Unkindness of One

An anon suggested Daphne x Connor drabble and this came to mind. I was listening to Abba when I was editing this, hence the title.

Out of the corner of his eye, as one of his parents’ closest friends was peppering him with questions, Connor saw Daphne creep up to the front door. She was a small, but speedy mess of hair and skintight knit sweater in different shades of blue. Connor held up a finger to excuse himself and slip away. His parents had thrown together a going away party for him since he was hitting the road in two days for his first tour, opening for a musician he deeply admired. Connor loved the attention and could talk about music all day with anyone, but the party fell flat to him since Penelope was already gone to Paris. Molly was supposed to come in, but her flight was delayed and now she wasn’t arriving until tomorrow. He felt a little cheated. 

“Hey, thanks for coming.” Raised to always mind his manners by his forever posh mother, Connor said to his pseudo little sister as soon as his head poked around the corner. He could hear his Uncle Calum howling with laughter in the kitchen, listening close to an anecdote of his dad’s, but assumed they came separately. “You got to run?”

“Oh.” Eyes wide, surprised by Connor, she stared up at him from her knees and dropped her phone into her pocket as she jumped up. “I’m not going. I was just checking my phone. I left it in my shoes, but - ”

“Trying not to check it every two seconds?” Connor smiled all-knowingly. He was glued to his device and had been bad for looking at constantly, checking if Penny posted anything new or if she had texted. He always had a huge crush on the eldest Hemmings kid, but it had grown ten fold since they kissed at the airport. 

“Basically." 

"Expecting somebody?” Connor leaned into the wall to ask, watching as Daphne’s eyes moved to look at her sock covered feet with mild sadness. It only occurred to him then and there that she had retreated some since she and March broke up. Penny’s brother had forced her to burst like bonfire flames out of her shell, but now that they were no longer together, Daphne was hiding again. 

“No, not really.” Her phone vibrated far less since she and March broke up. She didn’t know he was hiding away in his room. She assumed that he was out with Raquel Coin or had already moved on to some new girl that was prettier than she found herself. “It’s just a habit.” Daphne stumbled backward and took a seat on the bottom wooden step of the staircase, resting her arms lazily on both knees. 

“You doing okay?” Out of instinct, he joined her in the stairs.

  “I’m fine.” Daphne was just like her mother. It didn’t matter if she was in pain, if anyone ever asked she always told them that she was fine. It was as if she thought to be anything else would be an inconvenience to the rest of the world. “Have you heard from Penny?” Daphne figured while she had his attention that she would take advantage of it.

“Yeah. She’s good.” Connor stopped himself from babbling on and on about her. “I think she’s getting settled in France, looking forward to her Dad leaving.” He chuckled, thinking back to her latest text which was just a series of photos of Luke looking at her sternly in different locations. “You know, Penny stuff…”

“She isn’t talking to me right now. I think she’s mad that I broke up with March.” With her fingers hooking onto one another and fidgeting around, Daphne admitted with bashful shame.

“He is her brother.” Connor nudged Daphne and whispered as if it was a secret. He shook out his blond fluffy hair and then gripped his fingers through it. “I don’t know Penelope to hold a grudge, honestly. I think she’s probably just busy.” She was getting settled in a brand new place after all and preparing for school. “You’ll hear from her soon.” Connor’s voice promised Daphne, feeling confident in what he was saying. Still, he made a mental note to talk to Penny about it and see what was actually going on.

“Everybody’s busy now. Molly is in university, Emmeline is modelling in the States, you’re going on tour…” Daphne felt as if her world was shrinking in and she was going to be alone with only her guinea pig. It sometimes made her regret dumping March, but she knew that it was important for her to cut ties and have some time to herself. While everyone else seemed to have friends at school or other parts of their life, Daphne felt isolated. She wasn’t a natural social butterfly like Emmeline or Connor and people were not drawn to her like they were to the Hemmings children. She wished she could be like Molly who seemed to be prefer to be left to her own devices, who enjoyed being in her own head, but Daphne did enjoy when March introduced her to new people or when he would invite her out to join one of his many groups. She wasn’t even like Iden who chose to pull away from people, Daphne just felt like she was totally by herself.

Connor watched Daphne for a moment, thinking she looked something like a real life Thumbelina on the bottom step and then threw his perpetually sunkissed arm around her. He was lucky to have a big sister his whole life who looked out for him. He tapped into his inner Molly and pulled Daphne close, forcing her to bow her head of thick brown hair onto his warm shoulder.

“I’m not good at anything like any of you…” She continued speaking before Connor could offer her an open invitation to text him anytime. The only reason the two of them didn’t interact much was because one of them was almost always with Penelope before, so it was unspoken that they would be hanging out through her. “I’m stuck here.”

Daphne couldn’t help, but feel anxious. It was easy to follow behind March and trust that everything would work out. He was popular and rarely let on that he was just flying by the seat of his pants. Now, that she was truly alone, without her boyfriend, and her favorite people away, Daphne had no idea what she was going to do. Everyone else had a path or some dream to follow, but she felt blank and empty.

“That’s not true.” Connor shook his head and moved back so he could feel look her over. “You just don’t believe in yourself.” He always saw that as the main difference between the people in Daphne’s life and herself. They all had confidence in themselves. Nobody told Connor he could write songs, he just wanted to and did. Penelope had been instructed to never surf again, so she channeled her energy into cooking despite how many sloppy desserts and burnt meals she put together. Emmeline was born thinking she could take on the world and, therefore, she did. Daphne might have liked to dance, but she always felt like she was bad at it. It never mattered what any instructor or choreographer told her.

“You sound like your dad.” Daphne laughed and knocked her head against the wall, away from Connor.