#coffeintheface | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rudnitskaia · 14 days

Text

And as I promised, right in a row, the 2nd part (the 1st) of the answer on number 19 from that list for @coffeintheface @acesandocs. 💖

Note: that ficlet highly depends on a joke headcanon that Mau and Rocky really married by accident. I wrote about it in the very old answer to an ask, but I'll also place it here for convenience.

"I can even imagine how these two might spontaneously get married because of an accidentally blurted out series of utterly stupid puns. Because it’s simply something fun to do. Like, they sneak out on the roof in the night, chatting incessantly, and then

Mau: You won’t do such a felony to me.

Rocky: A fell-on-knee? Well, I can dare.

Mau: And if I agree you’ll dare to do it right now?

Rocky: Oh, Miss Venza, it would be such a delight, but no one will marry us in the dead of night.

Mau: The dead of night, huh? I remember you told me about some business you run with a funeral home. There's supposed to be a minister. A funeral home marriage in the dead of night. Sounds like a perfect match.

And soon Rocky, arm in arm with Mau, will be banging on the door of the Arbogast Funeral Home, and if the face of sleepy Abelard Arbogast could have stretched more from their request, it would have stretched. :D"

So, here's the ficlet. :3

The Dawnright Truth

Note: Italian speech

“Hush!” Mau shushed Rocky, barely holding back a giggle herself. He habitually helped her to get over the window and then sat on the window sill, gesturing that he wouldn't utter another sound. Mau smiled. She only had a couple hours of sleep left, but for nights like this, she was willing to sacrifice even them. It was impossible to count how many conversations, how many laughs and fiddle tunes the roof of this house had heard… and Maura hoped that tonight would not be the last and that roof would hear a lot more.

As she took a step back inside her room, Rocky gently squeezed her palm and pulled Mau lightly toward him. Please don't go. She shook her head with a chuckle. No. It's almost dawn. Not letting go of her hand, Rocky pressed his fist to his chest. Waved one way, then the other in some strange pantomime, looking at Mau with the most sorrowful expression that he was capable of. Jokingly sorrowful, of course, but there was truth behind the joke. If it were up to him, he would make sure that this moment would never end; the moment when the whole city was asleep and no one but the stars in the sky could hear them. So that there would be no need to carve out time for secret meetings. And so that he wouldn't have to hide what he put into every melody he played to her at nights, behind the stares and smiles in the daytime.

Alas, now he didn't even have the violin in his hands to tell her, as usual, everything without words. He was about to hop back to the fire escape and continue to amuse her at least with his ridiculous silent performance, when Mau, laughing inaudibly, stepped forward and kissed him. So easily and openly that Rocky held his breath in surprise. But soon he loudly exhaled through his nose, closing his eyes and relaxing his shoulders. All thoughts, all words and images froze for a moment, and then swirled in his head in a fantastical dance again, as if drawing new music from that gentle touch. Rocky moved forward, toward her, giving himself over to the sensation of flight that had taken over him…

…when suddenly there was a loud thud.

The landing from heaven to earth was disgustingly hard. Rocky rubbed his chin, which had hit the floor just a moment ago, and propped himself up on an elbow.

“Mau? Is everything alright?” came a voice from outside the room.

Maura looked worriedly at the door and pointed Rocky under the bed.

“Quick!” she whispered to him, rushing over to the chair and placing it headboard down on the floor. Much louder, she replied: “Yes, I’m fine!”

A knock sounded.

“Are you up already? Can I come in?”

Mau clasped her hands together. Anxiously, she leaned closer to the bottom of the bed and muttered:

“I beg you, not a sound,” and then answered her father: “Of course!”

Not more than a second later the door opened and Augusto peeked into the room. Mau smiled awkwardly at him and pretended to pull up a chair.

“Was reaching for a book and dropped it. Sorry, didn't mean to wake you.”

Augusto nodded, seemingly paying no attention neither to the strange excuse nor to the wide-opened window.

“I was already awake. But why did you get up so early?”

“Couldn't get any sleep… tossed and turned for a while, and then decided, why lie around for nothing? Better go and bake some muffins before opening…”

Rocky didn't understand a word she was saying, but the tone in which Mau was speaking… no, not speaking, chirping with her father, caused him to laugh inaudibly. He wondered if it was from anxiety or if she always acted that way with him. The dust made his nose terribly itch. But Rocky didn't risk moving and only wrinkled his nose, hoping the sensation would go away soon. After examining all the cracks in the bedframe, he turned his head to the side and suddenly saw the jewelry box next to him. And he wouldn’t pay that much attention on it if he didn’t notice the tip of some kind of note sticking out of the box. A letter? From whom, he wondered?

Meanwhile, Augusto walked into the room.

“How lucky. I was just about to leave the keys for you in the hallway, but I heard you were up. I have to go out for a while.”

“Oh, sure,” Mau accepted the keychain from his hands. “For how long?”

When Rocky carefully pulled the sheet from under the lid, he was surprised to find out that it was his note. One of many he had left for Mau at the eatery. In some he had doodled all sorts of silly things, in others he had hastily made up short humorous poems that vanished from his memory as soon as they had hit the paper. And she… kept them? No way she did. Neglecting all precautions, Rocky lifted the lid of the box… and immediately slammed it shut.

But it was too late.

Several seconds of his confusion were enough for a tinkling melody to fill the room.

Mau's heart sank. Augusto stared in puzzlement at the direction of the bed and, not listening to his daughter's objection, looked underneath it. Rocky waved at him awkwardly.

“Good morning, Mister Venza.”

“You!” the man exclaimed angrily, pulling the guy out from under the bed by his coat. “Parasite!”

“Papa, stop swearing,” said Mau with pressure. Augusto stood up, not letting Rocky out of his grasp, and shook him as if he was holding not a young man but a weightless rag.

“What is this, Mau?”

“Please leave him alone.”

“I knew that scoundrel wasn't just hanging around in our eatery for nothing. Do you realize he's a criminal, Maura?”

“No more than we are!” objected Mau.

“That's already too much, sweetheart!” groaned Augusto and shook Rocky by the scruff of the neck again. “I've seen enough of his kind, you can see 'em a mile off! A swindler, a bandit, a rascal! What if he tells anyone about us? Or even worse, what if he hurts you?”

“He won't hurt me ever!”

“Of course, he won't. And he won't show up on our doorstep again either. I respect your choice, darling, but that! I simply can't allow that to happen! For me to willingly entrust you into the hands of some thug, some… some…”

“He's already my husband, papa!” Mau moaned in despair and immediately regretted what she had said. Augusto froze with his eyes wide open, now filled with true dread, but still didn't loosen his grip.

“Maura,” he began cautiously. “Don't tell me you're expecting a child from him.”

“What?! No!” exclaimed Mau indignantly. “It just happened… accidentally!” she tried to justify herself, but seemed to make it worse.

“How can you accidentally marry a man?”

“We thought it was in jest. I never would have thought a priest at some backwater funeral home could actually wed people! We were going to get a divorce somehow…” sighed Mau, and then, after a moment of hesitation, added in a low voice: “…but I don't think that's necessary anymore.”

Augusto unclenched his fingers, releasing Rocky, and slowly lowered himself onto the bed. With a trembling hand he fumbled in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes, took one out and lit it. For several long seconds there was absolute silence in the room.

“What's your name even, hubby?” Augusto finally asked, so quietly that Rocky could barely make out the words.

“Roc… Roark Rickaby, Mister Venza,” Rocky held out his hand to the man, but he didn't even look at it.

“Does he know? About us,” he questioned, clearly referring to the disastrous troubles with mob that had been the reason the Venza family had fled New York. Mau nodded.

“Yes. I told him everything.”

The room filled with heavy silence again. Augusto took a long, nervous puff and stared at the floorboards for a long moment, unblinking. Finally, he covered his face with the palm of his hand and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

“Oh, dear Lord…”

#hope you'll enjoy it <333 #coffeintheface #acesandocs #missedditart #heldig writings #lackadaisy #romaunce #maura venza oc #rocky rickaby #lackadaisy oc #maura venza #lackadaisy rocky #rocky lackadaisy #lackadaisy ocs #lackadaisyocs #lackadaisyoc #lackadaisy fanfiction #lackadaisy oc x canon #oc x canon

20 notes · View notes

rudnitskaia · 14 days

Note

Sorry i got so excited to ask questions i forgot to specify but maybe a drabble for 3, 6 and 19. And a drawing for 18. But if you feel specifically inspirred to do something different im not complaining. Love these goobers so any kind of romaunce content is a win for me😁

Hey-hey, Edd! 💖 Tysm for the ask, I'll cover all the numbers, I promise! ✨😭✨ These are very interesting topics for me, so count it as part 1/?. :3 I'll tag your main and your new @acesandocs acc so you won't miss it. <3

I hope you meant numbers from that list, but if you meant the other - DM me, please.

I'll start with the number 19, "Who tells their family/friends about their relationship first?"

And I came up with two ideas, so I post the two-parts answer in a row. Because I headcanon that it's Freckle who was the first one to suspect his cousin develops feelings for a certain Italian waitress, but technically the one who got the confirmed information about Rocky's and Mau's relationship would've been Augusto. So I did both.

First story will be from the Freckle's side. I once started to do a comic from it, but gave it up. So now behold this ancient scenario in a ficlet. :D

The Right Moment

“And what a pizza they have!”

“Pizza?”

“Yeah, sugary pizza!”

“Is this... thing really worth it?” Calvin sighed, deciding not to clarify what that ridiculous phrase meant.

“Oh, true ambrosia. You'll be flabbergasted!” Rocky exclaimed, keeping up his pace. Calvin felt that he had been trying to catch up with his cousin through the streets of St. Louis for about an hour, and he feared that he was going to spend just as long on the heat as he already had, but fortunately Rocky finally turned around the corner and confidently swung open the blue door of the little eatery. Calvin followed him inside and found Rocky waiting at the counter, but finding no one at it, he sat down at the table that was nearest to the entrance, placed his fedora against the wall, and drummed his fingers impatiently on the countertop. Calvin sat down across the table and studied the details of the unassuming establishment. Since when had Rocky developed such a fondness for Italian cuisine…?

“Why, if it isn't Mister Rickaby himself!” A lively woman's voice with a quavering “r” sounded over Calvin's ear.

“Miss Maura,” Rocky grinned. “How else could it be? Your cozy place is an oasis that shelters travelers from the scorching sun. I've even rescued one suffering man along the way. Working for the good of your enterprise, so to speak. Meet my cousin, Freckle.”

“Freckle?”

“Calvin. McMurray,” he habitually corrected Rocky, and finally turned around, meeting his gaze with the tall, young Italian woman. Calvin stared at her face and lean figure, but by the time he realized he was doing it for too long, thankfully, she was already looking at Rocky.

“We'll have two glasses of lemonade, please, your incomparable sugary pizza…”

“And a sandwich, please. Any kind. Not sweet,” Calvin added hastily.

“Not sweet? Are you sure he's your cousin, Rocky?”

“Oh, yeah, he is. He just doesn't realize what he's missing,” he waved it away. “You know for yourself that pizza's an undoughbtfully subtle thing.”

Mau laughed out loud.

“Oh, come on. I'm the one who knows batter that it’s just your oven self that works on a different fuel.”

“Hey!” Rocky chuckled with feigned indignation, but Maura was already heading past the tables toward the kitchen. Calvin stayed silent as he watched Rocky's eyes on the girl. He didn't say a word when Rocky again engaged the waitress in banter when she returned with the order. He preferred not to evaluate the flavor of the monstrous slice that was aptly called ‘sugary pizza’, but the sandwich and lemonade were very good indeed. Calvin kept his mouth shut even when Rocky, leaning against the counter, took a few good minutes to say goodbye to Mau. Only on their way back to the Little Daisy Café he surrendered to his curiosity.

“So… about that ‘sugary pizza’.”

“What, do you regret not trying it after all? I knew it! I knew you'd bite your head off. Well, I'll ask Miss Maura make more next time.”

“Next time, yeah. How long have you been visiting this place?”

Rocky pondered.

“A month? Or about two… something like that.”

“Only for sugary pizza?”

“No, why, they have good coffee, lemonade, and…” Rocky began to list without a backward thought, but then suddenly frowned. “Wait, what are you implying?”

“Nothing,” Calvin looked away and smiled involuntarily. Rocky squinted.

“Don’t tap dance with me, sneaky gingerbread. I can see right through you.”

“Well… uh. Neither of us are blind. Miss Maura probably… it seems she likes you.”

Shaking his head, Rocky ran a hand through his hair in relief.

“Oh, Freckle. You don't understand anything. Miss Maura… she's always like that. With everyone. Gives away words like hot cakes. Mine may be puncakes, but they aren’t served with any ‘additional syrup’.”

Calvin stared at the passing cars for a while, thinking if he should try to change his cousin's mind. But suddenly Rocky cautiously asked:

“…you really think?”

Calvin shrugged. Was he sure of what he was talking about? It was hard to tell. But what he'd seen in the eatery certainly… brought up some thoughts.

“Why don't you ask her out, since you two have been in touch for so long?”

“It's not that simple, Freckle,” Rocky sighed and gestured vigorously. “You have to be thorough, have to pick the right moment. Besides, have you seen her grumpy old man? A glancekiller. It's like rescuing a princess from a dragon's lair. And you're suggesting I just walk up and say…” he stopped in the middle of the street in a deep bow with his hands widely outstretched to the sides, “…do me a favor, my fair maid, go with me on a promenade!”

Suddenly Rocky felt how something was lowered on his left hand. He turned his head in puzzlement and found his own fedora hanging there. But it wasn't that that surprised him, it was… Maura. She was looking at him and Freckle with amusement, and Rocky had no idea where to get away from that look. And he wanted to get away. Wanted it desperately. Preferably somewhere under the ground. But before he could say anything, Mau nonchalantly stated:

“Well, if you promise to be a faithful knight, toss a pebble into my window at night.”

Calvin, who was watching all this, began to quietly laugh. Maura waved to him with a mockingly innocent smile.

“Goodbye, Mister McMurray, it was nice to meet you,” and, without waiting for Rocky's reply, she headed back toward the eatery.

Calvin's laughter grew louder the longer he stared at Rocky's confused face. It was simply impossible to hold back. Calvin felt like he was choking, but he didn't stop chuckling even when Rocky elbowed him in the side and exclaimed:

“Stop cackling, you!”

Rocky took a deep breath, covered his face with the fedora and let out a muffled yell. As Calvin continued to laugh, he patted his cousin on the back a few times, either sympathetically or encouragingly; it was also hard to tell.

Though one thing was definitely undoubtful: now Calvin had not a single regret about that visit to Italian eatery. At all.

#tysm for the ask dude <333 #it gave me so much fuel *w*#acesandocs #coffeintheface #missedditart #heldig writings #lackadaisy #romaunce #maura venza oc #rocky rickaby #lackadaisy oc #lackadaisy ocs #lackadaisyoc #lackadaisyocs #maura venza #lackadaisy rocky #rocky lackadaisy #lackadaisy fanfiction

11 notes · View notes