#i was thinking since drake pushed his release to next week she’d wanna use everything at her disposal next week to get that top spot

[evermoredeluxe]

taylor is so cute in her hits different tiktok 🖤🥹

[kaitycole]

Changes in Attitude (Part 1)

Summary: Jackson lets his mind wonder back to his days in Cordonia.

Word Count: 3601

Pairings: Constantine x Eleanor, Eleanor x Jackson, Jackson x Bianca 

Warnings: Mention of alcohol, Mentions of miscarriage

A/N: In this series/universe, Constantine had -one- social season where he chose Liana and then just had a courtship with Eleanor. Also, due to dramatic twist this piece ended up being way longer than I planned, so to stick with the rough outline I have this will be a two part chapter.

**This song pairs well with this piece: Worst In Me by Julia Michaels**

Part 13 of WP. To catch up read here.

Tag List: @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore​​ @kingliam2019​​ @texaskitten30​​ @glaimtruelovealways​​ @bobasheebaby​​ @bascmve01​​  @burnsoslow​​  @the-everlasting-dream​​  @ao719​​ @sirbeepsalot​​  @janezillow​​  @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​​ @kimmiedoo5​​  @choices97​​ @marshmallowsaremyfavorite​​ @lodberg​​ @edgiestwinter​​  @marshmallowsandfire​​ @hopefulmoonobject​​​  @iaminlovewithtrr​​  @cordonianroyalty​  

Jackson sits down at the kitchen table, having just finished cleaning up. It was around noon that he offered to fix lunch and Drake and Riley accepted. Their lunch wasn’t too eventful, just a bit of small talk. He didn’t go too much more into detail about the ball, once Constantine had announced Eleanor wasn’t feeling well; many people took it as their cue to leave, including the Walkers.

Riley told him more about how they ended up in Montana with Drake adding small details here and there. He could see the struggle for Drake to open up: both wanting to but not wanting to in fear of getting burned. He knew that feeling all too well. Drake also took the opportunity to tell Jackson how shortly after his funeral, Bianca had left. Leaving Drake and Savannah in the care of Bastien, claiming the loss of her husband was too hard for her to stay or raise the kids.

He watched as Drake shrugged it off: years of pretending it didn’t hurt him that she left, but Jackson could tell it bothered his son. For years, both he and Eleanor lived regretting not leaving with Liam, Drake, and Savannah, but it was a lot harder when the source of regret was looking him in the eye.

He wants to pour a glass of bourbon, help settle his nerves, but Eleanor constantly asked him not to drink until at least after 5 PM. It has been three years since her passing and he still lives as if she’s there, just shopping or with her friends. When Drake said he likes his coffee black, Jackson was proud. He drank his coffee black for years until one day Eleanor added her Hazelnut creamer to the wrong mug. The only reason any was in the fridge was that he still picked it up like he had the last seventeen years.

The house is empty, Luke’s out with his friends, leaving Jackson alone with his thoughts. It came off easy to relive those memories with Riley and Drake, but the truth was it tore him apart. When Eleanor had passed away, Jackson locked everything up inside; wanting to be strong for Luke. Remembering their story from the beginning was just as painful as losing her. Running his fingers through his hair, he pours himself a glass of bourbon. What Eleanor didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

Jackson grabs the glass and heads out back to sit on the porch swing: Eleanor’s favorite spot for the family to relax after spending all day apart. Closing his eyes, he thinks back to the events that occurred after the ball.

*          *

Weeks have passed since the ball and both Jackson and Eleanor have kept their distance from one another. While they each tried telling themselves it was due to busy schedules, they knew deep down it was because of the rumors Barthelemy Beaumont didn’t mind spreading or entertaining.

Even when the two would see each other in passing, they simply acted as if they didn’t notice the other. Jackson still maintained his respect by bowing, but he didn’t address her nor her him. If people had been oblivious to their closer than normal relationship before the ball, they noticed the icy temperature of their run-ins now. The maids all gossip, but none could pinpoint when the two had iced over.

Jackson hates not talking with Eleanor; he misses her. He misses her smile and laughter: the way that she can make awful days better with just one look. He used to feel that the days dragged when he didn’t see her, now time all but stopped.

“Is the Queen mad at you or something?” Timothy asks; Jackson’s gloomy attitude is like a rain cloud floating above his head, “Did she tell you she wasn’t interested?”

Jackson pushes Timothy into the wall, “How many times do I have to tell you to shut the hell up?”

Timothy pushes back, but Jackson keeps him pinned up against the wall.

“I mean it, stop bringing up stuff that no one is talking about.”

“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” A soft voice questions, coming around the corner.

Jackson recognizes the voice before he sees her face and immediately releases Timothy.

“No, your majesty.” Timothy bows.

“I see,” she looks over at Jackson, “May I speak to Officer Walker, please?”

“Of course, your majesty.” Timothy leaves the two of them alone but doesn’t go too far, keeping within earshot.

“How can I help you, your majesty?”

“Jackson.” Her hand twitches, wanting to reach out but refraining. “Is there a reason you’re shoving guards into the walls?”

“We had a small misunderstanding, it won’t happen again, Queen Eleanor.”

He knows using her proper titles would hurt, but he doesn’t know it is breaking her heart. She chews the inside of her lip, blinking back tears. She looks at the man she loves as he treats her like a stranger.

“I see.” Her voice breaks, a tear slipping down her cheek. She waits for him to reach out, to go back to being her Jackson: he doesn’t, he stands there coldly like her husband.

“I should be getting back to my rounds, ma’am.” He bows and then turns on his heel. His boots click with each step as he walks down the hall, leaving the Queen alone; completely broken.

She takes a deep breath, blinks the tears from her eyes, and decides to walk outside. It wasn’t rare for her to feel alone: despite being in a constant spotlight, the palace was a very lonely place. But the loneliness she felt from Jackson’s cold shoulder was different. It was like being unable to wake from a bad dream.

The warm air swirls around her and she finds herself smiling. She loves being outside and tries to spend as much time as she can out there. Being inside for long periods often felt suffocating. The sound of giggling fills her ears and upon investigation, she sees Liam and Drake running around. She squats down, hiding behind a bush and watches them play.

“Why do you always want to be the knight?” Liam questions his best friend.

Drake shrugs, “Cause it’s my job to keep you safe. Like my dad keeps your dad safe.”

“I wanna be a knight too!” Liam beams.

“But you’re the king.”

“Well, I want to keep you safe too!”

“Someone has to do lots of reading, you’re good at reading.”

Eleanor puts her hand over her mouth as she giggles. If only life was as simple as they thought.

Liam thinks deeply, “Let’s make a deal.”

“I’m listening.”

“As a knight, I want you to keep my mom safe.”

“Of course.” Drake shakes hands with Liam.

“What are you two sweet boys doing?” She says, scaring them as she stands up.

“Playing king and knights. Drake’s gonna keep you safe.”

“And Liam’s gonna read king stuff,” Drake says.

She smiles at them, “Can I play?”

“Girls aren’t knights, Momma.”

“Maybe I want to be,” she pauses, “a dragon!” She begins flapping her arms around as she starts chasing after the boys. Both boys start squealing, running around the courtyard. It’s not long before Olivia, Savannah, and Maxwell have joined in: both Olivia and Savannah choosing to be baby dragons.

Eleanor scoops Liam in her arms, tickling him. “Nom nom nom.”

Liam squeals, “Stop, Momma, stop!”

“Me next. Me next!” The other children took turns getting captured by the dragon. Soon everyone is lying in the grass: trying to catch their breath. When she finally stands up, she scoops all the child in her arms, hugging them tightly. When she lets go, the children resume their game while she watches; a huge smile on her face.

Unbeknownst to Eleanor, she has been watched by two different men, both captivated by her for two very different reasons.

From a second-story window, Constantine watches his wife after he had gotten up from his desk to see what all noise was. He’ll never understand her blatant disregard for courtly behavior. Sure, it wasn’t unheard of for the queen to interact with her children, but to run around and then lay on the ground: that was uncalled for. The closest his mother ever acted like that was when she’d sit outside and he’d try to show her sparing techniques he’d learn, although she never looked up from her book. Constantine just stares at his wife in disbelief that she so openly shows motherly affection to Olivia and even the Walker children. Maybe it wasn’t the fact she acted the way she did but was the fact she acted like another blonde woman. The same blonde woman that Constantine once held above everything, even above the crown.

A few yards away, stationed at the far end of the courtyard, Jackson keeps his eyes on the queen. Anyone around him would assume he’s just doing his job, but they were wrong. He knew months ago that he had developed feelings for her, but watching her now it was clear he loves her. The usually elegant queen is completely carefree, almost as if she’s in her element: her blonde hair blowing in the wind as she chases after the children. He loves how she effortlessly shows affection to his children. She always told him how much she wanted at least two more kids after Liam, wanting him to have siblings to rely on when she couldn’t be there for him.

A pair of footsteps cause Eleanor to turn her attention away from the children. The radiant smile she once wore turns into an almost forced one as she sees who has joined her.

“May I?” He motions to the open space beside her on the bench.

“Of course.” What is he thinking? Eleanor directs her attention back to the children.

There’s an awkward silence that lingers over the both of them before Eleanor stands up to leave.

“Ellie, wait.”

She stops, looking at the man sitting, “What, Constantine?”

He takes a deep breath. This was all very much out of character, he doesn’t know how to be vulnerable, “Are you doing okay?”

Her head whips around quickly, her brows knit together. What game is he playing? “I’m sorry?”

He turns to face her, grabbing her hands, “I should’ve heard you out more instead of shutting you down.”

“I went off without thinking and I shouldn’t have.”

He gives her a sad smile, “I wasn’t talking about the ball. I meant the pregnancy.”

Eleanor stares at her husband in complete disbelief. Of all the years they’ve been together, never once had he acted like this. For the first time ever, she misses his icy demeanor.

“What are you doing?” He looks puzzles as she touches her forearm to his forehead.

“I’m seeing if you have a fever. You’re acting strange.”

Constantine feels anger begin to fill him, quickly being reminded why he doesn’t show emotions. Letting out a deep breath, he explains himself.

“I saw you playing with Liam and the others.” He catches her looking away, blush on her cheeks, “You deserve to have been heard during that.”

Fresh tears prick at her eyes. She spent months being mad, allowing her anger to build a wall. A wall to prevent her from having to deal with the pain; a mixture of losing her child and her husband abandoning her. She doesn’t want that wall to fall, she doesn’t want to let him in.

“It’s no excuse, I know it’s not, but of all the trainings I’ve ever had…none prepared me for this role.” He knows it sounds stupid, all the public speaking he’s taken and done, couldn’t help him here. Though to be fair, most of what he said to the public was written by someone else, he just had to say it the proper way.

“And what role would that be exactly? Compassionate?” There’s a bite in her words and he knows he deserves it. He shouldn’t have just sprung the topic on her, he would react similarly if someone  brought up Liana randomly.

“A husband. A father.” He gives a slight shrug, “But again, it’s no excuse.”

She isn’t sure what to think right now. The man in front of her looks like her husband, sounds like him, but his actions aren’t. Was this the man who Liana knew?

“It was no secret that the main objective of remarrying was to have another child, to stabilize the monarchy.” He lets out a shaky breath, “Marriage is about compromise, give and take and all I’ve done is take from you. For that I’m sorry.”

If the wind had blown, Eleanor would’ve fallen over. Clearly this was a dream and she’d wake up from it any minute, but moments pass and she knows it’s real. However, she wasn’t sure why he was doing this. Why after all this time was he acting like this.

“I’m not following. Constantine, did something happen? You’re starting to worry me.”

“It’s just…I just…can we start over?”

“Start over?”  

“I was thinking that maybe we can do something tonight. Something as a family and then just the two of us.”

She cocks her head to the side, “What did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking a game night?”

She smiles at the blush on his face, he was truly nervous about all of this. “I think the children would like that. And for just us?”

His face turns redder, “Oh…uhm…I was…how about…it’s a surprise.”

She lets out a small laugh, “Well, I’m looking forward to that. I should get the children inside and ready for dinner.”

He stands up quickly so he’s able to help her up. “I’ll escort you inside. I have a few things to finish before dinner.”

She blushes and for a moment feels butterflies. Eleanor is lost in thought until Liam crashes into her legs, “Hi Momma!”

“Hey sweet boy.”

“Papa!” Liam runs to his father and wraps his arms around Constantine’s legs, “Are you done with work?”

Constantine stands still, he wasn’t one to show affection. From the corner of his eye, he can see Eleanor watching, slightly worried about how he’d react to Liam.

“Not yet, Liam.”

Eleanor sees Liam’s face fall. Many days, Liam would sit outside his father’s office waiting for him to finish work.

“Papa just has a little left and then we are going to have a game night.”

Liam brightens up and smiles, “Yay!”

Constantine looks at Eleanor and smiles: she always knew what to say and he needed to learn to appreciate that more. He reaches for her arm, stopping her before he presses a kiss to her temple, “Thank you, Ellie.”

“Of course. He really looks up to you, ya know.” She grabs onto his arm as they all walk back into the palace.

With a broken heart, Jackson watches the whole display. His eyes have been glued to the couple from the moment Constantine walked outside. At his distance, he couldn’t hear their conversation, but El’s body language said it all. He watched as she went from defensive to accepting and how she clung to him as they walk back inside together. A display typically reserved for public events.

*          *

If you ask Constantine, he’ll say they are a family of four plus one; Eleanor will tell you they are a family of five. Either way, three children and two adults sat around a table in the sitting room.

Liam wants to play Clue. Olivia wants to play Risk. Leo wants to go to his room. Eleanor and Constantine set up a game of Jenga.

“You get the mystery of not knowing which piece will fall and the strategy of which piece to pull. Everyone wins.” Constantine tells Liam and Olivia. Leo simply just rolls his eyes, making sure to let out an annoyed huff loud enough for his father to hear.

After Leo purposefully causes the tower to fall over three times, he’s sent to his room; leaving the other four to enjoy the game.

Constantine watches Olivia, the look her face makes before each turn would make him proud if he could see past her traitorous heritage. Her determination reminds him of his own and how he wishes Leo would shape up, but he refuses to allow himself to feel anything other than distain for the young Nevrakis.

He feels himself getting slightly annoyed that while Olivia makes masterful choices, his own son hesitates and looks to his mother for guidance. Not being the Crown Prince doesn’t mean Liam won’t have responsibilities, to have to make choices that will affect people, but Constantine didn’t think a son of his could be so weak.

“Papa, it’s your turn!” Liam smiles at his father.

He looks at the tower in front of him, it was getting towards the point where it would fall. He quickly moves a piece; the tower begins to sway side to side. He watches as Liam holds his breath, as if that would prevent the pieces from falling.

“Liam, what are you doing?”

“I didn’t want to knock it over, Papa.”

He leans over, making direct eye contact with his son, “Remember Liam, as a ruler, no matter how small the role, always make decisions confidently.”

“Yes Papa.”

When it becomes Liam’s turn, he pulls a piece which causes the tower to finally fall. Constantine’s face falls, while it was just a game, he wanted more from his son.

“That’s okay, sweet boy, we can try again.”

“But I meant to do it, Momma.” He looks at his dad, “I knew it would have to fall, so I chose to be the one to do it.”

Constantine chuckles and smiles at his son, “That’s my boy.” While it might not have been a victorious move, he felt pride welling in his chest.

*          *

“I think the children really enjoyed that, thank you Constantine.” Eleanor smiles as she closes the door to Liam’s room, “Maybe we could do it again. Get Leo to stay.”

“That would be nice.” He isn’t sure what to say, he had conflicted feelings. He enjoyed spending time with Liam, even Olivia, but his father never did those things. Could he still be a good king if he wasn’t like his father?

“So.” She suddenly feels nervous around her husband, remembering what he had mentioned earlier. It has been a bit since the two were intimate and honestly it wasn’t something that has crossed her mind recently. She wasn’t sure if it was from the stress of life or if it had anything to do with Jackson.

“This way, Ellie.” He motions for her to walk back down the hall. She gets more confused with each step, especially when they pass their sleeping quarters. What in the world?

They end up walking out into the courtyard where she sees a small table set up with some lit candles.

“What is all this?” She looks up at her husband, seeing someone different than she’s known for years.

The man who she had known back when they began courting, honestly it was the man she assumed Liana knew. To be honest, she used to think a lot about how Constantine must’ve been around Liana. Wondering how much he changed when she first left. Eleanor had met him a few times before his social season started, his father made several trips to Auvernese.

During those times, Constantine would come off confident and regal; just like his father. But he had a warmth to him that his father lacked, however that warmth was put out when his heart was broken.

“I thought you deserved something nice.” His hands are in his pockets and he’s refusing to make eye contact with her. She finds it somewhat endearing, the fact that he’s being bashful which is opposite of his normal attitude.

She stretches up on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to his cheek, “I love it.”

A smile touches his lips but just as quickly as it appears, it vanishes. He escorts her to the table and then pull out her chair before sitting down himself. Between the two candles on the tables, there’s a glass vase with white dahlias: her favorite.

“Since we already have dinner, I thought you might like dessert.” He raises his arm and motions towards someone behind Eleanor. Shortly after, one of the chefs brings out a covered platter and places two glass bowls of vanilla ice cream in front of them. Another one of her favorites.

“This is lovely, Constantine.” Her smile causes his cheeks to blush and she can’t help but giggle. For the first time in years, the silence between them is comfortable.

He keeps looking up at her but looking away before she sees. He knows that she isn’t Liana, other than a few physical similarities, the two were complete opposites. However, with her now, he was feeling the same way he did with Liana: peaceful. He thought if he kept Eleanor at a distance, she wouldn’t be able to hurt him like Liana did. But over the last few days, watching and thinking about her he found himself wanting to try. To try to have a better marriage, one full of love and maybe even a few more children.

“Maybe we could make this a weekly thing.”

“Oh.” Her voice is full of shock.

“Or not. Once seems like enough.” His walls instantly went back up.

She reaches out and grabs his hand, “I didn’t mean it that way. I think it’d be a great idea.”