YULETIDE FIC: Hidden (The Haunting of Hill House, Theo Gen, PG)
TITLE: Hidden
RATING: PG-13
FANDOM: The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
PAIRING: Theodora Crain/Trish Park, Theodora Crain/OFC
SUMMARY: Theo was used to hiding.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Written for templeandarche for Yuletide 2018.
Theo was used to hiding. It had started with the gloves, but it had only grown from there. She hid her gift, and she hid what had happened to her mother, and she hid … well, most everything, eventually. It’s not that she was afraid. It’s just that it was easier.
“I don’t want to go to the dance,” Theo said again. She was fifteen, and Aunt Janet had bought her a dress, anyway.
“Oh, I would,” Nellie said dreamily.
Theo smiled as Nellie twirled to imagined music.
“Maybe you’ll meet your Prince Charming!” Nellie said, giggling.
“It’s a school dance, Nellie,” Theo said. “No princes go to my school.”
“Is that what this is about?” Shirley asked. “No one asked you?”
Theo frowned. “Someone asked,” she said.
“Just not the right someone,” Aunt Janet guessed.
Bingo.
“Dances are stupid,” Theo said, but she allowed herself to be bullied into the dress, anyway.
***
Steven was in college, but he was home for Christmas break.
“Just tell me what you saw that night,” he said.
“No,” Theo said, but she couldn’t stop her mind from reporting, I saw Dad covered in blood.
And then, another, smaller voice inside her head: I saw them both covered in blood.
“Go help Luke with his new video game,” she said instead. “He’s been dying to play it with you.”
***
Theo was seventeen and hiding under the bleachers with her first girlfriend. The girl was sunny and blonde, a cheerleader for Christ’s sake. Theo had her hands up her skirt.
“Have you ever done this before?” the girl gasped.
“That bad, huh?” Theo asked in a deadpan.
“No, it’s just-”
The girl rutted on Theo’s fingers, and Theo could feel it: the girl liked Theo, liked her a lot, and she also liked the idea of being Theo’s first.
“I’m a late bloomer,” Theo said, “but a fast learner.”
She got down on her knees so she could use her mouth.
***
“I’m sorry,” Kate said again, and then she started to cry, which wasn’t fair; if anyone deserved to cry, it was Theo. “I didn’t mean to...”
Theo had just leaned in and kissed her, a hello kiss, not even any tongue, and it all came flooding into her mind: sweet Katie kissing other people. Plural.
“Get out,” Theo said, and she pulled her gloves up to her elbow, tugging at the elastic peevishly. It would be a while before she next took them off.
***
Nellie brought Theo a big bag of seashells from her honeymoon in Aruba.
“It’s so beautiful there, Theo,” Nellie said. “I just thought, maybe if you touched them, you could see it…”
Theo folded her little sister in a hug. “Thank you, Nellie. I love them.”
Later, Theo took off her gloves and held the seashells. Nellie was right; Theo could see the blue sky and the clear water, the white sand beaches. She could smell coconuts and suntan lotion. She could feel the warmth of Nellie’s hands as she dipped them into the tide to pluck up the prettiest shells to take home for Theo.
Later, when Nellie was gone, Theo sat in the dark holding the shells, crying so much she thought she would drown in it.
***
They waited in the hospital to see whether Luke would live or die. It was hours of antidotes and transfusions and doctors filtering in and out.
Finally, he opened his eyes.
“You scared the shit out of me,” Theo said.
Luke smiled. “You think you were scared?” he asked, and laughed.
***
Theo and Trish lay in bed in their new place. Theo wound her fingers through Trish’s, watched Trish’s dark eyes watching her.
“I don’t want us to have any secrets,” Theo said.
“Me neither.”
Theo turned to face her. “I mean it.”
Trish laughed a little. “Me too!”
Theo rested her forehead against Trish’s shoulder. “I promise I won’t,” she said. “I promise.”