elenacarey

[elenacarey]

the level of censorship around this man is ridiculous, what happened to free speech? It’s just his name.

[elenacarey]

Apparently AO3 needs to give the collection approval before they can post it , but I’m impatient, so here’s my Angelblack one shot set about a week after 1x08 (the Rupert/Cameron issue is not discussed, but I imagined a scenario on which it was somehow dealt with).

anxious angel I’ll wrap you in heart shaped bubble wrap so you won’t get hurt

“Daddy is going to murder you,” Taggie said with a light shake of the head, strawberry blonde hair catching the early morning sunlight just outside the Priory. Rupert had started visiting at times where Declan was less likely to see him and Taggie alone–and he had quickly grown rather tired of it. He didn’t want his feelings for Taggie to be a secret. He didn’t think he’d been doing that good of a job at hiding them, anyway.

“I very much doubt that,” said Rupert with a tilt of the head. “Blood is a nuisance to clean off tapestry.”

Taggie looked up at him with a raised eyebrow that Rupert knew exactly translated to “Be serious”.

“Angel,” he started again, reaching to touch her shoulders. “He will be pissed. I can agree on that. He will try to pummel my face with his fists. But he will also have to surrender, eventually.”

“Declan O’ Hara doesn’t surrender,” Taggie sighed. “You saw his reaction to those photos in the car–and we weren’t doing anything.”

“You can make your own decisions,” Rupert provided unhelpfully.

“Yes, but I am still afraid. I don’t want to lose my dad. And I’m sure you don’t want to lose your friend.”

How typical of Taggie, hitting the target with all the precision of a professional archer. Of course Rupert didn’t want to lose Declan’s friendship. Hell, his only true (human) friend had been Lizzie for so long, he’d grown quite addicted to being able to rely on more than one person. He’d always known it was dangerous–just as befriending, and developing feelings for Taggie had been.

But there was no going back, was it? He meant what he told her. He hadn’t realized just how much harder it had become, something as simple as breathing, before he met her. Watching her with someone else felt like being stabbed in the chest by a thousand fireplace pokers. And for perhaps the first time in his life, being with someone else felt like true betrayal; to Taggie, and to himself. He wanted to be the man she thought he could be. He wanted it desperately. And Declan would have to just bloody deal with it.

***

Taggie entered the kitchen first, eyeing her father warily as he absentmindedly puffed on a cigarette, the day’s newspaper spread across one bent knee.

“Dad,” Taggie made herself say. “Can I talk to you about something?”

“I’m all ears, love,” he said without taking his eyes off the paper. Taggie stopped fidgeting with the sleeve of her jumper.

Rupert slowly walked into the room, his usual easy gate, a small, if tight smile on his lips.

That caught Declan’s attention.

“What are you doing here? The meeting is in a few hours,” he said, his mustache twitching in a curious smile.

Taggie glanced at Rupert, who in turn glanced at her.

“I wish I could say I am sorry, Declan,” he said as he took hold of Taggie’s hand. Her heart was beating rabbit-fast against her ribcage.

Her dad’s smile quickly evaporated as his brown eyes moved to Taggie and Rupert’s joined hands.

“No,” he said. One short, inescapable word.

“Declan,” Rupert started, but he got up, the chair scraping horribly against the tiled floor.

“Again? Fucking again? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Daddy, please–”

“Your room, Tag. Now.”

“I’m not a child! I will not be banished to my room when the conversation is about me, Dad!” She held tight onto Rupert’s rough palm, gripped onto his fingers for dear life. She would not back down, and she would not be quiet.

“You get your hands off her in the next two seconds, or I’ll break your fucking nose, Campbell,” her dad said, ignoring her entirely.

“Fine,” Rupert said, and Taggie’s head was already whipping towards him, but Rupert’s encouraging nod made her loosen her grip on his hand. “See?” He added, raising both palms in a placating gesture.

“What the fuck did you do to her, mmh?”

“I didn’t do anything to her,” Rupert said ruefully. “It was one kiss, Declan. Maybe two–”

But her dad was already crushing Rupert’s freshly pressed shirt in his fists and slamming him against the nearest cabinet, its content rattling wildly.

“Dad!”

“You think I won’t kill you? Are you testing me?” He said, eyes ablaze as Rupert gritted his teeth, clearly not wanting to hit back.

“I need you to listen to me–”

“Shut the fuck up!” Declan roared. “You are not going to be shagging my daughter, do you understand? She will not be a bloody notch in your belt!”

“Do you remember when you interviewed me?” Rupert asked after her dad smashed him against the fridge, this time. Taggie was torn between screaming and crying.

“I should have fucking ruined you when I had the–”

“You asked me if I’d ever been in love!” Rupert shouted, and her dad went dreadfully still. Rupert took a breath and then said, “I said I hadn’t. And I thought I hadn’t–I didn’t think I could.”

He looked over at Taggie over her father’s shoulder, and her lips parted in surprise.

“I can apologise for hurting you, Declan. But I cannot apologise for the way I feel about Taggie.”

Taggie wanted to grab his father’s shoulders and pull him away from Rupert, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. Taggie had never been good with words–which her mother never allowed her to forget–but in that moment, she thought there weren’t any words that would suffice to explain the rumbling in her chest, the tightness in ehr throat.

Her father kept one arm against Rupert’s neck as he turned to look at her. There was something complicated in his expression–sad, almost. Taggie couldn’t bear it.

“He’s going to hurt you,” he said, as if it were obvious. “He’s not good enough for you.”

“So which is it? I’m a stupid child, but he’s not good enough?”

“I never called you that,” he hissed.

Taggie shook her head, expelling a shaky breath. “If I get hurt, then I get hurt.”

Her dad’s dark eyebrows joined on his forehead. Rupert’s eyes were only for her–even when he was risking being beaten half to death.

“I did everything right. I went out with Sebastian. I tried, and I couldn’t do it. I don’t want to be unhappy for the sake of p–p–propriety. I’ve been doing everything I can to keep everyone happy, but that’s it, daddy. I want to be happy, too. I think I deserve it.”

Her dad seemed, impossibly, lost. Until a few days ago she’d never seen him at a loss for words–and now, twice in the span of days. First when her mother left for London, and now.

“He is twice your age, Tag,” he said then, helplessly.

“There’s nothing I can do about that,” she shrugged, pressing her lips together.

He let go of Rupert then, though Taggie suspected it had less to do with him not wanting to hurt the man anymore, and more with wanting to give her his full attention, if only this once. Rupert released a quiet breath, straightening. She hoped he wouldn’t be stupid enough to talk.

“He beds a different woman every other day. He will let you down, Tag. Men like him always do.” He fished in his pocket to grab another cigarette, and Taggie wordlessly passed him the matchsticks box.

“Maybe. Maybe things can be different.” She could never know it for sure, but she believed in Rupert. She felt it, somewhere deep inside her, that he could be who she needed him to be. And most importantly, that he wanted to.

“Things are different,” Rupert said quietly. Her dad grimaced around the cigarette, slowly turning to face Rupert once more.

“Say I give you my blessing–which I will not. How are you going to protect her, mmh? The press would get wind of it soon enough. Brand her as your plaything.” He spit out the last word, and Taggie frowned at the prospect.

“I will do whatever is necessary. I won’t let anyone speak ill of Taggie, and if they do, they’ll find themselves jobless the day after. You know I can do that.”

Taggie bit on her lower lip; she didn’t think she was terribly fragile, and she had been trying hard not to care about what others might think of her. But the sheer protectiveness in Rupert’s tone warmed her from the inside out, and she’d be lying if she didn’t say it made her feel safe, to know he would be in her corner, no matter what.

“And if I ban her from seeing you? If I kick her out when she doesn’t?”

Taggie shook her head, her stomach dropping as she called for her dad, but Rupert said, “I don’t think you would do that. But if you do, she has a place to stay.”

“Remember when I interviewed you?” Her dad added after an eternity, mocking Rupert’s question from a few minutes before. “I lied. I was very much not bluffing–and I can still hurt you with what I have.”

Rupert’s eyes widened slightly, clearly surprised–but he shouldn’t have been. Taggie had hoped that was all in the past, but she knew her father too well to think he didn’t have some cards left to play. Rupert hung his head, and Taggie trembled, afraid he would just accept defeat.

“Send it to The Scorpion, then.”

Taggie’s breath wooshed out of her, and Declan stilled.

“Whatever it is, it cannot possibly hurt more than giving Taggie up.”

Taggie knew she had to exercise some self restraint if she didn’t want to be calling an ambulance up at the Priory for the second time, but she couldn’t stop herself from walking past her dad and to Rupert’s side. He gave her a small smile, and she smiled right back.

When she turned, her dad’s cigarette was a stub between his fingers. He looked between the two of them, and so much was swirling in his eyes–disappointment, worry, hurt. Taggie didn’t know what resignation looked like on Declan O’ Hara’s features, but she thought she might be glimpsing something like it now.

“Venturer needs your money,” he said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like that you are doing this to me. If you want to stay, you’ll have to stay out of my sight.”

Rupert nodded, and some part of Taggie felt selfish for forcing him to give up something Ruper had quite literally everything riding on. But the other part of her, the part that was louder and braver, couldn’t help but relish in the knowledge she was more important to him than Venturer. Than her dad’s friendship. Than, potentially, his reputation.

“Alright,” Rupert said, his knuckles brushing Taggie’s. He gave her a long look, and Taggie wanted to kiss him, but there would be many more chances to do just that. Rupert left, Declan trembling with restrained rage and without sparing him a glance.

“Daddy,” Taggie breathed.

He shook his head, raising one hand to silence her, and stormed out of the room.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She squeezed them shut, held out for the nearest chair to steady her. She didn’t want her dad to hate her, to think her naive, to stop talking to her.

But, in truth, she was also relieved.

Caitlin would support her–Patrick too, maybe. And Rupert would be there. She was choosing herself, for the very first time, and it filled her with such potent light, she promised herself she would never go back to the shadows.

***

“I’m sorry,” Taggie told Rupert that evening as they walked, hand in hand, down the sloping path that took them from Lizzie’s house to the Priory. She’d invited Rupert for tea, and Taggie had joined them as soon as she could get there. Lizzie had been mildly surprised–more about Taggie, than about Rupert. He appreciated Lizzie speaking her mind, openly telling Tag to be careful, and warning him not to screw things up.

“What about?” Rupert asked.

“Dad,” she said simpy. “Working with him is going to be a nightmare.”

Rupert chuckled, his thumb drawing soothing motions across Taggie’s. He felt her shiver slightly, and he pressed his shoulder to hers. “You know I love a challenge.”

“You can pretend it doesn’t hurt, but I know it does.”

He closed his eyes briefly, then said a simple, “Yes.”

“Do you regret it?”

He turned to her, and the feeble orange light from the setting sun hit her blue eyes. He’d never seen anything more lovely. “Not one bit.”

Taggie laughed, for the first time today, and Rupert smiled back. He was so unabashedly happy to see her happy–to know that for all the people he’d hurt, there was one person in the world he would never. Could never. It wasn’t redemption, but it was real. His chest stirred with affection too strong to be contained, and they stopped in the street as he pulled her close, splaying his fingers on her waist. She smiled up at him again. He felt as if he’d been touched by the sun for the very first time.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he said. Taggie whispered an acnowledgement, eyes bright.

So he did.

He held her close as their lips touched, her mouth tasting faintly of the chocolate she had at Lizzie’s. Her soft hands came up to his face, caressing him gently, in a way no one ever had before. They detached, briefly, and though it’d been a chaste enough kiss, Rupert had to stop to get back his breath.

“You really are an angel,” he said.

“Angels look over people,” she replied. “Keep them safe.”

Rupert nodded. “I’m no angel. But I’ll do the same for you.”

Taggie stood on her tiptoes to place a kiss at the corner of his mouth, Rupert’s eyes fluttering closed.

“I know,” she said, putting her hand in the crook of Rupert’s arm.

And he walked her home.

[elenacarey]

the bluebell wood

(Rivals) Rupert Campbell-Black x Taggie O'Hara Also available on AO3 18+ fanfic, pure smut really, semi-public, oral sex, praise kink, secret relationship 'The scent of freshly bloomed wildflowers being trampled and squished began to fill Taggie’s senses, nearly overwhelming as she felt Rupert’s searing gaze. “I need to taste you.” he rumbled, a betraying admission of his own.'

The Bluebell Wood

​​It was mid-April, the first April since Rupert Campbell-Black had acquired the Bluebell Wood from her father. Settling his debts in the early onset of their bid for the franchise had left the woods with a new air for Taggie as she passed through the fresh blossoms.

The woods were still the same, yet the air felt different. As if the land had taken on the form of the man who now owned it. Where once the air had been serene, calming even, there now lingered a faint trace of unease. Taggie felt it like a weight in the air, heavy and undeniable, as she walked beneath the canopy of budding trees.

Each step she took on her walk drew her further into the heart of the woods that had been her sanctuary since her father had moved the family west. But today, even the familiar smell of damp earth and fresh blossoms couldn’t calm the restless stirring in her chest.

Things had been left complicated between her and Rupert.

The memory of his touch lingered on her skin, the brand of heat where his fingers had brushed over her as they’d stood together in the kitchen, a moment that had felt like forever. She could still feel the pulse of it, as if his fingers had never left her, leaving a mark that refused to fade.

But it was her confession that truly haunted her, the words that traitorously spilled from her lips.

Far too late, she heard the crunch of gravel beneath boots behind her and stiffened, waking from her usual daydream to realize she was no longer alone with her thoughts. The sound had been too soft at first, drowned out by the rushing pulse of her heart, her wandering mind. But now, it was unmistakable.

Her breath hitched, and before she could even think of turning around, she already knew who it was.

Rupert Campbell-Black.

She could feel his presence before he spoke, the shift in the wood personified, embodied, and standing before her.

"Angel."

His voice was smooth, and low, with a subtle edge that sent a flicker of unease coursing at the sound of the pet name she hadn’t heard for weeks.

They hadn’t been alone together since the incident in her kitchen, the whirlwind of the bid consuming them both. Simultaneously dousing their flames, and pulling them back toward other companions.

The weeks since that moment had been a blur, meetings, negotiations, and social obligations. Each day bleeding into the next. Rupert had been a constant presence, but whenever their paths had crossed in the chaos of the bid—at dinners, in crowded rooms, there were far too many onlookers for them to have another chance.

“Rupert,” she answered. Her voice betrays her, and surprise and unease are evident in her tone.

Taggie could feel her heartbeat in her throat as she faced him, and for the first time in a long while, she didn’t know how to breathe. She had spent the last few weeks convincing herself that she was in control, that the chaos of the bid was more important than whatever unspoken connection had simmered between them for so long.

But now, with Rupert standing in front of her, there was no denying the pull. It was as if the universe had decided to make them confront it. He didn’t speak for a moment. His gaze held hers, the intensity of it cutting through the space between them, almost like a weight. A soft, charming smirk played on his lips after a brief moment.

“We shouldn’t…” she finally croaked out, unsure, her voice faltering. “Linger out here alone.”

“I know.” His voice was softer now, his dark fixing on her. Reflections of the bluebells beneath them gave a cool tint to his gaze she could see with his approach. “We can’t, but that doesn’t change what we feel, does it?”

Taggie took a step back, her mind racing. She had to get away, had to pull herself together. But the spring ground was slick and far more yielding than she had expected and she began to slip.

 Rupert reached out and grasped for her, his movements sure. His hand closed around her waist, pulling her toward him with a strength and precision that seemed to steady them both. The suddenness of it left Taggie breathless, her pulse racing as she collided with him, the heat of his body engulfing hers.

He was careful with her, but there was something in the way he held her that made her feel both protected and exposed all at once.

His breath was shallow now, but his eyes never left hers. There was something different in the way he was looking at her, something raw and unguarded. Their faces were so close that Taggie could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin.

“Taggie… just one moment,” he whispered, his voice carrying the weight of the words they both feared to speak.

“We shouldn’t…” she murmured up to him, but now, entrapped in his hold, she hardly could bring herself to pull away from his touch.

Rupert didn’t respond right away. His thumb brushed gently over the curve of her waist, a soft, almost tentative movement as if he were waiting for her to make the decision. But even as the tension pulled tighter, he didn’t lean in.

The stillness lingered, a moment feeling like an hour. The sound of their breaths and the soft breeze through the trees is the only thing an onlooker might catch. But for Taggie, all she could hear was her quickened pulse pounding in her ears.

“I…” she started, but the word came out like a wisp, dying on her lips.

Rupert’s hand moved then, sliding from her waist to gently cup her cheek. He leaned in and his lips brushed against hers softly. It was a whisper of a kiss, a question more than an answer.

Taggie’s heart, already racing, pounded harder in her chest. She answered him by leaning in, deepening the kiss, warm and gentle. She still held some reservations, but they began to melt away as they lost themselves in the moment. Lips locking with an increasingly frantic nature.

Rupert, a rake known for his many dalliances with women, was crumbling to youthful trappings in a way he hadn’t in many years. Frantic searching kisses that were more commonly exchanged between adolescents who were searching more due to lack of experience than a burning desire to quench a long pushed-off thirst were freely traded between himself and Taggie.

Taggie gasped softly into the kiss, breaking it only to catch her breath. Her hands moved to rest on Rupert’s chest, a gesture that caused him to pause. Their eyes locked and he wore a devilish smirk as they looked at each other. His thumb moved to idly trace over her kiss-swollen lips.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of Rupert's shirt, torn between pulling him closer and pushing him away. The rational part of her screamed that they were treading on dangerous ground. Exposed in the woods, where anyone may wander across them.

"Taggie," he murmured, his voice low and husky. "Tell me to stop.” he offered softly, a broken plea that was pure evidence he’d like to do anything but.

“I don’t want you to stop,” she whispered, her voice once again betraying her true feelings. Feather light and escaping before she could give them a second thought.

Without hesitation, Rupert pulled her closer and captured her again in a searing kiss. No gentleness or hesitation reserving him any longer. The months of pent-up longing poured into a single moment. Her hands slid up his chest, wrapping herself around his neck as she pressed her chest flush with his. Feeling his rapid heartbeat matching her own.

With a gentle but firm hand, he began to lower her into the soft bed of bluebells that carpeted the ground beside the gravel path they had been walking on. Eyes filled with an intense desire he seemed transfixed as he looked down to her as her hair spread out and haloed around her head.

The scent of freshly bloomed wildflowers being trampled and squished began to fill Taggie’s senses, nearly overwhelming as she felt Rupert’s searing gaze.

“I need to taste you.” he rumbled, a betraying admission of his own.

He chased such with action, however, unlike Taggie would. His lips pressed kisses over her freckled cheeks as he deftly moved to unbutton her trousers. Her sweater drifted to scrunch up over her stomach as she reclined, her hands grasping at the grass beneath her.

Rupert’s kisses drifted down her cheeks, over the crest of her jaw, the side of her throat, and dipped over the top of her breasts. Revealed to him by the v-neck cut of her sweater. Taggie was left breathless with his insatiable kisses, heaving breaths coming as her eyes drifted shut.

“Please, Taggie.” he sighed against her pale skin, tugging at the waistband of her trousers, now hovering to press soft kisses to the exposed skin of her stomach.

In answer, she arched her back and lifted her hips. For Rupert, that seemed to be all the answer needed to his plea. He swiftly tugged down her trousers and panties, revealing her slick petals to him.

The cool breeze through the woods caused her to shiver, and attempt to press her thighs together shut, something Taggie found impossible, as Rupert was both in the way and eager to hold her open to his lust-filled gaze.

“So beautiful, Angel,” he growled softly, eyes fixed on where her thighs were pulled apart. “Always such a good girl for me, aren’t you Tag?”

Taggie could feel the heat of Rupert’s breath on her sensitive flesh, a sensation that caused her to arch her back and let out a soft gasp of arousal. His teasing, however, was short-lived. A man so starved was eager to devour her whole.

He pressed several open-mouthed kisses to the swell of her slick core, a brief preamble before the muscle of his tongue found her clit and eagerly swirled around it.

“Rupert, what if...?” Taggie let out with a desperate, keening whine.

Rupert let out a soft snerk, a chuckle through his nose as he relented only to lean back onto his haunches slightly. His fingers move to part their way gently through her folds.

“I will feel no shame about being caught drinking from the fount of a forest nymph,” he replied, a smirk playing on his lips before he eased a few fingers slowly inside her eager walls.

A gasp left Taggie as her eyes squeezed shut and her back arched. Overwhelmed as his fingers gently began to pet at her inner walls, driving her through pleasure further and further.

His mouth returned to her folds, lips surrounding and suckling eagerly on her clit. Feasting and hardly easily sated, he drank from her until she was bounding toward her peak. His eyes fixed up toward her face as he attentively watched every quirk of her expression with rapt interest.

Feeling his gaze upon her, Taggie’s cheeks flushed red, and she draped an arm indelicately over her eyes. Hiding from the outpouring of whines and mewls of pleasure that spilled from her lips. If she could concentrate on any feeling but overwhelming pleasure she would feel the prickle of embarrassment at being pleasured so openly, only making its way in as Rupert’s mouth parted from her for a moment.

“Let me see you, Angel. Look at me and let me watch you fall apart.” he husked her, tone broken, and his pupils blown wide with lust.

A whine, petulant and greedy ripped from her. Loud enough any onlookers would certainly be clear about what was transpiring. Her growing need clearly ate away any hesitation as she pulled her arm from her face and her fists tightly grasped the grass again. The soft snapping of roots was heard as she squirmed in a desperate act to seek more friction mindlessly.

A smile, genuine and warm spread over Rupet’s face before he redoubled his efforts. Fingers, lips, and tongue greedily bring Taggie churning toward her climax. His eyes never left her.

In nearly no time at all she was brought through her peak. Waves of blissful ecstasy wracked her form as she cried out in pleasure. His fingers worked her through her climax, pushing through her inner walls as they clenched around him.

Only when he was satisfied did he part from her core, leaving Taggie gasping for her breath. A soft chuckle left Rupert as he pulled her panties and trousers back into place. Leaving them unbuttoned as she caught herself. 

“Beautiful, beautiful thing,” Rupert murmured, mostly to himself as he delicately used his still slick-covered hand to push some of her wild hair out of her face. Taggie reached out to grasp at his silky shirt, weak, as she clung to him for strength for a moment.

“We shouldn’t linger,” he warned, righting himself onto his feet, and save for the slick over his lips, and the grass stains on his knees, evidence of their tryst barely affecting him at all, whereas Taggie laid back in the bluebells, wrecked and dazed as he held his hand out to her from above.

[elenacarey]

good morning the reason why rupert came up with the production company idea was because he couldn’t bear taggie’s sadness at the prospect of leaving and he couldn’t bear losing her as evidenced by the proud smile he gave her as soon as he and freddie announced the news in this essay I will

[elenacarey]

Observing respectfully. RIVALS (2024-) | season 1 episode 2

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I can't breath without you. BELLA MACLEAN as Agatha ‘Taggie’ O'Hara and ALEX HASSEL as Rupert Campbell-Black RIVALS (2024 - )

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A N G E L Rivals (2024-)

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more people need to watch rivals on hulu because rupert and taggie’s chemistry is unbelievable

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Rivals (2024— ) 1.02, directed by Elliot Hegarty

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RIVALS (2024-)

Yearning ™

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MY DEMON 마이데몬 dir. Kim Jang Han (2023-2024)

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Song Kang as Jeong Gu Won My Demon (2023 - 2024), dir. Kim Jang Han

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Interview with the Vampire 2.08 'And That’s the End of It. There’s Nothing Else'

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INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 2.08: And That's The End of It. There's Nothing Else IWTVTwT Version.