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msmercury84 · 2 months ago

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Wedding Anniversary on the Beach

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*Author's note: Wild Bill purchased a rundown beach house in New Jersey. He did construction work until the house was completely remodeled. He, Frannie and their eldest son stayed in the house on occasion. This was before the birth of his second son. Guarnere sold the house and bought another beach house to restore and selling it when it was remodeled. This information is in the book he wrote with Babe. Bill commented, "I've always known how to make a few extra dollars." He also said, "Old enough to eat, old enough to work."

The story about Augusta hitting the judge and the hit and run driver on the head with the judge's gavel and Joseph Guarnere hitting a police officer is true. It's also true that Bill's godfather punched a police officer. Augusta really told a woman in the hospital's office to "Keep him (Bill)!" This info came from a collection of letters belonging to Dick Winters that I found online. The line about "lumping the judge" with his gavel also came from the letters.

Bill was known to be largely non materialistic. This info came from his book. He often said, "We were happy with what we had. Now people keep buying more and more stuff."

The idea of paying his nephews to help him finish the first house on the beach came from my imagination, as did the backstory of the elderly nudists who were the former owners of the house.*

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In the winter of 1946, Bill purchased a run down beach house in New Jersey. He intended to fix up the house for himself and Leigh to use. Guarnere intended to eventually sell the house and perhaps buy and restore another house for extra income.

He hired Maria's and Julia's sons to do construction work with him and Bill paid the teenage boys fair wages. Guarnere and his nephews finished the house in time for his one year wedding anniversary with Leigh.

She was eager to see the house and they decided to spend their first anniversary on the New Jersey shore. During the drive to the beach house, they were reminiscing on how they met. Bill told Leigh,

"When I saw ya kickin' that guy's ass at Toccoa, that reminded me o' Ma. You're fiery, like her."

"What makes you say that, Honey? I'm not calling you a liar, but I've never seen Mama acting that way. Guarnere laughed,

"Let me tell ya about somethin' Ma done when I was 15. I was out roller skatin' in the street. Some guy in a car hit my ass. It was a hit an' run. I had to go to the hospital an' I was there four days.

The cops got hold o' the guy an' he paid off the judge. We went to court, an' the judge wanted to dismiss the case due to lack o' evidence. It made Ma furious an' she went up, grabbed the judge's gavel an' lumped him on the head wit' it twice."

"Oh, my God! I can't picture her doing that."

"That ain't all, Baby. After she done that, she lumped the hit an' run guy. Then, a cop tried to get hold o' her. Pop punched him. Another cop got after Pop, an' my godfather punched him. Nothin' happened 'cause they figured the judge didn't want word to get out that the case was fixed."

Leigh was shocked, then she started to laugh.

"If ya think that's (he pronounced the word as 'dats') funny, wait until I tell ya about Ma an' the hospital bill. I got better an' I was ready to go home, but we didn't have $45 to pay the bill.

Ma talked to some lady in the office an' she said I couldn't be released until the bill was paid. That got Ma fired up, an' she said, 'Keep him!'" More laughter ensued from Leigh, and Bill joined in.

When Bill pulled their car into the driveway in front of the beach house, Leigh looked at the white one story house,

"Honey, it's beautiful! You and the boys made it look new." Bill was proud of his work and he was extremely pleased that Leigh liked the way the house looked.

"Wait 'til ya see the inside, Baby. We redid the wirin', the plumbin', we put new linoleum in the kitchen an' new carpet in the bedroom. The boys an' I kinda scrounged around an' found furniture for the dinin' room an' the bedroom. I refinished the wood, stripped the old stuff off an' it looks brand new."

He got out of the car, went to the passenger side door, opened it for Leigh and they walked hand in hand to the front door. Bill got the key from his pocket, opened the door and carried Leigh into the house.

"I wanted to carry ya over the threshold, Sweetheart." He put her down in the living room. The floor was light colored hardwood that would be easier to keep dirt and sand free than carpet.

Augusta had provided white Priscilla curtains for the windows and Bill bought the blinds. He found a good deal on a tan colored couch with matching chairs that he purchased from a co-worker. The co-worker included a nice coffee table and end tables, both light colored wood and two tan colored lamps with white shades.

Julia donated two snake plants in neutral colored planters. Maria made new covers for the throw pillows on the couch that complimented the tan coloring. Teresa bought a small radio for the living room.

Leigh smiled as she looked around the living room,

"It's lovely, Bill." He explained how his sisters helped and how he got the living room furniture.

"Ma gave us the curtains, an' everybody kicked in an' gave us a completely stocked kitchen. Sure, most of it's used, but I got a new set o' dishes an' silverware. I've been savin' some money for this place an' I wanted to get a few things. I got a new set o' sheets for our bed an' a nice bedspread from that fancy store where I bought your red dress.

I waa hopin' maybe you could make some o' them embroidered pictures for the walls an' we could bring a few pictures from home. We got a copy o' our weddin' picture an' the portrait like we gave to our folks."

"I'd be delighted to make some counted cross stitch pictures, Honey. The portraits will really make it like home."

Bill showed her the kitchen, with a new white linoleum floor and light yellow paint on the walls. As promised, the kitchen table and chairs looked new.

"I didn't wanna choose curtains for ya, Baby. Maybe you could sew some?"

"I already have some ideas, Bill. This kitchen looks so cheery and bright. Look at that view of the ocean! It's gorgeous!" She noticed a wooden walkway from the kitchen door to the beach.

"Bill, it's just like something from a magazine. This is such a wonderful place." Leigh embraced and kissed him.

"I'm glad ya like it, Baby. C'mon, let me show ya the rest o' the place!" He led her to the bathroom down the hall. The floor was white linoleum. Blue and white tile covered the walls. The cabinet was freshly painted white and new silver colored faucets gleamed. A white bathtub with a shower and toilet completed the room. Guarnere opened a cabinet by the door that was at shoulder level.

"We made this big enough to hold towels, washcloths an' cleanin' stuff. It's up higher, so when we bring our kids, they won't be able to reach the cleanin' stuff. That'll keep 'em from gettin' poisoned." Leigh smiled,

"You'll be a wonderful Pop. You're already thinking ahead of their safety. This is a beautiful bathroom, Honey." Bill was pleased with Leigh's remark and he tenderly kissed her.

"Thanks, Sweetheart. You're gonna be one hell of a good Ma. Speakin' o' kids, follow me. We can use this for the kids' bedroom." They left the bathroom and walked a few steps down the hall to a small room with a window overlooking the beach. Bunk beds were set up by the window. The room was painted white.

"I bought the bunk beds, pretty cheap, from another guy at work. I redid the finish on 'em an' they're in real good shape. 'course there's the light fixture in here. We could get a night light if we need it." The room had the same light colored hardwood floor and the white Priscilla curtains as the living room. A light blue throw rug was beside the beds.

"I can picture sea shells on the window sill that the kids would find on the beach." Leigh looked to the right of the bed and saw a small wooden box with a hinged lid.

"You made a toy box! That's good planning, Bill." He grinned,

"We've gotta have a place for their toys." He crossed the room and opened a door,

"Here's the closet."

"It looks great, Honey."

"Now, come see our bedroom." She followed him to the room at the end of the hall. Bill stepped back, allowing her to enter the room first. She saw the beige carpet, a bed, end tables, a dresser with a mirror and a chest of drawers, all in light colored wood.

Beige wallpaper with white sea shells covered the walls. White Priscilla curtains covered a window overlooking the beach. An obviously new white chenille bedspread with small, beige sea shells covered the bed.

"Honey, this room is beautiful! You could do construction professionally." Bill walked up to stand behind Leigh, embracing her. He kissed her neck before replying,

"Thanks, Baby. I wanted to make everythin' look nice, 'specially our bedroom. It took a long time to get this room done, but it's worth it, knowin' ya like it."

"I love it! The bedspread really pulls everything together. Where did you find this lovely wallpaper?"

"The wallpaper came from that paint an' wallpaper store that's close to Ma's and Pop's house.

This room has a closet, too. I shoulda taken some pictures o' this place before we fixed it up. Everythin' was run down, kinda old lookin'. I've gotta admit doin' this kinda work is relaxin' in a way. I like workin' wit' my hands."

"I didn't realize you knew how to do all of these things, plumbing, wiring, hanging wallpaper and doing the floors and the tile in the bathroom."

"I learned real young. Pop would put me an' my brothers to work. He would always say, 'Old enough to eat, old enough to work.' We learned somethin' useful an' it could make money for us, too. I've always known how to make a few extra dollars.

Let me show ya one more thing." Bill took Leigh's hand, leading her to a set of French doors on the opposite side of the room. He opened the door and Leigh walked into a small portion of the yard that was surrounded by a tall white fence.

"This will be great for private sunbathing and we can also use it for a patio." Bill chuckled,

"The guy an' his wife who owned this before I bought it are about 80 years old an' they're nudists. I ain't got a problem wit' that, but, Holy God! No wonder they put up a fence. Nobody needs to see that."

"I have to ask, were they nude when you met them."

"No, thank God!"

After they carried in food and luggage from the car, Leigh fixed supper. While the food cooked, they got everything put away. Leigh ensured that they had a fresh can of coffee. Bill loved coffee and he drank several cups per day.

She asked Bill before they went on their trip about his choice for their anniversary supper. He wanted his favorite dish, spaghetti with one meatball, so she brought homemade pasta and made his favorite gravy (sauce) with Italian sausage. Leigh also had homemade antipasto, homemade garlic bread and she bought a bottle of their favorite red wine.

The table was set with a new tablecloth, yellow and white dishes, silverware, wine glasses and candles placed in antique milk glass candle holders. She lit the candles and Bill helped her serve their meal. He pulled out her chair before sitting down, then he asked the blessing. After supper was over, Guarnere told her,

"Sweetheart, ya done an excellent job wit' the food, as usual. You're like your Ma an' my Ma, one hell of a good cook."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Honey."

"I like seein' you in those pants, Baby. They show off that sweet ass." Leigh was wearing cream colored trousers, a matching short sleeved blouse and sandals. Bill was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black trousers, a belt, socks and shoes.

They washed the dishes together and then they listened to the radio until twilight as Bill smoked a cigarette. A full moon was out. Bill and Leigh decided to take a walk on the beach.

Leigh brought an old blanket to spread out on the sand. Bill had a small picnic basket containing two wine glasses and a small bottle of champagne that was removed from the refrigerator before they walked down the path to the beach. There was enough champagne for each of them to have two glasses.

They held hands and strolled down the wooden walkway to the beach. A full moon was out and the beach, as far as they could see, was vacant. There was no need to carry a flashlight to navigate on the walkway or the beach. The bright moonlight allowed them to see without extra light.

Leigh felt the small box containing Bill's anniversary gift gently striking her left hip through the pocket in her linen trousers. She had the cream colored trouser legs rolled up to her shins to allow herself to easily walk in the sand or wade in the surf.

Two months before their trip, she and Bill were talking while they washed, dried and put away the supper dishes. Bill was talking about a friend with whom he worked.

"Gene was showin' me a present his wife gave him for his birthday. It was a sterlin' silver cigarette lighter. The place where Annie bought it did free engravin', an' she had his initials put on it. It looked real classy. Somethin' like that is probably real expensive."

Leigh took note of his statement, because Bill rarely spoke of material things. He was content to live modestly. Still, she knew him well enough to deduce that the lighter was something he would like to have.

The following day, during her lunch break, Leigh called Teresa at work and asked if the jewelry store had sterling silver cigarette lighters with free engraving.

Teresa told her that the store charged per letter for engraving, but she lowered her voice and told Leigh the name of the jewelry store that did free engraving. Leigh thanked her sister-in-law for her help.

Then, Leigh went to the jewelry store and purchased the lighter. She had Bill's initials on one side. The other side of the silver lighter had the date of their wedding and a message, "I love you."

The clerk placed the lighter in a box and wrapped it in heavy silver colored paper with a white ribbon. After work, when she got home, Leigh hid the gift in a box of tampons, knowing that Bill wouldn't look for a gift in that location.

Leigh sat beside Bill on the blanket, resting her head on his left shoulder. Guarnere had his arms wrapped around her.

"I talked with Maxine Andrews the other day before I left work. They have a new song called "Near You" that's about to be released and I adore it. She began to sing,

"There's just one place for me, near you.

It's like heaven to be near you.

Times when we're apart and I can't face my heart.

Say you'll never stay more than just two lips away.

If my hours could be spent near you.

I'd be more than content near you.

Make my life worthwhile by telling me that I'll spend the rest of my days near you."

"That's beautiful, Baby." He moved his right arm away from holding Leigh so he could get the gift wrapped package out of his right trouser pocket.

"Just so happens that I got a little somethin' for your anniversary present." Guarnere handed her the box.

She unwrapped the small box and lifted the lid, seeing a necklace.

"Honey, it's beautiful! What kind of jewels are on this?"

"Teresa said those are moonstones. I never heard of 'em, but I thought the necklace would look good on ya. The chain is gold. Do you like it, Sweetheart? I can exchange it for somethin' else an' my feelins won't be hurt."

"I love it! You shouldn't have spent so much money. Still, I'll have to admit that I'm glad you did. This necklace will remind me of this beautiful moonlit beach. Would you please put it on for me, Honey?"

"Baby, I wanted ya to have somethin' really nice. You've done so much for me. I wanna let you know I appreciate ya." The manager of the jewelry store allowed Bill to put the necklace on layaway. Bill felt proud that he could buy something nice for Leigh.

Guarnere took the necklace out of the box and kissed Leigh's neck before he carefully fastened the clasp of the necklace. He grinned at her slight shiver when his lips made contact with the soft skin on her neck.

"It looks real nice on ya. Teresa said I could get a gold plated necklace, but I wanted somethin' that would last a long time."

" You're really good at selecting the perfect gift for me." Guarnere smiled when he heard Leigh's comment about his gift selecting skills. She added, "Honey, I know you appreciate me. You've always been very sweet and appreciative."

Then, she removed the small box from her trouser pocket and handed it to him.

"I have something for you, too." Bill unwrapped the box. Lifting the lid, he had a big smile on his face when he saw the lighter. He took the lighter out of the box and saw his initials carved on the front.

"Oh, Baby! Is this sterlin' silver? It looks classy wit' my initials on the front. Thanks, Sweetheart! I never thought I'd have somethin' like this." Leigh was pleased that Bill liked his gift.

"Yes, it's sterling silver. There's something else written on the back of the lighter. Guarnere turned over the lighter, reading the inscriptions.

"You're somethin' else, Leigh. You got the happiest day o' my life put on there. I love you, too, Baby." Bill gave Leigh a passionate kiss. After the kiss ended, she cupped his face in her hands, telling him,

"It's the happiest day of my life, too. We had such a beautiful wedding,everything was perfect, including what you told me at the altar."

"I'll never forget how I felt when I saw ya in your weddin' dress. You looked like a real, live angel. Let's have a toast to our first year as husband an' wife." Bill got the bottle of chilled champagne out of the picnic basket and two wine glasses. He undid the wire around the cork, popped the cork and poured a small serving of champagne into each glass. Then, Bill raised his glass,

"To my sweet, gorgeous baby. Thanks for makin' this date the best day o' my life." Leigh smiled and raised her glass,

"To the love of my life. Thanks for making this date the happiest day of my life. Here's to at least 80 more anniversaries." They gently tapped their glasses together and sipped the champagne.

"This is the same brand of champagne you ordered when you proposed in Paris. I remember its delicious flavor. Where did you find it, Honey?"

"I bought it in that fancy department store. A guy at work told me they started carryin' champagne. I kinda remembered enough o' this stuff's name to tell Julia. Her friend found it in stock an' gave me a real nice discount. I'm glad ya like it, Baby. I wanted it to be somethin' special." Leigh finished the champagne in her glass.

"You're so thoughtful, Bill. This is another perfect night, just like the night you proposed. The weather is perfect and we're in a beautiful place." Guarnere felt pleased that she liked his surprise gift of the French champagne. He finished his serving and asked,

"Would ya like a little more o' this, Sweetheart?" Leigh agreed to another serving and Bill poured more champagne for both of them. They sipped their drinks and cuddled as they watched the waves break on the shore. Leigh was smiling as she recalled their wedding reception.

"More than anything, I will always remember the unbridled joy at our reception. I don't think it was just my imagination. It seemed that everyone there was genuinely celebrating our marriage.

"It wasn't your imagination, Baby. I noticed it, too. We had all that great food, good music and dancin'. I think everybody already knew how much we love each other, an' they were celebratin'. Ma told me the other day, when she saw us dancin' together at the weddin' reception, she told Pop that their prayers had been answered. That was a sweet thing for her to say."

"What Mama said was very sweet. I think part of the reason people were celebrating was because the outcome could have been much worse had you not been so tough and determined to live. I still thank God for allowing you to survive." Guarnere carefully placed his wine glass on the blanket, ensuring that it wouldn't spill.

He gently took the glass from Leigh's hand, carefully setting it down and he wrapped his arms around her. Bill tenderly kissed her.

"I married an angel, ain't no doubt about it. He's why I made it, an' you played a big part in gettin' me healthy again. I don't think I could ever do enough to pay ya back for everythin' ya done for me." He gave her a tender kiss that turned passionate. After the kiss ended, Leigh replied,

"Honey, you don't owe me anything. There's no need to pay me back. If you insist on paying me back, you can do it in the bedroom and you can pay me back with some sweet babies when we're ready to start a family. Think of how much fun we'd have taking the kids to play on this beach. We could have a picnic, swim, gather sea shells and make sand castles." Guarnere smiled, imagining playing with their children.

"That would be real nice, bringin' our kids here. I don't think I'll resell this house for a few years so we can enjoy it as a family. Baby, I like that idea o' payin' ya back in the bedroom. I'm always willing' to make love to my beautiful an' sexy angel."

"I'm tempted to wade in the ocean. Would you like to come with me?"

"I'm not tryin' to be your boss, but wadin' in the ocean at night ain't a good idea. I've always heard that the sharks get a little closer to the shore at night. I don't want nothin' bad happenin' to my angel." Leigh slightly shivered at the notion of being attacked by a shark.

"Thanks for telling me, Honey. I didn't know that. No wading at night for me. If I'm attacked or eaten, I want you to be the one attacking or 'eating' me, so to speak." Bill chuckled,

"You little fireball." They decided to go back to the house. Leigh folded up the blanket and carefully placed the champagne glasses and the champagne into the basket. Bill once again insisted upon carrying the blanket and basket. They walked hand in hand to the house.

Leigh decided to move two of the dining room chairs to the fenced in area outside their bedroom. While Bill used the bathroom, she decided to put the blanket on the ground, next to one of the chairs. She had a small surprise in mind for Bill.

Once his business was finished in the bathroom, Guarnere washed his hands and went into the kitchen. He offered to wash the champagne glasses and put them away. Leigh told him to let it go until the following day, but he insisted on taking care of the task.

"Honey, when you get finished, meet me in the yard outside our bedroom."

"Sounds like ya got somethin' planned, Baby." She winked before telling him,

"I have a little...entertainment planned for us."

Leigh took this moment to go to the bedroom and put on the black lace bra, the black lace bolero bed jacket, garter belt and stockings with which she surprised him in Paris. She also inserted her diaphragm and decided to forego wearing the see-through black silk panties, recalling how much Bill enjoyed seeing her with the black lace garter belt and the black silk stockings, minus the panties.

Then, she put on her black high heeled pumps, touched up her lipstick and brushed her hair. She opened the French doors, leaving them open for Bill. Leigh quickly spread the blanket on the ground.

She decided to stand by the edge of the blanket, ensuring that Bill would see her as soon as he walked through the French doors. The thought of making love outdoors fueled her passion. Leigh heard Bill walking down the hall.

"I got everythin' done an' I wanna see what ya got planned for us." He stepped through the open French doors and saw Leigh beneath the full moon. Guarnere froze in his tracks as an extremely wicked grin appeared on his face.

"Oh, Christ! You look so fuckin' gorgeous. I love that outfit." He looked again and noticed her panties were missing. Guarnere walked over, standing in front of her. He removed his shirt, letting it fall on the blanket.

"Baby, I love seein' that beautiful pussy. There's somethin' extra hot about bein' outside like this." He pulled Leigh close to him and they shared an extremely passionate kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair while Bill gently held her ass in his hands. He reluctantly broke the kiss and stretched out on the blanket.

"C'mon over here, an' lower yourself down so I can taste that sweet pussy." Leigh's legs shook slightly as she complied. She was aroused beyond reason and she remembered how good it felt the when they did this on their honeymoon in Columbus, Ohio.

Bill's tongue licked the lips of her sex as he worked his way up to her clit. Then, his lips surrounded her clit and he gently sucked on it. In a few minutes, Leigh shivered as she came. She did her best to keep quiet since she didn't know if anyone was walking on the beach. He continued making love to her with his lips and tongue as she rode out her climax.

Leigh moved to sit on the blanket. Bill sat up, pulling her close to him.

"Seems to me that you're still wearin' too many clothes, Sweetheart." He unfastened the black lace strapless bra, allowing it to fall on the blanket.

"That's better. I love to see all o' you." Guarnere caressed Leigh's breasts, giving special attention to her hard nipples, alternating between licking and sucking them. Leigh whispered into his ear,

"Your baby needs a good, hard fucking." Bill slightly groaned, hearing her reply. He helped her stand and then he got up to stand beside her.

"Ya know what that does to me, hearin' you say that. How 'bout you bend over an' hold on to that chair." Leigh quickly followed his advice. She was extremely wet and ready.

Bill stood behind her.

"Seein' your sweet ass in the moonlight is drivin' me crazy. You oughta be a nudist, at least around here. I don't wanna share my sexy angel wit' anybody else."

"I don't want anybody else to see me. I'm all yours, Honey." Bill unbuttoned his trousers and pushed them and his boxer shorts low enough so he could make love to her.

Guarnere guided himself into Leigh, groaning at the feel of her wet sex engulfing him.

"I love how you're always ready for me. Feels so damn good!"

Then, he gripped her hips and began thrusting slowly into her. Leigh backed up against him, urging him to go deeper and faster. She could help but moan as he filled her. This was her favorite position for love making.

Guarnere eagerly picked up the pace. He wanted to go slower and make it last longer, but speeding up felt so incredibly good. He had no desire to slow down.

Both Bill and Leigh got more vocal with their sounds of pleasure. Leigh shuddered as a small orgasm passed. Soon, a bigger orgasm built. In a few minutes, she cried out as it overtook her. Guarnere felt her contracting around his cock. His thrusting got deeper and slightly off rhythm. He had an explosive orgasm, calling out,

"Fuck, yes!" He withdrew from Leigh and sat in the empty chair, pulling her onto his lap. Bill held her close, kissing her.

"You're so damn good."

"Thanks, Honey. I have a very good teacher. You're amazing."

"Do ya think ya might go around naked out here again before we go home? I like makin' love outdoors." Leigh grinned,

"Oh, definitely! As long as I get results like this, I'd gladly strip in this area. How about trying this during the day?"

"I like the way you think, Baby. How 'bout we get cleaned up an' go to bed? We need to get that room kinda broken in later, if ya know what I mean."

"Great minds think alike, Honey. I'm all for it." Bill put on his boxer shorts and trousers. He picked up his shirt and Leigh's lingerie. She took the blanket inside. They both took a bath, not together since the bathtub wasn't big enough and went to bed. Leigh kept her promise and they had some erotic adventures outdoors in the sunlight.

On their way home to South Philadelphia, Bill chuckled,

"It's a good thing I ain't in the Army now. One o' the guys, probably Luz, would see me in the shower an' say somethin' about having' a sun tan on my ass." Leigh laughed,

"I'd have to explain my all over sun tan. No regrets, though. We need to go to the shore again before it gets too cold for outdoor activities."

"Baby, that all over tan is super sexy. Thanks for the sterlin' silver lighter. That's all I'm usin' from now on."

"You welcome, Bill. Thanks for this lovely necklace. These moonstones will also remind me of making love outdoors. Thanks for buying and renovating the house."

"I'm glad ya like it, Sweetheart. If I kept the house long enough, ya might be a nudist like the older lady who used to live there."

"Who would want to see an old, naked lady?"

"When I get old, I still wanna see you naked." They both laughed and then continued talking on the way home.

"How 'bout we get started on makin' a baby when we get home?"

"I like the sound of that idea, Bill. I'm ready to start our family." Both Bill and Leigh hoped that a baby would soon be on the way.

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stars-of-kyber · 7 months ago

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I would love to hear your opinion about S3 !!1

Ooooooh girl! I have so many feelings here... This might get long, beware

Overall, I enjoyed this first part quite well.

I like how faithful some moments are to the book, although Colin's book is tied with Ben's as my least favourite and it was the one which took me the longest to read. I liked the Proposal, bc that's a scene I really like from the book and Colin's journals. I also like the glimpse of Colin's repressed anger.

I feel like the show could have mixed the Whistledown issue more with this first part. I felt like it was very separate. First, we deal with the love story, and then we bring the whole LW x Queen thing. The book actually starts with Lady D announcing she'd offer a reward for the person who gave her LW's identity. It didn't bother me that much during the episodes, but when the 1st part ended, it kinda gave me a feeling of... completion? Yeah, okay, we had the issue, we worked it out, the couple is together, we'll have a pretty epilogue moment and then yay. I know it's not just that bc I read the books, but even so it gave me that feeling. I don't know if splitting in two was a good plot device here, because the cliffhanger is... not actually a cliffhanger? There's nothing that makes us hold our breaths wondering what's coming next but that little trailer in the end. If it was me (not a professional obvs) I would either not have split this at all, or end the first part with Colin finding out Pen was LW. THAT would have been a cliffhanger worth holding your breath.

Particularly (Please don't come at me for that people), I don't feel the chemistry between the two of them, which is a bit sad. They were there, staring at each other about to kiss and I didn't feel that OH MY GOD YES KISS! They fell a bit flat for me, chemistry-wise. But again, I felt the same with the two of them the previous seasons so no big surprise here.

The Kathony, tho. God I love them. I want more of them. I need it. (I honestly think they were kept away from this beginning due to managing their schedules with other projects) But we'll see them in the next part being horny lovebirds together.

I really REALLY liked the sideplots too! Unlike season two and that god-forsaken annoying Eloise x Theo thing and Cousin Jack side-plots, I actually enjoyed the stories that were going around. I liked the Moldriches; I had some good laughs with Portia struggling with her daughters and sex ed;

Kudos to Lord Debling. I really liked him as a character and his interest in Penelope was nice to watch.

OH MY GOD FRANNIE AND JOHN! SUCH BABIES I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! NETFLIX PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME, MY POOR HEART CAN'T TAKE IT! DON'T MAKE ME LOVE JOHN JUST TO WATCH HIM DIE PAINFULLY! (Also please can we get a bit of a shout-out for our baby boy Michael in part 2? Thanks)

The most surprising of all, I actually LIKED the Eloise and Cressida side plot, which I was really not expecting. I like the way Cressida is presented, not an angel but also not super bad. And I love that she managed to give Eloise some very important call-outs and threw some truths in her face that she desperately needed to hear and no one else had done in the previous seasons (at least not so directly).

A little hurray to baby Greg and Hyacinth being the most adorable little pre-teens god they are so big, I can't! I love them so much.

Also, I had quite a lot of fun with Benedict, especially him being called out by Lady Tilly for the EXACT same reason he was having a laugh at Anthony last season. I absolutely loved that one. And I want to know what's the deal with Lady Danbury's bro.

I didn't particularly care for the music in it as a whole BUT I have to say this: I did NOT expect Pitbull's Give Me Everything would work SO DAMN WELL SERIOUSLY I LOVED IT! I saw it on the setlist and I was like Oh my god grab somebody sexy tell them hey! How is this going to work? And IT DID! I VIBED SO HARD WITH IT! Seriously did not see THAT ONE coming.

I have ticked off 9 of my bingo predictions! Unfortunately, as we know, Anthony's butt in ep 1 was not one of that (so so so sad) Colin being chased by a duck was neither, which makes me really upset BUT we still have another 4 eps to go 🦆 (I know, I know, let me dream, leave me be).

I'll be watching it again later today with my mum, maybe tomorrow again with my Frannie. (ADHD hyper fixation yeah I know).

As I said, it had its ups and downs but overall I liked it very much. I can't wait for the next part.

#asks #bridgerton #Season 3 Spoilers #Season 3 opinions #kathony #liliesofathony

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zipzapzopzoop · 7 months ago

Text

There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow

Chapter 3: The Future Has Arrived

“Wilbur! Little buddy! Oh man-”

Carl was running up the street like a chicken with its head cut off. He was getting quite a few looks from people he passed, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was finding Wilbur before he got himself into trouble again.

He ran across the street when he saw an electronic store with a window full of old television displays.

“Ladies! Have you seen a dark haired kid? About yey high, probably has a stupid smug look on his face?”

They… just sat there. They were TVs. What, did you think they were gonna say something back?

Frustrated and no closer to finding Wilbur, Carl stormed off to keep calling for him. Had he stayed any longer, he would’ve seen the news story on a woman stealing a train and taking it for a joyride…

----------------

A dark haired woman stormed up the steps of Joyce Williams Elementary School. She was already having a shit day if she was being honest, and now she gets a call that her son is in the principal’s office. Getting in trouble at school 17 years before he’s even born. Only Wilbur Robinson.

Stopping in front of the doors to the office, Franny took a deep breath and smoothed back her hair. At least she knew her son was safe. At least there’s that.

As she stepped in, she saw that familiar pointed hair and smug look on his face. Franny had never been more relieved, and yet furious to see it.

The principal seemed to do a slight double take at her hair, but nothing more.

“Good afternoon. Mrs.Robinson, was it? I’m afraid your son has been trying to ditch class during school hours-” “Ditch class? Ma’am, my son doesn’t even go to this school.”

That paused the principal in her tracks. She glanced at Wilbur, who was still sporting that stupid look. “Then… what was he doing on the campus?”

Wilbur faltered slightly, but Franny didn’t miss a beat. “Visiting a friend, no doubt. What kind of reckless school lets some kid in without identification or an adult? Couldn't you just check the student records to see if he attends? He kept telling you he isn’t a student.”

Franny was never one to start a fight over her son’s behavior.

But she has had quite enough of him goofing around with time.

------------

Little Franny was on her way to be picked up from school. A woman had passed by moments before, and she did not look happy. Jeez. She was interrupted by her thoughts when she heard barking. Outside of the fence, there was a dog… wearing glasses? And a saddle? The girl stopped and stared for a moment.

“Hey friend. What’s your name?” The dog looked back at her. He sniffed the air and took off suddenly, leaving Franny confused. She was gonna tell her brothers about it when she got to the car. No time to wait, she was gonna be late for karate practice.

-------------

The moment they left the building, Wilbur’s expression dropped. Franny’s, however, did not. Wilbur chuckled nervously. “Man, heh. Who knew schools in the past were so harsh, amirite?”

Franny scowled at him, not even cracking a little smile. “Wilbur Robinson, I have had it up to here with you!” She hissed. “You may have Carl wrapped around your finger, but not me,” she glanced around to make sure nobody was nearby to overhear. “You just wait until we get home, mister. There’s no telling where anyone is, and you’d better pray they’re alright. Because if they’re not, you’re never going to hear the end of it, do you understand me?” Wilbur couldn’t get himself to meet her eyes. He had really gone and made a mess of things this time.

Franny sighed, all out of steam. “It’s getting late. We should find a motel or somewhere to sleep, but we don’t want to mess anything up.”

“Wait. Mom. I know someone who can help us.”

---

Check the chapter out on my archive!

#Chapter Track: The Future Has Arrived - The All-American Rejects #meet the robinsons #disney #mtr #disney fanfiction #fanfiction #carl robinson #franny robinson #wilbur robinson #there's a great big beautiful tomorrow

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gallavich-headcanon · 2 years ago

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mickey pretends to be a baby opossum !!!!!!!! The cutest thing ever! I can see Ian sitting on the couch, like a normal person, maybe even with one arm on the back of the couch, when suddenly Mickey sits on top of the back of the couch, behind Ian's head, literally balancing on 25cm, wrapping himself around Ian. Possibly reaching to play with Ian's hair when he nearly loses his balance, "Mickey, careful." and Ian just pulls him to lay on him on the couch.

Darling and sweetheart are so often used platonically. (guilty as charged) What if some people try to steal use Mickey's nicknames for Ian??? Like, he doesn't mind them calling him E, but one day he hears someone calling Ian RED. And there's no way he's gonna let that slide. Red is what Mickey calls him. This is unacceptable.

Speaking of red, what if whenever the house wins some challenge and they all get pictures of their families as a reward, Ian gets a group picture of the Gallaghers, one of him with Lip and Fiona and a picture of him and Franny? And for a second Mickey is scared it's Ian's daughter because they look so much a like? But it's his niece. And Ian tells him stories about Franny and Mickey starts calling her little red, before even meeting her. (Mickey learns it's much easier to keep up with Ian's stories when he knows what his siblings look like.)

It's so like them, to break into someone's house to go skinnydipping even when they're famous! I hope for them that no one recognizes them!

I would also forget about the cameras so fast! Can you imagine Ian coming home, dying to tell his family a million stories about the last 3.5 months and all they have to say is "oh we know, we saw it!" and "That's not how it happened, let me shows you what you actually said that episode!" and "She actually voted to eliminate you so... no she wasn't 'the sweetest person ever' Ian." HAHAHA it would be so funny. And maybe some of it is editing and Ian has to insist "NO THIS IS NOT HOW IT HAPPENED."

I wonder if Ian and Mickey (and people who actually went on the show) ever sit down to watch the episode and see what the audience saw...

i promise i'll answer to everything else asap, but-

-> Nosho don't get me started with a Big Brother reality show type of AU.

you can't just drop this and not expect me to ask you to elaborate!

HAHAHAHAHA nosho I am sitting alone laughing like a maniac

I told you not to indulge me on this one! I still have reblogs to reply to and now I'm gonna have to add another one to our ever growing list of AUs. This is one is on you, my friend. When we, inevitably, lose our minds, I want you to go back to this moment.

Okay, so my knowledge about Big Brother is very limited because I've only watched one season like 8 years ago (don't judge me, I was after surgery and couldn't walk for a while. It's insanely addictive though, with the whole 24/7 live stream)

But in the season I watched they had 2 random tenants (the first two that entered the house) pretend they are exes. Like the secret mission was to successfully make the other 20 people believe they are exes even though they've never met. They had 10 minutes, until the next person joins them, to come up with a story. In this they only had to keep it up for 2 days but-

In my AU - Ian and Mickey have to pretend to be together. They enter the house last, together. They get 10 minutes to come up with a convincing back story. They are told they have to keep everyone convinced for a week. Even if one person goes to the big brother and tells them that they think I&M are lying about it, they whole house loses. (the whole house participates in an activity that they believe to be the real weekly mission).

So when they both realize they are from the south side of Chicago, and are gay, they know they can pull it off. They keep the rest as close to reality as possible- Ian (25) is an EMT, Mickey (27) is a tattoo artist.

In the house they are the only ones to get a double bed and obviously they are expected to sleep together.

Will they convince everyone? will they fail the secret mission? Will they actually fall in love?

#big brother au #forced proximity #fake relationship #gallavich #gallavich au #reality show #shameless #ian and mickey #uncle ian #creepkinginc #au shenanigans with nosho

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arrowflier · 3 years ago

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Oh! I have a prompt. Post-series, Mickey and Carl: destructive due, but like juuuust this side of legal and definitely morally ambiguous. Extra points if Mickey is protective because family's family

Okay this is definitely not what you were expecting but I was having such a hard time thinking of something for them to do lol. Of course now that I've done it I have more logical ideas but too late.😅

“Fuck, get the fucking—”

“I’m gettin it, I’m gettin it!”

“Well get it faster, I’m bleeding the fuck out over here!”

Ian groaned at the loud voices coming from the kitchen, stirring awake from where he had been napping on the living room sofa.

“The fuck is going on?” he muttered, sitting up and wiping at his dry eyes. The voices in the other room had stopped, but were replaced by loud crashes and slamming drawers as someone searched for something and, apparently, didn’t find it quickly enough.

Ian pushed himself to his feet, letting the scratchy hand-made blanket slide to the floor, and wandered on stiff legs toward the noise.

When he got far enough to see into the kitchen, he stopped and rubbed his eyes again, just to make sure he wasn’t having some kind of weird dream.

“Mickey?” Ian asked, and his husband started, looking both surprised and guilty. Mickey sat at the kitchen table, clutching a raggedy old towel around one hand, a towel that was slowly turning red with seeping blood.

“Mickey, what happened?” Ian prodded, waking up enough to realize that this was not a normal thing for a Sunday evening. They had come by the house for a late lunch and stayed to hang out and play with Franny—how had Mickey ended up bleeding in the kitchen when Ian had left him just 30 minutes ago to shut his eyes for a spell?

“Nothin’, man, everything’s fine,” Mickey answered gruffly, not meeting Ian’s eyes. “Just had a little incident, it’s all good.”

“All good?” Ian repeated, voice rising. “Mickey, you’re bleeding!”

His husband just shrugged.

“I mean, yeah, but not that bad.”

Before Ian could tear into his husband for playing down his apparent injury, Carl was returning from the bathroom off the kitchen, first aid kit in one hand.

“Found it!” he cried, waving the thing around like a victory flag. “Let’s get you patched up before Ian…”

Carl trailed off, seeing that Ian was, in fact, already awake and aware.

“Before Ian what?” Ian himself asked lowly, and Carl glanced at Mickey before offering a too-casual shrug.

Ian sighed, rubbing the last of the sleep from his eyes, and gestured to Carl.

“Give it here,” he ordered. “I don’t know what you two got up to, but at least let me fix it.”

Carl passed the first aid kit over without a word, throwing Mickey an apologetic glance. Ian just opened the box and set it on the table, digging through it for alcohol wipes and gauze, and sat in front of Mickey to unwind the towel from his hand.

“You promised me you’d stop doing stupid shit, you know,” Ian reminded his husband, and Mickey scowled.

“No, I promised I’d do less stupid shit,” he corrected, “and this wasn’t fuckin’ stupid.”

Ian raised an eyebrow at that claim, but Carl was ready to back Mickey up.

“It was so badass, Ian,” he gushed immediately. “You should’ve seen him!”

“Seen him do what?” Ian asked cautiously as Mickey avoided his gaze some more. Finally removing the last layer of the towel, Ian winced when he saw the cuts on Mickey’s hand. “Seen him slice himself up?” he added, but Carl shook his head.

“Nah, that happened after,” he said, then frowned. “Or during, I guess? But it wasn’t his fault, that thing had it out for him!”

Dare he ask? Ian wondered. Or, knowing his husband and his brother, perhaps the question should be dare he not?

Thing?” he made himself question, and Carl pounced on the opportunity to tell the full story. Or at least, the Carl version.

“Yeah, so there was this drone, right?” he started, and Ian was already feeling a groan coming on.

“A drone,” he said flatly, ignoring Mickey’s hiss as he wiped his hand clean.

“Yeah,” Carl went on, oblivious to Ian’s tone. “It’s been flying around here for days, always sneaking up on Debbie and Fran.”

“And did you report it?” Ian asked, already knowing the answer.

“The fuck would we do that for?” Mickey chimed in, and Ian rolled his eyes when Carl nodded his agreement.

“Carl, you’re a cop,” Ian said, exasperated.

“Yeah, but they don’t take shit like that seriously,” Carl defended, and well, Ian had to give him that. “But anyway, it showed up again just now, hovering around the pool while Franny was swimming, so we took it down.”

Ian let out a heavy breath, and closed his eyes.

“You took it down,” he said slowly. “Meaning you shot an unlicensed firearm, in the middle of the neighborhood, to destroy someone else’s personal property. And there’s probably video footage of you doing it.”

He reached for the gauze and started wrapping Mickey’s hand, tugging it just this side of too tight.

“Geez, fuckin’ relax, okay?” Mickey urged. “I didn’t use a gun, and I got it from behind. Besides, they were fuckin’ trespassing.”

“He’s right,” Carl agreed. “He got up on the roof outside our window, took it down with his knife once it was close enough.” Then Carl winced, and scratched at his head. “It just, uh, kind of caught his hand in the rotor when it went down?”

That explained the injuries, at least.

“Fine,” Ian relented, stroking a hand softly over the finished bandage and raising it to his lips for a brief kiss. “But if you ever do something like that again—”

The doorbell rang.

All three of them looked toward the front of the house, then at each other.

“Uh..” Carl voiced, and then they were all moving. Carl to throw the bloody rag in the bathroom and shut the door, Mickey to grab the knife that Ian now saw was sitting right there at the edge of the table, and Ian into the living room to answer the door.

Ian looked back once he got there, making sure Carl and Mickey were ready, and then opened the door with as casual an air as he could muster.

He wasn’t sure what he expected to see on the other side, but it wasn’t a middle-aged man with thinning hair and a thin-lipped expression.

“Uh, hi,” Ian greeted. “Can we help you?”

“You can,” the man said huffily. “I’m looking for—”

Mickey came up behind Ian, laying a steadying hand on his hip, and the man’s eyes went wide.

“You!” he hollered, pointing a shaking finger right in Mickey’s face.

“Me what?” Mickey grouched. “You got a problem, grandpa?”

“You killed my drone!” the man continued. Ian tensed, but Mickey just shrugged, unconcerned.

“So what?” he asked, not bothering to deny it.

“So I could have you arrested for destruction of property!” the man spit out, and Mickey laughed right in his face.

“Yeah right, man, try again,” he goaded. “You got no evidence.”

“I have footage,” the stranger hissed. “Of your face, when it fell.”

Mickey raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah?” he asked. “What else you got footage of, huh? My sister?” He stepped around Ian, halfway through the door, and added lowly, “my underage niece?”

The man went white. “That footage is…it’s purely academic…I…I could…”

“What, you could what?” Mickey countered. “Get lost, man, and find a new hobby.”

He started to close the door, but the man shoved his foot in, wincing when the heavy wood hit it and bounced back.

“I saw your knife,” the man tried in a last ditch attempt. “You can’t have things like that in public, I could have you arrested for carrying a blade!”

“What, this one?” Mickey asked, taking the aforementioned knife out of his waistband and holding it out. The stranger shrank away from it, but Mickey held it out further.

“Go on, take it,” he urged. “And get out your ruler, asshole, ‘cause even if this weren’t private property, that thing’s within legal requirements for concealed carry.”

Ian finally interrupted, pulling Mickey back and taking his place in the doorway again.

“You heard the man,” he said to the stranger’s shocked face. “Sorry about your drone, but we have other things to worry about here.”

Then he slammed the door shut.

Ian stayed facing it for a moment, just breathing, before turning to look at his smug husband.

“That was the stupidest,” he started, stepping forward, “most harebrained—”

“Hottest?” Mickey suggested.

“Hottest,” Ian continued, then shook his head when he realized the trick. “How did you know you’d get away with all that, anyway?” he asked instead, and Carl spoke up from further in the house.

“Like you said, I’m a cop,” he cut in with a smirk. “And I don’t think that guy’ll bother us again, since he basically just admitted to spying on Fran.”

Ian blinked. “But we’re the only ones who heard that,” he pointed out, and Carl grinned wider as he showed them both his phone screen, where a recording app was paused.

“Single-party consent, bitch,” he said, and met Mickey’s high five easily.

Ian sighed again, and Mickey patted him on the shoulder in commiseration.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” Mickey said. “If I do stupid shit with your brother, I won’t go down for it.”

“Because he’s a cop?” Ian asked, and Mickey snorted, shaking his head.

“Nah,” he replied in an overdone stage-whisper. “Because he’d be easy to pin it on.”

Ian thought for a moment, watching Carl trip over the coffee table on his way back to the kitchen, then shrugged.

He couldn’t really argue with that either.

#daily speedwrite #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #carl gallagher #mickey and carl take on a peeping tom #tw: blood #this one is so weird lol #i'm sorry it's not serious at all #now I realize I should have had them like track down an evil ex or something instead that would have made more sense😂#maybe I'll do that another time #fanfic

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flamingbluepanda · 3 years ago

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Hello! 💙 I am absolutely ADORING your trope mashups. If you're still writing can I ask for 54 & 80 please?

AAAAAAH I'm so flattered!! I'm new to the shameless fandom so the positive response has been 🥰🥰🥰

54: Mickey's mom lives / 80: Protective/Defensive

Catch me sliding my Mickey is the oldest headcanon in there

"for the last time ma'am, I don't know who you are!"

"I just need to know if-"

"and I'm not telling you if Mickey is here!"

Ian glanced back at Mickey with a frown as they went down the stairs. The entire family was crowded in the living room, various levels of concern and annoyance on their faces, and Liam was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

It had been two days since the wedding and all the chaos after, and last night everyone had crashed pretty hard- Sandy was out of the house helping to gather Debbie's bail money, Franny was still asleep upstairs, and Lip and Tami and Carl were all glaring towards the doorway protectively.

Mickey, for his part, just looked confused by the whole thing, pushing past Ian where he was stopped on the stairs to round the corner and look at the doorway. "Hey, Liam what's- what the fuck!"

That was more than enough to prompt Ian into rushing down the last few steps to round the corner and stand at Mickey's back, ready to grab him and defend him against whoever Terry had sent -- but the Mystery woman didn't have a gun, or look particularly dangerous.

She had long black hair, and was wearing a blue sweater and dark jeans and combat boots. Tears were streaming down her face, and when she looked at Mickey, it was filled with joy.

"oh my mikhailo!" She sobbed, pushing past Liam to throw her arms around Mickey's husband, who stumbled back a step in shock, tense as a guitar string. She babbled a string of words in Ukrainian, sobbing into Mickey's shoulder, and Mickey didn't react. He didn't blink, didn't flinch, Ian wasn't sure he was breathing for a moment.

Get off of him, Ian wanted to snap, can't you see he's uncomfortable? Take your fucking hands off of him, he hates being touched without permission

"Mama-" Mickey finally choked out, and then his expression darkened, and his hands came up to firmly grasp at her shoulders and pull her away from him.

"what are you doing here? Are you in trouble?" He asked, and Ian ignored the his shocked reaction at this being Mickey's mother, his fucking mother in law, in favor of noting that normally, when Mickey asked that question to a member of his family (and he always asked it to his family, even the ones who sided with Terry and didn't deserve it, because Mickey was just that kind of person, and Ian loved him), there was normally an undercurrent of worry, warmth, even affection for people like Sandy, Jamie, and his direct siblings. With this though there was just- cold. Robotic obligation to the woman who raised him.

Laura Milkovich smiled at her son, tears still streaming. "No, no, my love, I just- you got married!"

"you heard?"

"yes, yes! I'm so- I'm so happy for you, and I wanted to come, wish you well in person, see my new son in law-"

"you heard that part too, huh?" Mickey's hands dropped from her shoulders, an emotion Ian couldn't quite place finally seeping back into his voice. "You heard about that, and yet you couldn't be bothered to show up to my first wedding? Maybe stop Terry from forcing me to marry my fucking rapist?"

Laura blanched, and out of the corner of Ian's eye he saw Tami's eyes go wide in shock. She didn't know that story yet, probably never would if Mickey had a say in it. Lip looked even angrier now.

"Mikhailo-" Laura started

"Mickey!" He finally snapped. "Mickey, everyone on the planet has called me Mickey since I was like a month old! Even Terry calls me Mickey, and Terry regularly tries to fucking kill me!"

Laura was crying harder now. "I know what a monster he is-!"

"and you still left us there!" Mickey shouted, tears boiling in his own eyes now. "Me and Mandy, even Colin and Iggy and Joey, you left us all fucking behind!"

"you were old enough to-"

"I was ten!" Mickey shouted, crying now. "I was ten, Mandy was eight! Iggy and Colin were nine and Joey was just barely ten and sure, they didn't come out of you and joey's mom took him on the weekends, but they were still your kids and I got the fucking brains of the family and so guess who took care of them! Guess who took the beatings for Mandy and stole the happy meals out of the fucking trash so we could maybe eat something every once in a while! Me! It was fucking me, your goddamn child who wasn't even a fucking preteen!"

"but look at you now!" Laura pleaded, trying to salvage the situation. Mickey scoffed. "Yeah, ma, look at me fucking now, with two felonies under my belt and a cartel and a gang of homophobic Nazis actively trying to kill me. Did you know dad had me working jobs for him the day after you weren't there to stop him? Did you know I never fucking finished school? That I got yelled at when I did try and go for being filthy and unwashed because our water got shutoff and they wouldn't let a ten year old pay the bill? Did you know that I used to have to wash Mandy's hair in a public bathroom at a fucking taco bell? Did you know any of that!?"

Laura opened her mouth, but Mickey kept barrelling right along.."or since you know so much about our relationships, did you hear about Mandy's abusive ex? Or that Iggy's gonna be a dad soon, and he's more excited than he's ever been about anything? And Colin, shit, he's on his third rehab stint! Who got them through those things, huh? Me! All while dad was beating me half to death for being gay or ordering a woman to rape me and get her pregnant, and guess what- I still never abandoned my fucking kid! Because parents shouldn't do that shit!"

Laura's face got the same red look to it when she was on the defensive that Mickey's did, and she finally interrupted him to shout right back. "I couldn't stay! You don't know what it was like! He was my husband-"

"and we were your kids," Mickey said, fight leaving him just as fast as it came. He swayed on his feet like a boxer in the third round, eyes big and sad. Ian wanted to pull him into his arms and never let him go.

"we were your kids," Mickey croaked. "You were supposed to protect us. I was just a little fucking kid-"

His voice cracked, and Ian couldn't resist hugging him any longer.

Laura looked up at him, pleading. "Are you his husband? Please, I just want-"

"I don't care," Ian snapped, "get off my porch."

"he's my son-"

"and my husband," Ian hissed, fucking Mickey's trembling form into him so his face was hidden in his shoulder. "Protecting him is my fucking job now, and I intend to do a better job than you and Terry combined -- not that it's fucking hard."

She had Mickey's nose, Ian noted, and his eyebrows. But Mickey had Terry's eyes, and maybe that was why it was easy for Ian to look in hers and snap "get out, if he wants to reconcile he'll find you."

Mickey's stubbornness was clearly a factor from both sides, because Laura gritted her teeth. "I'm not leaving until-"

"actually you are," Carl said, finally speaking, angrier than Ian had heard him in years. "You see I own this house. And the entire property from the door to the gate. And I'm a police officer in training, so I'm more than qualified to state that you're fucking trespassing, ma'am, and I'd like you to get off my property."

"and if you don't want to leave, I'd be happy to escort you out," Lip said, voice sharp. "More than happy. Hey Liam, wanna help with your first Gallagher beat down?"

"alright-" Laura shook her head, stepping outside. "Alright. I'm leaving."

She threw one last look at Mickey, reaching out to softly touch his shoulder.

"I am happy for you, Mikhailo, I mean that."

"you wanna congratulate them? Buy them a fucking wedding present, the registry's online." Liam snapped, then slammed the door in her face.

Mickey trembled a little in Ian's arms, sniffling. Ian hugged him tighter.

"so that was your mom, huh?" Ian asked, and Mickey snorted, stepping back to wipe at his eyes.

"yeah," Mickey sniffed again. "Yeah, fuck. Guess all our inlaws are a lost cause."

"we're literally standing right here," Tami said, trying to be sarcastic to cover up the way her voice trembled. Mickey grinned a little at her, genuinely, "fuck off tamietti, clearly I didn't mean you."

"obviously," Tami sniffed, "since I'm clearly the best person you know."

Everyone laughed, and Franny woke up a little later and immediately hugged Mickey, and it wasn't a good day, everyone was shaken and everything felt soft and bruised, but Ian held his husband tight whenever the tears started again, and if that was all he could do, then he'd do it forever.

#gallavich #mickey milkovich #shameless fanfiction #gallavich fanfic #shameless #ali writes shit #thanks for the ask friend!!#i went a little nuts lmao

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viscountessevie · 3 years ago

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Do you think that the Peneloise break up could finally give us Francesca and Eloise in action? I can't believe how she's not shown to be close to at least one sibling. And I heard that in the books it was Eloise who she was the closest with. This could finally be the perfect opportunity to let her shine. What is your theory about this?

Ohmygod anon you read my mind - this is exactly what I want in S3!! Thank you for this ask - it's a much needed break from all the Pelican and racial thinkpieces. Let's get into some S3 headcanons with these two!

Before I do the HCs, you're absolutely right that Frannie and Eloise are the closest in the books because they are Irish twins! They have the same birthday a year apart. They also look scarily alike in the books that in TDAI Simon actually keeps mixing up the two at the Bridgerton family dinner. It was hilarious. It makes sense with their age and also being witty in their own ways that they are close. I've always found it funny that the most outspoken Bridgerton and the quietly witty one were the closest in the books.

The lack of Frannie in the show is really sad because along with Kate, she's my favourite character and fave Bridgerton sibling - like yes I adore Anthony but mainly because I relate to him shshhs whereas Frannie truly is the BEST Bridgerton imo.

She deserves to shine along with her siblings, I just hope Bridgerton and Lockwood & Co. Are a bit more accomdating of Ruby for S3's filming. She was supposed to have a bigger arc and storyline in S2 but she got cast and started filming for Lockwood & Co. Tbh I was a little sad we missed out on a Frannie story (God knows it would have been better than Cousin Jack's storyline 🙄) but I'm just happy Ruby is busy and getting booked! Especially now as the lead in L&C.

Anyways onto the S3 headcanons/predictions under the cut because Frannie deserves more screentime and Eloise needs better friends next season!

- Eloise storms in Frannie's room once she's back from her crime ring in Bath (I still cannot believe they didn't even bother to give Frannie an in-show excuse this season 😭 so we'll maintain she was running her crime ring in Bath.) and immediately tells her about LW because if anyone can keep shit to themselves it's Frannie.

- Frannie is just like "I know."

Eloise goes 👁👄👁 "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"You're smart El I thought you'd figure it out."

[Btw we were robbed of Fran and El looking for LW in S1 and then halfway through Frannie figures it out and keeps looking at Pen pointedly while El is being a total dumbass about the signs right in front of her.]

- They basically bicker for a bit about Fran not telling her and El being smarter than that but having Pen as a blindspot. Also I feel like while they essentially have no connection, Fran did write to Marina a couple times to check in on her because she's just so lovely like that.

- Fran totally would have exposed Pen as LW once the Marina thing happened if she wasn't so busy with her crime ring sigh. She's also just really glad that El finally saw sense and got away from Pen.

- It was hard watching the sister you're closest to be best friends with an insipid wallflower who relished in ruining people's lives and reputations.

- The Pen of it all aside, Fran will be debuting this season and while Fran has seen both her sisters go through their debuts and knows how she'll handle herself, with grace and class as always, she welcomes the advice from Daph and El. Kate also gives her tips on how to avoid men who make her uncomfortable and to dress down rude ones.

- El is the first person she goes to when she meets the Stirlings. She gushes about John and then at the next ball El accidentally points out Michael, "Oh dear, he is gorgeous. You picked well, Fran." Ehehhe the foreshadowing of it all

- Fran can't do anything else but blush and be flustered because "El, that's John's cousin."

"Oh, my mistake." Then they go to formally introduce El to the cousins.

Stellar Additions from Trivia @hptriviachamp :

- All of that is a B/C plot of course and Bridgerton really needs to start using the sideplots to prop and support the main plot because CAN YOU IMAGINE EL AND FRAN TRYING TO GET BENOPHIE TGT??

- Like of course Francesca Bridgerton, the smartest sibling, figures out immediately that Sophie is the Lady in Silver and keeps dropping hints for Ben to realise it

- Eventually one by one everyone in the family figures it out and they all stand by watching in amusement at Ben's face blindness.

- El and Fran with their hints and shenanigans to leave Benophie in rooms alone together. Them recruiting Kate too who ends up becoming Sophie's bestie and helping her out.

- S3 I'm begging you to give me the El, Fran, Sophie and Kate fiercesome four sisters/sisters-in-law. El needs better women and friends in her life as do the other women and also more screentime for all! And especially our main couple next season Beneophie!!

This was such a fun ask to answer anon, thank you so much!! Now back to answering ships I'm not super into; Philoise/Marina/Theo Edition.

#bridgerton #Eloise Bridgerton #Francesca Bridgerton #Frannie my beloved #kate sharma #sophie beckett #Bridgerton S3 speculation #GC Stamp of Approval #Trivia Tag #Asks

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rememberingnayarivera · 2 years ago

Note

Lea has always been known to be a nightmare, long before glee, many of the actors have said she was unpleasant to be around, and some extras and crew members have spoken up saying she treated them like shit, acting like she was grossed out by them, she was being condescending to them. I think it's telling that nobody in the glee cast seems to have stayed in touch with her, besides Jonathan of course but he was her friend before glee. She thinks she's above everybody else.

I can't stand her after seeing all these stories. She's awful. I saw that pathetic apology she gave after being exposed by so many people on Twitter. Smdh. That was no apology. I believe Becca and Darren continue to stay in touch with her idk why.

I was on twitter earlier today and saw she's going to replace Beanie Feldstein as Franny Brice for Funny Girl. The first thing that came to mind when I read that was, oh what a surprise RM is still getting her work. I can't imagine anyone would actually want to hire her unless RM was involved somehow. I feel bad for the rest of the cast that have to work with her. I'm sure it'll be a nightmare for them.

#anonymous

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magnoliabloomfield · 3 years ago

Text

Afterlife 13

NOTE: I've had a hard time with my chronic illness lately, it's been affecting my cognitive functions and giving me blurry vision, so if there are typo's, missing words, incorrect words I apologize, sometimes I can read it three or four times and not be able to spot a mistake. I hate to seem like I'm asking you guys to be editors for me, but if you spot anything wonky please let me know and I'll fix it. I want to keep making quality content but health makes that a little unreliable. Thanks.

Gally noticed that now, whenever Madison’s eyes found him, she would smile. In the glade, the sight of him never made anyone smile. He wasn’t used it and doubted he ever would be, but he liked it more than he would admit.

Bit by bit he had tried to open up to her. One time they had been sitting on the roof, their backs against the warm bricks, and she had asked him to tell her all the good things about the glade. It hurt really bad, but he did it and, oddly enough, he felt better afterward, especially when her head came to rest on his shoulder.

She also shared some things he didn’t know about her. When she had gotten to the right arm and found they had books, she began devouring each one without discrimination. She explained that it was the best way to escape this world for a while, to experience new things in a way, and feel new feelings. She told him about her favorite stories with such enthusiasm he found himself smiling with ease. When she asked if he wanted to read any of them, which he wouldn’t have minded, he still told her he’d rather listen to her tell him about it just so he could sit back and watch her.

The roof had become their new spot and they regularly met up there in the evenings. He opened the door and saw her standing there, bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun. She turned and smiled at him.

“Hey you,” she greeted. “How did you make it through today?”

That was something they asked each other, it was a lot better than ‘how was your day?’ or ‘how are you doing?’

“By thinking about how much cooler it would be by the time I got here,” he answered as he walked over to her. “It was really hot today and it was pissing me off.”

“That sucks,” she frowned like she would fight the sun for him. “Are you less pissed off now?”

“Yeah, much better now,” he said with a slight grin. “How about you?”

“Frannie threw up on me!” She said with a fake bright smile like it was great news. “So, it’s a hot day and then I got hit with hot vomit-“

“Oh god, please don’t,” Gally begged with something between a smile and a grimace.

“At least I got an extra bath day though,” she smiled and rubbed her hands on her arms. She loved being clean.

“Ah, so that’s where your stink went,” he teased her.

She gave him a look and then went to perch herself on the wall. Gally felt his guts hit the floor and he sidestepped quickly to be right in front of her. The only thing going through his mind was Newt limping through the glade. His brows furrowed severely.

“No, no. Get down,” he told her as he reached for her arms or her waist, anything that he could grab without knocking her over the edge.

“It’s ok, the ledge is wide,” she tried to tell him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It makes me nervous!” he stepped forward, feeling her knees brush by his sides before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her off the wall.

He was now standing there holding her full weight, her thighs resting on his hips as her feet dangled in the air. She was holding onto his shoulders for balance and staring at him. She didn’t look confused or angry at him for manhandling her off the ledge. Her eyes just stared into him like she was really seeing him, she looked at him in a way that made him feel more real than he ever had before.

“You ok?” she finally asked him softly as her eyes briefly trailed down before meeting his again.

He would have to open the locked door to a dark place he hadn’t shown her yet to explain why he had just done what he did. She didn’t push away or make any sign of wanting to be put down.

“My friend,” he started, feeling a lump in his throat as he saw Newt in his mind. Gally didn’t feel worthy of calling himself Newt’s friend considering how things had gone down between them when Thomas had shown up, but he’d always liked Newt. “He, uh. He tried to…” this was harder than he expected.

As he tried to swallow and form a coherent sentence he felt her legs squeeze slightly as she crossed her ankles behind him, clearly not going anywhere. One of her hands moved to the curve where his neck met his shoulder.

“He jumped from the maze wall,” he said clearly as if her touch had coaxed it out of him.

Her tongue made a sad little tsk as she opened her mouth to speak. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” she said, her thumb brushing against his skin.

He gave a slight nod, his head dipping down as he took a calming breath. After a moment he felt Madison shift a little and then her forehead gently pressed to his, getting him to look up at her.

“I promise I won’t do it again,” she told him with a gentle smile before she pulled back, resting her arms over his shoulders.

His brows unknit slightly. God she was close. She wasn’t heavy by any means, but he loved feeling the weight of her, and her warmth even though it was already hot out, but somehow he wasn’t satisfied with just that, there was something more he wanted. He felt greedy.

He was so caught up in looking at her and wondering if he could close the small distance between them that, if the explosion had been any smaller, he wouldn’t have registered it at all.

He tried to be quick and also gentle as he dropped down, shielding Madison under him. His hand rested in her short hair as he protected her head. They were both breathing heavy with adrenaline and she was gripping the front of his shirt tightly. They waited for a moment to see what would happen next.

“It was loud but there was no shockwave, I think it was far away,” Madison said quietly.

Right after that was another boom. It did sound a bit farther away than the first one had. Suddenly Madison looked up at him with realization written her face.

“Wicked.”

Carefully they got up to their knees, staying down behind the wall for cover just in case. There was a third boom and it definitely was coming from the direction of the city and wasn’t getting any closer. Carefully they peered over the top of the wall and saw smoke rising on the horizon.

“Do you think someone bombed the city?” She asked him.

It felt weird to wish that were true, but something was uneasy within him. “I don’t think so,” he answered, still gripping her shoulder in case he did need to protect her.

She turned and grabbed the binoculars she had stashed on the roof. She offered him one of the sights and she took the other, their cheeks brushing as they looked together.

“Can you see clear?” she asked as she adjusted the focus.

“Yeah,” he answered, feeling his pulse hammer in his throat.

They crouched there, pressed together and waited. The fourth boom came.

“Oh my god,” Madison whispered in horror as she pulled away and covered her mouth.

Gally took over the binoculars and got a better look for himself as Madison held his free arm. It was always something terrible with those jerks.

****************************************

“What? No,” Madison blurted with wide eyes when Gally told her he was going on a mission to the city.

He had actually gone before, but he hadn’t told her because he didn’t want her to worry. The only reason he was telling her now was because it was big news and she’d hear about it anyway, and this time it was riskier with the guns mounted on the city walls.

“Yes, I am,” he told her.

“Why you? Why do you have to go?” she was looking more and more panicked and it pulled at his heart.

“Because Lawrence said so.”

That got Madison to freeze. She never really cared for Lawrence. She hadn’t told Gally why but he could tell, mostly by the way she tried to never talk about him. Gally had earned his trust while Arthur was training him and he proved himself in multiple successful missions.

“No. No, no, no, no, no,” Madison shook her head. “Don’t go. Don’t go to that horrible place, please.” Tears were forming in her eyes and he knew she was remembering all the things they had done to her there.

“Madison-“

“What if they get you again?” she choked out.

With that he had no choice but to pull her to his chest. The trucks were loading up as they spoke and he didn’t care about who saw him being soft with her.

“Madison, I am coming back,” He told her with conviction. “And I’m also going to make sure that Wicked never hurts either of us ever again. I promise.” He ran his hand over her short hair and gave her an extra squeeze before he pulled away and got on one of the trucks before he lost his nerve.

*****************************************

Madison sat with Frannie as Fontain gave her a check up. In a post apocalyptic world without fancy medical technology available those check up were more regular. You had very limited ways of figuring out if anything was wrong, and you wanted to catch it soon if you could catch it at all.

“God, you look miserable,” Frannie commented, breaking Madison out of her living-nightmare-like thoughts.

Fontain looked at her sympathetically as he gently pressed on Frannie’s growing baby bump.

“He’s gonna come back just fine, you know,” Frannie said. “He made you a promise and he’s going to keep it, so stop looking so gloomy.”

Madison was a bit taken aback. Was Frannie being nice to her?

“Careful there Frannie,” Madison dusted off her sense of humor. “Or I might think you actually like me.”

Frannie chuckled before grimacing at whatever Fontain had just done to her. Madison tried to stay away from the dark thoughts of Gally trapped in one of their flat, white rooms. A strange part of her mind wondered what he would look like under the lights though. She knew if he ever was captured by Wicked there wouldn’t be a thing they could do to stop her from getting him back.

“Well now you look kind of pissed,” Frannie noted. “Who’re you mad at?”

“Wicked,” Madison answered her.

“Ain’t we all.”

Madison kept her post on the roof, watching for them to come back. She was sure glad she did when she saw a rising trail of dust making its way toward their shabby little city. She stayed posted, using her binoculars to watch them, making sure nothing happened to them until they were closer. She left only when they made it safely past the wall, racing down the stairs and flying down hallways, her heart pounding harder than it had in a long time.

Please, she thought, please please please.

She came careening around the corner and stopped only so she could get a clear look across the expanse, and there he was, even with his gas mask on she could tell. He was standing right there just about a hundred feet away. Her whole body was flooded with relief as she smiled at him. He took off the mask, but he wasn’t smiling when he glanced at her briefly. Her smile flickered in confusion as he turned away from her.

There was a pause, a moment that felt like a void to Madison and she worried that maybe she was cranking out despite knowing full well she was immune. That was how crazy it felt at least. And then Gally was gone, knocked down, revealing the face of an angry boy who disappeared as he descended on Gally to throw more punches. Her hands flew to her mouth for half a second before she got herself together and started running for him.

She could barely hear the commotion over her own breathing, but she saw more strangers. No one over there had noticed her yet and they never did as Fontain came out of nowhere and grabbed her around the waist holding her back. She saw Gally laying there on his back, waving off everyone who came forward to help him, his arms staying by his sides as he made no effort to defend himself.

Madison’s brows furrowed in confusion so profound she didn’t even fight against Fontain or call out to Gally. She just watched him as he lay there, these strangers standing over him, one poised to hit him again, and she could tell that Gally would let him. Why?

She looked at the boy holding the angry one back. He was tall and lean with messy blond hair and it set the back of Madison’s mind itching like she should know him.

They finally backed off of Gally and he got to his feet again, rubbing his jaw. She strained to hear them all clearly as they spoke and caught a few familiar words like ‘Minho’ one of the boys Gally knew back in the Glade.

Madison’s mouth dropped in shock when realization finally hit her. These must be boys from the glade! Her small blip of happiness at figuring that out was squashed in an instant as she remembered what Gally had confessed to her so long ago. Her heart felt heavy as she imagined what it must be like for Gally to face them again.

Gally turned and tried to lead them somewhere, but the angry boy still looked pissed, saying he wasn’t going anywhere with Gally. Madison now felt angry at him. Her Gally was trustworthy and kind, he didn’t deserve to be treated that way.

Finally they all started following him. When he turned he locked eyes with Madison again, his expression serious. It was a hello, but it was an order to wait as well. She was bursting with curiosity, she wanted to go with him, she wanted to make sure he was ok, she wanted to defend him against that angry boy. But she stayed rooted to her spot as he walked away from her, talking to the others like nothing was amiss.

She didn’t know what was going on, why Gally wouldn’t talk to her and seemed to want her to stay away. Did he not want her to meet these people, or them to meet her? She scurried off to follow them, shadowing at a distance just to see where they were going. She soon put it together.

Why would Gally take them to Lawrence? There was no way this would go over well. What was he doing? Everything was going sideways. First there was that moment up on the roof where it felt like something big could have happened- would have happened if Wicked hadn’t chosen that moment to fire on the poor and sick outside their walls.

Now all those heart fluttery, warm feelings were put on hold to deal with this. Figures.

*************************************************

Gally came out of Lawrence’s room, fuming that Thomas was still as reckless as he was when he came out of the box. He spotted Madison lingering down the hall, trying not to stand out. Of course he wanted to go to her, but didn’t feel like he could.

The last memory they had of him was him shooting Chuck, and Thomas in particular had absolutely no fond memories of him whatsoever. Gally knew he deserved that hit and more and he would have taken it, but he knew he had to show them somehow that he really was going to help them and they could trust him. You don’t earn trust by throwing punches in return.

But when it came to Madison… he didn’t want to think about what Thomas might do if he knew Gally cared about someone. Or worse, that someone cared about him, something he absolutely did not deserve. No, he couldn’t let them see he had anything good in this life. He couldn’t let his first life touch the one he had with her.

He led the others toward the place where they’d enter the city. His heart tightened as he passed by Madison, knowing she would absolutely freak out about him going into the city. He could smell soap as he passed her, and it reminded him of when he held her on the roof. That already felt so long ago.

She was following. Listening to his silent pleadings that she keep her distance, but just barely. He opened the door and ushered the others in, looking at Madison once they were all inside. He saw the terror of understanding on her face and it killed him.

“I just need to grab a few things, I’ll be right back,” he told them before closing the door between them.

Madison was by his side in an instant. “What’s going on?” she asked urgently as he moved her away from th door so they wouldn’t overhear. “You’re not going into the city, right? Tell me you’re not.”

He didn’t say anything, just looked down at her sadly and watched her eyes pool with tears.

“Why?” she whispered.

Gally looked away from her for a moment to compose himself. “Because it’s going to help us take down Wicked for good,” he said. “They’ll pay for everything they did to you… and to me, everyone.”

“I don’t want to make them pay if it costs your life,” she said as tears fell from her lashes and she grabbed the front of his vest.

“I’ll be ok,” he assured her as he took her hand in his and pressed it against his chest, right over his scar. “I’ve had worse. Besides, don’t you want to be able to live without looking for Wicked over your shoulder for the rest of your life?”

She just stared up at him, not seeming persuaded in the slightest. “No matter what I say, you’re going to go. Aren’t you?”

He felt like he was losing her, like a door was closing between them and that was the last thing he wanted. Time wasn’t on his side, he had to hurry, they were waiting on him. He avoided looking at her as he nodded.

He heard her take a sharp breath and let it out slowly. “Well, you better be careful.”

*********************************************

She hung out in the hall for as long as she could, nervously pacing, chewing all ten finger nails till there was nothing left to chew. After Gally had left she remembered something she told him a long time ago when they first met. She told him to live to his friends what they deserved, to give Wicked what they deserved. What if that’s what he was going to do? What if he didn’t plan on coming out of this whole thing alive?

She couldn’t stand being alone with those terrible thoughts anymore. She threw caution to the wind and opened the door, finding three people left behind, an older man, and a younger boy and girl. They all looked at her and she stared back, not knowing what to say to them now that she was in there.

“Hi,” is what she started with.

They kind of raised an eyebrow at her but said hello back.

“I’m Madison,” she told them before letting an anxious breath out.

“I’m Brenda,” the girl spoke before gesturing to the older man. “This is Jorge and Frypan.”

“Frypan,” Madison repeated with recognition making him furrow his brows curiously.

“Um, what are you… doing here?” Brenda asked her with an awkward smile.

“I’m…” she froze for a second, not sure what Gally would want her to say, but she just told the truth anyway. “Waiting for Gally to get back.”

“Why?” Frypan asked her, seeming more confused than ever.

She furrowed her brows at him now. “Because he’s my friend.”

That had him shook. He was staring at her with wide eyes and his mouth was hanging open.

“What? What’s wrong with that?” she asked a bit defensively, feeling a little nervous because he knew an older version of Gally and probably knew him longer than she had. She was willing to leave parts of his past in the past where they belonged, but that was easier when nothing was around to dredge it up so much.

“Nothing,” Frypan shook his head. “I just wasn’t expecting him to make friends with a girl, seeing how much he disliked the first one he met.”

That piqued her interest but she tried to hide the fact she knew nothing about this first girl. “Well, we get along fine,” she said before taking a seat on some rubble, ready to get to waiting for Gally.

Brenda and Jorge started having a hushed conversation between themselves, and after a moment Frypan made his way over to Madison, taking a seat near her as she watched the hole in the floor, her foot bouncing like mad.

“How… how has he been?” he asked her, clasping his hands together as he leaned forward on his knees.

Madison looked at him and decided he seemed genuine enough. “Lately he’s been doing really good,” she nodded. “It was a bit rough in the beginning, but he fit in here.”

“What did he tell you… about what happened-?” he tried to ask her carefully, looking closely at her face.

“I know,” she whispered. “I know what he did.”

“And you still care about him?”

“Don’t you?” she shot back in mild surprise. “Doesn’t everyone need someone to care about them?”

Frypan looked down, seemingly at a loss for words to that.

“He had Wicked’s poison in his veins and their voices in his head,” Madison told him. “Are you worried about him being some remorseless killer now? He’s not. He didn’t even want to be saved, said he didn’t deserve it because of what he had done. For weeks during his training he couldn’t even pull the trigger. You can depend on him. I have and he has never let me down.”

They sat in a silence for a while.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “Thank you for taking care of my friend.”

She felt her throat tighten up and wasn’t sure why exactly she felt like crying. Eventually the minutes started to stretch into hours so they all started talking more, especially when it got late and they were trying to keep each other awake.

They asked Madison about living here with the Right Arm and what they knew about Wicked. She heard about what happened to them after they had escaped the maze and made it to this point. She was pretty impressed with them.

“I’m sorry about Minho,” she said to Fry, leaving the ‘pan’ off at his request. “If we had known we would have done something to help. So much of our energy goes into just surviving, but we do try to stop Wicked as much as we can.”

The door opened and Frannie popped her head inside. “There you are!” she exclaimed when her eyes landed on Madison. “Fontain has been looking all over for you, someone told him you might be here but he didn’t believe them.”

“Is everything ok?” Madison asked, straightening up.

“Yeah, he’s just worrying about you like always,” Frannie waved her off. “Who are these people?” She asked as she finally seemed to notice the others.

“It’s a long story, but their names are Brenda, Jorge, and Fry,” Madison introduced.

“Are Brenda, Jorge, and Fry hungry?” Frannie asked, resting her fist against her hip, her baby bump protruding.

***********************************************

Gally was surprised to find the room empty when they got back. More than that though was the fact that Madison wasn’t even waiting in the hall for him either. But that could only mean one thing: she was probably doing something nice for them.

He had to assure Thomas that everything was ok as he led them to the cafeteria, praying that’s where they were. Thankfully he was right. He still didn’t interact with her much as Thomas and Newt grabbed some food and water and they all went off to discuss plans. She didn’t seem too angry or hurt, she just seemed to wait on him for some kind of sign or the right moment. He loved her for that but ached to assure her it was ok, that he would explain later.

Gally felt like the odd man out as they stood around the table discussing plans, but he tried not to let it show, tried to hold his own and show them he was capable. He had known the instant he saw Thomas that they’d finally be able to take down Wicked, it was the only way it would work. Teresa was in there and Gally finally had the one person who could persuade her to do something.

“No, there’s got to be another way in,” Thomas shook his head.

Gally immediately felt irritated. If there had been another way in they would have found it by now. They weren’t a bunch of boys stuck in a maze they couldn’t figure out; they had numbers, weapons, and intelligence. The connection between Thomas and Teresa was the only way to make this work.

“Like what?” Gally asked as his attitude got away from him for a second and he gave a dramatic shrug, his knuckles knocking against the table. “You’ve seen the building, she’s our only way in.”

“You really think she’s going to help us?” Thomas asked incredulously.

Gally gave him a look. He never expected her willing cooperation. “I don’t plan on asking for her permission.”

Thomas had taken a few steps back and was pacing a bit, his eyes and attention were not focused on their conversation anymore.

“Am I missing something here?” the girl, Brenda, piped up with a sass that reminded him of Frannie. “This is the same girl who betrayed us, correct? Same dick?”

Gally was so relieved to have someone thinking the same thing he was. Teresa didn’t deserve any care or worry after what she had done. He hadn’t even known the full extent of it, just knew that she was inside Wicked and not as a prisoner.

“I like her,” Gally commented. Then he was glad Madison wasn’t around to have heard it.

“What is going on?” Brenda asked Thomas seriously.

Gally watched him, waiting for his no doubt infuriating answer. He was surprised when Newt started in on him with an edge in his voice.

“What? Are you afraid your little girlfriend’s going to get hurt?” Newt asked him, taking a step toward him. “Hmm? This has obviously never been just about rescuing Minho.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Thomas was dumb, but he wasn’t that stupid and he was a pretty terrible liar.

“Teresa,” Newt spat her name out like a bad taste. “She’s the only reason that Minho’s even missing in the first place and now we finally have an opportunity to get him back and you-“ Newt’s voice hitched on an emotion as he backed Thomas toward the wall.

They didn’t seem as buddy-buddy as when they were in the glade teaming up against Gally on everything. It wasn’t normal for Newt to act like this though, but maybe he was finally getting tired of Thomas and his BS.

“And now you don’t want to because of her?” Newt went on. “Because deep down inside you still care about her, just admit it.”

“Newt, I-“ was all Thomas got out before Newt had grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him against the wall.

“Don’t lie to me!” Newt yelled with more anger than Gally thought him capable of. He repeated himself once more, punctuating each word.

The room was filled with a heavy silence after that.

Newt let him go and backed away. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, like he didn’t know what came over him. He looked back at the others and apologized again before leaving the room.

“Give me a minute,” Thomas said before he went after Newt.

Gally was left with Fry and the two strangers. He wasn’t sure what to do with them, but the ache in his chest told him he should find Madison now. In fact, she might be able to help them. He had this feeling deep inside, like his bones were nauseous, he might be wrong about trying to leave Madison out of this.

He knew it was absolutely nuts; he didn’t want her anywhere near Wicked, he doubted she would even want to go either, and it would be dangerous. But something told him he needed to keep her close. As wrong as it seemed it felt right.

“I’ll be right back, I think I know someone who can help,” Gally told the others before he left.

He didn’t know how he was going to ask Madison to come help him now after he’d practically ignored her all day. She might be really mad at him and he couldn’t blame her if she was. Now this felt natural, having everyone mad at him. That’s what he was used to.

He found her in her cot curled up with that one black and white dog that had gotten him to safety after Dan took him beyond the wall to get him killed. The dog had one bandaged leg and was licking tears off Madison’s face as she sniffled. It broke his heart worse than anything.

“Mads?” he said softly as he came around to where she could see him.

Her red eyes widened a bit as she looked at him and then around to see if anyone was with him. “Yeah?” she tried to sound normal, like nothing was wrong, wiping her face as she sat up and sniffling once more as if she could seem like she hadn’t been crying.

Gally had no idea what to say and it irritated him. His fist clenched around his thumb. “Mads, could you… could you come help us?”

She stared up at him for a beat and he braced himself for it, knowing it would hurt a thousand times worse than Thomas’s punch. He hadn’t lied when he told her she could demolish him.

“Yeah. Sure,” she said in that same ‘nothing’s wrong’ tone, the ever helpful Mads.

She carefully got up, trying not to disturb the dog. “You stay right here, Nugget. Stay bed,” she said, the dog’s tail thumping against her cot as she kept her ears submissive. Madison held her face and kissed the top of her head before she straightened up, straightened out her clothes and looked at Gally like she was ready to go.

********************************************

Madison sat at the table looking at sketches, blue prints, photos, and notes she had never seen before and didn’t know existed. She listened to the overlapping voices of the strangers around her but could barely follow what they were going on about. There was some girl inside Wicked and she was important for something.

“Anything you’d like to add?”

A silence settled around the table long enough for Madison to notice and look up only to find all the strangers staring at her.

“Huh?-oh…” she squeezed her eyes shut for a second to try and refocus on the outside world. “So…” she sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. “You want to get into the city and find this girl. This girl who… ditched you and is working for Wicked, correct?”

It had been difficult to retain the crash course of information dumping they had given her in an effort to catch her up to speed. She was very tired.

“And you want to talk to her,” Madison tapped the table with a pen as she looked at all the papers on it again. “You don’t want to stay in the city to talk to her, you’ll be out of your element, she’ll be in hers. Gotta throw her off. Bring her outside the city.”

Some of them were nodding. She had to look up at Gally to see how he reacted to it since he was standing right beside her. His arms were crossed and he looked at the others too.

“How would we get her out?” Thomas asked.

Madison raised a brow at him before blowing a small raspberry as she shrugged. “Just kidnap her, geez. She’s experimenting on your friend and dozens- hundreds of other kids too, she’s not exactly a princess you get the Limo out for. Drug her, bop her on the head… take your pick, I dunno.”

She thought she saw Gally stifle a smile as Brenda piped up. “That’s what I’m saying.”

“We don’t want to hurt her, they’re going about it the wrong way but they are looking for a cure,” Thomas said and earned a withering look from Madison.

“Yeah, come talk to me when they’ve mangled the shit out of your reproductive organs and killed a nine year old in front of you,” she said as she tossed the pen onto the table. At least that shut Thomas up and turned his face red.

“Where should we take her?” Gally asked like the kidnapping part required no further scrutiny.

Madison thought for a moment and scratched her forehead between her eyes. “Uh… someplace outside the city, not here so Wicked doesn’t find us, um um um… Oh!!” Madison sat bolt upright and startled everyone with her sudden outburst and movement. “Far enough, but not too far from the city is a church. It’s perfect! All the windows are stained glass, she won’t be able to see anything that could tell her where she is. Plus, a house of worship… could be a good guilt trip.”

A laugh burst from Jorge. “Bring her to confessional, I like it.”

“He’s catholic,” Brenda whispered to her like that explained it. “Or used to be, I’m not sure anymore.”

Madison shook that off. “Ok, so what’s your goal in this interrogation?”

“Find out where Minho and the others are, find out how to get to them and then get them out, and get the serum,” Thomas answered.

“We’ll need disguises, weapons, and transportation,” Gally listed. “We’ll pick up the disguises and some of their weapons when we get Teresa, but we can’t exactly bring in transportation for all those kids.”

“They still got buses in the city?” Brenda asked.

“Same problem though,” Newt spoke up. “We couldn’t get it out of the city.”

“Mmm,” Madison hummed graduating up a few octaves as she did so. “You know what else they still have in the city from building their dumb-ass walls? Cranes.”

Madison was feeling more exhausted and let the others hammer out the details of it all. She tried to focus but realized there wasn’t much point since she wasn’t going. But Gally was and she wanted to know what he’d be doing, so she tried to pay attention.

“Brenda and Fry will be on transportation and escape, Jorge will stay here to help coordinate what we’re doing with the Right Arm coming in to take Wicked down once we get the kids and the serum out, and the four of us will be playing guards,” Gally listed off as Madison felt her eyes trying to close.

“Wait, who’s the fourth?” Thomas asked, bringing Madison back around.

She saw Gally look at her. Wait. Her?

“You want her to come?” Thomas asked a bit incredulously, almost as surprised as Madison herself. “No offense, but why?”

“Because she’s the best shot this side of their walls,” Gally said. He stood a little straighter like he was either proud of her or defending her, but she knew that was a flimsy reason.

“Alright,” Thomas sighed and ruffled his hair. “If we’re going to do this we need to get some sleep.”

“Agreed,” Brenda said as Fry yawned as if on cue.

“The infirmary has enough beds,” Madison yawned, catching it from Fry. “Probably will be the quietest place. I’ll take you.”

Madison gave Gally a look as she walked by him, it wasn’t angry or accusing at all, it was just a look like ‘what are you up to?’ She saw his eyes lower and his mouth tighten. She only hoped he would talk to her once she tucked his friends in.

She explained a few things to Fontain and got them settled in the infirmary. She almost wanted to tell Fontain what was going on, but it didn’t really make sense to talk to him before Gally could explain things. He was waiting at the end of the hall for her.

“Mads,” he said and then sighed. “I’m sorry.”

She just stared at him for a second wondering exactly what he was sorry for since there were a few things, or if it was a blanket apology. Meanwhile Gally looked like he was on the edge of cranking out, he was breathing more rapidly than normal and his hands were fidgeting.

“Go on,” Madison encouraged. Gally seemed even more agitated so she reached out and put her hand on his arm. “It’s ok, just talk to me.”

“I didn’t know how they’d react,” he breathed. “They hate me for what I did. I didn’t know what they’d do if they knew there was someone who actually gave a shuck about me.”

Madison still got caught off guard by some of the funny words he used. She had talked to Fry, and she had seen Newt come to Gally’s defense when Thomas attacked, so she assumed he was really just talking about Thomas. Suddenly his eyes shot up to hers.

“I should have told you- I should have asked you if you’d go with me- us,” he stammered out. “I don’t imagine you ever want to get near Wicked again, I just had this weird feeling… like we needed to stick together.”

He was right, she really didn’t want to get anywhere near that city, let alone that building, but she was surprised because she felt the same way about sticking together. If she couldn’t stop him she should at least go with him and make sure he got out ok.

“I’ll go,” she said quietly. “I’ll go with you.”

“Yeah?” he asked almost as quietly.

She nodded and he enveloped her in his arms.

“I mean, we kinda practiced the whole rescuing a kid thing and we managed to keep each other alive,” she slightly slurred as she rested her cheek against his chest. “You do plan to come through this alive, right?”

“Of course,” his voice rumbled in his chest.

“Good. I had to ask.”

Masterlist

@frequentlychangingfandoms @quackquackbi @poulterjonas @crazysheeplyca @pre-google @gladerscake @neilox @thesuitkovian @carp3d1em @cottoncandy-dreamxd @emilyhadenbaker @a-ravenclaw-into-tardis-221b @shardsofstarlight @piscesvancouverite @tooty-fruity

#Gally #gally tmr #maze runner gally #maze runner #tmr #will poulter protection squad #MGB Afterlife #fanfic #imagine

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kbuggg3 · 3 years ago

Text

Kian Lawley Imagine: “Jealous Much?”

IMAGINE: The fun beach day suddenly gets more interesting when Kian catches a guy flirting with you

Everyone in the 02l house was running around like crazy trying to get together all the stuff they'll need for their beach trip.

"(y/n), didn't you say you were grabbing the towels?"

"Got em! Kian, you got all the snacks?"

"Wait... What? I thought Corey was getting them?"

"Can someone get the sunscreen?"

"Ya. I got it!"

"Hey Seb, grab some waters and a few beers."

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE SNACKS!?"

After everyone got what they needed and loaded it into the two separate cars, they were finally off to the boating dock. (y/n) drove her jeep with Kian, her boyfriend, in the passenger seat and Harrison, JC, and Chelsea in the back seat. Corey drove the truck so he could attach the boat to the back. Sebastian was in the front seat next to him and Bobby, Anderson, Franny and Dom were squished together in the back.

After a few minutes of passing the AUX cord and jamming out they all finally arrived to the boating dock. When (y/n) parked her jeep, she rested her head on the steering wheel while everyone got out and got the stuff out of the trunk. "You okay, baby?" she heard a sweet voice say next to her ear.

Already knowing who it is, (y/n) put on a pouty face and looked up with her best puppy dog eyes. "I'm fine. It's just that we got up sooo earlyyyy." Kian frowned and grabbed her hand, rubbing his thumb over it softly.

"I'm sorry. Is there anyway I can help you wake up?"(y/n) smirked slightly and leaned close to his face. "You could kiss me," she shrugged, biting her lip. Kian's eyes flickered down to her lips and he leaned down and kissed her softly.

(y/n) wrapped her arms around Kian's neck, hoping for the kiss to last longer, but Kian almost immediately pulled away causing (y/n) to pout again. "Heyyyy! I wasn't done." Kian chuckled at her reaction and replied. "Well as much as I enjoy doing that, I kinda had another idea in mind."

The moment (y/n) saw the smirk on his face and the evil look in his eyes, she knew he was up to no good. Before she could protest, Kian pulled her out of the jeep and threw her over his shoulder. "Kian! Put me down!" she laughed while lightly hitting his back.

"Not until you wake up."

"What are you even-" (y/n) paused mid sentence when she realized what he was going to do. "Kian, I swear to god if you throw me in the water I'm breaking up with you!" she joked. Kian just smiled even wider, knowing his plan was working, and walked into the water until he was knee deep.

He slid (y/n) down until she was eye level with him, her arms around his neck and her legs now wrapped tightly around his waist as she tried to avoid getting wet at all costs. "Alright baby! You ready?" he asked placing his hands on her ass to keep her from sliding down. "No, Kian!"

"1..."

"I swear if you actually-"

"2..."

"KIAN!"

"3!"

He pretended to swing her forward, acting as if he was going to throw her in but he never actually let go. Instead he laughed until his stomach hurt, earning a punch in the arm from his girlfriend. "I hate you," she said unwrapping her arms from his neck so she can cross them in front of her.

"Well I LoOoOoVe you!" Kian kissed her on the nose causing her to smile and unwrap her legs so she could stand on her own. "Hey, lovebirds, the boats ready to go!" Kian grabbed (y/n)'s hand and they walked to the dock that the boat was parked at.

After helping (y/n) in, he hopped in the boat and sat in the passenger side beside JC, who was going to be driving, and (y/n) went to the front of the boat with Seb, Anderson, Harrison, and Bobby. Franny, Chelsea, Corey, and Dom sat in the back of the boat next to the cooler of snacks and beers "in case they disappear", as they liked to put it.

~~~~

They rode around on the boat and went tubing for a little bit before eventually arriving at the island. They swam in the water, drank, hooked (y/n)'s phone up to the speaker to play music, took pictures for Instagram, and tanned. They stayed at the island for hours on end having a good time and acting like the rowdy teenagers that they were.

After awhile they began to grow hungry, seeing as all their snacks were gone. "I'm starving. Let's go get food," JC said looking over at his friends from under his umbrella.

"I agree. Do you guys remember the Sunset Grill? With the shrimp?"

"Oh my god! The shrimp!"

"We should go there."

"I'm down."

After taking a majority vote, they all packed up their towels, chairs, and umbrellas and got onto the boat. They got into their original seats and Bobby connected (y/n)'s phone to the built in speakers onto the boat. When they arrived at the restaurant they quickly put on some clothes over their bathing suits and were met by a tall, tan boy around their age who greeted them with a pearly white smile.

"Hey guys! My name is Caleb and I will be your waiter for today." Caleb helped tie the boat to the dock and waited patiently as everyone got out. (y/n) was the last one left, but paused as she noticed the boat, although tied to the dock, was getting too far away for her to reach.

"Hey, um, Kian? Can I get some help?" she laughed awkwardly. Kian was too busy talking to JC, Harrison, and Anderson and couldn't here her calling his name. Fortunate for her, Caleb heard the girls plea for help and was quick to be approach her.

He looked at her with his bright blue eyes and brushed the blonde hair out of his face. "Need a hand?" he asked extending his hand out to her. (y/n) gratefully took it with a smile and he helped her step out of the boat and onto the dock safely.

"I'm Caleb," he smiled warmly at her. "(y/n)." Caleb nodded his head before turning to the rest of the group.

"How many in your party?"

"11."

"Awesome! Right this way."

Caleb grabbed some menus and glanced at (y/n) quickly before walking off to show them their table. This act surely did not go unnoticed by Kian. As they were walking, Kian made his way over to (y/n) putting a protective arm over her shoulders.

They sat down, ordered their drinks, and talked for a little while until Caleb came back asking what they wanted to eat. "I'll just have a cheeseburger," (y/n) stated closing her menu and handing it to the naturally tan boy. "That's my favorite," he smiled as he wrote down her order along with everybody else's.

Kian's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth opened slightly. He looked at JC to see his eyes wide and his lips in a small smile as he tried not to laugh at Kian's reaction. "I'll be sure to have your food out ASAP!"

Caleb looked at (y/n) one last time and with a nod of his head, he left. Kian leaned over to the table and whisper shouted at JC.

"What the hell was that? Did you see that?"

"What?"

"You know what!"

JC awkwardly shifted his eye contact from Kian, to (y/n), then back to Kian again. Kian just sighed and rolled his eyes."oH My gOd i LoVe cHeEsBuRgErS! We'Re, LiKe, ToTaLlY iN LoVe!" J

C attempted to stifle a laugh as Kian mocked their waiter in a high pitched voice.

"Dude, he's probably just being friendly. It's kind of his job."

"No. It is not his job! His job is to take our orders and bring us food. His job is NOT to flirt with MY girlfriend!"

Every time he would go to their table to check up on them, he would have a nice conversation with the table and even crack some jokes. Everyone thought he was a pretty cool guy. Everyone except Kian, of course.

Eventually their stomachs were full and it was time to leave. JC, Bobby, and Harrison stayed at the table to wait for their card to be brought back after paying and everyone else went over to the dock next to their boat. When everyone was listening to Dom tell some story about a time he got super drunk, Kian saw Caleb watching and slipped his hand in the back pocket of (y/n)'s jean shorts.

(y/n) bit her lip to hold back a smile and scooted closer to Kian. "What was that for?" Kian furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her. "What do you mean? I can't love my girlfriend?" (y/n) just shrugged with a knowing smile on her face and went back to listening to Dom's story.

Kian looked over towards the restaurant and once again saw Caleb staring. He clenched his jaw and looked away. He had to do something about this. He couldn't just let this random guy drool over his girlfriend!

Kian took his hand out of her pocket, grabbed her arm lightly, and turned (y/n) around to where she was facing him. (y/n) looked up at him with a smirk. "What is it this time?"Kian pulled on her shirt, bringer her closer to him, making the distance between them small.

He leaned down towards her ear and spoke quietly, "Caleb hasn't stopped staring at you since we came here on that damn boat and quiet frankly I'm not a fan of it." (y/n) giggled slightly at the boy. When she looked over towards the restaurant, she indeed saw their waiter staring at her. When they made eye contact he awkwardly smiled and pretended to be sorting menus.

"So if you could kiss me that would be great." They pulled away only slightly and (y/n) smiled.

"You're crazy."

"Crazy about you," Kian winked. (y/n) rolled her eyes at his cheesy comment and the two leaned in, sharing a long kiss. The others in the group stared for a little bit, but then remembered that randomly making out was kinda normal for them, so they went back to what they were doing.

After a few minutes of hanging out in the dock, JC, Bobby, and Harrison received their credit card and loaded everybody back onto the boat. (y/n) got into the boat and tried to make her way to the front with Sebastian, Anderson, Harrison and Bobby. Kian was quick to stop her by hooking a finger on the back of her bathing suit bottoms saying "C'mere baby" as he pulled her back towards him.

She giggled while walking back towards him and watched as Kians hands made their way to tightly grip her waist. He guided her hips as she sat down on his lap and wrapped his arms loosely around her torso, putting his head in the crook of her neck. "Yes?" She questioned.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see you." Kian smiled at his own comment just as JC slipped out his phone, taking a perfect picture of the couple and connecting his phone to Bluetooth. "How bout a little B Marley, huh?" Although not opposed to the idea, (y/n) rolled her eyes at the nickname.

After a minute of searching through Spotify, JC finally found the song he wanted. (y/n) waited and listened for the song and instantly smiled when "Is This Love?" By Bob Marley began to play loudly.

I want to love you, and treat you right. I want to love you, everyday and every night

(y/n) took a deep breath in, smelling the salty air and feeling the wind on her face as the boat glided quickly over the waves.

We'll be together, with a roof right over our heads

Kian held (y/n)'s hand that was resting in her lap and rubbed his thumb up and down soothingly.

We'll share the shelter, of my single bed. We'll share the same room

Everyone stares at the beautiful view in front of them in awe, the sky acting as a canvas with pink and orange colors lighting up the sky.

Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Is this love that I'm feeling?

(y/n) heard Kian singing along to the words and she bit her lip to try and hold back a smile. She always loved hearing him sing. Even if it was just singing along to the radio in the funniest voice possible just to make her laugh. She, along with many many others, thought his voice was amazing, but Kian usually only let her hear it.

(y/n) closed her eyes and laid her head back onto his shoulder making Kian look at her. He knew why she was smiling. (y/n) tells him all the time how much she loves his voice, especially when he sings. Because of that, Kian leaned his forehead on her temple as sang softly in her ear so she could hear him better.

As he sang she smiled even more and cuddled into him. When they made eye contact, Kian's eyes would flicker down to (y/n)'s lips as she ran her fingers through his hair.Kian leaned in, capturing his lips into hers as they shared a passionate kiss. "I love you," Kian whispered as they pulled apart. "I love you too."

"Can we just talk about the fact that Kian was soooo jealous when that little waiter kept flirting with (y/n)?" JC said making everyone laugh.

"Oh my God, Kian. You looked sooooo mad!" Franny laughed, almost falling out of her seat with Bobby making another comment.

"He still looks angry!" Kian glared at Bobby and yelled jokingly, "I'm not fucking angry!" Everyone just laughed even harder and (y/n) laid her head on Kian's chest, making him look at her and calm down. "It's ok babyyyy," (y/n) cooed trying to hold back her giggles, making Kian kiss her face all over. "Do you think I'm jealous?" (y/n) looked at his pouting face and giggled. She grabbed his cheeks and gave a him a long kiss on the lips. When she pulled away to where there noses were touching, she whispered,

"Totally."

I freaking LOVE Kian and JC so if you don't watch them you 100% should. They’re legit so funny. Anywho, hope you liked it.

-Kbug

#kian #kian x reader #kian lawley #knj #kian and jc #you already know what's up

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irishseeeker · 4 years ago

Link

the story of us

summary: Five times Kate Sheffield and Anthony Bridgeton were just friends and one time they were more.

find chapter 1 here or here

------

chapter 2: I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

Anthony Bridgerton’s summer gets significantly better the minute Kate Sheffield steps off the train.

He’d been abroad for the first two weeks of the summer with friends from university, Kate had only come for a few days before she went away with Mary and her sister, and he returned to England to wait out the rest of the summer with his family. He couldn’t stay away for too long, the guilt of leaving his mother and siblings alone would nag at him until he couldn’t focus on anything else. They needed him.

When they hugged on the platform, the familiar, comforting scent of lilies and soap filled his nostrils and he felt this calm feeling seep deep into his bones.

He’d missed her.

When they broke apart, he took her suitcase and he raised an eyebrow at the bouquet of red roses tied up with brown paper and a ribbon.

“Aw, did you get me flowers?” He teased, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He snorted loudly.

“They’re for your mum, dipshit.”

He pulled up her suitcase’s handle, beginning to wheel it and walk with her off the platform. “Charming. What did you get me?”

“Oh, this.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her middle finger, smirking as she waved it at him.

They walked out of the train station and towards his car. It was a quiet station, right in the middle of the countryside. The main station was in the middle of town, which was a twenty minute drive.

He pressed a button on his car keys and the boot automatically opened. He was driving their Range Rover, one of their bigger cars for the country. They always spent the summer at their country home Aubrey Hall in Kent, leaving London for most of the summer.

The countryside used to be his favourite place.

Now, it just reminded him of his father. Every room and the long hallways were plagued with memories. Memories that would only grow older. His father wouldn’t. His father would never be a part of another memory.

“Jesus, did you pack your entire wardrobe in here?” He huffed as he bent down, putting his weight onto his knees as he hauled her suitcase into the boot.

She scoffed. "You brought at least six suitcases to university.”

They climbed into the car, Anthony clicked in his seatbelt. He turned to glance at Kate, who was tying her hair back in a plait. The golden sun shone through the window, lighting up Kate’s face and dotting it with subtle sparkles.

It suddenly became quite hard to breathe.

“Anthony?”

Her timid voice snapped him out of his daze, turning to her. “Yeah?”

Kate was frowning at him, her nose wrinkling like it always did. “You’re staring. Is there something on my face?”

“I wasn’t staring,” He mumbled, turning on the car and avoiding her eyes. “We better get back. Mum will kill me if we’re late for lunch.”

“I hope your mum hasn’t gone to too much trouble,” Kate murmured, fiddling with her hands with a nervous expression on her face. He knew that look, he had seen it a lot over the past two years. She was biting her bottom lip, which was an unwelcome distraction while he was driving. “It’s so nice of her to let me stay.”

He had been with Kate for five minutes and his mind was already drifting there.

It started a few weeks ago.

He had a dream.

It had started out relatively normal. He was laying on his bed, naked, wrapped in a white sheet. He wasn’t alone.

A woman was with him. A naked woman, her long legs covered by the white sheet. He couldn’t tell who she was at first, laying flat on her stomach tucked against his side.

He notices the dark curls first.

Anthony wraps a thick strand around his hand, watching it slowly twirl around his fingers and wrist. He can see the sharp edge of her jawline, the flutter of her long eyelashes and the fullness of her rose tinted lips.

All of her features form a face.

Kate.

Her face is carved into his memory. He can’t stop thinking about the sprinkle of dark freckles across her nose, the slight pink tint to her cheeks and the delicate leanness of her fingers as they stroked his cheek.

It’s like he never truly saw her before and now she’s all he can see.

The dream always ended the same way. Kate slowly moves on top of him, her hands on either side of his face as her body pressed against his, chest against chest. She leans down slowly, their lips inches apart-

He always wakes up the same way-panting and sweating.

At first, he thought it didn’t mean anything. Kate may be the first woman he had a platonic relationship with that he wasn’t related to and having a sexual dream about her didn’t mean anything.

It couldn’t mean anything.

But-

He kept having the same dream.

The woman was always Kate.

It was ruining his life.

It’s not like he had never noticed Kate. He wasn’t blind. She had always been beautiful. Anthony had just never thought of her that way. He had never allowed himself too.

Kate was his best friend. Kate had sat down in the same tutorial as him and quickly began to argue with him and he had been stuck ever since.

He wouldn’t lose her because of his behavior. His track record with women had been treacherous and Anthony knew it was mostly his fault.

Something had died inside of him when his father did and he had accepted that. It wasn’t fair to expect others to as well. He was emotionally unavailable and he wasn’t ready for a relationship. Siena had proven that.

That painful disaster wasn't something he planned to repeat.

He couldn’t fix himself. There was a part of him that would always be broken.

Anthony realized he hadn’t responded to Kate, so he asked her about her trip. He knew most of the details, they had facetimed nearly every day since they had been apart.

Kate had suddenly appeared in his life and she had remained there ever since. It still frightened him, how in two years she had become so vital. Kate had become his anchor. He never intended for her to happen but it was out of his control. Kate had fit into his life in a way no one else had since his father had.

She was the first person in a long time Anthony felt understood him. There had only been one other person who ever could and he had died.

Kate had lost her dad too. It wasn’t a taboo topic between them. They could speak openly about who they had lost and they understood each other.

He didn’t have to be anything for her. He didn’t have to be her emotional support person like he had to for his mother. He didn’t have to be a surrogate father like he did for his siblings. He didn’t have any pressurizing responsibilities like he did in every other part of his life and he didn’t have to put on a false façade that he was fine and everything was fine.

Anthony would do anything for Kate, he just didn’t have to. It was a comforting thought that lifted the heavy weight off his shoulders just a little.

He had survived two years without crossing that line with Kate.

His subconscious had decided to take it upon itself and do it for him. It was as if a switch inside of his brain had flicked and it was all he could think about. Thinking of Kate in that way.

Lately, Kate was all he could think about.

He was convinced his subconscious was playing tricks on him-if something was meant to happen between them, it would have.

It didn’t matter, in the end.

Kate would never see him in that way. Kate had always been hard to read but he had become accustomed to seeing through the cracks in her built up walls and he was certain she would never feel anything for him but friendship.

He could live with that.

He just couldn’t live without her.

“Here we are,” He said, nodding his head towards the house as they pulled up at the two black iron gates guarding the property. He pushed on the break, reaching out the window to type in the key code to open the gates. “Aubrey Hall.”

“Wow,” Kate said, leaning forward towards the dashboard as they drove up the long pebbled driveway towards the house. “It’s beautiful. It’s finally time to meet the Bridgertons.”

Anthony let out a low chuckle, nodding his head. He didn’t doubt for a second Kate knew every little detail he had told her about all of his siblings, he did talk about them a lot. She had met Benedict and Colin a few times when they visited Oxford and had seen Benedict quite a bit once he became a student himself but she had never met his younger siblings or his mother.

He had never brought anyone to Aubrey Hall before.

His mother, of course, appeared at the front door as soon as the car came to a stop. He didn’t doubt she had been waiting at the window, peeking behind their curtains for them to arrive. Violet Bridgerton had been asking a lot of questions about Kate since Anthony had asked if she could come to stay.

His mother didn’t ask questions without insinuations behind them.

Benedict and Colin had found it particularly amusing, taking every opportunity to take the piss out of Anthony. They gleefully egged on their mother’s eagerness of meeting Anthony’s potential girlfriend despite Anthony reminding his family daily Kate was his friend.

Apparently, he talked about Kate a lot. He obviously disagreed, which made Ben and Colin tease him further. What fun things do you have planned for you and Kate when she comes, Anthony? A romantic picnic in the gardens? What would Kate say about that, Anthony? Aw, didn’t you and Kate do that Anthony? Anthony, are you feeling okay? You haven’t talked about Kate in five minutes. The girls had even joined in. Even Frannie, his sworn ally, had teased him a little.

Traitor.

He was adamant he did not talk about Kate that much.

It was a perfectly normal amount.

They got out of the car and Violet walked towards them, ignoring Anthony as she pulled Kate into a hug. “Kate, it’s so wonderful to finally meet you. Please, come in! Anthony, get her bags darling.”

“Miss Bridgerton, it is so nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me,” Kate said, handing her the bouquet of tulips and a gift bag. “It’s not much, but I hope you like them.”

“Kate, we have heard so much about you.” Violet Bridgerton smiled at her and gasped at the gifts, ignoring Anthony’s glare at her jibe and Benedict’s snort from the doorway. “Oh! You shouldn’t have. Thank you so much. These are gorgeous, I’ll have to get a vase-girls, stop that right now! Excuse me, dear.”

Daphne and Eloise were on their third argument of the day, right on schedule. They quickly shut up and ran away from their scowling mother who was charging towards them.

They all watched Violet in amusement before turning back to each other, and Benedict grinned at Kate and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Katharine.”

“Benedict.” Kate chimed back at him, reaching up to squeeze his cheek. “You’re so grown up.”

Benedict turned to smirk at Anthony, his eyes sparking with amusement. “Anthony has been counting down the days until you arrive. Marking them off that little corgi calendar you gave him, bless his little heart-”

Kate gasped, turning to Anthony delighted. It made something inside of his chest flutter a little. “You’re using the calendar?”

Anthony shrugged, trying to appear unbothered. “It’s practical. The girls liked the pictures.”

“Ben, I hope you’re not taking the piss out of our brother without me.”

Lord give him strength.

Colin, his 18 year old brother who was about to set off travelling on his gap year in a few weeks, strolled into the room. His brown hair was sticking up in all directions and he probably just woke up.

Benedict, smug as ever, turned to smirk at his younger brother. “I was only warming up.”

“Hey, Kate.” Colin grinned easily at her, crossing his arms as he joined them. “Don’t lie, Anthony. The girls liked looking at it for a few minutes. I drew a penis on it one time and you got all moody-”

Anthony narrowed his eyes at his brothers.“I will murder you, you know that right?”

Kate glanced between the three brothers, looking highly amused. “This is going to be fun.”

Deciding he had had enough of his brothers for the afternoon and validly cautious of what else was going to come out of their mouths, he gestured towards the staircases. He nudged Kate along. “As delightful as this little catchup is, I’m going to show Kate her room.”

“Can we get you guys anything? A snack? A condom?” Colin called after them, Benedict and his snickering filling the hallway. Kate snorted from beside him, jogging up the steps.

Anthony threw the first thing he could grab, which happened to be one of Hyacinth’s tiny pink uggs. It narrowly avoided his great aunt’s blue clay pot on the hall table as it hit Colin smack on the head.

“I’d ask for one but then you’d actually have to be having some to need them, right Col?” Anthony winked at his brother who was rubbing his head, glaring at Anthony from across the hall. “Hang in there, mate.”

“I have plenty of sex, thank you very-”

“Colin Bridgerton!”

His mother had walked into the hallway just as her third youngest opened his mouth and landed himself right in it. Her jaw dropped open and Anthony took the opportunity, laughing at his squirming brother, to nudge Kate upstairs just as his mother started giving out to Colin.

“They’re idiots,” Anthony said, rolling his eyes as they walked along the first floor’s maroon carpet towards her bedroom. His eyes anxiously flicked towards Kate, hoping they could ignore the awkward mention of condoms.

He was going to kill Colin later.

“Funny idiots,” Kate agreed, smiling at him as her eyes moved around the hallway and the painting and pictures on the walls. All of the siblings were on the first floor, except for Gregory and Hyacinth who were on the second floor with their mother.

“I’ll give you a tour later, let's just drop off your stuff first.” He opened the door to the guest room, that would someday be Gregory’s room-it was right opposite his bedroom. “Here we are. I’m just across the hall.”

“This place is incredible. It’s so beautiful,” Kate said, turning to him with a teasing smile. She dramatically bowed, her long dark hair flipping over her head and back as she stood up. “Lord Bridgerton.”

“Fuck right off,” Anthony said, collapsing on the bed and Kate joined him. The familiar memorizing scent of lilies and soap filled his nostrils. Kate had looked up their families on an ancestry website last year and had found out Anthony was from a long line of nobility and had called him Lord Bridgerton for a solid month.

God, he had missed her.

He turned to her, flexing his biceps as he stretched his stiff arms over his head. “Are you happy to be home?”

She nodded, her chest moving up and down slowly as she relaxed on the bed. “I loved being away, but it’s so nice to be back and to be home. Did you get my postcards?”

The last person he had gotten a postcard from had been his grandmother when he was younger until Kate. She’d sent him a few from around Europe, from Rome to Paris, and he kept them all in the drawer beside his bed. He’d started eagerly checking the postbox everytime post had come once she had started sending them. “I did. They were great. They’re in my room. Otherwise, Gregory or Hyacinth would find them and colour them in. I loved the Amsterdam one.”

“I thought you would. Oh! I got you presents,” Kate said gleefully, pulling neatly wrapped bundles out of her bag as she sat up on the bed and crossed her legs. “They’re not much, but I thought you might like them.”

“You didn’t need to get me anything,” Anthony said, completely stunned as he took the presents Kate eagerly handed him. She looked so excited and it made his stomach flutter uncomfortably.

It wasn’t butterflies. Anthony didn’t get butterflies. It was probably a digestion issue or something.

He unwrapped the first present, grinning at the perfectly neat wrapping. It was so Kate. Each corner was perfectly taped and folded properly. He unwrapped a small shot glass wrapped in bubble wrap.

“A shot glass, of course.”

He let out a low chuckle, “I wouldn’t expect anything less, Sheffield. Thank you, this is brilliant.”

The next present was a big box of foreign sweets and crisps, ones that reminded him of being on holiday. There was a mixture of haribos, chewy sweets from Spain and exotic crisp flavors that you could never get in England.

His mouth watered. He had an extreme sweet tooth and Kate was always pestering him to eat some fruit or vegetables. He’d smugly remind her he’d never had a cavity. “This is amazing. I’ll be hiding these from everyone or they’ll be gone in an hour.”

He unwrapped the next package which was an assortment of jams, of different colours and varieties.

She grinned as she pointed out the different flavors. “I thought you’d like them for when we go back to university. I know how much you love jam, I wouldn’t want you to starve. I got them in Normandy, at a farmer’s market. The pear one is unbelievable.”

Anthony had never been gifted in the kitchen. They’d been lucky to grow up with nannies and cooks, and both his parents had been talented in the kitchen-something that was not passed onto Anthony. Besides meals in the catering hall at university, Anthony had solely survived on toast with butter or jam before Kate took pity on him and started feeding him.

“This is the last and my favourite one.”

The package felt soft and he carefully unwrapped it, curiously pulling the little bag out of the paper. It was a brown leather case with a fine detail of stitching around the edge.

“It’s made out of Italian leather,” Kate explained, gesturing to the case. “It’s a case for your pocket watch, so you don’t break it. It can clip onto anything, so you’ll always have it.”

“Thank you,” He mumbled, looking oddly dazed. He reached into his pocket, slowly pulling out the silver chained pocket watch his father had passed onto him. It didn’t really make sense, having a pocket watch when watches and iPhones existed. It was old fashioned.

The watch had been passed through the Bridgertons for years and his father had loved it. He’d let Anthony play with it when he was younger until he had been given it on his eight birthday. It was one of the last things Anthony had of Edmund Bridgerton before he died.

He opened his mouth to say something, failing to find any words that could explain how grateful he was. The pocket watch slid into the case perfectly. “Kate. This is..this is amazing. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Kate said, smiling softly at him and lightly squeezing his arm. He was staring right into her soft brown eyes, full of warmth and kindness. She knew how much it meant to him and she had thought about him and got him this.

He wasn’t used to people thinking about him like that.

He felt something stirring inside of him, a tight feeling in his chest about to burst as he looked at her. She was looking right at him and he swore he saw her eyes flicker between his eyes and lips. “Kate-”

They both jumped startled as their eye contact broke, the moment fading, when there was a loud knock on the door, followed by a voice. “Anthony? Kate? Lunch is ready.”

They stood up slowly, Anthony sliding the protected pocket watch into his pocket and clipping it to the inside of his pocket’s material and headed to the door.

Benedict had been the one sent to fetch them, Colin was nowhere in sight. “Colin is trying to convince Mum to let him eat lunch. His comment didn’t go down well earlier and he’s apparently corrupting our younger siblings.”

Anthony let out a deep chuckle, turning to Kate with a smirk. “If you want to punish Colin, take away his food. He inhales anything in sight.”

Once they sat down for lunch, Kate was an immediate big hit with the Bridgertons. Hyacinth threw a fit until she was allowed to eat lunch on Anthony’s lap, quite suspicious about his new friend. Kate quickly got into her good graces when she put two carrot sticks in her mouth to look like a walrus, making walrus noises until Hyacinth laughed so hard she spat out some of her juice.

Daphne chats away to Kate about her plans to study architecture in Cambridge after her final year in school, which Anthony had spent the last few weeks helping her prepare for her applications and for her interviews. Daph announced she was pleased there was finally another female in the house to combat the massive levels of testosterone, as Eloise apparently didn’t count (who gives her the finger which their mother quickly scolds her for) and Frannie is always disappearing.

Anthony knows he shouldn’t have favourites. He loves all of his siblings, he really does-but Francesca is his favourite.

His brothers are his best friends, Daph is the person he shares a lot of the same hobbies with-riding, swimming and Eloise is the person he debates and watches documentaries with. At six and three, Gregory and Hyacinth are still babies. It’s different with them, they don’t remember their father. Anthony desperately tried to be that for them. He had to take care of them after their father died and Hyacinth was born a month after and their mother didn’t leave bed for weeks. Anthony is definitely their favourite sibling and it does wonders for his ego.

Francesca, however, is Anthony.

They both aren’t the loud ones-they leave that to Colin and Eloise. They’re not the artistic ones either-Daphne and Benedict were the ones who had art shows and were stars in their school plays.

Anthony is pretty sure Francesca is the only other sibling who will join the family business in the future. He can’t say for sure because Gregory and Hyacinth are so young, but he doesn’t doubt if for a second for Francesca. They read the newspaper most mornings together, they send each other articles and book recommendations when she’s at home and he’s at university. They’re both fiercely competitive and play on any sports team they can.

Frannie is very serious for a twelve year old with an incredible emotional intelligence, something Anthony was always told he was like, except for the emotional intelligence part-he’s been told he’s rather lacking in that area-and he knows she worries about him. Their father’s death had given him a responsibility that he didn’t want her to have. Francesca didn’t agree. She had been nine when he passed. Yet, she had always been at this side-helping with the babies, insisting he ate if he had forgotten and talking to Colin when he acted out in grief and fought against Anthony helping him.

They had all helped each other in their grief but Francesca was the one who saved Anthony from drowning.

They understood each other and Anthony wouldn’t have survived that first year after Edmund’s death without her. Their mother had been recovering from a traumatic birth and was still grieving, he had cancelled his gap year plans to take care of the family before university and was trying to stop them from falling apart.

Whenever she needed time alone, she disappeared in the house, usually to her bedroom, the library or the treehouse. Anthony had always retreated when he needed some time to breathe. Her spots had become Anthony’s spots, whether it was in Kent or in London, and they would sit in silence doing whatever.

Frannie turns to him one morning at breakfast, handing him the finance part of the paper and taking a sip of her orange juice. “I like her.”

“Kate?” The topic of their conversation was cooking pancakes with Eloise and Daphne, the three of them laughing about something. She catches his eye, grinning at him before turning to listen to what Eloise was saying.

“So do you,” Francesca said, as if it was a casual thing to say. “I think you should, you know. It would be nice, to be happy.”

Anthony actually stutters. “I-I am happy.”

Francesca sighs, shaking her head. “Of course you are. You have been since Kate arrived. I wonder why?”

Everyone else joins the table, cutting off their conversation as they hand out the pancakes. Anthony stares at Frannie in bewilderment before turning back to his food. If his internal battle and feelings were that obvious, he needed to work on being more subtle.

That summer is the best Anthony has ever had.

One warm August afternoon, Anthony takes Kate away from the house so he can get her to himself for a bit. He decides to take her horse riding to the nearby stables where they used to take lessons and go riding.

Anthony hadn’t ridden since the summer of his father’s death. They had spent every summer in Kent before their father died and before that, they had lived there until Anthony was five before permanently moving to London. Their father had always loved riding and had taken them out for rides and lessons, but their mother was never that fussed. Anthony had been shocked when his mother announced she wanted to go back to Aubrey Hall this summer, having been so insistent on staying in London for three years straight. He didn’t think she would ever be able to go back, but she seemed to be coping well so far or he just hadn’t seen her break down.

His siblings could just go to the stables if they wanted to go for a ride, but none of them were that fussed except for Daphne. She had always loved riding and she had competed in competitions for years before quitting to focus on school. It wasn’t the same after their father died, he had always been at every single one of her competitions. It had usually been the two of them and their father going out for rides together during the summer.

Anthony and Daphne had gone for daily rides since their arrival in Kent, deciding to continue the tradition they had always loved. Convincing Kate to, on the other hand, was not looking likely.

Kate was biting her bottom lip, looking at the horse in front of her. “I don’t know.”

“You’ll be fine.”

She was still hesitant. “Is there like a pony or something? Something smaller?”

“This is the smallest mare they have. She’s very calm. Eloise rode her last week and she’s never been fond of riding.”

“I don’t trust it,” Kate whispered, stepping closer to Anthony as if she was afraid the horse could hear her.

Anthony let out an amused, slightly frustrated huff. He was trying to be patient, but it was wearing thin. “It’s a horse, Kate.”

Kate turned to glare at him, narrowing her eyes. “Not all of us came out of the womb and onto a saddle, Anthony. Horses are large and intelligent creatures. What if it doesn’t want me to ride it and throws me off?

“Do you trust me?”

Kate sighed, rolling her eyes. “Yes,” She said, begrudgingly.

He extended his hand to her. “I promise you’re not going to fall off. I’m going to walk you around before we go for a ride. She’s a good horse, she won’t throw you off. Just get up and shut up.”

“Wow. You’re so kind. With an attitude like that, it’s a mystery to why you’re single.”

He mimicked her, and she mimicked him back, and they stood there mocking each other for a few minutes until she shoved him into the muck.

He wouldn’t talk to her for ten minutes, covered in dirt, and she nearly wet herself she was laughing so hard, and he eventually joined in.

He eventually helped her onto the horse, a gentle brown mare called Iris. Kate clutched at his hand as he helped her up and the electricity sent jolts down his spine. He walked her around for a bit before leading her for a ride across the fields, which Kate seemed to love.

They trotted for most of it and Kate made him take a picture with her with the blooming fields in the background to send to Mary and Edwina.

He definitely doesn’t send it to himself later and keep it on his phone.

It was one of the best afternoons of his life.

Things tended to be amazing whenever Kate was around.

It was becoming quite the problem, especially whenever she smiled or laughed, causing him to get this uncomfortable, warm feeling in his chest.

Kate even gets up with him in the mornings with the babies when he gave his Mum a break, watching cartoons with Greg and Hyacinth who wake up at illegal hours most mornings.

The rest of his siblings slowly join them, everyone tired and weary as they sit on the couch. The early morning silence slowly begins to fade with the chatter in the room.

“I love this.”

“Mm?” He hums, turning his attention away from the cartoon to look at Kate.

“How noisy it is here. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family so much. It could just get quiet at times, you know? I’ve always wanted a big family.”

“Oh,” says Kate softly, looking down at a sleeping Hyacinth against his chest. “She’s adorable.”

“Yeah,” said Anthony, smiling down at his sister. “Until she’s screaming her lungs out after you turn off Peppa Pig after four hours of watching it.”

Kate chuckled softly, “She's quite the character. She looks like you, you know.”

“You think?” said Anthony, his voice softer.

She nodded, smiling warmly at him. “You’re doing an amazing job, you know that right?”

It wasn’t anything like his father would be doing if he was still here. Anthony had made his peace with the fact he could never be the man his father was. However, hearing it from Kate made it feel like he was doing something right.

“Alright, Greg,” Anthony was kneeling down to his little brother’s height, holding him steady. “I’m going to take these stabilizers off, and you’re going to pedal towards Kate. Just like we practiced on Eloise’s old bike.”

Gregory blinked up at him, eyes wide and terrified. “What if I fall?”

“You get back up,” said Anthony, brushing his thumb over his cheek slowly. “Besides, I’m going to be right beside you. I’d never let you fall.”

After a few tries, a few near falls and some tears, Gregory successfully cycles around the front garden all by himself.

He swung Gregory around, grinning at her laughter as the rest of the Bridgertons clapped.

Kate was smiling at him, and the sun made her face glow, and he knew in that moment he would do anything just to see her smile like that at him for the rest of his life.

They sat around the fire on the patio later that evening, roasting marshmallows on metal rods.

“I’m sorry if this is boring,” said Anthony, biting his lip as he glanced around at his family. “I know it’s not the most exciting summer.”

“Are you kidding?” said Kate, grinning at him as she shifted Hyacinth on her lap. She had refused to sit anywhere else, and Kate didn’t seem to mind at all. Anthony was eternally grateful, as he didn’t have it in him to deal with a Hyacinth Bridgerton tantrum that evening. “This is amazing. Thank you for inviting me.”

She’s smiling at him again and it’s getting very hard to ignore the hammering inside of his chest.

“She fits in well, don’t you think?” Violet Bridgerton says to Anthony in the kitchen, one evening after dinner when they’re both cleaning up. “As if she belongs here.”

“Mum,” Anthony says sternly, in a tone usually reserved for a parent scolding a child, but he knew exactly what she was insinuating. His mother’s favourite hobby was meddling in his love life. “Don’t go there.”

He wouldn’t let himself go there.

He had been internally debating it with himself for a while now, but he always came to the same conclusion. His reputation wasn’t stellar. His relationships never worked out.

He wouldn’t risk losing Kate.

It almost felt normal, her teasing him over a girl-as if the last few years hadn’t happened. As if his father’s death and Anthony’s role in the family hadn’t drastically changed everything. As if his relationship with his mother wasn't broken.

“Where, dearest?” Violet said, smirking at her son before walking back into the dining room.

Anthony sighed, leaning against the counter. He pushed the thoughts spiraling in his head and his recurring dream to the back of his head.

The women in his life were going to kill him.

They get the train to London on a Saturday for their friend Rob’s 21st birthday, and they stay for the night. They spend the day wandering around London, grabbing lunch at Camden market before getting ready at his house.

Kate’s dress is black and clings to her curves in a way that forces Anthony to remember to breathe.

Rob’s parents are divorced and his dad spends a lot of his time abroad, so the party is in his dad’s empty townhouse in Kensington. The party is in full swing by the time they arrive and they’re both drunk and laughing within an hour. They haven’t seen their university friends in a few weeks and when Anna sees them, she screams and jumps into their arms.

They eventually get separated, Anthony plays beer pong with some of Rob’s school friends and Rob, Luke and Ethan from uni. His head is buzzing, he feels slightly dizzy but the party is packed, he’s having a good time and he keeps on drinking.

When he eventually spots Kate, she’s leaning against the wall of the kitchen talking to a tall guy. Anthony doesn’t recognize him and the feeling in his chest isn’t warm or fuzzy.

He can’t help himself. “Who is Kate talking to?”

Rob turns his head around, looking in the direction Anthony nodded. “Oh, that’s David. We’ve played football together a few times in uni. He’s decent.”

Anthony takes a long swig of his beer.

Kate eventually finds him outside with the rest of their friends, Anna beside her as they join the group. It had taken everything in him to not interrupt her conversation with David, or whatever the fuck his name was. Kate was far too good for him. He had distracted himself with a blonde girl called Ella instead, who had left the party over an hour ago.

It didn’t work.

“Hey,” said Kate, yawning softly as she climbed onto his lap, pulling his blanket over herself. Anthony tries to look unaffected, but his heart is hammering inside of his chest. She's all he can smell-lilies and soap. The scent is overwhelming. They were all sitting in camper chairs around a firepit, and they stayed there until 5am before Rob told people they could stay over in any bedroom that they wanted.

He carries a drunk Kate to bed, finding an empty bedroom and laying her carefully on the bed.

He takes off her heels, wipes her makeup carefully off with the wipes she had brought in her bag and he leaves a glass of water beside her bed. “G’night.”

“Where are you going?” Kate asked, frowning slightly as lifted her head off the pillow. She looked so adorable, her eyes half closed as she looked at him.

“I’m going to sleep on the sofa.”

“I’m pretty sure someone is having sex on the sofa. Just sleep here.” Kate mumbled, yanking at his shirt to get him onto the bed.

Anthony hesitated, biting his lip. This was definitely crossing a boundary. The rest of the rooms were taken, the couch was currently in use and he didn’t fancy sleeping on the floor. He also knew he wouldn’t sleep at all, knowing Kate was right beside him.

He convinces himself he’s staying to make sure she’s alright, in case she needs to get sick or needs something. Kate is already asleep by the time he climbs into bed, determined to stick to his side. He’s practically falling over the edge of the bed when he falls asleep.

They wake up in each other’s arms the next morning.

“Do you ever think about the future?” Anthony asks Kate one evening, after a long day of eating food in the living room and having a Friends marathon.

Kate’s lying on her back, attempting to throw popcorn in the air and catch it with her mouth. “My only plans are becoming a solicitor and getting a corgi.”

Anthony snorted. “I don’t get your obsession with those dogs.”

“Insult corgis and see how it works out for you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is that a threat, Sheffield?”

“No, it’s a warning.”

They’re sitting on opposite ends of the long sofa. She kicks his foot, and he grabs her foot and pulls her towards him. He knows exactly what he’s going to do, and so does she-he ignores her protests.

“Anthony, I swear to god-”

He grabs her easily, leaning over her as he tickles her sides. She’s incredibly ticklish at the age of twenty one-and there’s a loud cough.

Anthony springs off Kate like a cat touching water.

“I just came to see if you guys wanted pizza,” Eloise says slowly, a mixture of amusement and shock plastered on her face. “We’re ordering some for dinner.”

“Pineapple, please.” Kate squeaks, avoiding Eloise’s gaze and instead focusing on the screen.

“Pepperoni,” Anthony says, trying to keep his facial expression impassive as he held his sister’s gaze. Eloise leaves after that, an amused hum leaving her lips before she wandered off.

They stay on opposite sides of the couch for the rest of the night.

They go for a swim in the lake the evening before Kate goes home. The sky looks like cotton candy, the sun setting in the distance and the warm air makes the cold lake bearable.

“Why do we have to swim in the lake when there’s a perfectly good pool?” Kate asked, glancing back at the house and back at the lake. “There’s nothing in it, is there?”

“Adventure, Katherine.” He took off his t-shirt, stepping into the lake before feeling his feet sink lower and eventually lose their grounding. “There isn’t anything. Come on.”

Kate hesitantly follows him in at a snail pace, which forces Anthony to stare at the water instead of her yellow bikini.

“What was that?” She squeaked, splashing the water as she jumped up in the air, feeling something brush against her feet. She grabbed him, launching herself into his arms.

“Don’t be such a baby,” He teased, trying desperately to ignore the fact she fit perfectly into his arms.

Kate always fit.

His hands were wrapped around her waist, pulling her against him. This was breaking every boundary and rule he had put in place, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to care.

He could feel her soft skin under his fingertips, drawing patterns against her skin.

He felt her body relax, but she didn’t let go of him. She looked at him, pouting slightly. “I’m not a baby.”

“Kate?”

“Mm?”

Their faces are very close.

He lets out a shaky breath. “I’m glad you came here.”

She blinks at him, nodding her head slowly as a small smile erupts on her lips. “Me too.”

He’s going to kiss her. He’s going to kiss her. There’s no way he can’t kiss her. He has to kiss her. He’s going to ki-

There was a scream, and both of their heads flicked towards the two children running towards them, Colin and Benedict behind them.

They quickly broke apart, Anthony swimming towards the edge of the lake in case Gregory or Hyacinth rushed in. He nodded at his brothers apologetic stares, who clearly hadn’t meant for their younger siblings to disturb Anthony and Kate.

He doesn’t kiss her.

“Thanks for having me.”

“Thanks for coming.”

They’re both standing on the train platform, Kate’s train pulled into the station a minute ago. She’s going back to Somerset for two weeks before university starts, and then they’ll be together again.

He tries not to look as disappointed as he feels.

“I’ll see you in two weeks?”

“Not if I see you first,” She said, grinning at him as she slowly pulled him into a hug. She can never reach his neck, so she wraps her arms around his waist instead and leans her head against his chest.

Anthony holds her tightly. Anthony had needed her here this summer. It had been their first time at Aubrey Hall since their father died. Kate had made it easier. She’d made it fun.

As her train pulls out of the station and a waving Kate through the window disappears, he can’t help the pang of regret he feels as he watches her go.

He can’t help but think of everything he should have said, but didn’t.

He has a bitter taste in his mouth for the rest of the day.

“I think everyone’s going to the pub in an hour. Do you want to go?”

They’re finally back for their final year of university, and they’re busier than ever. Before they know it, the leaves have fallen off the trees and the cool November weather has taken over Oxford. The workload, readings and assignments are piling up and they had spent the evening reviewing each other’s thesis proposals and giving feedback to each other.

Kate looks up from her laptop, typing for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I can’t. I have a meeting.”

Anthony looks up from his laptop, raising an eyebrow. “A meeting?”

Kate takes a deep breath, staring at Anthony with a “If I tell you this, you have to promise you won’t make fun of me.”

That catches Anthony’s full attention, “I promise.”

“It’s our last year here,” Kate begins, closing her laptop and standing up. “I want to make the most of it, get more involved. So, I’ve joined the botanist society.”

Anthony blinks. “The what?”

“It’s a science society, about gardening and plants. I always use to garden with dad. It’s actually really fun and interesting. We just drink and chat and they organize trips to museums and botanical gardens. There’s a trip to the Netherlands later just before Christmas, I’m going to go.”

His face softened. He knew what it was like, avoiding things if they reminded you of someone you lost or clinging to them for dear life. He could take the piss out of her, but he doesn’t. “I think it’s great. I didn’t know we had a botanist society.”

“David told me about it, actually.”

“David?” Anthony asks as if he doesn’t know, but he knew exactly who David was. He can hear his hammering pulse in his ears.

“I met him at Rob’s party. He’s in his final year of biology. He’s nice.” Anthony doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything. He just feels sick. Was David going to be there?

“That reminds me,” Anthony says, swiftly changing the subject before he said something stupid. “I got us tickets to the law ball. We should go together.”

Kate blinks at him through her reflection in the mirror. “Together?”

Anthony shrugs, blushing slightly at his impulsivity. “Everyone else is bringing dates. Anna and Luke are going as friends. We’re both single. Unless you’re bringing someone else?”

Kate shakes her head quickly and Anthony has to stop himself sighing in relief. “No, no. That’s a great idea. I’d love to.”

It was getting extremely difficult to fight his feelings.

Kate looked beautiful.

He can’t stop the words coming out of his mouth and tries to hold in his grin when Kate blushes and rolls her eyes at him.

It’s the night of the Law Ball and their entire friend group is having pre-drinks in the common room before they headed to the college where the ball was being held.

Kate’s wearing a long lavender dress, with a V-neck cut and straps that hang loosely on her shoulders. Her hair is long and wavy down her back and he has to count slowly in his head to stop himself from staring at her.

Anthony didn’t like taking pictures but if they involved wrapping his hand around her waist, pulling her close to him-he’d never complain again taking them for the rest of his life.

Anna insists on getting multiple shots of them together, which takes a few minutes. Anthony swore he saw her wink at him at one point or he was just drunker than he thought.

The ball is brilliant, their entire friend group sits at the same table and he doesn’t remember the last time he laughed so much. They’re all drunk and sloppy, confessing their love for each other and how much they’ll miss each other when they graduate. Anthony spins Kate around the dancefloor and her arms are around his neck, and he wants to stay in that moment forever.

That voice rings in his head.

Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her.

He doesn't kiss her.

“I’ll see you when you get back.”

It was around 4am when they all walked back to their rooms, after a quick stop at McDonalds for some food. Kate had a flight in about five hours and Anthony left their friends to walk her to their room.

Kate’s smile is playful as she hands him back his suit jacket . “Not if I see you first.”

Kate flies to the Netherlands with the botanist society the next morning and Anthony goes home to London. He desperately needed a distraction and his family were the perfect fit. He brought Gregory to football, Hyacinth to swimming and spent the night with all of them while their mother went out with some of her friends.

He couldn’t focus on any of his readings for his lectures.

He couldn't stop thinking about her.

Nothing could distract him from his thoughts. The more he thought about her, the more he realized what an idiot he’d been.

He should have kissed her. He should have kissed at the ball, he should have kissed her in Kent, there were a thousand different times he should have kissed her.

It suddenly clicked. He couldn’t deny it anymore. The final piece of the puzzle.

He was in love with Kate Sheffield.

After the long weekend, he arrived in Oxford after Kate did. He had spent the day having a Sunday roast with his family before driving back to university.

His hands were shaking as he heard of his phone buzz, seeing Kate’s name appearing on his screen.

Kate: i’m back! Where are you?

Anthony: Just parked. Where are you? I’ll come to you

Kate: i’m at the pub! come!

He was going to tell her.

He had to tell her how he felt.

They could make it work.

They had wasted nearly three years not being together.

He didn’t bother going back to his room as he sprinted to their local pub, which was only a five minute walk from their accommodation.

It wasn’t just him. He was sure of it. Right? They had a moment over the summer at Aubrey Hall. There had been so many moments over the years. Kate had always been there for him. They had nearly kissed, they would have kissed if he hadn’t been interrupted. His younger siblings had asked if Kate was coming to visit soon while he went home over the weekend. His family loved her.

He lo-

“Anthony!”

His head flicked around the pub, focusing on the voice that called his name. It belonged to Anna, who was sitting at a table with Rob and Luke. He rushed towards them.

“Hey. Have you seen Kate?”

“She’s busy,” said Anna, the frown on her face evident as she nodded her head towards the bar. Anthony raised a curious eyebrow at her expression before turning around to follow her nod.

Kate was standing with her arms around David, who leans down and kisses her.

He felt something inside of him break.

Kate’s face lights up when she spots him and Anthony manages a smile, ignoring the pain in his chest.

“Anthony!” Kate said, walking towards him with a grin as she wrapped her arms around him to pull him in for a hug. “This is David.”

“I really like him. Please be nice,” Kate whispered in his ear, smiling up at him before taking a step back.

Kate looked so happy.

David grins at Anthony, placing two pints on the table before extending his hand. “Hey mate, nice to meet you.”

He had to remind himself, having Kate was better than not having her at all.

He couldn’t be a dick. He couldn’t push her away.

He swallows the vile taste in his mouth, mustering a smile as he shook his hand. “Hi. Nice to meet you. So, how was the trip?”

He sits there and he listens as they talk about their trip. David is a biologist.

It becomes clear quite quickly David is everything Anthony isn’t.

Anthony hated flowers. Flowers and plants usually meant bees.

“I’ll be right back,” Anthony said, standing up and grabbing his coat as he walked out of the pub. He walks around the side, where there’s no smokers or people chatting. He leans his head against the brick wall and tries to breathe.

He reaches for his phone, sending a text Benedict. He needed his brother. He needs someone. He couldn’t have Kate. His chest was so tight, he was finding is hard to breathe.

“I was wondering where you got off to.”

Anthony’s head snapped up as he saw Kate standing a few inches from him, looking at him curiously. He tries to control his breathing. She looks concerned, walking towards him. “Is everything okay?”

Anthony nodded, trying to relax and he stood up straighter. “Long day with the family. I’m just exhausted.”

He didn’t want to ask, but he did. He had to. “So, how did you two happen?”

The soft smile that breaks out on her face nearly destroys him, but he tries to smile back. “We met at the party, but I didn’t think anything would actually happen. We’ve seen each other at events and meetings for the past few weeks. He’s nice, you know? We have a lot in common. He told me he liked me during the trip and asked me to go to dinner. He bought me flowers. It was sweet.”

Kate had once told Anthony that she was the only person to ever buy her flowers. He had sent them to her every birthday and Christmas since then.

Now he wasn’t.

That was another thing David had taken from him.

“Do you like him?” Kate asked, taking a sip of her glass of water. She looks hesitant as she asks the question and Anthony knows he has to be careful. He doesn’t want to hurt her, none of this is her fault.

He had been wrong about everything.

No. “I suppose. I don’t really know him.”

“Anthony.”

“He seems nice.”

“Why do I bother asking?” Kate teased, taking a sip of her drink. “You don’t like anyone.”

Anthony didn’t miss a beat. “I like you.”

Anthony wanted to bitterly laugh at the irony of it all, but he stopped himself. This wasn’t about him.

Kate rolled her eyes. “I like you too. Seriously, though. It’s important to me that you like him.”

He pretends to look at the group of people ahead of them, just to avoid looking at her. “I want you to be happy. If he makes you happy, that’s all that matters.”

Even if it makes him feel like this.

Kate hesitates, before giving him an affirming nod. “I am.”

He swallows hard. “Good.”

She leans her head against his shoulder, and they stand there in silence. It’s not uncomfortable, it’s just silence.

“We’ll always be friends, right?” Kate breaks it eventually, shaking her head. “God, I sound so childish. I just mean-we’re graduating soon. I know we’re both moving to London. I just-I don’t want us to drift apart.”

Anthony swallows his feelings and shakes his head, smiling playfully at her. “Do you think you can get rid of me, Sheffield?”

“Never, Bridgerton,” She said, laughing at him. It was ridiculous how her smile and laugh made him feel so light and free. He didn’t have the right to feel like that with her. Not like this. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Let's go back inside.”

He can’t sit in there for the next hour and watch them. The thought alone makes him nauseous. “I’m going to head back. I’m shattered and I have some reading to do for the seminar tomorrow.”

Kate looks slightly disappointed, but she musters a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” They walked to the font of the pub and he smiled as she walked in, turning around to shoot him a smile over her shoulder as she walked in.

He watched her through the window, joining the table where their friends sat. He watched David’s arm wrap around her shoulders and Kate’s head fall back as she laughed at something he whispered into her ear.

She looked happy.

It isn’t because of him.

That’s a particularly hard pill to swallow.

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