Borderline
ch. i - you are here! - ch. iii - ch. iv - ch. v
A/N: Welcome back. I had so much fun working on this. I don’t usually write for Lilia but this was something I wanted to do as a way to boost my personal morale. So, please enjoy.
tags: Lilia Vanrouge x fem!reader, age gap wc: 2.3k+
You stood at the stove in your pajamas. A pair of shorts and an oversized shirt you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing in public. In on hand was your phone, the other was a ladle to stir a pot of potato soup. You had miscalculated the length of your nap on the couch and you and your brother would be having a late 8:30pm dinner.
You were staring at the text message you prepared in your notes app last night. Mr. Vanrouge had kindly given you his number. He told you that you were free to contact him if you needed anything. Especially if it came to your younger brother.
You stayed up thinking of what to say to him. A polite thank you or if you wanted to keep things more casual. The phone number was intended to keep up with your brother and his progress with education and magic. But you were allowed to be selfish.
Your parents dumped this responsibility onto you the moment you walked through the door. This would be your reward. You wanted to text a friend to beta read the message, but you weren’t sure how to express being attracted to a teacher. Not to mention a Fae teacher.
Times have changed between countries. But humans and Fae usually don’t get along. You heard stories growing up on the playground about nocturnal Fae swooping down to grab little human kids to eat. How the wicked queen of Briar Valley planned to take over all of the human counties and enslave them as livestock to feed her minions or to make the entire race slave workers and less than.
In an alternate universe; you would have less rights than a house cat. A frown tugged at the corner of your lips as you looked at the message again. You were sure those stories were just made up nonsense that comes with being a kid with closed off parents. Your mom and dad wouldn’t allow your younger brother to have a Fae teacher if they had prejudices. And Mr. Vanrouge seemed like a very sweet man.
And he’s handsome so he gets bonus points.
The frown was replaced with a smile as you copied your text from your notes app and sent it to Mr. Vanrouge. It wasn’t very long. Just some pleasantries and ‘it was nice to finally meet you’ and a few other sweet words thrown in that may or may not be flirting. You did your best to sound mature and professional. But you weren’t sure how long the façade of being ‘mom’ would last. You continued stirring occasionally glancing at your phone to see if he responded.
After a half hour and calling your brother to the table for a bowl of soup, your phone pinged. You had already sat at the table. Your brother sat across from you in his pajamas, watching a kid friendly YouTube video on his tablet. Now he was looking at you. “Is that mom? Tell her I said hi.” He requested as you stared at Mr. Vanrouge’s response with a smile.
“S’not mom but I’ll text her in a second.” You felt your cheeks warm up. “Then who is it?” You gently nudged your brothers leg under the table with the use of your foot. “You’re being nosey.” You murmured as you ate a spoonful of soup.
‘Thank you for messaging me. I had been thinking about our encounter. You know, you aren’t a very good liar. But I’m sure you have your reasons. Don’t do it again! Please inform your parents that they need to attend the next meeting themselves instead of sending someone else. Even if that someone else is very charming and mature.’
The message was very sweet as you started to swing you feet beneath the table. “Well your nose is fatter and huger and bigger than mine.” Your brother grumbled as he poked at his soup. “That sentence doesn’t make sense. Now shut up and eat.” You remained glued to your phone as you started to text him back.
‘They’re on a cruise! They asked me to go because I’m home from college right now. Sorry for lying.’
Your heart skipped in your chest and you adverted your eyes to stare at your warped reflection in the stainless steel handle of your spoon. You started to type again.
‘And thank you for the compliments you’re very sweet. My brother thinks you’re really cool and it turns out he was right.’
You weren’t sure how obvious you were being about this sudden crush you had for Mr. Vanrouge. Even if you got rejected, you could bounce back no problem. You hardly knew him and if he said he had no interest in humans or even young women your age you would understand. “I’m done!” Your brother's voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you looked up from your phone. You hardly touched your soup. “You are? Lemme see your bowl.” You knit your eyebrows tight as your younger brother cupped the small ceramic bowl and tipped it to show you that it was empty.
A few remnants of soup remained, but he told the truth. “Do you want some more?” You asked and your brother shook his head in response. Kids don’t eat as much as people think. They love snacks and candy, but when it comes to a meal they get full fast. “Alright, hang on.” You got up from your chair, leaving your phone behind as you took his empty bowl from the table. “Wash your hands and put your tablet up.” This was a nightly routine you and your brother had when you would babysit him.
Even before you went off to college your parents were pretty absent in his life. Despite being on the couch or across the street partying with the neighbors. You sometimes felt a pang of annoyance raising a child that you didn’t sign up to take care of. Especially as a sibling. But you didn’t trust your parents to do a good job in your place.
You rinsed his bowl and washed it. Putting the small dish and spoon on the little steel rack. When your brother returned with clean hands, he helped you tidy up the kitchen. Without being asked, he brought you a large Tupperware container for the soup. “What do you wanna eat for dinner tomorrow?” You asked as you handed him back the container of soup to put in the opened fridge. “Ummmmm-” You heard him starting to giggle.
“Don’t say skibidi or that six seven crap.” Your tone was warning as your younger brother closed the fridge. “I wasn’t! I was not thinking about it or gonna even say that stuff!” He sputtered and walked up to you to tug on the hem of your shirt. “I want pancakes. And some scrambled up eggs. And I want some other stuff too but that’s all I can remember.” So he wants breakfast for dinner. That’s easy enough. “Well if you want pancakes then you need to clean your room tomorrow.” You looked down at him with your arms crossed, watching his eyes widen and glitter with excitement. “Really? That’s it?” You nodded. “And I’ll come and check it too so don’t stuff anything there your bed.” It was a deal. The two of you hooked pinkies and you walked your brother up to his room.
It wasn’t that messy. But you didn’t want to walk in and out of the room and risk stepping on something or breaking it. “When are mom and dad coming back?” He asked as you tucked him into bed. “In like two weeks. It’ll be a Saturday or a Sunday. And we’ll go pick them up at the dock.” And then you’re gonna mentally cuss them out for doing this to you. You gently pinched your younger brother's cheek and turned on his nightlight.
“If you need anything I’m downstairs watching Tv. Or if I’m not there then I’m in my room.” You called out softly as you flicked off the light. Watching with fondness as your brother nodded slowly. It was a good thing that he was tired. “Good night. Love you.” You started to pull the door shut, leaving it open with just a crack of light from the hallway as your brother responded with ‘ewwww’ making you roll your eyes in amusement.
You returned to the table to see another message from Mr. Vanrouge was waiting for you. You hurried back to the table, taking your soup with you to the living room to sit on the couch and watch TV. Or at least have something in the background to keep you company.
‘College! How thrilling! One of my sons is about your age. Maybe a year or two older. I was right to assume. May I ask how old you are and what you study? There’s a chance the two of you may share a class!’
He asked as you placed your bowl on the floor and grabbed the TV remote. Maybe some trashy reality to play in the background to give you something to look up at every once in a while as you tried to keep this conversation flowing. You felt like this was Mr. Vanrouge’s polite way of saying he’s an old man but at the same time you’re a consenting adult with wants and needs. You told Mr. Vanrouge what you were in school for and that you were 20. Struggling to not emphasize that you are in fact an adult with a car and responsibilities.
‘I know we have a few Fae guys at my school but none with your last name. Did he take your wife’s last name or..? Not in a rude way I’m just asking!’
You remembered that he mentioned being a single father in passing. It could have been a messy divorce, or he could be a widow. Or maybe he and whoever the woman was were on good terms and she could fuck up any potential shot you had with Mr. Vanrouge. You watched the grey speech bubble appear then vanish. It did this a few times before you got another message.
‘Oh no he’s human I adopted him. We look nothing alike actually.’
Mr. Vanrouge ended the message with a laughing emoji and your eyebrows raised. You had never heard of a Fae adopting a human. Nor the legality or ethics behind it. Fae and human marriage isn't against the law, but it was very frowned upon. There was something similar with adoption in different countries. Humans typically aren’t allowed to adopt Fae children due to the child outliving their parents. But in vice versa the issue was if the system would allow someone non-human to raise a human.
‘I’ll have to ask him what school he attends! I’m old. I can’t remember everything in his life. But if you meet, please treat him kindly. He’s still adjusting to living among people.’
Mr. Vanrouge sent you a photo of a gorgeous young man. You didn’t recall seeing him. You wouldn’t forget someone that looked like this. His hair was a shimmering silver color, and his eyelashes looked so sparkly.... Not to mention, he had amazing arms even if he was dressed in a blue and pink princess sweater. The photo was a of him asleep at the table next to a bowl of cereal. Typical dad photography.
‘Lol did you raise him with wolves or something?’
The idea of a human having to adjust to living with other humans sounded silly coming from Mr. Vanrouge. Briar Valley is where most Fae lived. It wasn’t very technologically advanced, but they weren’t uncivilized cave people. You turned to the screen, watching two celebrities argue as you drank up some of your soup. It had gone from lukewarm to cold. The ping drew your eyes back to your phone.
‘Bats and dragons to be exact.’
You and Mr. Vanrouge texted back and forth for another two hours. You were becoming drowsy, but you were happy with the many twists and turns of the conversation. You didn’t expect Mr. Vanrouge- Er, Lilia, to be so easy to talk to. He used to work as a royal guard in Briar Valley but has stepped down, he loves teaching small children, he likes RPG games, he’s also nocturnal meaning he could spend even longer chatting with you; but he can tell you’re getting sleepy based on the shorter responses.
Your soup remained untouched and you had twisted and turned all over the couch. You knew that this would be the end for tonight. You would take it as a win, considering you held the man’s attention this long without him leaving you on read or shooing you away until now. You hovered over the digital keyboard after you turned off the TV. It was time for you to go to bed as well. You wanted to at least show him that you’re interested. Sure you’re moving a little fast but you won’t live forever like he will.
‘It was nice talking to you. And this probably sounds silly but I think it would be cool to hang out even if you are my little brothers teacher. As like friends or something’
You were having a hard time putting the message together. Maybe sending this to a friend would have been a better idea than jumping in blind. You watched as Mr. Vanrouge typed, then vanished, then typed again.
‘Forward aren’t we?’
You smiled to yourself. You couldn’t help but feel giddy at the sight of the message. He was flirting back. This was a good sign.
‘You miss every shot you don’t take’
You sent an angel emoji and got up to pace around from excitement. Mr. Vanrouge agreed to have a friendly hang out with you. There was a rock club he often went to on weekends. However, this week his sons were coming home to visit him so he would be busy. However, next week, he would be free. You thought about how your parents would be returning that week before shaking the idea away. They would be getting back Sunday morning and you could party it up on Saturday; recover Sunday morning after getting your parents.
The plan was foolproof. You just needed a babysitter that wasn’t you.
