A/N: accidentally forgot to update by starting two new witcher WIPs, oops :p but i'm still here for those who are interested :)
Ch.5. Baffling Blue
Yennefer wakes to the sound of crying.
Her eyes snapping open in alarm, she glances round only for her gaze to settle on a pair of teary blue eyes.
"What's wrong?" she finds herself asking.
(If she wasn't who she was, she'd call it maternal instinct.)
Buttercup just lets himself fall onto her chest, wrapping his arms around her as tightly as possible, which, to be fair, isn't all that tight.
"Did something happen?" she tries again, shifting so she's sat up and they're both upright.
He just shakes his head, sniffling. "I saw her."
Yennefer frowns, puzzled. "Who?"
(She wants to kill whoever it is already.)
"She's dead."
She blinks, staring at the top of Buttercup's head as he buries his face in her neck, having expected a lot but definitely not a reference to someone having died - it almost makes her feel bad for having wished them dead just moments before.
"I'm sorry," Yennefer whispers eventually.
But he only shakes his head, pulling back and frowning. "Why? You didn't do it."
Oh, if only he knew. If only he knew the destruction she was capable of, the destruction she's already responsible for.
(But she doesn't want him to know.)
"I'm sorry anyway," is all she says, wrapping an arm around him.
He nods but starts crying again, and she just lets him. She's not entirely sure if she hates his crying because it sounds awful or because it feels awful but she hates it anyway, and makes a note to ask who 'she' is some time in the future.
The crying continues for far too long but she doesn't stop him, waiting until he falls back asleep before letting out an audible sigh of relief.
Slowly, carefully, she lifts and places him on the bed beside her before standing up and brushing herself down, using magic to rid her otherwise beautiful dress of the damp tear stains.
(She can't remember why she hadn't changed out of it before sleeping but she suspects Buttercup was involved.)
She manages to avert a small war before he wakes up again.
"Yenny?"
What the hell?
She looks up from where she's sat in her study and tries to decide whether she'd simply gone mad for a moment and hallucinated the voice.
"Yenny!"
Apparently not.
"Yenny!"
"I'm here!" she calls back as she makes her way back to her bedroom, where Buttercup looks ready to cry again.
(She doesn't think she can handle that.)
"Yenny!" he exclaims once again, all but leaping out of bed and colliding with her legs in his rush to get to her.
She wobbles but thankfully doesn't fall, frowning down at him. "What happened now?"
"Thought you left me," Buttercup mumbles.
Yennefer sighs, ruffling his hair. "Of course I didn't. Where would I go?"
He shrugs but lets go of her, wiping his eyes as he smiles weakly before letting out a wide yawn and lifting his arms in the air. Sighing internally, she crouches down and lifts him up, balancing him on her hip as he giggles and reaches for her hair again, twirling it around his fingers.
(It feels just as nice as last time.)
"Are you hungry, little one?" she asks, carrying him to the kitchen, already knowing he is because his stomach is rumbling.
Naturally, she's confused when he just clutches onto her and stays silent. Frustrated when he remains quiet several minutes later, she gently guides him into sitting on the table, trying not to pay attention to his protests as he reaches for her with a confused frown.
(Trying not to pay attention to how painful it is to see.)
"Are you hungry?" she asks again, softer this time.
He nods slowly, his hands clenching into tiny fists as he folds his arms.
"Then why are you so quiet, hm?" she inquires, offering him a smile in the hope that it'll get him to open up.
He yawns again before shrugging. "Wanna stay with you"
(And oh, if that doesn't both excite and scare her.)
Yennefer frowns but simply takes one of his hands in her own and squeezes gently, reassuringly, instead of expressing her confusion. "You can stay with me for as long as you like... but you have to eat breakfast, okay?"
Buttercup nods quickly, a grin spreading on his face as he uses his free hand to squeeze hers in return. "Thank you, Yenny!"
She can't just ignore that for the fourth time.
"Yenny?" she echoes, raising an eyebrow in what she thinks is the least intimidating way possible.
(He's one of the few people she'd hate to accidentally intimidate.)
He giggles at her. "That's your name, isn't it?"
Before she can argue, he continues. "That's what she called you yesterday."
"Triss?" Yennefer asks, thinking back; Triss does sometimes call her by something other than her full name but she's never heard the version he's saying now.
But Buttercup nods enthusiastically. "She said 'until we meet again, Yenny', I heard her!"
Yennefer laughs.
(She'd almost forgotten what such pure amusement felt like.)
"She called me 'Yenn', little one. My name is Yennefer."
His face falls momentarily but he recovers before she can regret saying anything and frowns up at her. "Yennfer?"
"No, no, Yen-ne-fer," she corrects.
He makes a face, his nose scrunching up and his eyebrows furrowing as if he'd unintentionally eaten something sour or unknowingly signed himself up to a mindless feast. "I like Yenny."
If he were a regular noble or something of the sort, she would probably eviscerate him for the sheer audacity of disrespecting her name. Fortunately for him, his eyes are filled with nothing but an innocent opinion and she can't fault him for that when he's so young.
(A part of her likes that the name used in courts and battlefields won't be the same one to fall from his lips.)
"If you say so, Buttercup. Now, how about some food?" She asks, pretending not to notice when he beams at her so widely it looks almost painful.
"Yes, please!" He replies, giggling to himself as she grabs two plates and waves a hand to summon bread and jam.
"Can you teach me?" he all but pleads as he picks up one of the plates, awe in his expression when he looks up at her again.
(All she wants to do is teach someone who truly wants her as their teacher.)
But all she says is, "Maybe another time. Eat up for now."
Strangely enough, he seems satisfied by that, forgetting about chairs entirely even when she slips into the one next to him and starting to eat, somehow managing not to make an utter mess despite not having recognised soup before.
She can't figure him out and it annoys her because she can figure most things out and there's no way the greatest mage to ever grace a court will be defeated by a mere child who isn't even trying.
"Can I go play on the mattress again?" Buttercup asks once they're finished, his eyes full of hope and what must be happiness.
"Of course," she replies without thinking.
(But maybe being defeated by a child isn't all too bad.)
i have a thing for soft yennefer so i won't even apologise for making her a little ooc :)
thanks for reading! review? x