#motivating the marquess — fic

[ofmermaidstories]

Part II of the Romancing the Reader collab, Motivating the Marquess, will be dropping on the 21st of May, Sunday AEST. Thank-you for your patience; it has meant a lot. 🥺 Between now and the 21st, I’ll be sharing snippets and musings from and on the fic. 📖✨

Bakugou/Reader

After the death of your Uncle reduces his family’s means, you arrive: there to help your aunt and your eccentric cousins settle into their new home—and their new life—without him.

But when you inadvertently humiliate the infamously hot-tempered Marquess Bakugou at a dinner party, your quiet, tightly controlled life is turned upside down in an effort to avoid his wrath… and his reluctant interest.

[hlficlibrary]

HL Fic Library 🩷 Regency Era Fics

Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

🩷 Lightning Strikes The Heart  by @fournipplesau, @justalarryblog (E, 130k)

Shrewsbury, 1814

Dearest reader, I present to you your new bulletin of news regarding Shrewsbury citizen's activities. My name is Lady Merriweather and I will be in charge of the updates. I will make sure you are to know all the important details of what is to happen this season. You must know that you do not know who I am and you never shall. But be forewarned; I certainly do know you. I advise you to be on your best behaviour, lest you want the whole town to be privy of your business.

As expected every year, the Lockhart House hosts the season’s opening ball, and its invitation is the motive of the hustle in town, and every family hopes for the invitation. This year is no different, but this year everyone's attention is focused on the new Duke of Montgomery, His Grace Harry Edward Styles, and whether he will attend it.

All the omegas will be in their best manner, behaviour and clothes as it is expected. And here, dear reader is where we will find out which young omega might succeed at securing a match, hoping to not become a spinster.

Place your bets.

🩷 The Murmur of Yearning by MediaWhore / @mediawhorefics (M, 93k)

Four years ago, Harry Styles was forced into a marriage of convenience to enrich and ally both his and his promised's families. The sudden, and slightly suspicious, death of the Marquess of Haxshire, however, brings great disturbance to Crescentfield Hall and, as his late's husband's closest male relative, Harry unexpectedly finds himself the head of a family he never felt he belonged to. Between a meddling distant cousin hellbent on inserting himself in Harry’s life, his wicked and mistrustful mother-in-law and his late husband’s advisors refusing to help or take him seriously, Harry struggles in the fight to keep what he’s earned and make the Estate finally feel like home.

Luckily, he doesn’t stand completely alone and finds himself an unlikely ally in Mr Tomlinson, the elusive Land Stewart who has been taking care of the property in the shadows for years. Louis Tomlinson is caring, patient, and unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to think Harry committed a murder.

🩷 Ace of Spades by @allwaswell16 (E, 78k)

Living as a sheltered omega in a farming village has not prepared Harry for life aboard the most notorious pirate ship to sail the Atlantic.

Or Louis is a pirate, Harry is his captive, and no one is who they say they are.

🩷 Mead Of Poetry by MyEnglishRose / @lwtisloved (E, 65k)

Under the pressure of continuing the Styles viscountcy line now that he is getting older, Harry sets himself three rules to finally settle down and marry: firstly, the omega needs to be reasonably attractive, secondly, they must be of great mind, thirdly, they cannot be anyone he would ever fall in love with.

Enters Charlotte Tomlinson, the diamond of the first water of the upcoming season and seemingly the perfect candidate to the viscount’s plan, but her omega brother, Louis, is in Harry’s way. Louis only seeks to protect his sister and he sure is not going to let a rake play with her heart.

Or. A Regency A/B/O AU loosely inspired by the second book of the Bridgerton series, "The Viscount Who Loved Me".

🩷 Lend Me Your Hand by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird (M, 63k)

Society has long since decided that the soulmarks everyone is born with are entirely unfashionable. They're just another way for people of a lower class to scam their way into marrying above their station.

Lord Louis Tomlinson, Viscount Loring, on the other hand, has always believed that he will find his soulmate one day. Despite preparing for a match his whole life, he is entirely unprepared for the arrival of Gemma Styles' younger brother.

Harry Styles has been traveling and away from society for over a year. Coming back, he intends to spend time with his sister, and slowly reacquaint himself with life in town. He doesn't need to wait around for a soulmark to determine how his life will play out.

🩷 For the Sake of Propriety by panda_bear21 (M, 52k)

Louis Tomlinson is the caretaker of an estate that is not truly his, and when his Uncle calls upon him to take it back, Louis knows he will soon be out on the streets with four overly zealous sisters to care for. His only solution: wed the eldest two off and pray for the best. When an even better solution unexpectedly presents itself in the form of the charming Mr. Styles, Louis is faced with a difficult choice. But as with all things in the regency era, reputation very well may threaten to outweigh the fleeting matters of his h eart.

🩷 The Earl and His Duke by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird (E, 52k)

Lord Tomlinson, the elusive Duke of Leeds, has suddenly emerged in London for the first time in six years. He is believed to have been abroad. He is believed to have been widowed. He is believed to want to withdraw from society.

Harry doesn’t know what is true and what isn’t. He only knows that the older brother of one of his best friends is back in town to stay, and that time has taken him from merely the most beautiful man Harry knew, to the most handsome man to ever walk the earth. A man whose gaze probably still skips over Harry like he doesn’t exist the same way it did when they were young.

🩷 If I Loved You Less by @allwaswell16 (E, 36k)

Beautiful omega Louis Tomlinson is set to make his come out in London society and determined to find a mate in his first Season. With the help and protection of his oldest friend, Lord Niall Mendes, he takes Society by storm.

Being a wealthy and titled alpha means Lord Harry Styles has grown used to avoiding unmated omegas...until now. This Season he finds himself at every Society event just for a chance to speak with the omega with the flashing blue eyes.

Louis has the aristocracy at his feet and all the suitors he could hope for, but his secrets may ruin his chance at a love match.

🩷 Our Sweetest Memorial by @softfonds (E, 35k)

Ever since Harry was forced to break off an engagement five years ago, he resolved to never marry for the remainder of his life. Now his family must move out of his beloved Kellynch Hall to recover some of their debts that their father had accumulated. The last thing Harry expected was for the new tenants to be related to his former fiancee. And for that fiancee to come back to Somersetshire a much more wealthy man that still holds resentment for their past. A Persuasion AU.

🩷 Lies & Liability by 4ureyesonly28 / @evilovesyou (M, 34k)

Harry Styles has only three wishes when he leaves River Dane Manor to go to Town for his first season: that his sister has rented a townhouse that will provide him as many of the comforts of the country life he has grown accustomed to as possible, that he will not trip and fall when he is presented to Her Majesty the Queen, and that he will enter matrimony out of true love, no matter how favourable the match with any which alpha may be.

🩷 he was sunshine, i was midnight rain by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (E, 30k)

Harry let out a dry laugh. “It’s awkward, Louis. What can I say?”

“It doesn’t have to be. You and I are no longer engaged.”

“No,” Harry shook his head sadly. “You’re engaged to Jane. She’s pretty. How did you meet?”

Louis sighed softly, leaning back against his chair. “My parents introduced me. Father’s getting old. They wanted me to be married and step up for the family and our estate.”

“Oh,” Harry said. “And this was recent?”

This time, it was Louis that looked exasperated. “Does it matter? This was what you wanted, right?”

“I don’t —” Harry stopped short, wondering what he could say. He didn’t want this, but he did give it up. He had no right to argue right now. “I want you to be happy.”

or two years ago, Harry left Louis on their wedding day to follow his dreams of becoming an artist. When he returns, in hopes of reconciling, he finds he may be too late.

🩷 Manners and Misjudgements by bluegreenish / @greenblueish (E, 21k)

“Everyone you mention the Duke to raves about him, just like you are defending him now. But no one looks behind the façade he so ably maintains to deceive you all.”

Liam sighs deeply. “You sound like a crazy man right now, Louis.”

“I will prove to you who the Duke really is, just wait.”

or, the one where Harry is the Duke everyone loves, but Louis thinks he's too nice and decides he's going to figure out what the Duke is hiding. Spoiler: nothing, he's just nice and perhaps a bit clumsy.

🩷 I'm Weaker Without You by The_Halcyonic_Lachesist / @chai-hat-tea (T, 20k)

Alpha Lord Louis Tomlinson is a rake who refuses to settle down. Will he settle down for the Society's most talked about Omega? What about the enticing scent that belongs to the Beta? How will he react to said Beta pursuing the Omega too?

🩷 Something Wicked This Way Comes by @mugglemirror (E, 16k)

They say one can resist everything but temptation. The desire that leads to the passionate pursuit of climax that has built and broken empires. So what was stopping Harry from giving in to the temptation of Louis Tomlinson?

Or A regency murder mystery au where Louis is married to an earl and Harry is a detective. Hatchets are buried but not everyone is as they seem.

🩷 Trust Me Tonight by 28sunflowers / @vintageumbroshirt (E, 10k)

After Harry’s eighteenth birthday, his father calls him into a meeting to say that he is to be married to Prince Louis of France in just over a week.

Harry is excited, of course. The arrangement is better than any he could’ve hoped for, with such a young, handsome and kind husband.

There is just one issue: Harry doesn’t know what happens on his nuptials, or how to get pregnant to give Louis the heir that he needs.

🩷 Curves of your lips rewrite history by @lunarheslwt (E, 8k)

“Kneel.” The prince obliged like a puppet whose strings had been cut, dropping to his knees in one fluid motion. With his bowed back, compliant silence, and eyes that lowered respectfully; he was a perfect picture of submission and trust. He deserved to be captured by Michelangelo, right at this moment, but alas, Louis found himself to be possessive of pretty things. And Harry was, by far, his most ethereal and dear possession. Made sweeter only because he allowed himself to be. “Grace becomes you, when you submit to me,” Louis finally crooned, a ghost of a caress across a delicate cheek sparking goosebumps, “your Highness.” And if Louis were a less attentive man, he would’ve missed the quiet gasp that the title weaved with a taunt coaxed out. A smile curled across his lips. So easy to please, for someone who had everything his heart desired at his fingertips.

Or, everyone bows to Prince Harry, but in the privacy of his four walls, the one he is bowing and kneeling for is his knight, Sir Louis.

🩷 I Think I Dreamed You Into Life by patdkitten / @babyarcanacasey (T, 5k)

Louis is a writer in the modern times, focusing primarily on regency novels. In his latest novel, earl's son Harry Styles is his hero, but Louis can't seem to find just the right person for Harry to fall in love with. When Louis falls asleep in front of his laptop, things get a little odd: he wakes up inside the world of his book.

[thelarriefics]

NOBILITY FIC REC: Below you’ll find fics where Harry and/or Louis are dukes, vicsounts, etc or members of the aristocracy!

📖 Lightning Strikes The Heart by @fournipplesau & @justalarryblog (130k)

Shrewsbury, 1814

Dearest reader, I present to you your new bulletin of news regarding Shrewsbury citizen's activities. My name is Lady Merriweather and I will be in charge of the updates. I will make sure you are to know all the important details of what is to happen this season. You must know that you do not know who I am and you never shall. But be forewarned; I certainly do know you. I advise you to be on your best behaviour, lest you want the whole town to be privy of your business.

As expected every year, the Lockhart House hosts the season’s opening ball, and its invitation is the motive of the hustle in town, and every family hopes for the invitation. This year is no different, but this year everyone's attention is focused on the new Duke of Montgomery, His Grace Harry Edward Styles, and whether he will attend it.

All the omegas will be in their best manner, behaviour and clothes as it is expected. And here, dear reader is where we will find out which young omega might succeed at securing a match, hoping to not become a spinster.

Place your bets.

📖 The Murmur of Yearning by @mediawhorefics (93k)

Four years ago, Harry Styles was forced into a marriage of convenience to enrich and ally both his and his promised's families. The sudden, and slightly suspicious, death of the Marquess of Haxshire, however, brings great disturbance to Crescentfield Hall and, as his late's husband's closest male relative, Harry unexpectedly finds himself the head of a family he never felt he belonged to. Between a meddling distant cousin hellbent on inserting himself in Harry’s life, his wicked and mistrustful mother-in-law and his late husband’s advisors refusing to help or take him seriously, Harry struggles in the fight to keep what he’s earned and make the Estate finally feel like home.

Luckily, he doesn’t stand completely alone and finds himself an unlikely ally in Mr Tomlinson, the elusive Land Stewart who has been taking care of the property in the shadows for years. Louis Tomlinson is caring, patient, and unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to think Harry committed a murder.

📖 Ace of Spades by @allwaswell16 (78k)

Living as a sheltered omega in a farming village has not prepared Harry for life aboard the most notorious pirate ship to sail the Atlantic.

Or Louis is a pirate, Harry is his captive, and no one is who they say they are.

📖 Glitter in the sky, glitter in our eyes by @softfonds (59k)

What happens when a Duke who will only marry for love and a courtesan who only sells it create a public ruse? Well, nothing boring for sure. An Edwardian AU.

📖 The Earl and His Duke by @becomeawendybird (52k)

Lord Tomlinson, the elusive Duke of Leeds, has suddenly emerged in London for the first time in six years. He is believed to have been abroad. He is believed to have been widowed. He is believed to want to withdraw from society.

Harry doesn’t know what is true and what isn’t. He only knows that the older brother of one of his best friends is back in town to stay, and that time has taken him from merely the most beautiful man Harry knew, to the most handsome man to ever walk the earth. A man whose gaze probably still skips over Harry like he doesn’t exist the same way it did when they were young.

📖 Lies & Liability by @evilovesyou (34k)

Harry Styles has only three wishes when he leaves River Dane Manor to go to Town for his first season: that his sister has rented a townhouse that will provide him as many of the comforts of the country life he has grown accustomed to as possible, that he will not trip and fall when he is presented to Her Majesty the Queen, and that he will enter matrimony out of true love, no matter how favourable the match with any which alpha may be.

📖 Blush by @dip-lou-in-honey (33k)

Harry is a young omega, presented at his first Royal ball, when he first meets Louis, the King. They're immediately infatuated with each other, but in the ancient hallways of the castle, whispers travel far and wide, and what they want is not what they're allowed to have.

📖 Fate & Chance by @zanniscaramouche (31k)

Haunted by his own ghost, the Duke von Tomlin fears for his safety and sanity as the days tick down to his certain engagement with the Crown Prince of Vienna. Meanwhile the travelling magician Hassenheim takes residency in a well established theatre, drawing mass crowds with his awe-inspiring illusions. Is it fate or chance that entwines their paths?

📖 Forever Never Comes by @larryyouknow (25k)

Victorian au, where Harry Styles, the youngest son of the Duke of Sutherland, was always a little in love with his childhood friend Louis Tomlinson, the young Earl of Doncaster, though he would never have told him in a million years. Especially since Louis never showed him any signs of romantic affection. But now Louis has invited him (and his sister Gemma) to London, and many things may not be as they have seemed.

📖 Manners and Misjudgements by @greenblueish (21k)

“Everyone you mention the Duke to raves about him, just like you are defending him now. But no one looks behind the façade he so ably maintains to deceive you all.”

Liam sighs deeply. “You sound like a crazy man right now, Louis.”

“I will prove to you who the Duke really is, just wait.”

or, the one where Harry is the Duke everyone loves, but Louis thinks he's too nice and decides he's going to figure out what the Duke is hiding. Spoiler: nothing, he's just nice and perhaps a bit clumsy.

📖 Just You, Me, and the Moon by @inked-withlove (13k)

It was the beginning of the 19th century when Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson fell in love.

📖 The Duke by @musketrois (11k)

Harry is the Duke of Wellington and Louis is an actor performing at the Apsley House Festival.

📖 stay with me, stay with me by @bottomhaztoplou (3k)

“The Duchess is ill!” cried the omega’s maid as she hurried down the stairs.

“What?” called the housekeeper.

“He can’t get out of bed!”

📖 Shining just for you by @thosefookinavacados (1k)

For a clumsy person, Harry danced with quite the grace- spinning around Louis, billowy light robes brushing against his firm darker ones. Despite his slightly smaller build, Louis was decivingly strong, his grip on Harry's waist tight as they performed their steps in sync. Like two opposite halves of a whole, like ones reflection in the mirror, like the sun and the moon.

[andypantsx3]

Hello hello hello? When's your week starting? I'm so excited for the regency fic!!!

Hello my love! Ahhhh I'm so happy you're excited. Me too, I'm DYING to share.

We've decided we're pushing back timelines to give peeps more time to finish!! I'm gonna move to the front, I think, because I'm basically done except for some edits, so the new order & timelines look like this:

Andie - Deceiving the Duke - March 11 - 18

Mermie - Motivating the Marquess - March 19 - 25

Cat - Reprehensible Romance - March 26 - April 1

I'll reblog the masterpost with the new dates too for viz!!

[askaalaska-vdeppressed]

The Path of Life is Filled with Zany Bards 1-3

Masterlist

Because all my motivation is here right now here are chapters 1-3 of this fic I started on Archive, I can post here as well if anyone is interested in reading past this (currently working on ch 4, even though i should be studying.) 

“Y/N are you scared”

“Scared of what Dalia?”

“Scared of meeting your new husband”

You took a pause from fretting with your hair in the looking glass to turn towards your little sister. Dalia was the youngest of the L/N household, every bit as bright and bubbly as a child could be. She was not exceptional in any way for her 7 years, she was firmly on the mark. She was also spoiled beyond belief. You could not say truthfully that you hadn’t contributed to that. It was wrong to say but Dalia was your  favorite sister. Her being near 10 years your junior you could not but help letting her get away with a bit more. In a way you were a bit jealous of the life Dalia got to lead. Playing, dancing, fluttering about without care. Those were activities you were never given the opportunity for.  You had had to learn trading routes, material prices, become the knowledgeable woman of business. By the age of 11 your father had given you small amounts of material and stock to do with as you pleased. You made him quite a sum of money on what little you had been given. You had become your father’s confidant, his little business partner. You had suspected that when he died he would give over run of his assets to you.

Judging by the fact that you were now the bride in a wedding that your parents had arranged your suspicions were wrong.

You took in Dalia’s little pink dress. The layers and layers of skirts puffed up around her to look as if her torso was stuck in a big pink ball. She bore a flower crown of white carnations. You knew the same were also weaved into your hair. Her hands were in dainty white gloves and her shoes lay in the corner,  abandoned until the very last moment when she had to put them on.

‘Yes’ you thought ‘Dalia is quite spoiled, but unfortunately she will have to carry out the same fate that I do’

You sighed and smiled, leaning to hold her face—careful not to stain you lace gloves with the rouge on her cheeks.

“No Dalia” you started softly “I’m not scared, everything in life has it’s reasons, be them good, bad or otherwise. I cannot begin to wrap my head around it all. So I take what I am given in stride and remember my humor always”

Dalia seemed to contemplate your answer for a moment and then beamed. Buying the lie without much pause. She went to bury herself round your waist, however you had to stop her from burying her head. Lest her face stain your dress and your dress wilt her flowers.

In reality you were terrified. You were about to be married to a man you had never met. Who came from a family you had never met. Who were nobles in a land you had only known of for trading purposes. And that was what all of this boiled down to, the money. Your father had had his eyes on land owned by the Pankratz family for quite some time. He was looking to develop the wild land for the growing city it was near. However this land was tied into the families inheritance and they had adamantly refused him to buy or make any partnership deals. Hence your marriage to one of there younger—if not there youngest—son Julian.

The family had been quite receptive to the arrangement. Your father being a Marquess meant you were a Countess. By marrying you the Pankratz boy would be moved up to Earl status, your father would get his land and all would be right and proper in the world. The men’s world anyway.

As Dalia extracted herself you thought a silent prayer. That she would grow strong enough to deal with this when it was her time. To deal with the hurt of being traded much like how your Father taught you how to trade materials goods. To deal with the knowledge that you are now stuck with whoever is at the end of the aisle forever. Be he sweet, horrid, temperate, prone to drink or women you were stuck with him with no say in the matter. If you were afraid in this moment, you could only imagine that Dalia. Sweet, delicate, precious Dalia, would be absolutely aghast.  

A knock resounded from the door, your mother clad in a dark mauve trotted in. Her steps small but sure. You had always seen your mother as a steady but distant woman. Her I’s always dotted, her t’s always crossed. Never a hair out of place, always on the precipice of happiness but never quite able to jump off. Sitting here now you could understand the sentiment a bit more.  

“Dalia get your shoes on, your siblings are all lined up ready to walk out.” Your mother tutted as Dalia ran stuff her shoes on. As they exited your father entered, his face a well worn memory in your mind that now stirred mixed emotions. On the one hand he was always your confidant, more a friend than a father. He trusted you with things he didn’t trust his other children with, let you in on his troubles. You were privilege to a side of him that very few were. On the other hand he was now trading you off. Letting you be put into the arms of a man he did not know would treat his daughter as the flower he always told said you were.

‘Perhaps it doesn’t matter’ you thought giving him a reluctant smile ‘after today I am a wife first, a daughter second’.

You stood up giving yourself one last glance before reaching for your vail. You father’s hand stopped you as you went, turning you around to face him.

“Y/N my flower…” the word seemed to choke him up slightly.

“I know this isn’t what you had envisioned, and to be truthful it wasn’t-“

You put your hand up to silence him

“I know Papa, you don’t have to say anything”

He seem to fight something in his mind, his eyes resting resentfully in the corner before smiling.

“I know I’m not supposed to tell you but your dowery,” he reached down to grab your hands.

“I calculated everything you have made for me over the years, it will be waiting for you when you reach the estate.” His eyes were filled with unspoken emotion

“I just don’t want you to ever think that I was trying to use you flower”

The contradictory nature of the statement being said in the current situation was not lost on you, but it took a backseat to the thought of what your father had just admitted. It also took a backseat to the strange fact he had thrown in.

“The estate?” you questioned.

The smile on his faced reached his eye finally.

“ The Estate on the way to Oxenfurt, the one we always spent summers in. No Y/N no protests I insist. Your mother has been wanting to find a new summer home more south for ages and you always loved that house more than anyone. The money will be waiting for you at the- no your estate. Now!” your fathers sudden change of tone stuck you out of the dazed you were in. His hand reaching to pull the forgotten vail over your face.

“We have a wedding to attend”.

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

The hall was perfumed in the scent of flowers, so much so that the smell would have been overpowering to you had you been able to pay attention to it. You nerves rattled your stomach and a headache was starting to come on, from the smell the stress or both you couldn’t decide. You could hear the murmurs and indistinct chatter floating in from underneath the double doors in front of you. Looking down at your shoes was all you could do to keep from shuffling them. Time had seemed to fly when you were getting prepped and preened and yet the minutes before you were to walk out seemed to stretch like an eternity. You were sure that your lips were swollen from worrying them so much.

The chatter lowered as the procession began to play. You knew your siblings were walking out right now. Noses high, proud to show off their regal profiles to the guests. When the murmurs turned to small coos an “aww��s” you knew Dalia was walking out, throwing petals out of her basket as a welcoming for you.

You took one last deep breath, picked up your head and began to walk.

The doors opened for you in a dramatic spin as the crowd rose to there feet. Each step was crisp as the hard soles of your shoes clicked on the floor. The fabric of your vail obscured your vision but not enough that you couldn’t make out the rows of seating to your left and right. Or the two figures waiting for you at the end of the aisle.

You made your way to the end of the aisle much too soon and turned to face your future husband. The vail muddled his features but you could still make out the roundness of his face framed by the chestnut tresses hanging by his ears. His kind eyes seemed to see past the cover of the vail and find your soul. The cornflower pupils holding a gentleness in them that you could only hope was an indicator of his demeanor as well.

The official was speaking but you could not focus even if you tried. You were too caught up in trying to keep your expression schooled. The thought that the very purpose of the vail was to hide your face did not cross your mind.

“Julian Alfred Pankratz do you take this woman to be your wife?”

His response was automatic, giving off the air of a man who has certainly practiced his lines.

“I do”

You responded the same.

Rings exchanged, vows committed, it came time for him to lift the vail and seal the union with a kiss. His fingers were long and calloused, strange for the son of any kind of wealth, as he reached for the vail. You could only hope that he found at least tolerable, or if he did not that he was at least a fair actor for your sake. Under normal circumstances you could take rejection of near any kind well.  At this moment however your nerves were frayed beyond belief.

He looked upon you and there was the smallest hint of relief on his countenance. He leaned in, the callouses of his fingers brushing against your cheek guiding you into the kiss. It was a brief thing, chaste in every manner of the word, but it felt like a punch in the gut all the same.

The deed was done.

You were now Y/N L/N- Pankratz.

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

You walked with your new husband- Julian- hand in hand down the aisle to small claps and cheers from your respective families. A carriage awaited you outside. The thought of going to your family’s summer estate brightened your mood considerably. The estate has housed you summer after summer for many a year, and now it would house you year-round. The walls having seen you struggle and triumph in the most grand of ways. Painting the memories in your mind with a golden hue.

You could only hope Julian would find the warm walls of the home appealing.

All of your belongings were already loaded into the coach or had been sent to the estate ahead of time. You knew it was to be your honeymoon destination, however you did not know it was to be your new home as well. You still felt conflicting feels with your father, but this one last act of kindness he has shown you soothed your soul if only just.

You got settled in the carriage, Julian sitting beside you, rather than across. As the horses started up you both could not but help looking out your respective windows. What was going on in your new husband’s head you could not say, but for you, you were trying to memorize the landscape around you. The lush trees and moss that you had trotted by so casually seemed so significant now. And trying to remember them seemed so much more appealing than trying to get to know your new husband.

After about 2 hours or so and several scene shifts out the window your head had begun to get irritated. The pins holding your vail in seemed to pulse with every second. The small bumps from the carriage wheels seemingly pushed them in further and further. With a great huff you lifted your arms and began to pull the pins out. As they were extracted from your head you set them beside you, feel the fabric on your scalp become looser and looser. You gave the fabric a tug

“ahhh” the short clip of sound resonated through the cab.

Julian was drawn from the window quickly noticing your situation. A low chuckle escaped him and the sound was oh so pleasant.

“Allow me” he reached back and pulled two remaining pins from the back of your head. He went to set them down at the same as you went to retrieve them. Your hand overlay on top of his for a moment and the small touch caused a swell of heat to your face.

“I suppose I don’t need to be blushing at such small touches with you” you chuckled out, he smiled back at you.

You turned your body towards his, crossing your legs and resting your hands on your knee. He got the hint and turned to you as well, resting his should diagonally on the seat and the wall.

“Okay” you started “Cards on the table, ask me anything”

“Anything?” he smirked “Are you sure you want to start with anything? I could ask you any sort of horrible questions. Are you sure you want that?”

You returned the smirk in earnest “If we start at rock bottom only way to go is up I suppose”

If his giggle from earlier was pleasant than this laugh was utterly gorgeous. The sound radiated mirth in a way that warmed the skin like a fire. You couldn’t help but join in the chorus.

“Okay… okay” he took several calming breaths “My question…. If you could wish for anything in this moment what would it be?”

You took a hearty pause to think it over

“ I think I would like to be able to relive a memory one more time”

“And what memory would you relive?”

You looked back in your mind. To the many summers your spent on the estate. To the winter spent teaching Dalia how to read. To the hearty laughs you had traded with you father.

“I think” your started “I think I would relive my first riding lesson.” A curious look came over Julian’s face “and why that?”

“because it was the first time in my life I felt like I had really accomplished something. I went to bed sore as could be but it didn’t bother me because I was sore from triumphing over something. What about you?”

“What about me?” he perked up an eyebrow.

“If you could relive any memory what would it be?”

His response was quick

“The first time I had successfully finished a song. For the same reasons you would go back to your riding lesson”

‘He plays music’ you thought ‘I will have to breach the topic further with him sometime.’

Your thoughts were interrupted by a lurch in the movement of the carriage. On instinct you reached forward to stop the pins from falling out of the seat next to you. This backfired however as one of the pins stuck your middle finger rather hard, pricking the pad and drawing blood.

You pulled you hand back with a yelp, shaking the hand reflexively. Julian noted your distress and grabbed your hand, cradling it to inspect it. With feather soft prodding he inspected the finger tip wiping away the blood easily. In truth the wound was nothing, it had scared you more than anything, not expecting pain when you had reached our hand down.

After his inspection was clear Julian moved his head lower to your hand. Kissing the delicate finger tip without a thought, as though kissing it better was the most logical of solutions. After pause he seemed to realize what he had just done and his face turned a bright crimson. He placed your hand back in your lap and stared at the ceiling of the cab with great interest.

Letting out a final chuckle he muttered “I suppose I don’t need to be blushing at such small touches with you”

[ofmermaidstories]

Forgive me, I am very stupid. Have you already posted the first part to your Romancing the Reader collab? Because I cannot find that bish anywhere

You’re not stupid!!! 🥺 in fact, ur not allowed to talk about yourself like that. 😌 DISALLOWED. 🚫‼️ the second part of the Romancing the Reader collab, Motivating the Marquess, hasn’t been posted yet—the first chapter will be posted on the 21st of May, and will continue daily until the fic is done. 📖🌷✨ There’s about five chapters, maybe six depending on how i decide to format the epilogue!

I’m very excited to share it with everyone!! I’ll work hard to make sure it’s worth the wait—and that it’s worthy of following andypants’s Duke. 🥺💕

[ofmermaidstories]

Just wondering if Motivating the Marquess is still going to be released? ♥️

yes!! actually, this is a great ask to say that i’m postponing it again. 😔 between working on the deku chapter and real life i didn’t get to finish Motivating, and the deal has always been to only post when it’s complete. i’ll update with a more certain schedule in a week; but i don’t think it’ll be too drastic of a wait. Motivating is no where near the size of the deku fic, and is a gentler story on the whole. 🌷

[ofmermaidstories]

motivating the marquess? what’s that?

it’s my bakugou/reader regency fic!

[ofmermaidstories]

okay while i have been rolling around in bed sick i have had plenty of time to think and ponder priorities in regards to my WIPs so i think in order we’re gonna go:

📝 motivating the marquess, my leg in the regency fic [posted in its entirety]

📝 chapter one of still (falling for you), Shouto’s fic and the third and final part of the Big 3 series

📝 the first one-shot in this love (is ours), the Bakugou/Weeds collection that dovetails the Big 3 series.

and then way way way later, in october—

📝 帰省, the halloween/ghost one-shot.

these are my guaranteed projects for this year! i was going to post 帰省 (homecoming), the halloween one-shot whenever i finished it, but to be honest the heat of summer has kind of ruined the mood of writing it for me LMAO. 💀 it’s too sticky to care about being haunted. 😩 i’ve been disappointed with myself for not delivering that in time for last halloween—immensely, actually, because i dearly love all these silly little celebrations we have for ourselves and i wanted to play and also tbh i just wanted to do something different. 🥺 but there’s no point in beating ourselves up!!! it’s boring. 😌 so we will just have to make sure it’s ready for this year. 😌🙏🏽

the sun god’s bride isn’t on the list mostly bc i work on it randomly. 💀 i’m thinking of like, getting at least the next two chapters of it done though before i start posting again. 🧐 or maybe just going flat out on it after the shouto fic is established, and finishing it? 🧐🧐 will revise.

i wanna post motivating first for two reasons: it’ll be completed in its entirety, and then it gets it outta the way for our bigger, more long-distance projects. 🥹 still + this love will be posted roughly around the same time, with still coming first.

everything else—random drabbles here or any spontaneous WIPs—will just have to fill in the gaps! but these ones make up my concrete goals for this year. ✨💪🏽🥹 anything else will be a fun bonus lmaooo. but thank-you, as always, for bearing with me. 🥺 let’s make 2024 a year of stories. 📖✨

[ofmermaidstories]

The second and third parts of the regency collab are facing some delays! I cannot give you a ETA on the second fic in the series, Motivating the Marquess, but please know that I am working very hard on it. The world that we (@andypantsx3 and @cat-slippered and I) have created is a fun one; you’ve experienced the best of it with Andy’s Duke Shouto, and it’s mine and Cat’s hope that Marquess Bakugou and Count Kirishima will continue the joy. I’ll check-in in two weeks (April the 24th!) with a revised date for when to expect Great Murder God Marquess Dynadookiepants. I hope to see you there. 🌷

I’ve been struggling to balance both real-world commitments and working on Motivating with Izuku, pt. 2—and it’s led to an indecision on which to prioritise. If I’m completely honest, Izuku is both closer to the finish line and taking up more of my attention, so it’s my hope that within the next two weeks I can get somewhere near finishing Izuku, pt. 2 and finally clear the way to gallop forward with Motivating. I want to show you guys grumpy Marquess Bakugou—and how he eventually falls in love with our Reader, who’s simply there trying to pick up the pieces of their family. 🥺 But right now regency!Bakugou is fistfighting Pro Hero!Deku in my brain, and neither are winning, so I’m gonna have to step in with boxing gloves and sort them out myself. 🥊✨

[ofmermaidstories]

Hey, sorry if you’ve already answered this but are you still doing the Romancing The Reader Collab?

yes! Motivating the Marquess is literally sitting on my tablet, waiting for it’s turn at my attention. i’m finishing the deku fic first, and because that’s taken me longer than i wanted there’s been a little reshuffling of order: the next fic out after SJLT will be a halloween one-shot (also bakugou flavoured). but then after that it’ll be lord bakugou’s turn! i just really, really am dying to bring SJLT to a conclusion, and then finally do something halloween themed, since i’ve wanted to for about as long as i’ve been in this fandom (and just never have). so MtM has to wait just a little bit longer!

[ofmermaidstories]

one of the most eligible gentlemen in the kingdom, lord bakugou is spending this year’s season in the countryside—away from the noisy, bothersome extras of the city. safely ensconced in the ancestral hall of his forefathers, he’s free to relax among the precious few friends he allows close—people who truly understand him.

but when his peer, the lady mina, befriends a newcomer to the small village the bakugou estate looks over, trouble brews; and despite his best efforts to avoid it, a new adventure is waiting for the marquess—whether he wants it to, or not. 🦋

[ofmermaidstories]

IT BEGINS.

[ofmermaidstories]

some of my notes for the regency fic, enjoy.