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Eda had dated a LOT of witches in her time.
Most of them picked up in dingy bars, sticking around for a night, a week, a month, but never actually , y’know, sticking around.
She'd had decent lays and bad lays and been hit on by sleazy characters that made her skin crawl and she'd punched more assholes in the dick than she could count.
Eda figured she'd seen it all, that she knew the ropes.
In the last few months, Raine seemed to have made it their personal mission to take everything she thought she knew and tear it down in the place of something entirely new.
They were so sweet to her. It never failed to leave something hot and mushy in her chest when she woke up late to find her partner had already made sure the kids had eaten and Luz was off to school with all her things, or when they would sneak up on her throughout the day for kisses or casual displays of affection, just because they wanted to.
That being said, while Eda convinced herself she was getting used to Raine’s sappy way of dating, she knew better than to actually expect anything of them. The pleasant surprises were more than enough.
Expecting things from your partner was how you got a whiskey glass thrown into the wall next to your head and a long, frustrating night because your drunk then-boyfriend didn’t want anything to do with you after he’d gotten what he wanted.
She still had a thin, silver scar on her shoulder from that particular date, and she rubbed at it idly while she leaned against a wall in her basement, watching the potion she was brewing with sharp eyes.
For nearly a week now Eda had been completely swamped with potion orders. It had been a while since she was this busy, and the long hours were starting to wear down on her.
‘Just a few more to go’ , she reminded herself. Just a few more potions, and another day of running deliveries, and then she was going to close up shop and sleep for like, a week.
Well, for a solid couple of hours, at least. She still had responsibilities around the house…and she promised King she would spend more time with him once she was done working, with just the two of them…shoot, and Luz had that school project she needed help with…and Hooty was due for a clean…
Exhaustion and dread swept over Eda as she set about lowering the flame under the cauldron and bottling up the potion. This one needed to be iced immediately after brewing so she put it in a copper vial and placed it in a special cupboard reserved for potions that needed to be kept cold. Frost quickly started to gather on the surface so she sealed it away with probably more force than was necessary.
A quick knock sounded against the basement entrance.
Eda turned around and saw that it was Raine leaning against the doorframe.
“Hey,” They said softly. “You’ve been down here for a while. Do you have a second to come back upstairs? I made sandwiches.”
Right on cue, her stomach growled and Eda laughed tiredly.
“Yeah, I’m at a good place to stop for a bit.”
-------------------
The moment Raine’s hands come to rest on her shoulders, mere seconds after she’s finished wolfing down her lunch Eda begins to suspect this is a trap.
Then those clever hands start to press down on a stubborn knot at the base of her neck, and Eda’s not so sure she gives a damn if it’s a trap or not.
“I still have stuff to do,” She protests half-heartedly.
Raine hummed and pressed a kiss to her temple, not letting up on their ministrations.
“I think,” They said carefully, “You should take a break. You look exhausted.”
“Gee, thanks,” She muttered.
Something at the base of her neck popped and she groaned a little too loud at the spark of pain followed by a flood of sweet relief.
Raine moved down to her shoulder blades, hissing slightly under their breath.
“You’re so stiff,” They said.
“S’what happens when you hunch over a cauldron all week,” she muttered.
“Take a break,” They said again. “Lay down for a bit, It’ll be worth it.”
She raised a brow.
“Yeah? You planning on making it worth my while, Rainestorm?”
Raine chuckled and wrapped their arms around her shoulders. Eda immediately brought her hands to twine with theirs, rubbing idly at the calluses on the pads of their fingers.
“How about this?” They murmured directly into her ear “You go upstairs, lay down, and in a few minutes after I’ve cleaned up and made sure our son isn’t currently attempting one of his more hazardous world domination schemes, I’ll join you and finish up that massage.”
Eda shivered, feeling fuzzy at the sheer domesticity of their words.
“I guess I could be persuaded,” she replied, trying for a casual tone.
Raine smiled and gave her a warm kiss on her cheek.
“Thank you, my dear.”
‘My Dear.”
Eda did shiver then, face heating up. Something about Raine’s tone as they said the saccharine sweet pet name had her wanting to squirm in place.
She sucked in a breath and hastily untangled herself before Raine could catch on, even though leaving their embrace left her feeling cold and barefit.
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Eda was in one of her moods again.
Raine wasn’t even sure that Eda herself noticed when she got like this, but since they had started dating again, it was a recurring pattern they quickly caught on to.
This last week was absolutely killing her. Raine hated to see it. They wished she'd let them help more, but everytime they tried to offer any kind of assistance, anything that might ease some of the weight of running the owl house off her shoulders, Raine was met with a solid brick wall of confusion and obliviousness that made them want to cry and shake her by the shoulders at the same time.
It was always like this, Raine mused to themself as they set about doing the dishes. While their new relationship with Eda was definitely better than what it had been in their youth, a fresh start also meant a brand new set of issues on both ends that needed to be dealt with.
The years had softened Eda in many ways, her temper brought down from a roaring blaze to a bright flame, never truly gone, or weakened, but a little less prone to sparking out of control at the slightest provocation. Her signature proud smirk had gotten a little softer, but the trials she had faced in their years apart had made her so much stronger in every sense of the word.
She was tired and scarred and not just physically. She never seemed to expect the most basic decencies, and while she was less likely to turn away any offers of help, she also still possessed a visible reluctance to actually ask anything of her partner either.
In the last month that Raine had lived in the owl house, they felt far more like a guest than a true resident. Even King, young as he was, did more in the way of helping out than Raine felt they were doing.
Something they’d have to bring up soon, they mused as they climbed the stairs to the bedroom.
When they finally reached the top of the tower Eda had made her nest in, they found her dozing on top of a hoard of blankets, feathers drifting in the breeze coming from the colorful window she must have propped open.
They smiled sadly and approached her quietly.
Even now, she looked so tired.
But no less stunning.
They pulled off their boots and perched next to their girlfriend.
Raine gently carded a hand through Eda’s hair, grinning a little wider when a gravely purr resonated from her chest.
Finding muscle knots and points of tension was a pretty common skill for most bards. Constant instrument handling often meant a lot of strain on the body, and Raine was more than happy to contribute their skills to their girlfriend’s comfort.
Eda’s back popped audibly when they pressed their knuckles between her shoulder blades, and they winced apologetically when she grunted and her eyes fluttered open.
“Nng.”
“Sorry,” They said quickly. “Titan, you’re tense. Don’t you ever do any stretches?”
Eda furrowed her brow and grunted.
“D’ I look like I-” She cut herself off with a yawn. “Like I do fuckin stretches?”
They raised a brow and pressed a little harder into one of the many knots they were finding in her back.
Eda grunted again, then sighed as relief began to spread.
“You know,” They said hesitantly. “You probably wouldn’t be this tense if you rested more often.”
She groaned and shoved her face into a pillow.
“Raine, don’t-”
“I’m just saying,” They said as calmly as they could manage, “I see you running around the house at hours that I know must be ungodly for your nocturnal preferences, doing five different chores at once on top of your work in the basement-”
“ Five is definitely an exaggeration-” Eda tried to argue weakly.
“And I could easily be doing half of them, if I’d known they needed to be done in the first place.”
“You don’t need to-”
“I live here, Eda,” they reminded her in exasperated tone. “I’d feel a lot better if you’d actually let me contribute to this family instead of treating me like a houseguest.”
“You’re…not…I-I mean-” Eda faltered.
“Hey, I’m not mad,” Raine quickly reassured her. “But it’s not fair to anyone if you’re trying to hold this entire family up on your shoulders while I’m just standing on the sidelines scrambling for menial tasks to keep busy.”
“The fact that you’re here is good enough,” Eda insisted. “I’m not gonna bother you with-”
“Eda! You’re not bothering me!” Raine cried.
She flinched and Raine forced themself to take a deep breath.
“I’m not mad at you,” They said again in a calmer tone. “But I feel like this is something we just keep circling back to.”
They leaned back against the inner wall of the nest and buried their hand in Eda’s hair, scratching lightly at her scalp.
“I know you’re trying,” they said. “And I know this is hard for you, to be so open all the time. I can respect that. But…”
Raine bit their lip.
“Eventually it comes to a point where it’s less about you…having a hard time being honest, and, it starts to feel more like the issue is that you don’t trust me,” They admitted sadly.
Eda pushed herself up to stare at them with wide, frantic eyes.
“What? No!”
She scrambled to sit up in front of them, hands digging into her thighs.
“Rainestorm, I trust you with my life I just-” she cut herself off and squeezed her eyes shut.
Raine softened and edged a little closer, placing their hands over hers and gently prying them off of her thighs.
“Remember to be gentle with yourself,” They chided softly.
Eda made a wounded noise.
“You don’t make any sense!”
“What doesn’t make sense, Calamity? Talk to me,” They said, relieved she wasn’t trying to edge around the issue.
She threw her hands into the air, looking frustrated.
“You want to do chores, you’re never pissed when I don’t want to go out because I’m tired, or one of the kids has a thing! You like my kids! You cook! You gave me a massage and we’ve been together for more than an entire fucking month!”
Hot, frustrated tears welled up and Eda swore under her breath, hastily wiping them away with the back of her hand.
“I don’t know what to do, Raine! You’re too fucking perfect and we’ve already lasted longer than I’ve ever gotten in a relationship before and I’m not gonna screw that up by making you do housework and wasting your time looking after me!”
Something sharp twisted in Raine’s gut.
“Who,” They said slowly. “Do I have to kill?”
Eda’s head snapped up and the sharp feeling grew at the sight of her red-rimmed eyes.
“What?”
“This is basic decency,” They said. “ Everything you just said is basic fucking decency. That is the baseline of how you deserve to be treated in a relationship! Who the hell denied you…I’m going to kill them.”
Eda looked taken aback.
“I-Raine-what-”
They cupped her face in their hands, leaning in close.
“You listen to me right now, Eda Clawthorne,” They said seriously. “You are the best. Thing. That has ever happened to me! I love you. That means I’m going to cherish you, and halve your burdens, and treat you with basic respect.”
The seriousness of their words was countered with a kiss to Eda’s forehead.
“Deal with it,” They emphasized by taking one of her hands and squeezing it tight.
Eda stared at them with wide eyes before breaking into a peal of shaky hiccups and giggles.
Her face was bright red and her laughter subsided with an awkward cough.
“You uh, like me that much, huh?”
“Yes,” They said without hesitation.
She coughed again to mask the wounded sounds trying to escape her throat.
“That’s so lame.”
Raine grinned, the corners of their mouth stretching back just far enough to be unsettling, modest fangs gleaming.
“Start giving me names and I’ll consider letting up.”
Eda groaned.
“Rainestorm, I have a lot of exes. You can’t go running around the isles hunting down every witch I’ve ever hooked up with.”
“Try me,” They challenged determinedly.
“Raine, no. Seriously. As hot as the bloodlust is, you're wasting your time. Half of ‘em wouldn’t remember me anyways.”
They scowled at that.
“Idiots.”
She huffed a laugh and kissed them.
“You’re sweet,” She mumbled against their lips.
They tugged her closer until she was practically in their lap and wrapped their arms around her.
“Just…let me help more often, please?”
“Sure,” She agreed somewhat reluctantly.
“Just don’t blame me when you get stuck on Hooty cleaning duty.”
They winced, then sighed.
“Ah, so be it.”