#soft anne

hello!

basically, i had three tests today, got sad, and wanted to write what would happen if the queens got a trampoline.

so this is that.

enjoy!

***

“What on earth were you thinking?”

Catherine of Aragon is standing in the backyard to the flat she shares with her five other roommates, and she’s honestly a little pissed.

Anne, being Anne, bought a trampoline today on impulse, and it’s taking up a solid third of the tiny backyard space that they get in London.

“What could you possibly mean by that?” Anne asks, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

“The fuck-all giant trampoline is what she means,” Anna replies, standing next to Aragon, her voice high with disbelief. “Why the hell’d you buy it?”

Anne shrugs. “Felt like it.”

“Please don’t tell me that’s what I bloody think it is,” Parr groans, walking out into the yard with Jane, who swats her admonishingly.

“Language.”

“Oh, Christ, Cathy, you got Jane’s mum voice out and Kitty’s not even out here,” Anna laughs, but it falls flat as the queens look at each other.

Katherine hadn’t gotten out of bed today.

Not for the past three days, actually.

She’d been having a really terrible depressive episode, and while they usually only lasted five or six days, those days were absolute torture for the queens, seeing Kat in pain and being unable to do anything to help.

Jane always sat with her during the days, holding her daughter’s hand in her own and trying not to cry.

One of the others would fetch Jane in the mornings to make sure she left Kat’s room every once in a while.

Even when they get her out, though, like now, it’s easy to tell that her thoughts are someplace else, with the way her eyes keep wandering to the second floor window overlooking the backyard.

“Who wants to go first?” Anne asks, breaking the silence.

“Me,” Anna volunteers immediately, clambering on the spring-lined mesh and testing it.

“This feels weird,” she remarks. “Fun. But weird.”

“Anna, you’re supposed to jump,” Jane tells her, grinning.

“What the hell? Why would you jump? This is totally unstable!” Anna shrieks, bouncing slightly to prove her point and almost toppling over.

“Oh my god, move over,” Anne says, leaping onto the trampoline. She rockets into the air a few times, her hair flying up in a cloud around her head. “See?” she shouts. “It’s fun!”

If Anne whoops a little louder than she normally would, or if she glances a few too many times at Kat’s window, no one says anything.

Jane goes next, then Parr, and even Aragon takes a turn for about five seconds before climbing off abruptly and shaking her head.

The grey sky overhead stretches and swirls with the passage of time, and the queens are so wrapped up in the flip tournament that Anna is trying to start that they don’t notice a sixth person join them outside.

“Is that a trampoline?” Katherine asks softly, a spark in her eyes, clinging a blanket around her like a cloak.

“Yeah,” Anne responds breathlessly, sweating hard after attempting to do a split jump for ten minutes.

“Can I have a turn?” she asks, discarding the blanket, and Anne nods.

“Sure, Kitty, go for it,” she says casually.

She looks like a baby goat at first, wobbling on the unfamiliar terrain, but she gets the hang of it fast and soon she’s jumping around with Jane, giggling under the now-pale blue sky.

“Why did you buy this again?” Aragon asks Anne, crossing her arms and watching Anne’s face as she sees her younger cousin try to do a cartwheel.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Anne says, kicking the dirt, a pout taking over her face. “I like trampolines, all right?”

“So does Katherine,” Aragon observes gently.

“Yeah, well, Jane was looking mopey, and when she’s mopey she doesn’t make waffles in the morning.”

“So you bought the trampoline so you could get... waffles?” Aragon asks skeptically.

“Yeah. That’s the reason. You happy?”

Aragon looks at the defensive young queen, who’s always so anxious when her cousin is unhappy, who sits and watches TV with Jane when Kat’s having an episode, who makes it a point to learn new words to try and beat Parr at Scrabble even though it’s hopeless.

Maybe someday she’ll tell Anne that it’s all right to let Katherine know she cares about her.

But not tonight. She knows Anne’s not up for it tonight.

“Yeah, I’m happy,” Aragon says. “I’m glad you can get your waffles now.”

“Me too,” Anne replies, grinning, and Katherine runs over and drags Anne back onto the trampoline, and Aragon watches them, smiling.

They’ll be okay.