fandomweekly | [#078] Playing Make-Believe (Torchwood)

Theme Prompt: #078 – Fairytales
Title: Playing Make-Believe
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: G / None
Bonus: Yes. I think. Maybe.
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Jack and Ianto’s daughter Meriel is obsessed with fairy tales.

Meriel was going through a phase; she was obsessed with fairy tales. She didn’t want anything else read to her, happily listening to the same stories over and over. Jack and Ianto felt certain they knew her favourites by heart.

Their daughter did too, since now she’d taken to acting them out, playing games of make-believe with her bestest friend.

“What on earth are you doing?” Ianto looked up at his four-year-old daughter, who was standing at the safety railing of the wide balcony outside the master bedroom. He wasn’t concerned she might fall because Nosy was with her; the Fluff was very protective. Nosy wasn’t its usual self, however; instead of being grass green it was a golden yellow.

“I’m Rapunzel of course, Taddy,” Meriel explained as she helped Nosy slither over the railing to dangle by its tail. “I’m letting down my golden hair. Then the prince will climb up to save me.”

“And where is the prince?” Jack was at work so obviously he hadn’t been cast in the role.

“Hmmm,” said Nosy indistinctly. It had one of Meriel’s favourite teddies gripped in its mouth, and twisting back on itself made the bear appear to be climbing the Fluff’s long body.

“Ah, I see. Carry on.” Smiling and shaking his head, Ianto went back to fixing dinner.

OoOoOoO

A few days later, Nosy, pale blue in colour this time, was coiled like a snake with the front metre of its body swaying sinuously above its coils. Meriel stood in front of it holding Ianto’s silver plastic indoor watering can and rubbing it with one hand.

“Let me guess; you’re Aladdin and Nosy’s the genie from the lamp.”

“That’s right, Taddy!” Meriel beamed proudly at her father, impressed by how clever he was.

“I hope the magic lamp doesn’t have any water in it.”

“Of course not, Taddy! I watered the plants before borrowing it.”

“Of course you did.” Ianto made a mental note to empty the excess water from the plant saucers before any of his houseplants could drown.

OoOoOoO

Jack frowned when he found his missing daughter lying in the middle of his and Ianto’s bed. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine, Taddy. I’m Goldilocks so I have to try out all the beds.”

“Right. Daddy Bear’s bed is too hard, isn’t it?”

“It should be, that’s how the story goes, but it’s really comfy.”

Jack chuckled. “Of course it is; you wouldn’t want your daddies sleeping in a hard bed, would you?”

“No, I suppose not, but it’s hard to be Goldilocks when this bed’s so nice.”

“Maybe you could pretend you already tried the other beds and this is the one that’s just right.”

Meriel considered that and grinned. “That would work. You’re almost as clever as Taddy!”

“Well, good, but we’re having beans on toast for lunch, not porridge.”

“That’s okay, I like beans better.”

OoOoOoO

Meriel went skipping past Ianto, wearing her red coat and carrying a toy basket.

“Little Red Riding Hood, I presume.”

“Yep! I’m on my way to Grandma’s house,” Meriel said.

“This I must see. Can I be the woodcutter and rescue you?”

“Okay.” Meriel skipped away to her room, where Nosy, its fur all silvery grey, was tucked up in bed with a scarf tied around its head in place of a bonnet.

“Oh Grandma, what big eyes you have!”

“HUM!” Nosy agreed in surprisingly deep tones, goggling at her with huge, green eyes.

Smiling, Ianto watched as the story played out, with Nosy coiling around Meriel and pretending to gobble her up as the little girl giggled.

When he judged the moment to be right, Ianto strode forward, wielding an imaginary axe and pretending to hack at the Big Bad Wolf until Nosy released Meriel and its silvery fur returned to its usual green.

“It’s okay, Grandma, you’re safe!” Meriel threw her arms around her furry friend. She turned to Ianto. “Thank you, woodcutter.”

Ianto gave a sweeping bow. “Happy to be of service.”

OoOoOoO

The following day, Meriel was Cinderella, wearing her best nightie as she ran from the ballroom at midnight, or really noon, leaving behind a furry slipper that Prince Charming, also known as Nosy the Fluff, could use to track down the beautiful Princess it had danced with all night.

Jack was a bit miffed his daughter didn’t consider him charming enough to be the Prince and cast him as the wicked stepmother and both ugly sisters, but he swallowed his pride and did his best in all three roles; it was better than being left out of the game.

OoOoOoO

When Ianto found Nosy, its usual green colour this time, once again hanging from the balcony railing beside the stairs as Meriel laboriously climbed them, he didn’t need anyone to tell him what he was seeing, especially as Shaun, Nosy’s stuffed sheep, was sitting at the bottom of the steps standing in for the fairy tale’s cow.

“Ah, Meriel and the Nosy-stalk, I see. Would you happen to need a giant?”

“You’re not ferocious enough to be a giant, Taddy.”

“Maybe I’m a Big, Friendly Giant.”

“That’s the wrong story.”

“Really? Ah well.”

“You can be the giant anyway, I can just pretend you’re scary, like I pretended Nosy was scary as the Big Bad Wolf.”

“In that case, shouldn’t I be upstairs?”

“Hurry up!”

OoOoOoO

“What’s wrong, Princess?” Jack asked as Meriel wandered into the living room. He and Ianto had put her to bed over an hour ago; she was supposed to be asleep.

“I can’t sleep, there’s a big lump in my bed,” Meriel said, all wide-eyed solemnity.

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Jack followed his daughter into her bedroom and stared at the big lump in the middle of the bed before pulling the covers back to reveal Nosy, all coiled up.

“You’re a bit big for a pea.”

“Hum!”

Finally managing to get their daughter settled again, Ianto sighed. “This is my favourite fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty.”

Jack just laughed.

The End

[#078] Playing Make-Believe (Torchwood)

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