Chapter Text
Four years it had been, since their kiss under the Troll Bridge. Two years later, Titch had proposed to Derek near the same bridge, their kiss that night just as passionate as the first. A year after, they were married under the stars, their nighttime wedding one of Titch’s most cherished memories. Now, almost five years after meeting Derek, and over a year since their first wedding anniversary, Titch worked beside his husband in the aubergine fields, inspecting the purple and green plants, as was his nightly ritual. The farm workers had long since gone home, Derek dismissing them as soon as the sun touched the horizon. With the harvest approaching in a few weeks, the farm hands were going to need all the rest they could get.
Titch worked silently, checking every plant for signs of pests or disease. Much to his relief, he had found none so far. Derek, on the other hand, remained near Titch, but wasn’t checking the aubergine plants. Instead, his arms waved in the air, fending off the mosquitoes that only he seemed to be able to see.
“Titch, I know the crop is important, but can we go inside? The sun is almost down, we won’t be able to see!” Derek insisted, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the setting sun, which had nearly disappeared under the horizon. The sky was streaked with beautiful shades of purple, pink, and orange, which Titch took a moment to admire before rising from his knees. He wiped the dirt from his hands onto his jeans while smiling at Derek’s human-fly-swatter act.
“The invisible gnats getting at you again?” Titch asked teasingly, lifting himself onto his tiptoes to peck his husband on the cheek.
Derek sighed as Titch’s lips met his face, and his voice was throaty when he spoke again. “Ah, Titch,” he stuttered when his husband kissed lower on the neck. “I promise you…ah…th-they’re real.”
“They never seem to bite me,” Titch replied softly, drawing back from Derek momentarily.
“You’re smaller, there’s less places to bite you,” Derek drawled, pulling Titch — who was now clinging to Derek’s green t-shirt — off of him so they could begin walking. Titch whimpered in reply, but began to walk through the fields beside Derek, their destination unclear.
As the first stars began to twinkle in the night sky, Derek and Titch rounded a corner in the path, hand in hand, the Troll Bridge now directly ahead of them. Greenish-bluish vines climbed the cobbled stone walls of the old bridge, which had stood there for as long as Titch could remember.
“Did I ever tell you the stories about when I used to come here as a kid?” Titch asked as he and Derek reclined in the soft grasses next to the bridge.
“You came here when you were little? I would have been terrified,” Derek said, turning his head to look at his husband. “The name ‘Troll Bridge’ is freaky enough.”
“Nah, I liked to come here,” Titch replied, similarly shifting his strawberry blonde head to meet Derek’s dark eyes. “Though, to be fair, I would typically bail on going back home, and I’d just stay at Lady Margaery’s for the night.”
“Really? Lady Margaery let you stay with her?” Derek asked in disbelief.
“Of course. I’ve always spent loads of time around her. Well, before…” Titch trailed off, his voice failing him as he thought back to his old friend. Not old, he reminded himself. Just wise. Lady Margaery had made the decision to move away a few years ago, though she’d come back for Titch’s wedding. The witch finder general was after her, and she had left to stay with an old vampire friend of hers, but promised to keep in touch. So far, Derek and Titch had received many…interesting…postcards in the mail, all of which now hung on their refrigerator.
Titch’s ADHD-ridden brain began to spiral, taking him down a dangerous path. After Lady Margaery had left, James had gone as well, his success with the Wotheringham Rangers bringing him fame, fortune, and a promising football career. For a time, before their wedding, Titch had worried that Derek, too, would leave him. But night after night, Titch would wake in the morning to Derek snoozing peacefully beside him, promising to never leave. Regardless, the mansion-like farmhouse that Titch had grown up in felt quiet and empty, especially now that James was no longer residing there and Lady Margaery’s spontaneous visits had come to a stop.
“Hey, hey,” Derek said soothingly, bringing Titch back to the present with an insistent hand on his husband’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, she’s not gone for good. Remember she’s coming to visit soon? She said so in her last postcard.”
Titch’s eyes snapped into focus, his consciousness coming back from the corners of his mind. “Yeah, I remember,” he replied, looking at the towering oak trees around them that seemed almost blue in the night. Crickets chirped somewhere in the forest beyond, and frogs croaked in the river beside them, reminding Titch of the time. “Why don’t we head home for the night?”
“Sounds like a good idea. It’s starting to get cold out here,” Derek said, pulling Titch closer to him so he could wrap his arms around his husband.
“Derek,” Titch sighed contentedly, “we’ll never make it inside if you keep this up.”
“I’m just trying to keep you warm,” he replied innocently, standing up and helping Titch to do the same. “How about I make us some tea when we get back, hm?”
Titch smiled, playfully bumping Derek with his arm as they started walking. “Five years, and you still can’t remember that I drink coffee?”
“Oh, I remember,” Derek responded, mock shuddering in disgust. “How you drink that black tar, I’ll never know,” he said, shaking his head.
Titch could only laugh, placing his hands on Derek’s shoulders and jumping upwards. Derek, who was unprepared for Titch’s attempt to get on his back, stumbled but remained upright, shifting Titch upwards on his back.
“Charge!” Titch yelled cheerfully into the night, Derek laughing and stumbling forwards beneath him. After a few paces, when he stopped for a rest, Titch was still clinging to his shoulders. “I need a faster horse,” Titch muttered with a smile on his face.
“I’ll give you a faster horse,” Derek replied sarcastically, shoving Titch upwards again before breaking out into a sprint, Titch bouncing on his back. The pair didn’t get far before Derek tripped over his own feet, both of them harmlessly falling into the dirt.
Titch went down laughing like he never had, wiping the soil from his eyes to see Derek standing from the ground. “Race you to the house!” Titch called, staggering to his feet and taking off, his legs carrying him as fast as he could go.
“Not fair!” Derek yelled after him, struggling to catch up.
Titch took the porch steps two at a time, doing a small victory dance before high-fiving Derek as the taller man clambered up the stairs.
“And I’m still undefeated,” Titch said, a smirk plastered on his face.
“You’re younger,” his husband challenged.
“By, like, two months!”
“Three,” Derek countered, his smile betraying the false anger he was trying to convey. “Remind me why I married you?”
“Because you love me,” Titch replied sweetly, his smile growing infinitely brighter.