lines in the palm of his hand. He watched her for a while, saying nothing, though the silence didn't seem to bother either of them. 'It wouldn't be horrible,' he finally said, his voice calm as he spoke. 'I trust you, that's more than I can say about almost anyone else, after all,' he added. He licked his lips, a bit too full to be lips belonging to a boy.
'Look, there is really no use to speculate, Ver,' he added softly. 'We'll find out when we do. How about seeing how high up we can get before our fathers send someone after us?' he suggested instead, aiming for the branch above again.
'Come on,' he said as he pulled himself up. 'I'll even wait for you.' The strange smile crossed his face again, and the boy reached out for her to help her up. In the sky the sun was already turning a bright red, but neither the boy, as he climbed cat-like to the next branch, or the girl as she followed seemed to care about the impending darkness.