Part 1 of Homecoming Pangs, a story told over seven drabbles about what happens when Maddie and Alexander return to a re-opened Hillerska during their third and final year of high school. You can read the sequence from the beginning over at AO3.
Thanks to our friends at @youngroyals-events for once again organizing a wonderful Drabble Challenge!
Winter (Alexander)
A knock wakes Alexander at seven. He follows it with a shower. Hot, because third years like himself shower first. Naturally.
Walking to class, Alexander finds solace in the skeletal reach of stripped branches, the slate skies, the crunch of frost beneath shined shoes.
He swats away thoughts of the apology letter that didn’t arrive on royal stationery.
…shouldn’t have treated you like a lackey… won’t blame you if you want to change things at school…
As if Alexander’s service meant nothing.
Why should Alexander change Hillerska? Nature moves the seasons along. Nature will give him the winter he deserves.
Part 2 of Homecoming Pangs, a story told over seven drabbles about what happens when Maddie and Alexander return to a re-opened Hillerska during their third and final year of high school. You can read the sequence from the beginning over at AO3.
Thanks to our friends at @youngroyals-events for once again organizing a wonderful Drabble Challenge!
Content note: This drabble contains a reference to the death of a child.
Balloons (Maddie)
Stretched latex and air exploding outward. Fuck that noise.
Stop freaking out. Hillerska’s throwing a party; a few balloons are always casualties. Chill.
Maddie reassures herself with eyes screwed shut, palms clamped over ears, back slammed against a concrete wall.
Fredrika glimmers confused beside her. “It’s not gunshots.”
“I know.” But it could be.
Maddie doesn’t tell Fredrika about the school in Ohio. The one where shooters drove sixth graders out onto the playground. The one where her kid cousin didn’t duck behind the slide in time.
It’s easier to say she’s back in Sweden to learn runes or whatever.
Part 4 of Homecoming Pangs, a story told over seven drabbles about what happens when Maddie and Alexander return to a re-opened Hillerska during their third and final year of high school. You can read the sequence from the beginning over at AO3.
Thanks to our friends at @youngroyals-events for once again organizing a wonderful Drabble Challenge!
Garden (Maddie)
A new student starts a garden. Maddie visits, poking through plants, and can’t find the ingredients she needs. Marigolds for Mom, who fights book bans in court. Sage for Mamma as she swallows her own cares to counsel grieving teenagers.
Aching from their absence, Maddie doesn’t notice her spell notes falling from her bag.
Someone else does, though.
“This yours?” Alexander hands back the index card.
The words empowerment magick, in looping purple cursive, betray her.
Maddie blushes. “For my moms.”
“Are they okay? We could talk about it…”
Alexander looks like he means it. And Maddie wants to talk.
Part 5 of Homecoming Pangs, a story told over seven drabbles about what happens when Maddie and Alexander return to a re-opened Hillerska during their third and final year of high school. You can read the sequence from the beginning over at AO3.
Thanks to our friends at @youngroyals-events for once again organizing a wonderful Drabble Challenge!
Jewelry (Alexander)
“I don’t do jewelry.”
Despite Alexander’s protests, he holds still when Maddie ties the handmade bracelet around his wrist.
Alexander doesn’t hold her hand afterward. He’s wanted to ever since the days lengthened and they started meeting up at the lake to talk. But…
“Amethyst.” Maddie pokes at one of the purple beads woven into the bracelet’s hemp knotwork. “For protection.”
Money and social graces are supposed to protect Alexander. Not crystals. Yet Maddie seems so convinced.
Who’s protecting Maddie, Alexander wonders? He nudges her craft box. The beads inside rattle.
Part 7 of Homecoming Pangs, a story told over seven drabbles about what happens when Maddie and Alexander return to a re-opened Hillerska during their third and final year of high school. You can read the sequence from the beginning over at AO3.
Thanks to our friends at @youngroyals-events for once again organizing a wonderful Drabble Challenge!
Magic (Ensemble)
A June night. A bonfire burns in a tunnel. Five friends scribble down what they’re giving up after Hillerska and feed paper scraps to the flames.
Fredrika first. “Moping. I moped too much this year, with Stella away.”
Henry’s new ace pin glints on his lapel. “Pretending I’m allosexual.”
“Gossip for me,” says Walter.
All three look to Alexander and Maddie. The question that follows (started by Alexander, finished by Maddie) will be an announcement. An explanation for interlaced fingers and furtive grins.
“What if…”
“…there’s something we want to keep?”
The fire listens. Its magic works for keeping, too.
Alexander doesn't understand why Madison began sitting next to him during class.
"Nice case," Madison comments once Alexander is done aligning his notebook look just so.
[...]
"Is that your favourite colour?" she asks when Alexander fails to comment on her conversation starter.
Were they really going to make small talk about his school things? Alexander frowns but refuses to be cowed, if this entire interaction is a trick then he can easily fend for himself. It's just that... girls never really try to talk with him, never mind girls from Manor House. Never mind bright, confident girls like Madison McCoy.
"I don't have a favourite colour."
a pre-relationship Alexander Bragé/Madison McCoy fanfic [part one]
"I want to tell you a secret."
Alexander jumps at the sudden voice behind him, his heart hammering out a thunderbolt rhythm as he spills the drink he's holding all over his shoes and the sticky palace floor, but he calms down immediately once he realises it's only Madison sneaking up on him.
Madison McCoy. The brash, loud-mouthed, and opinionated international student from Manor House who, inexplicably, also happens to be Alexander's friend.
"You owe me a drink," he says conversationally. "What happened to Felice and Stella and all the other people in your girl squad?"
Madison snorts as she climbs over the back of the sofa and takes the seat beside him. "No one calls it that, you old man," she teases. She then hands him her drink—some fruity concoction that looks to be more spirit than juice and ice cubes—and it says a lot about how far they've gone as friends that Alexander just accepts the offer without complaint and takes one big, trusting sip.
"Sweet," says Alexander as he returns Madison's drink to her. "But also sour... plus a hint of coffee? Am I getting that right?"
"Some third year's snuck in cases of Kahlúa," Madison explained. "Only for the third years, mind you, but I won three bottles at a cards game and now," she sighs and leans heavily against Alexander, "Stella and Freddy left to steal milk from the kitchens. And Felice..."
Loud, thumping music fills what would have been a heavy silence.
"Felice?" Alexander prompts, concerned both for Felice's sake and for the way Madison just trails off.
"No," Madison shakes her head and pushes away from Alexander to sit upright again. "Not the secret I wanted to tell."
Alexander nods like he understands Madison's train of thought. "What's the secret you wanted to tell then?"
"You..." Madison peers at Alexander with mild inebriation, and Alexander forces a laugh to distract himself from the intensity of her gaze.
"Me?" he asks, joking. "I thought we were past being secret friends."
Madison looks away and hides behind her drink. "For such a brain-smart guy," she mutters. Then in a louder voice, she tells him that the neon lights glasses he's wearing look nice. "Do you like neon lights, are they your favourite?"
Alexander blinks at the non sequitur. "I don't have an opinion on lights...?" His hand flies up to fiddle with the party glasses he's wearing. "But I suppose... maybe. Do you..." He studies the holographic stickers forming a whimsical pattern on Madison's cheek. "Do you like those holo stickers?"
"I like shiny things."
He smiles fondly at her. "You're very candid about the things that you like."
"And you," she grumbles, "like to keep things close to your chest. Fine, then. Keep your secrets."
Madison stands up and makes to leave, but not before stealing Alexander's party glasses and placing them on her head like a headband. He watches with turbulent confusion as she joins the fray on the dance floor, feeling very much like he's missed something incredibly important.
