Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cute. Runaan thinks. He thinks about how strong little Rayla has become from the past few months. She was barely alive when they found her. Soaked from the rain, cold, even too weak to cry for help. There was no blanket, no basket, no note... just a little baby elf lying on the ground, whimpering. Tinker insisted to defend the baby and look after until they can find out who her parents were but that was a bust. Nobody knew the child nor anyone who they knew who was missing one. After a long discussion, Tinker finally convinced Runaan and came to a settlement that they both will raise her. 

They both had absolutely no clue on how to raise a baby moonshadow elf.

But here we are, Runaan fearfully hiding up a chestnut tree from the armed Rayla. His plan? Throw chestnuts into bushes to keep her occupied until Tinker comes back or until she wears out. He estimated that Tinker would be back soon. Unexpectedly, he heard whimpers from down below. 

Oh, no.

Runaan ran so fast to Rayla dragons themselves would’ve gotten whiplash. He scooped her up and fumbled to make her not cry. She eventually fell silent. It wasn’t that hard, it was just a little... too... easy...

He realizad it was a trap.

Set up by a barely one year old.

Rayla’s plan was to cry so Runaan would come down. He watched as she happily picked up the blades she was given and without a care in the world, chased him around for the second time today. Terrified, he ran away and hid up a tree yet again. Rayla was giggling whilst Runaan just saw his life flash before him. 

Oh, no wait. That was his boyfriend. 

Tinker landed landed on a branch on his right. He looked questionably at Runaan, and then at Rayla who was now under that tree and asked, “So, what did you two do today?”

”Oh, the usual. Isn’t the afternoon beautiful today? Bright sun, blooming flowers, Buttercup is having fun, right?” 

“You gave her blades. She now thinks chasin’ you with them is a game.”

”Yep, I regret encouraging her to walk at a young age. Please help?” Runaan looked at him with pleading eyes. 

Tinker groaned and agreed. It wasn’t hard to get Rayla to put down the weapon. All he did was jump onto the ground, which made her drop the weapons and hop into a giant bear hug. Soon enough Runaan joined too and swiftly took away the blades on the floor.

“Rayla! Wha’ have you been up to today?” Tinker asked. Although Rayla couldn’t comprehend full sentences, she still managed to get out a description of her day through baby words and saying “dis one!” and “da’ one!” occasionally. And besides, Tinker already knew what happened while he was gone.

~

It’s pretty hard to feed little Ronnie. As a picky eater, it’s hard to find any food that she enjoys, especially when they’re all living in the wild. Tinker and Runaan have come up with a foolproof plan that never failed.

Back at camp, all of Runaan’s methods of stopping Rayla’s ‘hangry’ wails were futile. It was just as he was about to give up when Tinker walked in with a plate of mashed potatoes and peas. The one dish that is easiest to harvest and the one dish Rayla absolutely hates. 

This is were the plan comes in. 

Tinker placed the plate on the table and immediately saw Rayla’s reaction. He quickly and excitedly yelled “who wants potatoes?!”. The young one instantly joined into the party mood and chanted “potayoes!” along with him. Then Runaan feeds her while Tinker distracts her with the Potato Party. It was simple, it was fast, it was messy, yes, but worth it.

After the whole fiasco (yes Runaan joined in, obviously), Rayla nibbled on a boiled carrot for teething. Runaan was on dishes and Tinker was cleaning up the rest of the food that... didn’t... make it.

~

It was almost time for bed for Rayla when the couple realised that Rayla was an absolute mess! The mud from that morning combined with the dinner from before screamed bath time. “Tinker, get the water heated so you can bathe Rayla before bed,” Runaan instructed while picking up Rayla from her position. “Me? No, no, no, no. I did it last time. It’s your turn!”

“What? I thought we agreed on on every second day?!”

“That’s not fair! We usually run out of water every second day!”

“Nope! Your doing it!”

“No, you!”

“C’mon just do it for once”

“No it’s-”

“Waaaah!!” All this fuss was freaking out the little bean. Tinker and Runaan gave worried looks to each other before drawing their attention to Rayla and to stop the tears. To be honest, Rayla was pretty scary when it’s bath time and the two of them were just too scared to give her a bath. Eventually, the trio decided it would be best for everyone to help out at bath time.

It was a nightmare.

Rayla was actually pretty calm before the bath. Only because she had absOLUTELY NO CLUE ABOUT THE BATH! Runaan kept Rayla distracted until she was placed in the ‘bath’ (it was basically a small bucket). Once she was in, pure shock that washed over her and the look of betrayal the little elf gave was hilarious!

Until the war happened.

Rayla gave out a blood curdling scream of panic as she flailed her arms around, which resulted in Tinker and Runaan soaked in water. Tinker grabbed Rayla in place as Runaan tried to scrub the dirt off her. They both tried to coax her, telling her that she was so brave and that there’s nothing to be afraid of. It was a battle of restraining and comforting words. 

It felt like forever, but in the end, they had Rayla in her pj’s, in front of a small fire. She tried her best to ignore the ’traitors’ but she couldn’t help it when Tinker engulfed her in a hug. “Come on, sweet pea. Let’s get you to bed,”.

~

Bedtime wasn’t as much as a battle as anything else. It was more time consuming because Rayla didn’t want sleep to get to her. She liked to play a game in which she points to anything and asks “was dat?”, keeping only herself occupied. Runaan and Tinker usually just stop answering her questions eventually. Her record? Three hours past bedtime.

And counting.

Runaan groaned in frustration. It was difficult not answering because he often has to focus all his attention to her. Sometimes he wished he was a heavy sleeper like Tinker. It was when Rayla called for him for the sixty-ninth time when he got out of bed and went to the other side of the room  and sat down to where she slept. She excitedly got up and jumped up and yelled “Wrunaan! Wrunaan, Wrunaan! Was dat!?” pointing at the tools on Tinker’s work desk. Runaan didn’t answer that. He couldn’t answer that. God knows what’s on his desk. It’s organised chaos.

Runaan smiled and stared lovingly at Rayla as she climbed over the gate of her bed. They always knew she could get out of that gate(she actually showed them) but it still remains. When she landed on the floor, Runaan allowed her to climb onto his lap, then she cuddled with him. There was a comforting silence. Rayla wasn’t asleep, just silently messing with his hair. Runaan was doing the same, swaying from side to side, mostly seeing how her hair glows and glimmers in the moonlight. 

Runaan sighed which caught the attention of the little elf. He gave her a reassuring look and smile but that wasn’t convincing. She still gave that disbelief look. Runaan huffed and gave up on silently assuring her. 

“Rayla, I look at you now and see how much you’ve grown,” Runaan chuckled softly. “You are sproutin’ too fast! I thought you were old enough to start training with blades. Maybe we should use sticks instead, huh?” She gave out the first yawn in hours. Runaan’s eyes widened.

Teeth!

“Sweetcake, show me your teeth, please.” She proudly gave a great toothy smile. The two lower teeth were now accompanied by two more bottom jaw incisors and a little bit of the incisors up above joining the party. And with the development of teeth comes with the development of... 

A small gasp, then Runaan rumpled her hair and stared at two stumps of a horn. They were colourless with only a small hue of purple and the more whiter pattern swirled around like vines and a fine line pen. Her growth is surprising.

“I remember the day we found you. You were so small, so weak and silent. You barely responded and in pain and didn’t want to feed and I-” he silenced himself, quivering slightly. “Now, you’re so strong and energetic,” she placed her chubby hands onto Runaan’s cheeks and laid her forehead onto his, something she learned which displayed care and affection from Tinker and Runaan showing her (and to each other, let’s not doubt). 

Rayla sat back down and continued to fiddle with the strand of his hair, waiting for Runaan to continue. Instead, he swayed back and forth and wrapped around her.

Let’s go in the garden

You’ll find something waiting

Right there where you left it

Lying upside down

When you finally find it

You’ll see how it’s faded

The underside is lighter 

When you turn it around

Rayla softly joined in, closing her eyes and letting go of the strand.

Everything stays

Right where you left it

Everything stays

But it still changes

Ever so slightly 

Daily and nightly

In little ways

Where everything stays.

Looking down, he watched as the baby moonshadow elf- his baby moonshadow elf, drift off to sleep. Gently caressing her head while allowing tears to fall from his eyes, he welcomed love with open arms for the second time in his life.

Chapter Text

Midnight.

Runaan shook from the trance he put himself in after putting Rayla back to bed. There was still tears on his face when he watched the even rise and fall on the baby’s chest. Though he felt a a presence in the room, he wasn’t shocked at the all too familiar figure approaching beside him. 

Tinker wiped the tear off him, caressed his cheek and sat down. There was complete silence, yes, but the silent communication told everything. Tinker now knew what was going through Runaan’s head.

“You’ve barely ever seen me so vulnerable before,” he smiled, obviously burrowing the situation down deeper.

Tinker trailed off for a while. “The night we believed... she wouldn’t make it,” every thought— every blink, contained memories of that night. That night was full of pain, fear and more unknown emotions. So much so that it was too hard to control. Runaan didn’t know Tinker was watching that night. He even felt alone in front of Rayla, who he was mourning over. “You saw me?” He asked and got a silent nod.

“You were miserable that day. I could feel that you weren’t handling it well but I saw that you were hiding your emotions,” Tinker pressed his forehead against his. Bright blue eyes meeting emerald green. “There was no need to hide your emotions, angel,” he whispered before sneaking in a quick peck.

“I guess... it’s instinct, you see,” Runaan unknowingly looked away “I became an assassin for defense and to fight for the ones I love and how such intense emotions should not be shown in battle. I was trying to protect her and help her in this battle she was fighting... and when all thought that we won’t succeed, that adrenaline of an instinct wore off. I had to hide the pain because... I hid the truth from myself.” A small sense in the air made it hard to continue. They could both feel it. Tink didn’t urge on.  “Now it’s impossible, isn’t it? Rayla is full of surprises that it’s hard not to express,” his shoulders hunched and quaked a bit. Tinker took his head through his hands and made Runaan face him. 

“Runaan, I can assure you that every living has a fear. You wouldn’t be an assassin if you didn’t fear that your land would be destroyed. Nor would I fear that trouble will come upon us when we’re most happy. But I believe that fear shouldn’t stop you from giving up”

”I guess so.” Runaan could only agree. His attention shifted back to the sleeping child. Tinker picked her up and gently and laid her back in the cot. He faced Runaan who stood up and kissed him lightly.

”Get back to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.” Tinker whispered. They both took a quick glance back at Rayla before returning back to bed for the night.