#(lie)

- Summary: When Fred discovers you’ve been secretly working with the Order behind his back, your relationship shatters under the weight of a lie meant to protect him. “You made me your enemy the moment you lied,” he says, walking away. Only later does he learn the truth, that your lie saved his brother’s life, and broke your own heart in the process.

- Word count: 655

- Pairing: Reader x Fred Weasley

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It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. You’d told yourself you were doing the right thing, that protecting Fred was worth whatever came after.

But now, standing in the middle of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, with his fury crackling like a live wire in the air, you weren’t so sure.

The fight had started small, a question, a hesitation, a look too long on your face. Fred had always been perceptive; he could read you better than anyone. You’d forgotten that truth when you tried to keep your secret.

He’d noticed the letters first. The ones you’d been receiving from Order members. The ones you tried to hide, burned before he could see.

You’d been tasked with passing information, discreetly, quietly, to keep people safe, including Fred himself. But it wasn’t official. You weren’t supposed to be involved. McGonagall had warned you: “No one can know, especially not the Weasleys.”

And Fred… Fred had always hated being left out of a plan.

“What were you thinking?” His voice echoed through the shop, sharp and incredulous. “Spying? For the bloody Order? And you didn’t think to tell me?”

You took a step forward, your voice shaking. “It wasn’t about not trusting you-”

“Then what was it about?”

“I was protecting you!” you burst out. “They were watching you, Fred the Ministry, the ones who think you and George are trouble. They would’ve used me to get to you if they knew I was with you!”

Fred’s laugh was hollow. “So you lied instead? You thought that would make it better?”

“I thought it would keep you safe!”

He took a step closer, and for the first time, you saw how much it hurt him. His eyes weren’t just angry, they were broken. “You think I needed protecting from you?” he asked quietly.

You didn’t answer. You couldn’t.

“Merlin, I told George you were different,” he said, voice cracking. “That you weren’t like everyone else who walked away when things got complicated. That you believed in us.”

“I do,” you whispered. “Fred, I still do.”

He looked at you for a long, terrible moment. Then he shook his head. “No,” he said finally, voice low, trembling. “You made me your enemy the moment you lied.”

It was like the floor disappeared beneath you.

You opened your mouth, to apologize, to explain, to beg, but he’d already turned away. His hands were shaking, his shoulders tense. You reached out, but your fingers brushed only air.

“Fred-”

“Don’t.” His voice cracked. “Don’t make it worse.”

And then he walked into the back room, the door closing softly behind him. That small, quiet sound was somehow worse than if he’d slammed it.

You stood alone in the shop long after he’d gone. The lights flickered softly above. The faint smell of gunpowder and sugar lingered in the air.

You thought about every moment you’d ever shared, his laughter, his teasing, the way he’d pull you close when no one was looking. How he’d once told you, “You’re my favorite kind of chaos.”

And now… you’d become the very thing he hated most.

Still, as the night crept on, you knew you’d make the same choice again. You’d rather lose his trust than risk his life.

That was the truth he didn’t see, the one that cut the deepest of all.

Weeks later, long after the war had ended and the fires of battle had dimmed, Fred would find out what you’d done. He’d learn that your secret letters had saved half the DA from being ambushed. That one of them, the warning you sent on a cold March night, had saved George’s life.

He’d find your handwriting on the parchment, your initials scrawled in the corner. And when he did, he’d sit down hard, eyes burning, because suddenly all that anger would twist into something worse: regret.

Relationship headcanons because I want to and because he is VERY different from the original Trigun Vash and I lowkey love those differences.

He is extremely hesitant to give AND receive touch.

No way bro is a player. He can barely play the game of life himself. There's no way he's playing people.

Like, hugging him is even a lot to take in.

Keep in mind- he is an over a century old alien who has treated himself and let himself be treated as some kind of monster and NOT someone to coddle and love.

So OBVIOUSLY the relationship wouldn't be conventional in the beginning.

It'd be based mostly on trust at first, he isn't convinced that you truly like him, especially in that way, so it'd take a LOT to get him to feel like you're serious.

"I'm sorry- w- what?" Is something like his reaction when you tell him how you feel (yes, it'd have to be you first. We all know this man would never- EVER- voice a crush or love he had for someone out of fear of being selfish)

He'd accept your words, yes, but he wouldn't know how to verbally respond or return them. Does he like you? Probably, but he likes everyone.

He'd need to self reflect (which he hates doing) to see if he truly cares for you that way.

Since he allows it, you usually keep near him.

Maybe not touching him, but sitting close to him, making sure he rests and eats (even if he doesn't really need it) and best of all...

"Are you ok?"

Being asked that hits DIFFERENT for Vash.

He usually just brushes everything off, saying "He's fine, he's fine"- but you get to him at some point.

The first time he WILLINGLY let you touch him was after a particular mission in an abandoned windmill town.

He was obviously not himself- not eating, drinking, just sort of staring out the window and occasionally sleeping.

Everyone was concerned, you especially, and it took until a quiet night in the back of the van, you holding him as he remained glued to you for the next few hours. Maybe cried a bit, but who's keeping track?

After that? Hoo boy he's in trouble.

It was becoming INCREASINGLY more difficult to NOT let you touch him.

He doesn't want your connection, only because he fears how much he can hurt you unintentionally.

Well, that's nearly out the window, because now he can't stop thinking about how comforting your presence was- leading him to pretty much let you touch anywhere on his body.

Hand on his shoulder? Ok. Holding his arm? Go ahead. Hand on his thigh? That's cool. Randomly playing with his hair while the group is on the road? He'll lean his head down to give you better access.

He is, unfortunately, putty in your hands.

However, he will almost NEVER reach for you, you have to initiate the touch in the beginning, and maybe still initiate some to most of it within the future of the relationship.

One thing that CAN be confirmed is the fact that he is unbelievably loyal to you. I mean this man bends to your every whim.

Which ends up being a little self sacrificial, but thats what you signed up for with him.

It takes him a bit, but soon he grows to be able to voice whatever he wants to you, whether it be venting or just tell you the things he likes.

Which is a LOT for a man who has isolated himself or otherwise been ostracized for a century.

He's totally a little spoon the most often- though having you in his protective hold isn't bad either.

He's a blushy mess for ANY kind of intimacy, you can simply turn his head with your hand on his cheek and he melts.

Super loving and gets really touchy when you're alone mostly, and much later in the relationship.

Speaks to you in the softest, cloudlike voice. You hardly hear him raise his voice to you, hell, even if you're just across the room and he's talking to someone else he somehow gets even MORE docile in tone and body language.

You make him comfortable, which makes him EXTREMELY uncomfortable in the beginning- but he grows to adore the comforting energy you bring.

Once again, a man of praise. He MALFUNCTIONS every time you genuinely praise him for something. He only knows how to fills the cups of others, not his own, so you filling his cup is uncomfortable almost, but not unwelcome.

His love languages would be Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, and Physical touch for suuurrreeee.