if you don’t think plus size bodies are capable of being divine, you have my pity. I see our shapes in the swells of fluffy clouds, the folds of luxurious and tufted pillows, round like pearls, but soft as cream. plush, warm, soothing to the touch. big bodies are like returning home.
Summary: Your family is life-long servants to the noble Bott family—a servitude full of respect and friendship. But, with this, comes rules and boundaries that you must abide by. One of them, being nothing more than friendship. So when you and the eldest son Marco realize you love each other while he’s in the process of being married off to an even wealthier family, you try to find a way to be together. Though hardships come with secrets, you’re bound and determined to find a way to make things work and convince your families—though different races and classes—that love should come before all else.
WC: 2.3k
Chapter content warnings: Fantasy au, mild pining, mentions of marriage
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Violet Blue
For your kind, it was customary for your clothing to be backless, accommodating for the thin but powerful wings that sat between your shoulder blades. The dress you wore for your father’s 47th name day dinner was no different, the straps sitting firmly on your shoulders and fitting to your torso before billowing out at your hips, flowing down your legs and stopping to brush your toes.
Your wings were currently rolled up tight into your back, making it easier for you to get ready without having them draping down and getting in the way. Your hair was being brushed by your mother, who was humming your childhood lullaby to you while you fiddled with your sandals.
“Do you want a braid or a pony, my dear?” She asked in a low, sugary voice, her own wings akin to yours fluttering against her back.
“Neither,” you replied, slipping your foot into your shoe and wiggling your freshly polished toes with a smile. “It’s still cool enough out that I want it to keep my back warm.”
“Alright, sweetheart.” She pulled back the front of your hair away from your face and began to add a small braid, pinning it back with a faux silver clip shaped like a butterfly. “How about this?”
“That’s fine.” You smiled at her through the vanity mirror, reaching to the trinket box that sat upon it and digging out a necklace. “Can I wear your emerald?”
“Yes,” she smiled and kissed the back of your head before standing and stepping around you to pluck open a small drawer in a separate trinket box. Without another word, she carefully tucked your hair behind your pointed ears, one at a time, while placing delicate jewels on the holes in your lobes, dangling along the back of your jaw.
Your smile widened and you stood when she finished, her necklace laying against your chest and shimmering in the lighting of her room.
She kissed your cheek and wandered to the other side of the room, pulling open a drawer from her armoire and carrying a small, colorfully wrapped package to you. “Your father doesn’t know I’ve made him this.”
“What is it?” You asked curiously, glancing to her hands with a small smile.
“You’ll see.” She winked at you and took your hand, dragging you out of her bedroom and through your home, to the grand dining hall of the noble family of whom you served.
They allowed you usage of the room for the celebration, due to needing the space for extended family. While you had your own dining area in your own home connected to theirs on the west side of the dwelling, it was only enough to seat your immediate family.
You entered the room, finding your cousins and kin readying the table and buffet stations with the food they prepared, and decorating the room with fresh florals and foliage of the season.
Yourself and your mother helped finish, then waited patiently for your father to arrive, just right on time with your brother by his side.
He greeted everyone, kissing you and your mother on the cheek before taking his seat at the head of the table.
The hall was filled with laughter and the clinking of glasses and dishes, and the vague shimmering echoes of the wings of your female family members.
You smiled and chatted with them, enjoying the food and blueberry wine that was served.
As your plate grew emptier, the doors to the hall opened, mostly unnoticed by your family, but you being part of the family that served the Bott family, you were always attentive to the goings-on of the property.
You turned, chewing the bite of food you had in your mouth and watched as the eldest son shyly crept in, staying close to the wall as he wandered through the room, his midnight hair slicked back over his undercut. You made quick eye contact with him, nodding with a ghost of a smirk while knowing he wanted to sneak some of the food back to his room. You knew he could smell it all the way from his chambers, his heightened senses making it difficult for him to not want to investigate.
After turning back to your meal, you continued a conversation with a cousin, comparing the colors of the magic that danced around each of your fingertips.
Later that night, after finishing cleaning the dining hall, you wandered out into the garden to spend some time to yourself before bed with your moon flowers, your favorite part of your garden.
You wandered through the dirt paths slowly, admiring the herbs, vegetables, and flowers along the way, until you came to the gazebo that your great-grandparents built when they first came on to serve the Bott family. It was surrounded by your moon flowers, wrapping along its posts and fluffing out around it as if it had grown between the blooms itself.
With a smile on your face, you pulled the skirt of your dress up a bit so you had room to stretch your legs as you trotted excitedly up the path to the gazebo, your bare feet pittering along the dirt.
You decided to let your wings out, and they unraveled behind you, bouncing softly against your lower back, little sparkles and shimmers dancing off the tips as you hopped along. Once you reached your destination, you stood on one of the steps leading into it and leaned over to touch your fingers beneath a leaf of the flower, smiling gently at it. Soon, the moon would reveal herself and let them bloom.
As you stepped up again, you noticed someone approaching through the opposite side of the gazebo, and smiled at the sight of the slicked back hair and freckles that surrounded gentle brown eyes.
“Hi, Marco,” you chirped pleasantly, taking a seat on the bench with your wings tucked and folded behind you.
He sat across from you and leaned on his elbows, returning a smile to you. “Hi,” your name rolled gently off his tongue. “You out to look at the moon flowers too?”
You nodded and leaned back against the wooden wall behind you, crossing a knee over the other. “Yeah, finally had a night where I didn’t have to clean up after your little brother.”
Marco chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, he’s out with Mother. They went to find more books to add to the library.”
“Ah,” you nodded in reply. “That explains why only you and your father popped in to sneak food.” An eyebrow of yours quirked up with your teasing smirk and Marco laughed again, sitting back with his hands on his knees.
“Yeah, I guess Father had the same idea.” He turned to look out of the gazebo when moonlight shown through, the clouds in the sky drifting away to expose the soft lighting.
You turned quickly to look at one of the vines of flowers that twisted up a pole behind you, smiling widely as the petals began to unfurl and grow towards the moon. Your chest tingled with excitement as it bloomed and you felt Marco approach and stand beside you, looking at the same flower.
“Your flowers are my favorite part of the garden.” His voice was soft as he gazed at the plant, one hand in his pocket and the other reaching over you to touch the soft petals.
“Really?” You looked up at him, craning your neck to see him at his expansive height. Your friend was tall, and was quite intimidating if one didn’t know how gentle of a person he truly was. His broad shoulders and chest indicated his great strength, and those who knew him as part of the clan of werewolves in Jinae understood the true power he held within him.
“Yeah.” His smile was gentle as he looked down at you, voice still quiet and soothing. “Mother and I sneak out sometimes to admire them. You did a great job with them.”
A blush crossed your cheeks, unaware of the effect the flowers you had planted for you making an impact on those you served.
Your heart began to pound as Marco looked down at you. He was your truest friend, having grown up together since you were both very small. Being that your family served his for generations, it was inevitable that friendships would develop. However, you hadn’t anticipated other feelings to develop for him, until your late teens. He had snuck you out after dinner one night to show you a large lizard he found out by the pond in the garden. It was the first time you’d really seen him under moonlight, just days after the full cycle.
He had shorter hair then, and wasn’t as burly or tall, and he was crouched by the pond stones, pointing at the lizard with a wide grin. The way his eyes crinkled with his smile, filled with joy and excitement, had stirred a feeling in your gut that you weren’t familiar with.
From that night on, you were cautious around him, finding that fluttering in your belly coming back every so often, until one day you heard two women in town discussing something similar. This was close to a year after that night, and when you realized that it was love you felt for Marco, you locked yourself away in your room and cried, knowing you would never be able to declare your feelings to him.
Realizing your gaze was locked on his chin, you blinked your eyes a few times and glanced away, looking at a petal that took its time opening up beneath the bright moonlight.
You both were in silence together, only the sound of the nearby pond and its frogs echoing through the garden.
“Hey,” you heard him say your name gently and looked up at him again, feeling your wings fluttering against your back at the sound of his voice.
Marco carefully sat next to you, resting his elbows on his knees and looking down at his clasped hands. “The moon cycle is coming up,” he said plainly, to which you nodded.
“Yes, I’m aware.” You paused, hoping he would elaborate with more information. When he didn’t, you raised an eyebrow curiously and nudged him with your elbow. “And?”
He sighed and sat back, looking to the ceiling of the gazebo and blinking slowly. “It’s the May moon cycle. Summer is coming.”
You realized now what he was going on about. Back in the autumn months, it was announced that after the last moon cycle leading into summer, there would be festivals dedicated to finding Marco a wealthy spouse. It was time for him to be married off, to join families of nobility and possibly royalty.
You’d forgotten all about it. You knew your family was preparing for a festival, making new decorations and meal menus and finding sources of entertainment, but it didn’t occur to you that it was for this reason. Perhaps you were purposefully forgetting that detail.
“Oh,” was all you responded, nodding carefully as you watched him.
Marco sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, his feet fidgeting over the wooden floor. “I don’t know who all is coming yet. Mother and Father won’t tell me.” He turned to you with a soft, almost saddened smile. “You’ll be there, won’t you?”
A quick, sharp chuckle escaped your throat and you nodded. “Well, yes, of course I will be. I have to serve you and your guests, don’t I?”
“Yeah,” he forced a laugh, looking down at his lap. He was quiet for a moment before turning to look at you again. The moonlight only hit the left side of his face, illuminating just a small portion of his freckles and leaving a shining gleam in his tawny iris. “But you’ll be there all night?”
“Of course I will, Marco.” You furrowed your brows in confusion and reached your hand up, hooking it behind him on his shoulder. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged gently and brought his hand across him to rest it on yours. “I don’t wanna be there without my best friend around, I guess.” There was a small, pathetic chuckle in his throat. “It’s… gonna be a big night for me. I know technically your opinion won’t matter in the long run with my family, but I want all your feedback to help me figure out who my new spouse should be.”
His hurting smile left a pang in your chest. The idea of watching him get married off to keep money circulating in the family hurt you as well, but… this was just the way of things. You couldn’t intervene, couldn’t talk to his parents, couldn’t do anything to change this from happening.
With a nod, you forced a smile of your own and nudged your shoulder into his before dropping your hand back to your lap. One of your wings fluttered around behind him comfortingly, cupping around his lower back. “Of course I’ll help you choose.”
The two of you sat together for a while longer, the subject changing to your father’s dinner earlier that night. He wanted to pay compliments for the food he snuck, and you assured him that you would pass the information along.
Once it was time for both of you to head to bed, you escorted each other inside, parting in the hall to wander quietly to each of your home sections of the large mansion.
You had changed for bed, a simple satin nightgown over your body, wings curled into your exposed back as you settled into your comforters. Outside, you could hear rain starting to come down.
With a sigh, you reached over to your bedside table and grabbed the music box Madame Bott gifted you for your ninth name day and cranked it until the knob stopped, then sat it back in its place before curling up into your down pillow, sighing at the racing thoughts of Marco’s hand in another’s, soon drifting to sleep in dreams of his smile along to the little tune playing at your side.
knight!marco who’s in charge of watching you, the future queen, who is also engaged to his best friend
knight!marco who’s most important thing is to uphold your safety, constantly watching over you and protecting you
knight!marco who has to remind himself every time your hands accidentally brush his “it’s just a friendly touch” “she’s engaged”
knight!marco who finds himself falling deeply in love with you as time passes, who finds himself wishing it was him kissing your cheek and holding your hand
knight!marco who on the day of your wedding breaks down after his watch ends, sobbing into his hands at the thought of you completely being out of reach, so so close yet so far
friends to lovers never had a bad track. “scared i’ll ruin what we have” SLAPS. “friendship cuddles while secretly dying inside” BANGER. “teasing each other and holding eye contact for a little too long” KILLS ME. and don’t even get me STARTED on “screaming i love you in the middle of a heated argument.”
i love you beginner artists i love you new writers i love you amateur hobbyists i love you just starting off creatives i love you artistic improvement i love you creative passion
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