#BENVOLIO STOP DRAGGING YOUR COUSIN OK

[ofwoeromeo-blog]

stop making out with juliet, cousin please you embarrass me (benvolio shading romeo is the aesthetic)

        “ dear benvolio, it is only your envy which speaks! you drag me grumble when i am lost and you drag me grumble when i am found, will you ever be satisfied? perhaps you need a capulet in your life too; though not this one, she is mine. get your own. ”

[aki-draws-things]

@badthingshappenbingo

Prompt: stranded/lost

Fandom: Romeo et juliette

Ship: //

A bit vague and metaphorical with the prompt, and not much angsty, but still fine. Little tybalt was cute.

There, @vicapuleti ...

a bit sad in some part but no angst, mostly the Cat being worried. And the little monkey is there too...

Any mistakes will be corrected tonight once I'm at the computer. It was written entirely on the phone so sometimes auto correction kicks in and... It doesn't work how it should honestly. Sorry about them

***

Fights happened, sometimes, in every family, even the closest. Sometimes people, siblings, would fight over a cake, other times over chores, some other times over family. Fights always happened in families, even in theirs, but never like this.

The first time tybalt was five and juliet born a couple of days before, everyone's attention was for her, for the tiny blond baby. At the time he was only five, what did everyone expect? For him to understand? He understood, yes. He understood that everyone was too busy to care for him. - much later he would swear that for her he would die, but that will be later. -

"be quiet, tybalt. - his brother whispered, the little thing left in his arms by the Nurse. - you'll wake juliet up."

"don't care. - he whined, lips curled in a small pout. - I want to play. Come play."

"not now, dear. Later."

"now!" the Cat smiled and knelt in front of him.

"do you want to try and hold her?"

"no!!" he slapped his hand away, somehow careful, though maybe not fully intentionally, not to touch the baby.

"Tybalt." he warned, voice low, almost dangerous, for sure angry. "you're old enough to understand. Juliet is just a baby. Like a kitten, they don't even open their eyes when they're born."

"kittens are cute. She's not."

"oh, but she will be cute when she'll grow up. And you will play together." he tried again.

"I don't want her. - something flashed in his eyes, he looked up to his brother in fear. - you love her more than me." he claimed, horror filling every word, he couldn't believe it, he didn't want to. And yet that's what it looked like. His brother now preferred that little thing to him.

"that's not true, my dear."

"yes!!!" the high pitch that came out woke juliet who looked around, big eyes open wide, and start crying.

"look what have you done, tybalt." the Cat moved away, cradling her, whispering soothing words she couldn't yet understand, leaving little tybalt where he stood, stunned. After a moment he turned on his heels and ran out of the room.

He slammed the door of his room and looked around.he could climb in the bed, hide under the blankets and remain there until someone would come look for him, yes, he could. He actually should.

"but he won't come." his mind told him, a malicious, scary voice. "he doesn't care anymore. No one does." sniffling soundly he dragged a chair by the window, stood on it to open it and then dragged it out on the balcony. He wasn't scared of height, and he climbed up and down that same balcony thousands of times even in his short life. Slowly he climbed down to the gardens and as soon as his feet touched the grass he started to run.

It was only hours later, with the sun high in the sky, that he realized he didn't know where he was anymore. Verona was big, and he simply ran, barefoot, through the streets, between people's legs in the market, through the squares. And now he was lost.

"it's not like someone will come looking for you. They didn't even realize you're gone." he thought again. He sat on a corner, put his chin on the knees and hid there, a bundle of messy clothes, white and red, and curly hair. And tears.

Alone.

"oh no, dear... You're lost, aren't you?" a woman knelt before himamd he looked up nodding sadly, he was sure he saw her before, and the blue colors were familiar too. "oh no, you poor boy. What's your name?"

"Tybalt."

"Capulet?" a second voice, deeper, stepped in and tybalt tried to hide better between his legs and the wall, there was something dangerous in the way the man said his last name.

"oh, stop it, he's a child, and he's lost. You must be starving, too. Come, let's get you something to eat, sweetie." the man didn't look convinced but she was, she kept smiling as they walked to a palace nearby, she even told him he could play for a bit with their son and nephew before going home. Tybalt froze at the word. *home. *

"I don't want to go home." he whispered making her turn his way.

"why is that? Your family must be so worried for you."

"no. Cat don't love me anymore. I don't want to go home." tears fell down his cheeks as he tried to hide his sobs, grasping the blue fabric of the dress when the woman picked him up. "he only loves Jul now."

She heard him sob on her shoulder.

***

It was almost lunch time and the door to their room was slightly open, and yet, when the cat walked inside, it was empty. The beds were made, the closet closed with a key and tybalt wasn't hiding under the bed like he did other times to scare him. The window, though, was open, and a wooden chair left forgotten on the balcony. The boy looked at it in horror, of course he knew his brother could clind that wall easily, he almost learned it as soon as he could walk, a little monkey, the Nurse called him, but where did he go?

He turned, almost crashed against the door and ran out.

First he checked the gardens, then every hidden room, any hiding spot he could think of and then, only at the end, after running like a crazy man around the whole house without explanation, he found himself staring at the gates.

He could send others outside in the city, he could send many of them to cover every single street, instead he went alone, calling at the top of his lungs his brother's name. And with every step, with every scream, fear took hold of his heart. It was his fault, after all. He was so focused on juliet, on helping the Nurse with her that he -- forgot. He forgot tybalt was five. He forgot he was under his care now that their parents were gone, he forgot he couldn't really understand what it meant having a newborn baby in the household. He simply forgot.

But he couldn't lose him, not his little brother, not his kitten, not his own blood, he promised to take care of him, and he had failed. He felt lost. Utterly lost. So he kept running, and calling, and asking around. He wanted to find him, he had to find him, and then he would make up for that. He just had to find him.

***

"he needs to go home."

"let him play a little more with Romeo, dear. Look at them, they're kids, they don't deserve our stupid feud to ruin them."

"he's a Capulet."

"yes, and he's letting our son ride on his back without complaining. Is that a bad Capulet?"

"he--"

"ouch!!" they turned in time to see him faceplant on the grass with little Romeo still on his back.

"are you ok?" asked benvolio taking Romeo and letting him sit back up.

"yes... Tripped. Sorry."

"sowwwy." the little kid repeated before leaving his older cousin arms and crashing against tybalt, laughing.

"they're kids. - she said again, smiling. - let them be kids."

It was little after dinner when she convinced him to be taken home, they decided to leave at the gates of the palace to avoid any potential, unwanted encounter. Truth to be told that had been lord Montague's idea, his wife's intentions, on the other hand, were to storm inside and have a word or two with anyone who should take care of tybalt. They settled on the gate, in the end.

They were walking slowly, keeping his pace, his little hands wrapped tightly around two of their fingers, safely walking in the middle. If it wasn't for the clothes colors and the blond hair, in contrast to their darker ones, one could even think it was their son. He stopped short and let go of lord Montague's hand.

"Cat!" he exclaimed, a mix of excitement and fear, pointing to a man sitting alone on a bench, head bowed and hands in the hair, his shoulders trembling just slightly, like he was crying.

"you know him, dear?" she asked, even at their distance she could see the similarities between them.

"Cat!!" letting go of her fingers too he sprinted forward, arms soon wrapping around the older boy's legs.

"oh my God... - panic, and relief, and guilt all flashed in his face when he looked up and immediately picked him up against himself, burying the face on his hair. - tybalt--tybs, tybbles, kitten... Oh, God, love where were you? I searched everywhere." he cried, hand never still, they kept moving, brushing his hair, and back, always holding him close, mostly so he wouldn't see his tears, or the red eyes after spending so many hours crying. He felt his head bowing slightly.

"... Sorry Cat..." somehow that brought more tears to his eyes.

"no... No no no no. Don't. It's not your fault, it's mine. I'm sorry. I swear I'll never leave you alone, ever ever again, my dear. I swear to the God, I swear to you. To anyone."

Maybe seeing the older boy this much desperate quieted her intentions of calling them out and teaching some things on how to take care of a baby.

"I imagine you'll be safe from there, dear." she said making both brothers turn. Tybalt nodded, arms draped around his brother's neck sniffling quietly.

"you--" the Cat started but words failed him after a moment, what was he supposed to say? That they were Montagues? That they couldn't be trusted?

"we would have took him home sooner. - lord Montague stepped in. - we just couldn't take our son away from him. That little monkey thought he had a new brother to play with and just wouldn't let go." a soft, small laugh escaped the boy's lips.

"I see many kids are monkeys, then... Not just this climbing kitten here."

"how did he ran away, anyway. He said why, but not how."

"he-- - he sighed, not annoyed, more tired now that tybalt was safe in his arms. - he climbed down the wall of our room." he admitted in the end, she seemed to be taken back at the discovery, then she shook her head and patted his head gently.

"well, next time don't make you brother worry like that, dear. You can come playing with Romeo and benvolio whenever you want." he lit up from his position and nodded eagerly before they walked in the opposite direction toward home.

"not angry?" he asked as his brother put a nightshirt on him and moved the blankets from the bed to let him in.

"no. No kitten, I'm not angry."

"sad?"

"no, scared. I thought I had lost you. I can't lose you."

"still love me?" he asked around a yawn, the Cat smiled and sat on the bed next to him.

"more than anything. More than anyone. More than my life."

"love you that much." he freed the arms from the blankets and opened them as wide as he could.

"oh, dear... Than I'll have to love you even more now. Come on, sleep now."

"stay?" he asked, again.

"always. I promise. I swear. Always."

[aki-draws-things]

@soetpotatis

Val too gets quite protective.

At first he's like "ok, brother and you other gang, where did you sneak out in the middle of the night without me? But he catches Vittorio signing something very fast and very angrily.

Because "I've been a huge idiot. How could I believe your "I slipped on wet floor" and all those absurd excuses?! Oh my God stop me or you'll have to come visit me in jail for the love of God I'm gonna kill him so badly that---" and at this speed tybalt is the only one who actually understand. The others can imagine, tho, because for making him angry it takes a lot and lord C just reached that level.

Tybalt actually gave them all sort of excuses for any strange bruises he ended up with. Included potential street fights. Both Vittorio and mercutio blames themselves for falling for those excuses despite being absurdly obvious.

What angered lord C the most was how juliet spoke up against him so he goes and tries to drag her back home and, "God forbid, you're not going around with Montagues." except her and Romeo are already dating and it's quite obvious to everyone.

Ends up with C driving against the motorbike she's on with tybalt while going to class, a trip to the hospital and mercutio confessing his love properly and with actual words. Much in a "I thought I lost you" way.

One more things cutio gets scared of. Arriving to class, meet with Romeo and Ben just to receive a text that Julie and tybs are at the hospital after an accident.

Even more if upon arriving there juliet crashes in her romeo's arms in tears because she's so scared for her cousin.

Oh, benvolio secretly loves the hat Vittorio did for him, a bright blue as a call back of the family color. When he tried to complain Vittorio shot him a look to dare him to continue. And everyone still laugh at the fist memory, it's one of the embarrassing stories they tell sometimes. Together with Romeo trying to serenade to juliet and miserably falling behind the couch and between it and the wall.

The time val barged in they simply spent the night sleeping, Paris and Ben keeps telling that to valentine but he won anyway. Tybalt was in the bed, sleeping or not he was there, so he won. (Vittorio apologized that morning, for falling asleep but for tybalt was okay, he must have been tired, and he was signing a song actually so... He appreciated that though.

Movies night is a fight but somehow Julie ends up winning everytime so romcom is it. Romeo fall asleep most of times before the first half. Benvolio gets invested in the film (and sometimes he even suggest some titles to juliet too). Mercutio tries to pay attention but he's like a cat, sprawled all over tybalt and pretending attentions every moment. Which includes him petting mercutio's hair.

Also, Mercutio had a chat with Vittorio after a while. More like a challenge, the first one that would make tibalt kiss them will be allowed to date him. Because out of everyone mercutio sees his feelings and he's a bit jealous, more than a bit. He sees him as a rival sometimes, especially when he's that much close to tybalt and Tybs seems to trust him more.

(problem is, it's not really a challenge, he realize, when he notices that Vittorio is doing nothing to get tybalt love him, he's giving up, he pushes away his feelings so that they could end up together like they're meant to. Even though it hurts)

From the epilogue, there are a few scenes not written. I try to keep the angst at bay but hey! Lady Catastrophe here… 😂

I want more ideas on this reincarnation au

@soetpotatis @vicapuleti

- Tybalt had the habit of asking his mother to wait for him to get out of school and that he loves her. One morning he was terribly late so he just kiss her cheek and run off to school, he doesn’t say the usual words. After he would blame himself because the last thing he said was something like “I’m so late mom, I gotta go.”.

- when he goes living with his uncle’s family he leaves the city he grew up in, and leaves Vittorio. The first day of university he meets a boy in his class getting bullied because he’s mute, so different. He ends up defending him and apologizing to him. But when they look at each other its like an epiphany. They stay by each other ever since. Tybalt introduce him to juliet by saying he’s his brother.

- he actually had an older brother, ten years older. A car accident took him and their father because of a drunk driver. He never speaks of him. He wanted to become a police officer.

- the Prince is the mayor of the town Montagues and capulets have two industry always competing with each other. Some things never change. Paris tried to run for mayor in Mantua, many said that he won because of his father in Verona. Unlike the past he’s not too loved by his city, tried his best and almost got killed.

- cutio and val are twins. Escalus is always exasperated at them because troubles, but he loves them so much.

- one night, after finding tybalt again, cutio wakes up in fear and send him a message. “tell me you won’t die.” “I have the flu, cutio, not plague.” “just… Tell me.” “i won’t.”

- when he finds out what happened to tybs mother mercutio just breaks down crying because they all remember fragments of their past lives, and he remembered how she died back then. He gets extra anxious every time tybalt catch even a little cough.

… That’s all, for now.