parental warning for TL;DR
Who: Niles and Eve (teeny tiny mention of Norman).
What: Some things last forever. Among these things is friendship. Also among these things is Niles' intense and passionate love for Doctor Who.
When: Thirteen/fourteen years in the future, which would make Evie twenty-nine, and Niles thirty-one.
Prompt: Niles and Eve. "I left it promptless so you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT."
Prompted by: The wonderful iliekrp.
Supplementary material: You will want this picture for reference. Trust me on this one.


If you were to try and find Evelyn Smith on any given friday night, she would be here. In spite of everything, in spite of heartbreak, in spite of wistfulness... she would always be here. “Here” was the doorstep of a quaint two bedroom in Taunton. It was the happy home of Mister and Missus Stainwright, and the two wee Stainwrights. It was a difficult yet comfortable place to be.

She knocked. She waited. She thought. And in her thinking, she reminisced.

+ + +
A lot of things had changed in the thirteen years since Niles had graduated Hogwarts, but a few things stayed the same. No. That wasn’t true. Everything had changed.

She had initially worried that their strong connection had been nothing but a whirlwind bro-mance that would meet its untimely end with Niles’ departure. However, she was happy to be mistaken as they faithfully continued their correspondence and kept up with their cockamamie schemes. Just before her graduation, the two of them successfully created the first functional magic telly in history. Even if they hadn’t been destined to stick together, their shared rights to the Spellevison would have served as a decent glue. Two short years after the birth of the new era of wizard entertainment, Eve (now exclusively calling herself Evelyn) signed over the rights to the company to her partner in crime. Yes, she was proud of herself, but she would never be enamoured with the entertainment business like he was... and, being enamoured with him, she enjoyed few things more than giving him the things he loved.

Then, who could forget, the six tense months in their mid-twenties in which they attempted to be a couple. In many ways, it was like not being a couple. It was as though they were friends with benefits, but they were best friends with benefits. They were drunk on their success, and giddy off each other’s company. It would have been perfect if Evelyn had let it. Her instincts told her that nothing good would ever last. Her extreme doubt in the staying power of their love caused her fears to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

After this, their paths slowly drifted apart. Evelyn became a young successful lawyer, slowly but surely working her way up the political foodchain (she had her eye on a seat on the Wizengamot, and was not afraid to work long, lonely hours to get ahead). Niles, in addition to being chair of the Spellevision brand, became the writer and director of various action/adventure shows (including but not limited to The Adventures of Captain Captain, the first show in which a wizard explored deep space). They kept in contact as they pursued their very different dreams, but the closeness they’d once had dissolved.

In a bittersweet turn of events, it was in the months leading up to Niles’ wedding in which they rekindled their (now more platonic than ever) friendship. His blushing bride was a cute and similarly nerdy brunette named Kitty, with whom he co-wrote Captain Captain. The ceremony was, frankly, a bit over the top. Evelyn initially thought he was joking when he said he was having a Doctor Who wedding. In hindsight, it occurred to her that Niles would never joke about anything that had as much emotional significance to him as the Doctor... or his wedding (she supposed that this was also probably pretty important to him). In the end, he and Kitty ended up in Rory and Amy’s wedding costumes, while his two groomsmen (of which Evelyn was one, and Norman was the other) wore matching Eleven suits. Niles naturally would have preferred to be the Doctor, but authenticity won out. Naturally, they drove away in a blue carriage. It was bigger on the inside.

Since then, their relationship had changed. Though they’d regained every last inch of closeness they’d lost in the “dating fiasco of 2029”, it was a very different kind of closeness. They had aged in opposite directions. Between his incredibly fun job and his amazingly delightful family, Niles had seemingly managed to stop aging at twenty-two. The list of ways he hadn’t changed would be longer than the list of ways he had. Evelyn, on the other hand, had grown more serious and more studious (if such a thing was possible). She was now clearly identifiable as a female, though neither her shape nor her stature had changed. Her hair was long, tidy, and its natural colour (it even had some early greys). Though she still couldn’t be seen in skirts, her outfits now ranged from that-is-almost-definitely-a-lady to I-think-those-shoes-actually-have-heels.

They had strayed away from their original formula. Where before there had been a evil genius and a jolly sidekick, now stood two adults on even (if different) footing.

+ + +
She knocked again. There was a clatter from inside. A bark. The exasperated call of “just a minute!”

But all at once, there he was. Leash in hand. Faithful dog at his side. Ready to go for a walk, just as they were every friday. Just as they always had been, just as they would be for the foreseeable future.

She smirked that Smith smirk of hers, “Took you long enough. Maybe I’ll just go it alone next time, eh kiddo?” She turned and started down the steps to the sidewalk, nodding her head in a ‘let’s go already’ fashion.

Niles grinned goofily and gently tugged her long, brown braid as she turned. It was a cute (if annoying) display of affection, which she publicly protested but privately thought was sweet.

“You always say that but you never mean it. Also, kiddo, last time I checked, I’m definitely older than you.”

“No you aren’t.”

In spite of the fact that nothing stayed the same, some things never change.

Just as it always had been, just as it would be for the foreseeable future.

Still more supplementary material: I wanted to put this scoreboard in the main story, but I couldn't make it flow for the life of me. And the flow of this is already a little awkward, because it was a super good idea to write a fic that takes place in future-past. So here's her mental scoreboard of Eve vs Niles.


It was odd to be simultaneously more and less accomplished. Because Evelyn was the type to keep score, she had a detailed tally of achievements. On the one hand, Niles had all of these, while Evelyn had only one: successful marriage, children, owning a home. However, the scores were reversed when it came to this list: successful career, likelihood of becoming incredibly powerful, notable achievements in multiple fields. While she wished to claim superiority, she was envious of what he had in a way that she knew she wouldn't be if she was the indisputable victor.


Also, Cheryl, if Niles is wondering... the answer is yes. Eve definitely views him as her jolly sidekick. Sorry, bro.