Chapter Text
“Have you two had sex yet?”
Bog’s innocent sip of water came flying back out of his mouth and across the dining room table like a geyser.
Despite her burning cheeks, Marianne pounded his back as he nearly hacked up a lung trying to regain composure.
“Ick! Bog, where are your manners?!” Griselda scolded as she brushed some of the spewed droplets off her arm, apparently oblivious to the inappropriate subject of her question. “You know better than that! Use a napkin!”
Marianne gaped at her.
Was this the ‘urgent business’ she needed to talk to them about?!
Seriously?!
“Gr-Griselda, with all due respect, that’s......an extremely private matter between Bog and myself.”
“Yes, dear, and ordinarily, I’d agree with you, but I’m afraid the…special circumstances of your courtship call for an open and honest discussion about this upcoming experience.”
Bog, now with a clear airway, looked up at her in mortified disbelief.
“What?!”
“No offense, honey, but frankly, if you were a goblin, I wouldn’t even be bringing this up at all.”
“What?!”
“But Fall is gonna be here very soon and since I wasn’t sure how far you two had gone in the physical sense-”
“What?!”
“-I knew we had to have this talk. Good thing too, because, judging from your reactions, I’m guessing you haven’t gone all the way yet.”
“What?!”
“Though I’m not certain if it would make much difference anyway if you had.”
“What?!”
“Bog, stop that!” Griselda demanded. “It’s very annoying!”
“Wait, wait wait!” Marianne cried, waving her hands in the air. “What are you talking about? What experience? And what does Fall have to do with it?”
“I’m talking about the Heat, sweetheart.”
“The……Heat?” Marianne repeated, eyes pinching with curiosity.
She looked over at Bog for some sort of clarification, but his humiliated face was cupped in his hands; the pads of his fingers massaged his temples as if he now had a throbbing headache.
Griselda was more than eager to take up the task of explaining.
“You know how in the Spring, you fairies tend to act……flirty? And you get certain……urges?”
“Yeeeeeees...?”
“Well, Fall is when that happens for goblins!”
“It is?”
Marianne glanced at Bog again, discomfort now taking a slot position and piqued interest pulling into the lead.
“Yes, but I’m afraid it’s nowhere near as tame as what you’re probably accustomed to. Not that I’m an expert on the sexual behavior of fairies, but it is pretty common knowledge around here that your kind is more on the……gentler side? When it comes to stuff like that?”
“Uh…”
“I see. Yeah, I didn’t think you fairies were very boisterous in the bedroom.”
“I-It’s not that we can’t!” Marianne countered, a tad offended by the assumption. “It’s just that-”
“Are you a virgin, dear?”
That shut her up.
Marianne’s eyes bugged and her face flushed red.
At the same time, Bog’s hands dropped to his lap and his head whipped up in a frozen expression of slack-jawed horror.
“Don’t look at me like that, Bog! It’s all crucial information! Since she apparently hasn’t had sex with you yet, if she’s had prior experience, it might be helpful.”
She turned to Marianne again.
“That blonde fairy-male, did you two-?”
“NO!” Marianne shouted in disgust, throwing her hands up in a frantic defensive gesture. “No, not him! Never ever EVER! Yes, Griselda, I am a virgin.”
“Aw, that’s nice! So is Bog!”
“Somebody kill me.”
Said king’s head thumped against the back of his bone-chair. His eyes squeezed tight, praying to the Creator that this whole exchange was just a nightmare.
“As precious as it is, though, it does complicate things more, unfortunately. I guess you will have to stay in the Fairy Kingdom for the first part of Fall, after all.”
“Huh?! What do you mean I have to-?”
“It’d only be for a little while.”
“But-”
“Just to be safe.”
“I don’t under-”
“Then you two can go back to being your adorable, little love-bug selves.”
“Griselda-”
The old queen clapped her hands and pushed away from the table, ready to stand.
“Thank goodness that’s all sorted now! I’m glad we could work this out! Well, toodle-!”
“HOLD IT!”
Marianne’s fists slammed onto the armrests of her chair with enough frustrated force to cause a thunderous *BOOM* to echo off the walls.
Griselda froze in place and Bog sat up in alarm.
“Nothing has been sorted! Nothing has been worked out! And I am not going anywhere until you back up and tell me exactly what this Heat is, and just what’s so…un-tame about it!”
“Marianne, please!” Bog begged, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of this room and forget that this whole conversation had ever occurred. “Can’t we just-?”
“No!”
She glared impatiently at Griselda.
“Well?”
The elder goblin blinked in astonishment, obviously not used to such a demanding personality from a fairy. It shouldn’t have been such a surprise. After all, the girl was royalty. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt a twinge of pride.
Boy, I cannot WAIT to be her mother-in-law!
Collecting herself, she sat back down with all the grace of her youth.
“I apologize, dear. I should’ve been more distinct.”
“More?!”
“Bog, be quiet!” Both ladies ordered.
“Go on, Griselda.”
“Okay, the Heat is the term we goblins use to describe our mating season. It lasts for the first two weeks of Fall. We call it Heat, because it’s like a fever. Male and female goblins, of breeding age, experience an undeniable urge to mate. That’s gonna be happening to Bog here pretty soon.”
“Mother, that’s ridiculous! I’ve never gone into Heat in my life!”
“Well of course you’ve never gone into Heat, you bonehead! You’ve never courted anyone before! Courting and bonded pairs, or even singles that were bonded or courting before, as long as they’re still young enough to bear children, they’ll all go into Heat.”
Marianne focused on Bog again, her eyes were beginning to shine with slightly wary, but still inquisitive fascination.
“What exactly is going to happen to Bog?”
The king refused to meet her gaze.
“Basically, he’s gonna wanna mate with you, dear. Very…very…very badly.”
“Mo-om!”
“So then……why should I stay away?”
Bog’s distressed eyes flickered in her direction. Even Griselda looked somewhat stunned.
“As I said before, honey, if you were a goblin, I wouldn’t be worried about this at all. You’d go into Heat with him and then the two of you would just screw like rabbits and be fine!”
A choked squeak made its way out of Bog’s throat.
“But since you’re not a goblin, and you both have never had sex, I just don’t think it would be very......safe for you to be around Bog while he’s in Heat. Your fairy skin is so naturally fragile in comparison to ours, his…enthusiasm would most likely be too much for you.”
Marianne opened her mouth to rebut, but Griselda beat her to it.
“I know you’re a tough girl, but this is a lot more involved than you might expect. Bog……wouldn’t be in his right mind, but at the same time, he sort of would be.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, he would recognize you as his mate. The fact that he’s sexually attracted to you in the first place, guarantees that. However, during Heat, his instincts will also make him recognize you as a goblin-female. A goblin-female that’s just as durable and as much in Heat as he is. Don’t get me wrong now! He would not force himself on you! That’s not how it works at all! He would just be very…persuasive. You know, more affectionate, dominant, and……seductive. There’s kind of a ritualistic order to it.”
Bog groaned and muttered something under his breath.
The princess grew quiet as she turned all this information over in her head.
“To tell you the truth,” Griselda went on, “I’d initially wondered if the two of you would even be sexually compatible in the first place! I had no idea how fairy-female goody bits compare to goblin female goody bits. When I was girl, I did hear rumors about fairy-male goody bits. If they were true, then apparently, they’re not too different from goblin-male goody bits.”
“Mom!” Bog cried, dragging his claws down his face and looking like he was about to vomit. “For the love o’ God, stop sayin’ ‘goody bits’!”
“Alright, alright! Excuse me, vagina and penis!”
Marianne flinched as Bog’s head hit the table with a pitiful grunt.
“We-We’re compatible, Griselda.” She said, clearing her throat awkwardly. “We’ve…checked.”
“Mari-anne!” Bog whined like a kicked boar. “Dorn’t tell ‘er that!”
Griselda rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please, Bog. As your mother, I think it should be fairly obvious that I’ve had my share of fooling around-”
“Oh dear God.”
“-so whatever you two have been doing together is hardly going to traumatize me.”
“I’ve died and gone to hell.” Bog declared, shrugging his shoulders and looking aimlessly around the room as if searching for the demons and flames. “That’s gotta be it. I’m dead and I’m in fucking hell!”
“BOG, THAT IS ENOUGH!!!”
Now it was Marianne’s turn to freeze and Bog’s spine practically turned into a bamboo tree. He couldn’t remember the last time his mother had used her angry-parent-voice on him, but he sure as heck didn’t forget to still be petrified of it.
The horned goblin's already beady eyes narrowed into black slits and despite having lost their sharpness ages ago, her bared teeth still managed to succeed at making her appear vicious.
“I AM GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF THIS, BOG! I KNOW THIS IS UNCOMFORTABLE TO TALK ABOUT! I WASN’T BORN YESTERDAY! BUT FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, YOU’RE NOT A PUPA ANYMORE! YOU’RE A GROWN GOBLIN, SO GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY AND START TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY! THIS IS IMPORTANT! THIS IS ABOUT HER WELL-BEING AND YOUR SANITY! AND AS FOR YOUR LANGUAGE, I HAVEN’T WASHED YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS, BUT DON’T YOU DARE THINK, FOR ONE SECOND, THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE AN ADULT AND THE KING, THAT MEANS I WON’T DO IT AGAIN! HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?!”
“Y-Yes!” Bog stammered. “Yes, mom! I-I mean, ma’am!”
“That’s better.”
Marianne might’ve found the parent-to-adult-child scolding session humorous……if she herself was just as freaked out by the elder’s sudden ire.
Geez, when Griselda’s temper was lost, she was absolutely terrifying.
“You are going to want have sex with her for three whole days! Wild, animal sex! Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
Marianne’s eyebrows shot up at the immediate change in Bog’s demeanor. The shy and embarrassed persona had been firmly replaced.
He was acting like a king now; all business and cold logic…despite the blush.
“I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but as someone who’s been through the Heat many times, I advise you two to separate for a month until it’s over.”
“A month?!” Marianne gasped, sitting up. “I thought you said the Heat only lasts for two weeks!”
“It does, honey, but since it would be too risky for Bog to mate with you, we’d have to keep you two apart for a month to make sure you wouldn’t renew it. We’d need to be sure it was completely out of his system before you could come back. Since it’ll also be his first Heat, it could possibly take even longer to pass.”
“That’s not fair! I already have to spend three to four months away during the Winter!”
Not to mention all the annual council meetings and other responsibilities they had to their respective kingdoms. At this rate, they’d only be able to see each other for less than half a year!
Neither goblin answered her. If Marianne thought she was upset, she should’ve seen Bog’s face at that moment.
“What would I have to do in the meantime, mother?”
“We’d have to keep you confined, otherwise you’d go out searching for her. I can’t imagine what King Dagda would do if the Fairy Guard caught you trying to sneak into his castle and deflower his daughter.”
Bog growled at the term.
“It’ll be painful. At first, it’ll seem like you're ill, but soon, you’ll feel like your brain is coming apart and your whole body is on fire. By the second week, you won’t be able to eat or sleep because the desire for your mate will be so intense. Without her here to…take care of you, eventually, you’ll be…beyond irritable and…savage. Then you’ll lose all your energy and be practically comatose for a couple of days.”
Finally, Marianne did catch the look on Bog’s face and what she saw sent ice through her veins…
He was staring at his free hand. He’d left it clenched on the tabletop.
…Loathing.
He was loathing himself. His predator body. His feral biology.
Her heart twisted and the gears started spinning in her mind. She couldn’t let him suffer like this!
Maybe…there was a more obvious solution.
“I know you love her more than anything else in the world, Bog, but her body is so delicate, and you’re gonna be so lust-driven you could bite, grab or scratch too hard-” *she snapped her fingers* “-just like that and she’d get seriously hurt.”
“Then that settles it! Marianne will stay away until the Heat is through.”
“Or,” the suddenly irritated fairy cut in, “Marianne will make her own decisions about this! So how about we stop talking about her like she’s not here?”
“Don’t be foolish, Marianne!” Bog hissed, rising from his seat.
“I am not being foolish!”
“Yes, ye are! I know what yer thinkin’, and the answer is no!”
“Bog, would you be reasonable?!” Marianne argued, now standing herself. “This Heat is part of who you are! Your nature as a goblin! We can’t just avoid it! Don’t you see how dishonest that would be? We’ve…already been talking about taking the next step in our relationship lately. Why not use this as an opportunity?”
Bog opened his mouth to reply, but his mother was faster.
“As much I appreciate the sentiment behind that, and as much as I want grandchildren, I’m really not sure if that’s such a good idea, honey. It’d just be too easy for an accident to happen! I know Bog would never hurt you on purpose, dear, but his…desire for you during Heat would be-!”
“But what if we planned ahead and prepared a safer way?”
“Well…I-I suppose, maybe there’s a-”
“NO! NO, I WON’T HEAR ANY MORE O’ THIS! I AM KING HERE, AND I FORBID IT!”
With that, Bog stormed out of the dining room, leaving his shocked mother and consort behind.
Marianne’s hands balled into fists and her face darkened with rage.
“Oh, no he didn’t!” She bit out as she marched after him. “Excuse me, Griselda!”
The old queen chewed her lip and silently wished the fairy all the luck in the world.
“Bog, don’t you walk away from me!” Marianne barked as she caught his arm and spun him around to face her. She wrenched his staff away and propped it against the hallway wall. “We are going to finish this discussion!”
“There is nothing to discuss! Ye heard what she said, I could seriously hurt ye! So ye’ll be stayin' in the Fairy Kingdom until my Heat is over! I will not risk yer safety! That’s the end of it!”
He turned to leave again, but Marianne harshly yanked him back a second time.
“That is not the end of it!”
Bog jerked his arm out of her grip and scowled at her.
“This isn’t a bloody game, Marianne!”
“I know that! I never thought it was!”
“Then drop it!”
“I will not ‘drop it’! Not until you hear what I have to say!”
“Marianne…” Bog snarled as he grabbed her by the shoulders.
She could feel the faint tremble in his hands; no doubt he was resisting the urge to literally shake some sense into her.
“We can’t do this! It’s too dangerous!”
She shrugged him off.
“I am not afraid of-”
“This has nothing to do with bein’ afraid or not!”
“Obviously, yes it does!”
“What are ye talkin’ about?!”
“You’re so afraid, you won’t even stop and consider an alternative! No, let’s just send Marianne back home like a naughty child!”
“I’M JUST TRYIN’ TO PROTECT YE!”
“I TOLD YOU, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!!!”
They glowered at each other, chests heaving in anger, but it did not last. As if by magic, their fury melted into something more dismal and contrite.
“Bog,” she whispered, “if I……go away…every year because of this, on top of migration and all the other things we have to do separately for our kingdoms, we’d…..we’d barely get to see each other! Is that really what you think is best for us? You won’t even at least, try to keep us together?”
The heartbreak in Bog’s eyes was as bright as the moon. No, he didn’t want her to leave. Yet, he was trapped between the proverbial rock and hard place. If she stayed, he might harm her.
He could even…!
The pang in Bog’s chest made his face crumple and he bowed his head. His lips pressed into a grim line and he exhaled a shuddering breath through his nose.
When he finally did look at her again, there was a tearful glaze over his blue eyes.
“Marianne, I……I just…” his hands lifted helplessly towards her face, “…if…if anythin' were to…happen to ye-”
He seemed to notice his claws for the first time. With a harsh growl, he fisted them and whipped them down to his sides. He looked away again, in sorrow and shame.
“I’d never forgive myself.”
The silence that followed was deafening and miserable, but thankfully, short-lived.
Heart brimming with emotion, Marianne stepped forward and placed a hand on Bog’s cheek.
“Bog, listen to me.”
She tried to turn his head to face her, but he wouldn’t move.
“Will you listen to me, please?”
She pulled harder until his eyes met hers. Her expression kind, but determined, she brushed her thumb against his skin.
“Have a little faith in yourself…and in me.”
His brow drew in confusion.
“Bog, you will not hurt me.”
“But-”
Two fingers stilled his lips.
“Shh! No, no ‘buts’. You will not hurt me, and do you know why?”
He blinked anxiously at her.
“Because you don’t want to hurt me……and because I won’t let you hurt me.”
A hesitant light touched Bog’s eyes.
She stepped closer and slid both of her hands to his chest.
“Bog, if this is going to be something that happens every year, now that we’re together, then we have to deal with it sometime. Why not now? I…I think we’re ready. Don’t you?”
“Well…y-yes, but if we take this next step, it should be on both our terms, not jus' mine because of somethin' I can’t control.”
“It won’t just be on your terms! It'll be on ours.” She bit her lip and bashfully looked away. “I want you, Bog. I’ve been wanting you…that way…for a long time now. You…You want me too, right?”
He frowned at her.
“Dorn’t be daft, Marianne! Of course I want ye! That’s not the point!”
“I know, I know.” A playful grin lifted her cheeks. “I’m just teasing; trying to lighten the mood. But seriously, Bog, if we…do it, when it’s the most difficult, then imagine how much easier everything will be afterwards. You’ll never have to worry about being too rough with me again! You’ll always know the limit!”
He still seemed doubtful.
“If I go back to the Fairy Kingdom, then my safety and our separation would be a certainty. If I stay with you, there are no certainties. Yes, there’s a chance of injury, but that’s true every time we’re intimate, and we haven’t had any issues yet. More importantly, there’s also the chance that everything will be okay and we won’t have to lose any more time together! Personally, considering the alternative, I would rather take the second option……and I know that’s what you really want too, because you’re just as selfish as I am. I trust you, and you trust me……so let’s be selfish together!”
Bog’s eyes searched hers, desperately trying to grasp for some sort of sensible contradiction, but it was all for naught.
She was right.
He surrendered with a deep sigh.
“Why can’t I ever win against ye?”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.” She chuckled, wrapping her arms around him. “You win plenty.”
He sighed again, but warmly returned her embrace.
It took another long pause before he spoke again.
“……I’m……I’m-”
“There’s nothing to be scared of. We’re going to be fine, Bog. I promise.” She leaned back enough to meet his eyes. “Your mom didn’t say you were going to attack me. She pretty much just said that you’re gonna get……super horny-”
Bog winced and looked away with a grumble.
“-and that your enthusiasm might be hazardous to a fairy. Well, I’m no ordinary fairy and I never back down from a challenge. But more than anything, I refuse to be separated from you any more than I already have to. I don’t care what the stupid risks are, I won’t do it. I love you; everything about you. I love that you’re a goblin, and everything you do because you’re a goblin.”
Overwhelmed, Bog’s eyes slid shut and Marianne moved her arms up to his neck, guiding him to bend down so she could tuck his head against her shoulder.
“I’ll have your mom tell me everything she knows that can help us make this as safe a process as we can. We’ll be as careful as possible.”
“…”
“So try not to worry, okay?”
“…”
“Hey, I bet you’ll thank me for this later!”
“…”
“Bog?”
“……Please…dorn’t make me regret this, Tough Girl.”
She couldn’t say anything more after that. Instead, she chose to kiss him for comfort and let it be.