#maerick

CW: mentions of suicide, abuse, historical inaccuracy probably, murder I guess, neglect, ummm I’ll add more later tbd

Alrighty we’ll start from the beginning I guess ? So, Maebelle’s parents are both from noble families and were married for the benefits that their marriage would bring both their families. Then they had Maebelle so they could raise the perfect daughter to marry off to some other wealthy noble family for bonus points or aura farming I guess ?

Well obviously that didn’t work out too well because she happens to be a human still… not that it stopped her mother from treating her like a doll and shaping her to be “perfect.” On top of being a shell of herself with barely any freedom to think, she experiences Very vivid and unsettling hallucinations. Which she can’t really react to since she needs to keep up that perfect facade lest she is punished… they cause night terrors too so she hardly sleeps on top of everything else.

THIS IS WHERE FREDERICK COMES IN. In this au(? I guess?) his parents decide to try to marry him off as a last ditch effort to salvage some usefulness from him after he failed to live up to their standards. So these two miserable people with mental issues and terrible parents get hitched, which neither of them care for but they kinda have to. Anyway they live in the Arquette manor in France or whatever because Frederick’s parents are still disappointed in him and Maebelle’s parents need her nearby to control her because of course they do.

Their marriage! They don’t really…. Talk much…. Frederick spends most of his time crashing out at the piano or whatever it is he does when he’s trying to be a good enough composer for his family while Maebelle makes social appearances and expresses the few thoughts she can in her journal just to cling to the notion that she’s more than a soulless doll ! The few times they do interact are very strained and awkward because. Well. His opinion of her is rather low and she doesn’t exactly get to hav e opinions.. um anyway

Now comes the incident that changed everything! After having a mental break while home alone one day, Maebelle attempted to take her life. Her parents arrived back home early, and attempted to stop her, not wanting to lose such a valuable asset (everybody boo these guys) However Maebelle was uhh well she was going through it. Her mind was cloudy from the treatment she endured her whole life, and her hallucinations violated any trust she had in her eyes. All she knew was that someone or something was grabbing at her, and she frantically slashed at the horrible, overwhelming visions.

When she finally came to, there was blood everywhere. It took her a few minutes to process the identities of the bodies beside her, and she sat there in a dazed state for even longer. Then, for the first time in many years, that thick fog over her mind cleared, just long enough to tell her to run. To survive. To finally live, for the first time in her life. So she did. Maebelle picked herself up and she tore off the least bloody fabric she could find to deal with the worst of her wounds for now, grabbed some cash and inconspicuous clean clothing, and ran for the hills.

The authorities arrived shortly after, declaring both of her parents dead at the scene and ruling Maebelle missing. Meanwhile, she had hopped on the first train that would take her the farthest away from the only life, or lack thereof, she had ever known. From here, Frederick is exiled from his family and his story continues as canon. Though now he has a grieving widower card to play and he’s kinda haunted by what happened since they didn’t find a culprit or anything

So what happened to Maebelle after she fled France? Aha well I’ll tell you . She arrived in England and first visited a doctor for her injuries. Obviously couldn’t have done that sooner since she would’ve been recognized … anyway she travels for some time, looking for a place to take shelter and well. Not die of starvation or hypothermia or exhaustion or anything. Eventually she stumbled upon the Kreiburg Racecourse! The perfect place to live while she recuperates and adjusts to being a human being!

So she hunts and forages for food with the same knife that got her here in the first place (she cleaned it first dw) and sleeps in a makeshift hammock in one of the stalls in the stables. She explores the place and cleans it up a bit as she goes since she’s living there and she might as well. How is her demeanor now that it’s not controlled, you ask? Well, she’s getting used to having thoughts again ! She talks to herself a bit to practice just generally being alive, and she still uses her journal to help her with having thoughts and such (I know I didn’t mention it before but of cOURSE SHE BROUGHT THE JOURNAL !!! It was her ONLY SAFE SPACE HER ONLY SOLACE and also key evidence in her parents murders so) the haphazard chopping of her hair to remind herself that she has control over her life now helps a bit too

She gets pretty buff after a while since she does a lot of manual labor in maintaining the racecourse and also not being starving to death anymore (the sleep deprivation is still an issue of course since now she can’t stop hallucinating her parents corpses… more on the Guilt later if I remember) and she also acquires more clothes that fit her better and are far more comfortable and inconspicuous. These clothes being her current outfit. Don’t ask me how she acquired them she probably just found them lying around or she went to the nearest town and bought them.

After lots of time taking care of the racecourse (which she couldn’t help but notice shared a name with her husband) nurturing the many plants growing nearby and creating a little memorial for Mary after discovering newspapers from the incident, she eventually wandered to the Oletus Manor. Idk I assume it isn’t very far I think she probably just didn’t notice it at first behind the grandstands or whatever.

quick manor anatomy headcanons for you so you understand what I’m thinking here. So Maebelle stumbles upon the gardens and she’s like. Wow these look terrible who hurt you (plants) and starts taking care of them because… idk because she wants to and she has freewill now. The manor is understaffed anyway since Orpheus wants to keep the operations there close to his chest (this is another headcanon sorry) so they don’t really have a gardener or groundskeeper anymore. However Orpheus doesn’t communicate with the staff very well (blasts you with another headcanon) so they all just assume that the baron of the manor or whatever he is just hired a groundskeeper and didn’t tell them.

Of course, Maebelle’s not about to correct them. Partly because having a job is a step in the right direction and partly because she doesn’t really talk to anyone at all. She does open up to the staff a little bit over time, but she finds that she prefers keeping to herself. The maids and such are a little intimidated by this strange nameless muscular person who doesn’t express any sort of emotion on their face ever, but they warm up to her as she takes more work off their heavy caseloads.

Maebelle’s actually pretty content with just quietly working and doing what they ask of her (and she does eventually start getting paid… don’t look at me like that I’m not the one paying her they just figured she’s already there so might as well idk) so this works out. After a while they make her actually sleep in a room at the manor instead of wandering off to go pass out in her hammock in the elements. Devastating. She still doesn’t really sleep because the hallucinations and night terrors are a permanent debuff. She can usually tell when said hallucinations are happening, they’re just extremely off putting so she’ll just kinda flinch and tense up at the sight of them for a split second before she registers that it isn’t real.

Now for the fun part !!! Two years after the incident that changed her life forever, the events of AoM occur ! Frederick arrives at the manor and on day one, encounters her in his room swapping out the flowers on the desk for fresh cornflowers. They both just stare at each other in a moment of awkward silence before she vaguely gestures at the flowers, mumbling “fresh flowers for you,” before brushing past him and leaving the room.

Despite my confusion as to when/if he would recognize her in my previous lore post, he does. Immediately. Of course, he doesn’t say anything, since he’s both confused about what happened and irritated that she ruined things with his family. Not that it’s a very rational line of thinking, but that’s how he feels. He knows she’s not to blame, but the only other person he can think to blame is himself, and he can’t stand thinking about that. Spoiler alert it’s not EITHER of their faults when will bro figure out that he just has sucky parents…

Frederick does his best to avoid Maebelle, but he can’t. Seriously, he can’t. Why is she everywhere? Isn’t she the groundskeeper? Why can’t she mind her own business? The reason for this is that he keeps refusing to go to the dining room for meals and the staff have found that he responds best to her bringing his meals to him. It is a prison of his own making but that’s what he gets for sitting at that stupid piano all day instead of going to go eat.

Maebelle, on the other hand, doesn’t mind. She doesn’t care at all, actually. She barely knew him to begin with, but she does linger a bit when she hears him playing. Sometimes she tries to listen for anything familiar she’s heard him play before. She just can’t help herself. It’s rather soothing for her, though, especially with those headaches she gets from the bustling sounds of the manor on days when her hallucinations are more frequent.

They were especially bad one day, and she could hardly handle it. She had ducked into the living room to get away from the noise, disturbing Frederick in the process. He looked up at her with a glare for a moment, though it faltered when he noticed a troubled look on her normally blank (and tired) face. Upon realizing she’d interrupted him, Maebelle turned back to the door and quickly reached for the handle. “You can stay and listen, if you want.” The words were so softly spoken, Maebelle almost thought she’d imagined them. She thought she had, when she turned to look at him, his eyes on the keys as if he hadn’t said anything. Then he started to play again, the music soothing her overwhelmed mind as she stepped away from the door.

The two of them manage to bump into each other quite often, both literally and figuratively. Frederick wonders if Maebelle really needs to steady him like that every time he even slightly stumbles. Maebelle is too busy being concerned about bumping his injured leg to notice that her hand on his waist makes blood rise to his cheeks. He has yet to realize that the addition of a cane to his person is her cause for concern. They are so dumb

Things kinda start to go downhill when he pulls a gun on the british orphans though. Maebelle was busy working at the Kreiburg Racecourse that day, when she heard a gunshot. She stepped out to see where it came from when a certain man who had his trauma aired out over breakfast that morning smashed into her at full force. Will they ever meet each other without collision? Apparently not. Before she could even ask questions about his velocity regarding the gunshot, Frederick grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her along behind him. “Ask questions later. We need to leave, now.”

Now, Maebelle didn’t exactly have a problem with being dragged off on an adventure by her weaponized limping husband that she hadn't seen in two years. The issue was the lack of questions regarding the situation. If he wanted to leave, she could get him out safely. She knew about what was happening at the manor, of course, and she lived at the racecourse for two years. If anyone had the means to get out of there, it was her. She was already hoping to get him to escape before anything happened to him, anyway.

So, naturally, she pulled him behind a wall to talk for a moment, not bothering to acknowledge that yanking him around like a ragdoll has once again led to Frederick colliding into her. Seriously, you’d think it’s on purpose at this point. He doesn’t get the chance to glare at her again before she gets straight to the point. “You know that if you want to get out of here, I can help you, right? Tell me what’s going on.” Frederick wasn’t pleased with being stopped, but he didn’t have the time to waste on complaining about it, so he just showed Maebelle the heirloom and gave a short summary. “Taking this and running,” he replied curtly.

Well, I guess that explanation was good enough for her, so she pointed him in a safe direction to run and wait for her. In the meantime, she laid out a decoy of the heirloom somewhere the tripping orphans would find it before meeting back up with Frederick. How did Maebelle find a convincing decoy, you ask? She found a lot of stray jewelry lost around the racecourse while she lived there, why wouldn’t she have found something close enough to pass as the heirloom? They probably didn’t get a close enough look at the real thing to tell the difference anyway.

I haven’t gotten too far into their lives after escaping the manor yet… for now they probably hop on a train back to France so Frederick can pick up his things from his apartment or wherever he was living for those two years before they go to return the heirloom to his family… romantic comedy of Maebelle trying to get Frederick to figure out that maybe he doesn’t need his parents approval to exist, him completely oblivious to the fact that he’s not the problem, lots of lore dropping since they barely knew each other before and if they’re going to convince Frederick’s family to love him again they’re going to need to trust each other !! Or something !!! Man idk

if I dare to accidentally mischaracterize Frederick in my head I will promptly face public execution at the gallows. No backsies I fear every thought I think about him feels Wrong but how am I supposed to know how he’d react if his sickly malnourished arranged marriaged wife’s family was mysteriously murdered and she was never recovered. I have no reference points for this. Would he care ? Would he care just because the marriage was to attempt to retain some use for him for his family since he failed to be talented enough for them ? Would he care because the loss of that family means he also lost any remaining value he had to his family? Would he ever think about what happened and why? Would he harbor some hatred for them for what happened? Probably on that one like inherently idk. Did he even see the signs that something was wrong or was he too focused on trying to find his missing talent so he wouldn’t need the marriage.? Does he try to forget about it? Would he even care to look at photographs of her? Or maybe he can’t bear to because now he notices the signs? Idk if anyone actually cares to read this but if you do here you get some context so you don’t have to think “what is bro on about!” TRIGGER WARNINGS AHEAD !! Idk what specifically but be warned Anyhway I’ve been workshopping oc backstory and basically she was born from a loveless marriage existing only for status and she also existed only for status !! So her mom manipulates her every action word and basically her very existence to make her the “perfect” daughter to use to garner status or whatever man idk do I look like I was born into a noble family. I’m not all knowing.. so yeah everything she consumes and does is controlled completely and she is punished for acting out of line so atp she’s basically just a doll/puppet used solely for blah blah I already mentioned status who care. So moving on she tries to off herself because she obviously can’t stand to live like that with no control over anything in her life when she didn’t even care for life as a noblewoman in the first place ! I’m still workshopping this part but her parents catch her in the act and there’s an altercation of some sort and she ends up killing them both for whatever reason. Fit of rage self defense snapping idk man she survived the whole thing the word I can't think of rn. And her parents are dead now anyway so okay then cleans up her wound(s) and I guess flees the country or flees to a doctor first idk I’m no expert on mental health. Oh yeah keep in mind she has visual hallucinations because everything sucks for her and it’s already much worse from lack of sleep (she doesn’t sleep at night because she sees the Horrors) and lack of food because of her mother I mean it’s not super relevant to anything rn but her lack of will to live I guess. Again I’m no expert I’m making stuff up because I can so anyway she’s in england at some point after fleeing and she’s presumed dead back in france because she bled out a lot bit because yk the . The incident SO anyway she’s in england for the plot and ig takes refuge at kreiburg racecourse because it’s pretty abandoned and she can forage nearby for food or whatever. Do I look like a homeless unhealthy exnoblewoman murderess to you I’m not perfect I’m not writing a book I owe you no sensical storytelling. No one is supposed to read this wall of text anyway you don’t get paragraph breaks or readability because I DON’T CARE I’M just structuring the Thoughts. Back to the story she living there maintaining the racecourse or whatever since she lives there now obviously might as well make it a little nicer or livable man idk so I have no clue exactly how close it is to the manor. Presumably walking distance considering they kinda just wander over there in aom and mary’s backstory about it it’s close enough… eventually she starts showing up to the manor and doing work there too because.

Well I don’t know what her motives are but she can’t possibly get hired there by normal means because in what world is the ominous manor of killing and death posting help wanted posters on the streets… ignore the paragraph break tumblr told me to kms for my formatting so I had to do that. Back to the story so eventually they’re like ? Does she just work here and no one told us. Okay I guess so. No clue where she came from but we’re lowkey understaffed and she’s doing all the heavy lifting (literally) so fine . I guess.. she got buff btw because manual labor does that to a person I assume and she’s eating. Uh like regularly enough I guess for having to forage for her food but eventually she gets a paycheck after making an offhand comment about it so now she can hit the town and . Buy that food woohoo!! She’s not picky she’s just hungry and. Oh boy will she eat yummm idk what I’m on about sorry I think I had a point. Oh right so she’s been there long enough to at least get the gist of what’s happening at the manor since she’s been there a few years (the whole arranged marriagey thing happened about 4 years or so before the events of aom) she doesn’t really bother I guess as long as she gets to live freely as she wants and who is she to judge she smote her parents she has no moral high ground (this is her thought process) so like whatever. But she does hear about Frederick being invited to the manor and she’s thinking oh. Maybe you should leave probably I know our marriage was as loveless as our parents but still you probably don’t deserve to succumb to the manor games . Offtopic here I don’t really care for the arranged marriage trope at all it feels cheap and boring and basic. Their marriage was arranged because I felt they needed backstory to their relationship and an arranged marriage seemed to fit them decently enough. Something something status whatever you get it projects my understanding onto you with my brain beam. So back to the story again I don’t really have much substance for their time at the manor but he doesn’t recognize maebelle due to her being. Well . Muscular quiet androgynous groundskeeper who doesn’t really care for their appearance with her clothes out of sorts and her hair sloppily put up out of the way (still contemplating whether she cuts it or lets it grow out but either way it works ig) as opposed to her originally being frail and very meticulously put together with the most perfectly done hair, makeup, clothes, and body without the slightest hint that she might dare to be flawed. The only similarity really is she still doesn’t talk much but originally she only spoke when told to and now she just speaks when she wants to (which isn’t much because idk she doesn’t care or inherently hates humanity for having never seen her cries for help what do I know man I don’t know what she thinks) SO. BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POINT. I’m not really sure what Frederick thinks or feels about her. As for his side of the marriage he was fully focused on music and she handled social responsibilities for the most part so they didn’t really interact much? Certainly not enough for him to notice anything wrong, even when they did interact he was probably distracted whether he was thinking of how to return to his family’s good graces or The Voices . Yeah oh speaking of hallucinations rq maebelle’s have gotten worse they were already bad but since the incident she sees their corpses everywhere and it’s unsettling for her obviously for a variety of reasons I don’t know. Guilt surely. Back on topic because I keep getting sidetracked idk if he like wouldn’t see the signs until after the incident? Her canon event.. maybe he fails to understand what happened and refuses to believe there wasn’t a reason for what happened because it ruined his life… ruin is a strong word but you get what I mean he lost his lifeline to his bloodline haha get it so anyway he might try to get to the bottom of it.

Idk he seems like the type to want an explanation for why things happen (his psychasthenia/pigmentation/lack of musical gift for example idk im fairly certain) so maybe he looks at photographs at her. Maybe he sees the strained look in her eyes. Maybe he sees her tense posture in newspaper clippings from large events. Does he know if she’s even alive? No but he do want answers. Maybe he’s guilty idk. Maybe just a little even if he won’t admit it to himself. Maybe he’s just guilty because if he saw the signs he could’ve prevented it and wouldn’t have been exiled. Maybe he thinks he’s selfish for that? Maybe HE doesn’t know if he truly cares either !! Neither of them know how they feel and I don’t either. Part of them wants to hate each other but at the same time their hearts go out to each other knowing that they’ve both got crappy parents and sucky lives. They want to be so angry at one another for not doing more for them but at the same time they themselves wish they could’ve done more? Maybe they really don’t know how to feel. Feelings are complicated ! Maybe he keeps a photograph of her in his coat pocket or wallet or whatever it is people keep their pictures. Maybe he doesn’t even know why he keeps it. Maybe to remind himself he could’ve done more for her, or maybe for someone to blame. Maybe both. Maebelle isn’t much better about that either, she doesn’t know if she wants to scream at him to run the other way, far from this wretched manor, or if she wants to stand idly by and watch him suffer. Maybe she thinks he should be punished, that he deserves that. Or maybe she just wants to think she’s cruel to justify what she did all those years ago. Does she even know why she did that? Does she even remember what happened? All she can remember is blood and hands and suffocating really. She didn’t know what to think when it was all over. She still doesn’t know what to think. She doesn’t know if she should reveal who she is, or if he’d even believe her. He plays the part of the still-grieving widower convincingly enough that he wonders if he really is grieving her. He’s certainly grieving something ! But every time he looks at that picture, he feels a little more like the act is real. I mean allat’s gotta be pretty hard to process amiright… could he even recognize her again? Those desperate eyes and that strained voice, he could recognize anywhere, surely. But there’s no telling how much she’s changed (a lot) and therefore no way to tell. But maybe all it takes is a brief moment. A flash of desperation in her eyes when a guest asks for help with something and all she can think is “please don’t be something absurd I’m not getting paid enough for this,” or a strain to her voice when responding to something particularly stupid and restraining herself from letting that thought slip into her tone because oh boy does she need this job. Would that be enough? Would that be all it takes for him to put the groundskeeper under scrutiny under the suspicion that they could possibly be his suspected dead wife? What would he even do if he found out? Surely ask for an explanation I mean that’s pretty obvious. Would he even have time to bother to investigate? His priority is retrieving the family heirloom. But could he forgive himself if he prioritized his position in his family over her again? He hardly knows her, why should he care? He doesn’t know and neither do I! But maebelle finds herself unable to leave him to his fate at the manor, and he can’t stand to be left in the dark any longer. Is this even in character for him man I’m such a fake fan… idk but maybe melly makes an offhand comment about something about loveless arranged marriages and that digs at that sense of guilt he feels or maybe orpheus outlines the incident in detail at breakfast like he tends to do apparently man idk it’s still a work in progress . I don’t rven know how they’rd interact with each other at the manor I’ll get there eventually.

Mae and Maerick:

-Fanfic-

Ao3 Maebelle fic

Canon lore

MaeRick dinner

Drunk MaeRick 1/2

Drunk MaeRick 2/2

-Art-

Maeson reference sheet

Male harmonies

Phantom sail siren au

More MaeRick art

Maebelle no better than a man

MaeRick smooch

Maebelle face reveal

Maebelle archeologist au

Maebelle when the incident

Pre-incident Maebelle

MaeRick COA VII

-Extra-

Ship chart

Enemies to lovers ship chart

About T&I MaeRick

MaeRick affection HCs

Possible retconned rambling

Retconned Maebelle art/lore

Frederick headcanons

Marcitha content:

-Fanfic-

Infinite manor au

-Art-

-Extra-

Fursona meme

Heart locket gif

Blue and white gifs

Ship chart 1

Photoshoot 1

Rainbow gif

Cuddling hcs

Photoshoot 2

Photoshoot 3

Dynamics and hcs rambling

Shaking them in a box

Duos clip

Transparent pngs

Photoshoot 4

Pink gif

Ship chart 2

Christmas gif

Catboy and Valentines gifs

Mattrick content:

-Fanfics-

Catthias oneshot

-Fanart-

Their evening started normally, Maebelle and Frederick going to the dining car for dinner. They had separated to get their food, and that’s where things started going downhill. Frederick was approached by a fellow passenger as he was grabbing a plate, already wary about her intentions. As the woman followed him around the car and tried to make conversation, he became increasingly irritated. Right when he was about to turn around and snap at her, she grabbed his wrist and forcefully jerked him closer, at which he grimaced. “Where are your manners? I’m trying to talk to you,” she huffed as Frederick looked around for an escape plan. Before he was could find one, Maebelle appeared behind him. She rested a hand on his arm and gently pulled him behind her just enough to put space between him and the pushy woman, who she was now exchanging glares with.

Frederick, displeased with the whole ordeal, shifted his focus to fixing the cuff of his coat after it’d been so recklessly grabbed rather than listening to the conversation before him. Maebelle was never one for jealousy, so her protective actions came as a surprise to him. How long had she been watching the situation unfold? Her plate looked rather full, so she must have been busy getting food during the events leading up to the other woman lashing out at him. “Frederick? Did you catch any of that?” He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts, giving a few confused blinks before realizing that it was now only him and Maebelle. “Sorry, what?” Frederick’s face felt a bit warm from embarrassment as he asked such a foolish question. It was unbecoming of him to zone out in the middle of a conversation. 

Maebelle, of course, couldn’t care less that he wasn’t paying attention, and patiently gave him a short recap. “Just go ahead and finish getting your dinner, I’ll be… drinking for your hand in the next car over, it’d seem,” she shrugged, giving him a small pat on the arm and briefly glancing at his wrist before walking off in the direction of the bar car carrying her dinner. Unfortunately for Frederick, her recap explained absolutely nothing about what he missed, and he was even more confused than before. 

He wanted to follow her and ask for more context, but on the other hand, she seemed confident enough in whatever it is that she was doing. Frederick eventually shrugged to himself, deciding he’d get his dinner and then go check on what “drinking for his hand” entailed. 

As soon as he stepped foot in the bar car, he saw Maebelle sitting at the bar, and beside her was the woman from earlier. In front of them were several empty glasses and partially eaten food. He cautiously approached them after Maebelle waved him over, sitting on the stool next to her. “Mind telling me how we got here?” Frederick asked and poked at his food, glancing at Maebelle as she took a shot and made a face. “She insisted on a competition over you. Believe me, this wasn’t my first choice, but she didn’t care for my arm wrestling suggestion,” Maebelle answered sheepishly, tapping the rim of the glass in front of her. Frederick clearly wasn’t pleased with the ridiculous situation, but held his tongue about it. Instead, he scolded her about not eating enough and insisted on feeding her between drinks. Somehow this was not enough to deter the competition. 

Several shots later, Maebelle’s opponent finally forfeit, subsequently running off to go vomit somewhere. Meanwhile, Frederick was busy trying to get his heavily intoxicated wife upright. “I can’t believe you. We’re already married, there’s absolutely no reason you need to be engaging in absurd competitions over me,” he snapped, one of his arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from stumbling. Maebelle muttered a small apology and kept her head lowered as they walked back to their room, tightly clasping her hands in front of her. Frederick frowned a little at her stifled reaction, sitting her down on the bed as soon as they got to their room and taking a step back to give her a look. “What is it? You’re acting strange,” he observed, stepping closer to try to hear her whispered reply.

Rather than repeating herself, Maebelle reached out and took his hand in hers so lightly that he could barely feel it, muttering something about his wrist. Frederick stared down at her trembling fingers wrapped around his for a moment, before awkwardly taking a seat on the bed next to her. Was that what she was so upset about? He hadn’t sustained so much as a bruise, but she was acting as if he had broken it. The two of them sat in silence for a while, until he heard a soft sob. Frederick leaned over to get a better look at her to see if she was crying, but Maebelle turned away, letting go of his hand to tuck hers in her lap. Frederick had been patient with her all evening, but this is where he drew the line. How was he supposed to sit and do nothing while she cried? So, hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. 

Maebelle was still dazed from the alcohol, so it took her a moment to process the affectionate maneuver. As soon as she did, she broke down, drunkenly sobbing into his shirt and still strictly keeping her hands to herself. Now, comforting others was never Frederick’s strong suit, but he gave her a light squeeze at the sight of her reluctance. As it turned out, that small act of reassurance was all she needed. Maebelle collapsed into sobs, clinging to Frederick for dear life while he froze and tried to figure out where to go from here. He had never seen her so vulnerable, much less inconsolable like this. He quietly played with her braid while she muttered incoherently between sobs, pretending he knew what he was doing. 

That morning, Maebelle once again had the task of delivering food to the part-time resident of the living room. The tray teetered precariously on her hand while she opened the door, attempting to not spill anything in the process. She kept a close eye on the glass of wine in particular, every movement threatening to waste the better part of her day on scrubbing stains out of the carpet. At last, Maebelle triumphs over the door and sets Frederick’s breakfast down on the table behind him, as per usual. She hesitates for a moment as she looks at the wine, her fingers lingering on the tray while her ears are accompanied by the sounds of Frederick poring over the piano. She never could wrap her mind around the consumption of wine so early in the morning, even after seeing it so often among her fellow nobles. 

A sharp, discordant sound suddenly emerged from the piano, startling Maebelle out of her thoughts. Her focus immediately shifted to the frustrated composer sitting at the piano, rather than the troublesome glass of wine. “Thank you. I’ll get to it in a moment,” Frederick said, referring to the food as he crumpled up a piece of paper covered in heavily revised sheet music. Maebelle’s gaze lingered on his hands as they crushed all his hard work from the previous hour and threw it away, before forcing herself to look at the clock instead. She read the time, pausing momentarily before resigning herself to asking a question she probably shouldn’t. “…Mr. Kreiburg, isn’t it a bit early in the morning for a glass of wine?” Maebelle regrets this question almost immediately upon the exhausted glare she receives from him, hastily giving a quiet apology and excusing herself. 

The rest of her day unfolds normally, working outside in the garden until the evening. She helps with a couple more tasks once she comes back inside, including bringing dinner to Frederick. Sometimes it felt like he only missed the meals she was available to bring to him. His dinner once again came with a glass of wine, which she handled far more successfully than she did that morning. Maebelle quietly entered the room and set the food down as quickly as she could, not wanting to bother him again after his poor mood last time. However, on her way back out, her arm was grabbed and roughly pulled back, causing her to stumble a little. When she regained her footing, she was met with Frederick’s flushed face staring intently at her while gripping her arm. “You can’t leave so soon, I need you.” 

Maebelle snapped out of her stupor at those words, heat rising to her cheeks as she tried to figure out whether she should be more concerned with the scent of alcohol on his breath, or the blunt sentence that just left his mouth. Ultimately, she decides it’s best to focus on his unexpected state of drunkenness. “I’m not going anywhere, Mr. Kreiburg,” she says with a sigh as she pries his hand off of her arm, “just how much wine did you have today?” A small pout forms on Frederick’s lips as he quickly stands up, nearly tripping over the piano bench and into her arms. Maebelle immediately moves her hands to his sides to keep him from toppling over, realizing he’s far more drunk than she initially thought. 

He melts against her after she grabs him, clinging desperately to her and burying his face into her neck while he mumbles his response. “Just a glass from each of the maids… you smell nice.” Once again, Maebelle is caught off guard by the forwardness, but pushes her flustered feelings aside to focus on the situation at hand. With great effort, she drags the intoxicated man over to the table and forces him to release her and sit down, despite his protests. “I’m not sure how you managed that, but you need to eat. Drink plenty of water, too,” she scolded as she took the glass of wine from his dinner away and pushed a glass of water closer to him. “I shouldn’t smell ‘nice,’ either, I’m covered in sweat and filth. You shouldn’t even be touching me,” she added under her breath.

Frederick made a pitiful effort to grab for the wine as she took it away, but ultimately resigned himself to her orders. He poked at his food reluctantly, much more interested in watching Maebelle pace back and forth while muttering about negligence from the staff. After a few minutes of pacing, she notices his dazed state and frowns, moving closer to stand next to him. “If you’re not going to eat, then you need to at least drink something. That much wine won’t sit as well with you when you sober up. Here, sit still,” Maebelle reached for the glass of water as she took a more gentle tone with him, lifting the drink to his lips for him. Frederick pushes it away at first and grumbles about doing it himself, but falters at the stern look in her eyes and begrudgingly gives in, pretending not to enjoy the attention.

Though, as soon as she pulls the glass back and steps away, he grasps her arm again and hugs it tightly, tugging her down a bit in the process. Maebelle flinches at the abrupt yank and then lets out a sigh of resignation, knowing it’s going to be a long night as she watches him burrow his face into her arm. “I’m not going anywhere, alright? I just need you to eat something. Did you have lunch?” She received a very eloquent response in the form of a nod and a soft, affirmative hum. “Could be worse,” Maebelle muttered to herself, reluctantly giving Frederick a gentle pat on the head. “If you’re not going to finish eating, you’d best go to bed,” she started, interrupted by a dissatisfied whine from him before he immediately resumed eating. 

Evidently, he wasn’t very eager to go to sleep, pushing his dinner around and complaining between bites. “No, I have pieces to finish, and I need you to stay and be my muse.” His complaint does bring Maebelle some relief, realizing that his first slurred statement to her just referred to needing a muse. After plenty of pouting, he finally finishes his dinner and the glass of water. Satisfied with his nourishment, she helps him to stand back up, and Frederick, still not any less drunk yet, flops directly into her again. This time stretching an arm over her shoulder to struggle to grab at the glass of wine that had been pushed to the other side of the table.

Eventually, Maebelle manages to pry Frederick out of the living room and, miraculously, get him to the room he’s staying in without anyone noticing. She gets him comfortable in bed before quietly sighing in relief and making her way to the door. Unfortunately for her, her work here isn’t done quite yet. Before she can even reach for the door handle, an arm hooks her waist and tugs her back. Frederick hugs her tightly from where he sits on his bed and presses his face into her side, causing Maebelle to stiffen up and go red in the face. “Please, don’t leave… I promise, I’ll fix it,” he pleads desperately, squeezing her a little tighter.

Frozen, she stares down at the very, very drunk man treating her waist as if it’s a life preserver and he’s fallen overboard. As soon as she processes what he said, her hands move from their stunned positions and find their way through his hair. “Fix what, dear? There’s nothing you need to fix,” Maebelle says comfortingly, freeing his hair from his ponytail and gently combing her fingers through it. She tried not to think too much about the intimate scenario, her only consolation being that he likely wouldn’t remember any of it. She was sure he really needed the comfort if he was driven to act like this, so she didn’t see a point in trying to save face.

tw: abuse/neglect I’M SORRY IT’S JUST THE BACKSTORY PART I PROMISE IT GETS BETTER

Okay both their parents suck as we all know so these two. Very touch starved but ueerehh in different ways

Maebelle’s parents were more violent in their abuse and would physically reprimand her for not being perfect cookie cutter noblewoman. Yicky ! So as a result she’s very… wary about any sort of physical touch. Since it’s always been so negatively associated for her she’s a bit jumpy over the smallest things (though mostly just when they’re deliberate actions) . She does flinch or stiffen up a bit at physical touch and her first reaction is to rack her brain for whatever she may have done “wrong” since that’s what’s associated with touch for her. Jumpscares you with Maebelle angst I’M SORRY I’LL STOP I’VE BEEN THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS 💔

Anywa. As for Frederick. His parents were more neglective. That’s not a word but that’s all I got so bear with me. And they would like… .. withhold love and physical affection if he disappointed them ? If that even makes sense. So for him physical touch from people close to him feels more like something to be earned . Then there’s all his adoring “fans” who I imagine aren’t huge on boundaries because of “we hired you to play at our party be grateful !!!!” Idk something like that. Do I look like I know what people say to each other in real life. So he’s probably uncomfortable with touchy strangers but if he needs something from them he’ll make that sacrifice. Reluctantly.

Now as for giving affection ! Maebelle is so painfully oblivious to everything she does . It hurts. They’re both extremely awkward obviously but she was always expected to keep her hands to herself. So she doesn’t really notice when her hands are Not to herself because of everything else she does with her body since she gained freedom already feels unnatural as is. And she’s not about to micromanage every action she makes in case she’s doing something “wrong” in the eyes of society because she never really cared what people thought about HER outside of her parents control. By this I mean like. Torso is center of grabity ? Ok. Geabs your waist to steady you when you stumble. No concept of levels of physical touch intimicacy whatever word I’m looking for here. You get it. The painfully oblivious. It’s not usually a problem because the few people she interacts with regularly aren’t in the habit of stumbling around her but it does make for some awkward moments. Not awkward for her she’s got no clue whether or not she just flustered the person she unintentionally romantically rescued from tripping over their own feet. Moves on with her day like nothing happened. This section probably did not need to be this long

For Frederick giving affection, he definitely picked up the transactional nature of it from his parents. He needs a venue for a performance ? Turn on the charm and with a few well placed arm touches and eyelash batting it’s all his. At this point he’s got the whole thing down to a science. So when he COLLIDES with this BUMBLING FOOL who has NO CONCEPT OF PHYSICAL TOUCH WHATSOEVER !!!!!!!! I’ll get to that later

Physical affection with each other ! After their marriage was arranged. Well they mostly just stayed out of each other’s way. Smooch at the wedding I guess. Stilted displays of affection in public to make their marriage appear more real. Nothing of much interest there ig

After they reunited at the manor, though. Well there’s still not much since they’re not big on touch with strangers and they’re still pretty much strangers to each other. Frederick taps on her shoulder a couple times to get her attention but ends up quitting that when it visibly spooks her every time. Maebelle is very concerned about his cane and leg problems that were Not present when they got married and keeps involving herself. She probably Does Not need to be holding onto his arm to support him like he’s your 89 year old grandmother. Frederick. Also oblivious. Mr. Affection Is Transactional. Can NOT figure out what it is she wants from him. Spoiler alert it is Nothing she just want him to not be in ow pain naturally because she has no reason to wish him any harm.

Once they start slowly getting closer with one another they’re just awkward and dumb I hate them. This is a foreign concept to both of them. They initiate BRUSHING THEIR FINGERS AGAINST EACH OTHER !!! Everybody clap wow look at them. So progressive …. Incredible. Anything further than that just gets different labels for the most part. Holding hands? NO !!!!!!!! All kinds of nonsense like “oh you want to feel the fabric of my gloves? Go ahead I don’t mind” or “sure you can play with my hand to keep yourself grounded” dumb. Dumb they’re s o UUGGGHHH guys they don’t even know. These fools believe their own excuses. YOU JUST WANT TO HOLD HANDS BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HOWWWWWUUEEGEUGHHHH. They get somewhere eventually though. No more brushing pinkies. They’re interlocked. Mind blowing stuff really.

It’s just a slow process of getting more comfortable with these foreign things and communication hash tag communication I love communication. Miscommunication tropes dni. They get to very shy hand holding and sitting/standing a little closer to each other and playing with strands of hair. It’s definitely a learning curve for both of them because they’re not used to experiencing these things without strings attached. Affectionately touching knees and/or arms and both blushing profusely the whole time like it’s their first day on earth.

Hugs? Hugs are. A lot. A lot of contact for the two that have barely gotten used to letting their hands touch. It’d probably take a big event to trigger a whole hug like that. But it doesn’t really have to be some huge life threatening event yeah ? Something like Frederick having an emotional outburst after a long day of work that just isn’t good enough. Sobbing crying yay y tears and Maebelle. Very tentatively wraps her arms around him to comfort him. Cue sobbing in her arms all night the whole experience brings them closer together and they feel a lot more comfortable being vulnerable with each other after that.