Fire Next Time, by Miss M (M)

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

Fandom: RÓMEÓ ÉS JÚLIA
Pairings and Characters: Tybalt/Mercutio, Tybalt/Julia, Tybalt/Lady Capulet, Friar Laurence
Length: 2877 words
Author on LJ: miss_morland
Author Website: fic on AO3
Why this must be read:

This is an iceberg story, the kind of story that fits more into fewer words than you expect. It's very subtly almost five things story--each scene illuminates Tybalt's relationship with another character (Julia, Friar Laurence, Mercutio, Lady Capulet, and Julia again), but in a way that carries Tybalt through growing up from a boy who's already damaged but not yet broken to the man he is in canon, bracketed by how his relationship with Julia changes. Gorgeously written, dark, and emotionally complex, this is one of my very favorite takes on a backstory for Tybalt, and a smart glimpse at several of the other characters as well.

Some semi-explicit sexual content between teenagers, plus similar level of general themes of misogyny, incestuous feelings, and violence as canon.

"Tybalt," said Lady Capulet, "come here."

Her eyes met his in the mirror. She was sitting by her dressing table, he was hovering by the door, waiting for her to tell him why he was summoned. "My lady," he said, bowing. A careful polite gesture, of the sort that she and his uncle tried to make him practice each hour of the day. It seemed to please her, for she smiled.

"It has been a year," she said, briefly surprising him. Reaching for a chest on the floor, she looked at him in the mirror again, her eyes gliding over him from head to toe. "He wanted you to have this."

The weapon glittered sharp and relentless as she pulled it from the sheath, as she held it up in front of her, pale slender fingers closed about the handle, her painted nails like miniature swords.

"Your father's," she said.

Fire Next Time

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