Eda Clawthorne x Fem!Human Reader: Forever
Summary: You never told Eda how you felt. You couldn’t. But sometimes life has it’s own way of revealing all of your secrets.
AO3
A/N: This is a little bit of hurt/comfort for all of you. Thank you so much for all of the notes on my first imagine. I hope you like this one!
Warning(s): none :)
“Hey Owlbert, what did you bring today?” You asked the little owl, giving him a little scratch under his chin.
It was human trash day and somehow, Eda had scammed you into running the stand while she was off doing who-knows-what. You had just been waiting for Owlbert’s newest bag. Unwrapping it, you let out a disgusted noise. Yup. Mostly trash.
Warily, you dug around the rotting food and old wrappers, trying to find some salvageable items. Something shiny at the bottom of the bag caught your eye. Doing your best not to touch any of the gross items, you stuck your arm into it, hoping you’d reach it.
You did.
Pulling your arm out of the bag, you looked at the most gorgeous ring you’d ever seen. It was a silver band set with a large emerald, tiny diamonds lined in a circle around the green gem. It sparkled like nothing you’d ever seen before. And Owlbert, who normally couldn’t care less about anything he brought over, even seemed intrigued.
“Woah,” You muttered, looking at it from every possible angle, “This is the biggest gem I’ve ever seen.”
Owlbert hooted from your shoulder. You held it up for him to look at, but he couldn’t do much with it besides peck at it. That was probably a good thing. Turning it, you noticed an engraving on the underside of the ring.
“To our forever. Love, E.” You read softly.
“Hey, did Owlbert bring anything interesting back?”
Eda’s voice seemed to startle both you and the little owl on your shoulder. Turning to her, she looked mostly normal. Her hair was just slightly more disheveled than normal. Smiling, you presented the ring to her.
“Look at this!” You grinned.
The owl lady didn’t seem very impressed. She looked at the ring, then to you, then back to the ring. She raised an eyebrow.
“I know things are different in the human world, but this isn’t very exciting to anyone in the Boiling Isles. You can find gems anywhere these days.” Eda said.
“Yeah, but isn’t it beautiful? And someone even had it engraved - see!”
You shoved the ring out in front of her. Eda squinted her eyes to read it, before promptly bursting into laughter. Loud laughter. A frown took over your face. What could possibly be so amusing about this?
“Geez, that’s about the sappiest thing I’ve ever seen. ‘Our forever,’ who even says something like that?” She asked, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, “Good one, Y/N.”
Her reaction stunned you. Sure, Eda wasn’t exactly a big romantic, but you hadn’t expected anything like that. You felt your face heat up with embarrassment. Small things like ring engravings were something you loved. They showed that romance wasn’t dead. You were more partial to old love letters and postcards, but rings always seemed to take the cake. The way someone could completely encapsulate their love in the tiny space a ring provided was amazing to you.
“Lots of people say things like that.” You defended, “It’s not weird to show that you love someone.”
Normally, you knew this wouldn’t bother you so much. But it stung coming from Eda. Ever since you’d met the woman, you’d been head over heels for her. She had a natural charm that made it all too easy to catch feelings. Secretly, you’d hoped that you weren’t alone in those feelings. You imagined a million different scenarios where Eda swept you off your feet, like the giver of this ring might have done for their significant other. The way she seemed to scoff in the face of romance, though, had you thinking otherwise.
“Whatever you say, Y/N.” She smiled, seeming to miss the expression on your face.
You snatched the ring from her hand, before walking away from the stand in a huff. Eda’s voice called out from behind you, but you didn’t turn around. She could manage on her own for a while.
Thoughts seemed to crash into one another like waves in your head, making your chest ache. If Eda had that kind of reaction to anything romantic, then she couldn’t return your feelings, could she? Being in love with someone made you softer. Warmer towards other expressions of love, whether it was yours or not. These thoughts plagued you, keeping you in your own head, until you realized that you’d walked all the way back to the Owl House.
How long had you been walking for?
From your assessment of the house, a long time, but not long enough for Eda to be home. All of the lights were still off inside. Good. It meant you could be alone for a while.
Ignoring Hooty’s attempts to make conversation, you opened the door and walked inside. You kicked off your shoes, not caring where they went, before trudging up to your room. And holding the ring to your chest, you fell asleep.
---
Eda had been shocked to watch you walk away like that. You were level-headed, even at the worst of times. That type of response was extremely out of the ordinary.
“What did I do?” She asked, looking at King. The demon shrugged.
“Beats me.”
It bothered her for the rest of the day. She was able to forget about it during the few sales she had, but the second they left it was all she could think about. Eventually, she packed the tent up early, hoping you’d be at the house and you could talk.
She felt a little nervous, wondering what to say to you. Eda didn’t do well with feelings. A lot of the time, she preferred to ignore them; let them all go away. But she’d never been able to shake you. You hadn’t been in the Boiling Isles for a long time, but it hadn’t taken very much to capture her attention. Eda cared about you a lot. A lot more than she felt comfortable thinking about.
“Hey Hooty, did Y/N come home?” Eda asked, trying to sound normal. She didn’t want to seem too worried.
“You bet your hoot she did, but she didn’t even say hello! Kinda rude. Hoot.”
“Thanks.”
Eda opened the door, throwing off her shoes, before taking off towards your room. First you walked away without saying anything, then you’d ignored Hooty? None of that added up.
Arriving outside of your door, she noticed that none of the lights were shining underneath it. She tried to knock gently. No answer came. There was an internal debate about whether or not she should open the door. She wanted to check and make sure you were okay, but she didn’t want to invade your privacy. Worry eventually ruled supreme.
“Y/N?” She whispered, peeking in.
She noticed your form wrapped up in blankets in the middle of the mattress that she’d found. Tiptoeing closer, she felt a piece of her heart shatter. Your eyes were closed, but they were puffy, with tear stains drying on your cheeks.
“Oh, Y/N,” Eda muttered, sitting herself on the floor next to the mattress.
With a gentleness that she rarely let shine through, she wiped the last few tears off of your cheeks. A sigh escaped her. She couldn’t help but wonder what had caused this, then her eyes caught the ring in your hand.
Huh.
Your eyes fluttered open, landing on her. It took a few moments before you came to. Then you sat up on the mattress, wiping furiously at your cheeks, trying to appear even the slightest bit composed.
“Eda! When did you get back?”
You tried to put on a bright smile, but it didn’t reach your eyes. Eda didn’t smirk or grin like she usually did. She sighed, before pulling one of your hands into her lap, holding it.
“What happened today?” She asked, looking more serious than you’d ever seen before.
“Nothing.”
She raised an eyebrow. You weren’t the best liar, certainly not when it came to her. Eda could see through you like it was a superpower. Knowing that you were caught in a lie, you broke eye contact.
“I just… I was feeling a little sensitive, it’s fine.” You said softly.
“Y/N, you don’t blow people off like that when you’re sensitive. You overcompensate. Whether it’s smiling a little too big or acting a little too cheerful. That’s not what happened today. So what is really going on?” Eda asked.
You felt frozen. It had always been easy to lie, to make people believe you were fine. Nobody could read you. That had been something you’d prided yourself on. But Eda could read you like a book she checked out from the library. It hit you then that your emotions had always been plain, easy to read, but nobody had ever cared to ask before.
“Eda, I… I made myself feel like this. I overthought something, it isn’t your fault.”
You removed your hand from Eda’s, though it pained you to do so. It was your own fault for believing she’d fall for you too, wasn’t it? You moved away from her, looking out the window, so you didn’t have to meet her eyes. It was better this way. It was better that she never knew.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Her tone was one you’d never heard. She was lighthearted, fun, maybe even annoyed sometimes. Now she sounded stern, almost… angry?
“Eda, please don’t.” You whispered.
“Don’t what? Don’t ask for the truth? We’ve been through too much, don’t think you can lie to me and get away with it. Tell me what’s got my girl so upset.”
‘My girl.’ You wanted to cry at the words. She didn’t mean it the way you wanted her to, right? It was something she’d say to anyone, surely. You could never be lucky enough to be her girl.
“Just leave it alone, Eda.”
“No.”
You heard her growl before you were turned around, your back pressed into the wall next to the window. There was a fire in her eyes, but there were also tears there. You felt so lost.
“I know you, Y/N Y/L/N. I know the way you carry yourself, the way you talk, even the way you smile. When you walked away from me today, I knew you were out of sorts - I thought maybe it was just random. But now you’re standing here, lying to me, pretending to be fine. We don’t lie to each other. Let’s not start now.”
“I can’t.” You said, your voice breaking.
“Can’t what?”
“I can’t ruin this!”
Eda’s brows furrowed, moving her face away from yours slowly. Hearing you raise your voice was unusual. You never yelled. And if you did, never at her.
“What are you talking about?” She asked softly.
“I can’t… I can’t lose you because I convinced myself of something that wasn’t true - because I made myself think you’d care for me like I care for you.”
You forced it out, the tears flowing freely now. Eda looked confused before her eyes widened with understanding.
“I’m sorr-”
Eda cut you off by pressing her lips to yours. They were soft. You found your eyes slipping shut as you leaned into the kiss, moving your lips against hers. Her golden fang caught your bottom lip slightly. It didn’t hurt like you thought it would, instead it made you grin. You could feel her grin too.
“Do you think I’d be this worried about you if I didn’t feel the same way?” Eda whispered, pulling away slightly, “If I didn’t… love you?”
“Oh, Eda,” You let out in a sob, “I love you too.”
It startled you when, instead of kissing you, Eda grabbed your hand. She extracted the beautiful emerald ring from your palm and slipped it onto your finger.
“It couldn’t have meant all that much to them if it was in the bottom of a trash bin,” She offered up with a shy smile, “To our forever.”
“To our forever.” You repeated back.
As she kissed you, you could feel it. The emotion in her frame. In her words. She meant it. And your forever was just beginning.
