AN~ To be honest, guys, this is mostly the reason I wrote this fic. Because I want to ship this so bad but I couldn't come up with a whole fic for it. So bitty piecemeal fic with a chapter focused on it.
Forgotmypassword: You could totally do that. It would be nice to be able to PM you.
Yeah I thought Daphne and Mustardseed were cute when they were just one in a bunch of Daphne pairings, but when it took over and suddenly everyone was pushing it at me in their fics, I started to get kind of annoyed by it and I realized in thinking about why I didn't like it that it wouldn't work at all.
Nononono, read into things all you want! :)
Samantha: I'm not sure how the first sentence of your review ties into the second one but :) anyway. I don't think constructive is the right word but I don't know the word you're looking for. But yeah this will hopefully lead to a lot of growth on Daphne's part, when she figures out that she needs to take a look at things from other's POV.
I'm probably gonna have her end up with one person but I'm still debating who because I really don't ship Daphne with anyone so much.
Mustardseed is easier to get over than Drew. Daphne isn't sure if this was because she didn't lose him, not really, or if she went into things expecting to have them end, or if it was just that it wasn't her first time losing someone. Either way, she finds herself happy to be single and able to play the field within a few months after they break up.
Life is pretty good, to be honest. She isn't even sure she wants a boyfriend. Not long-term, anyway.
Then summer comes, and Toby Arachnid walks back into her life.
Toby is the only one of Rumpelstiltskin's former children who hasn't repented at all for what he did to the Grimms and the other children in Ferryport Landing. His parents were both part of the Scarlet Hand, though they were less active members than most, and still walk free in Ferryport Landing, despite their former allegiances. To Daphne, who has been catching up on her fiction-reading since she's gotten back into the normal world, they strike her as Ferryport Landing's Malfoys: in it because it looked like the winning side, hurrying to prove their innocence now that things are back to normal. In this case, proving their innocence means staying to help rebuild Ferryport Landing, though nobody seems to like them all that much.
Toby is seventeen to Daphne's fourteen, younger than his foster sisters, and strangely alluring. Daphne never really understood the 'bad-boy' draw that some girls feel, but Toby is different. He's kind of short, way shorter than Puck, though taller than Daphne and definitely taller than Sabrina. The annoying laugh seems to have gone away with age, as well as some of his hyperactivity, though his face is still recognizable. He wears his hair short, nearly shaved off, and he's got tattoos crawling all over his skin.
Daphne wonders vaguely where he got the tattoos and his multitude of piercings. There's nowhere in Ferryport Landing to get them. Though it's possible he could have gotten them done in Cold Springs. What she asks instead, though, is, "Did they hurt?" When he gives her a blank look, she clarifies, "The piercings."
Toby, who is currently holding the door for her to the post office, smiles a little. "Yeah. But not enough to stop me from getting them."
Daphne raises her eyebrows. She's not sure why anyone would go through pain on purpose. But she still asks, "Which one hurt the worst?" She's kind of fascinated, actually. You'd think she'd be used to tattoos, but her neighborhood on the Upper East Side is pretty bland, as far as Manhattan goes. And Everafters aren't really into body art, other than the pirates.
Toby pulls up his shirt, revealing a spiderweb across the left side of his ribs. "Definitely this one."
Daphne is tempted to touch it, but she's pretty sure that would be rude. Plus she's not sure if she wants to touch it because it's a cool tattoo or if it's because he's got a wonderfully toned stomach, and either way it's a bad idea. Instead she asks, "What's your favorite?" She tells herself it's not because she wants to have an excuse to see more of his body.
"How about I tell you inside?" Toby asks, nodding behind her. "We're holding up the line."
"Oh." Daphne turns around and flushes, realizing there's a crowd waiting for her to get out of the way of the post office door. Or as much as there can be a crowd in Ferryport Landing. She flushes and hurries through the door.
Once they're both inside, Toby turns his wrists over in front of Daphne's face. On each one is written a name. They could have been scribbled onto his wrists by someone leaving him a note, one in a bubbly handwriting and the other in a nearly illegible scrawl. It's Bella and Natalie's names. Interestingly, Natalie's handwriting is the pretty one.
"Is that your sisters' handwriting?" she asks, though it's kind of obvious. She's just hoping for an excuse to keep talking to him, because Toby grew up cute, and she's fascinated by the person he seems to have become.
Toby smiles. "We still hang out, even though our parents don't get along. Their names were the first ones I got. They have them, too."
"Really?" Daphne asks, raising her eyebrows. She never imagined either of the girls to be the tattoo type. She wonders what it would be like to be so close to someone that you'd want their signature on your skin for eternity. She wonders if someone will ever love her enough to do that. Sabrina might. There probably isn't much Sabrina wouldn't do for Daphne, if she's honest with herself, despite Sabrina's moodiness. It scares Daphne how much Sabrina loves her, sometimes.
So she turns her concentration from that back to Toby, who's saying, "Yeah. It was Bella's idea, actually. For graduation. To show we'll always be family."
Daphne smiles. "That's really sweet." It strikes her as something Bella would do. Daphne likes Bella pretty well, no matter what Sabrina thinks.
Toby laughs and says, "Yeah. That's Bella." He heads over to his post office box.
Daphne reluctantly heads up to the counter to buy stamps. She's surprised when, after she gets to the end of the line and finishes with her purchase, Toby's still in the building. He appears to be lingering. She's hopeful when she sees that. Maybe he's as interested in her as she is in him.
"You're still here, I see," she said oh-so-cleverly, grinning at him. "Do you need something else here?" He probably doesn't. It's not like he's anywhere near the line or anything. But she's giving him an out. She likes to give boys outs, just in case. That way nobody makes a fool of themselves or gets into something they're not up for.
He grins at her and says, "Not exactly. I was wondering if you wanted to go get a coffee or something, actually."
"Yes please," Daphne says emphatically.
She flushes a bit after, because that was really forward of her, but he just laughs.
"I like you a lot more than your sister," he says. "That is, assuming I'm right and you're Daphne Grimm. You are, right?"
Daphne gives a quiet laugh and heads out the door. "Who else would I be?" She winks at him. "You're telling me you didn't recognize me?"
"You've grown up a lot since last time we butted heads," Toby says, giving her an appreciative once-over. "You gotta be twice as old as you were then."
"Just about," Daphne agrees.
They're halfway to Sacred Grounds by the time Daphne asks, "aren't you in college now?" She's asking because if he's Sabrina's age, then he's too old for her. She really hopes he's not, but there's no way she's dating someone who's legally an adult.
Toby shakes his head. "I'm taking a year off. Turns out they want you to be eighteen before you go to college." In response to her questioning look, he explains, "I have a later birthday. My- Rumplestiltskin got me pushed up a grade so he could have all three of us in the same spot. Keep an eye on each other, support each other."
"Oh," Daphne says, thinking that this explains a lot of his behavior from when he was ten. Being the youngest can be hard.
Toby apparently takes her short response as something else, though, because he says, "It's not that bad. It gave me time to work up some savings to save up for school. And I don't really know what I want to do yet, anyway."
Daphne smiles. "Make sense. Where do you work?"
"The mechanic's in Cold Springs," Toby says. They've reached the coffee shop, and he holds the door open for her again. "It's a bit of a drive, but they pay good. Not a lot of people want to hire someone with this many tattoos, and glamours take too much work to keep up."
"What are you going to do after college?" Daphne asks. "I mean, you're still gonna have the tattoos."
Toby shrugs. "I'll figure something out."
This, Daphne figures out over her vanilla latte and his tea, is Toby's life philosophy. He doesn't worry much about anything, and he certainly doesn't think very hard about the future. It's a nice change from most of the people Daphne knows, who either worry or plan excessively. Toby's spontaneity is as alluring as his lithe, tattooed body. She's falling for him fast and hard.
"Do you wanna catch a movie or something?" Daphne asks as her coffee runs low. She should be heading home. It's a long walk, and she's already going to be late for dinner.
Toby smiles. "Sounds fun. I'm off Saturday."
They trade numbers, and Daphne heads out. She realizes it's later than she thought, and calls Puck, who makes it there in five minutes and flies her home. They're just in time for dinner.
"And where were you all afternoon?" Veronica asks, but she looks more amused than anything. Everyone knows Daphne has a tendency to start talking to people and get distracted. She's too friendly for her own good.
"I met a boy," Daphne says nonchalantly. This, too, isn't new. "We're going to the movies on Saturday."
"What's his name?" Sabrina asks, trading knowing smiles with her uncle. Sabrina hasn't interfered in Daphne's love life since Mustardseed blew up in their faces, but she's still interested in it.
"It's Toby Arachnid, actually," Daphne says, "one of Rumplestiltskin's stolen kids."
It takes her several seconds before she notices the silence that's fallen around the table.
"What?" she asks, looking up from her most recent mouthful of goulash.
"You're going out with Toby?" Red is the first one to ask. Everyone in the room is staring at Daphne.
"Yeah. What's the big deal?" Daphne asks.
"Toby like the only Everafter our age in town who isn't in any way sorry for all the times he tried to kill us?" Sabrina clarifies.
Daphne rolls her eyes. From Sabrina, at least, this reaction makes sense, and probably from Henry, too. They're both slow to forgive. "He's perfectly nice, Sabrina."
"I don't... I don't think you should go out with him, Daphne," Red says tentatively.
"Why not?" Daphne demands. "What's wrong with him? Are you going to hate him just because he made some mistakes when he was younger? He's nice now!"
"No, it's not that, it's just... well, he..." Red trails off in silence.
"He what?" Daphne snaps.
"He has a bit of a bad reputation around here," Pinocchio says. He doesn't normally talk much about Daphne's boys, so the fact that he's speaking up is kind of weird.
"Bad reputation like what?" Daphne asks, her voice rising. She wants to keep control of herself, really she does, but they're all being so judgmental! Like none of them have ever made a mistake? "Is it because of the way he looks? I never thought you'd be that shallow! You spent centuries trying to convince people to look past your outside and see who you really were!"
"No, of course it's not because of his tattoos!" Pinocchio says.
"Wait, tattoos?" Henry asks. "That boy? Oh no."
Daphne ignores her father, because he honestly has no say in who she dates, and she asks Pinocchio, "Well, if it's not that, then what is it?"
"He's had an awful lot of girlfriends," Red explains when Pinocchio doesn't seem willing to answer.
Daphne laughs. "And I've had an awful lot of boyfriends."
"Not at the same time," Red says quietly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Daphne asks hotly.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Pinocchio says, and it comes out of him like an explosion. "For goodness sakes, Daphne, how crystalline do we have to make it? Toby has cheated on every woman he's ever walked out with!"
Daphne keeps herself from pointing out that Pinocchio has slipped back into the pompous language they're trying to train him out of by asking, "How do you know?"
Nobody says anything.
"Did you see it? Or have you just heard rumors?" Daphne presses. She's known enough people's lives ruined by rumors.
"No, we haven't seen it, but Daphne-" Red begins.
Daphne cuts her off. "Then you have no proof, and I'm disappointed in all of you." She glares at them. "I'm dating him, okay? Now would you all just butt out of my life?"
Sabrina and Puck look at each other and roll their eyes, muttering about hypocrites, but everyone leaves her alone, and Daphne's... well, not happy, exactly. But she's satisfied.
She and Toby continue to date, though they don't spend much time at her house (for obvious reasons). It's fun. He's got a completely different worldview than she does, and they have really fascinating discussions. She dyes her hair pink because, now that she's dating him, she finally has the courage to do it. She likes that he makes her feel just a little bit dangerous, not like a soft squishy girl that everyone in town knew 'when you were this tall.' Now they look at the couple as if they're a threat. Daphne loves it. She's tired of being looked at as a sweet little thing who loves everyone.
Then she finds out.
She's been staunchly ignoring the rumors about Toby being a cheater, even when she gets them from his foster sisters. They're just rumors, and he hasn't done anything suspicious like not being around when she wants to do something, or not letting her pick up his phone. And she refuses to believe that he could do something like that. He's wonderful.
Of course, then a pretty, petite girl with twists of black hair down to her waist comes up to her in the park and asks, "Are you the one dating Toby Arachnid?"
"Yeah, why?" Daphne asks, looking up from her book and glancing between the girl and Basil, playing on the slide.
"My name's Shawna," the girl says. "I'm dating him, too."
Daphne doesn't want to believe it. She really, really doesn't. But Shawna's story adds up. Toby's been cheating on her for two weeks, from the looks of things.
"I'm sorry," Shawna says softly. "I came to you as soon as I found out."
Daphne gives Shawna a smile. It's forced, but it's there, hopefully reassuring. "It's not your fault. You didn't know."
But she knew. Or didn't know, exactly. She'd been warned. Over and over again. And she refused to listen. She wanted to believe the best of Toby. She hadn't wanted to think someone who was so great in every other way could do something so hurtful. What was wrong with her?
More importantly, what's wrong with him?
Before she knows it, she's dialing his number, calling up her boyfriend and putting him on speakerphone.
"Hello?" Toby says, answering the phone. "What's up, babe?"
"Hey," Daphne says, ice in her voice. She is angry. "I'm talking with a mutual acquaintance. Her name's Shawna. Wanna explain?"
"Hi, honey," Shawna says, and thank goodness she sounds just as angry as Daphne.
Toby mutters a curse into the phone.
"So, needless to say, you're single again," Daphne says, the iciness of her voice sparkling now. "Maybe even for real this time. I mean, I thought everyone had you pegged wrong, but hey, guess I was just being too naive."
"Wanna explain?" Shawna asks. "Because this is the last time you're talking to me, at least. And I think we deserve to know."
"I- I didn't want to hurt you," Toby says. "I just... it was an accident."
Shawna snorts. "Right. Because having two girlfriends at the same time is accidental."
"I might believe you made a mistake if this was the first time," Daphne says. "But it's not, is it?"
Toby doesn't say anything. It's answer enough.
"Yeah," Daphne says. "Bye, Toby." She hangs up.
She will not cry. Not over this. He doesn't deserve it. So she won't.
But dangit, this hurts.