... I'm in the mood for angst and shenanigans.
And I want Maven to be happy, and see Elara get her just desserts😈
Thomaven Headcanons FT. The Happy Ending AU.
Elara is LIVID that Thomas is alive, because it distracts Maven more than Mare ever did.
She has him thrown in a dungeon in Silent Stone in it. Maven goes to visit a couple hours later to find Thomas breathing lightly and not moving, cold and eyes fluttering shut.
Maven pulls him out if there and gets him to his room, and Thomas is right as rain, though he is a little annoyed.
Thomas asks if Maven's going to snitch to his mother and try decapitation, and Maven gawks at him, asking why Thomas is being so hostile.
Thomas snaps that Maven's not the same, something that breaks the younger Calore prince, and calls him a monster and a spitting image of what Silvers are, cold, ruthless, and crueler than false hope in Hell. When Maven remains silent, save for a whispered, "How?" Thomas spells it out for him: He killed his father. He ruined his brother's life. He ruined Mare's life. He tried to kill them both, even after all the time he'd spent with them. He tortured and branded Mare. He killed innocent people just for Mare, one of them being a helpless infant. And, to top it off, he has the balls to try running back to Thomas after trying and failing with a girl he'd manipulated and lied to; ran to something new and shiny when the old model didn't satisfy, anymore.
Maven remains absolutely silent, fighting back the urges to scream, to slap Thomas, and to just cry because his head hurts, but only manages, "Get out."
Thomas, still pissed, folds his arms and asks, "Should I ask for an escort or should I show myself the way out?"
They remain silent and Thomas goes to leave.
Maven races to the door and closes it, holding it shut, even when Thomas asks him if he's changing his mind, or if his mother's piloting. Maven asks why he's asking, and how he knows that, and Thomas scoffs that Cal's more observant than Maven and Elara give him credit for.
Thomas tries again to leave, but Maven still holds the door shut and then lunges, wrapping his arms around Thomas, shoulders shaking and breathing ragged.
Even after everything he did, and with everything he's possibly going to do, Thomas still hugs back, glad to have the boy he fell head over heels for back.
The sentinels find them, but Maven orders them to lock Thomasin in a cell closer to the one Mare was in in King's Cage and that Samos guards be put on watch rather than Arvens.
Maven visits him whenever he's got free time, and Thomas only wants time with him if he stops hunting Newbloods and steps everyone in Corros free, Silvers and Newbloods. Maven tells him it's too much of a political risk, and Thomas replies that he'd better look for a new toy, because this one has a higher price than Mare.
The Scarlet Guard causes so much more headaches for Maven, which are relieved by Thomas, who gets more open when there aren't more Newbloods being captured and killed.
Thomas becomes Maven's anchor, and it's funny to Thomas, in an ironic way, to see a Silver king cry; he's never seen a Silver cry.
Elara sees Thomas as a pure hinderence and wants to kill him.
She ordered an Arven to beat the living daylights out of him, which Maven had no idea of until she had him sit next to her and watch on the cameras.
He kept his composure, but when he met up with a slightly bloodied and bruised Thomas later, he took Thomas in the bathroom and the two broke down, Maven apologizing because he didn't know and Thomas just done with the fact he's like this; he should be dead, but he isn't, Maven's on the throne and not his brother or father, Elara's a bitch with a capital B, and they can't even leave because Elara with kill them both, he's sure of it.
It's here Maven comes up with a plan.
Elara plans and tries locking him in Corros, but no one can find him, not even Maven.
She does look around in his head and finds nothing, but Samson, not convinced, decides to rummage around instead while Maven sleeps; he makes him remember, but forces him to stay asleep.
Turns out he was half lying because Samson finds a memory of Maven leading Thomas through a servant passage and let him run free from there.
And it turns out they kissed, as well.
You would not BELIEVE how angry Elara was when Samson told her.
Maven locked himself in a silent stone cell and held the keys on him so no one could let him out, or get inside his mind and make him kill Thomas.
Samson does order guards to drag Maven out, but Elara tells him to take a hike so she can be alone with her son.
She knealt on the ground by the cell door and watches as Maven lies on his side, his hands over his ears, and his back to her as he's curled up as tightly as he can be.
She asks him to talk to her, and Maven asks her why she did it, why she screwed him up so badly. Tiberias loved Cal as much as Elara loved Maven, but he never scrambled Cal's brain to make him who he was, so why did she do it if she loved him so much? Elara reiterates that she does love him, as he's her only son, thank goodness, and wanted to make him the best person he could be.
Maven snaps and turns to face her on his knees so they're at eye level. Is love hating who your child is so much you have to literally change them from the inside out? Is love taking every chance they had at happiness to better suit your desires? Is love making you hate the few people you were close with so they never leave your side? Maven doesn't know a lot about love, but he knows that NONE of that counts as it.
Elara barks that he's being a child, that he's forgetting everything she did for him to get him where he is now; he's the King of Norta, what greater honor is that?
Maven asks what honor that is for Elara, to know that her son, Maven of House Merandus, is the one on the throne. It could have been anyone in House Merandus, but it was her son that had the throne, so that was something to rub in her family's face, and it must've felt even better to know she got the throne even after cheating and murdering her way through Queenstrial and to Tibe's side.
Elara shouts, "SILENCE!" and the two fall silent, Maven resting against the wall, his side to her, as he murmurs brokenly that she made him a murderer. The infant and boy he killed were children, innocents that never deserved to be hunted for existing. He chuckles that in a way, he's just like Elara. He's killed, he lied his way to the throne, and he destroyed anyone and everyone in his path.
Elara is silent, only staring at him, before reachimg a hand through the bars and asking him to come out so they can talk face to face, and then he can have whatever he wants.
Maven only wants one thing and he's not leaving until she gives it to him:
He wants his memories and feelings back. He wants his love for Cal back, he wants his dreams back, even if it results in his nightmares returning as well, he wants his love for Tibe back, whatever sliver there was so he can feel a fraction of what Cal's feeling, he wants to care about Mare without the urge to keep her locked up and chained to his side, because she loves Cal, and he wants his memories of Thomas back, the ones from before the fire that made him think he killed the first person he ever unconditionally loved, the person he helped run so Elara wouldn't take him away, too.
He wants off the throne, too. He wants to disappear without a trace and not strings attached. He wants to leave, and doesn't want his mother to follow him; she's done enough for and to him.
Elara, trying to stifle a chuckle, asks if he thinks disappearing is possible for him. If he tells the truth, they'll both be executed, and it'll be an arm's race for someone to take the throne. Norta needs a King, and Maven can't leave until there's another worthy successor for the throne, which won't happen anytime soon because Cal's gone and Anabel's not coming within a mile radius of Elara. Maven snarks that Volo Samos can have the throne, seeing as he wants it almost as badly as Elara does(now that I think about it, they'd make a great and terrible couple). Elara raises an eyebrow and gives a bitter laugh and smile, asking Maven if he really wants Volo Samos, the one person who was hell bent on getting Evangeline to be Queen, who is so set in his own Silver beliefs that he's planning on abdicating, if Maven doesn't prove to ne worth backing.
When Maven remains silent, Elara's smile drops and she holds her hands and forehead against the cell bars, practically begging him to think about what he'll do next, so she doesn't lose him; regardless of how Maven feels about her, Elara loves her son to Hell and back. She's not exactly close to her family, so Maven's all she really has. If he dies, she has nothing.
This sentiment is left with silence, even as Elara takes the hint and stands, walking away to leave.
At least until Maven stands up and walks up to the bars, which fills Elara's twisted, fucked up cavity where her heart should be with joy.
It goes away when she sees the glare Maven gives her, colder than ice and more pissed off than Ptolemus protecting Evangeline.
"Stay away from all of them, Mother. Cal, Mare, Thomas, and every Newblood from here to Montfort. If you hurt them, any of them, I'll leave this palace, and Norta. I'll disappear and make sure you will never see me again."
Elara, out of pure parental instinct, calls his bluff; he cares about that Newblood rat he cooked extra crispy too much. Maven pulls out a gun he's been hiding in his coat and shoots at the ceiling before holding it against his temple; "Try me."
There are tears in Maven's eyes, and they roll down his cheeks. Elara may be evil and a bitch, but she's still his mother and he will always live her.
She leaves for real and neither see each other for a few days. At all. Maven's ordered the servants to say he's nowhere to be found, when asked and it drives Samson crazy and further breaks Elara's heart(GOOD!).
She 'finds' Maven at the breakfast table about a week later, and he's so reserved he won't even let her hug him or come near him. He won't let her in his mind either because he's wearing a silent stone manacle on his wrist. They eat, making little small talk, until they're both done and sit in silence for a long time, still affected by the last conversation they had.
Maven concedes to staying on the throne, but only until there's another candidate who can take his place, and as long as Elara puts back the pieces she took from him, even what he asked for her to cut out. Elara hates that, but agrees, noting that Maven is hiding a weapon; he's never been such a loose canon, so she'd best be careful.
Hypothetically speaking, the series plays out with Elara 'fixing' Maven before leaving for Corros and never returning(Mare's fault), Thomas realizing Maven's a goner without his psychopath mother to shield him, and the gang at a pure shock and awe loss for what to do when Maven not only revokes his father's measures, but also bans anyone from harming any Newbloods or Ardents, lest they end up dying instead.
Samson does try ruling through Maven, but Mavey wears a silent stone manacle to keep him out.
Time jump to after everything goes crazy and calms down, and Maven and Thomas meet back up and hug, glad the other is alive.
They find a place Thomas discovered and that becomes their home.
They share a bed, and thank goodness because Maven cannot sleep alone after what's happened.
Thomas has to teach Maven how to cook and clean.
He often calls Maven a child or a baby, both because he doesn't know how to cook and clean and because he's younger than Thomas.
Maven doesn't wear his flamemakers as much, because he doesn't want to burn Thomas again.
Thomas once found Maven napping on the couch and carefully moved so he could sleep next to him.
Roomates? Don't make either of them laugh. Thomas just knew a place and Maven followed.
Thank goodness Thomas isn't allergic to fur, or can't react to it, because Dagger and Violet fall in love with him so fast.
Violet, being the cat brat she is, loves being on Thomas's shoulders.
For all you that need the juicy details, you can usually find Maven on Thomas's lap; it's Maven's guilty pleasure favorite spot and Thomas's best view of Maven, both in and outside of the bed😉
Maven, after getting fixed by his mother(the ONLY good thing she did), can't fall asleep unless he's either holding something or in Thomas's arms.
Cute, friendly, just for fun wrestling matches, either over who has to get up to do chores or who has the remote, that ends with Thomas on top of Maven and the two kissing, because love.
Dagger breaks it up for Violet's sake.
Maven REFUSES to be carried places.
Thomas often pulls a 'Cal' mlve and holds things over Maven's head, just to see angry puppy Maven. It's so adorable.
Things they NEVER joke about: food that's as burnt as Thomas, things that are as broken as Maven(the pieces are put together, but the cracks are still there), who'd be a better ruler, murder, marriage and betrothal, and just all the negative things that they went through.
They DO talk about those negative things, and try to argue as little as possible; neither can stand the sound of yelling, period.
They can stand recovered reruns of Game of Thrones, surprisingly.
Cal's more than happy to have his brother back and see him happy as can be with Thomas at his side.
Maven's so surprised Cal, Evangeline, and Ptolemus abdicate the throne.
After holding Thomas's hand, he has no regrets or fears.
Super private wedding. Only Cal, Mare, and a handful of people are invited, and that's it.
Maven finds his mother's grave and tells her he's happier than he can remember. He thanks her for helping him, and for helping him be with Thomas, who he can't imagine living without.
He apologizes for everything he said to her and hopes her well enough, wherever she is(we ALL know she ain't doing well😈.).
You know that meme with the dog sitting around a bunch of plants and saying, "This is fine?" Imagine that, but with Maven staring out a window as it rains with Thomas behind him, Dagger next to Maven and getting back pets, Violet snuggled up in Thomas's neck, and Thomas and Maven enjoying some tea; this is not fine, this is perfect.
