#ITS HERE YALL ITS ALMOST DONEEEE!!!

[europeanguy]

Gotta Gogh [Part 5.1: Sure Moments]

Pairing: Nadia x Maxwell

Words: 2k

Tags/Warnings: Canon Divergence, Crossovers, time jumps and POV changes… and uh… angst?

Maxwell is soaked to the bone.

He stands in the carpeted hallway – the downpour outside not showing any signs of stopping. Before knocking, he tries to catch his breath. And for a moment he just stands there – and all he could think about is her.

-

Maxwell tugs at the collar of his turtleneck. Bertrand insisted that he wear the itchy thing along with that new checkered suit – it made him look like a “proper nobleman”, apparently. He doesn’t know how this led to his older brother also talking him into getting his hair cut shorter now that he’s just one semester away from graduating. Bertrand had his way of relating two completely random things together, probably an inborn talent. He said it made Maxwell look more serious – and as usual, his brother is right. Even he wanted to take himself seriously for once.

He decides to finally come out of hiding in one of the many palace offices. There’s never a silent moment once he rejoins the party, so he savors a few minutes of this. Every December it was the same old tradition. The royal family would throw their annual Holiday Charity Gala – the usual party with the usual people trying to outdo each other’s donations. Maxwell had been attending ever since he can remember. The only thing that changed is the pressure to impress, now that it was just him and Bertrand trying to uphold the Beaumont name.

He wishes that Nadia could’ve been beside him.

The trip back from the Paris weekend was quick, the both of them asleep for the most of it. Neither talked about the kiss or where it left them. Not until a few days later when he was walking her back to her dorm and instinctively leaned in – the very action coming to him like second-nature. Nadia kissed him back under her door’s threshold and told him that We can’t do this again. To which he nodded in response, still a little dizzy in the head. Another few days after that, it was Nadia who broke their agreement. He almost found it comical how cliché their Talk after that went.

We’ll figure it out.

Tomorrow would be her last day – and they hardly had anything figured out. What happens the moment she boards that plane, how often they would talk if at all, how soon he could go visit. What changes over the years – how many it would take for them to drift apart and move on. He doesn’t even know why he’s bothering to show his face here in the first place, when he could be spending his last sure moments with her, even though he made a promise.

“Now hold on,” A hand lands on his shoulder, and some musky, flowery perfume fills his senses – and he shudders. Adelaide. He turns around the face the aging duchess. “I believe I was promised a dance?”

He laughs awkwardly, shifting a little further away. “I don’t see anyone dancing yet, Your Grace.”

She flashes him an oily smile, her skin stretching taut across her cheeks from constant upkeep. “Oh Maxwell, you’ve never been one to shy away from starting the party!”

“Later. I promise.” He forces a smile and a lie to placate the older woman. He desperately searches the ballroom for a familiar face to rescue him. Liam is preoccupied with a serious-looking conversation with even more serious-looking people, Leo is trying to soothe an upset Olivia in a far corner of the ballroom, and Drake is of course, nowhere to be found. The only other familiar circle of people were “friends” he no longer talks to. He only really found out what happened at the polo match after a lot of convincing and dessert-bribing. Neville catches his eye but quickly looks away, pretending to see through him. As if he wasn’t just a major member of their stupid club, his position now gladly replaced by Tariq.

Penelope stands in the same circle too, but she doesn’t look away. And Maxwell doesn’t know if he should be disappointed or relieved when she makes her way over to him and Adelaide. She smiles brightly at him, and for a moment he sees a glimmer of the girl he thought he knew. Then she curtsies at Adelaide, no doubt perfected with etiquette classes. The heavily beaded skirt of her royal blue gown swishes and sparkles under the lights.

“Well, this glass needs a refill,” Adelaide doesn’t bother to make her smile look genuine. “You two enjoy yourselves.”

Penelope smiles shyly up at him. “You look really handsome. Did you get a haircut?”

“I did, yeah,” Maxwell’s hand involuntarily reaches up to the back of his head. He racks his brain for a polite compliment to throw back at her. “You look pretty.”

“We kind of match…” She lightly touches the fabric of his navy turtleneck. Maxwell catches her hand and gently places it back on her side – her face immediately falls.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and waits for her to speak. No matter how things played out that day, in the end, he shouldn’t have left Nadia to fend for herself. Was it totally his fault to be so trusting of the people he grew up with? He didn’t expect that sort of treatment to come from them, let alone Penelope.

Penelope’s hands find the stiff tulle of her skirt, bunching it in her fists. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Maxwell nods. “Two months?”

“Will you spend Christmas here?”

“Bertrand has arranged for us to go home tomorrow.”

“Ahh… Ramsford.” Penelope looks wistful. “It’s beautiful there this time of year.”

If only Maxwell had the freedom to fully appreciate it, to do whatever he wanted like back then. But him and his brother have responsibilities now. Three years since everything fell on Bertrand’s shoulders. It’s about time Maxwell bore some of the load too, and his brother isn’t wasting any time. His winter break would be spent neck-deep in tedious meetings with fund managers, investment portfolios, smile and shake the hands of the many people that rely on him now; truly show everyone that even though he’s the spare, he’s completely committed to Ramsford.

“It is.” He lies, wanting nothing more than to run off to New York. Or anywhere for that matter.

A familiar melody comes on from the string quartet and everyone starts pairing off on the dance floor. He’s almost relieved that it broke the awkward moment, but then Penelope looks at him expectantly. A part of Maxwell wants to be a gentleman and at least take Penelope for one dance – for old time’s sake since they were always the designated partners. It was a running “joke” between their families that they would be married someday. It wasn’t too far-fetched. People in their circles rarely married for love.

“It’s my favorite place in Cordonia.” Penelope says quietly, turning away to watch the dancing couples once she realizes that Maxwell isn’t going to ask anytime soon. She stops fiddling with the material of her skirt, smoothing it self-consciously and then turns to him again. “Is she here?”

“No. She leaves tomorrow too.” Nadia had repeatedly made him promise not to see her off.

“I’m sorry about the way I acted, Max.” Penelope fiddles with her silver and diamond bracelet. “Will you tell her I’m sorry?”

Maxwell tries to smile – more sad than angry. “Sure.”

He remembers dancing with Nadia under the moonlight on the cobblestone street like two people so into each other that they didn’t care about looking stupid. That night when he danced with Nadia on the street. He didn’t see people looking in either adoration or judgement, he saw Nadia. He would give anything to be in that moment than be here right now.

In the distance, Adelaide catches his eye and starts to make her way towards him like a woman on a mission.

“I have to go,” He declares, heart suddenly racing. “I’m sorry.” I can’t keep my promise.

Penelope catches the sleeve of his jacket, her big blue eyes searching his own. “Where are you going?”

“Out of here.” Maxwell gently pulls away. And with that he turns – flooded with a sense of urgency to catch those last sure moments.

-

Welcome home,

The University of Cordonia promised Nadia a home away from home – and in a way she found it. But not in the university and its very welcoming community. She found it in the museum and in the aloof museum custodian, Otis. Most importantly she found it in Maxwell Beaumont.

She looks at the Cordonian Ruby painting with a strange sense of melancholy. This particular painting had gotten her in so much trouble. Only just a few months ago, she had almost destroyed one of the country’s national treasures by taking it to the back for restoration along with some other “wall space-occupying” paintings – according to the owner’s representative. Anything that didn’t hold too much history or cultural significance gets stashed in the back rooms until the restoration expert arrives. Needless to say, the artist came running out of the back with what’s left of his thinning white hair mussed and his glasses crooked atop his nose, screaming at Nadia in rapid-fire Greek as Otis watched in silent amusement.

Nadia sighs and steps away from the painting, deciding that she should stop reminiscing and get on with the inevitable goodbyes. She can’t decide if it’s a good thing that she barely made any friends – less people to say goodbye to. Or maybe it’s a lot worse that she met just one, someone so amazing and genuine that she connected so much with that just the thought of leaving hurts.

She watches the dull pink and orange sky through the big windows – it would rain soon. She had hoped for a clear night to see the stars from here. From Cordonia. It’s always too bright in New York City to look at the stars properly. Sighing, she packs her stuff from the receptionist’s desk – leaving a soft leather cover sketchbook on the table. Hopefully Otis would love the book, filled from front to back with sketches of museum guests, animals, other random things. She looks up to find the old man lingering under an archway, pretend-cleaning a carved moulding. Nadia hoped she was imagining the distant loneliness in his air – she did NOT want to cry right now.

Five o’clock.

“Hey Otis, I’m going home!” Nadia manages a big smile as she runs up to him, hiking her backpack up her shoulders. “I left something at my desk for you, so um…” Nadia mostly did it as a sign of thanks – but in a selfish way it also made her feel like she wouldn’t be some footprint in the sand, fading away from their memories as the waves slowly wash her away.

Otis nods, not meeting her eyes. She tries to ignore the fact that his eyes look shiny. He takes a moment to reply.

“Thank you.”

That’s all it takes for Nadia’s tears to start. She sobs, feeling ridiculous and wipes her tears with her sleeve. “Sorry… I’m sorry.” She laughs, sniffing.

Otis’ face breaks into an unexpectedly smile. He almost looked grandfatherly. It catches Nadia off-guard – today being the first time she really saw him smile.

“Go,” He pats her shoulder and nods towards the door.

Nadia nods, smiling and feeling lighter. “Okay. Goodbye.” Still, the hard part isn’t over yet.

She doesn’t go straight home. The walk from the museum to the main library (the only place with a half-decent phone signal) is a transition from elegant and historical to dreary and dusty – but just as empty now that finals are over. Faded tapestries and pictures of alumni line the dark paneled walls, the librarian sat behind a heavy and ornate front desk – looking thoroughly bored. Nadia nods at her in an attempt to be friendly and she is met by a bored expression, her mouth pressed in a thin line.

Nadia isn’t surprised to find there are absolutely zero students in the main hall. Once she reaches a row of desks far enough inside to be out of the librarian’s ear shot, she drops on a random seat, feeling tired all of a sudden. Quickly, she calls Kai.

-

Raydan L. Hall is an old building – its age made obvious through the weathered bricks and the dust settled in the cracks. The foyer’s chandelier blinks once in a while, the hallways usually desolate. Maxwell has never seen it so full of people, a constant flow of students moving in and out of its doors fully packed to go home for the break. A few faces light up in recognition as he passes them, scanning each one for the one girl he was looking for.

And he is soaked to the bone.

He stands in the carpeted hallway – the downpour outside not showing any signs of stopping. The sounds of his clothes dripping on the floor feels embarrassingly loud, but he doesn’t care because on the other side of that door is Nadia Park. Before knocking, he tries to catch his breath. And for a moment he just stands there, shivering – and all he could think about is her.

How funny life works. Because of course it had to rain so hard, nonstop. Of course the car had to get stuck in traffic – so he had to run the last few blocks.

Deep breaths. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous, but he knocks.

No answer.

  End of finale pt. 1

 Useless factoids that I like to put in under each chapter bc I’m a bad writer who can’t figure out how to insert these in without it beinFUN FACTS

Well, hair we are (I hate myself):

-        In my first drawing (the very drawing that spurred this on) Maxwell has wild, curly-ish hair. It’s definitely long and a little unkempt – the most that he does to it is brush it back with his fingers or tie it in a little bun if he doesn’t want it in the way. His new, shorter hair is closer to what it is in canon.

-        I honestly just didn’t want to draw that hair again lmao (since I’m planning on putting out more drawings WHOOPS although I would have to draw it again for chapters before this one, huh? Dammit.)

-        So yes. This younger version of Maxwell has messy, kinda long and curly hair. Which I think really fits.

Squids and Narwhals:

-        In my head, maybe Penelope and Maxwell’s parents would have pushed them together. Their house symbols are both sea creatures… and man… idk just… humor this random headcanon of mine okay.

More excuses:

-        So there you go, the Cordonian Ruby Incident. Don’t think about this too much HAHAHA

-        I wasn’t gonna break this in half but I decided to lump in part 2 with the epilogue. I felt like it would be too much to take in, so… welp!

tag list: @littlecrookedheart, @femmeshep, @brightpinkpeppercorn, @zaffrenotes, @teamtomsato, @pixieferry

A/N: guys I just wanna say thank you so so so much for your patience!! here it is, it’s DONE!!