#faefiction

oh my god, those couples are literally the cutest. anyways, here’s a very very short fic on that cause it’s literally so adorable!

runway girl

Nesta’s phone lit up as she received a notification. A text. From the model agency she applied at earlier this week. Her heart began to race as she put down her book on the coffee table in front of her. 

Whatever happens, I’m ready. If they rejected me, it’s fine. Being a model gave me thick skin. She let out a shaky breath one last time before reaching for her phone. 

She read the notification from the little, black box and gasped in surprise. She nearly squealed in happiness but she tried to compose herself.

She got into the agency and they are giving her a spot on the runway at the end of the month. Holy shit.

She couldn’t wait to tell her boyfriend.

The doorbell dinged and she got up from the sofa and ran in excitement. Her fingers gripped the knob and was very disappointed that it was the delivery man.

A few minutes into her pizza, she heard the jingle of keys and Cassian went in their apartment.

“Hey, Nes. You only got a box?” Cassian hung his coat on the rack and set his bag on the floor. He was exhausted from running his own restaurant.

“There’s on on the kitchen counter. Your favourite.” She mumbled back as her heart raced in excitement to tell her boyfriend.

Cassian got his box and settled into the sofa while Nesta grabbed the remote and pressed pause on the Netflix show.

“I got some news. From the agency.” She tried containing her smile but it escaped and Cassian showered her with kisses.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart.” His smile was so big that Nesta was afraid his skin might rip.

“Not only did I get into the agency. There’s a spot on the runway for me.”

Cassian couldn’t contain his excitement, so he stood and lifted Nesta, their laughs filling their entire apartment.

“You are amazing.”

After half an hour of praising Nesta and another hour of eating and watching Netflix, they headed to bed. 

The day of the runway Nesta was a bundle of nerves. Cassian took a day off to watch his girlfriend on the runway. They spent an hour talking last night with Cassian reassuring Nesta about the show. Cassian didn’t get a wink of sleep until Nesta was breathing softly.

Before she left, Cassian made sure to reassure her one last time.

“You are going to be amazing, Nes. If you get nervous, just find me and maybe find some comfort in that.” With a long kiss and a bid of goodbye, she set off.

Nesta went to the location where it’s going to be held at and got ready for hair and makeup. She was then put into so clothes and was told to stay backstage until it was her time to walk. Breathe in, breathe out. It’s gonna be fine, Nesta. Cass will be there.

Sure enough, when the lights blinded her as she strutted out on the runway, a beaming smile greeted her, along with some whooping. She smiled as small as possible and stared straight into him. As she turned around to head back, she immediately heard a voice shouting. A voice she knew all too well.

A fae-inflected Robin Hood retelling that leans into romance and emotional tension, with a strong focus on character dynamics over folklore atmosphere.

Pre-Reading Thoughts

I went into this expecting something more overtly mystical and folklore-driven, with a heavier emphasis on fae magic and the atmosphere of Sherwood Forest as an enchanted space. That was my reading assumption rather than anything the book explicitly promised, but it did shape my expectations going in.

Post-Reading

As I thought… This is a well-executed and character-focused retelling, with Marian at the centre of a story built around shifting loyalties, perception, and emotional unravelling. The dynamic between Marian and Robin is handled with care and clear intent, and the gradual reshaping of Marian’s understanding of the fae and her upbringing is thoughtfully developed.

The narrative is confident in what it wants to prioritise: relationships, attraction, and internal conflict, all set against a backdrop that supports rather than overshadows the character work.

It surprised me by… How strongly the romantic and emotional pull sits at the centre of the story. Once I recalibrated my expectations, I could see the book’s focus much more clearly - it’s less about expansive fae-world exploration and more about Marian’s shifting sense of self within a controlled and unfamiliar environment.

That initial mismatch came from my own assumption about tone rather than anything misleading in the book itself, and once I adjusted for that, the story made much more sense in its intentions.

Overall impression

A solid, well-crafted retelling that prioritises character, emotional tension, and romantic development over folkloric immersion. My reading experience was shaped by my initial expectation of a more mythic tone, but the book itself is consistent and intentional in what it sets out to do.

🌈 Vibe Check

Colour Palette: deep forest green, muted gold, shadowed bark brown, fae-glint silver Soundtrack: rustling leaves, distant hoofbeats, low lute strings, birds suddenly going quiet Season: high summer under dense canopy Mood: alluring, uneasy, magnetic, slightly disorienting Scent: crushed greenery, damp earth, something sweet just out of reach (honey? wildflowers? trouble?)

This is very much “the forest is beautiful but it has opinions about you” energy.

🔮 Tarot Pull

🃏 The Devil

This is the clearest match for the book’s central dynamic.

Not in a purely “darkness” sense, but in the pull of attraction vs conditioning vs control.

Marian has been taught fear - of fae, of the forest, of what lies outside her assigned life. And yet she’s drawn into something that feels magnetic, consuming, and hard to rationalise.

The Devil here represents:

conditioned fear vs desire

attraction that feels like losing control

stepping into something taboo or forbidden

the tension between freedom and emotional entanglement

It also fits the Robin dynamic well: not evil, but compelling in a way that destabilises certainty.

This is less “pure villain energy” and more:

“What if what I’ve been taught is keeping me contained?”