Work Text:
2008
The one thing Andy promised herself she would never do is become like one of Miranda’s ex-husbands.
After the spectacular debacle that is Paris, Andy doesn't last a month before she comes crawling back to her former boss. Weeks of apologies, text massages, acts of service and one enormous bouquet of flowers later, Andy’s efforts finally pay off. Miranda doesn’t offer forgiveness, but she does offer dinner at la coccinelle.
The first time they meet, Andy wears her most expensive dress and tries not to read too much into the fact that Miranda picked French cuisine for the occasion. Fifteen minutes in, Andy finally understands why she is so hung up on her former boss. Three dinners in, she realizes that Miranda wants to sleep with her too. On the day after their fifth dinner, they’ve had sex twice.
From there, through forces unknown, their ill-advised affair somehow spirals into something resembling an actual relationship.
Being with Miranda makes Andy feel emotions more intense than anything she has known before. Being the recipient of the older woman’s attention and affection seems like the biggest gift ever bestowed upon her. Never in her life has Andy felt more desirable, more important, more special.
Miranda gets her. Miranda values her opinion. Miranda wants her.
Miranda is beautiful and charming and scary and alluring and oh so powerful. There is nothing Andy wants more than to remain by her side while the world revolves around them.
And so, for as long as Miranda keeps offering, Andy takes whatever she can get. They go on dates and they talk and they fuck and it’s sexy and exciting and secret, of course, until all of a sudden, it isn’t.
In a move that comes as a surprise to everyone (Andy very much included), Miranda doesn’t ditch her as soon as the paparazzi start camping out in front of the townhouse. Instead, she doubles down, staging a public coming out and asking Andy to move in with her after only a few months of dating.
The press has a field day upon finding out about them. Somehow, both her and Miranda emerge from public trial as the villain. The slander is merciless and cruel. For months on end, their life becomes hell on earth.
At the same time, Miranda’s enemies within the company see their chance and take it. The editor has to spend innumerable hours and utilize every connection she has to fend off opportunists who try to profit from the very public demise of the ruling queen of fashion.
In the end, she perseveres. Of course she does. She is Miranda fucking Priestly.
Newspapers call her homophobic slurs and insult her work and accuse her of robbing the cradle and of workplace misconduct. But people keep buying Runway and she keeps selling ad space and making money and so she stays.
To shield them from the media, Miranda’s daughters temporarily move in with their dad (and his new wife) who lives in a more secluded house out in New Jersey. It’s for the best, Miranda assures Andy one quiet Sunday evening, they deserve a bit of normalcy.
Almost a year later, temporary has become permanent. The twins spend the majority of their time far away from the city and only stay at the townhouse on weekends and during vacations.
And even that has become rare. Between preparing for their SATs, applying to various colleges and meeting with their extensive friend group, Andy can barely remember the last time she saw them for more than a brief afternoon visit.
They seem happy though.
Happy just like Miranda and Andy. And in order to maintain that happiness, it is absolutely imperative that Andy doesn’t start acting like one of Miranda’s jerk ex-husbands.
Because when it really comes down to it, Miranda doesn’t need her. The only reason she keeps Andy around at all is the fact that she is easy. Easy to talk to, easy to integrate into the editor’s busy schedule, easy to please.
Which isn’t to say that Miranda doesn’t like Andy, doesn’t enjoy spending time with her and the conversation they share and the sex they have. She does.
It’s just that Miranda is an independent woman who can manage just fine on her own. And after everything she’s been through with her ex-husbands, compromising her freedom for a partner is the one thing she told Andy she would never do again.
So should Andy ever start demanding more time or complaining about last-minute cancellations, she has no doubt Miranda will drop her without a moment’s hesitation.
It’s only fair though.
Miranda has been nothing but upfront about what she does and doesn’t want from this relationship. And Andy entered into it well aware of what she was signing up for. So now that she’s all signed up, there is nothing to do but to accept the situation she’s found herself in.
After all, the nature of their relationship is already causing Miranda a lot of stress and pain. The editor has sacrificed so much to be with her, much more than Andy ever expected. The least she can do is to not inconvenience Miranda further.
So it really is only fair.
There is only one teeny tiny issue.
One that, as hard as Andy tries to ignore it, will never quite leave her alone.
Because despite the fact that Andy is still convinced that Miranda was equally at fault for what happened between them in Paris, when they discussed what happened during their very first dinner, Andy accepted full blame.
Just this once, she told herself back then, to get a foot in the door. We’ll talk about again it later. It’ll all be different once she has let me take her on an actual date. Once we know each other a bit better. Once she is my girlfriend, once I’ve moved in, once the press dies down, once she is a little less stressed…
Andy keeps setting deadlines for herself only to keep letting them pass unmet.
Almost a year in, they’re as steady and committed as Andy could hope, yet she still hasn’t set the record straight about Paris. Instead, accepting full blame for something that wasn’t her fault has set a dangerous precedent for the dynamic of their relationship. Andy doesn’t know why she ever thought she’d be able to stand up to Miranda. She is Miranda fucking Priestly, after all.
And to be honest, even after all this time, Andy is still really scared of angering her. Because when angry, Miranda tends to get mean and unnecessarily cruel and a little dangerous. Even Andy, as much as Miranda loves her, isn’t exempt from that. A few close brushes with real anger at the very beginning of their relationship served as a stark reminder of that.
And while Miranda no longer has any say over Andy’s employment status, she does now hold Andy’s very breakable heart in her very powerful hands. So it seems prudent and less stressful for Andy to make sure that Miranda just doesn’t get mad. Especially not at her.
Ideally, Miranda wouldn’t get angry at all. Because angry Miranda also doesn’t really care who caused her distress, as long as there is someone around to put the blame on. And since Andy is around most of the time, this particular trait does not work in her favor.
But, as she has figured out, there is no need to worry about what Miranda is capable of when angry, if Andy makes sure that she never has any reason to be.
Luckily, Andy has a lot of experience when it comes to keeping Miranda happy. During her tenure at Runway, she learned and pretty much perfected every trick in the book:
On particularly stressful days, when Miranda is in one of her bad moods, Andy tiptoes around her and tries to disappear into the background as best possible. On good days, she tries not to say or do anything that might turn the editor’s jovial mood sour. And when Miranda does get agitated, Andy is usually the one to apologize, no matter who started the argument. It’s just easier and quicker and all around less painful for everyone involved when she does.
And why wouldn’t she try to keep Miranda happy, when she is just so very good at it?
In moments of doubt, late at night, alone in her bed, a voice from deep within tells Andy that healthy, equal relationships aren’t supposed to work like that.
And maybe that voice has a point. Maybe this is something they need to work on. But they have talked about Miranda’s rages and she is working on controlling them better. She also never gets as mad at Andy as she does at other people. Her recommendation for the Mirror after Andy quit right in the middle of fashion week is pretty solid proof of that.
They will fix this. They just need a little more time.
Until then, Andy can make it work. She knows that she can manage to stay in Miranda’s good graces, despite the fact that everyone else eventually fails. It’s really not that hard, as long as you follow a certain set of rules. Miranda’s expectations were always high, but never unreasonable.
She did it once, therefore she can do it again. After all, she is the walking exception, the assistant who got to share the elevator.
And it’s easy, because Miranda loves her. The older woman has told her on multiple occasions that she cares for Andy more deeply than she ever cared for a partner before. And Andy believes her. Because Miranda has never made a secret of the nature of their relationship and it’s obvious to everyone around them that Miranda grants her more freedom than she does anyone else. No one could get away with the things Andy gets away with on a regular basis. After the twins, she is the woman’s top priority.
It means that Andy is different. Is special. Because Miranda picked her. And Andy is very, very grateful for that.
So she counts herself lucky. Of all the people in the world, she is the one who gets to see behind the facade. The one who can make the Devil in Prada smile and laugh. The one who is allowed to share her home and bed.
And even though the fashion legend’s inner workings are still mostly an enigma to Andy, she doubts that there is anyone on this planet who has even half as much inside into the woman’s head as she has. Considering the fact that Miranda is notoriously closed off, that makes her feel pretty damn special.
So when, for the second time in a row, Miranda texts Andy to cancel dinner with her and Nigel half an hour after they were supposed to meet, she brushes off her friend’s doubtful inquiries with a practiced, nonchalant ease.
„I don’t understand why you’re not more upset about this.“, he tells Andy over their second pre-dinner drink. „She makes your life hell over every minor fuck-up and you just let her get away with anything.“
About half a year ago, he finally moved out of Miranda’s shadow and is now the deserving editor in chief of his own, flourishing publication. It has made him unexpectedly bold.
„It’s okay.“, Andy tries to appease his growing agitation. „I don’t mind! I was very much aware of the fact that she is busy woman before we started dating. After all, I was literally in charge of her calendar for a while.“
These days, her tenure at Runway seems impossibly far away.
„She’ll make it up to me.“, Andy tells him, noticing too late the historic irony of her statement. Nigel whines as he hears the familiar words echoed back to him.
But, feeling her growing unease and displeasure around the topic, he finally lets it go. „I’m sure she will.“, he answers, sounding unconvinced.
Andy’s biweekly lunches with Nigel stop soon after. No matter what he tells her, Miranda is good for her. Andy is happy.
And she sure as hell isn’t going to put it all on the line by acting like Stephen fucking Tomlinson.