something i like about nona's family is that they're so like, almost a perfect little nuclear family, and then just. not.
like. pyrrha is "the person who works for her" but also the one who makes breakfast and does the dishes. she's a woman quite literally posessing the body of a cis man and really leaning into the look, honorarily trans in both directions, working construction and shaving in the mornings and braiding nona's hair before school.
and then there's camilla, her...nagging wife? troublemaking older child? roomate who she barely gets along with? the fact that palamedes shares this role is doubly weird. he's a man literally posessing the body of a cis woman, and they're both pyrrha's nagging wife/problem child/roomate. i don't personally believe that anything explicitly or overtly sexual was happening between her and either of them, but i completely understand where people who think that are coming from. and it's fucking weird (affetionate?).
even nona occupies a weird place in this dynamic. like. pyrrha is definitely a parent to her but camilla, who takes a much more active role in her daily life, is...idk. nona has a crush on her and wants to marry her and adopt dogs. camilla's feelings for nona are more parental or older-sisterly, in that she cares for her and wants to protect her, and if her feelings are more complicated than that, it's because of the obvious aspects of the situation which make her extremely sad and apprehensive of the future. her affection for nona seems relatively simple.
and then there's palamedes, who is in theory another parental figure (see: camilla's "i'll talk to your mother later" face, or pyrrha's "you're going to make someone a really irritating wife one day, sextus"), but in nona's view of things he seems like something more along the lines of an older sibling, or perhaps a cool uncle, which is funny because pyrrha arguably treats him more like a spouse than she does camilla.
it's all just so fucking weird and jumbled up on itself. pyrrha will kiss camilla on the head and say "i'll be home for dinner, dear," and then turn around and call both her and nona "daddy's own treasures" (don't get me started). she'll kiss palamedes and camilla both on the mouth and tell them she loves them. she'll tell them she didn't love them well, or even wholesomely, and she won't explain what she means by wholesome.
alecto calls her "mother and father." alecto tells her she should've given into her urges and eaten them.
palamedes and camilla are second cousins and queerplatonic and married and the same person and by the start of the book the lines between them are already dissolving.
nona is so so young and she's so so old and she's not so much younger than camilla and she's older than pyrrha can even comprehend and some days she needs help getting her shirt over her head.
and most importantly they all love each other. it's a weird and confused and unhealthy love. it's a love full of tension and annoyance and fear. it's a love that wants very badly to fit a category and can't. but it's love it's love it's love and even when it's over even when it has nowhere left to go it's not gone it can't be gone. it's over it's done you can't take loved away.
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torment.
s.: "I have nightmares about your limp body being wheeled into the emergency room." (or: Harvey wakes up from a bad nightmare, but you're there to comfort him.) - Harvey (stardew valley) x gn!reader
w.c.: 1.3k (short but sweet)
read on ao3
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
A panicked call of his name echoes through the clinic. Faceless people surround him in a circle as he approaches the table; cold metal digs on his skin as he presses his palm on its surface. The familiar scent of your perfume reaches his nose and his stomach drops. Please don’t be you, he thinks to himself as he takes the white sheet off the limp body.
He knew it would end like this, deep down he knew it. You went to the mines almost every day, never listening to his pleas. But as he lifts the white fabric, he prays to whatever god exists that it’s not you. The color of your hair comes into view and his world crumbles.
When he opens his eyes, sucking a sharp breath in, he immediately sits up on the bed and tries to remember where he is. The darkness in the room suffocates him a little, the blurriness of his vision makes him panic for a second.
But he's home. In your shared bedroom, in your shared bed. You sleep peacefully next to him, oblivious of his outburst. The day was long, the weather was impossibly hot, so it's understandable you passed out after working on your farm. Your face is an absurd contrast to his dream, the color in your face brings him the breath that was escaping from him.
Harvey's heart is still beating fast, however. He brings a hand to his chest, clutching his sleep shirt, the pendant you gave him underneath the fabric brings him some comfort.
Lying back down, his arms snake around your middle as he buries his face on your hair, the scent of your homemade shampoo lingering on him. It reminds him of his nightmare, where your hair was flat, cold to the touch, underneath the sheets. The image of your face, deprived of all blood, lifeless eyes, makes him tighten his grip on you, as a reminder that it was just a dream and you're still here.
Harvey doesn't notice you're awake until a strangled whimper comes out of you. He squeezed you too hard, he thinks, waking you up and ruining your night of sleep. Pulling away, he looks down at you, who rubs your eyes as you turn around to face your lover.
“Harvey?” You ask, voice laced with sleep, “what's the matter?”
“I'm sorry, sweetheart,” he replies, pressing his lips on your forehead, “go back to sleep.”
“Hey, what's wrong?” You sit up and reach beside you to turn the lamp on. “Why are you crying?”
Harvey doesn’t notice the tears in his tears until they run down his cheeks as he sits up. And it’s like something snaps inside him. A sob escapes his lips and then another, a guttural sound, making your heart break. You lunge forward and pull him into an embrace as he cries, sobbing and mumbling about a nightmare he had.
“It was just a dream,” You say softly trying to comfort him, “just a dream, baby, it's all right.”
“You were– you were so cold and– I couldn't… I–” He tried to speak, face buried on your neck, wetting your night shirt with his tears, “I'm sorry, I just–”
“I’m okay, see?” You cup his cheeks, thumbing away the thick tears, “It was just a nightmare, I’m right here.”
With that, Harvey feels his heart slow down, the tears stop. Suddenly, he feels stupid, like a little kid that runs to their mother when they have a bad dream. Rouge paints his cheekbones as he reaches up to wipe his face clean.
“I’m sorry, I–” His voice is rough, thick with embarrassment, “I woke you up–”
“Don’t apologize. I’ll always be here for you.”
Your words only make him blush more, “Still, I– I know you had a long day and…”
A smile spreads on your face and you shake your head, bringing your lips to his in a sweet kiss. “You would do the same for me.”
And he realizes that, yes, he would do the same for you. If you had a nightmare and woke him up, he wouldn’t think you were a child, or stupid. He would comfort you, just as you did to him. It brings him back to the first night he spent at your house, when he was constantly bringing himself down as you brought him to bed, saying that it’d been a while, or that he didn’t have time to groom himself.
“I love every bit of you,” you said back then, “Why can’t you?”
Harvey watches as you get out of bed, taking his hand and urging him to get up too. He glances at the bedside clock and frowns confused. It’s three in the morning.
“Come,” you whisper, “I’ll get you some cold milk.”
He complies when you guide him to the aquarium room, where, besides the huge fish tanks, there’s a comfortable couch that you sometimes rest on. You have him sit down and leave for the kitchen, but it doesn’t take long until you’re back. A glass of cold milk, as promised, and a plate of homemade cookies.
“There were still some from the batch I baked this morning,” you say plopping down beside him, “and I don’t wanna hear about them not being healthy. Eat up.”
Harvey laughs softly and takes a sip from the milk, plucking a cookie from the plate right after. He looks at you, the soft blue light from the fish tanks illuminating your face in a different light. Your eyes move with the fish you keep as they swim inside their own little world.
“I love you,” Harvey says with a small voice. You look at him and notice he’s still blushing a little. “I feel like a kid, but… thank you.”
“I love you too, but you’ve got to let me take care of you, Harvey.” You smile, scooting closer to him. He automatically embraces you, putting his arm around your shoulder and relishing on the warmth of your body. “Do you want to talk about it?” you ask after a moment in silence.
“Actually, yes.” Harvey rests the glass of milk on the coffee table in the middle of the room and turns his whole body towards you. “I… I dreamed you died.”
There’s no surprise in your eyes, but there is a hint of sadness in them. And when you don’t say anything, he continues.
“I remember your body being wheeled into the emergency room and… and…” His eyes water and he looks away, not wanting to cry any longer. “I just knew it was you, even though I didn’t want to believe it. I just…I love you too much to let you go, I can’t– I won’t be able to live without you in my life, and I–”
“Hey.” You gently interrupt him, touching your forehead with his and cupping his face. “Don’t go down that rabbit hole. You’ll get paranoid.”
Harvey takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.
“I know it’s easier said than done, but I know how much you worry about things you can’t control.” You continue. “But if you keep thinking that way, you won’t be able to… live.”
He stares at you and then pulls you into a thigh hug, “What would I do without you?”
“I know, right?” your voice is muffled by his shirt as you say, smiling. Then he pulls away and kisses you.
“I love you.”
“You say that a lot.”
Harvey snorts, “Please, if I ever stop, call an ambulance because I won’t be well.”
You laugh, carding your fingers through his hair. “Ready to go to bed?”
He nods, “Let’s just brush our teeth first.”
“Yes, doctor!” You stand up and pull him by the hand.
Harvey watches as you walk to your shared bedroom and thinks the best decision he’s ever made in his life was to marry you.
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