tamingthemuse | Prompt #262 - Full of Win - Sleepover - Tekia

Title: Sleepover
Fandom: Original
Prompt: Full of Win
Warnings: none
Rating: G
Summary: Meria finds it hard being a child of two worlds

Meria tossed her book bag to the couch and flopped down with her arm over her eyes. Today had been utter rubbish.
She had long ago discovered there were things she loved and hated about the two worlds she lived in. She hated both as much as she loved both. There were times, of course that left her wishing she had a normal life, with only one world to keep track of. And then she’d wished to be in the other world, rather than which other world she was hating at the moment.
She sighed and tensed when she heard her little brother giggle from the upper floor. She sat up and scratched her hand through her hair. If her brother was giggling, then her mother must be up there with him. She took a bracing breath and slapped her knees as she stood. Better to get it over with right away.
She made her way upstairs and crept around the door to her little brother’s room.
Indeed, her mother was there, humming softly as she danced with Trajan, her hips swaying to the music that wasn’t there. She turned and spotted Meria and a smile bloomed on her face.
“Dance with us?”
Meria shook her head, but entered the room. She sat on Trajan’s little bed, hugging her knees to her chest.
Julia kept dancing with Trajan, but spoke with Meria. “Problems at school?”
Meria mumbled an answer into the flesh of her knees, here eyes lowered to her scuffed shoes. After a moment, Julia sat Trajan down and he rushed to his closet to pull out the box of toys hidden within. Julia sat next to Meria and wrapped her arm around her thin shoulders. “Tell me about it?”
“It’s nothing different, but now they’re making everything worse by saying I live in a hovel and that’s why I never invite anyone over.” She finally looked up at her mother. “They invited themselves over this weekend.”
Julia’s eyes went wide before she quickly hid a laugh behind her hand. She turned her head away, but it was too late.
“Mother! It’s not funny!”
“From where I stand, it is.” She sobered and returned her arm around Meria’s shoulders. “Dearest, we never said you couldn’t have friends over.”
“They’re not my friends.”
“I know. Why don’t you make friends here?”
“I don’t like the people here. They’re stupid and shallow.” She rolled her eyes and adopted a false accent. “Like, oh my god, you have no idea how stupid they can be! It’s, like, so annoying when they have giggle fits over my accent, and then the next thing you know, they want to be totally BFF’s, and it’s so full of win when they discover that now they can come into my own home and mock me there.”
Julia’s smile was two parts sad, one part longing. She hugged her daughter closer and rested her chin on her mop of black hair. “Oh, dear. Maybe you should give them something to mock?”
Meria pulled away to glare at her mother. Her voice went back to normal as she raged, “Mum! That’s not helping!”
“Well, did you tell them where you lived?”
Meria paused, “I did.” Her brow lowered. “Why didn’t I think of not telling them?”
Julia smiled, but was smart enough to bite back her laugher.
“What am I going to do? I think things would be fine, if we closed the portal and left Dads on the other side.”
“He’d never go for that.”
“Where is he, anyway?”
“Out back. Since we put in that shed, I think he’s found a new passion.”
“What’s he building this time?”
Julia shrugged, then opened her arms for Trajan to tumbling into. “Maybe he’ll stay out there all weekend?”
“Mom!”
Julia smiled again, looking guileless like a master of duplicity. Meria narrowed her eyes. She loved her mother, and she envied her mother as well. Her mother was so amazing at what she did. She ran this household in two worlds, held open the portal to both the worlds, and controlled an ancient Roman, and all with a cunning smile. Still, she hated how her mother always wore that mask.
Somehow, she felt that her father did that to her.
“How about we go talk with him and see what needs to be done?”
Meria’s scowl fell. “What good will that do? He’ll just say they can come over, we can close the portal, and then he’ll embarrass me without trying.”
“That’s what parents do,” Julia commented. “There’s no helping it.”
“Yeah, but normal parents don’t go all Roman on people and act like they’re the king of all they survey.”