#henryxfemalereader

[kasdeyathebitterwoman]

Running Mate - Part 4

Eek! Somehow we’re on part 4 and still going! I hope you all are enjoying this series as much as I am. I should have a few more updates for you soon with this series and with the Ninja Warrior Love Story series, so watch this space!

Idea: While running through the English countryside, Henry meets a fun documentarian and sparks fly.

CW: none

Word Count: 3,165 (sorry, the words got away from me on this one!)

taglist:

@maeleeme @andyrazzledazzle @fanfictionaddiction99 @henrycavillluv32 @blossom-a @jhenno2002​

The next morning, you wake up groggy from lack of sleep. The screening and after “party” for your documentary went on much later than you anticipated. So much so, you missed your alarm completely which means you missed running with Henry this morning. That was okay though, since you were seeing him later today. You walked out of the guest room where you were staying and into the kitchen where there was fresh coffee.

“Morning, sunshine,” James says and you grunt in response. James is sitting at the breakfast table reading through several of the feedback cards. You make yourself a cup of much-needed coffee then join James at the table. You pick up a few of the cards to read yourself.

“How did Fiona feel about the final product?” you ask. Fiona was your documentary’s main benefactor. She was a really kind woman with an eye for successful projects, so you were hoping that your efforts were worthy.

“She was seriously impressed,” James replied. “Everyone was, just read through the notes here,” he said, so you did. Almost everyone said the same thing, that the film was raw, real, and heartbreaking in a good way. You smiled as you read through the responses. There were some valuable critiques about editing, sound volume, and color correction and then there were some silly comments. You snorted reading a few and James nodded his head in agreement.

“Well, I think last night was a success,” you finally muse and James nods.

“A very successful night for you,” he replies and you squint at him over your mug.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask.

“Oh, nothing,” he sighs. “I just can’t think of anyone else that shows a fantastic documentary then snogs Superman himself in the same night,” James finishes. He isn’t looking at you, but at the notecards, so he can’t see the serious scowl that you are giving.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you reply, huffing a little.

“Mhmm,” James grunts and you huff a little more.

“Whatever,” you say, standing up from the table. “I’m going to equalize the audio from the second round of interviews,” you go to refill your mug before leaving.

“Alrighty, I’ll feed you Cheese-It’s if you get stuck in your room,” James says and you stop in your tracks.

“Oh my god, I’m going to murder Kyle for telling you that story,” you say and James laughs hysterically. You scowl the entire time walking to the room remembering when your old brother Jeremy caught you kissing a boy and accidentally locked you in your bedroom. Kyle, your older brother of five years, fed you Cheese-Its under the door while you waited for Jeremy to get the tools to fix it.

You got dressed in a large, chunky sweater, leggings, and big fuzzy socks. You took your hair and piled it into a bun on the top of your head. Then you shuffled into the workroom where James had a set up a computer bay for work. You grabbed a set of headphones and began equalizing the second round of interviews your director got.

Hours passed while you worked and you easily found yourself absorbed in the work. You were listening to a woman talk about her experience when something touched your shoulder. At the same time, there was a loud sound on the video.

“AHH!” you scream, jumping in your chair. You whip around to find James jumping back from you with his hands up in the air. Then he doubles over with laughter. “What do you want?” you demand, placing your hand over your heart. James is laughing and crying so hard he can barely talk. Finally, he calms down and composes himself.

“Henry Cavill is here,” he says, still chuckling and wiping away tears at the corners of his eyes.

“Who? Oh!” you yell, bouncing up from your chair and darting out of the room. Henry is standing in the living room looking at several pictures that James has up on the mantle. “Hey Henry,” you say as nonchalantly as possible. He turns around and smiles when he sees you.

“Hey,” he replies and your heart skips a beat. He’s wearing a simple blue shirt, jeans, brown leather shoes, and a newsboy hat. His smile is so genuine, even when it shows off those canines. “Are you ready to go?” he asks slowly taking in your current outfit. You look at him confused then you suddenly remember.

“Oh, no! I’m not ready!” you say quickly and turn to dart of to your room before turning back around. “I definitely did not forget that we were going out, I was just,” you pause trying to think of a better answer other than forgetfulness. Henry is smiling and trying to contain laughter.

“It’s okay,” he replies, the laughter clear in his voice. You sigh and smile at him.

“Give me about five minutes,” you say holding up your hand then darting off for your room. Quickly you throw on a pair of skinny jeans, replace the chunky sweater with a thinner gray sweater, and your ballet flats. You pull your hair out of the bun and run a brush through it quickly. You washed your face the night before so there were no traces of makeup and you didn’t have time to throw anything on now, so this would have to do. As you are leaving your room, you can hear Henry and James chatting about something.

“It’s a project we don’t have backing for just yet, so I’m trying to get as much together before we take it to our benefactors,” James says as you round the corner. You see Henry nodding with interest and then he sees you and smiles.

“Speaking of, James,” you start, waving a little at Henry. “There is a weird sound during Mrs. McClendon’s interview,” you say and James gives you a puzzled look. “Here, come listen. Henry, you can come along as well,” you say, turning and gesturing for the men to follow you. All three of you walk into the workroom and Henry whistles low.

“This looks very familiar to me,” he says and James smiles. You smile as you grab a set of headphones and hand them to James. He puts them on while you pull the audio back to the place of the sound. You can hear it even though the headphones are on his ears and watch as James jumps a little at how harsh the sound is.

“Jesus, that’s intense,” he says, taking the headphones off. “Just mark it and equalize like you normally would and we’ll decide later if we need this section of the interview,” he instructs and you nod. You grab a notepad by the keyboard and write everything down. James and Henry discuss his set up while you find and mark the audio. When you’re done, you turn to the two men.

“Okay, sorry about that Henry, I’m ready to go when you are,” you say and Henry nods. He shakes James’ hand and thanks him for letting him look around. As you leave with Henry, James calls out from the room. “Where are we going, by the way?” you ask, realizing you had no idea what the plan was.

“Well, there is a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum about Ancient Rome. I was thinking we could go take a look and then maybe grab something to eat,” he says and you can almost detect a hint of embarrassment in his voice. You smile wide at him.

“That sounds awesome!” you reply, genuinely excited. You haven’t been to the Natural History Museum here yet, though you’ve lived in London for over a year. You walk out to Henry’s car and he jogs to open the passenger door for you. “Such a gentleman,” you tease as you slide into the car. You can see Henry smiling to himself as he closes the door and jogs around to the drivers’ side. When you glance around the car, it doesn’t take long for you to realize this is a very fancy car and for a moment, you panic.

Henry climbs into the car, starts it, and you nervously arrange yourself in the seat. Henry doesn’t notice and drives off. The ride is silent for the most part until you decide to start asking Henry more about himself. You ask him about his home island, what it was like going to boarding school, and how he decided that acting was the direction he wanted to go in. Henry was a good sport and seemingly answers all of your questions honestly. You laugh with him through stories of growing up with four brothers and empathize with him as he talks about being the “weird” kid at school.

When you arrive at the museum, Henry easily finds parking. You attempt to let yourself out, but Henry stops you, jogging around to open the door for you. You give him a closed-lip smile and can’t refrain from saying something.

“You don’t have to keep doing that,” you say and Henry looks confused. “Never mind,” you say, chuckling and shaking your head. Henry realizes what you meant and blushes.

“Sorry, I’m a gentleman through and through,” he says sheepishly. You reach up and gently cup the side of his face.

“It’s okay, just be better,” you joke before giving him a gentle yet firm pat on the cheek. His expression is a mixture of shock, surprise, and awe and it casques you to laugh out loud. You turn to run but Henry grabs a hold of your hand and pulls you back to him. He embraces you in a firm, playful way, laughing the whole time. After a moment, he lets go and you walk hand in hand with him into the museum.

Because you’ve never been the center of attention, you are much more aware of the stares that Henry, and subsequently you, are getting. Henry doesn’t seem to be phased by it, so you try hard to do the same, but you can’t deny that it’s very strange and unnerving. At the ticket booth, Henry goes to pull out his card, but you bump him out of the way dramatically and offer some cash to the woman. She looked confused as her eyes flicked between Henry and you.

“It’s okay, we’re trying to break him of his horrible, horrible gentlemanly ways,” you say and the ticket girl bursts into laughter. Henry is shaking his head and smiling as you accept the tickets and you smile wide at him as you hand him is the ticket. When you walk up to the next booth to have your tickets scanned, Henry begins gently tickling and nipping at your sides. It causes you to jump around and laugh. The ticket scanner is watching you with a strange look on her face.

“It’s fine, I’m just learning to not be a gentleman,” Henry says sardonically as he takes another jab at you to which you respond with a muffled squeal and slap to his hand. Both he and the ticket scanner laugh before you notice a recognition flash through her eyes. Henry doesn’t see this but you do.

“Do you want to get a picture with him?” you ask her and she smiles as Henry’s eyes dart back and forth before he understands what’s going on. You take the girls phone after she pulls up her camera for you. Henry obliges and puts an arm around the girl while smiling at you as you take several pictures. “Sell those for a lot of money,” you say handing the phone back to the girl. Henry rolls his eyes and barks out a laugh, before grabbing your hand and dragging you off. Once again you smile wide at him. “What? That was sound advice,” you joke at Henry’s side-eye. “Okay, I’m sorry, that was kind of mean,” you say, realizing you may have actually crossed a line with Henry. He stops and turns to you, looking down with those intense blue eyes. Then he reaches down, cups the side of your face and says,

“It’s okay, just be better,” then gently taps the side of your face. Your jaw drops open, but no sound comes out. You watch him walk away, a smug smile plastered across his face. Your place your hand over your heart and call out,

“The grasshopper is learning!” you laugh and watch as Henry laughs along with you. You powerwalk up to him and take his hand with yours, smiling proudly up at him. The rest of the afternoon is spent walking around the Ancient Greece exhibit. Henry enjoys pointing things out to you almost as much as he enjoys listening to you tell him about various bits of information. Several times he is stopped for pictures and autographs and you smile every single time it happens. Henry seems very connected with his fans and genuinely doesn’t seem to mind when they politely ask for something from him. A few times you take the picture for fans so groups or duos can all be together with Henry. What you appreciate is regardless of how chill Henry seems with the interactions, he always checks back with you and asks to confirm you are okay. At one point, the director of the museum found out Henry Cavill was there and offered to give you both a free, private tour of the exhibit.

“So this is how the other half lives,” you mutter, mostly to yourself, but Henry hears you and smirks. He leans down to whisper in your ear.

“I wouldn’t know, I don’t take advantage of half the things I’m offered,” he whispers in your ear. You give him a sideways smirk and laugh at the silly face he makes. The director takes the two of you around the exhibit, explaining the reasoning behind the setup, placement and such. That aspect of the process is fascinating and you can’t help but grill him with questions. The director answers everything willingly and you openly ignore the smirk Henry has every time he looks at you.  

When you are done with the tour, you and Henry leave to go get something to eat as planned. He held your hand the entire time to the car and then reached across the console to hold your hand as he drove. Henry picked a nice restaurant not far from the museum. Not only did he open the doors for you, but he pulled your chair out as well. The waiter took your drink orders and left you to examine the menus. A few moments later, you gave your order and sipped the wine that was brought for you.

“I have to say,” Henry starts. “It was interesting to see you hound that museum director back there,” he says, smirking at you. Your jaw dropped and you scoffed.

“I did not hound him,” you claim and Henry snorts.

“You were relentless,” he replies and all you can do is scoff.

“I was interested in the process and I had questions,” you insist. Henry’s raised brow expression causes you to start giggling. Henry joins you and the two of you laugh like school children. You have to calm yourself because your waiter has brought out your food. After a few moments of eating, Henry speaks again.

“Tell me where the name Bulldog Westley comes from,” Henry asks as you finish a bite of your food. You smile, thinking about it.

“It’s a way to pay homage to James’ first love: his dog, Westley,” you say and Henry smiles. “He was the sweetest bulldog I ever met and absolutely the main reason James and I became friends in the first place,” you say, laughing. Henry laughs as well, a smile unmoving from his face.

“How did you and James meet?” he asks and again, you smile at the memory.

“We met at school. I went to The University of North Texas and James was an exchange student in the film program. We officially met while taking a Television Documentary course,” you say and Henry’s blue eyes twinkle. “We did try to date, but he’s honestly more like a fourth brother than a lover,” you say and make a face. Henry laughs, his smile making your heart flutter like crazy. Y’all finish your meal and Henry pays, making a point to look at you as he places his credit card in the book.

The drive back to James’ house is silent, but Henry holds your hand the entire time. His thumb occasionally grazes your knuckles. He pulls into the driveway and parks the car, looking over at you.

“Thank you for today,” you say and Henry offers a gentle smile.

“No, thank you,” Henry replies. “This was an amazing day,” you smile and feel your heart beating a million miles a minute. Henry pulls himself out of the car then jogs around to your door. He opens it and helps you out, then walks you up the short distance to the porch. You stand there, awkwardly wondering what Henry plans to do next. He makes himself clear when he closes the small gap between, gently placing his hands on either side of your face, and pulls you in for a kiss. It’s gentle at first but quickly turns passionate. His tongue teases yours and he moans as you wrap your arms around his shoulders. His hands slip down your shoulders and stop just above your butt on your hips.

Eventually, you break away from him, a smile permanently attached to your face. You look up at Henry through your eyelashes and see that he is smiling just as wide.

“You could come in for coffee or more wine or tea, if you want,” you say, hoping to god he’ll say yes so you can continue kissing those soft, delicious lips.

“I want to say yes, but,” Henry sighs and you groan.

“Oh, I know that ‘but’ well,” you murmur and Henry chuckles.

“I know, I’ve got work and meetings in the city,” he replies.

“You don’t have to explain it to me, baby,” you say and Henry smiles.

“Keep calling me that and I’ll never make it home,” Henry murmurs.

“Baby, baby, baby,” you purr, leaning in close to him. Henry sighs, pulling your body close to his. He leans down and kisses you deeply again. You snake your fingers through his hair, moaning into him. You kiss him passionately, feeling the warmth of his body even through his clothes. Finally, you break away from him, you both breathing heavily.

“I have to go,” Henry whispers, not letting go of you and not backing away.

“Then go,” you whisper back and Henry smiles painfully. He finally leaves and you watch as he drives away down the private road, running your thumb over your lips still feeling the tingle of Henry’s kiss.