You must be bored to tears with all this wacky nonsense

Brainy woke before dawn. For a moment he didn’t move. He simply lay there, listening to the slow, steady breathing beside him—hers. Sassette’s warmth pressed lightly against his side, her warm, pumpkin spice hair spilling across the pillow in messy strands.

They had fallen into the habit of sharing a bed long before either of them said the word marriage aloud. It was comfortable, and yet it tied a knot of guilt and longing in his chest every morning. Being a traditional smurf, he intended to marry her; he knew that as surely as he knew his own name. But for all he knew, she didn’t want that. Maybe she was content with things as they were. He never asked. He was too afraid the answer wouldn’t match the future he secretly imagined.

He still didn’t know how this had become his life.

For a smurf as overlooked, dismissed, and if he was being honest—unliked as him, the idea that someone had chosen him felt unreal. He knew he was intelligent; there's no doubt about that. But intelligence had hardened him over the years, sharpened him into something more cynical than hopeful. He had long accepted that he was not the sort of smurf others gravitated toward, a lonely irony for a smurf who was destined to become their next leader.

So why had someone so full of wonder, warmth, and unshakable light chosen him?

His mind drifted, unbidden, to the past—back to when he was a younger smurf in his prime and she was only a smurfling. A little creation with scraped knees, wild spirit, and a tomboy streak that made her impossible to ignore. He’d found her annoying back then, always tugging at his arm, always asking him questions, and always challenging him with that sharp little tongue of hers. He never let himself see her as anything but a simple child then. He wouldn’t have allowed anything else.

But even then… even then she had never treated him with the disdain the others did.

She listened. She questioned. She argued. She kept up with him in ways no one else bothered to try. And though he never admitted it aloud, he had been grateful for that—grateful for the one smurf who didn’t roll her eyes when he spoke.

He remembered the day Papa told him to teach her how to read. He’d protested, of course. He had important things to do, important books to read, important thoughts to think. Teaching a smurfling felt like a waste of time. But she learned quickly. Too quickly. And after that, she never really stopped hanging around him.

Years passed—more than a decade—before she grew into the smurf she was now, long after the smurfling he once tutored had become an adult in her own right. Only then had her teasing softened into something flirtatious, something more intentional. And only then had he let himself wonder what it meant. For a long time he wrote her off as a silly impish thing, too impulsive, too thoughtlessly carefree to truly mean what she says. He assumed it was just her playful nature, not a choice she was consciously making.

Because of that, he always kept a careful distance from her. He quietly and desperately hoped that she would turn her attention to the smurfs her own age. But she never did. Her eyes always found him. Her questions were always for him. Her giggles always circled back to him.

By the time she had grown into herself, she had become bolder and utterly shameless in her affection towards him. And he, jaded, bookish and solitary, had no idea how to handle the way she looked at him like he was someone worth choosing.

Now, lying beside her in the soft hush of morning, he let himself take in the quiet miracle of her presence. Sassette slept curled against him, her breathing soft and even, her freckles faint in the dim light. Her eyes were closed now, but when open, they held the gentle pink hue of a blooming rose.

He watched her for a moment, unable to help himself.

As if she could hear his thoughts, her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him, sleepy and mischievous. “You watchin’ me sleep, old man?” she asked as her fingers toyed with his copper beard like she owned it. 

“Papa Smurf said to monitor troublemakers. So here I am,” he replied, dry as ever. She giggled, leaned in, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

He shifted, preparing to get up, but her hand caught his wrist. “Where are you goin' this early?”

“Papa wants me to practice that Retromimesis spell,” he said. “I should get started.”

Sassette tugged him back down with surprising strength and wrapped her arms around him. “Nope. Not today. Sleep in with me.” She nestled against him, playful and stubborn.

“Sassette…” he tried, but she hooked a leg over him and held him in place. “You’re not going anywhere,” she murmured.

And he didn’t. He gave up and let himself relax into her embrace, holding her close, taking comfort in her warmth once again. He hoped he would never lose it.

I’ve had the idea of these two together in my head for many years. There’s always been something funny and cute about their chemistry, and I’ve often wondered what it'd look like once they were both older.

In a strange way, they’ve always reminded me a little of Amy and Laurie from Little Women. If you haven’t read the book or seen the 1994 film, I really recommend it! The character work is beautiful.

They also kinda give me Anna x Kristoff vibes too lol.

I also want to give a nod to the talented cracked139 AKA IZZY-CHAN13 and demonofnothing on DA who ship them too. Seeing their interpretations over the years made me feel a little less alone in loving this odd and charming pairing.