Chapter Text
Waverly slammed the laptop closed when she heard footsteps. Leaning forward, she placed her arm on top of it and tried to act casual, but she knew she wasn’t succeeding. Luckily, her sister typically paid no attention to what others were doing.
Except for right now, apparently.
“Why are you acting weird?” Wynonna pulled a face when a thought crossed her mind, “Ew. Were you video-sexing with Chump?”
“First, his name is Champ. Second, no. I was just- just- doing some research,” Waverly said, stumbling over her words.
“Uh huh. Take it from me,” Wynonna said as she pulled open the refrigerator door, grimacing at the near-empty shelves. “If you’re going to lie about something, don’t make it up at the last minute. Have at least a basic idea of where you are going with the lie before you start talking. The stammering gives it away every time.”
She then pulled out a box with leftover pizza, “How old do you think this is?” Not waiting for an answer, Wynonna opened the box and took a bite of a cold slice.
“Now let’s try that again,” she muttered through a mouthful of pizza. “Whatcha up to?”
“Revenant research,” Waverly replied promptly and confidentially, while internally rolling her eyes at the absurdity of the conversation. Admittedly, Wynonna had been lying longer than Waverly had been alive, so maybe a few lessons couldn’t hurt.
Swallowing, the older sister replied, “Much better.”
Leaving the room with the pizza box, she yelled back over her shoulder, “I’m gonna try to get some sleep, keep the sexy talk low, please.”
Groaning, Waverly reopened her laptop. She knew the more she denied it, the more Wynonna would tease her, so she ignored the comment and returned her focus to her favorite hobby.
Writing fanfic.
📝
Waverly was cleaning up the mess left by the broken tap. Her thoughts drifted to the honey-brown eyes of the woman she had just met.
Deputy Nicole Haught definitely lived up to her name. Plus, the Deputy was totally hitting on her. Waverly had never experienced someone flirting with her without wanting something in return, usually a free drink. The short encounter with Nicole Haught sent jolts of electricity shooting through her veins.
Waverly worked on autopilot for the rest of her shift. Pouring drinks and flashing her smile when needed. As the day went on, Deputy Haught continued to occupy her thoughts.
She’d had crushes on girls as well as boys when she was growing up. In middle school, she mentioned something about cute girls. Unfortunately, Stephanie Jones overheard her and called her sickening. Waverly never said anything again and kept her focus strictly on the boys.
Champ was the ‘only one who would date an Earp,’ as he often reminded her. She told herself she was lucky to have him. Since Wynonna’s return, though, Waverly found herself questioning everything about her own life.
She knew Champ cheated on her. The entire town knew he cheated on her. Did she really want to spend the rest of her life waiting for him to decide to come home while she raised a house full of children by herself?
The new deputy hit on her, but then again, Deputy Haught had not been in town long enough to hear all of the Earp stories. Waverly presumed that Nicole would soon begin to avoid her. But does that mean she must stay with Champ?
Maybe, just maybe, Wynonna could break this curse, and then the two sisters could leave Purgatory and never look back.
📝
Meeting Deputy Haught pushed Waverly to reflect on her life. That night, Waverly locked herself in her room and did what she always did when her thoughts became overwhelming.
She wrote a fanfic.
After discovering fanfics in her early teens, it quickly became a comfort for Waverly. Reading helped calm her nerves and made her feel less lonely.
Eventually, she began writing fanfics. There was occasional polite criticism of her stories, but most of her readers left positive feedback. The comments always lifted her mood, but that wasn’t the reason she wrote the stories.
Guiding characters through ups and downs similar to her own experiences gave her an outlet to examine her own thoughts and feelings.
So, using the Schitt’s Creek fandom, she wrote a conversation between David and Mutt. In particular, Mutt helped David realize he didn’t need to fit into a mold created by the expectations of others.
After editing and touching up her story, she posted it to the fanfic site before falling asleep.
📝
Days later, Dolls and Wynonna had asked Waverly to work with BBD as a research consultant. To calm her nerves the evening before her first day at the new job, she opened her laptop to search for a fic to read.
Before skimming through her list of marked stories, she noticed there were unread comments from her last fic. She read through them, replying to a few before coming upon one from a new account.
I would say i am disappointed but that would imply that i expected anything other than total garbage from someone as clearly untalented as you and you have once again proven that you are the king of the hacks with your mindless rambling and your incoherent nonsense that passes for a story in your deluded mind but the rest of us know that this is just a giant pile of trash and that you are a complete failure who needs to find a new hobby immediately. *
Stunned, Waverly reread the comment. Why would someone be so mean? No one was forced to read her work. Those who didn’t like a work could move on and find something else. At least that’s what the rules tell you to do.
Dismissing the comment as someone who was having a bad day, she deleted it and read for a while before calling it a night. By morning, she had forgotten all about the strange comment left on her work.
📝
“Wave?”
“Baby Girl?”
“WAVERLY!”
“Wynonna, why are you yelling?” Waverly said, her eyes wide with surprise.
“Because I called your name three times and you didn’t even look up.” Wynonna swallowed the last bite of her meal and moved to grab the laptop away from her sister. “What are you typing away at?”
“Research,” Waverly answered quietly while snatching the laptop back out of her sister’s grasp.
“Nice try, Wave. Never play poker. You can’t lie for shit.” Wynonna shook her head as she pointed her fork at her younger sister to emphasize her statement. “Honestly. How are we even related?”
“Is it really such a bad thing? Not lying well.” Waverly closed her laptop and tried to steer the conversation away from her writing.
“Depends,” Wynonna shrugged.
“Depends on what?”
“Depends on why you’re lying?”
Frowning, Waverly looked her sister in the eye and said, “That made no sense.”
“See,” Wynonna said, “I know you’re telling the truth this time.”
Groaning, Waverly stood, cleared the table, and began washing the dishes.
“Soooooo….” Wynonna said, pulling herself up to sit on the counter, and turning her body to rest her head on Waverly’s shoulder.
“So, what?” Waverly flicked her shoulder to get her sister to move her head.
“Writing love notes to Chump?” Wynonna couldn’t help but sneer when she said his name. She couldn’t stand that guy, even when he was a little kid.
“I broke up with him,” Waverly said, happy to find a change of subject, even this one.
Surprised, Wynonna sat up straight, eyes open wide.
“Before you ask, it’s for good this time.” Waverly glanced at her sister out of the side of her eye and saw one eyebrow raised, obviously not believing the younger Earp.
“I’m serious, Nonna. I’m tired of his cheating. Working for Uncle Curtis was the longest job he’s ever held, and that was only six months. Now he says he won’t go back because the ranch has bad vibes.”
Wynonna reached out and rubbed her sister’s back. “I’m not going to pretend like I’m sorry, but can I ask what opened your eyes?”
Waverly was quiet for a few moments, searching for the right words. “It’s tough to be an Earp in this town.”
Wynonna grunted, but otherwise kept her mouth shut, so Waverly continued.
“I deliberately changed myself, or at least how I’m perceived, after you left. Perfected the smile and wave, became the nicest person in Purgatory, head cheerleader, dated the quarterback, yada, yada, yada. But it wasn’t me.”
After blowing out a deep breath, Waverly continued.
“I never once had a real conversation with Champ. Just superficial talk about how good looking he is, how Nedley wouldn’t help him become a cop, how he had to quit whatever job he had because he was being disrespected.”
Waverly dried her hands and sat back down at the table. Wynonna slid off the counter and sat next to her.
“I got hit on last week. Not the drunken ’I want a free drink’ kind. I was asked out for coffee. It doesn’t matter who it was,” she said, smiling as Wynonna opened her mouth to ask.
“It just got me thinking,“ she gave a one-shoulder shrug, “maybe there’s more out there than settling for a guy who peeked in high school and is still trying to relive those days. Did you know he drops by high school parties and hangs around the school parking lot after the final bell?”
“I did not, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Wynnonaa nodded.
“Anyway, one of the ways I work out my feelings is to write about them.” Waverly’s voice became quieter as she spoke, waiting for Wynonna to laugh.
“Like a diary?” Wynonna asked.
“Not exactly. More like stories. Fictional stories.” She started to ramble as she confessed her big secret. “Fanfic. I mean, I’m sure you think it’s dumb or a waste of time. But I enjoy it, and it helps. Especially living in Purgatory.”
“Waverly,” Wynonna tried to interrupt.
“No one knows me when I post. They especially don’t know anything about me being an Earp. It’s fun. I can use already developed characters and fictional situations, but no one knows that it’s based on a true story. My story.”
“Waverly!” Grinning widely, Wynonna raised her voice a bit, trying to get her sister’s attention.
Waverly’s voice became more frantic and higher-pitched as she continued. “Or just write something that I know I would enjoy reading, ya know? I really like to read fanfic, too. To see other writers’ imaginations at work. It doesn’t matter if it’s long or short. And some readers will leave comments. And that’s kind of an endorphin high, ya know? I mean, I write for myself, but I enjoy sharing my work too, ya know?”
“Waverly!” Wynonna reached over and grabbed Waverly’s hand that had been flying around during her rambling. Waverly looked at her sister with timid eyes, expecting Wynonna to make a smart remark about her favorite pastime.
“I love this,” Wynonna said gently.
“You do?” Waverly’s brow furrowed, waiting for a punch line.
“Of course, and I like reading fanfic, too.“
Seeing Waverly’s surprised face, Wynonna added, “What? Did you think I couldn’t read or something?”
Chuckling, Waverly said, “I was afraid you would laugh.“
“This town really did a number on both of us, huh? You’re too afraid to admit you like to write stories or even be yourself in public. I’m too toxic for anyone to be in the same room.” Sighing and slouching back into her chair, Wynonna continued, “We need new blood in this town. The same families have lived here for a couple of centuries now.“
“Hey, speaking of which, I met Nedley’s new deputy. She seems nice. Have you talked to her? What’s she like?” Waverly asked, trying not to look too eager.
“Red’s nice enough, for a narc. Nedley loves her.”
When Waverly raised her eyebrows, Wynonna rolled her eyes and continued, “Not like that. She actually knows what she’s doing and isn’t hesitant about doing it. Of course, compared to Lonnie, she’d be a rock star just by showing up on time.” Chuckling, Wynonna said, “Plus, she calls him ‘sir’. I think that’s giving him a big head.”
Tilting her head when a thought struck her, Wynonna asked, “Champ wants to be a cop?”
“Yeah. He thinks he can take a cruiser to a quiet spot and sleep in it all day. Then toss his badge around to get free stuff,” Waverly rolled her eyes.
Wynonna snort-laughed. “He would move Lonnie from being Barney Fife to Sherlock Holmes.”
Waverly saw Wynonna shiver at the thought of Champ Hardy with a badge.
“Don’t worry. Nedley would never hire him. Nedley even said it to Champ’s face, but he’s too stubborn to give up on the idea.”
“Well, the last thing Purgatory needs is another Earp shtuping a cop. If nothing else, Mama at least taught us that.”
Although it was a vague reference, Waverly was surprised that Wynonna brought up their father.
Wynonna stood, opened the cabinet above the refrigerator, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. Waverly watched her sister not even bother with a glass and took a long pull straight from the bottle.
Taking the bottle from her sister, Waverly took a mouthful for herself. Smacking her lips afterward, she looked at the label, “Since when do you have the good stuff hanging around the house?”
“Technically, it’s Doc’s. But, you snooze, you lose.” The older sister said smugly and started to leave the room, but stopped at the door and spun around.
“Hey, can I read your stuff sometime?”
“Yeah, my handle on the site is AngelPants,” Waverly said, resigned to the fact that even if she declined, Wynonna would hound her until she gave in.
“You’re AngelPants?” Wynonna’s eyes grew larger, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Ummm, yeah.”
“I love your stuff. The latest one you posted was fantastic.”Wynonna’s tone shifted. “I saw that comment some rando left. You get shit like that a lot? Do I need to have Dolls do a deep dive to find out who that asshole is so I can kick some ass?”
Waverly chortled, “I forgot about that. I think it was a bot. I mean, it was a criticism, but it was one long sentence. I deleted and reported it. The site is pretty good about keeping up with stuff like that.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
As Wynonna turned to leave the room, Waverly said, “Hey, what’s your account name?”
Shouting over her shoulder as she walked, Wynonna said, “BaconDonuts. Hey, bonfire after I take a shower, AngelPants?”
“I’m all in for that BaconDonuts.”
Waverly chuckled to herself as she opened her laptop to resume her writing until bonfire time.