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The Tower of Tomes always smelled like old parchment, ambition, and the suffocating weight of expectations. For Agott, it also smelled like her mother's scent and the echo of words that felt like being struck across the face.
Her mother had been there.
That brief encounter had not involved raised voices or overt cruelty. It had been far worse for Agott. It was the quiet dismissal from the woman who had birthed her, a reminder of all the ways Agott had supposedly fallen short, wrapped in the toxic expectations of noble bloodlines.
Every word had felt like a blade dragged slowly across raw nerves, reigniting the deep-seated terror of inadequacy that Agott spent every waking moment desperately trying to outrun.
By the time she pushed open the heavy oak door of their shared quarter, she was completely, utterly hollowed out. Her boots felt like lead, her fingers trembled inside her gloves, and memories—although from when she was younger— started to flood her mind. Memories of her mother’s gaze were looping mercilessly in her mind.
Not good enough.
Disappointing.
A stain on the family name.
Dull child.
She hadn't meant to storm in. She hadn't meant to slam the door quite so violently against the stone wall. But the frustration bubbling in her chest broke right through her usual pristine composure.
Across the room, Coco, now a tall, graceful young witch with ink-stained fingers and a slightly darker shade of green hair which she constantly tried and failed to pin back neatly, had jumped nearly a foot off the sofa, her sketchbook flying onto the cushions.
“Woah, woah, woah–Agott?!” Coco blurted out, eyes wide with immediate panic as she scrambled up. “What's wrong? Did a spell blow up? Did someone insult your ink? Are you bleeding?!”
Agott didn't say a single word. She couldn't. If she opened her mouth, the sob clawing at the back of her throat would tear right out of her.
Driven by a blinding surge of helpless frustration accompanied by the hot tears blurring her vision, Agott marched straight across the room. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths, every defense she had meticulously built up over the years completely disintegrating under the crushing weight of the day. Without a word of explanation, without even breaking her furious strides, she crossed the remaining distance, grabbed the front of Coco’s ink-stained tunic, and violently threw herself directly into Coco’s arms.
The sudden impact knocked the breath straight out of Coco’s lungs with a soft ‘oof’.
“Woah, woah, woah, what's wrong—?!” Coco gasped, her hands instinctively flying out to catch the younger girl, her fingers splaying wide across Agott’s back to steady them both as they swayed under the unexpected momentum.
Agott didn’t elaborate. She couldn't. Her throat was choked tight with a suffocating knot of grief and terror. Instead of elaborating, she buried her face fiercely into the crook of Coco’s neck, her forehead pressing desperately against the warm skin just beneath Coco’s jawline. Her arms wrapped around Coco’s waist with desperation, pulling their bodies together so tightly there wasn't a single millimeter of empty space left between them. She clung to Coco like she was drowning. Or at least, like a child seeking for warmth.
“I… uh… okay, I've got you–hey, seriously…what happened?" Coco murmured, her voice instantly dropping from panicked to that warm tone she reserved only for midnight stargazing and moments when Agott’s walls finally cracked. “Agott? Talk to me... Did something happen at the Tower?”
Agott simply gripped the back of Coco's tunic with desperation, pulling herself as physically close as humanly possible, hiding away from the entire world against Coco’s chest. She shook once, a shuddering breath rattling out of her as the terror in her veins finally began to thaw against the absolute, radiant heat radiating from Coco.
For a split second, Coco froze, her mind racing through a dozen terrifying possibilities.
Had the Great Hall expelled them?
Had someone been hurt?
Had the Brimmed Caps struck close to home?
Then, she felt the hot tremble of Agott’s breath against her collarbone, and the feeling of her neck meeting something wet. Coco gazed at the girl that was clinging to her, and there she saw it. The way Agott's shoulders shook. The way she hid her face on Coco's neck. The way her breathing was heavy and short.
All of Coco’s questions evaporated instantly, replaced by a wave of tenderness.
The confusion melted away, replaced by the understanding that her proud, stubborn, brilliant roommate had reached her absolute limit and had chosen her as her safe harbor.
Coco felt the shift immediately. The grip tension in Agott's spine was slowly melting into something softer. Without needing any more context, Coco shifted her grip, sliding one hand up to cradle the back of Agott's head, her fingers tangling gently into those neat, black curls, while the other arm wrapped securely around her back, pulling her flush against her heart.
“Okay, okay… You don't have to talk,” Coco whispered softly against Agott’s hair, pressing a lingering, feather-light kiss right to the crown of her head. “I'm right here. I've got you, Agott. Nobody can touch you here.”
Coco began to sway slightly, a gentle, grounding rhythm, while she pressed soft, reassuring kisses against Agott’s temple, her cheek, and anywhere else she could reach.
“Breathe, Agott,” Coco whispered, pressing a soft kiss right into the crown of Agott’s hair. “Just breathe with me. Match my rhythm.”
Agott let out a long sob that she tried desperately to swallow down, her shoulders shaking. But Coco just held her tighter, refusing to let her carry the weight alone. Coco began to hum a sweet, wordless melody. It was an old, simple lullaby she used to sing back when they were apprentices. Back when she was first learning the basics of drawing spells with ink. Agott used to find it annoying, but now she craved to hear the soothing voice that was from Coco. Even if the years roughened the edges of Coco, Coco was still the same girl that had changed Agott's life completely.
“I've got you,” Coco repeated, her voice dripping with a sickeningly sweet, unyielding devotion that made Agott’s heart ache in the most agonizingly wonderful way. “The whole world can fall apart outside this door, and I wouldn't even care, as long as you're right here. You're allowed to break, you know. You don't always have to be the strongest person in the room.”
Hearing those words that were so radically different from the cold demands of her mother and the harsh expectations of the Tower had shattered the last of Agott’s defenses, but this time, the tears that spilled over weren't filled with terror. They were washed clean by an overwhelming, suffocating wave of safety.
Slowly, the tremor in Agott’s hands stopped. The ice in her chest dissolved into a puddle of warmth. She let out a long sigh, finally relaxing her grip on Coco's tunic just enough to wrap her own arms tightly around Coco's waist, burying her face even deeper into her neck.
Agott let out a shaky breath, her grip loosening just enough so she could shift her face slightly, pressing her lips against the warm skin of Coco’s neck in a silent, desperate gesture of gratitude and helpless adoration.
Coco felt the soft press of Agott’s lips and smiled, a blinding, radiant expression of pure affection that illuminated the dim room. She shifted her hand to cup Agott’s cheek, wiping away a stray tear with the pad of her thumb before pressing another soft, adoring kiss to Agott’s temple, then her cheek, and finally lingering against the corner of her lips.
“I love you so much it's actually ridiculous,” Coco whispered against her skin, her voice thick with a honeyed sweetness that made Agott feel like she was rotting. “If anyone ever makes you look or feel like this again, just say the word and I'll march right back to the Tower and turn their entire library into the very same crystal that's currently encasing my mother.”
Despite the lingering ache in her chest, a tiny, watery bubble of a laugh escaped Agott’s throat. She buried her face back into Coco’s neck, breathing in the comforting scent of pine, fresh parchment, and warm skin.
“You're a high-level threat in this world,” Agott mumbled, her voice muffled against Coco’s collarbone, though her arms tightened right back around Coco with a possessive warmth that completely contradicted the insult.
Coco just giggled, a bright, bubbly sound that made Agott melt completely again. “Yeah, but I'm the same threat currently holding you.”
Coco pulled away a little, which earned a grumble from Agott, but she didn't pull away from the hug. Instead, she pulled away enough for Agott to look her in the eyes.
“Tell me, Agott,” She asks, pressing a kiss on the corner of Agott's eye to smear away a tear that was still lingering there. Then she looks at her with a smile. “Am I the same threat when you're in my arms?”
Agott felt her cheeks heating up when she looked into Coco's eyes. “Stop it…” she grumbles, yet there wasn't a single ounce of malice or hatred in her voice.
“And also, you need to stop making jokes about your childhood,” Agott abruptly added, letting out a sigh. It was clear she was trying to divert the sickening affection that Coco was giving her into something else. “That's the third time this week.”
“I can make as many jokes as I want” Coco protests, her lips pouting in protest. Agott simply shook her head,
“Now come on, let's go bury ourselves in blankets on the couch and I'll feed you cookies until you smile.”
Agott didn't move an inch away. "Promise?"
“Cross my heart and hope to cast a thousand bad spells,” Coco grinned, kissing the tip of Agott's nose. “Now stop hiding, I want to look at my favorite witch's face.”
Agott chuckles. “You're such a sap,”