Valicer OT3 Week, Day Three: Childhood Friends
Day Three of @ot3-week's OT3 Week, and we're up to a cute prompt -- "Childhood friends!" So naturally I couldn't resist writing the trio hanging out together as kids. :) This is supposed to be a Victorian!AU, though I suspect it might feel a little bit more modern than that...the important thing is, there's a grand old party happening in the halls of Christchurch at Oxford, and Smiler and Alice have already found each other and decided to sequester themselves away from all these boring adults in their own private table fort. But tummies have started growling, and so Smiler is venturing out to get snacks...
--
“I’m gonna get more snacks!”
“All right – make sure to grab some of Mama’s Welsh rarebit!” Alice said, arranging the cards into neat piles. “Then when you come back we can start building our castle.”
“Definitely,” Smiler said, shooting her a grin. They grabbed the edge of the tablecloth and lifted it – then, seeing no adults had eyes on them, scrambled out from under the banquet table that they and Alice had claimed as their personal hidey-hole. And I thought this party was going to be boring, they thought, scurrying toward the table where the Welsh rarebit sat, along with a few other cheese-based dishes the various attendees were nibbling on. Adults never want to have any fun when they get together – it’s just talk talk talk about boring stuff. Especially Father, going on about “social compliance” and all that...it’s a good thing that Alice is here! I can’t wait to hear another story about Wonderland – it sounds amazing! And I bet that, without the adults interrupting us, we can build a castle using all of the –
“Now, I don’t want you embarrassing me at this party, Victor, do you understand?”
Smiler stopped, turning toward the entrance. Standing there, having their coats taken by the coat-taking-man, was a hunched-over skinny man with a large mustache, leaning on a cane; a very plump woman in the fanciest dress Smiler had ever seen, fanning herself like it was the middle of summer; and a little boy, about Smiler’s age, wearing a suit with shorts and staring at his feet while the woman – presumably his mother – went on and on about how the Liddells were Very Important People and how they had to make a Good First Impression and how Victor was to Stay Quiet and Look Respectable, like the boys in magazines. The boy – Victor – was nodding along to his mother’s litany, trying to stand up straight and do as asked, but the look on his face...
���Now, Marmaduke, I understand that you’re a little – confused, at this age. But the simple fact of the matter is that you can’t just decide that you’re not a boy. It’s simply not done. Where would society be if people just started declaring themselves not one thing or the other? You have to learn how to be socially compliant. True happiness comes from obeying your elders – and you want to be happy, don’t you?”
Smiler frowned as the woman turned away from Victor, leaving him to tug at his tie as she swanned off to chat about boring things with the other adults. It seemed like, with a mother like that, Victor was about to have about as bad a time at this party as they’d feared they would have. And that was a really bad time indeed.
Well, good thing I’m here, then, Smiler thought to themselves, then marched up to Victor, putting on their best smile and sticking out their hand. “Hullo! I’m Smiler!”
Victor nearly started right out of his skin – maybe they should have been a little bit quieter. He stared at them a moment, glancing from their face to their hand and back, then hesitantly took it. “Uh – I’m – I’m – V-Victor,” he stammered, clearly out of his depth. Maybe people didn’t talk to him much? That would be sad if so. “Your name is – Smiler?”
“Well, it’s what I call myself,” Smiler told him, pumping his arm. “My real name’s awful. But Victor’s a nice name! Do you want to play with us?”
“Us?” Victor repeated, blinking.
“Me and Alice!” Smiler pointed at their table, where Alice was peeping out, clearly wondering why snacks were taking so long. They waved to her and pointed to Victor – she glanced over, then nodded and waved back. “She’s really nice, and she tells great stories,” Smiler informed Victor, grinning. “And she’s got cards – we’re gonna try and build a castle! Do you like castles?”
“Uh – yes?” Victor said, as if he wasn’t sure of his own opinions. “I’ve n-never made a card one b-before, though.” He dropped his gaze, playing with his tie again. “I’m k-kind of clumsy.”
“That’s all right – we can show you how to do it!” Smiler promised, taking his hand so he didn’t accidentally strangle himself. “Come on – we’ll get snacks, then we can go and play!”
“I – um...” Victor’s gaze went to his mother, chatting with some other adult Smiler didn’t know and didn’t care about. “I dunno...”
“Aw, come on,” Smiler wheedled, tugging his arm. “It’ll be fun! Don’t you wanna have fun? Be happy? Like, real happy, not grown-up happy?”
“Happy...” Victor looked at his mother a moment more, then over at Alice, patiently waiting for them to decide what they were doing. Then his mouth formed a determined line, and he nodded at Smiler. “Yes. Let’s go make castles.”
Smiler beamed. One happiness problem – solved! Take that, Father. “Great! But, first, we gotta get some of that rarebit – and I think there’s some cake too...”
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hello, your tags on my jack/ajax post made my month. ily <3
you also said a terrible thing in referencing Shakespeare because now you have my imagination going to the Roman side of things and thinking Marc Antony = Jack, Connor = Octavianus. Marc Antony, praised and then discarded as second, trying to make his way in life and getting angry at Octavianus who just seems to be there, Caesar's adopted son, supported by the Senate, appointed as the Next Great One while Marcus had worked his butt off and was not recognised for his efforts. His only escape is to turn into a villain and burn the Mediterranean to the ground.
Connor is Achilles, who is, in some measure, an automaton, IMO.
Your mind is a wonderful place <3
🥺💕🥰 i should have been sitting down to answer this a) because this was so nice and b) i almost just fell over going “CAESAR WAYNE GRETZKY??” which was absolutely not even mentioned but was how i decided to process the idea of marc antony jack & octavianus connor 👌🧑🍳💋✨
it’s sooo right and compelling from both sides because octavianus was given everything yet also started campaigning as a politician so young (every time i think of connor’s stepping stone chart for getting to the nhl it makes me want to cry) and i mean. gaius julius caesar [octavianus], caesar son of a god = mcjesus, the fact that none of octavianus’ own works remain to give him a voice,,, and then jack marc antony BURN THE MEDITERRANEAN DOWN (the mediterranean in this case being the management of buffalo & department of player safety) i simply!!! your mind!!! marc antony stripped of power by the senate, jack stripped of his captaincy, hated for choosing himself & love over anything else, vilified for choosing a future in which he could be happy rather than the arrangement that suited everyone else, going on an absolute revenge tour next season :)
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