druidgroves · 3 years ago
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the trouble with trouble
fandom: shepherds of haven, property of @shepherds-of-haven summary: Briony relays the events of this conversation with Trouble to Yelena because they’re besties. For all of Yelena’s directness, the idea of voicing her romantic feelings is proving to be pretty difficult. notes: they’re both idiots and i adore them.
Yelena listened to Briony recount her recent conversation with Trouble. She didn’t say a word the entire time, which kind of unnerved Briony. She simply listened from the seat of her desk, only moving to steeple her fingers together and press them to her mouth, eyebrows furrowed. When the strongwoman concluded, she looked at her friend, waiting for some sort of answer or reaction.
Yelena sighed.
“So you see my problem.”
Briony flopped back on Yelena’s bed where she had been sitting, running a hand down her face, “If that conversation frustrated me, I can only imagine how you feel, Lena.”
“I just–” The mage stood up, the aggravation within proving too much as she started pacing around her room. “I can’t–He–”
“Take your time,” Briony said. Yelena clenched her hands before throwing them up in the air and groaning, flopping down on the bed next to Briony.
“I’m in love with an idiot,” the mage finally relented, covering her face with her hands.
“At least you know he likes you?” Briony offered, trying to be helpful.
“Then why does he keep insisting we’re just friends?” Yelena asked, peeking at the other woman through her fingers.
“He confused me quite a bit with the whole thing, but I think he knows there’s something between the two of you, he just doesn’t know how to act on it because you’re ‘such good friends,’” Briony said. “You might have to make the first move here, Lena.”
Yelena took her hands away from her face, looking at Briony like she was mad.
“And say something stupid to screw it all up? Absolutely not.”
Briony looked back at her, sitting up on the bed to give her an incredulous look, “You cannot seriously be telling me that you, of all people, are incapable of being straightforward with your intentions.”
“I thought I had been up until now!” Yelena said, shooting up defensively.
“What exactly have you said to him?”
Yelena bit the inside of her cheek. “Well, I mean, I haven’t–I haven’t really said anything…I mean, there was that first time he took me to that tavern, the barkeep asked if we were friends or friends and I said we were getting there, but…I thought I was being pretty obvious, at least physically! I’ve practically sat in his lap during breakfast before, we’ve shared drinks and hells, we’ve even kissed each other on the cheek, I–”
Briony cut her off with a raise of her hand, “You do realize this is Trouble we’re talking about, right? At this point, the only way he’s going to realize you like him back is if you paint it on the walls of the compound.”
“He’d probably think it was a vandal.”
“Honestly, yeah, probably.”
Yelena sighed, bringing her legs up to hug to her chest. Briony put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“This is so stupid. I…I’ve never felt like this for someone before. It all feels so…juvenile,” Yelena said, deflating a little. “I don’t wanna mess anything up.”
She felt like a kid again, talking about childish crushes that only went as far as Zori and her giggling and running away when they were near. She’d never had any sort of serious relationship. She was a traveler, a wanderer, only going where her caravan jobs took her, so any relations she had were always kept to short trysts with other caravan guards. The possibility of anything long term just hadn’t been in the cards until now and that scared her. There was the probability, no matter how small, that she had been completely misreading Trouble the entire time and if she said anything it would become awkward between them. The anxious thought was enough to eat her alive.
“I just really, really like him, Briony,” she said after a moment of silence. “He’s funny and kind and passionate and thoughtful. When he looks at me sometimes I feel like I’m floating. Watching him shoot a target a mile away is honestly incredible, not to mention attractive as hell. He’s been one of the few people to stand up to anyone spewing anti-Diminished nonsense at me, went as far as getting in a tavern brawl because of it, which, admittedly, was also kind of attractive. Not to mention the way he looks after he’s done training–”
“Okay, okay, I get the picture,” Briony said with a small laugh. “You’re both crazy for each other but don’t have the guts to tell each other. I hate to break it to you, but eventually one of you is going to have to make a move, or the entire compound is going to become exhausted by the both of you.”
“I know, I know,” Yelena sighed, pulling at the ends of her raven black hair. “It’s all so nerve-wracking. I don’t want to make things different between us by saying anything, but I might explode if I don’t.”
She reached over to throw her arms over Briony, pulling her into a tight hug.
“Thanks for telling me about what he said, even if it was confusing and a bit frustrating for you,” Yelena laughed.
“I couldn’t not tell you,” Briony grinned as she let go. “At the very least I needed to tell someone or I’d go insane. You can do me a favor by bucking up and telling him you want to be more than friends so that I don’t have to listen to either of you lament the other.”
Yelena rolled her eyes, elbowing Briony in the arm with a smile.
“You’ll be the first person to know if I do,” she laughed.
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