Prompt: It's near Christmas, and for the first time in her life Nagini is bringing home her boyfriend to meet the family. There's nothing Tina's worried about, save for Credence.
A/N: Here is the AU Sweets and Little Thieves that I've been sitting on since the beginning of my trip to China. In here we have a grown up Nadence. Jealous, grown up Nadence *wriggles eyebrows* ENJOY!
"She has a boyfriend." Tina sighs as Credence repeats incredulously for the umpteenth time in the row, his dark eyes wide as he stares up at her, bewildered and lost. "She never said anything about a boyfriend?!" The sentence was almost spoken in a disbelieving shriek.
"Nagini's been gushing about him the entire year, Cree." The nickname falls affectionately from her lips as she bustles about the kitchen, preparing dinner. Credence stands moodily at one corner, hands stuffed in his pockets and eyes glued to the floor. "You were the one who pestered her to go out into the bright new world and find something new."
"Yeah, but not a boyfriend!" Tina tries not to laugh at how incredulous her adopted son sounds at mentioning their Foster daughter's very real other half. "She could have gotten a best friend, or a girlfriend, but not a boyfriend." He scuffs his feet, and Tina hurriedly flicks her wand as the pot bubbles on the stove in a distance.
She would really kill to have some of Queenie's cooking skills right about now, but her younger sister was half way round the world, enjoying France as a guardian while Nagini studied for her Muggle studies.
Tina sighed as Credence grumbled to himself yet again.
There was a reason why she had refrained telling Credence about Nagini's new found love earlier this year, advising her Foster daughter to do the same. The two had always been closer than siblings should have been since the day they met, with Nagini barely ever leaving Credence's side. It was only natural that he had attachment issues to her, or so she thought.
Perhaps it had been wrong to assume that Credence's feelings for Nagini only ran platonic ally. Clearly, he felt something more for her than he actually realised.
"I'm not jealous." As though sensing her judgemental stare, Credence huffs in her face importantly. "She's my sister."
"Riiight." Tina drawled, almost crossing her arms. "I'm pretty sure all that anger is for someone who's your sister." She whirled around, folding her arms this time. "Tell me, Cree, if Nagini wasn't your sister, what would you feel?"
She leaves him staring at her haplessly, propping the made dishes into the air with a wave of her wand, leaving behind a gaping Credence to dwell with his thoughts.
As per she thought, things were destined not to go well.
" What's wrong with you? " Nagini hisses as she grabs Credence's arm, dragging him into the hallway and away from the rest of the family. Tina only manages to hide just in time, her ear pressed against the crack of the door to listen to the indistinct conversation." You're being mean to Franco. And I know for a fact that you ain't mean." She feels like a Student listening in to a talk that wasn't meant for her own ears, her eyes drinking in the sight of Nagini and Credence, the former with her arms folded and foot tapping against the ground, wavy hair falling messily down her back.
It'd been years since the troublesome day with Nagini's hair, but Tina still remembers it as clear as the day.
Her Foster daughter has gone from an adorable child to a beautiful woman, no longer shy and quiet around strangers, but exuberant and oozing with confidence. Nagini has always been exotic in many ways, but it's in the yellowed light that Tina's breath is taken away by the sheer beauty and power of her Foster daughters features and body language, from her sharp, long lashed eyes to the curve of her very lips.
They'd done well in bringing her up. Tina gloated confidently. A proud woman, comfortable in being just herself.
A surge of affectionate pride surges in her chest for Nagini, and Tina sighs, eyes s pressed on the crack in the doorway.
"He's shady." Credence hissed back at Nagini, flinging an arm out in the vague direction of the living room, cheeks blotching with a reddened tinge of anger and embarrassment. "And.. And he's a Muggle!"
Tina gives a tiny gasp of her own as soon as he says that, having half the mind to stride from her hiding place to teach Credence a lesson about his words and tone. They'd taught him much better than that---and clearly, Nagini thought the same way.
" Oh, you did not just say it in the tone that I think you said." Credence flinches at the raw force of Nagini's anger, before pulling himself up bravely.
"I did. You do know that you're gonna tell him one day that his girlfriend turns into a snake every night, so she can't sleep in his bloody bed---and when he hears that, do you think he's gonna stand by you and call you darling love in that saccharine accented tone? " Tina freezes at his words, her heart dropping in her chest as Nagini takes a step back, chest heaving in disbelief as she stares up at Credence, whose eyes widen a fraction of a second too late at the realisation of his own words.
" I... I didn't mean that! Nagini---"
"Yeah. You totally did." Both of them flinch at the ice coldness in Nagini's tone, and Tina passes a hand over her face as she hears the rapid clicking of Nagini's booted heels on their marbled floor, moving through the doorways.
She opens the door a crack, eyes soft at the sight of Credence crouched into himself at a corner, eyes wet.
"I fucked up, Miss Tina." He murmured wetly, dashing his hand across his eyes. "Now she's never gonna talk to me again."
"You sure did." Tina's never been one to lie when she clearly felt something wasn't right. To break down and get to the point was something that she done for most of her life, no matter how brutally honest it sounded sometimes. "But you were jealous, and the green eyed monster does unthinkable things when it's in control." She glances pointedly at him. "I will hit you if you still don't get it, Credence."
"No. That you love her." Tina tilts her head in the direction of which Nagini had ran off in a fit of anger. "We do foolish things for love, even when we don't know it---like hurting those we care about with the knowledge of what they fear the most."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Credence grumbled, running a hand through his ruffled hair.
"Well I'm not the person you should be saying it to." She ruffles the top of his head just like she uses to when he was much younger, and the sides of Credence's face jerks up into a reluctant smile. "Now go chase your girl."
It's a testament to their close bond that he manages to find her sniffling in Newt's apple garden, in a dark corner that no one else knows.
"I'm sorry." He scratches the back of his head sheepishly, scuffing his feet. She's crying, and for the first time in his life, Credence is flummoxed at what to do.
"For what?" There's a note of whining in her tone, the stuffiness of her nose obstructing most of her speech patterns--but Credence can still understand her.
"For being mean?" He holds out the question hesitantly. "Not that I'm gonna be taking back all the mean stuff I said to Franco anyway."
"You aren't happy." He stuffs his hands in his pockets as she makes a statement. An observation, that only people close to him would perpetually be able to understand beneath the smooth mask of his handsome face.
"Does he make you happy?" He avoids the question thats coming after her observation, watching with dark eyes as she opens her mouth, then snaps it shut.
"I.. I don't know." Nagini buries her face into her knees, just like how she used to do so back when they were children. It's nostalgic, mirroring the countless times of when they'd stood by each other when they were young, with Credence standing like a guardian over the tree hole that Nagini had somehow always managed to curl herself in.
"You don't know?" The frown on Credence's face darkens at her words. "How could you not know?" There's a rustle of deadened leaves as Nagini scoots forward, her legs dropping from the entrance of the tree as she ducks her head, chaffing her hands together slightly.
"It just...doesn't feel as right." She admits. "Like you said, I'm probably gonna be destined to repeatedly lie to him about our relationship until he finds out and then---" She has to force herself to stop rambling, pulling herself upright from her spot.
"Hey." The frown on Credence's face darkens as he yanks her hand almost roughly, spinning Nagini around to face him. " You know that ain't true. I was just saying that in a fit of anger and jealousy."
"But you're right---wait. Jealousy?" Her dark eyes snap up to Credence's own. "Why the--the fuck would you be jealous?" She took a step back almost incredulously.
"I..." Credence flushed embarrassingly, squirming in his spot. "I can't say."
"What do you mean you can't say?!" Nagini gripped the sides of his arms almost urgently. "Do you have a sister complex?"
"What? No! How could you say that?!"
"Then a bestiality complex?" Nagini let go of his arms, trying hard not to laugh at the mortified expression on Credence's face. "I never pegged you for someone like that---oh!" Her body jerked as Credence her arms forward, his hand pressing deep into the back of her coat as their lips crashed into each other.
"Shut up for a moment, will you?" Credence muttered into her lips, face burning as red shade as her hands fluttered around his chest, clearly surprised and flummoxed at what to do.
It has to be a mistake or something, because there was no way that Credence liked her they way she liked him---and then his tongue probed the edges of her lips and moved.
Nagini melted into the fiery kiss that Credence had initiated, her long lashed eyes fluttering shut as they both battled for dominance in a kiss that would forever be imprinted deep in their hearts.
Seconds stretched into minutes, and Nagini panted lightly when Credence finally pulled away, sure that her cheeks were equally as hot and as cherry red as his.
"So...you like me." Her lips are swollen from his ravaging, but her eyes as bright as the stars in the night sky, glistening with unshed tears. "Don't you know how long I've been waiting?" Her nose sours as she buries her head into his chest. "For so long!" Credence swallows, his hands slowly enclosing around her trembling body.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, bending down to press a kiss into her hair. "But I'm finally here."
A/N: And there you have it. Slightly angst with a happy ending of an adult Nadence in Sweets and Little Thieves AU :3
Tell me what yall think! More of this or.. XD Back to kids.
Say hi to a Grown Up Nagini :3