Snap
Disclaimer: No.
Summary: A collection of short one-shots based almost solely upon requests. Multiple characters, pairings, and alternate universes.
AN: So this is a series of short fics that I like to write at work when I'm bored out of my skull. They'll contain multiple characters, multiple pairings, and in fact you're more than welcome to make a request yourself. Whether it's in a PM, a review, or an ask on tumblr (sword-and-stars), I really don't mind! I'll post them as I write them.
Teatime
Something with Raven and Estelle!
Estelle still has trouble sleeping sometimes.
She thinks maybe it won't ever go away entirely, because it's been almost a year and she still jerks awake sometimes and has to catch her breath and wipe the tears off her face even though she knows that nothing she's dreaming of is going to hurt her.
She sleeps better in Dahngrest than she does in the castle, prefers the perpetual noise and bustle to the eerie silence that she grew up with. Estelle would rather have bats and crickets and a brisk wind at night than absolute quiet because sometimes her head gets a little too loud.
Still, sometimes nothing is quite enough even if she's sleeping at headquarters with Judy barely a room away and Yuri only two, and Estelle finds herself padding downstairs with the thickest book she can find on the way.
The sofa's old and squashed and kind of lumpy and Estelle loves it. It's secondhand and she's pretty sure that Yuri snatched it up off of a curb, but it's warm and comfortable and feels better than the perfect, too-nice ones in the palace in Zaphias. That warm, worn-out sofa feels good like one of Yuri's hugs and Estelle curls up on it in a position she's gotten used to and starts to read.
Try as she might, she can't fall asleep.
Until…
"You're up late, princess."
Estelle looks up and there's Raven, standing in the threshold. She shrugs, a little sheepish.
"You know me," she says with a self-deprecating smile. She might say something else but she doesn't need to. Raven already knows. They've spent enough quiet, sleepless nights by the embers of a burnt out campfire by now that she doesn't have to say anything.
He approaches and hands her something, sitting down next to her on that sofa with no intention of leaving.
Estelle holds a steaming cup on a saucer in her hands and she breathes in deep, smelling something sweet and just a little flowery.
"It's chamomile," he says.
"Aren't you going to have some?"
"Nah, darlin', it's all yours."
Raven knows exactly what Estelle needs, which isn't tea but calm, steady companionship. She doesn't need conversation, she doesn't need deep discussions about her feelings.
She just needs this.
Raven doesn't move her when she falls asleep, because he knows that she has a thing about waking up where she goes out, which didn't happen before he kidnapped her. Instead he merely takes the book from her slackened fingers and sets it aside, moves the empty cup out of range, and covers her with a blanket.
He could go back to bed but he won't because he won't be able to sleep, and he'd rather be able to watch over her, who trusts him enough to sleep in his presence.
It's only then that Raven goes into the kitchen, rattles quietly around for a second teacup, and drinks the remains of the kettle.
AN2: Thank you for reading! Again, feel free to shoot me a request if you have a good idea~