#new apartment arthur road

[mickyschumacher]

can i request something for carlos sainz x leclerc!reader on vacation?there’s such a soft spot in me for summer vacation carlos like in a beach setting or on a yacht. it can be soft or smutty it doesn’t matter i just love summery carlos. thank you!!!

[SECRETS IN SANTORINI!]

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: while the leclercs maybe spending their summer vacation at home, you opted for a secret vacation in santorini with your secret boyfriend, carlos sainz. or in which you are secretly dating your brother's teammate.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: 18+ (minor dni), unprotected sex (if you're gonna slip, slop, slap, you must wrap your willy!), reader dob in 1999, dating in secret trope!, sainz & leclerc = google translated spanish & french ._., ig the reader has a shaved downstairs?, p in v, teasing, oral sex, lovey dovey smut?, poor humour, breastplay, fingering, cumming inside, bit of overstimulation for the reader, scandal and swift references, love confessions.

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: bf!carlos sainz x younger leclerc!fem!reader

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 4k+

𝐀/𝐍: firm agree on the summery carlos! is it really my writing if i don't get santorini involved? anyways, hope this was up to your standards! sorry for the long wait! ♡︎

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

Dating your brother's teammate was never on your bucket list. Hell, you tried to stay away from Formula 1. Well, as much as Leclerc could anyways.

People older than you weren't really your type. You opted for people near your age. That way there wasn't an awkward generation gap and there was no one that reminded you of your older brothers. Carlos was only five years older than you but the generational gap was most certainly there.

Men your age were... well, boys.

Men Carlos' age were men but also men.

You had seen Carlos at races before. And he was an attractive man, obviously. But that was that. You passed each other down the paddock, barely giving each other a glance. And not to mention the obvious, you were far too young for him at the time.

But then Ferrari's first car launch after signing Carlos had happened.

You had seen Carlos more in the few hours the event lasted than the past few years. You didn't know what it was. Whether you were unintentionally stalking him or vice versa. What you did know, however, he was definitely eyeing you.

By the time Charles had introduced you, Arthur, Lorenzo, and your mother, Carlos was trying to keep his interest at bay, pretending to be as family-friendly as possible.

Carlos ended up catching you as you came out of the bathroom, smoothly asking for your number. And as much as you wanted to give it to him, you weren't going to be easy. You were a Leclerc for crying out loud.

If Carlos wanted you, he would have to earn you.

And boy did he try.

You had heard from several people and the Internet that Carlos was a hardcore romantic. You never thought about it up until he started pulling out all the stops.

He was attentive as hell, remembering your favourite drinks, slipping you a new book to read as he talked to Charles, purposely linking his pinky with yours as discreetly as he could just so he could see you flush in front of him, sending you clothes for you to wear to his races to your apartment...

Carlos was menace.

But somewhere along the line, he became your menace.

You and Carlos were the epitome of the saying 'Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours'.

Keeping it secret... sure it was frustrating at times. The both of you had person after person trying to get with you because, well, you were a Leclerc and he was Carlos Sainz. Carlos had managed to draw a line by telling people he had a girlfriend but he didn't want to reveal her.

Yeah... it didn't settle well with the grid, in particular the three gossipers of the grid: Pierre, Lando, and your brother.

But after all the little bumps in the road, it was smooth sailing.

Most of the time you spent time together was alone, just the two of you. That way, there was no risk of being caught and you could revel in each other.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Nothing was easy with you and Carlos, especially given that you couldn't keep your hands off of one another. Carlos a slight more than you because you had the decency and fear of embarrassment of getting caught by anyone. Carlos, on the other hand, was as indecent as they come. Hands always looking for an excuse to touch you, eyes travelling to find you first in any room, sending dirty texts when you sat across him... like you said, he was a menace.

To make things easier for yourself, for this summer break, you and Carlos had picked trusty Santorini as a romantic getaway, taking his dog Piñon as a welcomed third wheeler. Filled with so many tourists that you and Carlos would look like any regular couple there.

"Now this is a summer break," You breathed out, walking on to the yacht you had rented out for your stay in Greece. The air was clean and crisp, the sun was already beating down on you despite it being nine in the morning, and the translucent blue waters brought you a sense of familiarity that Monaco held.

"Don't you agree, Piñon?" You cooed to the soft ball of white curled up into your arms. A small bark of agreement came from the dog, tail wagging in happiness.

Carlos chuckled behind you, putting down your bags on the deck, under the shade. His thick arms enveloped your waist, bringing you closer to him. Nestling his chin into your shoulder, he said, "That's good, hermosa (beautiful). Now try saying it in Spanish."

You made a face at his teasing tone. Pulling yourself out of his grasp, you turned towards him. "Ahora son unas vacaciones de verano. ¿No estás de acuerdo, mi querido Carlos?" You recreated the same coaxing tone you had given Piñon to your lover, pinching his cheek with the energy of an overly endearing mother. Now this is a summer break. Don't you agree, my dear Carlos?

Carlos gave you a pointed look. You were teasing him. You knew he liked when you spoke Spanish because it was cute to see you fumble over the words but it also meant a lot to him that you were trying.

You rolled your eyes at his reaction and settled Piñon on the deck after making sure it wasn't too hot for those small paws of his. You watched him trot around the yacht, carefully examining his surrounding to test his boundaries.

Satisfied that Piñon was safe, you turned back to Carlos. "Brunch?"

"Brunch..." Carlos trailed off, hand reaching out to your face. The soft pad of his thumb graze your lips, gently pulling on your bottom lip to watch it bounce back. "...or brunch?" He asked, voice heavy with a clear need.

Your body thrived with an eagerness to respond to his touch. Goosebumps were the paint to the canvas of your skin, littering each part of you even though you were impossibly warm in the sun. You really wanted brunch. But your stomach wanted brunch. Instead, you simply nodded to him, agreeing with the answer he had never said. "You're right. Food is very important."

Carlos groaned at your response. "Hermosa," He sighed out, bringing his arms around your waist to pull you close yet again. "I want you," He murmured against your skin, nose brushing against your cheek and hot breath wandering down your neck.

Carlos could feel you smile at his words. "And you have me... for two whole weeks," You reminded him, pressing a brief kiss to his cheek.

Carlos curled his lip in annoyance at your reminder while he revelled in your touch. "I could have you for four," He also reminded you.

You sighed. You hadn't seen him in three weeks because life had it's mysterious ways of making the both of you busy. You wanted nothing more than a month with Carlos. But it was far too suspicious.

You had barely convinced your mother and your brothers that you were going to Santorini for a 'self-exploration' trip. Charles had immediately offered to turn it into a family trip but you managed to settle him down by saying you would spend the last two weeks with them. Alexandra had been a sweetheart in the matter as well. She was the only one, as well as Kika and Lily, that had known about you and Carlos, claiming they sensed it from 'a mile away'.

What they truly meant was that Carlos wouldn't stop eye-fucking you from a far.

"It's okay," You mumbled woefully, patting his chest softly, "I'll be with you in spirit while you reign Madrid."

Carlos held in his eye roll at your theatrics, you had a flair for them. "I wish you would reign Madrid with me instead. I want you to meet the family, let me finally teach you golf, go to the holiday house with me, hmm?" He implored, chocolate brown flickering to search yours.

The pain behind your eyes made him feel frustrated. He knew how much you wanted to do that because you wanted the same thing with your family. "How 'bout I call Charles, hmm? I'm sure he'll understand."

The thought of Charles finding out from anyone but you made you shudder. Would he understand? What was so understandable about hiding the fact you were dating his teammate for over a year, especially over a call?

Arthur, amongst Charles and Lorenzo, would probably be the most hurt. You and him told each other everything. You guys were the closest in age, similar to how Lorenzo and Charles were. Hell, you even helped him confess and get with Carla. And he was waiting to do the same for you, with some he trusted and knew.

And Lorenzo? It was really for the best if he didn't know from Carlos. He had initially told you not to get too close to any of the drivers because he was worried for you and well, the reputation of F1 drivers and dating wasn't too great. But you were quite sure that anything you and Carlos did had crossed the line of 'too close'. '

"Carlos, mi amor, I love you, but I think the idea of brunch, not brunch, is more understanding."

━━━━━━━━━━━

After your brunch, you had spent some time reading to Carlos inside the yacht, not wanting to get into the water just after you had eaten nor wanting to go out when the sunshine was at it's peak.

It was serene.

The windows were open, letting a cool breeze come and help reduce the heat and you were both sprawled on the soft mattresses that served as sofas on the floor of the yacht. The calmness and peace you had desired amongst the chaos life and F1 brought.

You were half sure that Carlos was close to falling asleep in your lap, but not by your retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, after Carlos refused to see Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen for the sixth time this year, but by the way your combed your hand through his hair as you read. (Although you were still going to be persistent because the concept of seeing those two on screen in Santorini out of all places was a need, not a want).

"Carlos, mon beau (my handsome), you're going to fall asleep. Let's go swimming," You told him, placing your bookmark in between the pages and closing the book.

Carlos groaned, looking up at you. He held your hand close to his chest. "No, it's way too hot. Don't you see the water? It looks like lava."

You narrowed your eyes. "That precisely why we should go swimming. We can't just sit here and mope around. We're in Santorini... we need to stand up and move around."

Carlos lifted his head from your lap, sitting straight so he faced you. You let out a quick yelp when he pulled you forward, placing you onto his lap, legs straddling him. "I can think about fifty ways to stand up and move around... in fifty different positions."

You could feel your thighs involuntarily clench around him. You know he felt it to. You gasped at his words and shook your head. "You are a heathen, Carlos Sainz. A barbarian... a hooligan, a sexually-driven simpleton must I continue?"

"Well, I recall you loving this heathen, infidel, barbarian, and hooligan," Carlos shrugged, warm hands inching up the white sundress you had worn this morning. The action sent a shudder down your spine.

"Carlos," You mumbled, already falling into a state where you were losing the words to speak your thoughts as Carlos kneaded the flesh of your thighs with his rough hands.

"Yes?" Those puppy brown eyes flickered to your eyes while he brought his mouth to your thighs, opting to graze your heated skin with the teeth. "Tell me what you want, hermosa. And I'll give it to you."

You faltered at his words. His gaze was heavy with a dark blaze that sent your stomach churning. You allowed yourself to fully straddle Carlos' lap, teeth sinking into your bottom lip when you felt Carlos' clothed bulge press into your core.

Carlos struggled to prevent a strained hiss escape his gritted teeth, his grip on your thighs tightening, your flesh escaping the confines of his hands. Fuck, were your thighs so enticing to Carlos. He wanted to bite them and bruise them so even weeks later, they were covered in the reminiscents of him.

"What do you want, baby? Please tell me," Carlos begged, eyes desperately searching your own for any sign or indication of what you wanted.

You felt your core clench at the plea falling from Carlos' plump lips. You hadn't even really done anything but he was ready to serve you. Everything was foggy. You couldn't think straight. "I want... I want you, Carlos. Fuck, anything, everything... I–make love to me. Show me how much you love me."

His roaming hands came to a halt. "Mierda (shit)," Carlos cursed, bringing his tongue to swipe his bottom lip.

He could do that. He would love you so much that the entirety of Santorini would know and no one would even question your relationship with him.

Carlos brought his hands to your back, feeling the numerous strings of your dress against the pads of his fingers. One hand worked to undo the very knots he had done this morning while the other creeped up the back of your neck, pulling your head closer to his.

He brought his lips to yours, pressing them with an indescribable urgency. Your hands shot out to his chest, fisting the soft material of the polo you had chosen for him into a small bundle.

You gasped into the kiss, feeling a sudden breeze of cold air as the strings of your dress fell flat against your skin. Carlos' hands wandered down the surface of your back, coming to a stop at your waist.

The urge to get even closer to you coursed through Carlos' veins, pulling you flush against him. A moan fell from his swollen lips as you parted to fill the craving of some oxygen. Your pussy was pressed tight against his cock and your breasts were soft, pushed against his chest.

Carlos ventured to move his lips down the side of your jaw, edging towards your barren neck, aching to decorate you with aging and unique shades of purple and blue.

You let out a series of sinful whimpers upon the feeling of your skin being sucked at, feeding directly into his constrained cock. "Carlos..." You moaned out, eyes shut in pure pleasure, "They'll know. The–They'll ask q-questions."

"I know." You shivered as you feel him grin against your skin.

You watched him through your half-lidded eyes, moving up from your neck to look at you with his blistering gaze. With one simple movement, he took off his shirt, revealing his taut golden skin. Christ.

You sat still breathlessly on his lap as Carlos peeled off your dress, pulling your arms through the white material. The cool breeze trickled over your bare breasts, nipples hardening almost instantly.

Carlos let a warm hand rest over your rib, lifting you gently to remove your dress fully. He sighed, laying you down on the mattress. The tips of his fingers travelled from your neck and down the valley of your breasts, the hairs of your body standing straight at his touch.

"You know what it is a tragedy, hermosa?" Carlos queried, watching you quiver underneath him, chest heavily rising up and down.

He smiled at your asking through your eyes because the words just couldn't come out of your throat. "You will never see yourself the way I see you. Eres una sirena... obra de Dios. If He didn't put you on this Earth that would've been his biggest sin." You are a siren… God's work.

If your throat wasn't tied up before, it surely was now. You looked at him with a soft gaze, watching him come near you to press his lips on your own. You whimpered, feeling his hands travel towards your breasts, fondling your mounds with a cautious roughness that sent your stomach tingling.

You frowned at the loss of his lips but the complaint subsided upon the feel of his hot tongue swirling around your pebbled nipple. He paid attention to every flick and every crevice, keeping his deep eyes trained on you. He smiled at your hiss as he purposely grazed his teeth against your nipple.

Carlos removed his lips from your nipple, moving his head back to hover over your pussy. Still keeping his eyes on you, you watched in silence as the hot saliva fell from his lips, bubbly strings landing directly onto your glistening folds. Fucking hell.

"Eyes on me, baby," He told you, looking at your clenched eyes.

Your eyes shot open as Carlos took one long stripe of your folds, your hips bucking at the sudden sensation. Lingering a second too long on your clit, his tongue continued to work up towards your stomach and the valley of your breasts, returning his attention to your other nipple.

Your mouth fell open, feeling his fingers rub your wet folds, spreading his saliva around your pussy. While his tongue worked your nipple, he thrusted a thick finger into your walls. With your eyes rolling back, you attempted to fist the thick material of the mattress but to no avail.

"Fuckk, Carlos," You whimpered, writhing at his touch.

"Finally found your words, hmm?" Carlos teased, adding another finger into his torturous slow pace. His eyes were glued to watching your hips out of his periphery, snapping up to try and ride his fingers. As laboured breaths fell from your lips, he pushed his digits even further, aiming to reach a specific spot.

Smoothly, Carlos grabbed a nearby pillow, putting it under your lower back to bring you some comfort and a whole new level of pleasure. He stared at your face intently: your mouth had fallen wide open with a ghost whisper of his name flowing into the air, sweat glistened over your flushed face, pooling near the edges of your hair and neck, and your lips were swollen with the prettiest shade of red he had ever seen.

"Carlos," You managed to get out with your brain practically turning into jelly. "Carlos, please, I don't want to cum like this. I need your cock, please."

Carlos' cock throbbed at your pleas. "Your wish is my command, princesa."

Hearing your whines upon the loss of his fingers, Carlos took off his blue shorts faster than he had ever done in his life.

Even though you had been with Carlos sexually for a while, your cheeks still flamed when you saw his cock. Not out of embarrassment or unadulterated innocence. No. It was outright heat that was getting to you.

Every time you saw his cock, it was a violent shade of red, throbbing and aching, leaving Carlos begging to be touched by you.

You watched as Carlos leaned forward, hovering over you. It was beyond you how exactly pretty Carlos was. You hadn't realised until he started courting you. You had no idea how you were supposed to live without seeing his thicket of brown locks, his freckles that could only be depicted if you were close to him otherwise they blended with his prickly stubble, the smug smile he constantly wore to hide himself, and especially his big brown eyes that made you bend to his command.

"Carlos?" You softly called out.

Carlos' ears perked up at your gentle tone. He smiled down at you with raised brows. His hands continued to travel your body, retracing every curve and fold as he had committed to his memory. "Sí, mi hermosa?"

You ran a hand through his hair before caressing his cheek. God, he was your beautiful boy. "Je t'aime plus que tu ne peux l'imaginer." I love you more than you can imagine.

You knew he didn't speak French despite spending this many years with Charles but it often comes from you naturally when you were too caught up in your feelings.

"Je ne pense pas que ce soit le cas. You don't know how my every feeling is controlled by the look on your face. I can't breathe without you. Every race, I hope you're there waiting for me because you're pretending to wait for Charles. Hermosa, I exist for you. No one else." I don't think you do.

Your eyes widened, fresh tears lining your waterline. "You understood–you learned French?" You whispered, voice barely audible.

Carlos grinned. "I'm quite sure I said a lot of after that but yes, I did learn French for you... surprise!"

You suppressed the urge to push him off of you and gave him a long kiss. Pulling back, you laughed gently. "You're an idiot... making me cry during sex. And not even in the good way!" You feigned your complaint.

"Well, we still have tonight and thirteen more days. Today I'm just showing how much I love you," He whispered above your lips, hips lining up with yours.

You sucked in a sharp breath, feeling Carlos' cock brush past your folds. You both moaned in unison as he pushed his cock into your pussy. Your walls wrapped around his cock tightly, gripping him like a vice.

Carlos cursed several profanities under his breath, head lolling back while pleasure coursed through his body. His arms encircled your waist, pulling you up to sit on his lap. His cock ached at the high-pitched mewl that fell from your swollen lips.

His hands fell to your hips, holding you tightly, slowly shifting you up and down his length, burying his cock in you.

You closed your eyes, letting your forehead rest on Carlos'. You can feel him staring at you, taking all of you in: every hue of your flushed state, your eyelashes riddled with tears and sweat, the heavenly and sinful sounds from your lips, and your greased hair.

"You are breathtaking," Carlos whispered against you.

You smiled, opening your eyes to meet his and rolling your hips slowly in response. "You make me feel so good," You praised.

A rough moan was elicited from Carlos, throat tight and choked up from your words and actions. He could barely function seeing your bare pussy take his cock so well, let alone how the tip of his cock throbbed when he lifted you up. His own eyes were beginning to shut as he revelled in the ecstasy you brought hip.

Fuck, you were so wet. You looked down at your thighs, seeing the obscene sheen of your arousal coat spread to Carlos' thighs. You sunk your teeth into your bottom lip, hips snapping to create a rhythm.

"Carlos, I, fuck," You blabbered in complete disarray. You were beginning to seem the edges of a familiar white light.

Although Carlos appreciated the sign, he could tell by the way you were clenched so tightly around his cock, getting his cock to pulsate every few seconds, that you were going to come.

He moved his hands between your legs, watching you sink over his cock one more time before he obstructed the view by using his thumb to rub your clit in circles.

"Mierda," Carlos cussed, feeling you grip his cock even further if it was possible. "Cum for me, mi amor."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," You repeated the expletive as if it were a mantra, hips bucking as white clouded your vision. You let out a loud moan, body shaking as waves of your climax hit you one after the other.

Not a second later, Carlos was cumming too. His hips rutted against yours in almost an unrecognisable desperation, the peak of his ecstasy right within his grasp. His cock pulsed while his hips came to a falter, stuttering as ropes of his white cum spilled into you, warming your walls.

"F-Fuck," Carlos groaned, feeling your pussy clamp around him, trying to take every last drop of his cum.

You feel Carlos slump forward into you, exhausted. Gently, you lifted yourself off of his cock, wincing at your sensitivity. You fell straight onto the mattress, panting heavily.

"Shit!" You yelped as Carlos pushed some of his leaking come back into and circle your clit. You shook at the mini aftermath of your orgasm before calming back down.

"Satisfied?" You nudged Carlos playfully, knowing damn well Carlos liked to go the extra mile when it came to you.

"Very," Carlos commented, reaching his arms out to bring you closer to him.

You sighed, resting your head on his chest. The exhaustion was very quickly seeping into the both of you. Carlos' heartbeat was beginning to work as a lullaby and Carlos had found your warmth far more comforting than any mattress or duvet.

"Hermosa," He called, making you hum for you had no energy to speak. "We need to tell them."

You found yourself trying to open your eyes. When had they closed? You turned to face him, chin resting on his heated torso. You pressed a brief kiss and said, "I know. Let's tell them in a few days. So they have at least a week to yell at me."

Carlos frowned at your words. "I'll be right there with you. You know that right? I'm not letting you do this alone."

You smiled after letting out a small yawn. "I know, I know. I'm grateful. Thank you, mi amor."

Carlos returned the gesture, kissing your forehead gently. He rubbed your shoulders, feeling the dark abyss of slumber slowly call to him. "Anything for you, hermosa."

© 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐘𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑

[norrisreads]

illicit affairs #CL16 #MS47

PAIRING: charles leclerc x ex-gf reader! mick schumacher x reader!

SUMMARY: he was once the man you’ve always dreamed of, until one day a decision made drunkenly by him made you realised you were never the chosen one

WARNING: angst + cheating, fluff at the end

masterlists

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

2018

being in a relationship has it’s ups and downs, not everyday is full of smiles and laughters, some times it’s deadly silence just like the situation right now between you and charles

you were in a relationship with charles leclerc eversince 2016, you’ve seen him won the formula 2 championship, jumping to formula 1, you were there when he went through hard times, there were days you had to put him over yourself and you’ve never once regretted it.

But here you are, in a relationship that’s full of rocky roads. Charles and you met through his younger brother arthur, you were just a year older than Arthur, and the both of you used to hangout at the leclerc’s apartment daily as the both of you were and still has a close friendship. Arthur had given an advice to you in the early stages of dating with his brother, an advice you should’ve listen clearly.

“i’ll pack my things later, and i’m moving out tomorrow charles” the both of you is currently in the kitchen, you sitting down sipping on your warm honey lemon tea and him just munching down on the breakfast you’ve made for him

“i’m sorry, i swear i do not know what came on to me. she just happened to be there, i should have pushed her, cherie” you heard the metal fork cling as it came in contact with the marble counter top, you refused to believe the news that was trending everywhere

Formula One driver Charles Leclerc caught cheating on his fiancé, y/n l/n last night

When you were woken up by Arthur calls, you were confused of course until you clicked on the link that was send to you from Arthur. Ironically last night, you were on the call with him frantically worrying on Charles whereabouts, other than being woken up by Arthur’s morning calls, you were greeted by the sight of Charles sprawled out on the sofa in the living room.

All the times you were asking for signs if he was made for you, and even though the news did broke your heart, it showed the truth to you and made you realise that you wouldn’t want to spend your precious moments crying and fixing a relationship that is probably isn’t even worth it anymore.

“Sorry doesn’t fix the heartache i woke up to this morning, Charles. If this relationship isn’t worth the fight for you, you could have ask for a break and not cheat on me with someone else. That is so low of you, you knew how cheating affects me, you promised you will never do what he did and here you are proving me wrong”

“i know mon cherie, i am aware and i am so sorry. all i can do right now is to apologise to you, i am so sorry. i love you, i really do. you’ll always be the person my heart beats for cherie, please listen to me” you could hear Charles footsteps approaching you

“sometimes i wish you are able to see how much i sacrifice myself for you, when you were devastated from losing races, i would drop every single thing i was doing and run to you, calm you down.” you could feel tears running down your cheeks, reminiscing the memories the both of you have made together, from bad memories to good memories

“i supported you in every races no matter how exhausted i was, i would pray everyday that you wouldn’t crash and hurt yourself or blame yourself. I had to turn down job offers because i know that i am your number one support system, and i’ll always have to be there” his hand reached yours and tightly gripping it not letting you go

“but I’m exhausted Charles, I’m exhausted that i am always the one putting so much more effort in the relationship, i know you’re fighting for your dreams but what about mine? You’ve never asked about it, i know so much of you yet you know so little of me. I’m sorry Charles, if this happened a year ago, i would have accepted you back in my life but i’m not her anymore.” you let go of his hand, walking to the sink of the shared kitchen and washed the mug

Charles of course had nothing to say because he knew how badly he has been treating you, especially when whatever you’ve spilled your hearts out were accurate, he knew too little of you.

“where are you going to stay, will you be at Arthur’s ?”

“i will crash over at Arthur’s until i found a place, you shouldn’t be concerned where i am staying, be more concerned with Arthur, he’s fuming Charles. He’s your brother, fix the relationship”

with that, you walked to the shared room and started packing your items while Charles left the house to give you space.

what Charles doesn’t know is that you had been blessed with a gift, but for now that is just for you to know.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

2021

Just 2 and a half years ago, on the 14th of February 2019, your baby girl was born into the world. Of course, Arthur, Pascale and Lorenzo knew about the pregnancy and promised to keep it a secret from him.

When you left the house, you were 2 weeks pregnant, you managed to settle in to an apartment nearby Arthur’s apartment due to safety reasons. You were glad that you’ve rarely bumped into Charles, because as of now you’re unsure if you would wanna let Charles know of the child that the both of you shared.

Pascale would constantly come over to provide assistance and you were glad she was there for you even when you aren’t apart of the family anymore.

Just a year after you’ve left, Charles had gotten in-to a relationship, Arthur would always talk to you about how she wasn’t you and it’ll end with you lecturing him on how he should’ve been happy for his brother instead of hating his relationship.

“she’s not you, y/n. she’s just so different” Arthur shouted across the living room while entertaining your daughter, Valentiné Aurore Hervé Leclerc.

Your lovely 2 and a half years old babygirl, Valentiné Aurore Hervé Leclerc, is the greatest gift to you, she was your strength and the reason you are still in this world.

Of course, you did struggled being a single parent but the support you’ve received from your family, friends and his family was never-ending.

“don’t say that thur, i’m sure she’s great and just shy. he’s happy, let him be thur” you lightly hit the back of Arthur’s head

“look baby val, your mum just hit me on the head” all val did was laughed and continued playing with the toys Enzo had gifted, with the exact same eye-smile Charles had

“would you ever let Charles know about val?” Arthur asked, taking a seat beside you

“of course, i wouldn’t mind because val deserves to know his dad too” you smiled while looking at your baby-girl playing

“though i prefer Charles to just be an uncle, rather than a dad. Furthermore she loves the existence of him, sooner or later she’s gonna call him papa”

“I’m glad you’ve found someone that truly treasure you, he’s a great person though you have to seriously stop dating drivers.”

the both of you laughed, and as you were speaking about him, you heard the keypad of your house door being key-ed in and just a minute later the door of your house opened.

“miiiiiicckkkkkkkkyyy” val dropped her toys and ran to mick.

mick placed his items on the counter top and picked up val, “how’s my favourite girl doing?” while giving kisses to your baby-girl

mick walked towards you and Arthur, “ thanks thur for your help, you’ve been nothing but nice to us”

“it’s alright mick, though i’ll prefer you to be away so val will start loving me more” arthur joked knowing before mick came into val’s life, arthur was her favourite uncle

“hello baby, I dropped by the restaurant and bought the soup that you were craving for, i hope it’s still hot though” Mick gave you a forehead kiss while holding val on the other arm of his.

Thur picked up his bags and said his goodbyes.

you are currently dating Mick Schumacher, the relationship has been since end 2020, you’ve met him when you were working at your cafe and happened to serve him and he happened to take a liking towards you. Mick knew of Charles and you history and have assured you that he does not really mind and he truly appreciate both val and you.

When val turned two years old, mick had brought her to one of val’s biggest dream place ever as all other kids calls it, Disneyland and spend the whole day with her and you’ve could see the look on val’s face that only lights up when she’s around Mick and realised that this was the man that you would want to build up your future with.

Charles knew about your relationship, with the presence of you you standing beside mick supporting him during the races.

You weren’t always there for the races but since it was mick’s first few races, you wanted it to be special for the both of you. Val was sleeping over at your best friend for the day, inviting her would’ve caused a huge mess between the both of you especially with the first glance of your daughter, anyone could tell she is related to Charles Leclerc.

Of course it was a surprise to him, leading him to text Arthur right after the both of you had a 5 minute conversation together.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

2022 MONACO GP

“okay baby, stay by mama and don’t run anywhere else okay? papa is gonna be busy for a while and you’ll able to see him on this track” you were instructing val to not run away, val has turned out to be a daddy’s girl ever-since Mick came in-to her life, being away from Mick for a few days was torture to her(us), face-timing was the usuals for the three of us.

of course, hiding val on the way to the paddock was hard enough, you had to ask gina’s help which she did assist in and came by earlier than you and Mick in order to avoid the assumptions.

“but will papa see me here? will he wave at me and you, mama?”

you’re now carrying your daughter on your other arm, while she’s fidgeting with the lanyards around her neck.

“i’m not sure baby, papa’s car pass by super fast val. they’re faster than the cars we have at home,baby”

val nods her head and snuggled her head onto your neck, signalling that she was sleepy.

“baby, you sleepy? wanna head back to the room?” she agreed as she had spend her afternoon nap being awake following Mick around everywhere.

On the way to the haas paddock club, you were on your phone, single handedly texting gina if she could bring out the blankets that was in your bag as she was still at the club waiting for Mick’s team meeting to be done.

until you bumped on-to someone, and that someone just happened to be him.

just when you’re holding your daughter, what a great timing

“mama, why stop?” Val’s rubbing her eyes wondering and snuggling back on to your neck

“a moment baby, just get back to sleeping okay?” rubbing val’s back soothing her down to get her back to sleeping.

Charles was shocked yet confused on why you’re holding a child and the said child was calling you mama. Charles knew your relationship with Mick had just been ongoing for 3 years and he knew that the little girl that you were carrying is more than 3 years old, but what he didn’t know was that the little girl on your arm was his own daughter that he had no clue off.

“y/n, you’ve never told me you had a daughter?” charles stopped in his tracks and you could see behind him was arthur and lorenzo, with a shocked face.

“oh look charles, you’re late to your team meeting. Let’s go carlos is probably finding for you” enzo distracting him, but it was no help because he was still there staring at you and your daughter.

at this point you were looking at arthur for help but from the facial expression on arthur’s you knew he had zero plans to back you up.

“yeah haha it’s something i’ve kept private” you tried to walk away but he stopped you and take a look at val’s lanyard that was around her neck.

and one thing you didn’t realise was mick had given the staffs val’s full name to print out on her paddock pass, and that is when charles realised he has a daughter.

“valentiné aurore herve leclerc?”

oh yeah we are so fuck, by we it’s lorenzo, arthur and i.

you were looking at arthur and lorenzo with wide eyes.

“the both of you are aware of this?” charles turned to both of them and questioned the both of his brothers with disbelief

“it’s not their fault, i made them promised to not tell anyone”

“why didn’t you tell me? i am her father” at this point you could see people were curious on the conversation that was happening, because why would mick’s current girlfriend be seen having an intense conversation with Charles Leclerc?

“let’s talk later, she needs her nap. i’ll come over to arthur’s apartment and explain everything ” and charles knew that tone of your voice, the one where you would always use when you’re anxious or nervous and charles agreed on meeting you at arthur’s apartment

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

ARTHUR’S APARTMENT

Mick knew what had happened when you bumped you onto Charles, Mick wanted to accompany the both of you to Arthur’s apartment and be there for you while you explained things to Charles, and of course you agreed.

You knocked Arthur’s door, and you were greeted by pascale.

“i’m sorry darling, I tried but he was too persistent” she apologised to you, holding your hand giving you comfort

“it’s fine, it’s time i guess” you smiled at her

when you’ve reached Arthur’s living room you could feel the tension between the three brothers, you took a seat beside Arthur and Val automatically went to Arthur’s Lap.

Mick sat beside you, rubbing your back, calming down your nerves.

“val baby, come to papa. don’t bother uncle thur” mick called out to your daughter which she listened and walked over to Mick’s lap and mick carried her to arthur’s guest room which pascale followed behind.

Charles cleared his throat, “tell me from the start”

“when we broke off and i left, i found out I was 2 weeks pregnant”

“and you didn’t think of telling me?”

“it was hard Charles, i didn’t want you to stay with me just because i was carrying your daughter”

“continue” charles head in his hand, stressing over this situation

“i kept it of course as you can see, but please don’t blame it on lorenzo and arthur. i’ve made them swore they wouldn’t tell you, i didn’t wanna ruin your career. I was gonna tell you, just not now. I was thinking of telling you when val’s gonna understand the situation more. Mick knows about us and he was there for me for everything”

“I could’ve helped you, y/n. as a friend I could’ve helped you. she has my dna, she’s mine, i deserve to be in her life too, does she know?”

“she knows her father’s absence in her life, but she doesn’t know it’s you. we’ve never really talked about it”

“why the name? why did you used my last name, if you didn’t want me to be in her life y/n?”

“She’s apart of you, of course i had to include that and she looks exactly like you, no matter how much i refuse to believe’s she from you i had to accept it”

Charles walked over and sat beside you and held your hand.

“please let me be in her life. not as a father but as someone she deserves to know. i don’t mind Mick being her father, he deserves that title, but just let me be in my daughter’s life”

you agreed to charles, because as much as you disliked Charles, you didn’t want your daughter to grow up not knowing how does her biological dad looks like and starts questioning if she ever did something wrong.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

2023

Charles took the time to get to know val more, Mick and you would allow Charles over to let him have his own time with his daughter or they would sometimes have a day to their own.

Val knew who charles were but wasn’t really keen in calling him papa, as for the past few years Mick was more of a father figure to her rather than Charles.

As much as Charles was disappointed, he understood where she was coming from but he was glad Val had accepted him in her life not as a father but as some she would like to keep close contact with.

As for you, you’ve still kept the news of you having a child private, though there were rumours speculating around which you didn’t really pay attention to but you felt that it wasn’t a need for you to go public that you had a love child with their favourite driver.

Mick’s gotten signed to Mercedes and since he was a reserve driver, he would spend most of the time at the paddock with val and val has never been much more happier being close to her papa.

She would sometimes be in the Ferrari’s building or Mercedes’. Of course other than P, and the other driver’s children’s, val is currently the favourite especially amongst Charles and Mick’s circles of friends.

You were glad that the heavy weight on your shoulders was lifted off. Though, it took you a while to let Charles know about val, it’s all sorted out and you’re glad.

—✩࿐ end note: thanks for reading! wanted to end it off more angst less fluff but dad! mick just warms my heart, i’m still finding for good ig post templates or twitter templates! other than that, i hope you enjoyed reading! ♥️

[warframe1999]

Sooo…

The protoframes, huh?

i wanted to go a bit into what each member of the Hex (yay, new syndicate!!) had to say when you got into proximity of them in the relay. there’s honestly a lot here to set the scene not only for 1999 itself, but introducing each protoframe as well as sort of hinting at their interpersonal relationships, and how they interact with one another! some of my favorite kinda of lore is specifically character development and personality-focused dynamics like this so here!!!! i walked back and forth for an hour for YOU! here is all proximity dialogue for each character in the Höllvania Mall relay:

ARTHUR:

“Question. Could I take Quincy down if he turned on me?”

“We’ll find you, Doctor. That’s a promise.”

“Stop sniffing around my head, Eleanor. If I want to talk, I’ll talk.”

“We need to keep Lettie on her feet. If she goes we all go.”

“Dunno why we even bothered with that cleaning rota.”

“Yeah, we can hold this place.”

“One day, Aoi. No more roadblocks and checkpoints. Just you and me and the bikes, open road for miles, all this bullshit far away. I swear to Sol.”

“Still too open. We need more chokepoints.”

“Bottled water. Like sodding gold dust.”

“Well Amir’s still alive. That’s a win.”

LETICIA:

“I got nothin’ to prove to you, Quincy! Go play your little games, niño.”

“¿Qué onda? The Lady Eleanor ain’t no more freaky than the last time you checked in. ‘Less you know different?”

“Yo, Aoi. Chill, hermana. Do something for yourself, for once. Arthur ain’t going to blow away if you blink.”

“The boss says care for his sister I care for his sister. As long as you still are his sister… and as long as I feel like listening to him.”

“Being loved and being hurt? Yeah, I make no distinction. I knew someone, once, wired the same way. Kept me sane. And what of it? Te crees muy acá ¿no? Get outta my head, Eleanor.”

“Never signed up for this. I’ll be home Mamá. Your little girl doesn’t end here. No te preocupes.”

“Man, I’ve been awake so long that even the spiders in my head have all gone to sleep.”

“Wacha: unless you’re pissing blood right this second, whatever it is can wait.”

“I swear, should lock Aoi and Amir in a cuna. Didn’t sign up for no babysitting gig.”

AOI:

“I don’t wanna go on patrol. I wanna take stuff apart.”

“Nearly time for the On-lyne boys.”

“Metal, metal, metal, what do you want to be?”

“Yep. I can live like this.”

“Arthur needs to keep some fuel in the tank for himself. Goddamn savior complex that man has…”

“I oughta get some headphones. Then I wouldn’t have to hear Quincy work off all that surplus testosterone!”

“If they take Entrati out, who’s going to look after that mutant jaguar of his? Poor thing won’t last five minutes in the wild.”

“Amir! Remember to hydrate!”

“Dear past self: we finally got those super powers we always wanted. Whaddayaknow.”

“GodDAMN. Lettie would you keep your frickin’ rats OUT of my SPACE?”

QUINCY:

“Don’t look up, Doctor.”

“Arthur needs to leave the Major to me, innit. Respect my methods.”

“Don’t mind the waiting. Plenty to be thinking about.”

“You don’t know me. Never see what darkens your rooftops. Inevitable, like the rain. Handing out consolations in a transient connection. Boom. Smoke. And ghost.”

“You wiv me, Eleanor? How deep in you go? See anythin’ you fancy, girl?”

“Amir is a weak, weak boy. Like Aunty said, ‘duppy know who fi frighten.’”

“Thassit… nice and steady.”

“How many man have the opps got? Not enough t’be takin’ me. Never.”

“Oi, Lettie! Grab y’ strap and let’s go. Best a five buys the drinks?”

ELEANOR:

“Don’t expect me to tell you what I’ve seen in Amir’s head. He’s not a beautiful, broken marionette, and he’s nobody’s project. He’s one of us.”

“Quincy thinks he’s going to wake up one night to me chewing the flesh from his ribs. Maybe he’s right.”

“I know you’re there. I can feel you. It’s okay, I won’t tell the others.”

“Aoi? She’s lovely and kind and strong, and… I kind of hate her a little bit. Because it should have been her spreading her happiness into everyone’s heads, and me throwing cars and trucks around.”

“I thought there were going to be two of you! Where’s the other one?”

“Blood. There’s gonna be a fight. Something… bursting. Crossed swords. Arthur!”

“What on earth is a ‘Mara Lohk’?”

“Oh, you’re going to make such a difference this time around.”

“I don’t think Doctor Entrati expected me to survive. I had a lot more than just a cough. But… survive I did. And Lettie has not forgiven me for it.

“Oh. OH. She’s wonderful! Triple-faced goddess! But there’s a shadow on her, isn’t there?”

AMIR:

“A little zap, and… infinite credit! No more ‘insert coin’! Not that we could insert coin. We have no coin. Once we had coin, but now Aoi has smooshed all the coin. Coinnnn.”

“Why did they never make a console port?”

“BAD MOVE, SPACE CAA-DET.”

“But the one thought none of them spoke out loud was - could Lettie reattach a head?”

“Hey, Arthur! Arthur! Arthur! Arthur! Arthur! Dahh, you missed it.”

“Eleanor? Are you there? Can you - can you give my brain a hug please? Thank you.”

“We’re getting a little too excited, let’s step it down, step it down before we get the blue cracklies. In one two out one two.”

“Oi’m Quincy. Oi’m gonna blow out yer kneecaps. Mashup in yer chip shop alright.”

“Ungh! This violent video game is influencing my emotions! Societal norms… eroding! Morality… subsumed! I MUST KILL!”

“This place used to smell so good. Coffee. Cookies. Fresh clean socks. Now it’s just rust, pain, and old socks.”

[orchidniins]

anything for arthur hill 😭😭 maybe with a musician partner? no pressure take your time!! <3

Heartstrings | Arthur Hill

Summary: Y/N is a musician on her first solo tour. All she wanted was her boyfriend to be there to support her, but conflicting schedules might make for a bittersweet reunion. Pairings: Arthur Hill x Musician! afab!Reader Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Smut Word Count: 6.8k A/N: Thanks anon for the request! There needs to be more on tumblr for our talented king!!! This fic took a very different turn than what I had intended it to have. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Surrounded by the buzzing energy backstage, you stand in a dimly lit corridor. Staff scurry around, with headsets and clipboards, finalizing last-minute details, the hum of voices and hurried footsteps echoing off the walls. Amidst all the organized chaos, the only thing you can hear is the pounding of your heart and the muffled thump of the bass from the stage. As always, a flurry of excited nerves bubble in your stomach right before your cue.

You exhale deeply in an attempt to calm your nerves as your makeup artist puts the finishing touches on your makeup, ensuring it's flawless and accentuates your features perfectly. Simultaneously, your stylist adjusts your top from behind, the outfit meticulously chosen to embody the concept of your album.

Tonight marked the final show of your first solo tour, a moment that once felt like an unattainable dream. And you had relished every moment of the past two months on the road. From the electric energy of the stage to the bone-deep exhaustion of late nights and early mornings, and you loved every single second of it. Yet, amidst the overwhelming excitement, a different emotion began to surface—a subtle pang of disappointment that tugged at your heart.

You made your way toward the stage entrance, still out of view of the audience. Their murmured conversations intertwined with the ambient music playing in the venue. With just ten minutes until your set time, you peered into the crowd, scanning the sea of faces and you searched for one person in particular: your boyfriend, Arthur.

Arthur had been one of your biggest supporters since long before you two became a couple. Being a musician himself, he understood and empathized with all that you had gone through to get where you are today: the late nights, the hours of hard work, the busy schedules, and the stress and fears that came with all of it. When you had broke the news of your first solo tour, he was easily the happiest person in the room.

-------⋆✧⋆-------

The pair of you were cozied up on the couch in your apartment, your legs draped over his lap as you snuggled close, halfway through a movie that you couldn’t even remember anymore when you received a call from your manager.

As you made a move to get up and answer your phone, Arthur’s arm wrapped around you, a playful pout formed on his lips. "No, don't go," he murmured softly, his hand tightened on your thigh to keep you in place. 

“I’ll be right back…it’s just, it could be important,” you said softly, offering him a gentle smile before planting a tender kiss on his nose. "Just give me a minute," you reassured him, feeling his grip on you loosen as he gave you a small nod. With a resigned sigh, you peeled yourself out of his comforting embrace, slipping away to take the call. 

You paced around the living room, absorbed in conversation with your manager, while Arthur rested his chin on the back of the sofa. His gaze followed you intently, furrowing his eyebrows in an attempt to decipher the conversation from your expressions and strings of “okays” and “uh-huhs”. After a few minutes, you ended your call, spinning on your heels to face him, disbelief etched on your face.

You pause for a moment, dumbfounded, the words caught in your throat. Arthur looked at you expectantly and finally he broke the silence, "So? Everything ok?"

"I'm going on tour!", you screamed out, your voice filled with excitement as you jumped up and down in sheer joy.

He sprung off the couch, reaching you in an instant with his arms wide open.You jumped into his arms, overwhelmed with pure joy. He wrapped you in a tight embrace, lifting you slightly off the floor in one swift move. His wide smile mirrored yours, reflecting the genuine happiness he felt for you and you felt so lucky to have him by your side, celebrating this moment with you.

Gently, he set you back down on the ground, and as you faced each other, his hands found their place on your waist while yours naturally rested on his forearms. "I knew you were gonna make it big," he whispered, his eyes sparkling with admiration.

You playfully teased him back, a grin tugging at your lips. "Look who's talking," you quipped, your tone light and teasing.

He lightly chuckled, his lips met yours in a soft and sweet kiss. As he pulled away, a hand caressed your cheek, his gaze filled with pride. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered, his voice laced with sincerity.

Arthur knew the dedication you poured into your music, especially your most recent album. His acknowledgment of your talent and his unwavering faith in you meant more than words could express. "It was only a matter of time until the whole world saw what I saw," he said, his voice filled with conviction. "How talented you are." Tears welled up in your eyes as you felt overwhelmed by his words.

"Baby, why the tears?" Arthur gently wiped them away, his expression softening as he saw the conflicting emotions in your face.

"I-I don't know what to feel," you whispered, your voice came out shaky, as he wrapped you in another comforting hug. You buried your head into the crook of his neck, and the two of you stood in silence for a moment. “I’m kinda scared babe,” you finally spoke up, your voice barely above a whisper, your vulnerability coming through in the trembling of your words.

You pulled away slightly, your eyes falling to your feet. Arthur, sensing your apprehension, bent down slightly to have a look at your face. "Hey, hey, listen to me," he said gently, his hands lifting your chin to meet his eyes. 

He smiled at you warmly, "I, of all people, know how hard you've worked for this."

"And I know you are going to do great,” he continued, his smile growing wider. "And best believe I'm going to be at every single show to support you. You're going to kill it out there, babe."

-------⋆✧⋆-------

Your thoughts are abruptly interrupted by the backstage manager's announcement: "Five minutes to go." her voice snaps you back to reality.

The reality was that two months had passed, and Arthur hadn’t been able to make it to a single one of your headline shows. Usually, before either of your shows, you’d atleast video call each other, finding solace in seeing his face and hearing his voice over the phone. But this time, you chose to forgo it, not wanting to set yourself up for disappointment again.

You let go of any hope that he might appear for this one and focus on trying to hyping yourself up instead. 

But you didn't blame Arthur for not being there, he was currently on tour as well. While he had offered to rearrange a few dates to work around yours, you declined the idea instantly, not wanting to inconvenience him or his fans. So in the end, you two recognized that the two of you just had to make it work, and moving around either of your tour dates was impractical.

Most of your show dates overlapped or were in different cities altogether, making it logistically challenging for Arthur to be there at your shows. Despite this, you managed to catch a few of his shows over the past few months, even flying out to Glasgow the week before, only to have him whisked away to another city shortly after. 

He was always extremely apologetic about it, but you couldn't help but feel slightly upset each time. You felt selfish for feeling the way you did; after all, this situation was out of his hands. And dwelling on it only added unnecessary stress. It’s not like it made you love him any less. You were incredibly proud of the success Arthur had garnered and knew how hard he had worked for it. But at the end of the day, you were finding it difficult to shake off the disappointment of him not being able to witness perform live.

So you made a conscious effort to push aside those feelings of disappointment and focus on your performance. You shook out your shoulders and your hands, trying to calm your nerves, trying to get yourself in the right headspace to deliver your finale show. Then, once both your tours ended, you looked forward to having your boyfriend's undivided attention once again.

As you finally step onto stage, highlighted under the spotlight, you are welcomed by the roar of the crowd. You let the booming sounds drown out whatever you were feeling previously and you felt the nerves melt away as you started to sing your music. You pour all you have into your set, feeding off of the electric energy of the crowd. 

As your final song begins to fade into the air, you take a moment to catch your breath, taking a little bow. "Thank you London!" you scream, your voice ringing with sincerity. "You have been amazing tonight. I love you all so much!" Tears well up in your eyes as you bid your final goodbyes to the cheering crowd. With a final wave, you make your exit from the stage, the adrenaline still coursing through your veins.

As you pull out your ear monitor and hand it, along with your mic, to one of the staff members, they swiftly assist you in removing your mic pack. You take a moment to express your gratitude to them and exchange thanks with everyone who passes by at that moment. Left alone for just about a minute, you take a deep breath, allowing yourself to calm down and soak in the moment. A sense of accomplishment washed over you, disbelief as you realized that you had just completed your first headline tour. 

Amidst the bustling backstage atmosphere of people packing up, your manager approaches you, enveloping you in a warm hug. "You were absolutely incredible out there," she says, her voice filled with pride. 

"Thank you so much," you reply gratefully. "I couldn't have done any of this without you." 

As she pulls away, she mentions with a warm smile, "Nonsense, you worked so incredibly hard for this."

You flash her a smile, as she continues, "I've got to head out soon, tuck my kid into bed. You’ll be okay if I leave first?”

You nod understandingly, "Of course. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I’ve got your assistant to keep me company."

She smiles appreciatively, giving you a final hug before bidding you farewell, "Take care, and go celebrate with the band tonight! Use the company card!"

As she heads off, you chuckle at her parting words. Her assistant approaches, congratulating you, "Great show, Y/N. You absolutely killed it out there."

You exchange a hug with him, expressing your gratitude. He then hands you a towel and a bottle of water.

You take the bottle from him with a small smile, engaging in light conversation as you sip on it. As you hand back the half-empty bottle, your gaze catches a familiar head of messy hair entering the backstage area through the stage exit.

Your heart skips a beat as you realize it's Arthur, standing there with a proud smile on his face. It feels almost surreal seeing him at one of your shows in the flesh. You couldn't believe it. Having given up hopes of seeing him at your show, the moment felt too good to be true, as if you're caught in a dream. Especially considering he had his own show tonight as well, the fact that he'd made it felt nothing short of a miracle.

You are pulled out of your thoughts when you hear someone clearing their throat. You look back to your manager's assistant, who shifts awkwardly before speaking up. "Well, I'm gonna go be someplace else," he says, his tone a tad awkward. 

"Yeah, sure," you respond quickly, offering a polite smile. "Just call me if you need anything," he adds hurriedly. "I have some things to wrap up." You nod in acknowledgment and offer a quick thanks as he swiftly exits the backstage area.

Now that the two of you were alone, Arthur walks up to you. Despite feeling happy to see him, you couldn't shake off the lingering sense of disappointment. All you wanted was for him to be there, to watch you perform, and the frustration of his absence during your shows still weighed heavily on you. And your facial expression reflected how you were feeling. When he finally reaches you, you make no effort to move.

Arthur had always been able to read you like an open book, and he had noticed the slightly annoyed, tight-lipped expression on your face. Rather than trying to coax you into a better mood with words, he instead pulls you into an embrace. Despite your attempt to appear upset, your body betrays you as your arms instinctively wrap around him, drawing him closer. As he holds you, you can't help but melt into his touch, your tummy doing a little flip as you take in his familiar scent. His presence has a calming effect, momentarily pushing aside the frustration you were feeling just moments ago.

You feel him smile against your hair as he feels you wrap your arms around him tighter. "Hey, you," he murmurs softly against your hair, exuding sweetness. Despite feeling comforted by his presence, you still feel slightly conflicted."Hi," you mutter, your voice coming out quieter than usual.

He then pulls away, his hands gently cupping your face as he looks into your eyes before he leans in, engulfing your lips in a soft kiss. The warmth of his lips against yours elicits a response, kissing him back, but Arthur can sense that something is amiss. "I thought you'd be happier to see me," he says, flashing you his cute heart-melting smile. You try to put on a brave face, reminding yourself to be happy now that he was finally here. "No, I'm excited to see you," you insist, placing both your hands on his chest, though your voice lacks its usual enthusiasm.

You try to force a smile, but then a realization flashes across your features. With a cocked eyebrow, you ask, "Didn't you have a show today? When did you get here?" You attempt to steer the conversation away from you. With a gentle smile, he says "I left as soon as my show ended. I caught the end of your show. You were amazing." He adds, "You did so well out there." You muster a faint, "Oh, thank you, babe," but your smile falls short of its usual brightness. Arthur lets out a sigh as he grows more concerned by the shift in your demeanor.

Arthur's expression turns serious. "Hey, what happened, baby? Tell me what's wrong," he urges gently. You hesitate for a moment before responding, "Nothing, I'm fine." He gives you a skeptical look, and you quickly add, "Seriously, I'm fine," trying to brush it off. Deep down, you feel the urge to cry, and the last thing you wanted right now was for Arthur to see you in tears.

Just then, you hear a mix of voices coming from the stage, and Arthur takes a step back from you, turning to face the direction of the noise. You see the band finally making it backstage after packing up their instruments. One of the band members waves to you as they walk by and calls out, "Hey Y/N, you coming with us for a drink?" Sniffling, you quickly wipe your eyes, determined to rid them of any tears that may threaten to spill. Gathering yourself, you reply, "Yeah, just give me a few minutes. I need to change. I'll be right there with you lot." They nod quickly before heading off to their green rooms.

You turn back to Arthur, who was still eyeing you with a concerned expression and furrowed eyebrows. "Talk to me, Y/N," he says, his hands grabbing yours, his thumbs running comfortingly over your hands. Part of you wanted to break down and tell Arthur everything, how you've hated not having him here, how upset you've been. But you know that if he sees you like this, he would feel absolutely horrible and blame everything on himself.

Swallowing hard, you remove your hands from his and respond softly, "Nothing, I'm just tired." Arthur's concern deepens, and he suggests, "Okay, then let's get you back home. I don't have to leave until the morning anyways." 

You quickly interject, "No, it's fine. I think I should go out with the band for a bit. They've worked so hard, I should celebrate with them. I won't be out long." By the look of his face you knew that he wasn't buying it, so you continued, "I'll just go change real quick, and then we'll go out. I think we both deserve a bit of a night out, yeah?" He nods with a smile, and you tell him to wait as you head off toward your dressing room, hoping to compose yourself in private.

You quickly enter your dressing room and shut the door behind you, just wanting a moment to yourself. Taking a deep breath, you stand in front of the mirror, trying to compose yourself. You look at yourself, trying to push away the feelings of frustration and letdown that were bubbling up to the surface again. You remind yourself to be okay, not wanting to start a petty fight with Arthur over something so trivial. With your tour now over you were now happy to have the time to support him. 

But, before you could stop them, tears start rolling down your face, tracing hot paths down your cheeks, smearing some of your mascara in the process. "Pull yourself together," you whisper to your reflection, your voice trembling slightly. You grab a makeup wipe from the packet on the dressing table and attempt to wipe away the tears and clean up some of the smudged makeup under your eyes, but the tears don’t stop coming. You try to calm yourself down again, but in that moment, you break down. Finally crying freely as you let your head hang and your hands coming up to cover your face, releasing the pent-up frustration that had been building over the past 2 months.

You didn’t realize that your sobs were now audible through the door until you heard a soft knock. Arthur's voice, laced with concern, seeps through the crack. "Baby, are you okay?" he asks gently. "Please open the door. Tell me what happened."

You hesitate, feeling torn between wanting to let him in and not wanting him to see you like this, afraid that your reasons might upset him as well. As you glance at the door, you hurriedly wipe your tears, attempting to regain your composure. "Everything's fine," you manage to choke out, your voice trembling slightly, "Just give me a few minutes."

Arthur's voice gets slightly louder, "Y/N, don't lie to me, please," he pleads. "I need to see that you're okay. Please just open the door, baby."

You feel a pang of guilt at his words, knowing that he genuinely cared about your well-being. Despite your reluctance, you can't bear to keep him waiting outside. Taking a deep breath, you walk over to the door and unlock it, allowing Arthur to step inside.

He instantly pulls you into another hug, drawing you close to his chest. His arms envelop you, trying to comfort you. One of his hands moves to the back of your head, gently stroking your hair soothingly as you lightly sob into his shirt. You stay there for a moment. 

Sensing your sobs beginning to subside, he gently attempts to pull away, intending to get a better look at your face. "Come on, baby, let me see you," he whispers softly. You shake your head softly, not wanting him to see your tear-streaked face, and snuggle even closer to him. He lets you stay nestled against him, resting his chin on your head and pressing a tender kiss to the top of your head.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asks very softly, trying to be patient with you. He knew that when you got like this, trying to force you to talk was never the answer. He understood that if you felt pressured, you would only shut down further.

You slowly shake your head, not knowing how to even start that conversation. He mutters, "Are you sure?" and you reply with a hesitant nod, "Yes, I'm fine." Though he doesn't believe you, he lets you stay in his arms for a little while longer, sensing your reluctance to open up. After a while, he continues, "Come on, baby, let it out. You know you’ll feel better if you just talk about it." He strokes your hair soothingly, encouraging you to share your feelings.

He says softly, "We can stay like this for as long as you want, but eventually, you're gonna have to come up for air." You chuckle slightly, feeling a bit lighter after releasing all the built-up emotions. With a deep breath, you pull away from his embrace, looking up at him with puffy eyes, smeared eye makeup and tear stained cheeks. Though you'd stopped crying, looking at the tender loving look in his eyes makes tears well up in your eyes again.

He lightly cups your face, wiping away at your tears. You nod, signaling that you are about to speak. Despite the concern in his eyes, he gives you a reassuring smile, silently encouraging you to go on. 

"Okay, yeah…," you begin, your voice trembling slightly. You pause, trying to gather your thoughts before continuing, "Arthur, it's just that... Okay, now, whatever I'm about to say, you shouldn't get upset by it, alright? I’m probably just making a big deal out of nothing," His worry deepens, his brows furrowing. "Baby, just tell me. You're scaring me now," he urges softly. 

Softly chuckling, you reassure him, "It's nothing like that," as you gently guide his hands away from your face, holding onto his forearms. You finally say, "Arthur, it's just... it hasn't been the easiest not having you here," your voice shaky with emotion. "I know we’ve talked about it before, and I know I’ve repeatedly said that I’m okay with you not being here all the time and that I understand most of the time you just couldn't physically be here." Tears begin to well up in your eyes again as you continue, "But, when I imagined this whole tour thing in my head, I just imagined you at all my shows, and being able to celebrate with you backstage afterwards." You wipe away at your face, trying to compose yourself, and add, "You know what? It's stupid, just forget about it," before glancing down, feeling a lump form in your throat.

Arthur's expression softens as he listens intently to your words. "I'm sorry, Y/N" he begins, but you quickly interrupt, insisting, "You have nothing to be sorry for." Your head is still down, but he gently lifts your chin, meeting your gaze. "No, I should," he says softly, his eyes reflecting remorse. "I should have been more understanding. I absolutely loved having you supporting me at my shows, and I was just so happy whenever you were there. I am a dense idiot for not realizing that you would, of course, want the same thing. I should have tried harder to be here." He pauses, his voice filled with sincerity, "And I'm sorry for that."

"Arthur," you start saying, but he interrupts you, his voice tinged with remorse, "Even if I wasn't able to actually be here for you, I should have checked in more often with you... I feel like such a shitty boyfriend."

You quickly interject, "Hey, no! Honestly, I've been fine mostly. It's just that seeing you here today just brought everything out, that's all. I'll be okay in a bit," you assure him with a small smile.

"You don’t have to hide your feelings from me, or hide your tears. I love you and your emotional ass, so tell me everything, okay? Especially when I’ve done something to upset you, no matter how small you think it is. I don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t tell me something. And I promise you, I will never get mad at you," he reassures you, his voice filled with sincerity. "I'm here for you, always."

You look at him, at a loss for words, and he simply pulls you into a tight embrace. Your arms instinctively wrap around his neck as his encircle your waist. "I love you so much, baby," he whispers softly, pressing a kiss to your forehead. "And I’m so proud of everything you've achieved. You're not selfish at all for wanting me here. I’m the selfish one for not being here," he admits, his voice filled with remorse. "I promise I’ll be better in the future," he reassures you, holding you close.

You exhale deeply, feeling a weight lift off your shoulders. Meeting his gaze again, your foreheads gently touching, "Just having you here now means everything to me." Your voice is filled with sincerity and gratitude. "I love you too, Arthur," you whisper. As you finally manage to muster a genuine smile, he returns it warmly. "There's that smile I love so much," he remarks, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of your mouth. You can't help but let out a small giggle in response.

Feeling a lot better now, you glance at his white T-shirt and let out a little laugh. "Sorry about your shirt," you say, noticing the makeup smudges and wet tear spots on it. He chuckles in response, "No, it's fine, it adds character." Then he teases, “You know, if I sell this shirt on eBay, I can make a ton of money from it. It'll be an authentic Y/N creation." You giggle, playfully rolling your eyes and lightly swatting at his chest.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious about your appearance, you mutter, "God, I must look like such a mess right now," as you wipe at your cheeks. With a sigh, you pull away from him and walk slowly back to the dressing table. Grabbing another wipe, you clean up your messy face, taking off the remaining makeup as well.

Arthur follows you, coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder as he watches you in the mirror. "Never," he murmurs softly, "you are the most beautiful woman I know, even when you cry." His words make you chuckle a little, scoffing lightly, and you see him smile with warm eyes. 

He moves your hair aside, pressing a tender kiss to the exposed skin on your shoulder. "You always look perfect to me," he adds, "And besides, you looked like an absolute angel on stage today," he compliments, his eyes filled with admiration as he gazes at you in the mirror. You can't help but smile at his words, feeling a warmth spread through you. One of your hands comes up to rest on his, your head leaning against his. In that moment, all felt right again in the world, just the two of you together.

Once you're done wiping your makeup off, you turn in his arms to face him, leaning against the edge of the table. He looks at you with a tender smile, his eyes filled with warmth and affection. You take a moment to admire his handsome features, your hand gently caressing his face, tracing the lines of his smile with your thumb. As you smile back at him, you notice the slight dark circles forming under his eyes.

"Did you manage any sleep at all today?" you ask, your voice laced with concern, your fingers lightly tracing his cheek. A slight frown forms on your lips as you await his response. He chuckles softly, shaking his head. "No, I'm just running on adrenaline," he admits with a tired smile.

You nod sympathetically, understanding the toll a busy schedule can take. "How did your show go by the way?" you ask, your voice filled with genuine interest as you gaze at him intently. He starts detailing the performance, his eyes aglow with excitement.

You listen attentively, captivated by his every word. As he talks, you can't help but feel a sense of pride and joy for him, your expression mirroring his enthusiasm. "You really are amazing, Arthur," you compliment him with a warm smile. He responds with a playful scoff, "Oh please, stop it," earning a laugh from the both of you.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asks, gently tucking your hair behind your ears. You nod, a small smile playing on your lips. “I’m sorry that I absolutely freaked out on you” you say, feeling slightly guilty but he quickly dismisses it, "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about."

"I mean, I was expecting you to run up and jump into my arms, but maybe next time." he says playfully. "Well, go stand over there. Give me some space for a run-up,” you suggest, playing along. Chuckling, he shakes his head, his hands gently resting on your waist. "No," he replies with a grin. You lean in and plant a soft peck on his cheek, returning his smile.

"But seriously, if you ever feel like this again, about anything, just talk to me, okay?" You nod in agreement, feeling incredibly grateful to have such a supportive boyfriend. "I promise," you assure him, squeezing his hand gently.

Arthur wraps his arms tighter around your waist, pulling you closer as he gently strokes the exposed skin on your back, a playful smirk tugs at the corners of his lips. Your hand instinctively moves up to his chest, a tingle spreading down your spine at the warmth of his touch. "You know," he murmurs softly, "I missed you." You respond with a giggle, teasingly saying, "Aw, Arthur, I missed you too." He leans in to kiss you, but you tilt your face away at the last minute, laughing as he ends up planting a kiss on your cheek instead.

"Well, If you missed me so much, then you should have come to more than just this show…. I mean I’ve been to pretty much every other one of yours," you jokingly tell him, a playful twinkle in your eye as you reach up to place a kiss on his jaw. He feigns hurt, "Oh, way to kick a guy when he's down babe."

“Hey, it's not like you’re completely forgiven,” you tease, a mischievous glint in your eyes. He pouts slightly, "You're right, I’ll make it up to you somehow." he says with a little wink, leaning in closer. His warm breath tickles your skin, sending shivers down your spine as his lips inch closer to yours. Butterflies flutter in your stomach as he places his hands on the table, trapping you between his body and the table. "In fact," he adds, "I can start right away if you want."

Without another word, his hand moves to the back of your neck, closing the distance between you two. His lips meet yours in a tender kiss, and as the intensity of the moment grows, you melt into his embrace, lost in the sensation of his lips against yours. He deepens the kiss, his grip tightening at your waist, digging into the exposed flesh, sending waves of pleasure coursing through you.

Your hand begins to move from his chest and slowly makes its way towards his pants, your fingertips lightly grazing the fabric over his crotch, but Arthur gently redirects your hand, placing it next to you on the table.

You pull away from your kiss, gasping for breath, confusion evident in your eyes as you gaze into his deep brown ones. Arthur lightly shakes his head, a small laugh escaping his lips. "It's all about you today, baby" he whispers softly against your lips. You visibly swallow, and it wasn’t long before his lips trail away from yours, leaving a trail of feather-light kisses along your jaw and down to your neck. A breathy moan escapes your lips as you feel the press of his lips against your skin, your skin feeling hot under their touch.

You feel him smirking against your neck before he cups you below your ass, effortlessly lifting you up off your feet. You couldn't help but giggle as you wrap your arms around his neck, your legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. He carries you over to the couch, gently placing you down. 

You shuffle back slightly until your back touches the armrest, making room for him to join you. He places his between your legs as he leans in, capturing your lips in another deep kiss. "Think I could help you out of these clothes, baby?" he murmurs against your lips, his hand finding its place on your hip, “I'm sure they're very uncomfortable.” 

You laugh in response, placing a hand on his chest and gently pushing him back, eyeing him playfully. "You first," you tease, a smirk dancing on your lips as you nod towards him, “Go on.”

Arthur stands up, wasting no time in taking off his clothes until he's left only in his boxers as you eye him up and down taking in the sight of the gorgeous man in front of you. He’s quick to come and help you with yours, reaching for the waistband of your pants, along with your panties and sliding them off, his hands tracing over your thighs. 

As he moves to remove your top, you wince, causing him to freeze in concern. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" he asks, his brow furrowing with worry as he searches your face for any signs of discomfort. You can't help but laugh at his reaction. "No, no," you reassure him, shaking your head. "I just forgot I had fashion tape on to keep my top in place."

He asks again, his voice filled with concern, "Are you sure you're fine?" You nod, "Yes, Arthur, I'm fine." With a seductive smile, you pull him closer by his shoulder, your eyes dark with lust. "Now come here," you whisper, "I forgot how much I enjoyed seeing you without your shirt on."

He chuckles, as you run your hand over his chest, tracing your fingers along his tattoos. He dips his body down to kiss the skin above your breasts, tenderly placing kisses on the red marks left behind by the tape. Moving lower, he takes one of your tits into his mouth, his lips wrapping around your hard nipple while his hand caresses your other breast. A moan escapes your lips at the sensation of his tongue, and your hands instinctively move to his hair, gently tugging as he groans in response.

He trails kisses down your body, each touch sending a sensation of electricity through you. You revel in the softness of his lips as he moves lower, his kisses tracing a tantalizing path over your skin. He works his way down to reach your inner thighs, gripping one of your thighs firmly, he carefully maneuvers it over his shoulder. His kisses grow more urgent as he inches closer to your needy core. Your skin tingles under his lips, the wetness between your thighs increasing with each teasing kiss.

His fingers dip into your folds, collecting your wetness, "You're already so wet for me, baby," he murmurs in a low voice, his voice thick with desire. You stifle a moan at his words, your breath catching at the look of lust in his eyes. "Fuck, Arthur," you breathe out, your voice laced with need, as he attaches his lips to your clit. His tongue explores your wet folds with a slow, gentle pace, driving you wild.

He starts sucking a little harder, eliciting a loud moan from you, and you feel him groan against your clit, the vibrations of his voice sending waves of pleasure through you. Your moans and groans only make Arthur increase his pace, and you shut your eyes, throwing your head back. The sensation of his finger dipping into you makes you gasp. You manage to open your eyes, finding him looking back at you with hooded eyes, the intensity in his gaze sending your heart into a frenzy.

You knew that Arthur was good with his mouth, but he never failed to surprise you each time, and you could feel yourself edging closer to your high. He continues to suck and stroke your clit until you finally feel your orgasm bubble up to the surface. You scream out his name as you reach your peak, your body trembling with pleasure, cumming into his mouth. 

He cleans you up with his mouth as best he can before he pulls back, placing your leg back on the sofa. He supports his weight by placing his hands on either side of you, attaching his lips to your neck.

"I'm not done with you yet," he whispers against your neck, his eyes dark with desire as he gazes up at you. "You think you still have it in you for one more?" Your brain is still clouded from your recent high and you struggle to form coherent words, just nodding in response.

Arthur lets out a low, throaty laugh before crashing his lips against yours as you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He starts to take off his boxers, kicking them to the side and settles in between your legs, the heat of his body pressing against yours.

After a bit, he reluctantly pulls away from you, your lips chasing his as he makes his way to where he had flung his jeans. Rummaging through them, he finds his wallet, pulling out a foil packet. He quickly rips it open and slides it onto his already hard length before swiftly returning to you.

He slowly grabs your thighs, spreading them wider as he positions himself between them. He gives you a kiss on your jaw before he lines himself up, before he finally thrusts into you. “You ok baby?” he asks. You groan in response, managing to mumble out a breathy, "Yes, Arthur... fuck," reveling in the sensation of him filling you up. The pleasure evident on Arthur's face drives you wild, causing you to melt into the couch beneath you.

Arthur grabs your waist as he quickens his pace and his mouth finds its way to your chest again.

The sensation of his hands on your skin, his mouth on your chest, and feeling him deep inside you becomes almost overwhelming and you grip onto his biceps, your nails digging into his skin.

“God, Y/N, I love you so much,” he murmurs, his words sending your heart soaring, but the intensity of the moment consumes you. The pleasure courses through your body and you feel your orgasm approaching much quicker than before. You moan and arch into him, desperate for release.

Almost as if Arthur read your mind, he breathes out, "I’m so close, baby." You respond, your voice barely above a whisper, "Me too." He furrows his eyebrows, trying to hold on longer, wanting to make the moment last, but it becomes increasingly difficult when you're a gorgeous, moaning mess under him.

He feels your walls clench around his shaft as your orgasm washes over you, and you moan his name aloud. Arthur lets a groan before he spills inside of you with one last thrust. Collapsing on top of you, both of you slightly sweaty, he rests his forehead gently on yours as you both pant against each other.

Once you both get your breathing leveled out, you look at him, feeling his hand come up to softly caress your cheek. "Am I forgiven now?" he laughs as he asks you. You smile back at him, "I think I might consider it now," you reply, laughing softly. 

"I love you, Arthur," you say softly, gazing into his eyes. A smile at you, warmth spreading over his handsome features before leaning in to place a tender kiss on your forehead.

As you're about to suggest that the two of you should go get cleaned up, you hear a knock on your door, your head whipping in the direction of the sound. "Hey, are you ready to go? We'll leave in a bit," you hear the voice of your bandmate peer through the closed door.

"Yeah, just us five more minutes, we'll meet you out front," you scream back, and you hear him reply with an "Okay" before his footsteps retreat.

Turning back to your boyfriend, you grin mischievously. "I should get mad at you more often," you tease.

But he looks at you deadpan and says, "No, please don’t,” and you both share a laugh. “I hate it when you're upset with me," he adds with a playful smirk before planting a quick peck on your lips and getting up.

He helps you to your feet and says, “Now let’s go celebrate you, baby,” before the two of you head off to get cleaned up and step out together.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Check out my other fics and oneshots here. Not working on any new requests currently but feel free to drop into my asks for a chat! 😊

[nthspecialll]

Hiii! I love all your character analysis posts and theories so much, and was wondering if you have done any theories about where the gang was before Blackwater, by chance? I think I saw a post recently mentioning Montana but I can't for the life of me remember if it was you who posted it or not! 😅

But I've wondered about their locations before RDR2 a lot and would love to hear your thoughts about it. I remember reading a very early page in Arthur's journal about how they were in the Northen Grizzlies? But apart from that I can't remember anything else about locations, if there were any mentioned. And I'm sorry if you have done a post like this already, it's just a little piece of the backstory I'd like to hear theories about 😊

I have not talked about it but I definetely can! Also thank you for liking my stuff!!

Well, firstly, some places that exist in real life does not exist in red dead and those are the places on the map. Texas is New Austin, New Orleans is Saint Denis and Luisiana is Lemoyne, meanwhile Californa and New York does exist in game, meaning we can't completely be sure what places exist unless they are directly mentioned.

Firstly, we know they have been in Chicago, that is where Dutch and Hosea met! Then in 1877 the pair went to Kettering, Ohio, where they scammed 300$ out of the residents, later that year we know that they met Arthur in the Northern states somewhere, which could also be Montana! We do not know more than it was someplace in the North.

We also know some time before they met Arthur, they went to Blackwater once but exactly when we do not know.

In 1885 we know they were in Illinois, saving and picking up John Marston and two years later they robbed their first bank Lee and Hoyt, which we do not know where is.

But between then and 1898, they robbed 36 banks across the frontier as stated by Ross in rdr1, which is where we get the famous "We were told there was a price when we reached 50." The wiki page of the VDL gang does say they came to Montana in 1898 but they won't give me source to confirm it, which is a little annoying, but just mentioning it.

We know at some point between 1893 and 1898, after Bill joining the gang, they went to Canada, him, Arthur and Uncle robbing a bank together.

At some point between 1895 and 1897, we also know they went to Tocson Arizona, where Javier and Arthur robbed a bank together with Karen who dressed up as a nun and hid firearms under her clothing.

We also know that for a while they would return to the same places for Arthur's romances. Both with Eliza, where he could pop by every few months and for Mary, whom they at least returned to after 1894 when Abigail joined, and before the deaths of Annabelle and Bessie.

Either way, now we come to the fun parts, around winter 1898, the gang was up in what is called the Northern Grizzles, we only have access to the western (Around Mount Hagen) and Eastern (O'Creagh's Run), so I would assume that the Northen are outside the map, probably up above the Wapiti Reservation somewhere.

They traveled down the "Western Foothill of the mountians", not sure what road they took as it could be one off map, which I would honestly guess, probably traveling around the cold of Colter and coming in from left side of the map. Either way, they most likely ended up somewhere down by and Big Valley, which can match up with the fact that Arthur mentions that life was good and food was easy to find. That area does have a lot of easy food access and so forth.

Now I have seen a few people say Dutch met Micah in Strawberry, which is honestly very fair assumption, it matches up with a lot, but a simple fact is forgotten, Strawberry does not have a bar, which is where they met.

I would say that Micah most likely had been in Strawb and done, whatever business he had with Slim and Martha (I believe their names were), and traveled up and out of map where he met Dutch and then decided to join them back down.

Afterwards they traveled down to Blackwater where they "hid in plain sight" right outside town as Arthur says he does not like being so close to the town, and considering how close they were to Valentine, I would guess they camped at the ledges where Charles and Javier hides when going to find Sean, either there or the other side of the town.

Blackwater Camp:

But even though they were camped so close to down, Arthur funnily enough still stayed in town from time to time. It does however not seem that they were settled there or in Big Valley for very long, as Arthur also says that they have been running more than normally those weeks.

Now we get to a bit that confuses me because suddenly the group goes from the southern part of the map down in Blackwater, to suddenly appearing up by Spider Grove by Colter, and Arthur mentions that they headed "east over the Grizzlies" so they went west from Blackwater, out of the map, and then up North only to go east again. Not to mention that it seems they did it in a fairly short time, they haven't had proper time to talk about what happened, they were still shook, Davey was not yet dead from a gut wound and Jenny was burried not far from where we first see the gang?

See that is a little confusing, but I hope that answers your question! I had a lot of fun answering it at least, rereading Arthur's journal and all.

[leafnyx]

Crushes and Confessions (Sean Macguire x Quiet! Male Reader)

Word count - 1k

Warnings - None!!

A/n - Why does dialogue have to be so hard to write 😭. Also I really hope I got Sean’s personality right in this fic, sorry if I didn’t. (Btw I get lazy with the writing near the end)

You’ve been in the gang for a few months now, since Dutch found you on the side of the road after being abandoned by your previous gang. Although you know everyone in the gang fairly well, you haven’t said more than a few words to any of them (apart from Dutch). And everyone seems to respect your bubble, well everyone but one specific Irishman.

Sean always somehow ends up by your side, wherever you are in camp, talking your ear off. Although you haven’t specifically told him to leave you be, you’d thought that he would get the hint by now because of how disinterested you always seem, but he never does.

At first you found him *very* annoying, but to your own surprise, you don’t seem to mind it as much anymore. You have even managed to develop a crush on him, though you would never say it out loud. Mainly because of the fact that it’s illegal to be gay, but also because you find it embarrassing to admit, hell you’ve barely managed to admit it to yourself.

You currently find yourself of guard duty, though you’re barely able to focus on guarding the camp because of Sean beside you talking like it’s his last day on earth and he has to get everything out of his system. You take a look around and see Arthur walking towards the two of you.

“Sean, leave [name] be and go spout off to someone who actually cares.”

“He cares about what I’m sayin’, right [name]?” He turns to look at you, and you look back at him, giving him a shrug before turning your face away, trying to hide the smile spreading across your face at his look of betrayal.

“Awh come on!”

You hand the rifle over to Arthur, as he takes over guard duty for the rest of the day. You then begin to walk away but, to your dismay, Sean follows after you.

“Hey [name] do ya want to go into town with me?”

You look over at him, thinking for a second. You come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t hurt to go, and you should probably get some things from the store anyways, so you give him a nod. Sean grins before running off to his horse, and you follow him.

The both of you get onto your respective horses before going off into valentine. Sean continues talking your ear off on the ride into town. He then begins a whole new conversation which catches your interest.

“Is there anyone in camp that ya like?”

Part of you wants to just say ‘you’ but the reasonable part of you tells you to shut the hell up because they will surely ruin whatever friendship the two of you have. You instead opt to shake your head ‘no’.

“Really? Surely you have someone”

You shake your head again, more insistently this time.

“Alright, I’ll let you keep your secrets” he grins, like he know something that you don’t, but there’s no chance he actually knows you like him… right?

You slightly panic at the thought but once again push it to the back of your brain. No way he knows.

Once the two of you get to town, you both quickly enter the store, you to get some more food and Sean to get whatever he gets, you don’t really look at what he’s doing. Afterwards you both go to the saloon.

As Sean gets more and more drinks in him, he talks to anyone who will listen to him, while you mostly continue keeping to yourself. After a few drinks, you gain some courage and decide to tell him how you feel. You begin talking before you can actually think about what you’re about to do.

“Sean”

He turns towards you, looking surprised that you actually said something.

“Holy shit you can speak!”

You roll your eyes before continuing.

“Earlier you asked me if I liked anyone in camp. I do. I like you”

You immediately regret saying that, and your flight instincts kick in, telling you to run before you can suffer any consequences for what you said but as you get up Sean quickly grabs the corner of your coat.

“Hey hey where’re you going? Ya haven’t even heard what I’ve got to say” his usual grin pops back up on his face after being gone for a few seconds. “I like you too big guy”

“… really?”

“Yep”

“Like.. more than a friend, right?”

“Yeah”

You go quiet, thinking about what just happened, shocked. But you don’t have much time to think before a guy beside the two of you begins to speak loudly.

The man quickly begins to spout out some homophobic bullshit to everyone in the saloon, calling you guys ‘devils’ and saying that you should be arrested. You have to drag Sean out of the saloon before he can attempt to fight the guy. You manage to calm him down and after a bit he suggests getting a hotel room for the two of you so you don’t have to go back to camp, which you agree to.

You buy the room, with only one bed because it’s the cheapest option, and after a few minutes Sean sneaks in. The both of you sit on the bed together.

The two of you spend the rest of the night cuddling and talking, well it’s mostly Sean talking, but you don’t seem to mind it anymore.

[ashs-cardboard-box]

The Sin of Envy

~ Dutch Van Der Linde, Hosea Matthews, Child!Arthur Morgan/Child!Male Reader

~ Familial (found family)

~2.7k words

Request :3

....................................................................................................

You owed it all to the Van Der Linde gang. Having lost it all as a mere boy, you grew up on the streets for most of your life. Just a few months after you had turned thirteen, two co-founders of said gang picked you up and treated you like their own flesh and blood.

You thought of the two of them as your fathers. Hosea was a gentle, patient individual. He took over as your primary caretaker. Feeding you, teaching you to read, write, and pick apart safe from toxic herbs. As such, you were a lot closer to him, though that’s not to say you didn’t care for your other father figure.

Dutch was a more stern, focused man. He kept you in line should you disobey either him or Hosea. While he wasn’t as open about his affection towards you, his protection and observations over your well-being showed he had a heart.

Living with them for the next three years of your life were nothing short of great– as great as life on the road can be. Dutch and Hosea were slowly attempting to gather members for a gang, with little success. The two would always praise you for the fine young man you’ve grown to be, starting to teach you your way around a gun.

However, when another, younger, orphan boy was picked up in the same manner you were, you couldn’t help but feel a little off about it. Stubbornly standing a ways off to the side with your arms folded across your chest as your father figures feed the boy at one of the few tables around a newly formed camp.

You didn’t know his name, and you weren’t sure you wanted to. You wanted to march right up to them and ask Hosea to teach you again the proper positioning of your weaponry, but you didn't. Instead, you stand and stare as silently as possible.

Much to your dismay, Dutch is more observant than you thought. He looks over towards you and away from the new boy, that same blank expression on his face. “Boy. C’mere.” He beckons, pulling Hosea and the boy’s attention over to you as well.

Feeling awkward with their eyes on you, you shuffle over to the poorly constructed, wooden table. Slowly dropping your arms back down to your sides, your shoulders slouching forward slightly. “Ah, Y/N! I don’t s’pose we’ve introduced you to Arthur here!”

Hosea seems excited about the new addition to your family. A wide grin spread across his face, the corners of his eyes crinkling. You and Arthur don’t say anything to one another. Staring at each other as if trying to read what the other is thinking.

Arthur looks away from you and turns back down to his food in front of him on the table. Stuffing his face as if he hadn’t eaten in a long while– a statement you could fully believe. He was scrawny, but you couldn’t deny the height the other boy had on you, only serving to make you more envious.

“He’s gonna stick around for a while. Found him the same way we found you, y’know.” Hosea points out with a chuckle as Dutch merely nods, turning back to his conversation with Arthur, almost seeming like a promise of a better life if he joined the gang.

You look back towards Hosea with a small sigh. Muttering a quiet “okay, papa” and giving your father figure a subtle smile. Accepting that as your agreement, Hosea joins their conversation once more, shutting you out.

You can’t deny the pang of resentment and jealousy building in your chest. Taking your leave and heading back to your tent to find something to do. You weren’t really used to being on your own anymore. After having to fend for yourself for the first decade of your life, you assumed you wouldn’t feel this way. Unfortunately, you got attached.

You’re not sure how long has passed of you sitting still on your bedroll, staring blankly at the floor, deep in thought, but you get caught off guard by a short “hey.”

Lifting your head, you find Arthur standing at the entrance of your open tent. The sun casting his shadow across the floor. You’re not sure why, but his presence just upsets you further. Your fingers beginning to fidget with one another as your hands rest in your lap.

“What’d’ya want..?” you grumble, trying to keep your harshness under wraps. He’s only two years younger than you, at fourteen, but that fact makes you feel worse. You’re scared. The last thing you want to be is an old toy your father figures toss aside for something new. Someone younger and much different from you.

Arthur shrugs with a hum of “i dunno.” While you got passed down some of Hosea’s old clothes as a hand-me-down, Arthur’s clothes are dirty and torn. The hems of his pant legs are frayed, the fragile strings flicking with each slight gust of wind.

“You wanna play dominoes?” He asks hopefully with a small tilt of his head. You don’t really want to be so mean to the new boy, but you can already feel that urge mounting. You take a deep breath before responding with a curt “no.”

“Well why not? You got somethin’ better to do?” Arthur asks curiously, but to you, it’s just plain obnoxious. Pushing yourself to your feet and crossing your tent. Walking right passed Arthur without another word to him.

You knew you shouldn’t, but you just didn’t stop walking. Right out of the small camp and heading wherever your feet took you. Slowly shuffling through the dense woods, brooding as your boots step over leaf after twig, crunching under your weight.

It wasn’t until you made it to the nearby town that you realized just what you had done. You were forbidden from leaving camp without either Dutch or Hosea until you could learn how to properly handle your gun. They just cared for you, after all.

Unfortunately, you had the bright idea to prove yourself to them. If you could prove you were strong, maybe they’d like you over Arthur again. You wanted your family to yourself again. You refused to be replaced.

Waltzing right into the budding city with nothing but false confidence keeping your head held high. Your mind darting over what you could possibly do to show you’re a strong man. The civilians didn’t bat an eye, seeming to not even notice you among the many other individuals.

Taking what little you’ve gathered from Dutch’s schemes with Hosea, you settled on pickpocketing. It seemed easy enough, and you could make a lot of money depending on who you choose.

Now looking at the surrounding people like nothing more than their wallets, you spot a shorter, older man waiting for the train with a newspaper held between his fingers. Perfect, you thought. Taking it upon yourself to take a seat next to him on the old wooden bench. He doesn’t seem to care about your presence; he’s far too enamored by whatever’s happening in the region.

Slowly, you slide your hand across the unsanded wood, feeling prick after prick of splinters threatening to pierce your skin. You’re too focused to care. Your eyes rapidly flicking from your hand, to the man, to something mundane in front of you to avoid seeming like you’re staring at him.

You make good progress. Getting as close as caressing the man’s pocket jean with your pinky, before you hear a ruffling of the newspaper, followed by a rough grip around your wrist, causing you to hiss in pain.

“The hell you think you’re doin’, kid?” The man demands, tugging your wrist away from his body, but not letting go of it. His face contorted into one of frustration at your audacity. You don’t respond, and that seems like the wrong choice to make. Staring doe-eyed at the man with a small grimace, wanting to be strong and not show pain nor fear, though you feel it all.

The man grunts in disapproval, giving your wrist a sharp tug and sending you down onto the floor of the train station. Propping yourself up on your elbows as you stare up at him, but you don’t run away. You’re not strong. You’re terrified.

“Someone oughta teach you a lesson, boy.” He spits coldly as he stands up, reaching down to tug you up by the collar of your shirt and drag you to your unsteady feet. Letting go of you and taking a step back putting up his fists, glaring at you to tell you to follow. “Be a man. Fight me for it.” he challenges

Feeling that false, stubborn confidence return, you put your fists up at the level of your eyes, copying the man. The man has both an experience advantage, and a physical advantage over you. He might be short in stature, but he’s bulky in his old age– seeming in his late fifties. You, on the other hand, barely hold your own when fake sparring against Dutch, only meant to be a teaching lesson.

Instead of letting you try and strike first, the man cocks you in the first hit. Your head knocking back as you take a right jab straight to the nose, causing your eyes to water. Your form curling into itself as you whine in pain. Your nose dripping blood down your lips and chin. The crimson liquid staining your hands.

Not giving you time to brace yourself, the man takes you by your shoulders and knees you in the gut, knocking the wind out of you as your knees give out. “Your daddy would be disappointed. You ain’t a man. Might as well become one of ‘em two dollar whores.” he scoffs a laugh, glaring down at you as if you’re the scum of the Earth.

All you can do is clutch your stomach with your entire forearm as your other hand clasps over your mouth. The blood from your nose dripping down the back of your hand and hitting the train platform with a near silent splat. Looking up at the man through watery eyes, choking back tears.

The man pays you no sympathy. Palming your forehead and shoving you backwards, causing you to land awkwardly on your back. Groaning quietly from behind your blood stained hand. He stares down at you coldly for a long moment before stepping away from you. Bending down to pick up his newspaper from off his spot on the bench before taking his seat again, acting as if nothing happened. “Get outta here, kid. If you know what’s good for ya.”

As soon as you regain the ability to breathe properly, you scamper to your feet and run off with your tail between your legs to go lick your wounds. Fat tears rolled down your cheeks as you retrace your steps through the town and back into the woods. Blood staining your face and shirt.

You’re reluctant to go back to camp. What were you supposed to say? That you were jealous of their new favorite and decided to go get your ass kicked? You stumble slowly through the woods, massaging your sore abdomen. Each time you sniffle due to your tears, only swallowing more blood than you should.

Staring at the empty clearing around twenty feet away, signifying the entrance of camp, you stop. You’re a mess. You feel completely emasculated, hurt and jealous. Wondering if the stray boy they call Arthur could’ve done better than you. You’re mostly silent. The only thing heard from you are small sniffles and pained whimpers.

Hearing a cacophony of different, yet familiar, voices all calling your name into the void of the woods, you feel even worse. You don’t want to be seen like this. Your face stained with blood and tears, dripping down the front of your shirt. 

Before you can even consider heading inside on your own, you hear two sets of footsteps rapidly approaching you from your left. Quickly turning, you spot Arthur and Hosea– both seem terribly worried about your sudden disappearance, only made worse when they see the state you’ve been left in.

Arthur is the first to get to you. Gawking at you as if you’ve grown three heads, only causing you to turn away from him. Your tears continuing to shamefully roll down your cheeks. He’s the last person you want to see right now. Hosea, however, is a different story.

Hosea sighs heavily as he approaches, reaching forward and pulling you into a tight hug– just like he used to when you were younger. Resting your bloodied chin on Hosea’s shoulder, you wrap your arms around his frame tightly. Your fingers balling tightly around the back of his shirt.

“What happened to you, son? You know you ain’t s’posed to run off like that..” He chides gently, running a hand up and down your back soothingly. You mumble a meek “‘m sorry, papa” in response. Sounding more like a timid boy than a young man.

“It’s alright, boy.. You’re okay..” Hosea murmurs into your ear, letting you try and compose yourself despite the soreness of your body. A much harder task to accomplish with Arthur’s bright eyes on you. “Where’d you go? Why’d you leave?” he questions, not wanting to force you to respond.

“Th- The town.. Just nearby. I–” you pause, swallowing the uncomfortable concoction of saliva and metallic blood pooling in your mouth. “I- you just…” you’re not sure if you want to be honest or not. On one hand, Hosea could help with what’s weighing so heavily on your chest. On the other, he could ridicule you for getting into trouble over something so stupid.

“You ‘n Dutch got along with Arthur so well.. ‘n I got scared that y-you were gonna leave me for him. Wanted to prove I was strong so you wouldn’t think he’s better..” you sob, feeling it all come crashing down at the admittance of your envy. Arthur is taken aback by your statement, but Hosea seems unfazed. Only focused on making you feel better.

“It ain’t a game of favoritism, son. Dutch and I care for you boys equally. You’re real damn stupid for runnin’ off ‘n getting your ass beat, but that don’t mean Arthur’s any greater or lesser than the man you’re growing up to be, you understand?”

You nod slightly with another small sniffle, slowly pulling away from the hug. You wipe your eyes with your fingers on your clean hand, not keen on the idea of getting blood near your eyes. Hosea sighs as he inspects your face. You’re grateful he’s not upset with you, but you still feel guilty. You hadn’t even considered what a fuss you would’ve caused.

“Arthur,” Hosea starts, looking over towards the other boy, prompting him to look at Hosea with a quiet hum of acknowledgement. “Take Y/N back to my tent. Clean him up a bit, will you? I’ll let Dutch know he’s back” He lays out, leaving no room for disagreement.

Arthur copies you and nods, shuffling around you awkwardly and beginning to make his way back to camp. Tentatively, you follow behind. You’re not sure how you feel. It feels like a weight has been pulled off your shoulders, only to be replaced by a heavier weight of guilt for your jealousy.

Not a word is spoken between you two as you follow the younger boy back to Hosea’s tent. Your boots scuffing against the ground below until you slink down onto Hosea’s cot with a heavy sigh. Arthur wastes no time soaking an old washrag in alcohol and approaching you again. Carefully wiping the blood off your face.

“Sorry for..y’know- makin’ you jealous ‘n whatever. Never meant to..” He mutters quietly, focused on getting the dried blood off your skin. “It ain’t your fault.. Was just- scared, I guess..” you respond quietly, trying not to speak too much so as to not disrupt his work.

It felt uncomfortable to be getting cleaned up by the younger boy, but you can’t complain. Your leg mindlessly bouncing against the floor of Hosea’s tent. Sighing heavily from your nose as you let your sore body actually relax under Arthur’s care.

“You still up for that dominoes game?” You mumble quietly, a small smile spreading across your blood stained lips as you look up at Arthur hopefully. He stands up a bit straighter at your question before he rolls his eyes and gets back to helping you. “I thought you’d never ask.”

....................................................................................................

finished this on 2%

Hope you like it !! :3

[penumbralbeast]

Okay maybe I'm in the minority here but something I'm seeing in the Warframe community here on Tumblr that's frustrating.

I'm begging people to please develop some emotional maturity and learn how to regulate themselves when they engage with potentially triggering content, and furthermore: expect there to be triggering content when you PLAY A GAME ABOUT ORPHANED CHILD SOLDIERS CONTROLLING BIOMECHANICAL SUPER SOLDIERS who literally used to be people.

You can't fucking waltz into a petting zoo for snakes, and get upset when they offer you a snake to pet, knowing full well you're afraid of snakes.

I am begging people to please have the emotional intelligence to look at a game that routinely features storylines about trauma, abuse, war, injury, death, motherhood, child abuse, ect, and anticipate that it may, *without warning*, containt content that is potentially triggering. You have to expect this. You have to. You have to be prepared for this eventuality.

I'm so fucking grateful that DE's been good about trigger warnings on major quests like New War, and Jade Shadows, but DE should NOT have to hold your hand and shield you from all the big bad scary things that happen in the world.

Like, goddamn I'm immensely sorry that whatever happened to put you in this state happened at all, but you're in for a very long, very rough, very painful life if you expect every piece of content you consume to do this.

Warframe is a dark game. It has body horror. It has torture. It has abuse. It has maternal trauma. You have to expect a game with those topics/themes, to contain them in every fiber of its being.

If you've played thru til 1999, Then you've played every other major quest that contains some pretty dark/truamatizing content. Umbra being forced to murder his own son after being turned into a Warframe. The Operator being forced to kill their own parents or be eaten alive/ripped apart. Lotus' battle with her desire for motherhood, Ballas' attempt to use the Veil to gaslight and emotionally manipulate the Operator, so so so so much more. You've been down this road. You should know what to expect.

And if you're playing 1999 and find you're getting triggered/stressed by the things that the Hex are saying because 'there's no trigger warning!' then please just. don't engage with the system. just do the syndicate levels, and play enough until you're 'Liked' if you want to do the finale. You don't need to do anything else. You don't even need to use the KIM system. You can build friendship through Bounties, and gifting. You have to level up the syndicate anyways just to get to 'Liked' which is required for the Finale.

You don't have to romance them. You don't have to flirt. You don't have to get to the point where Eleanor talks about her traumatic car crash, or where Arthur talks about the teddy bear he took out of a bombed out child's room. You don't.

And if you do want to continue the conversation, its entirely your responsibility to choose the dialogue options that steer away from triggering content.

I DO personally wish the dialogue system played into our alignment status but that's neither here nor there.

That said, I'm begging people to please find better ways to engage with content than being offended when they rent 'Murder Clowns 7' and its a movie about murderous clowns. Please. There's an expectation of intelligence here and so many people are proving that they lack that.

Love you all, stay safe. And be smart.

[ka0ila]

| Smoke Break

warnings - depression, smoking, angst, hurt, argument, sensitive topics, suicide attempt(lmk if theres more)

summary - you and seungmin had a messy argument, you thought you’d just take a small smoke break, but was it just a smoke break?

pairing - roommate!seungmin x depressed!reader

• m.list

© Ka0ila 2023 — all rights reserved. i do not allow translations, or any kind of distribution on other platforms. this is my only account.

i tried. i really, really tried.

i really tried to be better, not for me but for him.

i really tried believing everything will be merry if i just worked hard, i did.

but i’m breaking, breaking down pieces by pieces each day, hurting everyone around me, looking at all the disappointed faces.

i really tried, really tried be someone he’d want.

someone mature, successful, peaceful to be with.

but me? i’m depressed, struggling, and draining to be with.

he left 5 days ago for his business trip to Paris, leaving the house to me. i came back from work the day before he’s gonna arrive and find a messy apartment to myself. i sigh keeping my bag putting my hands on my face huffing.

i need to clean this, i can’t give him more reasons to hate me.

i had really fallen in love, but i know if i ever end up having him, i’ll completely ruin him. i can’t have anyone stay, i have no promises to make, i can’t even promise myself.

i pick up the pair of socks on the ground, followed by my old shirt and slowly steadily started cleaning the place.

i never really smoke at him, i don’t want him to know i smoke, it’s disgusting, but i’m so into it i can’t get out. a small smoke break won’t hurt? right?

i made my way to the balcony, mesmerised by the beauty of the skyscrapers and apartments. i always found myself coming back to new york. always. for some reason i always end up here, and i don’t hate it. i love this city truly, but i hate the memories attached to it. looking at a couple walking down the road i take a puff.

A second one wouldn’t hurt right? second became third, third became fourth, fourth became fifth, there was nothing to stop me, nobody to care for, no fear to get caught, then why stop?

“(y/n)?” i flinched, seungmin? but he wasn’t coming till tomorrow?

i hurriedly throw my cigarette out,

“seungmin? you’re early.” i try to act normal as a puff came out of my mouth.

“you’re smoking?” he frowned, it felt as if he was taunting. i didn’t say anything, words betrayed me, i stood there still.

“do whatever but not in my apartment.” he said scoffing. why was he being so mean? oh so he didn’t care at all? his apartment?

it hurt my ego, and i let it get the best of me.

“your apartment seungmin? where you are rarely in? sure. I will smoke wherever i want seungmin” i mock. he was staring at me, disappointed?

“i have work (y/n) , not like you— fuck why am i even arguing with you? you’re just an useless roommate who can’t keep the apartment clean for 5 fucking days or have the decency to not smoke in the apartment.” he leaves.

i stare, stare and stare blanky. i freeze at his words, but i was really trying, i really was. i stood still, processing.

i felt something on my hand, water? was i crying?

i slowly walk towards my room’s bathroom, a cold shower bath would really help right now.

as i was laying in the bathtub, i go down and down, slowly, and i didn’t protest, i let it happen, i look at the ceiling, did i really want this? to live like this? fake hopes? pain? temporary happiness?

i said alot to her, i couldve handled it differently, fuck. i heard her open her room’s door, i saw her walk into the bathroom through the door creak. i should probably give her some space, fuck i felt guilty. i knew she wasn’t doing good lately and used it against her? thats not who i am i wanted to look upto me, to be safe with me.

time passed, i was growing anxious, was isn’t she coming out? it’s been 45 minutes, it’s worrying me. she always took quick baths, why is she still there. something inside me, an instinct, a voice forced me to go into the bathroom, it told me something’s wrong, i knew it.

“(y/n)? (Y/N)” she was deep inside the water, eyes closed, fuck fuck, hearing my voice she got up gasping for air.

she tried.. drowning herself?

“what the fuck are you doing?” i put my hand on her back to support her get up, she was crying, her eyes were red,

“i swear it wasn’t intentional i couldn’t.. i couldn’t stop it seungmin, i swear please” she was holding my hands, begging, whimpering and crying,

my eyes fall on her dark circles, then her sad eyes, then her dry lips, she lost weight? how did i never notice?

“it’s okay, it’s okay i’m here baby, it’s okay”

i pat her head slowly taking her in my embrace, kissing her forehead time to time, “it’s okay, i’m not mad, i know you didn’t mean it, you’ll be okay”

“let’s get you out of here, hm? let’s get you on the bed”

she looked so tired, so weak.

i pick her up and lay her down on her bed, dressing her up in fresh clothes. I lay beside her, gently caressing her forehead and hair, looking at her sleeping face. i place a small kiss on her nose,

“i love you seungmin” she mumbled in her sleep as she nuzzles into my neck,

“i’ve always loved you (y/n)” i said as i rest my chin on top of her head, soothing her hair.

posted after a while haha, felt like writing, getting it out lol, sort of a rant—? hehe.

likes & reposts are appreciated <33

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

Lisel & Po by Lauren Oliver

Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice,until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.

That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable.

Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.

Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein

Jim Marlow and his strange-looking Martian friend Willis were allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tuned into a treacherous plot that threatened all the colonists on Mars, and it set Jim off on a terrfying adventure that could save--or destroy--them all!

The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton

It's their very first adventure and the Secret Seven super-sleuths are already on the trail of a mystery! The gang are dressed in disguise, following a lead to a spooky old house in the snow...

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

"A road's a kind of holy thing," said Roger the Minstrel to his son, Adam. "That's why it's a good work to keep a road in repair, like giving alms to the poor or tending the sick. It's open to the sun and wind and rain. It brings all kinds of people and all parts of England together. And it's home to a minstrel, even though he may happen to be sleeping in a castle."

And Adam, though only eleven, was to remember his father's words when his beloved dog, Nick, was stolen and Roger had disappeared and he found himself traveling alone along these same great roads, searching the fairs and market towns for his father and his dog.

The Squire's Tales by Gerald Morris

Life for the young orphan Terence has been peaceful, living with Trevisant, the old Hermit in a quiet, isolated wood.

That is, until the day a strange green sprite leads him to Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, who is on his way to Camelot hoping to be knighted. Trevisant can see the future and knows that Terence must leave to serve as Gawain's squire. From that moment on, Terence's life is filled with heart-stopping adventure as he helps damsels-in-distress, fights battles with devious men, and protects King Arthur from his many enemies.

Along the way, Terence is amazed at his skills and new-found magical abilities. Were these a gift from his unknown parents? As Gawain continues his quest for knighthood, Terence searches for answers to the riddles in his own past.

The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix

Tal has lived his whole life in darkness. He has never left his home, a mysterious castle of seven towers. He does not see the threat that will tear apart his family and his world. But Tal cannot stay safe forever. When danger strikes, he must desperately climb the Red Tower to steal a Sunstone. He reaches the top... ...and then he falls into a strange and unknown world of warriors, ice ships, and hidden magic. There Tal makes an enemy who will save his life and holds the key to his future.

The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston

There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe... even though they've been dead for centuries.

But that's how everything is at Green Knowe. The ancient manor hides as many stories as it does dusty old rooms.

And the master of the house is great-grandmother Oldknow, whose storytelling mixes present and past with the oldest magic in the world.

Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are identical twins at Sweet Valley High. They're both popular, smart, and gorgeous, but that's where the similarity ends. Elizabeth is friendly, outgoing, and sincere—nothing like her snobbish and conniving twin. Jessica gets what she wants—at school, with friends, and especially with boys.

This time, Jessica has set her sights on Todd Wilkins, the handsome star of the basketball team—the one boy that Elizabeth really likes. Elizabeth doesn't want to lose him, but what Jessica wants, Jessica usually gets ... even if it ends up hurting her sister.

City Spies by James Ponti

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sarah is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.

No one said saving the world was easy…

Carrie's War by Nina Bawden

Albert, Carrie and young Nick are war-time evacuees whose lives get so tangled up with the people they've come to live among that the war and their real families seem to belong to another world. Carrie and Nick are billeted in Wales with old Mr Evans, who is so mean and cold, and his timid mouse of a sister, Lou, who suddenly starts having secrets.

Their friend Albert is luckier, living in Druid's Bottom with warm-hearted Hepzibah Green and the strange Mister Johnny, who can talk to animals but not to human beings. Carrie and Nick visit him there whenever they can for Hepzibah makes life exciting and enticing with her stories and delicious cooking. Gradually they begin to feel more at ease in their war-time home, but then, in trying to heal the rift between Mr Evans and his estranged sister, and save Druid's Bottom, Carrie does a terrible thing which is to haunt her for years to come.

[jokeringcutio]

Prologue: ~His Brother ~ (Explicit Grabber x Reader & Arthur Harrow x Reader Multi-chapter fic)

His Brother

Will also be uploaded on AO3: JokeringCutio

Story Summary:

When his brother Albert joins the cult, Arthur asks you to be the girl to comfort him. You’re a tool to keep Albert in check. Or could there be more to it?

~ * ~

“Tell me, is it because I was a sinner once? Did you sent me someone to love, someone who needs to be rescued from themselves, So I can learn from this process, how to heal myself? Someone I need to find an anchor for? I don’t see the solution. But I know it must be here.”

~ * ~

Prologue

Whispers about a new face in the community spread fast, like wildfire among those who lived within the compound. You heard them before you saw him. A man who was physically so similar to your leader that it made your heart flutter in confusion.

“His brother,” the whispers said. “Arthur’s blood.”

Arthur was never truly near you, and you only caught sight of him during ceremonies or meals. You thanked whatever God might exist for that. If you ever had a religion, it was now a shattered faith. The pieces of it were like shards in your hands, the pain reminding you of how you got here and how you couldn’t leave.

Ammit was your goddess now.

You’d been a fool, but you would make the best of your stay.

Time ebbed by slowly in the community. You worked a job that had never crossed your mind or been your dream. And your free time was spent taking care of the elderly in the community or babysitting the youngest. Like a nanny and a nurse. It wasn’t as if you could refuse. Everyone who followed the Goddess had to pull their weight and show their worth somehow. You had chosen the easy way out, willingly taking on the role of a caretaker when the alternatives were far worse. You much preferred helping out others over more physically challenging labor. Or indeed, over chores that would possibly be mentally scarring.

That is why, the first time you saw him, you were on your way to help out an elderly couple who lived two blocks away. You paused in your tracks to study him, still far away on the other side of the road. His multi-colored vest and brown flared pants made him look completely different from the leader of your group. But still, you saw the similarities. How could anyone miss them?

It was when his eyes suddenly turned to you that you quickly looked down at your feet, clutched the bag filled with groceries that you were holding tighter to your chest, and hurried to the address you were wanted at.

You caught glimpses of him at times, when he was at work with the other men. Either lumbering wood, or when he sat at the same table with your leader for a meal.

During one of those shared dinners in the compound, Lin nudged you.

“He’s been looking at you,” Lin said. She lived in the same apartment building as you did and was one of the few people you considered a friend. It wasn’t hard, the two of you had your rooms on the same floor and shared a kitchen and shower. You felt like you were living in some kind of student house, not at all where you wanted to be at this stage in your life. But it was the card you’d been dealt.

You slowly turned to look in the same direction she was looking at, only to find that the man she talked about had turned away from you. No eyes upon you there. She must have imagined it. he leader’s brother was listening to the leader himself. Arthur seemed to have no eyes for you either, and with a sigh, you turned back to your plate. You wished the shared meals weren’t a necessity. That you would earn enough to stand on your own two feet and eat self-made dinners at home.

But it wasn’t how things worked within the compound. Everyone was expected to come here and showthey still shared the same faith. You already skipped so many of the sermons, missing out would turn you into a sinner.

The days stretched since Arthur’s brother’s arrival.

You still didn’t know his name and only ever saw glimpses of him. He looked the same, you thought, cheeks flushed as you tried to avoid him. It became harder, as you found him stumbling upon your route more and more often when you went to your charity jobs. He just happened to be there, watching, when you left your apartment to go to the elderly. He would be in the same building, fixing leaks and whitening the ceiling when you had your shift looking after the kids while their parents were working.

You felt his cold blue eyes upon you, burning.

But whenever you turned to look at him, his gaze was gone.

You seriously started to wonder if it was all inside your head. If your brain had made up new fantasies about this stranger because he looked so much like his brother, the man you wanted to love.

As said before, time passed ever so slowly within the compound. Your routine seemed never-ending. A dull circle of tasks. But those you helped were grateful.

Until one day you made your way to the dining table in the common hall where most of the followers living in the compound would come to have a meal. You were still filling your plate when behind you, you heard the familiar voice of your leader.

Arthur.

His warm voice hummed pleasantly, sending tingles of longing down the pit of your stomach to come to rest between your legs. You squeezed your thighs while you tried to ignore the honey-sweet low rumble as he talked.

His words were too far away to decipher. You prayed he would not step closer, that he would go away and leave you be. And you took your time scooping up soup and adding from the menu, all ever so slowly in the hopes of avoiding coming face to face with the man who made your body react so fervently against your mind.

Still, curious, you peeked over your shoulder. Arthur was talking to Lin. You could see his lips move. Sensually, you thought, and with a blush on your cheeks quickly looked away. Thoughts warred in your mind. On one hand, you were scared of him, because you knew what his mere presence did to your body. On the other, you were upset that he was giving your friend attention. Why did he never speak to you that way? He always seemed to ignore your presence.

He hadn’t been so distant at the start. When you first came here as a tourist, a traveler from afar, he had even placed his hand upon your shoulder and convinced you to do the judging ceremony. Of course, he had convinced you. From the moment you met, you’d been madly in love. You saw things clouded, heard the praise the people here sang of him, and thought that giving into his request could do little harm.

Naïve, you thought. You’d been so naïve. It had all been a trick to capture you, make you part of the knitted construction that was this depraved little society he had formed around him.

You quietly made your way toward one of the long tables and sat down. You’d gotten in too deep. And you wondered if you’d ever get out again.

“We are expected to attend tomorrow’s ceremony,” Lin said while she set her plate down on the table next to you. “Both of us.”

Then she sat down beside you and made herself comfortable, sitting a little too close, her arm brushing past yours. She gave you a sidelong glance and smiled. “You’re coming, right?”

“Of course I am,” you grunted, not at all that happy that you’d be forced to attend another ceremony. But staying away would be an insult now that you had personally been invited. You glanced behind you to see that Arthur had indeed retreated. He was no longer standing in the hall or anywhere near you. Instead, he sat at the far end of the room at a table with some of his close followers. His brother was there as well, all of them emerged in conversation.

You sighed and let the spoon dip into your soup. Another one of Victor’s recipes. You knew that he cooked for the group most of the time. Though there were days you were served meals prepared by Arthur. Apparently, he enjoyed cooking. You’d never caught him standing in the kitchen or talking to Victor though.

Victor was the other person you considered as close to a friend as you could make within the community. Although he was a firm believer in Ammit, he knew how to make you smile and tell funny jokes. He alleviated some of the pain and sorrow you felt when you remembered you were trapped in this cult. He made you forget.

You looked up and smiled when he passed your table, clearly on his way to the men’s table that harbored Arthur at the far end of the room. “Taste’s good, Vic,” you called out, loud enough to catch his attention.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to face you with a bright smile. “You think? Thank you,” and then he took a step closer to your table. You felt Lin press herself closer to your side. For some reason, she didn’t like Victor that much. But then again, she hardly ever saw or spoke to him. How well did she actually know him, you thought.

“You should accept my offer to come and help me out in the kitchen one day. I’ve got a thing or two in mind that I could teach you,” Victor said, adding a wink at the end.

He characteristically carried a kitchen towel in his hands, which he now flung over his shoulder playfully. The towel draped like a cape. A real chef, you thought. He did not just have the skills, but also the looks of one.

“Thank you,” you said, but then you shook your head with a smile. Victor’s smile drooped a little, already knowing the answer you were going to give. Truth be said, you liked the idea of helping Victor out in the kitchen. But it would increase your risk of meeting Arthur. What if he just happened to come to cook that day? Your heart could not take it. It would shatter, pretty much like the life and the dreams you once had.

“I know,” Victor said with a sigh. He placed his hands on his hips and shortly glanced away. “You’re too busy.”

You silently watched as he looked down at you again and his smile returned. “You should really learn to say no, missy. You’re always so busy helping others out. You need to think of yourself for once, do things that you would enjoy. We’re only young once, you know?”

When you didn’t reply, he shook his head smilingly and excused himself. “I’m expected at the grand table,” he jested, “so if you’ll excuse me, ladies,” and with a deep mocking bow, he left.

Next to you, you felt how Lin sat up a little straighter again and heard how she snorted. “I’m glad you didn’t agree to help him in the kitchen,” she said, rolling a pea across her plate with the use of her fork, not quite eating but rather playing with her food. “But I do agree that we should go out more. If only there’d be parties here.” She paused, then looked up at you in thought.

“Do you think we’ll be allowed into the city for a night out?” she suddenly asked, voice a combination of cheerful and hopeful.

Now it was your turn to snort. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” you said, letting out a bitter chuckle. “Besides, I am quite content filling my nights reading books or watching silly shows. Sort of replaces the dreams that have left me, you know.”

Lin froze, her elbow poking into your ribs without intention. “God, you are so morbid sometimes,” she said.

“That’s why you like me,” you retorted with a small smile before taking another sip from your soup.

“Yeah,” Lin sounded thoughtful while she turned back to her own meal. “Yeah, it is.”

For a moment, a comfortable silence settled between the two of you while you ate, each lost in your own thoughts. You’d noticed how Lin kept using the word 'God' while she was supposed to be a faithful follower of Ammit. Pretty much like you, you thought. She was just as cynical, just as skeptical. Just as much lured in as you had been.

If you ever needed an ally to get out, she would be it.

“He’s watching you again.” Lin’s voice made you look up in confusion, thinking she spoke of Victor but hoping it was actually Arthur who looked your way.

When you followed her gaze to their table, you saw that it was neither of them. It was the man next to Arthur who was looking your way. His mirror-self. His brother.

His eyes were upon you all right. Blue-grey orbs roved over you, then slid to the man at his side. His attention had wavered and you let out a sigh of relief.

“Didn’t that make you feel uncomfortable?” Lin asked while she wiped her lips clean with a handkerchief. She turned her back towards the table of men so she could focus solely on you.

Worry sounded in her voice. You loved that she was this protective of you, but even you knew that there was only so much protection she could offer.

Besides, this was but a stranger looking your way. A short glance. What harm could it do?

“No,” you lied. You turned back to your plate to poke the last of your food, appetite long gone. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

But Arthur’s eyes were upon you, dark and stormy.

You didn’t notice.

~~

Notes:

Happy New Year, fellow Black Phone, Moon Knight and Ethan Hawke lovers. Here's a promised multi-chapter fic in which you will be married off to Albert, Arthur's brother. Prepare for some forced marriage/relationship Albert Shaw (Grabber) x Reader that will turn into a more romantic situation and that will go from dub-con to con. But also prepare for Arthur Harrow x Reader. And quite possibly both brothers at the same time if I get in the mood to write it :3 There will be Mentions of Past Abuse for the brothers Arthur/Albert/Max, probably. Reader will be on Birth Control for a large part of the fic, though I might have one of the boys take her off of it eventually.

AN: For more, follow me (:

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[svnaaaaaa]

Monte Carlo : Charles Leclerc AU (Part Seven)

pairing : charles leclerc x fem reader

summary : the end is almost near, is it the happy ending charles and y/n wanted?

warning(s) : smau, mention of sex, domestic charles, french google-translated, eventually smut yes i did it (please excuse my awkwardness, also minors dni!)

previous : part six

next : epilogue

masterlist

author's note : the pictures are credited to pinterest. i decided to end the series since the dramatic scene is over and this will be the last part before epilogue. i would like to thank you all for supporting this series, those who liked it, reblogged it, thank you so much. it was hard for me to think of the idea of making this series because i took inspiration from the movie and copying it straight 100% wouldn't be fun because of lack of original idea. so i hope there will be no one copying my story and make it their own because all rights reserved. also i squeezed all my brain juice for this baby. anyways enjoy! also all pictures are from pinterest.

tagging : (if you want to be tagged in, let me know)

recap :

"charles, gear up now." xavi said as both charles and y/n chuckled. "see you after the race?" charles asked and y/n nodded her head yes, smiling brightly at charles. "i will be here." y/n replied, making charles kiss y/n's head lightly.

-

few years later, y/n managed to finish her studies where on her graduation day, it unites almost all of her family. her father, step-mother, brother, sister, uncle isaac, aunt jane, and even her grandfather. charles attended as well with his brother, arthur.

charles_leclerc

1,101,358 likes

charles_leclerc So proud of my girl right here. After years of struggling day and night, finally it is your day to celebrate and I couldn't be more happy for your next endeavor.

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user1 beauty with brain 🫦 congrates y/n!!

user2 i would like to know whose she's wearing for the day 🤔

yourusername

509,639 likes

yourusername next stop, f1 paddock 🏁

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charles_leclerc

2,645,756 likes

charles_leclerc Met the love of my life and I couldn't let her go. And she said yes, merçi mon amour. Je'taime ❤️

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user3 if my boyfriend doesnt do like this, imma return ship him

user4 OMGGGGGG CONGRATS!!!!!!

yourusername

1,465,805 likes

yourusername the happiest moments of my life, here's to our road of forever ❤️

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charles_leclerc

5,846,018 likes

charles_leclerc I finally got the chance to properly call you mine. Thank you mon amour for accepting me into your life as your husband. I loooooooooveeeee you forever more.

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scuderiaferrari congrates charles and y/n for your marriage life, we excited to see the little ones now 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

f1 congratulations to charles and y/n!

yourusername

2,746,701 likes

yourusername marriage life, day 1

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-

right after graduated, both charles and y/n spending the time a lot together which leads to charles decided to bring y/n to paris, just to propose to her, at her mother's favourite place on earth. her family already gave the blessing long time ago which wasn't a problem for him to do so. pascale also excited hearing the news of accepting a new daughter in-law. y/n decided move in with charles, right after the proposal which before this she lived with grace in monte carlo, and becoming fulltime wag where her only work is just following charles travel the world just for racing. she wanted to be the support that charles needed, which sometime there will be a supporting job needed from her family's company which she will be filling in on work from home mode.

grace decided to join y/n as well since her lover, mateo from her field education days, is a resident there. not wanting to be apart right after graduation, grace also decided to permenantly stay in monte carlo alongside with y/n. right after y/n's wedding with charles, grace finally engage to mateo in the garden where y/n and charles' wedding were held in. both girls were excited and can't wait to see what adventure awaits for them next.

as for amélie, she broke up with her long-term boyfriend when she learnt that he has been cheating on her a few months before the wedding. it was devastating but amélie took it as a sign to move on and pursue into her dreams, which to travel around the world and be a humanitarian. she's happy with it because it opened her eyes that life is worth living if you took a chance to see what others doing with their life.

-

the morning air breeze slipped through the sliding door that charles opened earlier once he woke up, making the skin of y/n felt the chills of it. y/n patted through the mattress beside her and found that charles wasn't on the bed like he used to, sleeping in. today is the day where f1 got a break called summer break, so this is the only time where charles' busy time will be only training and after that, he will have the time to spend with his beloved ones.

y/n sighed at the absence of charles on bed and she decided to wake up and sit on the bed for a bit. y/n inhaled the fresh air and then exhale it through her mouth. lately her body isn't doing good at all. she has been feeling terribly fatigue and the thought of food makes her want to vomit. she has no slight interest in doing whatever she wants and just want to sleep away the feeling of everything. aside from that, from charles' view, charles noticed that his wife has been in bad mood lately which caused him to be extra careful on his words especially.

also during sex which was two nights ago, charles noticed that y/n became quite hornier than ever. her breasts felt fuller, and her lust for him became wilder. she can't help but keep on sniffing for his scent, his natural scent actually because y/n doesn't like any of charles' perfumes, even the ones she gifted to him which she specifically chose it. then charles realized, it was his sweat that drives his wife crazy. weird but true.

"char?" y/n called as she entered the kitchen and saw charles sitting at the kitchen stool, watching whatever it shows on the television. charles hummed in response and saw his wife walking at his way, which caused him smiling and open his arms wide open. "i think i am ready to go to the clinic." y/n announced as she sat on charles' right lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "really, you feeling okay now?" charles asked back, rubbing his wife's back as she laid her head on his right shoulder. y/n nodded her head yes as she gave charles' neck a peck of kiss. "okay, let's go later on okay?" charles asked and once again, y/n nodded her head yes.

-

"mme leclerc." (mrs leclerc) a nurse called up. y/n stood up from her seat next to charles. charles also stood up and both of them walked into the doctor's office. "comment nous sentons-nous aujourd'hui ?" (how are we feeling today?) the doctor asked as she looked at the couple entering the room. y/n and charles took a seat each in front of the doctor's table. y/n looked at charles and charles nodded his head signalling to 'go on and tell her'.

"j'ai des nausées, de la fatigue et parfois je n'ai plus d'appétit du tout." (i have been feeling nausea, fatigue and sometime i don't have any appetite at all.) y/n explained of what happened as the doctor took note on the health report card. "et comment te sens-tu maintenant?" (and how are you feeling now?) the doctor asked. "un peu bien mais je n'ai toujours pas d'appétit pour manger." (a bit okay but still have no appetite to eat.) y/n replied as she fiddled on her fingers. "je vois. à quand remonte tes dernières règles?" (i see. when was your last period?) the doctor asked again, and this time both y/n and charles were taken back by the question.

ever since the wedding, they haven't keep any track of y/n's period. "je ne me souviens pas." (i don't remember.) y/n admitted shyly as she looked down on her lap making the doctor giggled. "pas besoin d'être gênée mme leclerc." (no need to be embarrassed mrs leclerc.) the doctor told her as she pulled a small cup from her drawer and placed on the table. "j'ai besoin que tu fasses pipi dans cette tasse et que tu la donnes au labo là-bas et que tu attendes le résultat, d'accord?" (i need you to pee in this cup and hand it to the lab back there and wait for the result, okay?) the doctor instructed and y/n nodded her head yes, grabbing the cup. "ok, merci docteur." (alright, thank you doctor.) y/n thanked as she and charles stood up and left the room.

both of them walked along the hallway to the toilet and charles let go of y/n's hand. "just go, i wait for you here." charles told her. y/n nodded her head yes and entered the toilet. as she entered the toilet, y/n exhaled. entered to one of the booths, y/n unzipped her pants and pulled down her legs. she placed the cup between her legs as she focused on her peeing. sounds weird but it is weird when you need to pee for a purpose instead of nature call.

right after the business was done, y/n exited the toilet and placed the cup at the lab's counter nearby the toilet. y/n saw charles sat at one of the benches and came to go sit next to him. y/n grabbed charles' left arm and hug it. charles combed through y/n's hair as he kissed it. "nervous?" y/n asked charles as she looked up at him. charles chuckled. "whatever the result going to be, i believe it is in our favour." charles replied, making y/n bit her upper lip, as an act of expressing nervous.

"mme leclerc." the nurse called again.

-

celebrating at pascale's house for arthur's podium in monaco grand prix, the party was attended by everyone they know, including y/n's family came from nice and also san fransisco. "everyone, may i have your attention please." charles announced as he clicking on his wine glass. the attention now focused at charles, which made him kind of nervous. as people were anticipating, making charles chuckled where y/n immediately rushed her way to charles for support.

"as you all far known, my wife and i have been married for such a long time now and in God's will, we will be having our own next ferrari driver next year." charles announced, making some of the guests gasped in surprise, cheering and most importantly, both pascale and arthur rushed their ways to charles and y/n. pascale hugged both her son and daughter in-law as arthur patted charles' back, yelling "congrates bro!" making both charles and y/n chuckled.

in the late night, where they are now in their cozy home, charles pressed y/n against the wall in their hallway where charles hold his wife's head in his hands. charles, who didn't waste any more time, leaned in to his wife's lips which fits perfectly. the kiss became more hungrily than ever as y/n's moves up to charles' body to unbutton his shirt. charles deepened the kiss as he bit the bottom lip of y/n which caused her to gasp which allowing charles to tangle his tongue with his wife's. as she pushed off the shirt of charles, y/n's hands move up to charles' head where she grabbed on charles' dark brown hair, making charles groans, let go of her lips.

y/n who pushed her husband off her and grabbed charles' hands, pulled him towards their bedroom where y/n pushed him on their bed. y/n grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled if off of her, which she threw at charles' direction, gently. charles pulled it off his sight and the bed deepened with y/n's weight as she crawled onto charles' laps which makes charles wrapped his arms around his wife's waist. charles moved his hands up to where the bra's hook placed behind his wife's back and in swift, he unhooks it. he let go of his wife's bra where the bra left the bed to the floor. the view of his wife's breasts exposed to his eyes which makes charles gulped and examined his wife's breasts. he admired how y/n's breasts look different from how it looked in bra and how it looked now. especially now that they are expecting a baby, charles learned that a woman's breasts will change according to how the pregnancy goes, which makes his wife's breasts will grow fuller than how it is now.

leaning in for kisses with y/n on his laps, charles' right hand grabbed onto y/n's left breast where he leaned into his lips, kissing around the areola. y/n whimpered at the feel of her husband's lips on her breast. "char.." y/n moaned out which caused her gripped on charles' hair scalp, making charles groaned while suckling.

charles' left hand balanced his wife, which he placed on her back, on his laps as his right hand went south to feel onto his wife's wetness through her panties. y/n moaned at the feeling of charles' finger teasing as she leaned her forehead onto charles' left shoulder. she grabbed charles' teasing hand and led it into her panties where charles took control of it and use his pointer finger to lightly poke his wife's bundle of nerve, making his wife whimpering in his left arm. wrapping her arms around her husband's shoulder, y/n tighten her hug as charles speed up his teasing, making y/n unsettling in her seat.

"charles ... please." y/n whimpered out, her left arm reached for her back to the hem of her panties and eventually pulled the elastic band down from her butt which makes charles' right hand helped her pulled the panties along the way to her legs. as her bottom was free, automatically y/n's legs spread out, presenting her pussy to her husband. charles' breath starting to increase and the erection in his pants starting to pulsating as well as if he felt it starting to erect growing, wanting to be free from it confinement. charles looked at his wife's face and he could see how much drunkard his wife turned into, drunk in love. charles placed his lips on his wife's as his pointer and middle fingers went straight to y/n's pussy, entering the fingers at the entrance, making y/n groaned in satisfaction as her hips follow charles' pumping the pussy.

squirming, y/n dragged her hands towards charles' pants and gripped the hem of the pants around his waist. unbuttoned the pants, y/n dragged the pants down to charles' butt. lifting up the butt and pulling his fingers out of his wife's pussy, charles continued on pulling his pants and boxer off, freeing the confined erection. as the pants off, y/n immediately grabbed her husband's erection and slowly pumping it, causing charles hissing in pleasure. "sweetheart..." charles exhaled as he grabbed his wife's wrists. "tonight is about you, you're the center of attention." charles informed as he pushed his wife gently, laid on the bed on her back as his left hand grabbed his erection, continued on pumping it gently and a small wetness came from the tip of it. spreading it as a small lubrication, charles placed his growing erection on his wife's pussy, moving it back and forth as it creating a small pleasure for the pair.

the room filled with moans and groans as the hot air of monte carlo mixed with the heat of the moment, where y/n grabbed the erection of her husband and poke her entrance where charles continued it with slowly pushed it in, creating more pleasure for both of them. as charled groaned in pleasure and couldn't wait to aggresively pound on his wife, he saw his wife grabbed onto her breasts as she tried to creating more pleasure by stimulating the nipples. charles who is turning on even more, placed his hands on his wife's hands which she removes hers and grabbed his arms, charles moaned even more as he could see how turned on his wife is, making him pumping his wife a bit more aggressive.

y/n groaned even more as she try to reach for charles' back, clawing him as she spreading out her legs even more, bending it while charles moving back and forth entering and exiting from her pussy, which they could here the sound of it. y/n bending her back forward as charles lowering his hands down on y/n's body as he placed it at her waist while y/n's hands placed on charles' shoulders, pulling him down leaning for kisses. charles sighed in pleasure as he peppering kisses on his wife's lips. feeling trembling like a sudden jitter, y/n knew that she was about to reach her orgasm. as for charles, his eyebrows furrowed, wanting to delay his orgasm.

"char, i-i'm going to c-cum." y/n whimpered in between breaths and moans as she continues to claw charles' back. charles, who hissing in pleasure, placed his hands between his wife's head as he lowered down his head to hover his wife's head. "look at me mon amour, open your eyes." charles instructed, breathing out the words as he is also about to cum. lightly, y/n opened her eyes and saw the most green-blueish eyes she had ever seen and do pray that their child also blessed with the same eyes as well. "cum mon amour." charles instructed once again and this time, y/n approaching her orgasm. as her body is trembling in pleasure, y/n could feel a huge relief being made as the relief was creating a mess. still approaching his high, charles slowed his movement as he placed his face in the crook of his wife's neck, inhaling her scent. a mixture of natural scent and faint smell of perfume she wore before, fading a bit. as charles could feel it, soon he release it inside of his wife and stayed there until he calmed down a bit.

exhaling their breath, it felt like a massive workout they ever did together before for a charity marathon that the company made, right before they were married. the verdict, charles was y/n's personal masseur.

"ready to be a daddy, papa?" y/n whispered as she stroked back charles' front hair to the back. "as ready as i ever be maman." charles replied, taking y/n's hand and kissed it.

[aneurinallday]

Green Eyes

Chapter 31: An End

“Here we are,” Arthur said as he opened the door of Arrow House, “Home sweet home.”

John carefully guided Alec over the threshold, keeping a supportive arm around him in case he stumbled. Thomas walked unassisted, but at a snail’s pace, leaning heavily against the doorframe to steady himself. Every step he took seemed to tear the freshly healing bullet-wound a little wider.

It was evening, and they’d come straight from the hospital, much sooner than the doctors had recommended. Thomas was still reeling from the bullet, and Alec was still weakened from seven days of Bragg’s savage hospitality. In the car, escorted by a small convoy of Peaky Blinders, they’d felt every bump and swerve of the road. Yet already, the relief of being home had given them a small measure of strength.

“Where is she?” Alec said hoarsely as they entered the hallway, “Where’s Clara?”

Frances and a maid were waiting to greet them.

“Did you have a safe journey back, Mister Shelby?” the housekeeper asked as she took their coats and hung them up.

“It was lovely.”

“Will you be having supper tonight? We prepared something in case you were hungry.”

“Not tonight, thanks, Frances. The hospital fed us, if you can call it food.”

“Please,” Alec interrupted, “Where’s Clara?”

“She’s taking a nap, Mister Alec. She spent the whole day running around. I can go and wake her if you - ”

“Daddy!” Clara suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, “Daddy, you’re back!”

She raced down and caught Alec in a fierce hug, which he returned feebly. Thomas could only imagine how many times he’d dreamt of this reunion, yet when the moment had finally come, he was too exhausted to lift her up and swing her around.

“Where did you go?” she demanded, “I waited so long.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Alec rasped, “I went away and got sick, and I couldn’t come home until I got better. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh. That’s alright, then.” She hugged him again, eliciting a grunt of pain.

“Careful, scamp,” Arthur said, “Don’t squeeze him too hard.”

“Why not?”

“Because he still has a bad stomach. You don’t want him to throw up on you, do you?”

“No!”

Arthur ruffled her hair with a calloused and bejewelled hand. Alec immediately smoothed it back down.

“Did you behave yourself while I was gone, sweetheart?” he asked tenderly.

“Every day.”

“What did you get up to?”

“I helped fix the house,” she declared proudly, “Daddy bought new things and I told him if they looked nice or not.”

“That was very helpful of you.”

“Yeah. She was a big help,” Thomas said. “She had a lot of opinions about my choice of wallpaper. And rug. And everything else.”

Alec looked around as if half-expecting to see the same scene of destruction he’d left behind. The debris and broken glass had been cleared away, new panes had been set in the shattered windows, and the damaged furnishings and ornaments were quickly being replaced by new ones. The bullet-holes were still there, but being covered up by new layers of wallpaper and paint. Bragg’s damage was being undone.

Then he looked down at his daughter, and guilt washed over him. He put his face in his hands and wept.

“Don’t be sad,” Clara protested.

“I’m not sad,” Alec lied, “I just can’t believe I left you alone for so long. I promise I won’t leave you again.”

“That’s alright. I wasn’t alone. I had Daddy. He’s my favourite apart from you.”

Alec sobbed. Clara’s face scrunched up, preparing to join in. Thomas quickly went to comfort her.

“It’s alright, darling,” he said, “Your daddy’s just not feeling well. He’ll be better soon.”

She turned to look up at him.

“You look sad too!” she said accusingly.

“Well…it’s only because I’m so happy to be home.”

“That’s silly.”

“I know. Daddies are silly like that. I’m sorry.”

Alec hiccupped and wiped his tears away. Frances, who’d been watching the scene with a look of quiet concern, stepped forward.

“Can I get you anything, Mister Alec?”

“I’d love a hot bath…it’s been a while.” Alec looked longingly up the stairs.

“You go on up,” Thomas encouraged him, “Ruth will look after you.”

Alec nodded weakly and allowed the maid to usher him upstairs.

“I’ll help,” said Clara, her small hands pushing him from behind to aid his ascent. “Bye, Uncle John. Bye, Uncle Arthur.”

“How about you, Mister Shelby?” Frances enquired, “Do you need anything?”

“Whiskey, please.”

“How mu - ”

“Just bring the whole bottle.”

She disappeared, and the three Shelbys were left standing alone in the entrance hall.

“Fuck,” Thomas exhaled.

Leaking blood beneath his dark coat, he wheezed his way into the parlour. While his brothers fretted around him, he sank into an armchair in front of the lit fireplace, finally letting out the ragged groan of pain he’d been suppressing. He began to unbutton his waistcoat and shirt, exposing his stained bandages.

“Jesus, Tom,” said Arthur. “It’s too soon. I told you it was too soon. You should’ve stayed in the fuckin’ hospital.”

“That place was a shit-hole. We had to leave.”

“Alec had to leave,” Arthur corrected him, “You could’ve stayed. We could’ve brought him home while you rested up.”

Thomas couldn’t deny the truth of that, but the thought of being separated from Alec again was unbearable.

“Maybe,” he said, “But we’ve been apart long enough.”

Frances delivered a bottle of whiskey, pretending not to see the blood.

“Do you need anything else, Mister Shelby?”

“No, thank you, Frances. You can go now.”

She shot John and Arthur a pointed look, as if questioning why they’d allowed their brother to get himself into such a state. They stood awkward and shame-faced as she left, closing the door behind herself rather firmly.

“Johnny, go to my desk,” Thomas jerked his head in the direction of the library, “Bottom drawer - there’s some medical supplies.”

“Got it,” John darted in and out, returning with a leather kit. “You going on holiday, Tom?”

“What?”

“The ferry tickets in your drawer. You finally taking Alec on honeymoon?”

“Mind your own business.” Thomas took a deep swig of whiskey, listening to the clatter of bottles as John rifled through antiseptics.

“You should, though. It’s been, what, five years since you first met? Three years since you got back together? And you’re still going strong. I’d call that a marriage.”

“The medications must be fucking with my head, because I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

As they washed the wound and changed the dressings, Thomas dealt with the pain the only way he could: by biting his lips and slamming a clenched fist down on the table.

“Fuck!” he snarled.

“Nearly done, brother,” Arthur assured him.

“This can’t happen again,” Thomas declared, channelling his pain into anger, “This can’t ever fucking happen again! I gave Bragg a chance to live, because I thought that’s what real gentlemen should do. I was wrong. If anyone else comes near Alec, comes near Clara, they’ll find themselves floating face-down in the Cut. Nobody fucking touches my family.”

“We hear you, Tom,” John said patiently. He finished tying off the bandages. “There. Good as new. Now you can jump into bed with your green-eyed boy.”

Thomas drank desperately and gasped for breath.

“All along, he was right there at the Arcadia, waiting for me to come and save him. I should’ve gone straight there, but I wasted so much time searching for him…so much fucking time. While he was suffering.”

“It wasn’t your fault. How were you supposed to know?”

“I almost lost him. I almost fucking lost him.”

“We know.” Arthur patted his shoulder. “We know. But it’s done now - no point beating yourself up. He’s home and that’s what matters.”

“He’s home,” Thomas echoed, and put down his bottle. “Get me upstairs, will you?”

They helped him to his feet, out of the parlour, and up the stairs. He had to pause halfway to catch his breath, clinging to the banisters with weak hands.

“We can call a doctor, you know,” John said, “Arrange a home visit. What’s the name of that physician from London? He seemed smart...”

“No. No more fucking doctors. I won’t have anyone poking and staring at Alec.”

“Alright, alright.”

They finally reached the landing.

“Which way, Tom?”

Thomas listened, and heard the faint splashing of water coming from the master en suite. Alec was bathing.

“Guest room. Let’s not disturb him, eh?”

They dutifully hauled him to the guest bedroom and deposited him on the edge of the bed. He sat upright, unable to lie back without hurting himself, and looked around. He wasn’t used to being in here - this room normally served as Alec’s safe place during their quarrels, and Thomas tried to respect his boundaries. Compared to the space they shared together, it seemed cold and uninviting, defined by an absence more than anything else.

“You gonna be alright, Tom?” Arthur asked, “And…is Alec…”

“We’ll be fine.” Thomas glanced towards the clock. “It’s getting late. You should get off home, the pair of you.”

They nodded and departed, leaving Arrow House under the guard of Johnny Dogs and his men. Thomas slowly rose to his feet, leaning on the furniture for support, and began to undress. Each item of clothing posed its own unique and painful challenge, but eventually he was in his underwear. The stink of the hospital lingered on him, and he did his best to wash it off with Alec’s scented soaps while standing at the basin.

Now he had to choose which bed to sleep in. Not much of a choice at all, really.

Heading to the master bedroom, he found Alec already curled up in bed, safe and cosy, his dark hair damp from the bath. Clara was sitting beside him, chattering away with a great degree of animation. Seeing the pair of them together, Thomas realised just how much he’d missed the sight.

“Why are you asleep already? It’s too early,” she was saying.

“Because I’m very tired, sweetheart.”

“But it’s not even bedtime.”

Seeing the exhaustion in Alec’s face, Thomas said:

“That’s enough, Clara. Give Daddy a kiss and let him rest.”

She obliged, pecking Alec’s cheek before scampering away. Thomas rubbed at the sore mark on his arm where the intravenous drip had gone in.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Much better,” Alec said, but winced as he did so.

“You’re still in pain. Let’s take a look at you,” Thomas said. But when he stepped closer, Alec instinctively pulled the covers up to hide himself. The sight cut Thomas deeply. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I know. But I don’t want you to see me right now. I look awful.”

“Bruises fade. You’ll be back to normal faster than you think.”

“I hate that you have to see me like this.”

“I don’t care what you look like. I care that you’re home.”

“Maybe you don’t care, but I do.”

Knowing better than to push the matter, Thomas shuffled across the room to close the curtains.

“Can I come to bed with you?”

“Hm?” Alec lifted his head slightly off the pillow so he could hear better.

“Can I come to bed?” Thomas repeated.

“Oh. Of course,” Alec’s head wavered on his weak neck, and dropped back onto the pillow, “Just don’t look at me, please.”

Thomas turned his back and sat down on the bed, then eased himself under the covers without looking behind him. Wincing and wheezing, he settled down and waited for the pain to ebb to a dull ache.

Alec was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Is it over?” he mumbled. “Is it finally over?”

“Yes.”

“You smell nice. Like lavender or hyacinths…”

“I used your soap, that’s why.”

Alec closed his eyes, and after a minute, Thomas did too.

Thomas had just begun to doze when he was jolted awake by a noise - a wordless yelp of fear. He found Alec sitting bolt upright beside him, breathing hard, his eyes wide and glassy as they stared dead ahead. Thomas was already reaching for the pistol in his drawer before he realised they were alone in the room.

“What’s the matter?” he demanded, “What is it?”

“Mister Bragg - I - I heard him - ”

“He’s not here. He’s dead.”

Alec was shaking. The cover had fallen down to show his torso: a mottled patchwork of purple, blue, and brown.

“It’s alright. Come here.” Thomas reached for him, but Alec flinched from his touch. Picturing Bragg’s hands hard at work, Thomas wished his death hadn’t been so quick. “You’re at home now. Everything’s alright.”

“I thought - ” Alec blinked rapidly as his eyes stung with tears. “I thought I heard him - his voice - ”

“Maybe you heard one of Johnny Dogs’ men outside. They’re guarding the house. They’re keeping us safe.”

“But I really thought…”

“We’re safe,” Thomas said firmly.

Realising he was exposed, Alec finally retreated beneath the covers, pulling them up to his neck. He was still sniffling.

“We’re safe,” Thomas repeated. “I’m here.”

He gently pressed his face to Alec’s, so Alec could feel the soft brush of his lips against his cheek.

“Don’t leave again,” Thomas whispered, “Stay.”

Slowly, Alec’s tremors subsided.

“I love you,” Thomas continued to murmur. “I love you.”

Little by little, they healed. For the first few days, Frances and a maid would bring them trays of porridge and tea and soup, easy on the digestive system. They spent most of their time in bed, only dragging themselves up so they could shuffle to and from the bathroom, while Clara wandered in and out, keeping them informed of all the various goings-on in the house. By the fourth day, they were able to take meals downstairs as normal, and looked much like their normal selves, albeit a little pale and shaky. They were recovering.

But Alec’s wounds weren’t all physical. As the days turned into weeks, his nightmares came and went - some nights peaceful, others an interminable ordeal. Sometimes he refused to be out of Thomas’s sight, but other times he craved solitude and distance. As the weather turned mild and the world turned green, he started taking walks around the garden by himself; and Thomas would look out of the window to see him sitting alone by the pond or under a tree, lost in unhappy thoughts which Thomas was helpless to dispel.

One quiet evening found them lying side-by-side in bed, propped up on plump pillows. Alec was flipping through a newspaper, while Thomas was reading a book and occasionally lifting his eyes to ponder the ceiling.

“Oh, this is interesting,” Alec said, the pages rustling between his hands, “There’s a new motion picture coming out called The Broadway Melody, and it’s got colour scenes, and talking and singing all the way through. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Very.”

“They say that soon, all motion pictures will have sound coming out of all the characters’ mouths. Imagine that! Isn’t it incredible that we get to hear all these famous people talk and sing? What an era to be alive.”

“Amazing.” Thomas grimaced as he shifted position. “What’s it about?”

“Let’s see - starring the superlative silver-screen talents of Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love, this dazzling spectacle tells the story of two lovely sisters, Harriet and Queenie, who attempt to claw their way up from the seedy vau - vaud…”

“Vaudeville?”

“Isn’t that French?”

“I don’t know.”

“...from the seedy vaudeville circuit to the glitz and glamour of Broadway. But when young Queenie catches the eye of Harriet’s fiancé, the handsome Eddie, can their sisterly bond survive? It sounds exciting. Can we go and see it when it comes out?”

“Sure.”

“I like Anita Page. She’s very beautiful, don’t you think?”

“I’ve never heard of her, to be honest.”

Alec tutted, folding up his newspaper.

“You need to get out more. I bet you wouldn’t even know who Clara Bow is if I hadn’t named Clara after her. You’ve got no appreciation for the stars.”

“Oh, please. I’m friends with Charlie Chaplin.”

“Friends,” Alec scoffed, “If you didn’t have that photograph of you and him to prove it, I’d never believe you.”

“Did I ever tell you, the day when I introduced Grace to Charlie Chaplin was the same day my son was conceived? That’s why we named him Charles.”

Alec stifled a laugh.

“Are you serious?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Alec lapsed into a fit of painful, wheezing laughter. Thomas watched him, amused and mildly affronted. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard Alec laugh.

“I’m glad I could put a smile on your face,” he said.

“You’re ridiculous, Mister Shelby.”

“What about me is ridiculous?”

“Everything. I don’t know how you managed to get where you are in life.”

Under the covers, his bare leg rubbed against Thomas’s in a very familiar way.

“Alright,” Thomas said, closing his book and setting it aside. “How about I show you?”

Turning over laboriously, he attempted to climb on top of Alec and immediately regretted it. A sharp pain pulled at his forming scar, dispelling any notion that the evening’s activities might involve thrusting.

“Look at us,” he chuckled, shaking his head, “What a sight, eh?”

Alec gasped for air as his laughs subsided into giggles. Thomas could almost see the moment when the weight lifted from him; the realisation that, despite everything he’d suffered and everything the world had thrown at him, here he was - alive, tucked in a warm bed, laughing with the man he loved. For a moment, he simply lay and smiled at Thomas. Nothing needed to be said.

Thomas lowered himself back down onto the mattress. Alec placed his hand gently on Thomas’s side, keeping a safe distance from the scar.

“How is it?” he asked.

“Better than it was.”

“Maybe we should take it easy.”

“Maybe we should.”

Alec withdrew his hand, tucking it underneath the pillow to cushion his head. His green eyes gazed at Thomas with nothing but love.

“I’d settle for a kiss instead,” he suggested.

“I reckon I can manage that.”

“Look!” Clara pointed towards the pond as a flurry of splashing and flapping erupted on the water. “Charlie, look! The ducks!”

Charles glanced in the direction she was pointing, pretending not to be interested in the birds taking flight.

It was a balmy summer day - warm but not oppressively hot - and the family were taking a leisurely ride around the meadows surrounding Arrow House. Thomas, Alec, and Charles were astride horses, while Clara sat atop a little pony. She was six years old now, a lively girl with muddy knees and scabby elbows, who refused to allow anyone to tame the chaos of her blonde hair. Alec stayed close to her side, ready to guide her if she faltered at the reins.

“Where do you think they’re flying to?” she asked.

“Probably nowhere,” Alec answered, “They won’t migrate for another few months.”

“Where will they go?”

“South, I think. When it gets cold here, they go somewhere warmer.”

“I’m hungry,” Charles interrupted, “I want to go back to the house.”

Glancing at Alec’s face, Thomas could tell that he wasn’t ready to return just yet.

“You go on ahead, son,” he said, “We’ll join you later.”

“Can I go too?” Clara piped up, “Frances said there’s going to be ice cream and jelly and pineapple-upside-down cake…”

Charles visibly brightened.

“Go on, then,” Thomas said.

The children turned and headed back towards the house, and their fathers continued riding at a lazy pace. The sun shimmered on Monaghan Boy’s sleek black flanks as Thomas led the way.

“That’s where I took a tumble,” Alec said, pointing across the fields, “Remember?”

“How could I forget? I could hardly pry you off me that day.”

The wild flowers were in full bloom, filling the air with a sweet fragrance. Alec breathed deep and sighed happily.

“Can we stop here?”

“What for?”

“I’d like to rest.”

They slowed their horses to a halt near a small hillock, and climbed down. Alec dismounted with a nimble hop, removed his jacket, and slung it over Queen Boudicea’s saddle. While he was busy fussing with her, Thomas awkwardly approached him from behind, feeling around in his pockets.

“Alec, there’s something I wanted to show you.”

“Oh?” Alec said without looking around.

“Here.”

Alec turned to see Thomas holding out four little slips of paper. He peered at the text.

“The English Channel?” he exclaimed. “You bought tickets?”

“They’re expired,” Thomas admitted, “But I’m going to buy new ones. Just keep these and pretend they’re valid.”

Alec took the tickets and stared down at them.

“It’s only a three-hour voyage,” Thomas continued, “The ferry will drop us off in Calais. I was thinking we could spend a day or two there before taking the train down to Paris.”

“What’s in Calais?”

“No idea. But apparently the beaches are nice.”

Alec turned to his hanging jacket and carefully placed the papers in his pocket.

“I’ve got nothing to give you in return,” he said.

“You’ve given me company. That’s enough.”

Alec glanced towards the house, then grabbed Thomas’s arm and pulled him behind the hillock, out of sight of civilisation.

“Actually, there is something I can show you,” he said.

“Oh?”

“This is my favourite spot. Sometimes I ride out here by myself, and lie down in the grass, and just watch the clouds until I fall asleep. It feels like home.”

“I should try that sometime.”

“Why not now?”

Thomas squinted up at the sky, then looked around at the grass and flowers, and decided it was as good a place as any. He took off his black coat and spread it on the ground as a blanket, and they sat together, gazing out across the green English countryside.

“It’s not bad, is it?” said Alec.

“Not bad at all.”

Alec began to unbutton his shirt, and Thomas helped him along, exposing his smooth, pale skin to the sun. There were no bruises now, no maps of past pains, no traces of Bragg or Cobb or any of them - just the familiar body he’d come to love so much. He kissed Alec’s chest.

Alec lay back in the grass, giving his limbs a satisfying stretch. The breeze was cool, but the sun was warm. He stared up at the blue sky, at the wisps of white cloud which drifted as slow as glaciers across a world no human had ever been. Somewhere up there, hidden in the light of day, was the rest of the universe, tucked out of sight behind the calm blue.

“I remember a story I read once, when I was a child,” he said, “About a man who built a flying ship and flew into Space - did I ever tell you about that?”

“Yes, you did.” A long time ago, in a grim and cold little flat in Small Heath, when he’d lain dying of heartbreak. “One of those little comics that costs a penny.”

“I read it so many times, the pages fell apart. I dreamed about flying away like he did, and going to all those fantastic places and seeing all those amazing things. But when I look back, I think my real dream was to be anywhere else. All I’d ever known was the Arcadia, and the idea of a happy life seemed as far away to me as the moon.”

Thomas lay down beside him. Alec took his hand and held it close, cradling it to his chest.

“Then you came along. You were good to me when you didn’t have to be. You took me into your home - not because you wanted something in return, but because you thought I deserved kindness. You were the only one…”

He raised Thomas’s hand to his lips and kissed it.

“Everybody took from me, but you gave me something. You gave me a chance at a new life. A happy life.”

“And have you been happy?” Thomas asked with sudden anxiety, “Aside from…well, aside from everything. Are you happy most of the time? I know I haven’t been easy to live with.”

“Most of the time, I don’t think there’s a single soul who could be happier than me.”

Thomas wasn’t sure what to say to that, and the more time passed by, the more he wondered if speaking was even necessary at all.

A gentle wind rippled the grass, which in turn tickled their skin. The sensation seemed to bring Alec to a state of heightened awareness, because he suddenly leaned in to press his mouth against Thomas’s. Thomas still had a thousand things to worry about, but they all ceased to matter when Alec kissed him. His kisses were slow and calm, and Thomas cherished them, returning them with the tenderness they were due.

“I love you,” he said.

Alec closed his green eyes to let the daylight dance on his eyelids, enjoying the scent of the flowers, the feel of the breeze, the taste of Thomas’s mouth. He was completely at ease.

For a precious while, it seemed as though nothing existed except them and the earth and the sky; and it seemed not impossible, nor illogical, that they could stay that way forever. Surely the summer would go on forever, and the meadow with it, and their future would be filled with nothing but this - with nothing but sunshine and peace for the rest of their lives.

An End

[lazyscience]

DCC Challenge, Day 6

Time To Floor Collapse: 24 days, -1 hours (give or take)

Time for the recap episode!

Crawler @quartzandsundry

New Achievement! Don't Tuck Your Thumb In!

Something I see you don't need to be told about throwing either air kisses or punches, crawler. It's so nice to see someone go from stealth to RIGHT to the middle of the action. I bet on you to win, place, AND show and boy, did you. Stick it to those goosestepping Bloom-sniffers!

Reward: A gold Joe Lewis box! Inside, a beavertail sap of +5 to Pugilism/any related punching combat skill (warning: will activate the aggro of any werecastors you may or may not be hanging out with!) and a Potion of I Did Nazi That Coming (Invisibility, it's a potion of Invisibility, but keep up the good work punching 'em and I'll stop the bad puns)

Crawler @kathrynalexao3:

New Achievement! We've Been Eating Out Our Brains!

Mmm, brains! Delicious, but deeply unsexy. All pink and gray and jello-y, not at all the sleek clean lines of the lower extre--ahem!

Back on topic, good for you for knowing when the blood bar's full, it's time to rest and recuperate! I gave you all those nice Earth hobbies after all to facilitate you remaining a well-balanced and tempered killing machine, not a brittle one that falls apart, and that requires relaxation, recreation, art---good lord, is that Jason Asano? Even your ART is scary.

I so, so dig it.

Reward: A Gold Gardens of Nocturne box! Inside is a Fine quality ink and pen set from the Guildmaster of the Calligraphy guild, and some tedious vegetable ...thing. I understand there's something EXTRA special about the ink. Don't spill any! (I'm sorry, it's probably a Club Vanquisher thing about cleanliness and godliness or some shit. Like gods aren't some of the messiest shit in here. Look at Diwata.)

Crawler @king-ofconfusion:

New Achievement! Fire in the Hole!

Now look at you, multiclassing into an Agent Provocateur like you were born to the Molotov. Sure, the disobedience LOOKS civil, but the crossed fingers and the Jug o'Boom(TM) behind your back say different!

Everything looks so warm and cheerful by firelight, doesn't it? A cozy chair, a book to read, a haze of smoke hanging over the city, dungeon admin screaming....

Reward: A gold Fire In A Crowded Theater box! inside, a tome of Bad Attitude and 7 Surefires to make sure that juice spills where you actually want it to.

Crawler @oreniaa:

New Achievement! I'm Biblically Accurate!

Where, exactly, IS the line between a blessing and a curse? Are there in fact EVER enough eyes? And if a thousand old men dance on the head of a pin, IS there enough eyebleach for that shit you just cast to create a Tuskling Ball out of them?

Old men yaoi? More like Boys Love Trauma. Yeesh. But well done, you, I don't think I have EVER seen that many crawlers cry before, and me? I hand out war crimes DAILY.

Reward: A Legendary Body Armor box, because well...accidents happen, and you're accidents. You happened. That happened. Valtay Corporation X-800 I Can't Believe It's Not Beskar! with a customization coupon for your clan colors to be redeemed at the Silk Road when the Desperado Club reopens!

Crawler @cairfrey :

New Achievement! The Kids Aren't All Right!

So I'll admit, it's not always easy to keep adolescent mobs under control. It's spring - what do you mean, it's not? This is MY dungeon! I say it's spring! Verdant poisonous foliage! Soft light falling on the gentle undulations of tentacles! And in spring, a young monster's fancy turns to - you guessed it, thoughts of fightin' and fuc--excuse me, love.

The way you shut that down, call you Bea Arthur. Good for you, crushing those little monsters' hopes of a romantic dinner shared over your still-twitching remains! Because nobody but nobody wants to see what happens if they successfully spawn.

(...I kind of did want to. Sniff. Oh well, I can't stay mad at you, look at the mess you made!)

Reward: A gold Keep 'em Separated box! Inside, a tome of one of THEE best crowd control spells, Wall of Fire, a Telescoping Baton of the Shade Gnoll Riot Forces and matching Riot Shield! Now kettle those mobs! Kettle 'em good! (mumbling incoherently about duty boots being such a cockblock...)

Crawler @deathdovesong

New Achievement! Thank You For Being A Friend!

Your party should certainly do that, anyway. Without the buffs of true friendship and a LOT of questionable alchemical choices, a lot fewer crawlers would be continuing to crawl. But a cool head under fire and knowing the EXACT razor-thin line that separates being a gutless pussy and a literally entrail-less hunter's trophy if you don't head back to the saferoom for some margaritas and cheesecake THIS MINUTE really separates the Sicilians from the Calabrians.

Reward: a golden Pal and Confidante box! Including an enchanted Members Only jacket, allowing access to both Club Vanquisher and the Desperado's Club and all the perks thereof as well as +10 to Charisma, and 2 Dirty Little Phased Bolts because friendship means never having to say sorry about potential assassination attempts! (kicks Hekla's corpse behind the couch)

Crawler @clearbrightlight

New Achievement! Broke the Looking Glass!

There's something really special about the ones of you that can turn your targets' own minds against them. I mean, anybody can kill with fire and ice raining from the sky, or reanimating a pack of zombies to relentlessly hound their terrified prey, but you? You and your illusions, your imaginary places, your mind-controlling spores...when you can't trust your senses, what CAN you trust?

Your friendly system AI of course, who only ever wants for you to be the best killer you can possibly be!

Reward: A Gold Strange Fruit box, including a Night Wyrm's Ring of Divine Suffering! You know what to do with this, of course. Everyone knows what to do with this. It's just up to you now whether you want to earn some PvP coupons to go with it! Everybody loves coupons, am i right?

Crawler @lazyscience:

New Achievement: Cure for Feeling Old!

Once more with feeling - it puts the joints through the workout or it gets the physical therapy again! Or, you know, someone goes full scalpel. Nobody wants to go full scalpel. It's not a good look.

Keep ahead of the mobs, or the mobs will get ahead of you.

Reward: A silver This Could Be Love (For Fire) Box with a wand of Nighty Night (HINT HINT) and 3 tins of tiger balm.

ATTENTION, all partied crawlers! Don't forget to update me on mobs, quests, or parties (defined at link) so I can award you achievements! Please let me know either in the replies to this post, reblogging with additions, or hit my askbox/DMs!

(please, do this, even with small and silly mobs/quests, it makes giving achievements so much easier!)

[mimisempai]

I'll find you at the end of the road - Chap 8/8 - Complete

Chapter summary - As long as hope remains

Sometimes you just have to wait for the dots to connect...

On Ao3

Rating G -  3929 words

Chap 1 - Chap 2 - Chap 3 - Chap 4 - Chap 5 - Chap 6 - Chap 7 - Last chapter

Months and seasons passed.

Aziraphale moved out of the lake house and into his old apartment above the store. After the death of HH's CEO, Muriel was no longer interested in staying there, and Aziraphale offered them a sales position in his shop. He preferred restoring and tinkering with his old pieces, and Muriel was good at selling. Aziraphale wasn't a tyrannical boss, and thanks to Muriel, the shop now had regular opening hours without restricting the antiquarian's freedom.

Arthur had remained friends with Aziraphale and was now also Muriel's friend, and more than once they'd come to end the day with coffee at Nina's after picking up Maggie from her shop.

However, all of Aziraphale's friends could see that the antiquarian's gaze sometimes seemed lost. His face wore a melancholy expression. But he never said anything, just smiled, and they pretended they hadn't seen anything, just pampering him a little more than usual.

On New Year's Eve, they partied together, and when the fireworks went off to celebrate 2024, Aziraphale couldn't help but think with nostalgia of other fireworks, wondering what Crowley was doing, where, and with whom. 

A.Z. Fell, M & Co - January 2024

It was already late and Aziraphale was hunched over his drawing table, looking concentrated, when Muriel poked their head through the door.

They said softly, "Aziraphale, I'm leaving now. I've locked everything, so all you have to do is close the front door and draw the blinds."

Aziraphale, concentrating on what he was doing, replied with a hum.

Muriel, seeing that he wasn't listening, approached and looked over Aziraphale's shoulder to see what he was working on.

"A new project?"

Aziraphale looked up and replied, a little embarrassed, "Oh. No. It's just... a personal thing. "

Muriel shifted to get a better look at Aziraphale's work, but the antiquarian tried to hide it. 

His friend insisted and asked coaxingly, "Aziraphale, let me see."

"No, it's nothing."

"Come on. Please."

Aziraphale relented and removed his hands from his work surface. Muriel leaned over and gasped as their eyes widened.

It was the lake house, but reimagined. 

There was a patio at the back and a staircase leading down to the water - the stairs Aziraphale had described to Crowley. There were trees planted along the path and lights shining in the trees. The house was just as extraordinary as before, but much less austere, much warmer, almost romantic, transcended by the changes.

Muriel said quietly, "I like it. "

Aziraphale asked, somewhat anxiously, "You really like it?"

Muriel nodded enthusiastically and replied, "Before, it looked like a place you'd go to be alone. Now I can imagine taking someone there, a family, friends. I can almost envision happiness there."

Aziraphale nodded, his eyes glistening slightly. 

Muriel looked at him with piercing eyes and asked softly, "Who is it?"

Aziraphale replied without hesitation, "Crowley. His name was Crowley."

"When you lived there?"

Aziraphale nodded and Muriel continued, "I knew there was something or rather someone there. What happened? "

The antique dealer replied simply, "I lost him."

"How?"

Aziraphale replied in a hesitant voice, "It's hard to explain. It's mostly... it was... bad timing."

"Do you miss him?"

Aziraphale couldn't deny it and answered with emotion, "Every day."

"Make him come back. "

Aziraphale ran a hand over his face before answering, "It's too late. Or too soon...Impossible."

"What?"

Aziraphale shook his head and replied, "Nothing. It's all so complicated. I don't even know where he is. And even if I did, I couldn't go up to him and say, 'Hey, I'm here, let's pick up where we left off.'"

Muriel asked him challengingly, "What do you have to lose?"

Aziraphale didn't answer, then resumed his drawing. Muriel, knowing when not to insist, looked at him with concern, sighed, and left.

January 2026

Crowley was still living in the same place, and the tree had continued to grow in front of the building. He spent a lot of time with Eric, who had apparently decided to take him under his wing. 

He was still single, but he had a friend, friends even, he could count on, and if sometimes one or the other tried to encourage him to date, they never insisted too much when he refused.

He devoted his life to his classes, the students liked him a lot, and Pepper who kept coming to see him after class had brought other members of the gang with her, and discussions around astronomy had turned into a science club. At least the Them were under supervision for their little experiments. 

Crowley's apartment - Early February 2026 

Crowley had decided to clean up, because in two years he had started to accumulate things, and it was time to sort them out.

He was organizing his clothes when he came across the outfit he hadn't worn since the missed date. His throat tightened as he was about to toss it into the discard pile, but he couldn't bring himself to do it and tucked it away in the back of the closet.

Later, while vacuuming, he noticed a squeaky floorboard. He bent down to examine it and found that it was easy to lift.

Crowley pulled back the plank and to his surprise, there was an empty space underneath. He bent down further to examine it. Seeing that there was something there, he reached in and pulled out a package wrapped in a dusty plastic bag. 

He opened it and his heart leapt; it was his copy of Persuasion.

One page was marked with a rose, now dried and withered by time. He opened it to the marked page and saw that a sentence had been underlined.

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.”

He stared at the words, stunned.

Rainbow Academy - February 13, 2026

Eric and Crowley, their classes finished, were about to leave the school and walked down the hallways together.

When they reached the entrance hall, Crowley gasped and looked around in amazement and exclaimed, "Ohhh this is beautiful! All these old tools. So well kept."

On display in the hall were ancient telescopes, astrolabes, and sundials, all in perfect condition despite their obvious age. 

Eric replied proudly, "Yes, this is my partner, Muriel, they run the antique shop, A. Z. Fell & Co. They had a lot of stuff like this and came up with the idea. It gives the shop some publicity and it looks cool, right?"

"A. Z. Fell & Co?"

"Yes! In fact, since they started working there, the name has become A. Z. Fell, M. & Co. M for Muriel. Great, right?"

Crowley squeezed Eric's arm and asked, "Can you take me there? I'd like to see the place."

Eric nodded and replied, "I have plans tonight, but how about tomorrow morning, before school, since we both start after 10?"

Crowley replied, "That works for me."

Maybe he still had a chance.

A.Z. Fell, M. and Co - February 14, 2024

Muriel and Aziraphale stepped out in their winter coats, but found the weather surprisingly warm. 

Aziraphale growled, "Honestly, what the hell?"

Muriel shrugged as they replied, "Global warming.

Aziraphale asked, "Would you like to come to my place for dinner tonight? We can invite the others."

Muriel replied with a happy expression, "I can't. I have a date tonight, it's Valentine's Day and some of us have..."

She paused, realizing the cruelty of what she was about to say, when Aziraphale stopped abruptly.

He exclaimed, "What?"

"What, is it so weird that I have a date on Valentine's Day?"

Aziraphale looked around. 

The day was really warm. People everywhere were enjoying the sun. 

He turned to Muriel with a strange look on his face.

He asked, "What day is it?"

Muriel looked at him in confusion, "Valentine's Day, I told you, so it's February 14."

Aziraphale repeated, "February 14, 2024."

"Yeah. What's wrong with you? You're weird, you know?"

Aziraphale, his eyes pensive, replied, "He told me about today. I remember the date."

"Who? You mean that guy? That guy? Your..."

Aziraphale excitedly replied, "Yes! There's a letter saying where he'll be!"

Muriel, understanding less and less, asked, "Did he write to you?"

Aziraphale nodded quickly, "Yes. I can see him today. You told me the other day...what have I got to lose?"

Muriel pushed him forward and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on, you idiot!"

"I just need to find the letter!"

Aziraphale ran back to his apartment above the shop and rummaged through his old boxes until he remembered that Crowley's letters were still in the lake house, in the attic. He grabbed the spare keys to the lake house and ran to the Beetle at top speed.

A.Z. Fell, M & Co. - February 14, 2026 

"Hi Muriel!"

"Eric, you didn't tell me you were coming to see me at the boutique."

Eric said sheepishly, "I forgot to tell you that I had a friend and colleague Crowley who asked if he could see the shop."

He pushed himself forward and Muriel watched as Eric's friend entered the store.

"Hello Crowley, nice to meet you..."

But Muriel saw that the man looked frozen, staring at a point behind them.

They turned and their eyes fell on the sketch Aziraphale had made of the lake house with the changes. Framed and hanging on the wall.

Eric's friend murmured, "Who drew this?"

Muriel, looking surprised, replied, clearing their throat, tight as always when they thought of Aziraphale, "It's a friend, Az..... Aziraphale."

Crowley repeated, heart pounding, "Aziraphale... it's him."

Muriel replied in surprise, "Yes. Do you... do you know him? "

Crowley nodded, "Yes. He... where is he? Is he here? Is he working here today?"

Muriel suddenly looked very sad and said quietly, "I'm sorry. Don't you know?"

"What?"

Muriel replied emotionally, "He died. Two years ago." 

She swallowed before continuing, "Two years ago today, to be exact. Around noon, there was a bus accident in the city..."

Crowley, shocked, asked urgently, "Where in the city?"

Seconds later, Crowley was getting into his car as the rain began to fall, Eric behind him, confused, calling out, "Crowley! Wait up! What's going on?"

When he started, Crowley told him, "It's an emergency! I don't have time!"

Eric simply asked, "Is it?"

Crowley, buckling his seat belt, replied, "Yes!" 

Then, just as he was about to slam the car door, he heard his friend yell, "Go Crowley! Get him!"

Crowley drove out of town toward home, rain beating on his windshield. He weaved between lanes, passing cars, driving

Lake House - February 14, 2024 

Aziraphale stopped in front of the lake house. It was locked and apparently empty. He ran across the path and unlocked the front door.

Lake House - February 14, 2026 at the same time

Crowley arrived home and slid to a stop in the rain in front of the mailbox. He pulled out a notepad and began writing frantically.

Lake House - February 14, 2024 at the same time

Aziraphale hurried to the attic. 

Inside was the only box he'd left there when he moved out. He opened the box and searched feverishly. He found Crowley's bundle of letters. After a few moments, he found the one he was looking for and read it. 

Last February, I remember it was Valentine's Day, but it was really hot for a February day.

I was sitting on a bench at noon in Saint James Park, near the intersection of Spur Road and Birdcage Walk.

He read aloud, “Saint James Park, just off the intersection of Spur Road and Birdcage Walk.”

Lake House - February 14, 2026 at the same time

Crowley finished writing the note and stepped out of the car, unaffected by the rain, and with shaking hands placed the note in the box before raising the flag. 

He stayed there and fell to his knees in front of the box, drenched from the rain, staring anxiously at the flag. 

Lake House - February 14, 2024 at the same time

Aziraphale jumped into his car and sped away from the house.  

Saint James Park - February 14, 2024 - Noon

Aziraphale found a parking spot and parked the Beetle. He got out and ran up Birdcage Walk along Saint James Park.

In his hand he held a piece of paper, the words of which echoed in his head. 

My dear Aziraphale. 

I know now... it was you near the park that day. 

It was you at the crossroads. 

Please don't go there.

Something terrible will happen if you go there.

Aziraphale continued running toward the location indicated in the letter before stopping at the edge of the sidewalk, separated from the park by a busy street. He looked away, searching for Crowley beyond the noisy traffic, among the crowds in the park.

Please don't look for me.

Finally he saw him, a distant silhouette, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of the sun. His unmistakable red hair caught the sunlight. Aziraphale smiled.

Don't try to meet me. Not right now.

They are now separated only by distance. No longer by time.

Don't run to me.

The traffic eased for a moment and Aziraphale could clearly see Crowley, straight ahead.

Do you understand? I beg you, please. You must wait.

Aziraphale stepped off the sidewalk to get closer to Crowley.

Forget everything I said before.

We both have to wait. 

Not just you.

Both of us. 

If you love me and if I love you.

Not if I love you, because I'm sure I do, I love you, it took me so long to say it, but I really do. 

So if you love me too, wait for me.

Aziraphale saw Crowley straighten up and turn his head toward him, as if drawn in his direction. Even from a distance, Aziraphale could see his worried expression. 

Wait for me. 

Wait until time catches up with us and we can be together. Please wait. Just... wait.

Lake House - February 14, 2026

Crowley soaked, is in tears at the foot of the mailbox and whispers over and over, “Wait, wait. Don't go there. Please, please.”

The rain continued to fall. 

Crowley, finally, having lost all hope of seeing the flag move, tried to pull himself together and began, very slowly, to stand.

He looked at the box and was startled, the flag had come down.

Hands trembling, he didn't dare open the flap.

He took several breaths, and when he finally had the courage, he opened the box and saw that his letter had disappeared.

Saint James Park - February 14, 2024 - Noon

Aziraphale stood in the street, trying to see a little more of Crowley, and at the last second he backed up to the sidewalk. He kept looking at Crowley, desperately wanting to run to him, but he didn't; he folded the letter, put it in his pocket, and reluctantly turned and walked away. 

Safe and sound. 

Lake House - February 14, 2026

Crowley stared at the empty mailbox, his face soaked with tears and rain.

Suddenly, a hand came gently up from behind him and slowly closed the mailbox. 

Crowley gasped and turned slowly.

Aziraphale was standing silently in front of him, staring at him, holding in his hand the letter that Crowley had just put in the mailbox. Crumpled and worn, as if it had been read over and over again.

Crowley stared at him for a moment, trying to convince himself that this was all real. Then Aziraphale took a step toward him and smiled shyly before asking softly, "Have we waited long enough?"

Crowley, still in shock, his eyes filling with tears, murmured, "Yes...yes."

Aziraphale came even closer, smiling more openly this time, bringing his hand to Crowley's face and wiping away a tear with his thumb. Crowley leaned his cheek into his palm, closed his eyes, and murmured again, "Yes, we've waited long enough.

Then, finally, they wrapped their arms around each other, holding each other again and again, letting the embrace linger, pulling away to look at each other, making sure it was real, and embracing again.

Making sure they were both real, there and alive.

After a few moments, Crowley pulled away and, taking Aziraphale's face, now as drenched as his own, between his hands, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the other man's.

For long minutes, they parted only to catch their breath before kissing again, over and over, indifferent to the rain that continued to pour down on them.

Much later, when they parted again to catch their breath, Aziraphale took Crowley's hand in his to lead him home.

Crowley gasped as he looked at the lake house. 

The lake house had changed.

In the two years of Aziraphale's life, the life Crowley had saved, Aziraphale had transformed it.

He'd brought to life the project he'd shown Muriel two years ago, with the patio and the stairs to the water they'd talked about, and the trees planted along the path, lit and shimmering in the rain.

Crowley laughed in amazement and turned to Aziraphale, pulling him close and kissing him again.

Then they walked along the path together, stopping often to touch and kiss.

As they passed the door, Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's sleeve and said, "Wait."

Aziraphale turned and replied in a falsely pouty tone, "Haven't I waited long enough?"

Crowley grabbed his hand, intertwined his fingers with Aziraphale's, and said softly, "I don't want to wait to tell you for real this time. With my voice. My eyes in yours." 

He paused and, with a trembling smile and shining eyes, said to him, "I love you."

Aziraphale, his voice hoarse, immediately replied, "I love you."

They held each other again, enjoying the bliss of hearing those words from the beloved voice for the first time.

Then they entered their home, ready to begin a new life where all was yet to be discovered. 

Together.

The lake house - Summer 2027

"Arry! Arry!"

"Joel! Take it easy, sweetie, and wait for your little sister!" 

Bill and Frank followed their children a little farther behind, hand in hand, then watched fondly as they gave gentle caresses to a Harry who seemed to enjoy it.

"Joel, Ellie, stop spoiling Harry, he's going to keep coming to us for petting."

The two children stood up and grabbed the legs of the man who had just spoken.

"Uncle Zira!"

He lifted them both up, carrying each of them in one arm.

"Harry gets petted and I don't get a hello kiss?"

Each of the two children placed a sound kiss on Aziraphale's cheeks at the same time.

"Should I be jealous?" came a voice from behind Aziraphale.

"Uncle Crowley!"

Ellie was already reaching for Crowley, who didn't hesitate to take her in his arms. The little girl gave him a big kiss on the cheek and squirmed for him to put her back down.

Crowley and Aziraphale, side by side, greeted Frank and Bill.

"Bill, Frank, welcome!" 

They all hugged and then walked together to the patio overlooking the lake.

As Frank sat down in one of the garden chairs, he said with amazement, "I may have been here many times before, but I'll never get tired of this view."

Aziraphale motioned for Bill to sit next to Frank before sitting down himself.

Crowley was about to sit on the arm of Aziraphale's chair when he heard the unmistakable sound of a car pulling up to the house; Aziraphale started to get up, but Crowley motioned for him to remain seated. "Stay seated, angel, I'll go."

He walked down the path toward the oncoming cars. 

Eric was the first to move toward him, "Crowley!" before embracing him. Crowley was now used to his friend's outpouring of affection and allowed himself to be patted on the back. 

They were soon joined by Newt, Anathema, and Mrs. Tracy, and all followed Crowley into the house. When they reached the patio, everyone greeted each other and sat around the table chatting happily. Joel was in awe of Mrs. Tracy's red curls, and Ellie laughed out loud as Eric bounced her in his arms.

"Is this the way to the little party?" 

Heads turned to the source of the voice as Aziraphale exclaimed, "Muriel! I thought they lost you on the way."

Muriel laughed slightly and replied, "Arthur, Maggie and Nina got lost, so I had to direct them by phone. Where do I put this?" 

They pointed to the cake in their hands.

"I'll take it," Aziraphale replied. 

He went with the cake to the kitchen, where he was suddenly overcome with emotion. He waited a moment to compose himself before returning to the patio.

"Hey, angel, what are you doing out here all alone?"

Aziraphale looked up and smiled, murmuring, "Crowley."

Crowley, who after more than a year had learned to decipher his husband's expressions, noticed his emotional state and gently asked, "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

Aziraphale wanted to speak, but the emotion was too strong, so Crowley wrapped his arms around him and held him close until his husband was ready to speak.

After a few moments, Aziraphale stepped aside, a trembling smile under the tears, "I'm sorry, I don't know, I'm not sad, not at all, on the contrary, but I suddenly had this irrepressible urge to cry."

Crowley nodded in understanding and brushed Aziraphale's hair back before saying softly, "Just too much emotion, perhaps? What were you thinking?"

"I... I was putting the cake on the table and I thought, if I hadn't read your letter, none of this would be real. I wouldn't be here. There wouldn't be all these people on our patio. And it freaked me out for a moment to realize that we could have almost lost everything."

Crowley, visibly moved as well, pressed a tender kiss to d'Aziraphale's mouth, and when he pulled away, Aziraphale continued, "But on the contrary, you, or rather we, gained everything. You saved me, you gave me a new life, and in doing so, you gave us all a different and better life."

Crowley nodded, planted a light kiss on his husband's lips, then stepped aside to take Aziraphale's hand and lead him out onto the patio, a tender smile on his lips.

"Come on, let's party!"

As Aziraphale was pulled along and they crossed the living room, his eyes fell on his mother's book. His first family. His mother and father. Then his eyes slid to Crowley beside him, and by extension, everyone else on the patio. His new family. Their new family. Not by blood, but by heart. 

All because Crowley had sent a little letter one day.

Dear new tenant.

Hello and welcome to your new home and congratulations, blah blah blah. You've made an excellent choice, Ditchling is a wonderful place and this house is a gem, as you may have noticed.

I'm sure you're going to love living here as much as I have.

Crowley did not know that day that these words would be so prescient, even though they came from the future and were addressed to someone in the past.

Oh yes, Aziraphale loved living here, but not because of the house.

He loved living here because of the love that filled it. 

Because of Crowley.

“There could have never been two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved." 

Persuasion - Jane Austen.

_________ I hope you enjoyed the ride. I will probably come back to them in this universe, as always in form of oneshots. Thank you for having followed, liked and commented on this story! <3

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here

[tanlorin]

Amarie Veilleux-Caudex

My Imperial City questline protagonist and specialest little girl. Longtime member of the Undaunted. Val's (primary) partner and metamour to Tanlorin.

Breton-Colovian Imperial

Femme trans lesbian, demisexual (she/her)

ESO class: Dragonknight

Primarily uses a sword and shield, with some fire magic mixed in (yes I know she's a magDK in-game because I don't actually tank, ignore that, thanks!)

Birthday: 27th of Hearthfire, 2E 563

Note: She is 19-20 during the Planemeld. As of Gold Road, she is 29.

Her Imperial City playlist

Theme: Historia Calamitatum by Rise Against

Born and raised in the Imperial City

Her mother is Aimée Veilleux-Caudex, and her father is Captain Anatolius Caudex (UESP link here, and his Meet the Character here).

Childhood best friends with Zelanus Equitius (UESP link here).

NOT the Vestige. In this universe, that would be Jackson Villareal, demiprince of Meridia.

At the start of the Planemeld, she and Aimée were separated in the chaos of the Imperial City falling apart.

During the Planemeld, she stayed behind in the Imperial City to help other citizens escape. She eventually ran into the Drake of Blades, and together, they helped stop Molag Bal from destroying the Sublime Brazier. She also works with the Immortal Eight, which includes her father and her best friend.

She first meets some Undaunted members in the Imperial City, where they want to explore White-Gold Tower and the Imperial City Prison. Though initially disgusted by their need to pilfer in a warzone, she insists on coming with them to fight against the Planemeld.

Her first love is Dulcilla Iullus (UESP link here). They formed a relationship shortly after meeting in the Immortal Eight's garrison.

Her relationship with religion is... complicated. She's aware of the connection between the Immortal Eight and the Eight Divines, but she would rather not think about the implications of her friends and father being the Divines themselves.

In my timeline, the Immortal Eight get ambushed by the remnants of Legion Zero. Since they no longer have the power of the ancient scroll that granted them immortality, they die permanently. Amarie is the sole survivor of the attack.

After losing everyone in the Immortal Eight, Amarie moves to Wayrest to live with her aunt Juliette, her uncle, and her cousin, Arthur. Though she's initially caught in a months-long depression spiral, she eventually joins the Undaunted at Arthur's suggestion. By coincidence, she meets Virilya Starbringer, one of the Undaunted members that she assisted back in the Imperial City.

With Virilya and Arthur's help, Amarie eventually becomes a popular member of the Undaunted. She gains the means to live on her own, though she still lives in Wayrest.

7 years after the Planemeld (i.e. during the Gates of Oblivion arc), Amarie first encounters Val at the Dread Cellar. When Val decides to abandon the Battlespire, Amarie offers to let them stay at her place for a while. Little did they know that they would become lovers...

Long after the events of the Imperial City questline, she still struggles with PTSD. She spends a lot of nights wide awake so that she doesn't have to relive those months through her nightmares.

She learned how to play the lute over the years, partially out of inspiration from Dulcilla playing the flute.

9 years after the Planemeld (i.e. during Necrom), she and Aimée were unexpectedly reunited. Amarie is unsure of her mother's new partner, Azandar, at first, but they eventually get along.

When Val and Tanlorin become close friends, Amarie isn't surprised at the thought of them forming a more romantic/physical connection. She knows that they have a lot in common, down to their traumatic pasts with their families.

She trusts Val, so she allows them to have Tanlorin as another partner. However, Amarie herself is not romantically involved with Tan.