#((and jack skellington from 'nightmare before christmas'! i know it sounds silly))

[theheadlessgroom]

"All things in due time," Dorian added, in effort to come to her aid (as well as potentially shifting the conversation away from this particular topic), saying, "I-I mean, it's not that we aren't excited about it, don't get me wrong, it's just that the wedding is such a big event, w-we're still ironing everything out, getting everything ready, it's been the only things on our minds, we haven't really had the time to think of...family matters. Maybe once things are more prepared for the wedding, we have more of our ducks in a row...we'll be ready to focus on it more."

"Ha!" Mr. Gracey barked in amusement, looking to his wife as he commented, "And to think, darling, we could juggle all our plans for the future when we were engaged, and our son and his bride-to-be want to take things slow! Oh, how the times change!"

"How they do indeed!" Mrs. Gracey tittered with a tipsy giggle, while Dorian struggled not to glower (this was very common, unfortunately; his parents laughing whenever he didn't do things the exact same way they did when they were his age), instead opting to take another swig of his drink as his mother continued, "Well then, Dorian, darling, how was the cake testing? Did you find the cake of you two's dreams?"

"Yes, we did," he nodded with a forced smile, glad to be off that particular topic, adding, "We had a very nice time down at the bakery, and I checked on the progress on my hat, Ran-uh, Mr. Pace, is working very hard on it."

"Pace," his mother chuckled, clicking her tongue as she said, "To think, his mother used to tend to our gardens, and now he's making your hat! I hope he inherited his mother's work ethic, and not his father's...or lack thereof!"

At this, Dorian said nothing, but instead squeezing his sherry glass as he struggled not to glare coldly at his mother as she laughed and took another drink from her own glass, prompting Beau to refill it when she held it out wordlessly-no "please", no "thank you".

@beatingheart-bride

The family legacy is always at stake! Dorian thought to himself, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he took another stiff drink, not at all missing the look Beau sent his and Emily's way; a look that said he clearly wished he could whisk the two away from this less-than-pleasant conversation.

It was a familiar phrase in his parents' vernacular (and he figured it was no different with Emily's parents); always hammering into him the importance of the Gracey legacy, a legacy he was supposed to uphold-he was expected to marry well, have an heir (preferably a son), keep up the family business, protect the fortune, and so on and so forth...it was tiring to hear; he'd heard it all his life, and whenever it was brought up, he couldn't help but feel irritated; frustrated by the desire to snap back and tell them that he didn't care, that he would marry who he pleased and would do what he wished and there'd be nothing they could do to stop him, yet unable to voice his true feelings.

"...what about William? George? Oh, there's so many names of past Gracey's that would be perfect for your little one!" Mrs. Gracey was going on and on, as Dorian's eyes began to glaze over, and he struggled not to let his irritation show, as his mother continued, "And just think! So many beautiful French names to choose from too! I'm sure there's many names in the de Clair family that would be just darling!"

What if I had a daughter? Dorian thought to himself miserably, as his mother seemed to focus exclusively on male names-honestly, it didn't matter at all to him the gender of his and Elizabeth's child (or children, he hoped), but if he were to give in to his parents' plans, what if he had a daughter? Would they be disappointed? He could only imagine they would; they always made it clear they wanted a son to carry on the family name...

[lovelytsunoda]

jack and sally // daniel ricciardo

summary: scotty and chloe are throwing a halloween party, and danny and y/n think they've got the best couples costume in the entire party.

pairing: daniel ricciardo x female reader

warnings: pumpkin spice condoms ( don't ask, it will all make sense later ), talks of getting married. danny does a striptease and is wine drunk.

authors note: see this reference for costumes. ALSO thank you so much for 550 followers, this truly is such a surreal thing for me !

y/n y/l/n smiled to herself as she stepped out of the shower, toweling off and wrapping her body in the pale purple satin robe hanging from the back of the door as she blow-dried her hair.

halloween was her favourite time of year, and the fully-decorated vineyard house in monaco that she shared with her boyfriend of five years proved it. every available surface was covered in bats or pumpkins or ghouls.

she opened the medicine cabinet to find her bath and body works perfume when she stopped, her eyes catching on something that rested on daniel's side of the cupboard. curious, she reached for the orange box, scanning the label with a snort before she spun on her heel and walked back out towards the master bedroom.

"pumpkin spice condoms? seriously, daniel?"

daniel laughed, half dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed with his phone. "what, it's festive!"

"it's tacky." y/n rolled her eyes, throwing the orange box at him. "jesus christ, why am i still dating you?"

"because i'm charming, funny and give really good head?"

"fuck off." y/n giggled, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "i love you anyways, dumbass."

giggling still, daniel got to his feet, scooping y/n up in his arms, pressing a kiss to her lips before sitting on the bed and rolling over so that the aussie was on top.

"how about we try them out?" he raised an eyebrow, lifting up the box. "you know, see if they're really as tacky as they sound."

she kissed him on the nose. "sorry, cowboy. we have a halloween party to get ready for."

daniel groaned, flopping onto the bed. since the mclaren decision had come down, and his season got progressively worse, daniel had stopped wanting to go out, his usual sparkle a little duller.

but it was soctty and chloe who were throwing the party. aside from chloe's brother lance, there wasn't going to be a single person there who was connected to the racing world.

y/n thought that it might do danny some good to get back out there and clear his head. she'd been with him since the year that he left red bull, and she had never seen him as discouraged as he had been since he started driving for zak brown and his papaya team.

"why are we getting ready this early? there's still three hours left."

"the costumes and makeup, silly. a lot of work goes into looking as good as we do." y/n laughed, tapping the end of danny's nose.

begrudgingly, daniel resigned himself to the fact that there was nothing he could say or do to change y/n's mind about the costume or how long it would take to prepare it.

the couple ( or moreover, y/n ) had decided to go as jack and sally from the nightmare before christmas. y/n was very festive, especially when halloween rolled around. chloe had insisted on having a costume contest at the party, and y/n's competitive streak was coming out.

she did daniel's makeup first, knowing that trying to do makeup on another person was considerably harder than trying to do it for herself.

the mclaren driver was a good sport about the entire thing, especially for a man who didn't want to go to the party in the first place. she perched herself next to him on the edge of the bed, hair still soaked and dressed in her silk robe as she opened up the palette, dabbing the white face paint onto daniel's skin to transform him into the pumpkin king.

she used her liquid eyeliner to draw jack skellington's crooked smile across the driver's cheeks, and dark eyeshadow in circles around his eyes before adding the sliver glitter spray into his abundance of curls before she ruffled his hair, flecks of glitter falling onto the duvet as daniel leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"daniel!" she complained. "you're going to smudge it!"

"does it matter? the guy is a skeleton anyways!"

still giggling, she shooed daniel towards the walk in closet before taking a seat at the vanity mirror to set about doing her own makeup.

it took just under an hour to do danny's.

it only took y/n half that to do her own from the youtube tutorial before she began to straighten her hair and dust her face with glittery setting powder so that she sparkled under the light.

when daniel came back out of the walk-in, y/n's first instinct was to tell him how hot he looked. and then she needed to fix the bowtie, which the driver had done up wrong despite it being velcro.

she chuckled to herself as she undid and redid the costume tie before kissing her lover gently on the cheek, then rubbing away the purple lipstick mark before she went to put sally's patchwork dress on.

once the couple were ready to go, y/n insisted on all the customary couple's photos in the mirror. when it came to doting boyfriend activities, daniel ricciardo was a shockingly good sport, holding y/n close as they stared into each other's eyes for the photo.

she pressed up on her tiptoes, gently sinking her lips against his now that she knew all the lipsticks and face paints were dry.

"i love you." she said simply.

"love you too, darling. now, we have a costume contest to go win."

y/n beamed. "an hour ago, you didn't want to go."

"i changed my mind when i saw you smile."

___________

daniel ricciardo was actually enjoying himself. their competition for the contest was quite something. they were up against daphne and fred from scooby doo, uma thurman and john travolta in pulp fiction, baby and johnny from dirty dancing and a few disney princess couplings. there was also one couple who went as johnny cash and june carter, in costumes so good that for a second y/n thought that they had lost.

but alas, mostly due to y/n's rapidly developing makeup skills, jack and sally were crowned the winners.

daniel and y/n were sitting with chloe and scotty, as well as lance and his girlfriend and a round table towards the back of the garden, talking somehow about anything and nothing at the same time.

daniel had never felt more at ease.

"oh come on, who plays bryan adams at a halloween party? there's nothing spooky about a canadian country singer." y/n complains later, glass of seltzer in her hand.

"um, 'reckless' is a classic album. and he's not a country singer." chloe laughed, a little buzzed and wine drunk.

"i think he is, clo." scotty rebutted with a small laugh. the snowboarder and his fiancee were so in love, and y/n sometimes wondered if that's what she a daniel looked like to outsiders, even though the aussie hadn't gotten his ass in gear and bought her a ring yet.

daniel laughs, getting to his feet. "come on, darling, don't be a buzzkill." he crosses to y/n side of the circular table, extending a hand. "can i have this dance, my pumpkin queen?"

y/n laughed. "danny, come on."

"i'm serious! what, am i not allowed to dance with my girlfriend?"

she took daniel's hand in her and allowed him to lead her out to the middle of chloe and scotty's backyard, with 'cuts like a knife' playing in the background as they rocked back and forth, y/n trying her hardest not to break out into a giggling fit.

"are you glad i made you come to the party?" y/n asked, eyebrows raised under the orange pumpkin lights.

daniel rolled his eyes. "of course i am. i'm with you, and i could never hate being anywhere with you."

y/n giggled as daniel took her hand and spun her around during the guitar solo before he pulled her close again. even with her platform heels, y/n was still almost a head shorter than the australian.

"have you ever thought about getting married?" y/n asked quietly, still thinking about scotty and chloe. "like, the two of us, settling down?"

daniel looked down at her, gently kissing y/n's hairline. "of course i have. i just wasn't sure if you were ready for it? i know that big things like that make you anxious. i think that if we did get married, it would be something quiet and low-key. just us, and a very small wedding party. our parents. maybe on the farm in perth. you in white, i'd put my cowboy boots on under my jeans."

y/n chuckled, stepping back slightly and cupping daniel's cheek. "i think i'd really like that. whenever you're ready, just let me know."

and then they kissed, backlit by jack o lanterns and country music.

y/n smiled. "did we just agree to get married spontaneously without a proposal or a ring or anything?"

"i think we did." danny chuckled. "imagine how funny it would be if we didn't tell anybody until after the wedding."

"hush. let me enjoy our dance. it's just practice for the real thing, now."

___________

they would drunkenly stumble back into the ranch house hours later, giggling and blushy, arms around each other as they tried to stay upright.

"babe," daniel managed through laughter. "take your shoes off or you aren't even going to make it up the stairs."

y/n leaned against the off-white wall, almost hitting her head on a picture frame housing a picture of her and danny from monza in 2021, his last win. she had her arms around his neck, half on his back as he tried to hold up the sign that triumphantly read 'daniel p1'.

where had things with mclaren gone so wrong?

the couple stumbled up the small flight of stairs to their bedroom, where y/n perched delicately on the edge of the bed, leaning against a pillow as she watched daniel begin to undress.

catching her movement out of the corner of his eye, daniel turned around with a grin.

"like what you see?"

"fuck off."

taking the joke in stride, he reached for his phone, putting on a sultry sounding blues song, swaying his hips back and forth as he took off the pinstriped suit jacket.

with a drunken giggle, y/n realized exactly what daniel was doing.

and she'd be damned if she said his little striptease wasn't working as the aussie got closer and closer to the bed, y/n's eyes drawn in as daniel began to move his shoulders to the music, nimble fingers undoing the snap on the tie before he began to undo the dress shirt.

she felt bad for giggling before, but this just made her holler in laughter. she knew it must have been the alcohol speaking.

"daniel joseph ricciardo, loving you is going to be the death of me." she grins, pulling him in by the belt loops before getting to her feet and pressing a kiss to his lips. "let's go wash off the makeup, lover boy. then we can put on our pajamas, get nice and cozy in the bed, and then you can fuck me like i know you've wanted to do all night."

internally, daniel groaned. "you're making me wait even longer?"

"i'm not sleeping in this makeup, danny. it's not good for my skin."

"as long as you put on the sexy pajamas, i'm all in."

"you think all of my pajamas are sexy."

"that's because you're wearing them."

[fanatic-kay]

Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

Pairings: Pre-romantic Prinxiety, brothers!analogicality Word Count: 1535 Rating: General Audiences Summary: Roman works at the Disney store when a shady looking person walks in.

Read on AO3 Here!

Roman Prince loved his job. Sure, the work of retail could be especially tedious at times, but at the end of the day, it was worth it. As long as he could see the young children coming in, eyes full of stars, as they tried to comprehend the overload of Disney paraphernalia staring back at them. How they would jump up and down, tugging at their parent’s sleeve before running towards something that caught their attention. How their older siblings, usually teenagers, would pretend to act cool or annoyed since they were ‘too old for this stuff’, but even they would let their inner child shine through as they perused through the racks. Sometimes they even got adults, never letting the Disney spirit die, excited to shop for themselves. No matter how old you got, everyone could relate to the excitement Disney lit in your soul. Well… almost everyone.

It was his turn to stock shelves, not that Roman minded. He was mostly left to his own devices, singing along with the music playing overhead, but sometimes a lost child or confused parent would ask him for the location of specific items.

“Thank you!” A charming young girl gushed at him as he handed her something from the top shelf.

“Of course, princess! Have a magical day!” Roman smiled, waving goodbye. He turned to return to his work, and that’s when he saw him.

Really, Roman wasn’t sure how he didn’t notice him walk in. The boy stood out like a sore thumb. Between all of the colors and happiness, he seemed to exude angst, wearing all black, like some sort of… emo nightmare. It was a punk, bad boy look. He would’ve been described as attractive by some. Roman couldn’t help but be suspicious, watching the other’s moves like a hawk. He knows he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, Beauty and the Beast taught him that, but something about him was giving Roman a feeling he couldn’t quite shake.

He subtly watched him look around as if he were searching for something. He picked up a Lion King t-shirt, surveying it before placing it back down. His eyes, a deep brown, almost black, scanned his surroundings. His hair was dyed purple, and an eyebrow piercing glinted in the store lighting. Paired with his ripped black skinny jeans, studded leather jacket, and steel-toed combat boots, he seemed to be the depiction of ‘troublemaker’. Maybe he was trying to steal something? There was no other obvious explanation to his shifty demeanor.

Roman tried to focus back on his task while glancing at the hypothetical thief every few seconds. However, he must’ve not been as observant as he thought, as he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone cleared their throat behind him. He bit back a string of profanities when he realized it was the boy he had been watching earlier.

He mustered up his customer service smile, the one he used when he was dealing with a dragon witch of a Karen that demanded to speak with his manager, and in his best false cheer said, “Hello! Do you need any help?”

The emo raised an eyebrow unimpressed, “No, I just wanted to get your attention for the hell of it,” he snarked.

Roman immediately dropped the niceties. “You know, Hot Topic is just three stores down,” he gave him a once over, “they’re probably a bit more your style.”

“I have eyes, I can see where I am,” the other shot back. “I was just wondering if you had any Black Cauldron merch in here.”

Roman blinked, trying to process his question for a count of three before shaking his head slowly, “No, we don’t.”

He scoffed, “Figures, it’s one of the most underrated Disney movies of all time, even if it is the best.”

“Yeah,” Roman nods, “it’s a shame it doesn’t have a bigger fanbase.”

Out of nowhere, two boys, twins, Roman realized, sporting matching glasses, appeared. One attacked the emo’s middle and the other let out a long, sufferable sigh at the action. He took that as his cue to resume his restocking, involuntarily listening in to their conversation.

“Virgie! Look! I found the Winnie the Pooh stuffie! And Lo-Lo got a Baymax one!” one exclaimed. He was the complete opposite of his- older brother, presumably- dressed in a soft, pastel sweatshirt and a knee-length skirt. He pushed the stuffed bear up for him to see.

“Virgil can see that, Pat,” his twin stated. Despite the fact of being so little, he wore a collared shirt and blue necktie, like a mini businessman, though there was a light of excitement in his eyes too as he hugged his own plushie.

Virgil laughed lightly, “Patton’s just excited, let him be, Logan,” he ruffled Patton’s hair as he continued. “And it’s great, Pat. Are you both happy with what you found?” The twins nodded enthusiastically.

“Did you find what you wanted?” Lo asked, both looking up at their brother with large, expecting eyes.

“Uh, no, no Black Cauldron stuff here,” he replied, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Patton’s shoulders slumped, “No Gurgi or Hen Wen?” he asked, sounding so upset, as if he was the one who longed for the merch instead of his brother.

Roman felt his heart drop, he did take this job to see the smiles of kids- and the discounted Disney items- but mostly the smiles.

“It’s alright, kid,” Virgil gave him a half-hearted smile. “I’ll just get something else. Maybe a Nightmare Before Christmas poster.” Patton, however, seemed unconvinced.

Roman could sense Virgil’s gaze on the wall of posters behind him. He subtly tried to follow his gaze and saw it land on the matching posters of Jack Skellington and Sally. They were limited edition, Virgil obviously had good taste. All of the posters were almost sold out, the shelf where they had been, empty. Roman had managed to nab the last one, placing it in one of his boxes to purchase once he got off of work. Was it fair? Not really. But he had wanted them really bad! They would look perfect on his wall!

Virgil chuckled humorlessly to himself, patting the space where the item would have been. “Or not.” Patton looked as if he was about to cry, clinging to Virgil’s legs. Even Logan looked mildly upset by the outcome.

At that moment, Roman realized he had royally messed up. Virgil wasn’t trying to cause trouble. He, like most everyone else, grew up with Disney and was sharing the magic with his younger brothers. He should’ve known better than to judge him by appearance. Disney was never wrong in their teachings. He made the split-second decision to help make the twins smile, and perhaps even give a proper apology to Virgil.

“I’d hate to interrupt,” Roman started, ignoring the questioning look Virgil sent him, as he crouched down to address Patton. “But did you say you liked Gurgi?”

Patton looked at him with his big sad eyes, sniffling before nodding.

“Well, we don’t have any Gurgi plushies, but,” Roman pretended to tap his chin thoughtfully before brightening as if an idea had struck him. He searched through one of the boxes he had still yet to stock, and in his, rusty, but decent Gurgi impression he said, “Munchings and crunchings in here somewhere.” This got a small giggle out of Patton, even his twin seemed to brighten at the quote. They both tried to peer over Roman’s shoulder to see what he was getting, but he blocked the view.

He grabbed the poster he had put away for safekeeping. He supposed there would always be new posters he could buy later on. He dramatically turned on his heel in his crouched position. He pulled the rolled tube into view as if he were unsheathing a sword and held it out to the twins with both hands.

Patton gasped in delight before looking down a bit confused, his enthusiasm ever-present. Logan, however, smiled in recognition. “Virge, it’s the poster!”

Roman looked up to meet Virgil’s eyes with a small smile, standing up and offering it to him. “Lucky for you, it's the last one. Worthy for a dark and stormy knight like yourself.”

Virgil’s gaze softened considerably at Roman though he rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. “If I’m the knight who’s the prince?”

He opened his mouth to speak, about to gesture to the twins when Patton beat him to it. “He is, silly!”

Virgil and Roman both widened their eyes, fighting blushes, realizing the implications of the statement. Virgil wouldn’t meet Roman’s eyes as the employee tried to remedy the situation. “I- I mean, I won’t deny that I’m a prince, but I was talking about you little princes right in front of me.”

Patton and Logan both grinned at that, as Virgil cleared his throat. “We should get going, Mom will be calling soon,” he said, rounding up his brothers and pushing them to the direction of the checkout lines. He looked over his shoulder, sending Roman a crooked smirk. “Thanks for the posters, Princey.”

Roman swore his heart skipped a beat. “You’re welcome.”

Taglist: @starry-knight-skies @space-captain-lars @viana-dascolli @wistful-wish