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fandomweekly2026-03-16 08:27 am
soricel) wrote in fandomweekly2026-03-16 08:27 am
Entry tags:
[#292] The Ordinary World (Raven Cycle)
Theme Prompt: #292 – Daydreaming
Title: The Ordinary World
Fandom: Raven Cycle
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 656
Gansey was used to getting caught daydreaming.
It didn't happen often; his daydreaming always involved note-taking, which made his less-observant teachers assume he was paying attention to their warmed-over lectures...even though his notes were all about ley lines and legends, not anything nearly as mundane as the Teapot-Dome Scandal or the carbon cycle, and often written in runes far more arcane than even the most complex calculus formulas.
When Gansey did get caught, though, he could usually play it off with the politician's smile he'd inherited from his mom, or else a judo-like reversal of a teacher's question that more often than not got him rewarded for his curiosity, especially from those teachers who liked nothing more than an opportunity to hear themselves extemporate on some subject tangential to their curricular scripts.
Today, though, he'd been caught off guard...and not by a teacher, but by Ronan.
"Uh...you missed the turn for Adam's." Ronan turned down the volume on the Pig's staticky radio with a sharp twist of his wrist.
"So I did," Gansey murmured, sounding more confused than chastised as his eyes drifted to the rear-view mirror to see the sign for Adam's trailer park receding in a cloud of the Pig's exhaust. He let the car roll to the shoulder of the narrow road before executing a three-point turn that required him to marshal enough of his attention to force him to pause his reveries for the time being.
He was glad for that. Not because he was opposed to reveries; he reveled in reveries. But he was used to daydreaming about dead Welsh kings...not very-much-alive girls with spiky hair and crazy-quilt dresses.
"Penny for your thoughts." The way Ronan said it made it sound like he would have been willing to pay much more not to hear whatever Gansey was thinking about...and that was fine with Gansey. It wasn't that he was afraid Ronan would rib him for admitting to his crush on Blue, or even that the confession might make its way to Adam. It was that having a crush on Blue--having a crush on anyone--felt wrong somehow, in a way that felt harder to explain than any of the esoteric theories that filled the pages of his notebook.
"Oh, the usual," Gansey said, plucking a mint leaf from the sprig bobbing in the cupholder beside him. However unconvincing it sounded, Ronan seemed satisfied with the answer. He rolled down the passenger side window and stretched out his arm as if trying to snatch fistfuls of the gentle spring breeze. When he saw Adam appear outside his trailer, his waggling hand snapped into a sharp wave and he thrust his head out the window to bellow Adam's last name, making it sound like he was commanding the whole trailer park to PERISH.
Gansey smiled, making the turn he'd missed earlier. Pebbles popped pleasantly under the Pig's tires as Adam began shuffling up the road to meet them halfway.
They had things to talk about. Glendower things, not...girl things. And that felt right. As it should be. Because daydreaming about Blue had almost felt like cheating on the old Welsh king, the pursuit of whom had become the object of his Hero's Journey. Imagining himself with Blue, doing all the things regular kids did when they had crushes on each other, felt like getting stuck in the Ordinary World, refusing the Call to Adventure. How could he justify that, given all that he had been given in this life--these lives? He was supposed to do something to make his existence worth the universe's generosity. Something big. Something more.
But as he watched Ronan jump out of the Pig when he put it in park, closing the distance between himself and Adam in a few strong strides, he thought the saw something on both of their faces that made him feel like maybe crushes were enough. Maybe the Ordinary World was something more.
Title: The Ordinary World
Fandom: Raven Cycle
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 656
Gansey was used to getting caught daydreaming.
It didn't happen often; his daydreaming always involved note-taking, which made his less-observant teachers assume he was paying attention to their warmed-over lectures...even though his notes were all about ley lines and legends, not anything nearly as mundane as the Teapot-Dome Scandal or the carbon cycle, and often written in runes far more arcane than even the most complex calculus formulas.
When Gansey did get caught, though, he could usually play it off with the politician's smile he'd inherited from his mom, or else a judo-like reversal of a teacher's question that more often than not got him rewarded for his curiosity, especially from those teachers who liked nothing more than an opportunity to hear themselves extemporate on some subject tangential to their curricular scripts.
Today, though, he'd been caught off guard...and not by a teacher, but by Ronan.
"Uh...you missed the turn for Adam's." Ronan turned down the volume on the Pig's staticky radio with a sharp twist of his wrist.
"So I did," Gansey murmured, sounding more confused than chastised as his eyes drifted to the rear-view mirror to see the sign for Adam's trailer park receding in a cloud of the Pig's exhaust. He let the car roll to the shoulder of the narrow road before executing a three-point turn that required him to marshal enough of his attention to force him to pause his reveries for the time being.
He was glad for that. Not because he was opposed to reveries; he reveled in reveries. But he was used to daydreaming about dead Welsh kings...not very-much-alive girls with spiky hair and crazy-quilt dresses.
"Penny for your thoughts." The way Ronan said it made it sound like he would have been willing to pay much more not to hear whatever Gansey was thinking about...and that was fine with Gansey. It wasn't that he was afraid Ronan would rib him for admitting to his crush on Blue, or even that the confession might make its way to Adam. It was that having a crush on Blue--having a crush on anyone--felt wrong somehow, in a way that felt harder to explain than any of the esoteric theories that filled the pages of his notebook.
"Oh, the usual," Gansey said, plucking a mint leaf from the sprig bobbing in the cupholder beside him. However unconvincing it sounded, Ronan seemed satisfied with the answer. He rolled down the passenger side window and stretched out his arm as if trying to snatch fistfuls of the gentle spring breeze. When he saw Adam appear outside his trailer, his waggling hand snapped into a sharp wave and he thrust his head out the window to bellow Adam's last name, making it sound like he was commanding the whole trailer park to PERISH.
Gansey smiled, making the turn he'd missed earlier. Pebbles popped pleasantly under the Pig's tires as Adam began shuffling up the road to meet them halfway.
They had things to talk about. Glendower things, not...girl things. And that felt right. As it should be. Because daydreaming about Blue had almost felt like cheating on the old Welsh king, the pursuit of whom had become the object of his Hero's Journey. Imagining himself with Blue, doing all the things regular kids did when they had crushes on each other, felt like getting stuck in the Ordinary World, refusing the Call to Adventure. How could he justify that, given all that he had been given in this life--these lives? He was supposed to do something to make his existence worth the universe's generosity. Something big. Something more.
But as he watched Ronan jump out of the Pig when he put it in park, closing the distance between himself and Adam in a few strong strides, he thought the saw something on both of their faces that made him feel like maybe crushes were enough. Maybe the Ordinary World was something more.