Hii it's me, I asked for 26 with the Tarron siblings and I mean 26 from "Touching" 👉👈
Oh, good, bc that's the one that I was gonna choose anyways. Sorry this took a while.
26. kissing the top of their head
from Touching
This takes place pre-3Below. Krel is written as aspec, though his exact identity has been left as an exercise for the reader.
CW: Aphobia (mainly internalized, though some external)
AO3
FFN
Aja yawned and stretched. It had been a long day, and they were finally back in the common room between their bedrooms, free from familial obligation to House Ventis.
“I love our grandparents, but...”
But you're not sure if they actually love us? Krel thought, but didn't say. You're not sure if they think we're tainted by Mama's dynasty, and therefore less worthy of love?
“But I wish they'd stop harping on us to start considering marriage options.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Krel wasn't so sure why everyone thought it was so important. It was nice, though, that his twin agreed. It felt like she kept on getting further from him, with her running away more and more frequently.
“I mean, we're only two hundred thirty-nine keltons old; we're too young for marriage!”
Krel grimaced. Age didn’t feel like the main point of it. “I mean, wasn't Papa in an arranged marriage when he met Mama?”
“Yeah, and it completely failed. Which I'm very thankful for.”
“I'm just saying, pushing people into marriages they don't want is a royal tradition.”
“I know, right?” Aja rolled her eyes. “I mean, what if I don't want to marry some stuffy royal and have my life planned out for me?”
“I mean, that does come with the whole being royal thing.”
“We could run away!”
Oh, not again.
“Aja, just think for once, please. We have four arms, and the rest of the populace only has two. How could we ever run away?”
“We could use transductions!”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Transductions, which wear off in a matter of horvaths. And they're neither portable nor easily accessible.”
“I mean...” Aja smiled a smile that could almost be considered sweet. “You're smart. I bet you could find a way to make transductions both of those.”
This is a trap, Krel thought. His sister was appealing to his ego, and while obviously he was smart enough to do that, that didn't mean he was going to improve upon transduction technology in order to fulfill his sister's desire to run away.
“Just think, Krel. We could be whomever we wanted! I could be a warrior and you could be free to do whatever it is you do with your tech!”
That did sound nice.
"No one would be pushing us to get married to other royals just to ensure we have heirs to carry on the Tarron dynasty."
That sounded really nice.
“We could marry anyone we wanted, without having to worry about keeping the dynasty pure and four-armed!”
What?
Aja was actually interested in marriage?
He and Aja had different interests since they were very young, but being interested in technology versus gambling and physical stunts were all normal interests, even if they weren't proper ones for a royal to have. But from all the stories he'd heard, it wasn't normal to not be interested in an eventual marriage. But that didn't matter to Krel, because his twin had always been extraordinary and if she wasn't interested in marriage then it was fine for him not to be.
But she was.
“Krel?” Aja frowned. “What's wrong?”
“I think I'm broken,” he said in a voice just as broken as he was.
“What? No.” She hugged him and pressed her lips to the the top of his faceplate.
“Aren't you going to ask why?”
“No, because you're not broken.”
“And how would you know without asking why I’m broken? You might just not see it.”
“Because you’re my brother.”
“Yeah, well, I thought that would’ve made me not broken too, but it’s not.” He turned away from her.
She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Krel, please, talk to me.”
“I’m not normal.”
Aja rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ve been aware of that since you first hatched.”
“You were only five delsons old! You weren’t even aware you had limbs!”
“And yet I was aware you were weird.” He glared at her. “But you’re not broken.”
“Aja, I’m not interested in marriage. To anyone.”
“Wait, really? Not even as something you’ll do in the distant future?”
“No. I mean, I know I have to, because I’m the prince, but if anything I wish Mama and Papa would just go ahead and arrange something since it’s not like I’d be able to choose someone I’m interested in.”
Aja frowned and shook her head. “No. That’s cruel. I could try to talk to them about it? Make it so that, if I marry into royalty and have multiple clutches, you wouldn’t need to marry anyone? I’d rather be able to choose someone who could give me a life I really want, but I think I’d be able to choose my spouse from among royalty and be somewhat happy.”
That was really sweet of her, to give up her dream of running away for him.
“Somehow, I don’t think that even you’d get your way, even with the promise of royal grandchildren. But, thank you.”
“Then we’ll just have to run away, to another planet if we have to, so we can both be really happy with our lives.”
Krel smiled sadly. It would never happen, and even if they tried, it would never work.
