Chapter Text
Waverly was pacing around the wood floor of her bedroom in her tiny studio apartment. Her phone was placed to her ear, Wynonna talking about something that she honestly wasn’t one hundred percent focused on. Waverly was too preoccupied with figuring out how she would manage to finish her work for today and still somehow find the time to play PO again.
“Waves? You there?” Wynonna’s voice sounded out from her iPhone speaker.
“Yeah, sorry, what’s up?” Waverly replied apologetically.
“I was asking what you were wearing to Willa’s wedding.” Wynonna repeated. In the background, Waverly could hear her struggling with something, the sound of metal scraping against metal barely audible.
“Same as you, right?” Waverly presumed. When Wynonna didn’t reply, and the scraping noise stopped, Waverly’s heart sank as realization washed over her. “You're not a bridesmaid, are you?” Waverly could hear Wynonna breathing out softly.
“I thought you knew,” Wynonna’s voice was so soft, so sympathetic, Waverly just wanted to reach through her phone and cuddle up to her favourite sister like she used to when they were younger. “Willa told me you knew.” Her voice was harder now.
“No,” Waverly choked out through a sob, aware now that she was crying. Willa had told her, ever since they were kids, that her and Wynonna would be her bridesmaids since she couldn’t pick a maid of honor - it broke something inside of her that the pact could be changed without any regard for Waverly's feelings. “So you’re her maid of honor?”
There was silence from Wynonna’s end and Waverly could hear rustling in the background, then a zip of a jacket. “Yeah. Waves, I’m sorry, I’m going to go talk to her and tell her what an asshole she’s being,” Even over the phone, Waverly could tell that Wynonna was speaking through a clenched jaw and gritted teeth. “We’ll talk later. Love you.”
Silence.
Waverly gathered herself up, feeling significantly more wilted than she had prior to the conversation, and headed to her computer. She really should work. Maybe it would distract her from her latest family drama. Waverly went to open up the word document containing all her research, but she knew that if she tried to work, her heart wouldn’t be in it. She’d rather not work at all than do half-assed work and make more work for her future self with all the mistakes.
It was a bad excuse, but it was good enough to convince Waverly to open up Purgatory Online.
She watched in anticipation as the game screen loaded, a little nagging sensation at the back of her mind telling her that she won’t enjoy the game as much in her upset state, that she’ll be too distracted. Waverly tried unsuccessfully to tamp down on her anxiety and logged in.
Wavesly - Level 13
Elf Cleric
US - Outlaw
Waverly clicked on her familiar character and pressed enter on her keyboard. A few seconds later, the game world materialized in front of her, and Waverly heard a small ding and a flash in the bottom left of her screen.
Nicoladin: Hey you.
Waverly smiled, and instantly that anxiety she tried to abate melted away. Those two words meant more than they did on surface level, and the speed at which Nicole had sent them made a warmth spread out over Waverly’s chest. It’d been a long time since Waverly had felt like she finally had something to look forward to, and here it was, ready and available. Most importantly, it was distracting.
Wavesly: well hey there :)
Wavesly: you messaged me awfully quick, haha. should I be worried, or flattered?
Nicoladin: Flattered, definitely. I’m far too well-adjusted to be a stalker.
Waverly bit down on her lip, unsure if she should say what she was about to say. She bit the bullet and typed it out, her fingers typing out whatever her stream of consciousness was dictating.
Wavesly: hmm, I’m not too sure
Wavesly: i’ll need proof you’re not an 85 year old man with a fetish for poor, stressed out university students
Nicoladin: Definitely not an 85 year old man. Jury’s still out on the fetish.
Waverly stifled a laugh and hammered out her next response.
Wavesly: still waiting on that proof, nicole
Wavesly: if that even is your real name
Nicoladin: You got me. It’s actually Harold.
Nicoladin: I’ll be right back.
Waverly didn’t bother holding back her laugh this time, and waited for a few seconds before a different notification sound caught her attention. She went to check Discord and noticed Fish had sent her a message.
fish: well well well
fish: if it isn’t my friendly neighbourhood waverly
Waverly: heya :)
fish: how u
Waverly: i’ve been better lol
Waverly took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Damn it. She had just started to get her mind off of the whole wedding debacle, and now Fish just had to go and be a good friend and care about her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about it - in fact, if she was going to talk about it with anyone, strangely enough she would’ve picked Fish. He always seemed to know what to say to cheer her up. That happened after knowing someone for so long.
fish: whats up?
fish: uni problems?
Waverly: surprisingly, no. all’s good on that front so far
Waverly: my sister’s getting married and i was assuming i’d be a bridesmaid with my sister but i’m not
fish: oh damn
fish: i don’t know if i’m more surprised that wynonna’s treating u like shit or that she’s getting married lol
Waverly laughed before having her attention taken away from Discord and focused instead on her game. Nicole had seemingly returned, already sending her messages that without even reading yet already sent Waverly’s heart into a frenzy. She was excited about the prospect of a new friend, of course. That must be it.
Nicoladin: Pizza is the best thing ever. I think I’ll name my first born Deep Dish.
Nicoladin: Is that child cruelty?
Nicoladin: Imagine all the free pizza I’d get though.
Wavesly: hmmm, not sure. i’d have to do a study
Wavesly: hold on for a sec tho
Nicoladin: Sure thing. I’m gonna eat and watch Netflix. If I don’t respond, I’m in a food coma.
Waverly bit her lip to stop from laughing before flicking back to Discord.
Waverly: sorry, back
Waverly: no, this is willa
fish: ohhhh right, i forgot about that one
fish: ok that’s a lot less surprising. should’ve thought about that in hindsight
fish: what are you going to do?
Waverly: honestly i have no idea
Waverly: wynonna is going to go talk to her but :/ probably nothing will come out of it
Waverly: we’re earps. once we get our minds set on something it’s pretty difficult to change them
Waverly let out a small laugh, remembering a time when they were younger, when everything wasn’t so muddy yet. When Willa and Dad still lived with the family and they were happy. The family was going to this fancy dinner, one where everyone needed to be presentable, which meant nice dresses, hair done up pretty, and forced smiles everywhere. ‘Happy’ may not have been the right word to use - they seemed happy on the outside, a perfect family that everyone was so shocked to see implode like it did; but on the inside the implosion could’ve been seen from a mile away.
Wynonna, of course, objected to the dinner completely. She was thirteen; just getting to the age of rebellion. Willa, who Waverly guessed must’ve been around fifteen at the time, lived for dinners like this. Waverly was seven. She just went along with whatever she was told, because saying no wasn’t an option with her Dad, and certainly not with Willa.
Willa had spent hours preening and dressing up Waverly. She was forced to wear some blue floral dress, one that matched Willa’s in general style, but of course Willa’s was more ornate. That was just the way it was. When the time came to leave, Wynonna stepped out in a leather jacket and jeans. Dad was livid. Willa was, too. Mom took Waverly aside and told her that if she ever wasn’t comfortable with what she was wearing, or how she looked, to tell her and she’d understand. She’d fix it. Waverly nodded.
Countless uncomfortable nights later, Waverly didn’t say anything until Mom left and took Waverly and Wynonna with her.
fish: ah but that’s what makes you so great
fish: how is wynonna anyway
Waverly: she’s good. idk, we don’t talk too much
Waverly: obviously way more than we used to but not as much as i’d like
fish: yeah, does she ever talk about that? like, her basically dropping off the face of the earth without saying anything
fish: kind of extreme
Waverly: you’re telling me.
Waverly: sometimes she’ll kind of start talking about it but it clearly makes her uncomfortable so i don’t pry
Waverly: i think she feels guilty. i understand though, i would too
fish: makes sense
fish: do u want to play tho cuz i have a few hours to kill
Waverly knew Fish would make her feel better. Now, the ache and conflict battling it out in Waverly’s head was simmering down, reduced to a squabble.
Waverly: yeah but i’m sort of busy with someone
Waverly: met her last night when u ABANDONED me
fish: sheesh drama queen. now who’s abandoning who
fish: is she cool at least
Waverly: super cool
Waverly: her name is nicole and she’s crazy high leveled
fish: woah woah woah
fish: wait a min
fish: are u referring to the (wo)man, the myth, the legend nicoladin???
Waverly felt her eyebrow quirk up. Had she unknowingly been making friends with a ‘legend’?
Waverly: uh yeah
Waverly: you know her?
fish: lol everyone knows her
fish: everyone who plays PO at least. she’s like this crazy awesome badass, leads the best guild in the game - like seriously you need to nolife this game to get in it
fish: how did u meet her u’ve played for like 10 minutes
Waverly: actually i’ve played for a few hours so don’t be too jealous
Waverly: she saved my life, i totally forgot we were on a pvp server and i nearly died but she swooped in and stomped him
Waverly: then we just sort of started talking, she’s super nice
fish: ok well u go and have fun with ur e-gf and we’ll talk later when u can
Waverly: she’s not my e-girlfriend but thank you and yes we will. have fun also
Waverly shook her head and clicked back onto her game, idling slowly in the background. She hadn’t even realized that she’d been listening to the game music the entire time, the dulcet tones of the expertly crafted score lifting her spirit unconsciously. It’d been about thirty minutes since she talked to Nicole last. Waverly hoped she was still online, but knowing now how busy Nicole was with in-game things, Waverly would be surprised if she even made time for her.
Wavesly: hello
Wavesly: sorry about that, i was catching up with an old friend
Waverly’s doubts were quashed when she saw Nicole’s reply come in almost as soon as she had hit enter.
Nicoladin: Hello again.
Nicoladin: That’s fine :) How’d it go?
Wavesly: well i learned a lot
Wavesly: like how you’re, in his words, a ‘legend’
Nicoladin: Ah.
Waverly was a little nervous from Nicole’s short sentence. To make matters worse, Nicole didn’t follow up with anything for a good minute or so. Maybe Waverly had scared her off - maybe Nicole liked that someone was friends with her without knowing who she was, or maybe she thought Waverly was going to act different now that she knew. Whatever the case, Waverly didn’t want to lose someone who she got along so well with - not to something this superficial.
Nicoladin: Does that bother you?
Waverly was surprised that Nicole messaged first, but she wasn’t complaining. Her heartbeat picked up a little bit at the words - was Nicole nervous too?
Wavesly: no, why would it?
Wavesly: honestly i think it’s really cool and tbh i’m a little intimidated haha.
Nicoladin: Intimidated? Why?
Wavesly: well i mean you’re this really awesome guild leader and you probably have a lot of responsibilities and if my friend knew who you were without me even saying your name, you probably have a pretty big reputation
Wavesly: again, in his words, you’re a ‘badass’
Nicoladin: Hahaha, hardly.
Nicoladin: Thank you though.
Wavesly: no problem :)
Wavesly: why would it bother me tho
Nicoladin: It’s a long story.
Wavesly: i have time
It was Waverly’s turn to surprise herself with the speed at which she typed her last message. She wanted to know more about Nicole, everything that made her herself.
Nicoladin: Do you have Skype? I don’t feel like typing it all out.
Wavesly: i do but i also have discord if that’s easier
Wavesly: Waverly#1965
Nicoladin: Okay, I’ll add you. I’ll call you pretty much as soon as you accept, so get ready.
Waverly didn’t know why she was nervous, but she was. She cleared her throat, making sure her voice wasn’t weird. She even spoke a few words out loud, feeling absolutely ridiculous as she did, but she knew how important first impressions were. Opening up Discord, Waverly saw a notification indicating that she had a friend request. Sure enough, Nicole had added her. She clicked accept, and true to her word again, Nicole called pretty much instantly after.
“Hello?” Nicole’s voice was clear through Waverly’s headphones.
“Hi,” Waverly spoke quietly, almost in a whisper. She cleared her throat, feeling annoyed that her little exercises had been in vain, and tried again. “Hi. Sorry, my voice gets weird after I haven’t spoken in a while.”
“That’s fine. At least now I know you’re not some creep on the internet.” Nicole joked. Waverly laughed softly.
“Yep. And now I can stop calling you Harold, unless you’re into that.” Waverly joked back. She heard a peal of laughter from the other end, and just like that, Waverly’s blood pumped through her veins so hard she thought she’d have an aneurysm. Her face went warm, and she was sure a blush was creeping up her neck. Her face instantly shot up into a grin at the sound.
“Can’t say that I am, but thanks for checking,” Nicole quipped. Her voice was so smooth, Waverly thought, and she wanted to turn down the game music just to hear it more. “Good to know you won’t kinkshame me.”
“I’d never,” Waverly replied in mock surprise. After their laughter died down, Waverly decided to press. “So. The long story.”
A pause.
“Ah. Right,” Nicole started. Her voice was shaky at first, but found its bearing in time. “The long story. Well, basically, I met someone a long time ago, back when I played CoA. She was a lot like you, I guess. New to the game, funny, intriguing. We became friends really fast. Looking back, a little too fast, but mistakes like that are meant to be made sometimes.”
Waverly made a knowing noise of agreement, aware that Nicole was talking about her.
“I fell for her. Hard. She had no idea,” Nicole took a moment, and Waverly thought she could hear her laughing softly, before Nicole continued. “No idea that I was in love with her, and no idea that my life was pretty much dominated by CoA. I wanted to be the best. I put in so many hours into that game, and none of it mattered when I was with her. All I focused on was her. I was slipping, and my guild leader found out about her after I told my friend that I was thinking about quitting.
“At the time, I was a streamer. Kind of big, a thousand viewers every stream or so. My… fanbase, I guess, pretty much only watched me because they thought I was hot. I’d say ninety percent watched to watch me, and the other ten watched to actually watch me play. It wasn’t very dignified, but I made decent money off of it, and the ten percent made it manageable. If they found out I was gay, it would’ve been hell. Seriously. Either they would’ve been even more creepy, or they would’ve sent me hate. I wouldn’t be able to take it.
“I told her that I loved her and she took it better than I ever could’ve expected. For a month, it was great. I was silently starting to prepare for quitting, which meant applying for real life jobs, finding replacements for my position in the guild, etcetera. I was even looking for jobs closer to her.
“She found out. I don’t know how, probably my guild leader, but she found out, and she freaked. She had been led to believe that I had been streaming all our conversations, even some of the more - um - personal, ones. Somehow, my stream also found out, too. And whatever they sent to me, they sent to her ten times harder. They sent her so much shit. She was crying so hard, the whole time. All I remember was her crying.
“I, of course, got pissed off at my stream and sort of broke down. I think there’s a YouTube video of it, if you look hard enough. I got a lot of them taken down, but you know how the Internet is. Nothing’s ever truly gone. I quit gaming for a while and when Purgatory Online came out, I thought, hey, it’s been years, no one will remember me. So I guess when you said I was a legend, or whatever, it freaked me out. I thought you were talking about the break down, not the other thing.”
Nicole took a deep breath and Waverly was quiet for a few moments. There was a lot running through her mind, she wasn’t sure how to play this. Nicole had just bared her soul to her, and Waverly didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying something stupid, so she had to pick her words carefully.
“That sucks,” Waverly blurted out. Careful was set on fire and thrown out of the thirtieth story window. Nicole snorted. “I mean, uh, it - God, I’m really bad at this.”
“You’re a psychologist.” Nicole joked, her voice in disbelief.
“A psychology degree does not a therapist make,” Waverly replied. “Sorry. You were so honest and I just - I need a second to sort of gather my thoughts. But it doesn’t freak me out, Nicole. Not a bit.”
“Good,” Nicole said, and Waverly could hear her exhale with relief. “I was worried. And when I said you were like her, by the way, I didn’t mean that I’m going to fall in love with you, too.” Waverly laughed at Nicole’s rushed tone, as if she had just realized the implication of what she said, the same blush adorning her face again.
“Promise?” Waverly joked back.
“Promise.”
There was a moment Waverly could swear was more charged than any moment she’d had in her life up to this point, and she wasn’t even face to face with Nicole. Waverly opened her mouth to say something, anything, but was interrupted by a droning noise sounding out from her pocket. She pulled out her phone to see Wynonna’s grimacing face calling her.
“Hey, I gotta go, my sister is calling me,” Waverly said in an apologetic tone. “But we’ll talk soon, okay?”
“Alright,” Nicole replied. “I have some stuff to do, anyway. I forgot how busy being a guild leader can be. So much drama. That’s a story for another time, though.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Waverly smiled, sincerity pouring out of her voice in waves. “See you.”
“Bye, Waverly.” Nicole spoke, and Waverly hung up. She quickly accepted Wynonna’s call.
“Wow, took you long enough,” Wynonna’s teasing tone was in stark contrast to Nicole’s soft voice. “I thought all you did was study and sleep.”
“Very funny,” Waverly rolled her eyes, but really she was happy that Wynonna was joking around. In the beginning, when she had just come back, Wynonna had been so careful with Waverly that their old witty banter was practically erased from every interaction they had. Waverly was so glad it was back. Wynonna without snark was like pizza without a base. “What’s up?”
“I went to go shout at Willa for a bit. Who would’ve thought that living in the same city as her would actually be desirable,” Wynonna spat out. Waverly could tell that she was talking through clenched teeth. “Anyway, she was in total bridezilla mode, shouting about centerpieces or whatever her priorities are these days. You can imagine how angry she got when I told her I wasn’t going to be her maid of honor.”
Waverly’s face lit up like New Years’ was on the Fourth of July. “How did she - you - what? How?”
“I told her I couldn’t be her maid of anything if you weren’t okay with it. I said I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be a bridesmaid,” Wynonna explained. “I hate the frilly dresses and the pomp and the circumstance.” Waverly grinned. Some things never changed.
“So she just let you go?” Waverly asked, certain that Willa wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“I kind of guilt tripped her, to be honest. I told her the wedding was about more than just her, it was about reuniting us three. We haven’t been sisters for a long time, not all of us,” Wynonna’s voice was softer now, and Waverly could tell that despite her outward anger towards Willa, Wynonna really did love her. “After that she sort of got quiet and I just left.”
“Well, thank you,” Waverly breathed out. “Really. It means a lot.”
“You know I love you, right?” Wynonna replied. “I’d do anything if it meant I could make up for being a shithead before."
“I love you too,” Waverly couldn’t even think about who Wynonna was before. She was so different, so much more mature, so much calmer. “No matter what. Shitty head and all.”
“Awkward visual there, but I’ll take it,” Wynonna joked, and the two of them laughed. “I have plans that I’m already late for, so I need to go, sorry. I’ll see you in February.”
“See you in February.” Waverly ended the call and, with a newfound surge of motivation, opened up her work. She had every intention of kicking university’s ass and having a good time doing it, and this was a start.