House of Hemset
(A House of Anubis fanfic)
AN: I don't own the characters / setting / mysteries of House of Anubis. Canon-compliant until House of Venom (the latest episode I've seen). No real spoilers though.
AN 2: This one comes from a scene where Nina is in her room with Amber and Fabian, and about to go to Sarah's funeral. Patricia whooshes into the room and immediately starts whining about Joy (again!) Plus a few conversations with my SLOC as to Patricia's obsession with Joy, and what it really means… *lol*
HOA HOA HOA HOA HOA HOA
Joy is the Ghost of Girlfriends Past. She is the centre of the whirlpool of hormones that make up the lives of the residents of the House of Anubis. She is gone, but she won't go away. And Nina desperately wants to dig out the tiny tendril of doubt that Patricia has planted in her head with her knowing smile and mocking words: "You want her back too, don't you Fabian? You and her are really close, aren't you?"
Nina has competed with the after-image of Joy since starting at the school. Joy has been everywhere, known everyone, done everything before her. It is hard to compete with a ghost, and Nina is tired of trying. She had thought that the one place that she wouldn't compete with the ghost was Fabian's friendship (or maybe more than friendship, the looks and the blushes seem to say something more is beginning). But Patricia has trampled over that small hope with her looks and her words, and her terrible desire not to let Joy go.
It worries her, the not knowing where she stands with Fabian. He is happy to spend time with her, and help her with the Sibuna puzzles, but each time she thinks that they might move past the purely-friends stage, the ghost of Joy intervenes. She has wondered if there is a way of exorcising a living person, but she hasn't found anything so far. And so the ghost lurks in the edges of her life, waiting to emerge at the worst times.
She had asked Amber one day how she dealt with Mick-and-Mara being Mick-and-Mara (after explaining just what she meant by that, Amber is very smart in some ways, but completely clueless in others). Amber's reply was fairly typical Amber, she didn't think about them unless they were right in front of her. And when they were right in front of her, she pretended that they were someone else. This week they are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – minus the horde of kids – and next week they are going to be Prince William and Princess Kate. Not helpful for Nina's situation, even though it works well for Amber.
Nina is sitting with her chin on her knees, staring at the fire, thinking about what she had overheard from Victor and Rufus. Not only is the ghost Joy always around, the real Joy is also special and Chosen. And Nina can't compete with both of them.
A throat-clearing behind her interrupts the contemplation, and she twists in the chair to face one of the people she had been thinking about. A shy smile, and a quiet "Am I disturbing you? You look deep in thought there." makes her tummy do a flip-flop. With an answering smile, she waves her hand at the seat next to her, and replies, "Nope. Not disturbing me at all."
Fabian climbs over the back of the couch, and sits on an angle that means he can see her face without having to twist too much. If he casually lays his arm along the back of the couch just so, he is within touching distance of her face, if he ever works up the courage to actually try. "So, do you want to share the deep thoughts you are having? A trouble shared is a trouble halved, as they say."
Nina giggles at that platitude. "Where on earth did you hear that?"
"Mums says it all the time. Usually when she's trying to get us to confess our deepest darkest secrets. She prefers the other one though."
"What's that then?"
"A joy shared is a joy doubled."
Nina hugs her knees closer to her chest as a cold shiver runs down her spine. She can't even have a simple conversation with Fabian without the spectre of Joy waiting to pounce on her unawares. And yes, she knows that Fabian isn't referring to the person of Joy in this instance, but that's where her mind goes immediately. And she can't help her body's automatic reaction in response.
Fabian sees her withdraw into herself, and wonders frantically what he's said this time to make her do it. He doesn't see why saying that sharing happy things would make her upset. Except, he realised, that I didn't say happy, I said joy. And that's the trigger. He recalls with heart-sinking clarity that every time Patricia derails a conversation with her constant screeching of "Joy always… Joy never… Joy wouldn't… But what about Joy…" Nina disappears inside her head. And it's not just when Patricia says her name, it's when any of them do.
He reaches out his hand to pat her on the shoulder but she sees it out of the corner of her eye and twists away off the couch, leaving him stranded with his hand in mid-air. She crosses to the fireplace, and stares at the photos along the mantelpiece. The one at the end is of Patricia, Fabian and Joy. Joy smiles knowingly out of the frame, her expression saying, "mine first, always mine first." Nina can't stand it a moment longer and sweeps the frame off the mantelpiece and onto the floor, smiling in satisfaction at the crash of the glass on the floor.
The sudden violent movement startles Fabian out of the chair and he approaches Nina cautiously. He hears her muttering, "It's not fair. She's always here, she's always first. Special girl, the Chosen one. First in the school, first with the others here." A small sniff. "First with you." She raises her hand to wipe away the tears threatening to fall.
"Oh, Neens." He takes the final step to her side and wraps his arms around her. "Please don't cry Nina, it's not worth it," he murmurs into her hair, rubbing his hand in circles on her back. "You're much more special that she will ever be, at least to me. You don't need a stupid made-up title from some crazy group to be special and chosen."
"But Patricia said…" comes the muffled voice from his shoulder.
Fabian cuts her off mid-sentence, "Patricia can't conceive of anyone preferring somebody – anybody – to Joy. Doesn't matter that I've told her I want someone else, have done since I met you. She's got this blinkered idea that it's Joy first, last and always for everyone, just because she is for her."
He tilts her chin up so she is looking at him with tear-filled eyes. "You are special. And I choose you over Joy or Amber, and any other girl you want to name. And I hope that you would also choose me, otherwise I've made a complete fool of myself, and made things worse with you."
A smile breaking through the tears. "Yes, I do choose you. I'd always choose you."
Then, a kiss. Salty and sweet, lasting a few seconds but also a hundred years. Broken only by a familiar voice in the corridor, "But Joy says…" The door opens and the rest of their housemates pile into the room, arguing like usual about something.
And for first time since Nina started at the school, the ghost of Joy doesn't appear at the speaking of her name. Maybe she has been exorcized at last.