The Rose and Not Its Thorns
Rating: PG
Pairing: Violet/Klaus. Pre-incest, I suppose. Before you say anything, I know it's sick that it's like eating my own foot. Well, I admitted it so you don't have to tell me. I saved you the effort, yay for all of us.
Notes: Unbeta'd. Takes place between the first three books. This is my first ASoUE story, feel free to critique. I won't slit my wrists over it, promise.
"The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose." – Kahlil Gibran
-
You're all running from Count Olaf again. You're tired and you think, things really can't get any more unfortunate than this.
-
Back then when you had appropriate dinners on a table and your parents made your food for you, both of your forks land on the last pork on the plate. You eye him fiercely and he does the same. You pull the pork towards you and suddenly, it's a game of tug of war.
Your parents tell you to stop acting like little kids, which is impossible because you are a little kid. While you're verbally fighting with your brother, Sunny crawls across the table and bites the pork, along with the end of both of your forks. She shrieks, "Gluf!" which probably means, "Well, at least I got you guys to shut up and that's solved." She's always the peacemaker.
"I'm sorry, Klaus. You should've taken it; your fork was on it first."
"No, I'm sorry, Violet," he apologizes, "You should've taken it."
You smile and he returns it right back. You have a mutual understanding and you remember the lesson and that smile.
-
You and your siblings get caught again by Count Olaf. He stuck you back into that filthy room with only one lightbulb. This time, he lets you sleep at night rather than doing something utterly terporkle to you immediately. It makes you fear of what's expected to come, as if he wants you to do your best for whatever he has under his sleeve. It must be a really good plan if he wants you prepared. Except you have to be strong, you have to set an example for Klaus and Sunny.
Sunny's asleep first. You can't sleep, even though you're tired of running, tired of Olaf, tired of this. Klaus wakes up from hearing you sobbing from the corner of the room, and he walks up to you. Resting his hand on your shoulder for comfort, he asks, "What's wrong, Violet?"
You don't turn to him because you don't want him to see you like this. "Nothing, Klaus," you say, wiping the tears off your face, and that doesn't help because more stream down your cheeks.
"Nothing is never nothing," Klaus says, and he must really know what's going on when he defies the actual definition of nothing.
"It's just… I'm an inventor; I'm supposed to fix things with my inventions. I haven't fixed this situation and Count Olaf is going to try to kill us again."
He moves from behind you and now you're facing him, only inches apart. Klaus cups your face with his hands, wiping the tears off with his thumb. You're still looking down and he makes you meet his eyes when he lifts up your chin.
"You'll always find a way, Violet. You always do. Without you, we wouldn't have made it this far." He smiles again, and you remember that smile. He kisses you on the cheek from where those tears previously were, and seem to stop trailing when his lips touch the surface. When he breaks away, you stare at his eyes for what seems is the longest time, and he puts his hand on your back, gently forcing you. "Come to bed, you'll need the sleep to get your mind working for the next invention."
He leads you to the makeshift bed that you made. He lies down next to you and you're holding Sunny. Your hand is on top of Sunny's, and his hand is on top of yours.
-
You wake up before any of them do, not moving from your spot. This is home. You think: would you and Klaus be like this if Count Olaf hadn't came along? Or would you still be fighting for the last pork?
You think: maybe things aren't so unfortunate after all.