What will it take for you to realize that other people matter too?
You're always running ahead, challenging things yourself. To you, your headstrong opinion on what should be done is always right.
This is not the case, Godric. I know you think that bravery is something that everyone should have; it is who you are and I would never, ever want to change you.
Rowena pauses, quill in her mouth, trying to figure out what to say next. Writing has always been easy for her, but of course, if it involves Godric, she couldn't expect it to be any less than exceptionally difficult.
I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you changed because of my silly words.
Her heart beats faster as she reads over her words. She knows she can't say that to him. Scratching it out, she takes a new sheet of parchment and begins again.
Dear Godric,
It is already wrong. She knows he wouldn't like it if she wrote him a formal letter, as if they are only acquaintances.
They are friends, the best of friends, in fact; Rowena only wishes it could be more.
Godric, you are my closest and truest friend. We've known each other since childhood, and we know read other like pages of a book.
She smiles at her comparison and wonders if he really could read her, page after page of her and only her.
She thinks that he would definitely try.
There are a lot of things I lov-like about you, but-
She growls frustratedly, throwing this piece of parchment as far as she can away from herself.
It is horrific, what she is writing. If he ever read that...if Godric ever read that, she would be mortified.
Rowena hates this, she really does. She hates how she is so feeble that she can't even tell him herself what she wants to say, instead of writing a letter to him. She hates how he makes everything so difficult; if only he would just listen, then maybe he could have seen reason to her, Helga, and Salazar.
She hates how he makes her feel so many different emotions that even she can't explain.
It's a few hours later when she hears footsteps at her door, and curses, knowing the sound of the feet to be Godric's and knowing he must be worried about how she hasn't talked to him yet today.
"Rowena?" He lets himself in as he always does, and Rowena feels the usual twinge of annoyance followed by the immense warmth he always floods her with.
She is sitting at her desk in front of the window, brushing her long, black hair. It falls to her feet, and trails along the floor, and as she combs through the tangles, she wonders if he thinks she is beautiful.
He is certainly handsome. In the glowing light of the afternoon, he sparkles, with his red hair and cheeky grin. He is tall, and broad, and she feels small next to him. He also holds that aura of danger, and Rowena knows it is dangerous to love him, and yet she still does.
She wishes, not for the first time, that she wasn't such a fool. Burying herself in books will only take her so far, but in the end, she needs to tell him herself. Isn't that what the books taught her?
Isn't that what Godric taught her?
"Why didn't you come to the meeting today? We waited for a while for you." He sits on the ground next to her, and absentmindedly plays with her hair. Rowena shivers under his touch and hopes he noticed.
"I had some business to attend to," she lies, and knows that he will see right through it. She hasn't learned much from Salazar, it seems.
"Business more important than us?" he asks, and she suppresses a smile. "I know you have nothing else going on Rowena."
"How do you know I have nothing else happening in my life?" she shoots back, smirking slightly. She knows he will jump at the challenge.
"I know you have nothing else happening because if you did, you would have told me," he says. Rowena's smirk grows bigger; she loves his confidence.
"When did you ever get the idea that I told you everything?" She twists his words back at him and his eyebrows furrow in confusion. "I have a few secrets of my own, Godric."
"But you've always told me everything! I tell you everything," he retorts, the hurt coming through in his voice. "Why? Am I not good enough to know?"
It is then that she feels bad. She knows he values her; just not in the way she does him.
"Godric..." She puts down her brush and looks at him. His eyes are a dazzling blue and Rowena drowns inside of them. "I-I would tell you, but...but it's hard to put into words." It's the partial truth; there might be hope for her yet in the science of dishonesty.
The turmoil in his hurricane eyes stops for a moment, and he whispers, "Be brave, Rowena." It is as if he already expects what she is about to say.
But there is no way he knows, she thinks, because he is always the one running around, saving everyone, and rushing head-first into things-
Suddenly his lips are on hers and she realizes that Godric must be smarter than what she takes him for.
The kiss is passionate like a slow burning flame and Rowena thinks that Godric is like a wildfire; but maybe he'll slow down for her.
They part for air and gaze into each others eyes. His arms wrap around her in a hug, and Rowena decides it's finally time for her to be brave.
"I love you, Godric."
"I was wondering how long it would take for you to find out."
Rowena might have been the most intelligent witch of the age, but Godric certainly knew matters of the heart.
A/N: First Founders fic! I actually like the way it turned out.
Done for:
Eggheads Competition
Camp Potter: History Appreciation
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Transfiguration.
Hogwars Classes Competition - History of Magic
HP Potions Competition - Baruffio's Brain Elixir
Literature Class Competition
Pairing Diversity Boot Camp: Prompt #41 - To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream.