Chapter Text
Coco’s pen shook in her hand as she tried to draw a Pyreball seal by nothing more than the dim light of the moon that came in through the window above the counter.
Tea, she wanted tea. She hoped that a cup of tea would steady her nerves at least a little bit. She had woken up a while ago and she hadn’t been able to fall asleep again, she just laid on her back and stared up at the ceiling or out at the stars. She was tired but she couldn’t fall asleep, she hated this.
The Pyreball was wobbly when it formed, it tipped and started burning the paper. Coco panicked slightly and grabbed the Vapor Bubble from its hook and quickly used it to put out the fire. She sighed as she returned the deactivated vapour bubble to its hook.
Coco leaned forward and sprawled half on the counter and groaned in a combination of exhaustion and frustration. She couldn’t even manage to make herself tea, something so painfully trivial, with shaking hands. Did she really deserve to be a witch if she couldn’t do something so simple?
“Need some help Princess?” An unfamiliar and incredibly tired sounding voice asked.
Coco stood up properly and looked up and behind her, finding an unfamiliar man standing behind her. He was dressed similarly to Qifrey, although it was as if his colour palette had been flipped.
He was wearing a soot black cloak with a deep blue interior lining and golden embroidery on the blue lining and along the edge of the outer black fabric, the blue lining with embroidered stars reminded her of the twilight sky.
He wore a loose white shirt that had black ribbon ties with golden metal lace diamonds on the ends to keep the ends of the flowing sleeves away from his hands. He wore a long black skirt with gold embroidery along the bottom edge that matched the embroidery on his cloak.
He had short black hair, not much shorter than Qifrey’s but definitely closer cut, and a close shaven beard. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in a week, and his eyes were a deep blue, still bright despite the evident exhaustion in them, almost matching the lining of his cloak.
His fingertips were stained black with ink like Qifrey’s, the stains of countless years with a pen in his hand.
He was a witch.
“I want to make myself some tea but I can’t keep my hands from shaking.” Coco said, holding her hands up so he could see them, and just how much they were shaking.
“Let me help you out with that, the tea I mean, I don’t know what to do about the shaking, sorry Princess.”
The man moved to the counter and picked up Coco’s pen from where she had dropped it when the Pyreball had grown unstable and she had rushed to put out the fire. He paused for a moment, turning the pen over in his fingers a few times before smiling with a shake of his head. He drew a flawless Pyreball seal and then set the tea kettle that Coco had already prepared on the seal.
“Can’t sleep Princess?” The man asked as he turned to look down at her.
“No. I had a nightmare and I couldn’t fall back asleep. I had hoped that some tea would help, but I can’t even make myself tea. Pretty pathetic, eh, Prince Charming?” Coco asked.
She figured the returned nickname was appropriate, given the one he was using for her, calling her princess. Almost every princess had a prince, and they always had someone to rely on when they needed it, and he was being that for her right now.
She didn’t mind both of them not knowing each other’s names. It was the middle of the night, she had no idea who he was or where he came from, but he was helping her make her tea and she was deciding to trust him.
“I wouldn’t call it pathetic, Princess. I’d call it absolutely normal for having had a nightmare, my hands shake afterwards too.”
Prince Charming took the tea kettle from the Pyreball and poured water into the mug Coco had earlier set on the counter. He placed the device with the tea leaves inside into the mug and closed the seal, steeping the tea to perfection in an instant. He set aside the device and handed the mug to Coco.
“Why don’t you sit and share a drink with me Princess? You can calm down and drink your tea before you go back to bed.”
“Alright. That… that sounds good.” Coco said. And it did sound nice, it would be nice to have company. She had thought about going to Qifrey, but she had decided against it, not wanting to wake him unnecessarily.
Prince Charming reached into one of the cabinets and pulled down what Coco recognised as a bottle of wine and a wineglass, she would be drinking tea, Prince Charming would be drinking alcohol. She wondered if it was sweet like what her mom had preferred when she had been able to get any. She had let Coco taste a little bit of it as she got older, but it was always much too sweet in her opinion.
“I assume that you don’t intend to give me any of that wine, Prince Charming.” Coco said.
Prince Charming smiled. He opened the bottle and poured a glass. “Want a taste Princess? I doubt you’d like it.”
Coco set her mug of tea on the table and gingerly took the wineglass from Prince Charming’s fingers and raised it to her lips. She only let the smallest amount of liquid pass her lips, the same as she had always done with her mother. Barely enough to taste the surprisingly sweet liquid, not as sweet as what her mother drank, the sweetness in this one was actually pleasant. Although the aftertaste was absolutely horrid, Coco wondered if the overwhelming sweetness of her mother’s wine had always covered it completely and that was why it was so sweet.
Coco held out the glass to Prince Charming. “I hadn’t expected it to be so sweet, although not overwhelming like my mom’s, but the lingering taste is… not pleasant.” Coco said.
Prince Charming laughed as he took the wineglass back from Coco’s fingers. “You get used to it when you drink a lot of it.” Prince Charming said.
Coco picked up her mug of tea once more and took a drink, in an attempt to wash away the taste of the alcohol. It mostly worked, although because the flavour was so light it took a few sips.
“Why don’t we go sit down Princess? You can talk about what’s keeping you awake while you drink your tea if you would like.” Prince Charming said, gesturing to the couches closer to the fireplace.
The fire wasn’t lit, it had been put out when Qifrey had gone to bed. They obviously didn’t leave the fire burning unattended at night, that wasn’t exactly safe. But it didn’t really matter, it was almost nicer to sit in the dark with someone she didn’t know, and simply called Prince Charming because he called her Princess.
Coco sat down on the couch and pulled a blanket around her shoulders. Prince Charming sat down beside her and set his wine bottle on the table in front of them. They sat quietly for a moment before Coco started talking.
“I don’t feel like I belong here. I wasn’t born a witch, I’m barely a witch as far as I’m concerned, I barely know what I’m doing. I’m only a witch because I made a huge mistake and I was taken in. I don’t know why I was taken in and taught magic, I don’t deserve it after what I did. He’s too kind.” Coco said.
Prince Charming sighed quietly and swirled the wine in his glass. “I get that, not feeling like you belong I mean. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to prove myself, setting myself aflame to keep others warm. I still do it, not quite as often though. But I agree, he’s far too kind.” Prince Charming said.
“And thus we’re both awake in the middle of the night sharing a drink.” Coco said, raising her mug of tea towards him slightly.
“I suppose so, Princess.” Prince Charming said as he gently clinked his wineglass against her mug.
They both fell silent once more. Coco finished her tea and rested the mug in her lap, just staring down at it for a few minutes as she decided what to do. She realised that her hands had finally stopped shaking, they were steady around her mug, this had helped.
Coco took a deep breath and stood up, turning towards the kitchen so she could go clean her mug and put away the kettle before going to bed.
“You can leave the mug on the table, Princess, I’ll take care of it.” Prince Charming said.
“I can handle washing my own mug, Prince Charming.” Coco said.
“Let me live up to the name you’re using for me, let me take care of it, alright Princess?”
Coco sighed and set her mug on the table, it wasn’t worth arguing, and honestly she didn’t mind too much. “Alright then. Good night Prince Charming.”
“Good night Princess. Sweet dreams.”
Coco walked up the stairs and slipped quietly into her room to keep from waking Agott. She was exhausted and was finally settled enough that she thought that she could fall back asleep. She curled up under her blankets and finally fell back asleep.