#wearing a promise ring on their ring finger while most of europe loses their mind over it

[childrenofcain-if]

Oh M has my ass locked DOWN 😭 I really hope we can have some sort of press tour where we can be all cutesy and show PDA in from of everybody. Suck it, England!

y’all are certainly passionate about this 💀 while the press tours and PDAs won’t be something which will happen until like book 3, best believe you can still gift M a piece of jewellery that they’ll be wearing in front of the cameras 🤭

[anothertimdrakestan]

Dying In The Batboys Arms

reqs: "do you write dark stuff like the boys reaction to the reader dying??? i love your blog btw!" & "Hi could I get some a n g s t"

sooo i'm terrible at angst or anything involving sadness because i ~fall apart~ and give up but for you two i tried my best haha and went for a HC cuz it's easier right? anyways hope you enjoy i cried like twice while writing this but i'm a weak bitch so i had to end them all decently to sleep alright tonight oops

Damian Wayne:

- damian would never let you die, so this would have to be you fulfilling some kind of deal or something unavoidable like yeeting into the speed force or something

- rushing to his embrace one last time and throwing your arms around him

- feeling him shake in your embrace as he whispers "please don't go beloved" and "ill never forget you" reducing you to tears as well

- your last kiss is salty and desprate, like he's trying to remember every moment, every feeling of you

- telling him it's not his fault and that he'll need to move on, but he's too busy promising to find you and save you even if there truly is no hope

- when you leave his eyes are the last thing you see, they were always your favorite and after years of looking at them it felt fitting they'd be the last earthly thing you saw

- as soon as you're gone damian isn't leaving the spot for weeks

- he's basically camped out, hair grown out, cheeks permanently stained as everytime he thinks of you he's crying again- making up for all the tears he held in his whole life

- jon is the only person he'll speak to, and even in that his words are softer than they'd ever been, damian would be to broken to hold his regular facade

- eventually jon coaxes him to return, seeing your belongings unmoved for months

- he'd almost undeniably quit robin, taking up a nickname you called him or wearing a suit in your favorite color, his only driving force after losing you will be the hope you had in him, he tells himself that even in death you're still watching over him forever... it may bit be true but it's the only thing that gives him a reason to keep living and not try to join you

Tim Drake:

- coughing up blood you'd search frantically for tim until he was at your side, crying uncontrollably as he tried to push away your hair matted with blood

- "hey timbers i don't think i'm gonna make it outta this one" you whispered, your hand reaching up to caress tim's cheek, wiping away the tears

- "no, stay with me help is coming i'm right here!" he'd scream spamming the 911 button on his suit as you shook your head "i might be dying but i'm not stupid" his eyes softened at the light smile that traced the lips he loved to kiss

- pulling him down to whisper everything you needed to say all he'd be able to get out it "i can't keep going if you leave me"

- squeezing his hand with every last ounce of strength you reminded him "it's not goodbye timmy it's a see you later, right?" with a soft nod he looked at you, eyes still brimming with tears

- "i've always been so proud of you timbers, don't stop now. see you later okay? i love you" the last words were strangled, but you had to give him something to hang on to as you let go, fading into the pain

- "see you soon y/n l/n ill love you always" were the last words to grace your ears, fading into a dull white noise as you slipped into peaceful bliss, tim's fsvorite soft smile permanent on your lips

- his family found him clutching your limp body, rocking back and forth promising to make you proud, repeated pushing your hair behind your ears because he knows you hate having hair fall in your face

- the strangled noises leaving his families throats as they realized what happened didn't help, neither did dick falling to the ground next to him, and steph bawling into jason's chest. duke had softly grabbed damians hand, both staring at the sky praying to whom ever was listening while bruce pulled tim up and into an embrace

- carefully the family left, one member- and a huge piece of their heart missing. broken at the scene.

- tim threw himself into work, determined to make you proud- but his family would catch him sitting in front of the small, supposedly secret, shrine he'd made in his closet for you, if damian presses his ear to his closet wall he could hear tim softly telling you about his day and what he did that would make you laugh

- months later he seemed calmer, no one could figure it out until dick took the time to ask. tim didn't say much but he held up his left hand ring finger and in a writing dick hadn't seen in months, the perfectly messy scribbles tattooed on his hand said "see you later timmy"

Jason Todd:

- seeing you minutes from death would send jason into shock, unable to move other than sinking to his knees next to you as you groaned with pain

- "at least hold me while a go jaybird" you mumbled through the blood trying to fill your throat. quickly he'd wrap his arms around you

- jason's embrace was comforting as always, you tried to memorize the way the scars landed on your abdomen and his calloused hands tentatively held you like you could break at any wrong move- i guess he was right this time

- "just hold on babe" jason was never good with words was he? with the last ounces of strength you cupped his cheek, bringing his head down to yours "stop talking and kiss me one last time" you whispered

- jason's hands fell to their usual position, one keeping you upright by holding your lower back, his rough hands creating perfect friction with your smooth skin, his other secured to the back of your head, lightly tugging on loose strands of your hair, it was like a puzzle piece fitting together, you melded perfectly to his lips

- the kiss was slow and loving, taking a moment you deepened it just to burn the memory of his passion into your brain before returning back to his loving and slow kisses

- you realized you were crying into the kiss when his rough finger swiped away tears, his lips never leaving yours

- pulling apart to breath and cough jason clung to you "please hold on please" you gave him a sad smile "it's okay jaybird i'm last where the pain hurts that means it's coming soon" you whispered, your hand still on his cheek, feeling the light stubble you always thought was so sexy

- "i love you jason todd, but i've never lied to you and i'm not starting now, this is goodbye babe" you told him bluntly, his face contorting as he pulled you back into his chest "no no no no" were the only words he could think of "i love you jay, it's okay baby" you pulled his lips back to yours until you felt the pain incoming

- "i don't think i've got much longer. hold me?" you looked up to jason who was pushing away tears

- "always" he replied, clutching you to his heaving chest as you snuggled into his embrace, you were sad this would be the last time you got to feel his heartbeat and chest rise and fall, you loved the feeling and knew you'd never forget it, even in death

- "y/n? babe? no" jason realized you were gone, and he lost it, screaming at the universe for taking the one good thing, crying like he promised he'd never, and punching almost everything within a 5 foot range

- his family found him bloody and broken, clutching your lifeless body as he tried to wrap him mind around what happened, he might never get better, the memory of your loss burned too deep and scarred too hard, but if he truly understood your love for him he'd use that love he had for you to drive it towards good, fighting for whatever you believed in most as an homage to you, hoping that when he next saw you he'd get to remember the feeling of you throwing your arms around him like you always did when he did something you were proud of, that desire was the only thing keeping him going

Dick Grayson:

- imagine an impending death with dick grayson, maybe it's a medical diagnosis and hope has run out, or a known death date, whatever it maybe- i think only dick would be a character strong enough to stay by your side through it all

- when it just became too hard to go on you and dock both knew what was coming

- he took weeks off nightwing duties, traveling the world and falling deeper in love, eloping somewhere deep in europe to solidify your love eternally no matter where either of you were

- the day it was finally time you were wrapped up in his clothes, your favorite hoodie and sweatpants that smelled of the warm vanilla toasted marshmallow smell you fell in love with

- you'd catch dick swiping away rogue tears all day, trying to make the most of your time together

- as the final hour ticked down you both let everything off your chests, not that there was really anything left

- nestling himself one the crook of your shoulder you inhaled the warm comfortable scent, willing yourself to never forget it when he whispered "i'm not ready to let you go yet" and it broke the both of you, sobbing into each other's shoulders as time stopped

- feeling death begin creeping in you were curled up in dick's embracing, having said your goodbyes to loved ones, damian especially heart broken he was clutching one of your sweatshirts, one day he'd grow out of it but you assumed by then he'd be over the loss

- "does- do you hurt?" dick asked softly as you soaked in his embrace, feeling his tears roll down your touching cheeks

- "it's not scary when you're here dickie" you whispered, pulling his lips in for one last kiss, as you began drifting away you shifted to rest on his collar bone, inhaling the vanilla scent that had been your rock for years, you were glad it would be the last thing you remembered, the best sendoff you could ask for

- dick watched you exhale your last breath peacefully, part of him was glad your pain was over, but that didn't stop the sobs from escaping

- damian crept in, still clinging to your sweatshirt, hopping up into dick's lap, nestled between you and dick, he'd only done it a couple times but he needed it almost as much as dick this time

- and the two held you together, more family members came and went but damian and dick held your vigil, together they helped each other get up and live, falling into a routine of sitting in the same position, your sweatshirt held in their lap, occasionally they'd raise it and take a trip down memory lane with your familiar smell still lingering on the sweatshirt, and that was all they had of you, but now they had each other. and that would have to do until they saw you again

[xxisxxisxxis]

Gateway Drug | Part Forty

Table of Content or Part Thirty-Nine

Read here on wattpad

Word count: 3.1k

Warning(s): Explicit language, domestic abuse, violence, racial slurring

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By January the band was gearing up for Europe, Tommy and Heather Locklear were working out a schedule their wedding planned for May, and everything else was...well...

The Cathouse is lively as always, Duff and Slash only adding to it's noise and liveliness as they throw back shot after shot.

"So," Slash starts to me, brushing his curly hair out of his face just enough to see me. "I've been thinking about Tans and Axl, right?"

"Okay." I nod, raising my brows a little.

"If they were to get together, not that it's gonna happen because he's a fuckin' pussy but if it does happen I have the perfect name for them." He tells me. "Xanax."

Duff and I furrow our brows a little and exchange looks.

"'An' as in Tansy, 'Ax' for Axl." He explains.

"What about the first 'X' at the beginning?" Duff asks, chuckling a little.

It's as if Duff has pissed all over Slash's dream.

"Oh, damnit." Slash realizes the blonde has a point. "Nevermind."

I give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and Duff laughs.

"Speaking of Tansy, you guys wouldn't happen to know where she's been the past week, would you?" I ask them and they look at each other.

"She's been hanging around Stevie and Izzy a lot, lately." Duff tells me. "Because Steven has weed and Izzy has junk."

"Izzy's been hanging out at my house with Nikki, lately." I tell him.

"We know, he said he saw you naked." Slash blurts and Duff lightly hits his shoulder.

"Well, he's like a ninja. I didn't know he was in the livingroom, Nikki didn't mention we had company over, I got out the shower and had to get my laundry out of the basket I left by the couch and there's Izzy. Just chilling there." I explain. "And I panicked a little and hit the freaking ground like I was being shot at and hid behind the couch until he agreed not to look so I could get my clothes basket."

I swear, getting to see me naked was like an unspoken right of passage. If you hung around Mötley Crüe, you were bound to see me naked at least once.

In Mobile, Alabama, after eating special brownies that—I had no idea were special until Steven spoke the words, "she ate like five of them, we're so fucked, Nikki's going to kill us" to Duff—I over did it apparently and couldn't get my legs to stop shaking so decided I would frolic around the hotel to get the jitters out...naked...with GN'R following after me like an episode of Scoobie-Doo.

They saw every bit of me that day. But I've always thought it made us closer.

"Hey!" The sound of a drunk guy slurring my way interrupts our conversation and I raise my brows.

"Yes?" I reply.

"You up for some fun tonight?!" He asks.

"No, thanks, I'm married." I politely respond, motioning to my ring.

"I didn't ask if you were fucking married. I asked if you wanna have some fun tonight." He argues.

"Look, man, she said she's married." Slash repeats what I said.

"If I wanted the opinion of a ape I would've asked!" He barks at him.

It takes me a moment to register what he meant by it, then it hits me.

Apparently it hits Duff at the same time, because he's lunging at the guy.

The stranger doesn't have time to react before Duff's punching him in the face so hard he falls down, but that isn't the last of it.

He grabs him by his collar, a completely different persona taking over him as he keeps his knuckles in a ball and gives blow after blow to the bastard until I intervene by the fifth hit.

"Duff!" I exclaim, grabbing his arm that's rearing his hand into the air, after trying to get his attention for the past ten seconds.

He takes heavy breaths, his victim's face busted and bleeding, before stumbling back, dropping the guy.

I feel like the entire club's eyes are on us.

Duff and Slash feel it, too, and Duff's grabbing at my hand as the three of us quickly make our way to the nearest exit.

Duff is one of the most level headed people I've ever met. It takes a lot to set him off, but when he is set off, it takes a while to get him calmed back down.

"Motherfucker!" Duff shouts, slamming the door of their apartment after he and I step inside.

Slash went to meet up with Steven and Tansy, leaving Duff and I alone...which is kind of the last thing I want at the moment.

"Who the fuck does that prick think he is?!" He snaps, slamming his keys on the counter.

"Duff." I say calmly as he rubs his face, trying to get control of himself. "Hey." My hand gently grasps at the hand that isn't bruising, and he let's out a deep breath. "It's just stupid bull shit, alright? People like that aren't worth losing yourself over. They'll get what's coming to them, okay?" I remind him and he sighs, his thumb beginning to rub at my hand, causing me to think about the thing that has yet to be addressed.

I find myself pulling away after the shock wears out, jolting back as if to avoid electrocution, looking at Duff with wide eyes.

"I--why did you do that?" I ask him, slightly panicked as if Nikki knows already.

He doesn't reply, just as startled by his actions as I am.

I don't give him time to reply.

"Goodnight, Duff." I say calmly, getting out of there as fast as I can.

I dart to my room and lock the door behind me, my mind and heart racing one thousand miles per hour.

Did he kiss me because I was the only girl there with him? Or because he's drunk and isn't thinking? Has he been wanting to kiss me but didn't want to disrespect me or Nikki by actually trying to do it?

Ding ding ding, we had a winner.

I let out a breath and rub my forehead, trying to get it out of my head.

He tastes like cigarettes and vodka which is a disgusting mixture but it's so Duff. It's a comforting taste.

It was a comforting kiss that, despite being so sudden and surprising, gave me a subconcious sense of peace and comfort, because it came from someone that had only ever given me peace and comfort.

A noise sounds from the closet, interrupting my thoughts, and I open the door and see Nikki slumped over, syringes, smack, and coke residue scattered about.

I clear a path through the drugs and discarded clothes, grabbing at his ankles and pulling him with all my might, out of the closet to attempt to get him to the bed.

When I get to the realization that I can't, I give up, grab a blanket from the bed and curl up next to him.

My hand carefully squeezes at his for a second before I pull it away.

I'm not even sure he remembers kissing me, he hasn't acted like it.

"Didn't you have plans with Nikki tonight?" He asks and I snap out of my thoughts, glancing at the clock to see it's 11:00pm.

"Are you good now?"

"Yeah." He replies. "I'm about to go find Steven and Slash."

"I'm gonna head home, then." I tell him, grabbing my car keys from the couch. "I'll see you later." I assure him. "Stay out of trouble." I add, stepping to the door, skipping on the hug I usually give him before we say "bye."

"No promises." He scoffs and I roll my eyes sarcastically.

"Love you." I say, opening the door.

"Love you, too." He calls back.

Alcohol changes how you go about things, it doesn't plant new intentions. And the way he kissed me let me know he'd thought about doing it for a long time...but I never would've known that had he not done it.

I light the last candle, our house looking like the meeting area for a seance once I turn all the lights off.

A romantic seance.

Nikki's suppose to be home any moment now, if he sticks to his schedule he's had the past couple weeks: wake up at 4:00pm, snort some blow to get his mind going, shower, get ready, leave for the night, get back in around 3:00am mumbling incoherently, babbling nonsense from having so much shit in his system, then pass out. And repeat.

But tonight is different, because he's been cutting back on heroin the past few days.

He hasn't told me he's cut back, but I can tell he has. He's probably preparing to kick it completely for Europe...I just hope he can stick to it.

Not that me waiting to give him a blowjob and have my back broken at three in the morning is much motivation for him to completely quit his problem, but I'm hoping it's an encouraging pat on the back.

I slip my robe off when I hear his Harley pull in, rushing to comb my hair out with my fingers.

The keys are in the door in another moment, fumbling to unlock it.

My heart pounds as my nerves tense up when he comes in, stumbling slightly, slamming the door behind him.

"H-Hey, babe." I say cautiously, testing the water of his mood.

"The fuck is that smell?" He asks me, tossing his keys on to the counter, causing me to jump slightly from the loud noise it makes.

"Uhh, th-the candles." I tell him.

"I can't fucking see." He complains harshly, taking his jacket off, kicking my heels out of his way on the way to our room.

I pull my robe back on, accepting that I showered and shaved earlier for nothing, before turning the lights on and blowing out every scented candle I lit around the house.

Following Nikki to our room, he's digging around in his drawer, glancing at me when I come in.

"I was waiting for you to come home." I tell him, twiddling my fingers.

"Yeah, I saw." He replies, not even looking at me.

"Did you?" I ask, doubt laced in my tone. "Really?"

"Yep." He states, pulling two packed up syringes out, making me feel a little sick at the sight. "I'm about to head back out." He informs me.

"What? Baby, you just got home. I wanted to spend some time together." I try to tell him, walking right behind him as he steps to the door, grabbing his jacket and keys.

"Just fuck yourself, Viv. It's not my job to screw the life out of you anytime you fucking snap your fingers, alright?" He says before shutting the front door and I'm in shock from what he said.

I decide not to let him leave without getting an earful of it.

When I get outside, I'm stepping in front of Nikki's bike just before he starts to leave, and he groans out in frustration.

"I've been up since 8:00 in the morning, Nikki. I'm tired, too, you know? I don't necessarily feel like it either, but I shaved and showered and made myself look sexy and even burnt my nipple lighting all those freaking candles so I could surprise you and we could have a good time and what the hell do you do?! Come in with your pissy, asshole, unappreciative attitude. Do you know how many guys would kill to have their girlfriend or wife waiting naked for them when they get home, ready to do whatever the hell they want?" It's obvious my scolding has him feeling guilty, but he doesn't say a word. "But I guess that's not a big deal to you because you're use to naked girls throwing themselves at you all the time so..." I scoff out, shaking my head a little, keeping myself from crying. "I'll see you when you get back." I give up, waving my hand.

"It's one night, Viv. I don't know why you are so bent outta shape over it." He comments and I turn back around, glaring at him.

"It's not just one night. It's been two years of trying to do nice things for you and you can't even appreciate it because you're so taken over by the need to find your next fix as soon as you can." I explain to him.

"Like I don't do nice things for you?!" He gets defensive, getting off his bike, walking to me. "This fucking house you love so much?! That fucking car you drive?!"

"I never said you don't do nice things for me, I just--"

"What about the fucking ring on your finger?! You know how many girls would love to be married to Nikki Sixx and have the expensive house and luxury car?!"

I roll my jaw, raising a brow.

"I didn't ask for the fucking car, I didn't ask for the fucking house and I sure as hell never asked to be married to you!" I throw my ring somewhere in the driveway, storming back into the house to pack my shit up with him trailing behind me.

I start snatching my clothes out of the closet and onto the bed as he just stares at me.

"The fuck are you doing, Vivian?!" He barks.

"Leaving. You can get one of those other girls that would love to be married to Nikki Sixx--or at least think they fucking do--and they can have the expensive house and the luxury car." I snap, opening my top drawer, getting the clothes out of there, too.

He's suddenly grabbing my clothes and throwing them in the floor in an attempt to stop me, but it just pisses me off even more.

"Get the fuck out!" I demand, shaking, tears toppling over my lashes, my finger pointing at the door.

"No!" He argues. "You're not going anywhere and neither am I until you quit pitching your fucking fit!"

"God, I can't even leave without you ruining it, Nikki, you ruin every thing!" I scream out in aggravation.

"Then why the fuck are you still with me?!" He shouts back, coming closer to me. "If I'm so fucking bad then why the fuck aren't you gone?!"

"Because I love you" is what I want to say, and I can tell he wants me to say it, too.

But I don't.

"Because I don't have anywhere else to go and I don't have any money!" I lie to hurt him, and I can tell it makes a impact.

He looks like he could cry right now...but he gains what's left of his composure, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a wad of cash, throwing it across the room angrily, causing the bills to fly in different directions.

"Fetch." He orders, motioning to the money he threw, and I blackout for a few seconds, coming to after shooting pain rocks up my knuckles, my hand, and my arm, causing me to cry out.

Nikki's got blood coming from his nose, his eyes squeezing close, I'm assuming it's because he's trying to talk himself out of beating the shit out of me.

I broke my hand, and his nose.

Nikki and I sit in silence as Doc yells at us, pacing back and forth in our living room.

"You're grown adults, acting like fucking toddlers! When the hell is this gonna stop, huh?!" He throws his hands up, motioning to us.

"She fucking punched me!" Nikki outbursts, wincing as he holds his nose with an ice pack.

"Because you told me to 'fetch' like some cheap hooker!"

"I threw 4k at you, Vivian! I don't know if you can count but four-thousand dollars isn't fucking cheap!" He shouts at me.

"Neither were all those fucking candles I lit!"

"Alright, hey! Hey!" Doc claps loudly, screaming over us to break up our argument.

We both shut up, scowling straight ahead, refusing to admit either of us is wrong.

"I-I am at a loss at this point, guys." Doc goes on, sitting on the coffee table in front of us. "You're kids. You've been together five years. You're kids." He states lightly, raising his brows. "And you're fighting like you've been married for forty years and just want out. And I hate to say that because I know neither of you want out but you just don't know how to talk to each other when you get angry." He points out. "Nikki, you don't know how the fuck to treat her when you're on junk. Plain and simple. If you're on junk, you're a fucking asshole, especially to Vivian. I'm not saying get help, but you might wanna learn how to balance being fucked up but being respectful especially since you don't have a problem, right?" Doc sarcastically adds. "And, Vivian. Your first response to shit that rubs you the wrong way, is to just start swinging at people and blow things out of proportion and that's not right, either." He gets at me next, and my anger is immediately replaced with guilt. "I mean, look at each other." He tells us and we glance at each other, looking defeated by Doc's good points. "If the cops could see how you two treat each other sometimes, you'd both have cases of spousal abuse." He rubs his forehead. "Press is gonna talk, fans are gonna talk, we'll say it was a bike accident, you two ran into a fucking bush or something and that'll be that. But you two need some fucking help or something because I'm not going to Europe with you two acting like this, got it?"

"Yeah." I agree.

"Nikki?" Doc asks, looking at him pointedly.

"Got it." Nikki replies quietly.

"I mean I want you two to act like you did when you first got together because when I met you guys, you couldn't get enough of each other. Now she's having to babysit your sorry ass most of the time, and you're beating him like an ugly stepchild." Doc tells us.

We don't say a word.

"Now, let's get to the hospital so his nose doesn't heal like the fucking ugly duckling and your fingers don't look like busted carrots. His face is a quarter of our revenue, and your fingers need to be pretty so they can showcase that nice ring that needs to be sitting back on your finger as soon as possible."

Yes. Because God forbid Vivian and Nikki, or Tommy and Heather, or Vince and Sharise, or whoever the fuck, have an obviously imperfect marriage to the outside world.

Smile, pretend you're on your honeymoon and can't get enough of each other, and whatever you do: keep the wedding rings on.

Even at the times when you want to throw it in with the towel.

Don't fuck up an already fucked up thing because that's not what we do.

[softboywriting]

Falling For You | Shawn Mendes Fic

Summary: You’re Shawn’s personal assistant and after a misunderstanding with fans he get the idea that you could be his fake girlfriend to avoid being roped into a messy publicity stunt with a girl he doesn’t like. The thing about that is, both of you have feelings for each other that are less than fake and acting on them while pretending brings out the truth.

Word Count: 11k

| Masterlist in Bio |

The moment you check into your hotel room and get settled Shawn is knocking on the door that joined your rooms. You open it and roll your eyes at him because you figure he’s just up to his usual shenanigans. He always did this when hotel rooms had shared doors. You think he secretly liked the idea of sharing a room even though he always insisted he hated sharing them.

“Yes? How can I help you?” you ask in your most formal voice, teasing him.

“Can you do something for me?” Shawn asks as he pulls his ring off his finger. It’s the one with the two overlapping feathers that he had gotten in Japan last year. He never took it off. Not even to shower as far as you knew.

Your eyes go to his hand and then to his face. Okay this wasn’t a joke, he was seriously asking you to do something for him. “Yeah, what’s wrong?” you ask as he holds his hand out with the ring in it.

“I want you to hold on to this while we’re doing the press tour here.”

“What?” You look down at his ring and he back up at him. “Shawn, you never take that off. What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Shawn pushes the ring into your hand and curls his fingers over yours. “Last time I was in Europe for a while I ended up losing my other one. Remember how fucked up I was?”

You shake your head. “I wasn’t here for that. I do remember you telling me you lost it though. But are you sure? I mean if you never take it off then how could you lose it?”

“Please,” Shawn says softly, squeezing your fingers a bit. “Just humor me and hold on to it.” You sigh and agree to do as he asks. If would give him a piece of mind what would holding on to it for a few weeks hurt?

_______________

Four days. That’s how long it took before fans noticed his ring was missing from his hand and that it was on a chain around your neck. You thought nothing of putting it on a chain you picked up in a corner store for a couple bucks. You just figured it was safer on you than sitting in your luggage in the hotel. Big mistake.

First, fans noticed it was gone from Shawn’s possession. That sparked a huge discussion across multiple social media platforms. You had seen everything from theories that he lost it, gave it to someone, or left it at home. Shawn didn’t bother to address the topic as it wasn’t that big of a deal to him. He knew where it was. That was what mattered.

Then...then you were pulling off a hoodie you had been wearing because it was getting pretty warm that afternoon and you happen to be wearing a v-neck shirt that showed the necklace. For some reason a couple fans snapped pictures of you and someone pointed out that you had the ring. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. You were his personal assistant, you had his things on you all the time. This wasn’t anything new. Hell, you carried his wallet and his phone sometimes, it wasn’t a big deal.

But to fans that ring meant something. It meant something that you had it and you were wearing it around your neck. That ‘something’ was that you and Shawn were hooking up. Which was not the case at all, but try telling that to an irrational fan who thinks Shawn owes them his loyalty. Go on. Try.

So here you are now, standing in Shawn’s hotel room with Andrew and Geoff parked on the small couch near the window while Shawn laid out on the bed with a pillow over his face.

“This is insane,” Shawn groans. “Why is this such a big deal? It’s just a ring! She’s just wearing it to keep it safe like I asked her!”

“Yes, we know. You’ve told us at least a dozen times now,” Jake says with an eye roll. “Have you tweeted about it yet? Maybe if you explain the situation...”

Shawn pulls the pillow from his face and cuts Jake a glare. “As if that would help. I hardly think tweeting anything will calm down ravenous fans.”

“Then just take it back and wear it,” Andrew says as he flips thru his phone, reading more theories and things of that sort. “She won’t have it. Problem solved.”

“Yeah but then you’ll open a whole new can of worms. People will just think he took it back to calm down the drama. They’re still going to think we’re dating...fucking...whatever they think we’re doing. The damage is done,” you sigh defeatedly.

“So we just wait it out?” Jake asks.

“Yeah pretty much,” you shrug and sit on the bed next to Shawn.

“Well, I’m done worrying about it then. Ignore it and it will go away right?” Jake says as he and Andrew stand up. Andrew just sighs and shakes his head as he agrees half heartedly. “Let’s go get dinner. You guys wanna come or do you want us to get anything?”

“I’m good,” Shawn grumbles and you just shake your head. The two of them leave and as soon as the door clicks closed Shawn grabs the back of your shirt and pulls you back to lay beside him. “What if we were a thing?” he asks.

_______________

Rolling onto your side, you just stare at Shawn. He couldn’t be serious. The idea of the two of you being a thing makes your heart race and you don’t know why. Sure you’ve had a crush on Shawn before, who hasn’t? But you put it in the past, putting your job before that nonsense. You made sure not to mix your feelings with your work. Shawn and all the guys on his team and all of his friends were off limits. No way no how. You were not going to get messy like that.

“You can’t be serious, Shawn.”

Shawn rolls on his side to face you and suddenly your heart skips and you wish it wouldn’t do that. “I don’t mean like for real. I mean just for show.”

His words make your heart sink, but in a good way? Or was it a disappointed way? This was already going to be bad. Shawn should just stop talking. Him and his sweet smile, soft eyes and gentle words would make you do almost anything. He had to be stopped.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea for like a thousand reasons. Why would you want a fake girlfriend?”

Shawn sighs, rolling back on to his back. “Andrew and Justin want me to get involved with this girl Cailey. Remember that dinner meeting I had to go to a few weeks ago? It was about the two of us pretending to date or something. It’s supposed to help me stir up interest for the new album and she benefits by getting attention for her modeling career and stuff.”

“Are you serious? Shawn, didn’t you say no?”

“I tried to. I mean I told them I didn’t want to do it but her manager was pushy. We’re on the verge of a decision and it’s out of my control. I don’t like her though, I don’t even want to be around her. She is actually the worst person ever.”

You reach over and lay your hand on Shawn’s chest. “It’s not a good idea. Andrew isn’t going to buy it, and I sure as hell don’t think Justin will. They’re going to know it’s not real.”

“I can convince them. We can convince them. Please, I’ve never asked for something so important before, I need this.”

“I could lose my job. I-I don’t know Shawn...”

Shawn grabs your hand and holds it over his heart. “You’re the only one who can help me. The interest is already there, the suspicions from fans and media. We just have to supposedly slip up and kiss in public or something and Andrew will think we were just lying to him. I’ll make sure you don’t lose your job.”

You curl your fingers into his shirt and he looks at you, eyes begging you to say yes. You take a deep breath and close your eyes as you lean into him and press your head against his shoulder. This was so goddamn risky, but you weren’t going to standby and watch him suffer a PR stunt for months on end with a girl he didn’t like.

“Please,” Shawn whispers and you relax your hand against his chest.

“Alright. Fine. We’ll do this, but you really have to help me sell it. I want the whole nine yards, the whole girlfriend experience with the one and only Shawn Mendes.”

Shawn chuckles and runs his hand through your hair, bringing your head closer so he can kiss the top of it. “You got yourself a deal. I promise I’ll keep you safe if it all goes to shit.”

“You better.”

“I promise I will.”

You let out a sigh and lean back to look at him just to see he’s smiling like an idiot. “So what do we do first?”

“You wanna get dinner? I think being together without the team might stir up some more rumors. Why not start now?”

“Seems innocent enough, but do you think Andrew will just get pissed we went out among the current rumors.”

Shawn sits up and crawls off the bed. “That’s what I want. I want him to be annoyed but suspicious. Then we can ‘accidentally’ kiss in a few days or something and really get Andrew to buy it.”

You get up and grab your shoes from where you toed them off by the door earlier. “When you kiss me you better warn me, and no tongue.”

“What! Oh come on you can’t ask for the whole girlfriend experience and forbid tongue,” Shawn chuckles. He walks over to you and stops you against the wall beside the door. “We have to sell it, y’know?” he says as he makes a lewd licking motion inches from your face.

“God you’re gross,” you laugh and he grins.

“What? You think my tongue is gross?”

You shrug and slide away from him to grab the door handle. “I think you’re gross in general.”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t I believe that for one second?”

You open the door and head out toward the elevator and Shawn follows close behind you. “I don’t know, maybe because you’re a weirdo? You’re totally gross.”

Shawn pushes you as you step into the elevator, causing you to stumble forward. “Hey!” you yelp and he walks you against the back wall. Just like that, he’s up against you, pinning you in with his forearms on the wall behind you, face leaned down only inches from yours. His breath is hot and your heart is racing. It was too real. There weren’t even people around. What was he doing? Why was he doing this?

“Save it for the cameras,” you mutter, swallowing thickly. Your eyes dart between his mouth and his eyes as you try to read him. Either he was a really good actor or he was actually turned on and really wanted to kiss you.

The bell dings on the elevator, signalling your arrival at the lobby. Shawn leans in and you think he’s about to kiss you but he doesn’t. He licks your cheek and pushes off the wall to run out of the elevator and into the lobby. You’re left standing there with a wet cheek and a heart that was about to explode. A second passes and you snap back to reality just in time to rush out of the elevator to see Shawn waiting for you by the doors looking smug as hell. If this was Shawn’s idea of a fake relationship, you were screwed.

_______________

You and Shawn found a diner that served some local dishes and each of you tried something you could hardly pronounce. Both dishes ended up being really good and you were pleasantly surprised. Dinner wound down and it didn’t seem like anyone had noticed the two of you, which was the goal of course. So Shawn suggests going for a walk, saying there was a park not too far away that he remembered driving by on the way to the hotel when you all arrived.

So here you are walking side by side as the sun goes down and basks the budding trees and soft grass in a golden glow. Spring in Sweden was absolutely gorgeous, if not a little chilly in the evening.

Shawn bumps his hand against yours and you bite your lip, looking the other way at a tree that had little white flowers all over it. He does it again and you twitch your fingers against his. It’s permission enough and he slides his hand into yours. It’s warm and you find your fingers sliding into the spaces between his.

“No one is around,” you mutter and he squeezes tight.

“You never know when someone will appear.”

You swing your hand and he chuckles. “I think you just like holding my hand.”

“Nah, I’m just trying to sell our relationship.” He grins and lifts your arm up and spins you around out in front of him. You twirl around, ducking under his arm and he pulls you back in close.

“I’m kind of cold,” you say with a small shiver.

“I can fix that.”

Shawn drops your hand and steps back to take off his denim jacket he has on over his pink hoodie. You reach for the jacket and he shakes his head, dropping it on the ground to pull his hoodie up and over his head with both hands.

“This will be warmer,” he says passing you the hoodie and picking up his jacket to put back on.

You slide your arms in and pull the soft pink fabric over you head. It’s a little loose on you but it’s warm, very warm. Shawn was like a furnace and you had no idea how he didn’t over heat every ten minutes when he wore layers.

Shawn looks past you and you turn to look at whatever he was staring at. There is a small group of girls standing by some trees nearby with their phones out. You look back at Shawn and he’s smiling, knowing everything was falling into place.  

“You can come over here!” Shawn yells, waving at the girls. They giggle and jog over, chattering excitedly to themselves as they approached. You step back, staying quiet as they fawn over Shawn.

“Can we get a picture?” they ask and Shawn smiles.

“Yeah, of course. Here, give me your phone,” Shawn says and takes the first girl’s phone. He angles it so you’re in the background and snaps the picture. He does this for each girl, making sure you were visible in almost every photo. He was such a little shit. He knew exactly how to play this game and you were almost shocked at how good he was.

A couple of the girls keep glancing at you and then talking quietly. They weren’t even discreet. You knew they were talking about you. Shawn finishes signing one girl’s phone case and looks over at you just as one of them asks, “Is that your assistant?”

“Yeah, she’s great. She keeps me on track and out of trouble,” Shawn chuckles, motioning for you to come closer. You do and he puts his arm around your shoulders. “She’s the best.”

“Is that your hoodie?” someone asks and you look at Shawn for an answer.

Shawn doesn't answer and instead he just grins and thanks the girls for being such great fans and says the two of you have to go now, that it was getting late. With that the two of you walk away and the girls go the opposite direction.

Once you’re out of earshot, Shawn leans down and whispers, “How long before Andrew sees those pictures do you think?”

“Oh god, less than a day.” You laugh and shake your head. “He’s going to kill us.”

“Probably.”

“We’re really doing this huh?”

Shawn pulls you close and rubs the top of your head, messing up your hair as you approach the rental car the two of you were using to get around the city. “We’re really doing this,” he says with a chuckle and you nod. You sure were doing this.  

_______________

A few days pass and no one says anything to you or Shawn. Everything goes on as it usually did. You think Andrew just missed the pictures or something, or maybe he just didn’t care. Either way it’s bothering you and it’s all you can think about. So here you are, sitting all alone in the lounge at an after party for some european awards show that Shawn performed at and stress drinking a rum and coke.

The place was crawling with celebrities and usually you’d be near Shawn politely socializing, but you just can’t be bothered tonight. It was fine, you weren’t looking for a new client anyways, so socializing wasn’t top priority for you anymore. You could just sit and worry until Shawn was ready to leave.

“Hey, what are you doing over here all alone?” Shawn asks as he plops down on the loveseat beside you, interrupting your thoughts about how you were going to lie about your relationship with Shawn when someone inevitably asked.

“Avoiding people,” you laugh as you take a sip of your drink. You look around and shrug. “This just isn’t my scene anymore, you know that.”

Shawn leans his head against your shoulder and you lean your head against his hair. He smells like cologne and the floral scented product he used to style his mess of hair. It’s nice. Comforting.

“Do you wanna get out of here? I’m sure no one will notice if we slip out the back.”

“You really think no one is going to notice? I’m pretty sure people will think it’s strange that the guy who just put on an amazing performance just up and disappeared.”

Shawn shrugs and grabs your hand, standing and hauling you up against him. “This isn’t really my scene either, I don’t know these people that well.” He looks around the room and shakes his head. Almost everyone he knew was busy or had already left for another afterparty. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going sneak out the fire exit behind the bar and if anyone asks I’ll say I wasn’t feeling well so my assistant took me to the hotel.”

“This will never work,” you giggle and he just grins like a kid.

Before you know it you’re being pulled through the crowded after party and toward a door labeled emergency exit that was behind the bar counter. Shawn pulls you through the little opening on the bar without the bartender even noticing because he was too busy trying to get some girl’s number. Thankfully there isn’t an alarm on the door because you’re sure Shawn didn’t even consider that.

The second Shawn pushes the door open and the two of you step out into the alley behind the event center, you get soaked. It’s pouring rain and your dress clings to you as the water soaks in quickly causing little rivers to run down your arms, into your cleavage and down the back of your dress. You may as well have just stepped into a shower fully clothed.

Shawn runs out into the middle of the alley and puts his arms out with is head back as he spins in a circle. He yells into the night air and it’s swallowed up by the roar of the downpouring rain. You can’t help but laugh and he looks over, grinning like an idiot because he know you’re laughing at him.

He really is a sight to see. His hair is plastered to the sides of his head and forehead. The light gray suit he was wearing was dark charcoal gray now as it has become fully soaked, and you just know as soon as Lydia, his stylist, comes to pick it up in the morning that he’s going to get yelled at.

“It’s pouring! What are you doing!?” you yell over the increasingly loud thunder that rumbles in the distance.

Shawn splashed forward and grabs your hands, pulling you out into the middle of the alley and you step in a puddle that covers your shoes and you squeal as the cold water rushes over the tops of your feet. Every inch of you was soaked to the bone, and Shawn looked about as happy as a pig in mud. He lifts up some of your hair off your shoulder and smiles. To have him look at you like that...it made the line between a real and fake relationship pretty blurry.

“You look like a drowned rat.”

Your jaw drops. If anyone could ruin a moment it was this guy.

“Oh as if you look much better!” you scoff, running your hand through his hair and shaking it, just to watch the rain smooth it back down on his forehead immediately. “You look like a mop that’s been put up to dry in a rainstorm!”

Headlights light up the alley entrance a few feet away and you turn to look and see if it was someone coming down the roadway. They were just stopped at the stop sign on the corner before turning left down the alley adjacent. It was a reminder that someone might find you out there, and that you should get going and stop dilly dallying in the rain.

“We should call a cab or something,” you mutter as you attempt to wipe the water from your face but it’s no use.

“Let’s get somewhere dry first. I don’t think my phone is waterproof,” Shawn says as he pulls his very wet phone out of his very wet pocket. “Yeah, no, this is busted.”

You start to open your purse but immediately close it upon seeing what the rain has done to Shawn’s phone.

Shawn pockets his phone and walks toward the entrance of the alley. He looks up and down the street for any sort of shop that was still open at this time of night. Of course everything was dark but the streetlights.

You walk up behind him and take a look too before suggesting going back inside.

Shawn shakes his head, taking a few steps down the sidewalk. “Hell no. We’re going to the end of the block, I think there was a McDonald’s up that way when we were driving here.”

Shawn comes back and puts his arm around you and the two of you head down the street. It’s not far before the next cross street and sure enough, Shawn was right. There was actually a McDonalds a little ways down on the cross street. Leave it to him to know exactly where food was but not to know what time he had to be anywhere or literally anything actually important.

You roll your eyes at how unbelievable he was and the two of you head for the bright parking lot.

You push open the front door of the building and Shawn hurries in after you. You’re dripping all over the floor, leaving a small river as you head to the bathrooms, waving politely to the employee at the counter who gives a sympathetic look. Shawn ducks into the men's room and you head into the ladies to do whatever you could to get dry.

Almost twenty minutes later and you we some semblance of dry. You had ended up stripping down to nothing in the handicap stall so you could wring your dress and underwear out over the toilet to get most of the water out of them. You had a moment, standing there on the cold floor, your dress hanging on the assistance rail beside you, that you look down and realize you’re wearing nothing but his ring on the chain around your neck.

There’s some sort of symbolism there but you can’t put your finger on it. You push the thought aside before you allow yourself to get too caught up in it. You had to focus on getting dressed and getting dry. Afterall, you were naked in a McDonald’s bathroom in a foreign country. There were bigger issues at hand then a ring on a chain.

You put your clothes back on and toss your tights in the trash, giving up on them completely. You set your shoes up on the small counter under the air hand dryers and turned them all on. A few twists of your hair, wipes of your face with surprisingly not crappy paper towels, and you were almost presentable as a human being again.

When you exit the bathroom Shawn is at the front counter ordering. He’s in his slacks and his black button down. You spot his jacket hanging on a nearby chair along with his socks and you take a seat until he comes over.

“I got us some chicken sandwiches and fries. I hope you’re good with that,” Shawn says as he sinks into the chair next to his wet jacket. “If not you can get whatever you want, I have my card.”

“No, chicken is fine,” you laugh, shaking your head. “Did we actually just leave an upscale after party to come to a McDonalds in Sweden at midnight?”

Shawn grins big. “Sure did baby.”

You snort, leaning back in the chair and shaking your head in disbelief. “How did I ever get stuck with you?”

Shawn leans forward and props his head up on his chin. He really has to stop looking at you like that. It wasn’t good for your heart. “Well, I think you applied for a job with your agency and then they sent you to Andrew who interviewed you and-”

“I know how I got the job!”

“Well maybe if you knew you shouldn’t have asked,” he teases with a smirk.

You roll your eyes and look out at the rain coming down in droves across the parking lot. It didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. “I guess I meant, how did I get so lucky to get to be your assistant and stuck with your wild and crazy ways. I’d worked for two other people before and they were just boring as hell. All I did was sit around all day and make and remake schedules.”

“You were meant to work with me,” Shawn smiles.

He reaches across the table and hooks his finger through the chain around your neck. He tugs it toward himself and you lean forward, not wanting it to break. You’re so close, his eyes are on your lips and yours are on his. The tension is thick and your throat feels like it’s closing up as your heart is about to burst.

“Our food is ready,” he whispers, grinning as he drops the necklace and stands up to go to the counter.

You sink back into your seat and stare at his empty chair. He couldn’t do this. You couldn’t do this. If he was going to play with you; tease you, whatever this was that he was doing, when no one was around to see, then you were going to call off your deal. You couldn’t have your emotions played with. Not by him. Not like this.

Shawn sits back down, setting the tray of food on the table before you and you look down. It looks good enough, although you’re not sure you feel like you can eat, but you manage to consume a little of the food while you talk about how tomorrow afternoon the two of you and Andrew have to catch a flight to Paris.

You chuckle to yourself at that. Paris. The city of love. Also the city of no paparazzi. You were going to have to work even harder to ‘expose’ this fake relationship now. God...it felt like it wasn’t going to work, like everything was working against you, but maybe that was okay...maybe it wasn’t meant to be like this. Maybe things weren’t supposed to work out.

_______________

The rain let up enough that you and Shawn could run out to the car you called for to take you home. There was only one ride service in the area you were in that ran late in the morning and they charged an arm and a leg too. Thankfully Shawn had no problem with paying the steep fee but you sort of felt bad for anyone who needed a ride so late. It seemed unfair that they jacked their rates up for late night driving...which made you wonder if the driver was just upcharging because he recognized Shawn. In that case. What a dick.

It’s nearly 2am when you arrive at the hotel. Shawn grabs your hand in the lobby and your heart beats double time as he drags you to the elevator. Again, no one was around to see this show of familiarity. You clench your jaw. You had to say something sometime right? But maybe not yet.

Shawn drops your hand in the elevator and you look over at him as he watches the floor numbers creep higher and higher. His profile is astounding. You look away, down at the floor.

Why did everything have to change? Last week you were content being his assistant and bossing him around at meetings and shows. You were perfectly happy that you had put aside the little (huge) crush you had on him when you first started, and he had to go and ruin it by asking you to be his fake girlfriend. Which, by the way, didn’t seem so fake now. At least not for you anyways. When this was all over you were going to be so fucked. So completely fucked because it wasn’t going to end in some fairytale romance. Shawn was not actually going to fall in love with his assistant. That didn’t happen. Life wasn’t a Hallmark movie, but damn you wish it was.

The moment you get to your room door and open your purse you realize you don’t have your key card. You had switched purses for the event so you would match your dress. The key card was in a pocket in your other purse.

“Guess what,” you groan and Shawn looks over as he pushes open his door.

“Hmm?”

“My keycard is in the room.”

Shawn pushes his door open with a grin. “Come on in then,” he bows, waving his arm out into the room dramatically. “Madame forgetful.”

“You’re a jerk,” you laugh.

You push him in the chest and he just chuckles, letting out a little oomph as his back hits the door.

Shawn walks in and goes over to his suitcase and starts undressing. He tosses his jacket on the back of a nearby chair and starts stripping down quickly, wanting to be rid of the still damp clothes. He stops as he gets his pants undone and looks over to where you’re standing transfixed by the bathroom door.

“You alright? You’ve seen me undress before?”

“Yeah...no, um...” You look away from him because your mind was starting to wander and that could not happen. “I don’t have any clothes is all. They’re in my room and I can’t get in? I’d like to be dry too.”

“Oh, right. Hold on.” Shawn leans over his suitcase and digs through it for a moment. He fishes out a shirt and a pair of boxers. “These might fit you?” he offers, holding them up.

It wasn’t like you had a choice. It was his clothes or your damp cold ones. The latter seemed far worse for sleeping.

You take the clothes and go into the bathroom, pressing your back against the door. You close your eyes and take a deep breath. You had to remember you were his assistant. Not his real girlfriend. This meant nothing. Wearing his clothes was a necessity right now.

You start to change and you try not to think about the fact you were going to be wearing his clothes, more particularly, his boxers, or that you were going to be sleeping in his bed. You scoff to yourself as you set your purse on the counter. Your phone and one of the check in forms that you had the door code to the building written on falls out.

The check form... from the check in desk!

You could just go to the lobby and ask for a new key card. That was if someone was down there, and even then they were probably trying to snooze. You feel like you’d be an asshole if you went down there so late.

You bite your lip and look over at Shawn’s clothes on the hook where you placed them when you walked in. Your clothes are on the floor in a heap by the bathtub. Well, you were already undressed...you may as well just stay with Shawn and not bother the nice front desk person so late at night.

Sighing, you pick up his shirt and pull it on before you slide your panties down and off. You catch sight of yourself in the mirror. His shirt sits at almost your mid upper thigh, just enough to cover your bare bottom half.

What if you walked out there like this?

No.

You turn around and grab the boxers off the counter. Shawn might push the boundaries with all his out of sight attentions but you weren’t going to do it too. The last thing you needed was for this ordeal to go any farther and end up with both of you making a mistake that couldn’t be undone.

Shawn knocks on the door and you snap out of your thoughts, jerking around at the rapt knocking. “Hey, you okay in there? You’re not like sniffing my shirt and getting off or something are you? Because as weird as that is, it’s kind of hot and-”

You open the door to find him leaning against the doorframe with a smirk on his face. He knew what he was doing, and he always loved to tease you before this started, but now he seemed to like to make it far more sexual. The little shit.

“You aren’t funny.”

“You’re mad because I found out your dirty little secret.”

He leans in and you think he’s going to say something really dirty that is going to make you flush like a tomato. He grins and you are about to push past him, wanting to avoid whatever his mind would come up with when he whispers against your ear. “Go pick out your side of the bed. I have to pee, now move.”

_______________

You wake up to the sound of snoring. Deep but soft rumbles coming from behind you. You’re warm, too warm. Shawn has his arm around you and you’re pulled back against his chest, legs tangled with yours.

“Shawn,” you whisper and he stirs, snoring coming to a halt.

His arm tightens around you and he buries his face in your hair. His hand slides up and down your stomach under his shirt you’re wearing and it makes you shiver. You know he’s asleep, and he’s been alone for a long time, and that he must crave the physical intimacy as badly as you did these days. So you try not to blame him for the cuddling and you try not think too far into the cuddling.

“You’re skin is soft,” Shawn mumbles against your head. Maybe he wasn’t as asleep as you thought.

“Thanks, but remember what I said last night?”

He groans, slipping his hand out from under your shirt as he rolls onto his back. You made it very clear that you were not allowed to cuddle if you were going to sleep in the same bed. Obviously unconscious Shawn paid no mind to that what so ever.

“We have to get packed, it’s almost nine in the morning. Our flight leaves at noon for France.”

“You’re ice cold,” Shawn says with a smirk. “I know you want to cuddle longer.”

“Shawn, come on.” You roll your eyes.

His arm snakes around your waist and he pulls you against his side. “Don’t act like you don’t love it. I distinctly remember waking up at six this morning and you were all over me.”

“I was not!”

“You were too.”

Shawn reaches over and grabs his phone off the nightstand. He brings up a photo of the two of you in bed. The light is low and soft from the windows and you’re curled up with your head on his chest, your hand over his heart. It’s sweet, intimate...weird. Wait a minute.

“Why did you take that picture!”

“Well, I figure if Andrew doesn’t say anything by the time we’re done in Paris, then I’ll accidentally post this to instagram. Nothing says relationship like some sweet cuddles, and you are really selling it.” He turns the phone so you can see the photo again. “Look at your little hand over my heart and my hand in your hair as I kiss the top of your head. I mean it’s perfect and-”

“You better delete that as soon as Andrew calls off the deal with Cailey. I mean it. I don’t like when people take pictures of me and specially not when I’m sleeping, you creep.”

“I prefer the term boyfriend.”

“Fake boyfriend.” You snort and push away from him, throwing the covers back. “Get yourself dressed. I’m going to the lobby to get a new room card so I can pack and we can get to the airport.”

“No breakfast?”

“You can get something on the way.” You stop at the mirror on the back of the bathroom door and you tie up your hair.

Shawn puts his arm over his face and you roll your eyes.

“You better not be going back to sleep.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what’s wrong? Get up, get moving. Come on.”

“You look really good in my clothes, that’s what’s wrong.”

You swallow hard and turn away toward the door. You leave without another word and head to the lobby to get a key card.

Paris was going to be the last stand. If nothing happened in Paris then you were calling this whole thing off and Shawn was going to have to stand up to Andrew and Justin alone on the Cailey ordeal. You couldn’t go on with Shawn saying things like that behind closed doors. This is not what you agreed to. You agreed to pretending around other people, not pretending around each other.

Your greatest fear is that Shawn was pretending when it was just the two of you so that you could really make it look convincing when you were together. But even worse would be Shawn actually falling for you, and all his actions weren’t pretend. Both thoughts made your heart ache.

_______________

Paris. A beautiful city with grand architecture, art and culture. A place where romance was around every corner. The city of love. How ironic.

You stare out the window of the van you're riding in to the hotel from the airport. The plane ride had been fairly short, only a few hours, and Shawn was seated near Andrew the entire time. Thank God.

However you weren't so lucky to be seated away from Shawn now. He was right beside you while Andrew and Geoff sat in the seats in front of you. You knew you were being cold and distant toward Shawn, not having spoken since this morning, but it's what you decided was best. If you were going to feel something for him then it'd be easier if it were feigned annoyance and not a heart wrenching crush.

Shawn bumps his hand against yours on the seat and you pull away. He chases, placing his hand right next to where you've placed yours on your leg. He wasn't going to make this easy for you.

You glance down and then over at him. He's not even looking. The little shit. He is staring out the window with a smile on his face. You inch your hand away, turning your attention back to the passing shops and cafes.

Shawn clears his throat and you know he wants you to look over, but you won't. Not getting your attention that way, he opts to slide his hand up your thigh to meet your hand once more. This time he hooks his pinky with yours so you can't pull away so easily.

This gets your attention. You side eye him and he's grinning at you. The way he was grinning would make you think holding pinkies was the most risque thing to do in the back of a van.

Honestly he was too cute and you could feel the icy barrier you put up around your heart already start to melt.  So much for that plan.

Shawn holds your pinky the entire ride to the hotel and you just let him. He was going to find away to be touching you anyways, may as well let him.

Checking into the hotel is a nightmare. The clerk, while speaking English, had a very thick accent that Andrew struggled to understand. When he finally sorted things out, you find out that one of your rooms was already booked and there was an error in the online booking agent.

Geoff suggests finding a new hotel but Jake and Andrew don't want to do that because they'd chosen this one specifically for it's security.

“I'll share with Shawn,” Jake says and Shawn groans.

“No offense Jake, but you're the heaviest snorer I've ever met. I'd never get any sleep.”

Andrew sighs, knowing this couldn't be easy.

“I can share with Shawn. Then you can all have your own rooms. I don't mind. ” You shrug and look at Shawn. “It’s not like I haven't had to share with him before. Remember the flooded hotel a few months ago?”

Shawn throws his arm around your shoulders and pulls you against him. “We can get a rollaway bed for you just like before. It'll be fine.”

Andrew looks skeptical but agrees to the arrangement. You and Shawn exchange looks when he turns his back. Both of you know he's suspicious now. Perfect.

_______________

Shawn wants to go out for lunch and you know he won't bother inviting Andrew or saying anything to Jake before the two of you leave. It feels so bad, sneaking out of the hotel to galavant around the nearby shopping district. You can't say you don't love the thrill of it though.

Shawn reaches for your hand, bumping against it a few times for permission before he goes for holding it. You give in quickly, knowing what he wants and he threads his fingers between yours.

You know that this is going to be your last outing together before Shawn is booked up for the rest of the Paris promo. He has a fashion gala, a pop up merchandise event, a performance with a local radio station and an interview with another radio station.

You squeeze his hand and he squeezes back. It was now or never. Whatever happened on this outing had to be big and attention grabbing. You don't dare ask yet, but the way he's looking at you says he might have a plan.

_______________

The two of you can't settle on a place for lunch which ends up with you walking around a small park nearby until one of you caved.

Shawn still has his hand in yours as you walk along a rose bush lined path. The park was gorgeous and in full view of the Eiffel Tower. Everything felt like a dream and you didn't ever want to wake up.

“Crepes are such a classic lunch. I don't know why you don't want to get those,” Shawn says, continuing your lunch debate that lead to the walk in the park. He really wasn’t budging on the crepes idea.

“It sounds heavy,” you sigh, it’s only the third time you’ve said this.

Honestly crepes sounded pretty good but your stomach was in knots. Nerves were getting the best of you and you can't take it any longer. Shawn was going to do something and you needed to be prepared. You were going to have to ask him what his plan was.

“You could get a plain one or just ham and ch-”

You stop, placing your hand on his chest and he stops mid sentence. He looks down, covers your hand with his and you can feel his heart racing just like yours. You pause, just a moment, taking in the slight intimacy before you speak.

“What are we doing?”

“We're walking in the park and debating lunch?”

“No.” You close your eyes. “I mean what is the plan for our outing? What are we going to do to get caught?”

Shawn stares at you for a moment, as if he had forgotten that you were just out on a lunch date for appearances. He seemed to forget a lot that you weren’t his real girlfriend, but you did too.

“I don't have a plan?”

“You have to have a plan.”

“I don't. We'll just make it up as we go.” He curls his fingers around your hand that's still on his chest and he brings it up to kiss your knuckles. You flush and he grins, knowing he caused that.

“How about we skip lunch and get some ice cream? It would be far more romantic to eat ice cream in the park. “

Shawn pulls away, hand still in yours as he starts running toward the other end of the park. You stumble along with him, giggling and struggling to keep up.

“Shawn! I'm going to fall! Your legs are too long I can't keep up!”

“I’ll catch you!” Shawn laughs, doubling back to scoop you up and spin you around a few times while you squeal to be let down. “I promise I’ll catch you whenever you fall.”

“Psh, you are such a mushy softie.”

Shawn places you down in front of the ice cream vendor cart and kisses the top of your head. “Sorry, I’m so soft.” He pokes his firm belly and makes a bleh noise. “I’m a regular stay puft marshmallow boy.”

You roll your eyes and step up to the cart. Shawn throws his arm around you and tries to order in French. It’s embarrassing.

“Deux Chocolat?” you say pointing at the chocolate ice cream. The vendor smiles and scoops, announcing your total in English and you thank him as you hand Shawn his little dish.

The two of you sit on a little bridge that goes over a creek that joins two ponds in the park. It faces the main street and the two of you remain in a comfortable silence as you watch cars and bikes and people with pets pass by.

A group of people nearby seem to be noticing you and Shawn. They’ve got phones out, failing to be discreet as they snap pictures of you. Your heart races and you elbow Shawn, nodding to the crowd. Shawn scoops up some of this ice cream and holds it out for you. “Open up,” he grins and you roll your eyes. “Open. Come on.”

You open your mouth and let him feed you, giggling as your lips close over the icy treat. “It tastes just like mine,” you say and he scoops another bit. You laugh as he makes airplane noises and ends up getting chocolate all over your lip and chin. “Hey! Watch where you’re putting that!”

Shawn parks his spoon in his cup and grabs your chin, swiping his thumb over the mess. He’s looking at you, eyes locked with yours. His lips part and you struggle to breathe as he leans in. “I’m going to kiss you,” he whispers, voice hardly audible. Just like that, his warm lips meet yours and he licks the ice cream from your lip. His hand goes into your hair and you lean into him, dropping your ice cream in the creek as you grab his face.

Making out in public wasn’t something you ever wanted to do. It just wasn’t something you were totally comfortable with, but Shawn...well...he was an exception. Besides. You needed to get people’s attention. You needed rumors to spread. What was more rumor confirming than making out in public?

Shawn breaks the kiss, rolling his forehead against yours. “I don’t want to pretend anymore,” he says quietly.

“W-what? Was the kiss that bad?” you whisper in return.

He closes his eyes and shakes his head a bit. “The kiss was perfect. You're perfect.”

“Shawn, you're just lost in the moment.”

“I'm not,” he says as he leans forward and kisses you softly. He kisses between words as he says, “I've never been so happy in my whole life than I am when I'm with you. I just had to open my eyes.”

You pull away this time and he chases your lips a bit before settling on bumping noses. “When did you know it wasn't pretend anymore?”

“As soon as we started. My brain got the green light to make you mine and I couldn't stop it. I wanted your attention all the time, I didn't care if someone was watching or not.”

Shawn moves back and pulls you in front of him so you're between his legs where he's sitting on the edge of the bridge. He tucks your hair behind your ears and wraps his arms around you.

You bring your arms up and grip the back of his shirt, burying your face in his collar. “This feels unreal. I never thought you would actually do this. You're like a Disney prince, you can't be real.”

“I am real, and you're my princess. Now, come on princess, we have some rumors to confirm,” Shawn chuckles and stands, lifting you up so your legs are wrapped around his waist. He walks you past the crowd of fans with the biggest smirk as he bumps his nose with yours. It's one of the first times you've seen him practically ignore fans, but you couldn't be happier.

_______________

The moment the door closes to your shared room, Shawn presses you against the wall and kisses you hungrily. Your hands go to his belt and he bites at your lip for encouragement.

“Shawn?!” Andrew yells through the door.

You halt, fingers freezing on Shawn's zipper. Oh right. Andrew didn't know yet. If you didn't answer then he would just go away?

Shawn makes a shushing motion and creeps away from the door, taking your hands to lead you to the bed. Andrew knocks again and you feel sick to your stomach. Shawn's phone buzzes and you reach around and pull it from his back pocket.

“Its Andrew. He said he knows we're back. Answer the door.”

Shawn growls and goes to the door, ripping it open and glaring at his manager. “What? We went for lunch.”

Andrew steps in and Shawn walks over to you. He holds his phone up with a picture of the two of you kissing. “Let's talk.”

After ages of discussion, an agreement is made. Shawn would still have to walk the red carpet tomorrow at the KIT Fashion Gala with Cailey, and he would have to appear on the talk show she co hosted in a few weeks. But they wouldn't be selling the relationship angle now that you as Shawn were very publicly an item.

You and Shawn spend the rest of the day in bed, lazily kissing and exploring each other while discussing what you wanna do as soon as you get home from the press tour. Mostly he wants to show you Toronto and Pickering, introduce you to his friends and family, and fuck you senseless but that last part didn't require being back home.

_______________

Lydia and her team show up early the next morning to get Shawn fitted and dressed for the gala. You're up when they come knocking on the hotel room door and Shawn isn't, so you answer.

“Oh my God the rumors are true!” Lydia squeals as you open the door dressed in Shawn's tee and your underwear.

“Yeah, surprise!” You laugh and Lydia gives your cheeks air kisses as she and her team haul in a bunch of racks and cases.

“You two are adorable. He couldn't have chosen a better woman,” Lydia gushes as she starts to unpack.

Shawn sits up in bed and runs a hand through his sleep mussed hair. “You trying to steal my girl, Lyd?” He laughs.

“I got a girl, but if you want to share...”

“Oh you know I'm not good at that,” Shawn says as he stands and stretches, giving you a great view of that glorious ass of his. “Shower and a shave first?”

“Of course, wouldn't want your stink on these fresh suits.”

Shawn feigns hurt and you giggle.

Lydia unzips a few of the carrier bags and glances over at you. “What are you wearing tonight?”

“Me? Um, just one of my regular dresses probably?”

Lydia shakes her head and goes over to the second rack her assistants rolled in. “No, you're not going to be dressed like the assistant. You're Shawn Mendes’s girlfriend, you have to show up in something nice.”

“But I don't think anyone is going to care what I'm wearing. I'm not on the red carpet.”

Lydia laughs and holds on to the rack. “You're kidding right? He is not actually walking with Cailey is he?” You nod. “Well fuck that little tart. You're wearing this.”

She pulls a long black v neck sleeveless dress. There's a little jewelry set hanging with it on the hanger. You stand up and go over to it, running your hand over the front of it. It's got a little thin white belt around the waist with a little gem encrusted detailed feather as the clasp.

“This is too nice. I'm not sure I can wear this.”

“You can and will. Come on, try it on.” Lydia tugs at your shirt and you turn your back to her and pull your shirt off. “You don't need a bra, here,” she says passing the dress to you off the hanger.

You step into it and Lydia zips the back up. It's just a hint loose along your bust line. You turn and Shawn steps out of the bathroom in his boxers, scrubbing his hair dry with a towel.

“Hey Lydia, I was thinking...wow,” Shawn says dropping his towel and looking you over. “You look stunning.”

“It's just a dress,” you giggle, smoothing the front down.

Shawn crosses the room and grabs your hips, running his hands up and down your sides. “It's a damn good dress. Are you wearing this tonight?”

“Yes, she is,” Lydia answers for you. “And your suit will match.” Shawn looks back as Lydia pulls a black suit down that has black silk accents. “I was thinking we do a black suit with a floral button down under it. I've brought several options.”

“Let's get to it then,” Shawn smiles, looking down at you and kissing your head. “Tell me your favorite and I'll wear it okay?”

“Alright.”

“Perfect. Andi and myself will work with Shawn, Dana you help fit that dress to her and we'll get this show on the road,” Lydia says and claps her hands together. It was going to be a long day.

_______________

The KIT Gala was just like every other event you've been to with Shawn. Loads of famous people, douchebags with cameras, no so douchebag professional photographers, constant blinding lights and fake conversations. It's just another event.

That's what you tell yourself anyway. You've got nerves like never before. You've never been Shawn's girlfriend at an event before. You've never been paid any mind until you put that ring around your neck and everything kicked off.

You touch the ring, it's on a long chain that dips into your dress that's layered with a few other simple chains to complete the look Lydia picked out for you. Shawn had insisted that you keep holding on to it, and you would.

The car stops and Shawn slides his hand off of your thigh. “This is my stop. I guess I'll meet you inside,” he says heavily.

You give him a weak smile, knowing he doesn't want to go out and walk in with Caliey. The door opens and Shawn takes a deep breath, stepping out and the crowd gets a little louder. You smile, glancing around at the people taking photos from beyond barrier gates. It was never dull going places with Shawn.

A moment passes, just a quick second and you realize the car should be pulling away now. Shawn is out but the door is open still.

“Give me your hand,” Shawn says, leaning into the car.

“Shawn no, I'm not getting out here. Go meet Cailey.”

“Babe, get out. I'm not walking with her. You're in an Armani dress and decked out in more diamonds then I can count. I'm walking with you.”

You grab Shawn's hand and scoot across the seat. “Andrew is going to be pissed,” you laugh softly.

“He shouldn't have let me ride with you then,” Shawn smirks and you stand beside him, scooting to the side so the door can close.

The second that the press realize who you are, they go wild. It's a million questions a second, photographers yelling to look from every direction. Shawn threads his fingers through yours and walks you to the first stop along the long red carpet.

Endless photos and poses later and you and Shawn reach the entrance of the building. You look back and see Cailey walking alone, posing in the most over dramatic ways and you roll your eyes. She's in a long while dress that really just washes her out and you're glad she didn't walk with Shawn. It would have been a horrible match.

“You doing okay?” Shawn whispers against your ear as you step into the quiet building.

“Yeah, just a little bit overwhelmed. I'm glad it's over though. Did you see Cailey?”

“Oh yeah, she looks pissed.”

“Well I mean you ditched her.”

Shawn pulls you aside and grabs both of your hands. “I want nothing to do with her. I don't care what Andrew said, Cailey and her team would spin some story out of us being together any way they could. I wouldn't let that happen, I love you too much to let you get stuck in drama like that.”

“You love me?” You ask, not sure if you heard him right.

Shawn is silent, realizing what he just said.

“Shawn, you said you loved me.”

“I do. I love you. Oh my God.” He grabs your face and kisses you softly. “I absolutely positively love you.”

“I love you too,” you giggle, unable to contain yourself. How long had you wanted to say that to him, lord only knows. “I love you so, so, much, but is now the best time for us to be confessing this?”

Shawn looks around like he'd forgotten where the two of you were. There's a couple reporters with their phones out nearby but you can't be bothered.

“Can you do something for me?” Shawn asks with a grin and you say sure. “Will you hold on to this ring for me?”

Shawn slides his rose gold pinky ring off his finger and grabs your hand. He slides it over your ring finger and brings it up to his lips to kiss it softly.

“Shawn, what in the world...”

“It's a promise ring.”

“Shawn this ring is like eight hundred dollars, this is not a promise ring.”

He leans forward and presses his forehead against yours. “It is today. It’s to remind you that I love you and this isn't a dream, even though it feels like it might be.”

“You're such a sap.”

Shawn shrugs and slips his arm around you as Cailey passes by, giving a nasty look in your direction. You just grin, so smug that Shawn has your whole heart and you have his.

“Come on, let's go get dinner and then get yelled at by Andrew. The sooner this is over with, the sooner I can get you out of that dress.”

“Shawn!”

“Don't think I won't rip that dress open in the car. I've waited long enough for you,” Shawn smirks and you slap his arm as he walks you into the huge dining hall of the event building.

“Fine. I won't rip it. But as soon as we're alone together, I wanna see you in nothing but my ring on that chain around your neck.”

“I think I can manage that.”

Shawn leans down and kisses your cheek, giving your jaw a little nip that sends a rush of heat over your whole body. “Good girl,” he says smiling against your skin and you know that this was only the beginning with a whole new Shawn you had yet to explore and you know you'll be falling in love with over and over again.

[walaw717]

What kind of man fights in 4 wars spanning over 4 decades, sustaining injuries that result in the self-amputation of two fingers, the loss of one hand, an eye, and a lung; has his plane shot down, lives in captivity for over 7 months – and despite all of the above fondly reminisces that “frankly I had enjoyed the war”? . The kind of man that is Adrian Carton de Wiart. . The life of the ultra-wealthy Belgian Aristocracy that he was born into, clearly wasn’t the life young Adrian wanted; which is probably why he ran away from his Catholic boarding school, and like so many great war heroes start out, headed straight to the nearest British Army recruitment office. Here he would go through the late 1800’s equivalent of convincing the recruitment officer his name was ‘McLovin’ which bought Adrian a ticket to his first war – The Second Boer war. Here McLovin would lead Bayonette charges against Boer Kommandos and get shot in the groin and lung – substantial injuries that got him sent back to Britain where he finally came clean his name wasn’t McLovin. He then would commission as an actual officer in the British army until the war ended in 1902. From here he went to Oxford University, married an Austrian Countess whom he had 2 daughters with, and lived as an Aristocrat. . This life of privilege however, was never the life Adrian wanted; But luckily for him, the dawn of a new age of warfighting was near. . At the outbreak of WW1 Adrian spared no time in ditching his wife and daughters (the whole “I’m just going up the road for some cigarettes” sketch – but much posher) to immediately re-enlist back into the British army. Due to his previous experiences of combat, he was assigned to the East Africa Camel Corps. This rather bizarre-sounding unit of old school desert fighters were actually more Ally than the passage-way between two large houses. Tasked with quelling a rebellion in British Somaliland, led by who the British Dubbed “the Mad Mullah” (Mohammad Bin Abdullah, who castrated his own fighters for cowardice) De Wiart would essentially lead Camelback Commando raids against enemy positions; and it was here while scaling the walls of enemy forts with a revolver and committing multiple acts of badassery that he would get shot in the face twice, losing his eye and part of his ear. Only in the eyes (or eye) of a triple hard bastard could this be taken as good news, but bearing in mind Adrian was the kind of man that celebrated life-changing injuries and disastrous news with copious amounts of wine, it comes as no surprise that this news was music to his ears (or ear). As this news in being sent home and given a glass eye - which he drunkenly threw out of a taxi window and opted for the pirate option of an eye patch - also resulted in him getting a ticket to France, where the most brutal war in history was waging, and where Adrian assessed “the real action was at”. . After arriving in France, Adrian would have his hand shattered by German artillery during the Second Battle of Ypres. Worried he would miss out on any action by the injury getting infected he went to a field hospital to get two of the fingers amputated. The doctors refused, so the one-eyed Commander amputated them himself, which didn’t matter too much because later on in the year the whole hand needed to be amputated; Just in time for the battle of the Somme, where there were reports from the men of a one-handed Commander wearing an eye patch pulling grenade pins out with his teeth and personally delivering them to Germans of the Western front. . Later on, in 1916 the Pirate Commander was leading the 8th Gloucestershire Regiment in a Bayonette charge during the Battle of Boiselle when 3 other unit commanders were killed. Adrian then took charge of all 4 Units – Running up and down the lines barking orders, successfully holding off the German counter-attack as German bullets whizzed past his eye patch. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, an award he humbly made no mention of in his memoirs, claiming “it had been won by the 8th Glosters, for every man has done as much as I have”. . Adrian went on to fight through the rest of the war. In total, he got shot/blown up 8 separate times whilst leading infantry into battle – including what should have been a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head. When asked about his time during the bloodiest war in human history he replied, “Frankly I enjoyed the war”. . In 1920, Adrian was sent to Poland to help advise the crown. His time here was pretty average really – He survived 2 plane crashes, he ran a gun smuggling ring to bring weapons into Poland to help fight the communists, participated in a duel against Carl Gustav (future overall leader of Finnish forces in WW2), shot his way out of Warsaw on an express train as a band of Cossack Cavalrymen tried to arrest and execute him. Aside from the above Adrian would spend his time hunting ducks with one arm and a shotgun on his rather large estate on the Polish border. . However, Adrian’s Duck hunting days were numbered, as Europe yet again was about to be plunged into times of War. . When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and blew up Adrian’s estate there was only one thing for it. Whilst getting strafed by German Stukas he made his way out of Poland; and despite being a British/Belgian man with one hand and an eye patch, travelled through Romania on a fake passport (Probably under the name McLovin) to finally reach British soil again. Here, yet again he would reveal to British authorities his name wasn’t McLovin and re-enlist in the British army; and now with his retirement on the back-burner, alongside his Austrian Countess wife and two daughters, he would lead British Commando raids against the fascist invaders of Europe. . In 1940 Adrian would lead a Raid into Norway, to re-take Trondheim from the Nazis. Things didn’t really go to plan, and when the promised naval/air support and reinforcements never showed up it was time for De Wiart and his merry band of lunatics to do a runner. Chased by German ski troops through the snowy mountains of Norway, whilst being strafed by the Luftwaffe and shelled by German destroyers this band of warriors actually made it back to an extraction point with the Royal Navy to get back to England – Just in time For Adrian’s 60th Birthday. . In 1941, appointed by Winston Churchill himself, General Adrian Carton de Wiart would lead the British mission in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately for the General and his RAF Crew the plane decided to wrap its tits in and nosedive into the Mediterranean ocean. Helping an injured comrade the 60-year-old General along with his RAF crew swam to shore. A Libyan shore. A Libyan shore that was unfortunately held by fascists of the Italian variety. Adrian was thrown into captivity into the POW camp at Vincigliata Castle. With not a single duck given since 1899 he proceeded to dig an escape tunnel over a 7-month period, which he and 6 others would use to escape their fascist captors. Unfortunately, it turned out that being a one-handed 60-year-old wearing an eye patch, as well as being distinctively British with a slight Belgian undertone… Well, clearly, he was swiftly recaptured. Fortunately, the Italians had decided they wanted to switch sides – and in war, what better bargaining chip than a General? . Having been back on British soil less than a month Adrian was sent to China as the special envoy to the Chinese leader. During this final four-year period, he would survive yet another plane crash. On his way back to Britain and actual retirement he stopped off in Rangoon, where he drunkenly fell down some stairs and broke his back. . Adrian Carton de Wiart would go on to write up his life story in his memoirs, hilariously titled “Happy Odyssey”. Winston Churchill even wrote the foreword for it. In the entire Book there is literally not a single mention or even reference to the fact that he had an Austrian Countess wife and two daughters. . Adrian would finally pass away in 1963, at the age of 83, having spent his final years fishing and in peace.

[brokendevilwrites]

How would Nerd/Popular clexa parent's and friend's react If they just up and eloped at say 20, after they get back together?

NOTE: This doesn’t really fit anywhere in their timeline I have but I wanted to write it anyway. Just take it with a pinch of salt.

===

They tell Lexa’s mother first and it goes about as well as expected. For long moments--moments that drag into minutes that feel like eons--Lexa’s mom just looks at them, an eyebrow arched highly that matches Lexa’s when she hears something ridiculous, and she sips at her coffee like she’s waiting for the punchline for a terrible joke.

The kitchen is warm and filled with the scent of home cooked meals that Lexa misses. Two vases of flowers sit on the window and Lexa knows they’re from patients, always grateful for the dedication her mother gives to them, and she feels at home again even though her life is being built in brand new ways in a brand new city.

“Married.”

It’s all she says and Lexa nods and nods and nods. Clarke notes, with a smile, that Lexa hasn’t shut up once about them being officially married since the second they slid rings onto one another fingers but all words seem to have left her the second they stepped into her mother's kitchen.

“Married,” Lexa finally parrots back and Clarke flexes her fingers under the table against her wife’s. Her wife. She’s married. She married the most popular girl in school and they’re in love and happy and full of future promises. It’s so much, almost too much, and Clarke wants to scream and sing and laugh at how happy she is. “We...I mean, we were always going to get married so I don’t really see why us eloping is such a big deal really.”

The cup makes a dull noise as her mom places it back on the counter and her fingers rub at her eyes, a long shift at work starting to wear on her. “You’re twenty years old.”

“I’m glad you remembered.”

“Lexa,” her mom scolds and Clarke has to hold back from apologising too. “If I needed some witty commentary in my life then I’d turn on the television. I don’t particularly need it from my daughter when she wants me to take the fact she’s married her high school sweetheart seriously.”

“But you like Clarke.”

“I don’t recall saying I didn’t like Clarke,” she snaps back and for the first time Clarke and Lexa notice what ripple effects their decisions have on other people. “I just don’t understand why you thought I’d be supportive of something that you clearly didn’t want me to be involved in.”

And just like that all of the fake bravado leaves Lexa. Her shoulders slump a little and she shrugs, looking a lot like a little girl and needing her mom to say something nice about her.

“That’s not --”

“I didn’t even know you two  were back together, Lexa. A few weeks ago you were telling me you weren’t sure if you would be friends again.”

“I mean, no. But nobody did and this just...It happened and we’re happy. Please don’t be mad, we’re happy.”

There’s a little part of Clarke that wonders if she should leave the room but she sits firm, showing support for her wife as they try to explain to her mom that them getting married so quickly wasn’t anything to do with anyone else. It was for them.

“I’m not angry, baby. I’m not even disappointed,” she finally sighs but Lexa doesn’t look convinced and her eyebrows narrow together slightly, a confused pout on her pretty lips. “I just wish I could have been there on the happiest day of your life. You were there on mine. I wanted to share that with you but it’s okay, I’m sure we can recreate it with a party or something.”

Lexa opens her mouth to speak but her mom stands and the couple watch as she walks over to them, placing a gentle kiss on both of their browlines, before whispering a congratulations.

When she leaves the room Clarke can see the seriousness of the situation in Lexa’s eyes.

===

“Well I’m not surprised.”

“I am.”

“That’s because you don’t pay attention to anything other than your reflection, Bell,” Octavia chuckles and Bellamy looks like he wants to argue before he realises it’s an argument that is a) pointless and b) one he’s going to lose. The siblings glare playfully at one another for a few seconds before they turn their attention back to the couple. “What did your parents say?”

“My mom is kind of pissed she wasn’t included in the wedding,” Lexa starts and rolls her eyes when Octavia makes a noise of agreement and she looks at Clarke who busies herself with stirring her hot chocolate. “We haven’t told Abby yet.”

“Why? Do you think she’s going to freak out?”

“It’s Abby Griffin,” Lexa says, her fingers fiddling with sugar packets, and she ignores the amused look that Octavia and Bellamy give the both of them. While she’s still definitely not the greatest fan of Clarke’s best friend, he isn’t that bad. After high school the ‘leader of the pack’ idiocy left him and he grew some. She doesn’t love the guy but she’s happy Clarke has him, he understands her in ways Lexa is still learning sometimes. And she likes Clarke has people who can provide her with different things. “She’s kind of a force of nature.”

Bellamy shrugs a little and sits back in the plastic chair, his large frame swallowing it. “She’s nice.”

“She nice to you because she wants you to marry Clarke,” Lexa retorts and it just makes the boy laugh.

“She likes you too,” Clarke whispers and presses a kiss to Lexa’s cheek like the girl doesn’t already know. “Although, she definitely doesn’t know we’re even back together. I didn’t tell her that part yet. You know when you tell you mom bad things about your ex and you can’t really take it back?”

She looks adorable even as she teases and Lexa laughs, her eyes rolling. She knows Clarke wouldn’t have said anything about her but Clarke’s eyes are gleaming with laughter and her lips are wide in a smile and she’s just beautiful.

Even now she take’s Lexa’s breath away.

“Great. Now I have to win her over even as I explain that I married her daughter while we went away on a vacation that nobody knew about before doing terrible things to her in a hotel room.”

“I don’t remember them being terrible,” Clarke shrugs and the table erupts into giggles and flying sugar packets.

===

Anya stares at them through the computer, her make-up and her hair clearly professionally done, and there are several people in the background who look like they’re probably waiting for her.

Lexa knows they’re going to wait a lot longer now.

“You got married while I’m in Europe?”

“In our defence, we never know where in the world you are,” Lexa says through a grin and Anya rolls her eyes so slowly that the only way Clarke knows the connection hasn’t frozen is because of the people hurrying around the set. “It just sort of escalated from me saying I wanted to marry Clarke to actually, you know, marrying Clarke.”

“Romantic.”

Clarke smiles and Lexa looks away from the image of her friend to the image of her wife on the computer screen and sighs. She’s incredible. “It really was.”

“Well congratulations,” Anya shrugs but there’s a look behind her eyes that Lexa has seen before. The image of disappointment on her moms face is still fresh. “Don’t think this gives you a pass to be more disgusting with one another.”

“No promises.”

“I want the full story when I’m back from Milan,” she says and before they can reply the screen goes black and Anya leaves.

Lexa blinks a few times and tries to smile. “That was better than I thought.”

“I think we’ve underestimated how much people actually love us,” Clarke says and Lexa hasn’t heard a more truer word spoken. She looks a little nervous and Lexa kisses her like she did when they were announced as wife and wife in front of a group of strangers. “I love you.”

“I love you, Clarke,” she reminds her and kisses her again, because she can. “Are you ready to tell your mom?”

“Nope.”

===

Clarke’s childhood home hasn’t changed from her first memories. The walls have had a new lick of paint and floorboards have been replaced, but the vibrancy is still the same and the love still holds strong in the foundations. On the stairs is a little chart telling of the growth of Clarke. It stops suddenly when she’s ten and Lexa knows why; they don’t talk about it, but she knows the handwriting next to the age and year is Jake Griffin’s.

Clarke went ahead to the snug first; it’s Abby’s favourite room, covered in books and movies and pictures of happier times. Slowly she’s filling spaces next to old memories with new ones and Lexa stands at the door while Abby and Clarke catch up, not unaware of the look she received when Abby opened the door to see the couple standing there.

Briefly she wonders what Abby thinks of her in those months Clarke and her broke one anothers hearts.

“Mom, I have something to tell you,” Clarke says and Lexa takes that as her cue to walk into the room, her hand going to rest on Clarke’s thigh as she sits next to her. She isn’t ignorant to the look she gets for it. “Me and Lexa. Lexa and I. We’re --”

“I know you’re married, Clarke. Lexa’s mom told me.”  The couple freeze and Lexa glares, hoping a psychic connection before her and her mother works and she feels the intensity of it. “Oh, you didn’t think we didn’t keep each other up to date on your lives? Of course we do. You weren’t speaking to one another and you had us worried for a while.”

“You’re not mad?”

Abby sighs and for a second Lexa worries she is. “I’m never mad at your decisions, Clarke. You’re incredibly smart and I know your mind works differently sometimes so I know you’ve made this decision because it’s the best one for you,” she says softly but there is that underlying tone that they’ve become accustomed to hearing. “But why did you feel you had to do this without your family or friends?”

Clarke looks at Lexa and Lexa looks at Clarke and they, in that moment, realise they don’t actually have an answer. “I just wanted to marry her and I needed to do it then,” Lexa says but she’s looking at Clarke and Abby smiles. “I couldn’t wait, Mrs. Griffin. Abby. I didn’t want to wait. I asked her to marry me because I needed her to be my wife and I had to be her wife, and we made it happen because we’ve always made it happen.”

“I see,” Abby says with a nod and she captures their attention again. “Well perhaps we can have a celebration? I’d like to congratulate the two of you without you running off somewhere and celebrating without us.”

And it isn’t about the marriage or the wedding or the secrecy, they realise. They’re surrounded by support and love and acceptance and they should have shared their love back; that’s the disappointment their friends and family have, that they couldn’t be included.

Clarke kisses Lexa again and tastes promise on her lips.

How many times can they get married before it becomes obnoxious?

[kiebs]

Whale Tales 8

Fandom: Free!

Genre: Modern Fantasy

Pairing: Soumako; MakoxOC; SouxOC; SoumakoxOC

Characters: Matsuoka Rin; Original Character; Tachibana Makoto, Yamazaki Sousuke; Nanase Haruka

Summary:  It all began with a storm that totaled a boat. And overly friendly mermen.

It’s been forever and a day, but I hope you enjoy this most recent chapter of Whale Tales!

Also on AO3

Rin crossed his arms, eyes looking out over the marina. "So, you're sure this is okay to do?"

"Sousuke said it was okay," Tohru responded, twisting a hair tie between her fingers.

"Yeah, but…just because he says so—"

"Rin, you were there, too. Did he look uncertain to you?"

"I don't want our friends getting hurt because a big dumb fish thinks he can get over his trauma by forcing himself to hang out with humans."

For a moment, only the seagulls answered him.

"…everything will be okay," she murmured. "Makoto-san and Haru-san will be there."

"Great, more fish."

"They're not fish. They're cetaceans."

"Don't you get all technical on me—"

"Cetaceans are mammals. Fish aren't. There is no technic—"

"They both swim!"

"Now you're being childish."

Before their bickering could go any farther, and both of them knew they were bickering only because they were nervous and this was how they sometimes made the other feel better, a bright, cheery voice rang through the air. Both turned towards the sound, a sense of levity immediately fluttering over them.

"Rin-channn! Tohru-channn!" A ball of energy and blond hair dashed across the dock, almost knocking both of them over in his haste to hug them. "I missed you!"

"Oof! Hey, Nagisa," Rin greeted. He ruffled their friend's fluffy locks. "We missed you too."

"How was your European adventure?" Tohru asked warmly.

It was good to see her friend again. It had been about a month or so since she last saw him and, well, he didn't look much different. Nagisa still stood only a couple centimeters taller than she did and he was as tan as she was, but he had cut his hair and a shiny bicolored ring glittered on his finger. Otherwise, he was the same old Nagisa, bubbly and cheerful and bringing sunshine wherever he went.

He clasped his hands together with sparkling eyes. "It was amazing. I didn't realize just how close all the countries were, so we just took a super long road trip!"

"And what about your budget?" Rin asked, but his eyes had lifted from the blond man to his husband.

Rei pushed up his glasses with a mild twisting of his mouth. "Stretched, but nothing too overboard."

"Did you have fun, though?" Rin asked.

A smile curved up their bespectacled friend's lips. His face immediately softened, looking as boyish as he did when he was in high school. In moments like this, Tohru saw the reason why Nagisa so loved Rei.

"I did, very much so," he admitted. "Even with the language barrier, I had fun."

"Yeah, yeah! Thankfully, Rei-chan could get around a little with his English!" Nagisa added happily. He bounced on his heels away from her and Rin. "But we picked up a lot! And souvenirs! We got you some cool things!"

He immediately began rifling through his bag and produced two gift bags. Rin and Tohru eyed them cautiously, remembering previous gifts and souvenirs that had been less than what they expected. And by that, she meant that they had been some really weird and esoteric thing that they didn't even know where or how he got them. Nevertheless, they took the bags.

Inside the bag sat a simple cardboard box. Tohru lifted it out and cautiously turned it in her hands. It was light, but had some weight to it so that it didn't feel like it was full of fluff. That didn't exactly ease her, but she opened the box anyway. Wrapped in paper and sparkling once uncovered, she found a pretty metal and glass statue of a stingray. The glass was a mixture of milky blues and grays, though a few places were clear and bright cerulean. It was beautiful and extremely thoughtful.

Rin had a similar piece, but his was a shark and red. Tears beaded in his eyes the moment he unearthed it from its paper cushion. He sniffed loudly, gently placing the shark back into the box so that he could rub furiously at his eyes. Tohru smiled indulgently at his actions, putting her own statuette away.

Seeing Rin cry was actually a good sign, all things considered. With the curse and the mermen, she was afraid he was going to fall into depression again, but he actually crying meant that he hadn't. He became remarkably aloof when he was depressed.

"Aww, Rin-chan!" Nagisa cooed, throwing his arms around his waist.

"I-I'm not crying!" Rin hiccoughed gruffly.

"Rin, that's never worked," Tohru teased, gently bumping his shoulder with hers. "We know you're crying."

"S-Shut up."

"You're going to make Rei-chan cry, Rin-chan!"

"I am not going to start crying, Nagisa-kun!"

Nagisa laughed joyfully, smiling up at his husband.

It felt weird to think of Rei and Nagisa like that, to think that they were married now. It felt like they would be boyfriends forever, though they had also felt married before they had even been engaged. Then again, Tohru couldn't imagine a time when the two weren't together and it was weird to think that there actually had been. She much preferred them now.

Rin pushed Nagisa away, but he kept his hand on the smaller man's shoulder. Tears still reddened his eyes, but he was smiling as he gestured to the boat. He cast a conspiratorial look towards her before speaking.

"Let's head off, all right?" he remarked, placing his box back in the bag. "We're losing daylight."

"It's not even ten yet!" Nagisa whined, but hurried onto The Shark nonetheless.

"Like you're not excited to go out," Rin returned with a grin.

"We went on a cruise, too!" their friend huffed, turning up his nose.

Tohru lifted an eyebrow and looked curiously at Rei. "Did you?"

"Mm. In Sweden," the glasses-wearing man explained. He gestured for her to go first; she did. "It was rather beautiful."

His voice was almost wistful, which was a surprise. Back in high school, he had refused to go near, let alone in, any water, and even in college, they were hard-pressed to actually get him to join them in the pool. (Teaching him to swim had been a nightmare.) She supposed Nagisa's and her work had something to do with his recent fondness to bodies of water. He still got horribly seasick, though.

Once Rei was on the boat, Rin untied it and hopped in himself. As he passed her, he dipped his head.

"You wanna bring it up or should I?" he asked softly.

Tohru tilted her head up accordingly. "I can. I won't mention the curse."

His smile was relieved in return. He nodded.

Now…the question was how to bring up the mermen.

Technically, her real question was if she would even get a chance to speak as Nagisa dominated the conversation the moment they had all settled in the cabin. He regaled them on his and Rei's European adventure, telling them about the food, the people, the cities, and just about anything else that he could remember. Sure, intermittently when he ran out of breath, Rei would add a few things or tell them about the architecture or simple beauty of the towns in Europe before Nagisa would continue his tale. And he was a very good speaker, always had been, and created such pretty imagery with his words alone. They could have been there with the way he was describing everything.

But Tohru needed to tell them about the mermen. She felt extremely guilty about even needing to do so, because she had promised the mermen—she had promised Sousuke—that she or Rin wouldn't tell anyone else. Yet here she was.

Sousuke's voice echoed through her mind, interrupting the images of some kind of German pastry Nagisa was describing.

"I understand. You can tell them."

Guilt still tied up her throat, but she would rather forewarn her friends than blindside them. There was just the very likely happenstance that neither Rei nor Nagisa would believe her. Nagisa might be a dreamer, might love fantasy, but he also knew the boundaries of reality. Even he would question her sanity.

She sighed softly, smiling despite her inner turmoil. Despite how nervous she felt, she was happy that she could share this with her friends. Even more so, she was happy that Sousuke understood why she had to bring them out. She had been extremely reckless to go diving without a partner; she recognized that now. Thankfully, Sousuke understood that, too. He had actually lectured her after she had explained why she needed to bring Nagisa. It was flattering.

"…ru…"

Being lectured had never been so enjoyable before.

"T…ru…n…"

Even Makoto had gotten huffy when she explained her recklessness.

"Toh…n…"

It was…cute.

"Tohru-chan!"

Tohru jolted from her daze.

"W-What?" she gasped, looking quickly between Nagisa and Rei.

Rin coughed sharply.

Rei raised an eyebrow while Nagisa pouted.

Oh. She must have really daydreamed hard.

"Were you even paying attention, Tohru-chan?" Nagisa huffed, crossing his arms. His bottom lip wobbled.

"Until Vienna, sorry," she admitted with a wince.

"You missed our whole adventure in Padua!"

"To be fair, Nagisa, you have been talking for a while," Rei murmured, touching his husband's knee. "I'm sure Tohru-san and Rin-san have had adventures while we were away."

Nagisa's eyes widened. His lips wobbled before he lunged onto Tohru's lap.

"I'm sorry, Tohru-chan! I didn't even ask how you were doing!" he wailed, looking up at her. "Especially about that storm!"

Ah, that had been the only time they interrupted their friends' honeymoon. Well, Kou had interrupted their honeymoon because Nagisa and Rei were two of her best friends and she needed to vent. They had almost returned, actually, if Rin hadn't given them a lecture about the romance of a honeymoon.

"We're doing okay," she answered with a smile. "Well, I'm getting better, but, well, Rin and I…had another adventure…"

Nagisa sat up quickly. "What happened?"

Rin snorted loudly.

Tohru took a breath.

"Okay, so…it…it kind of connected to the storm we were in," she began nervously. "Um, so…we…we kind of had help getting out of it and, uh…look, it's going to sound really weird and-and impossible, but you have to believe me, okay?"

Her friend narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded. Rei also nodded, looking skeptical.

"Go on," Rei encouraged.

She blew out loudly. "Okay, so. We were saved by mermen. Aaaand they've kinda been helping me out with the stingray research? And they visit us all the time when we go out now."

Unsurprisingly, silence answered her.

Her mouth was dry, her tongue gummy, her throat tight. Rei and Nagisa just stared at her, both with confused looks, though Rei's grew more and more concerned as the boat sailed on. She rubbed her clammy palms against her knees as she waited for one of them to respond.

After many long, excruciating minutes, Rei cleared his throat. He adjusted his glasses and then fixed the collar of his shirt. He took a breath. The whole preparation made Tohru sink farther down in her seat.

"Are you sure you didn't hurt yourself in the storm?" he asked in such a concerned voice that it embarrassed her. "Mermen don't exist."

"Doctor said I was fine," she muttered petulantly.

"Maybe you hallucinated…?" he continued, rubbing his chin. "Or created something to help you cope."

"But wouldn't mermen be so much cooler?" Nagisa interrupted. "Real live mermen! Think about it, Rei-chan!"

The bespectacled man offered his husband an indulgent smile. "As exciting as that would be, it's improbable."

"We've only explored like five percent of the oceans, Rei-chan!"

"I feel like we would have found something that was human sized by now."

Tohru cut in then, "Rei, we know very little about the blue whale and they get about thirty meters long! It's not farfetched that we could miss something the size of a human."

"She's got a point," Nagisa added excitedly. His bright gaze turned to her. "Did you really see mermen?"

"They were probably dolphins!" Rei argued huffily. "Tohru-san, Nagisa-kun, please."

“I mean, yeah, but it would be so much cooler if they really were mermen!” Nagisa gushed.

This was exactly how she expected it would go, to be honest. Nagisa had been the one to force her to join that folklore class, after all. He would be willing to believe in mermen. Rei was just too logical and rational for anything magical like this.

Tohru blew her hair out of her face angrily. Despite knowing this would happen, she was still frustrated. It was teaching Rei how to swim all over again, except harder. At least he had believed that swimming existed. Yeah, he had given a lecture on how humans had evolved to live on land and swimming was counterintuitive because of that, but he had very much knew the swimming was a real thing. She would have to take drastic measures with making him believe in the mermen then.

"I'm anchoring!" Rin called out. He turned around with a wicked grin. "Let's get this merman show on the road."

He picked up his stereo and headed out.

"Not you too, Rin-san!" Rei cried, standing up to follow. Nagisa was on his heels as they exited the cabin. "There's no such thing as mermen!"

The door swinging closed muffled their voices as they headed to the deck.

Her head pounded. She hadn't even realized the boat had stopped until Rin had spoken. Rubbing her forehead, she even wondered how any of this was going to work out with how vehemently Rei was denying the existence of the mermen. At least he hadn't resorted to saying they were tripping balls as Rin had done, but, well, the day was young.

As she changed into her wetsuit, her heart fluttered excitedly. Frustration with Rei aside, she was going to do her own research. Research that she had decided on. That was exciting. Even more exciting was all the equipment she could use. Like underwater cameras and recording devices and tags. Her grant allowed for that and she didn't have to go through her stupid cousin this time. No more hand recording her findings or trying to remember what she had seen. As it were, of course, most of the equipment wouldn't arrive to her apartment until next week, but she at least had an underwater camera already.

Grinning happily, Tohru skipped outside just as a large wave of water splashed a lecturing Rei. She gaped. Her friend was frozen for a solid few seconds before, abruptly, he screeched in shock. Nagisa immediately began cackling at his husband's sodden appearance.

Their loud responses broke whatever spell had descended on her and she giggled in surprise. Still snickering, she trotted over to the end of the boat and leaned over the rail.

"Hello, Sousuke," she greeted the nonplussed merman warmly.

He frowned up at her, though it really looked like he was pouting, before a slow, amused smile slipped onto his face. He looked rather pleased with himself she would have to say. Honestly, she was rather pleased with him, too.

Makoto, on the other hand, did not share their amusement, apparently. He surfaced next to his mate looking adorably annoyed. He shoved the larger merman.

"Was that necessary?" he asked exasperatedly.

Sousuke huffed. "I thought so."

"Rin was the same way!" Makoto groaned, covering his face.

"No, Rin kept insisting he was tripping balls," Sousuke retorted, lifting an eyebrow. He looked up towards Tohru. "Not started lecturing on why we couldn't exist."

"Do you want to come say 'hello'?" she asked with a grin.

The whale shark merman wrinkled his nose, as if the thought irritated him. Instead of bumming her out, the sight made her grin even more. She liked that she was able to interact with them like this. Those scant few days where she couldn't had left her feeling melancholic and the whole curse deal had saddened her, as well. Yet now, with their silly and sassy interactions, she felt so much better.

Makoto finally lowered his hands, but his exasperated look stayed on his face. Even more so when he saw his mate's distasteful expression.

"Sousuke…" he chastised lowly.

"Mm. All right. I'll come to you then," she announced. Almost immediately, wet arms hooked under hers and pulled her back. "Whoa!"

She looked up in surprise to find a flustered Rei staring down at her. His cheeks were pale, water droplets gleaming on his skin. His hair stuck to his forehead too.

"W-W-What do you t-think you're doing?" he exclaimed. "W-W-Who were those voices!?"

Nagisa suddenly appeared at her side. His eyes sparkled. "Was that—!?"

Music began playing behind them and the boat swayed.

"Tohru!" Makoto gasped, leaning over the side of the boat frantically.

Sousuke was scowling next to him, also hanging onto the ledge. Loud splashes sounded from behind both of them, which probably meant that their tails were thrashing back and forth.

Rei's arms dropped. He made a breathless noise, almost like a whimper, while Nagisa squealed in excitement. Tohru wasn't sure who to deal with first, though she turned quickly to catch Rei before his trembling legs gave out. Rin, thankfully, hurried over to help her.

"Yo," he called over their friend's shoulder to the mermen. "Where's your third wheel?"

"There's another one?" Rei whispered in horror.

His face was almost gray in shock. She gently nudged him over to one of the deck boxes and, with the help of Rin, eased him down. He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his face, groaning lowly. He sounded like he was going to be sick.

Hands latched onto her arm, shocking her to look up into the glowing face of Nagisa. His grin cut across his face like a crescent moon. He bounced excitedly.

"They're mermen!" he hissed excitedly. "Mermen! Me-e-e-e-ermen!"

"Yes, yes, they're dudes with fish tails," Rin remarked, ruffling the younger man's hair. "Give your husband some space."

"Sousuke is the only one with a fish tail," Tohru muttered, rubbing Rei's back. He groaned again.

"Is he okay?" Makoto called out nervously.

"He's seasick," Rin responded with a shrug.

"Whale shit," Sousuke responded, receiving an elbow jab from his mate.

Rin lifted an eyebrow, but grinned. He took a few steps towards the mermen.

"You miiight have freaked him out?" he amended with a shrug and hand wiggle. "You're supposed to be, mmm, improbable, did he say?"

He looked over his shoulder, probably to get Tohru's affirmation on his choice of words when a blur of blond hair sped past him and almost pushed the mermen back into the water. Sousuke lurched back, his grip on the railing the only thing preventing him from falling backwards. He gritted his teeth, eyes snapping past Nagisa towards her.

Tohru winced and hurried over to them just as her friend began to launch into a rapid barrage of questions. Sighing heavily, she gripped his shoulders and pulled him backwards, hoping to give the mermen space. Belatedly, she wondered what would happen if Sousuke had fallen backwards into the water. Did tonic immobility affect him like it did sharks and stingrays?

"Nagisa, give them some space," she scolded softly. "Also…you're speaking really fast."

"But Tohru-chan!" he gasped, whipping towards her and cracking their foreheads together.

They both yelped, jumping apart and clutching their heads. She whined lowly, a high-pitched version echoing hers as she pressed her hands to her wounded body part. Her equilibrium felt off and she knew she was swaying from the pain, so she squatted down to cut down her chances of falling. Slowly, the pain dulled.

"Honestly," Rin remarked, placing a hand on her back. "What am I going to do with you two?"

"Give us ice?" Nagisa begged.

Tohru squinted at him. "Did you bring a cooler?"

"This time. Hold on," Rin sighed, standing.

His footsteps hurried down the boat.

"Tohruuu…" Makoto whined plaintively and she shuffled closer to him.

Her eyes were still mostly closed, but she was now gently rubbing her forehead, wishing the ache to ebb. Cool fingers joined hers, coaxing her head to tip slightly back. Her hands dropped to savor the wonderful chill that Makoto's hand held. She hummed softly.

A tingling sensation spread across her skin, like the feeling of your muscles going numb. It fizzled and danced under and over her forehead until any pain she felt was gone. The tingling sensation disappeared with it. She blinked her eyes open in surprise, reaching upwards to touch the hand that still rested on her forehead.

"Wha…" was her intelligent response, eyes widening with the realization of what just happened. She tried tilting her head to the side to look up at Makoto. "Did you…was that…?"

"Magic? Yes," he offered. He lowered his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"The pain is gone," she remarked, gently touching her forehead where he had. Her skin was wet. "And I feel more alert somehow."

She looked up to catch him looking thoughtful. A faint glow rested in his eyes, much more so than the sunlight could allow. She suddenly remembered the bright and feral eyes of Sousuke not two days ago.

"That's a side effect," the whale shark merman said lowly. "Healing head injuries tends to make the patient more alert than they were."

"It won't last long, though," Makoto added with an apologetic smile. "Give it a bit."

"Magic is coooool," Nagisa slurred. "Ahhh, so nice and cold."

Tohru turned to see her friend pressing a large bundle to his forehead. Rin stood behind him with his hands on his hips and an expression that was a cross between disbelieving and combatant. However, he sighed instead of saying anything and shook his head.

"We're in a god damned fairytale," he muttered loudly, rubbing his neck. "Mermen and magic and sea witches…"

"Sea witches!? Ow…" Nagisa exclaimed before pressing the bundled icepack to his forehead again.

"Witch. Singular," Sousuke corrected. He laid his head on his arms. "Not that you're ever gonna meet her 'cause then we'd lose our tails."

There was a beat of silence.

"…like…cut in half or…you'd get legs...?" Rin asked in confusion.

Tohru would admit that she was curious too.

Sousuke grimaced, but he looked just as confused as they felt.

"It's…It's a saying," the merman explained. "We wouldn't actually lose our tails…"

"Like 'whale shit'?" Now Rin had a grin.

She covered her face with a groan. He was actually five, wasn't he? Totally and completely five.

"Yes, like that."

She was going to shove Sousuke off the boat.

Nagisa snickered.

That was it.

Collecting her wits about her, Tohru stood. They were wasting daylight and as much as she would love to spend the day talking to the mermen, she should start her job. The nice, fantastic job as a marine biologist which she slaved through university for and finally, finally, had a grant to do research outside of the Churaumi Aquarium.

"I have a job to do," she announced, placing her hands on her hips. "Nagisa, when you can, please suit up. We have a survey to do."

She used her best administrator voice and everything. Nagisa gave her a thumbs up.

"Yes, ma'am!" he chirped, struggling to his feet. He made his way to the cabin and closed himself inside.

"…remember when he used to strip right out on the deck?" Rin remarked almost fondly.

She raised an eyebrow and pointed at Rei. "Rei's literally right here, Rin."

Her best friend sputtered fantastically.

"Excuse you!" he managed to snap. "Like hell, I'd find Nagisa attractive!"

"But he's cute," she said, tilting her head. "Don't you like cute?"

"Not that kind of cute," he grumbled. "Besides," and his voice changed into a bad mimic of hers, "your guppies are literally right here."

And in English. For added injury.

Her cheeks burned at the insinuation. She didn't have that kind of relationship with either Makoto or Sousuke. She barely had a relationship with them at all. Even if they did visit all the time and helped them out despite getting in trouble with the sea witch.

"Again with the guppies," Sousuke remarked with huff.

"I still don't know what a guppy is," Makoto added a little petulantly.

The heat in her cheeks doubled in force.

A new voice spoke up.

"Wait, they know English?" Rei gasped and she turned her attention to him.

He still sat on the deck box and he still looked like he might pass out at any moment, but he was peering at them curiously, eyes squinted from taking off his glasses. His hair was tousled, probably from him running his hands through it the more they had been talking to the mermen. Still, despite his disheveled appearance and his grayish complexion, his natural curiosity had him asking questions.

Even Rei wasn’t immune to the allure of knowledge. Especially knowledge about something completely and utterly unknown to the rest of the world.

"We have a natural proficiency with languages," Makoto explained, just like he had so many days ago.

Gosh.

Had it been days? Hell, it had only been a couple weeks, hadn't it? So many things had happened that it felt like so much longer. Like months had passed. It was an odd thought that not a lot of time had passed.

She barely knew the mermen if she really thought about it. Even with all that happened, she didn't know them very well at all. Her head hurt again. She leaned on the railing of the boat, so that she didn't fall over.

"Is there a limit?" Rei asked and that too was like two weeks ago

Immediately, surprisingly, Tohru remembered what Makoto had said.

"Non c'é un limite," she sounded out, frowning at the foreign words in her mouth.

She should work on her Italian.

"That was very good," Makoto said warmly.

She quickly looked up at him, cheeks heating up. He had a bright smile on his face and a fonder look in his eyes. She wondered if he realized that she had remembered what he said.

"No limit?" Rei spoke up and she turned to look at her friend. He squinted at her. "Since when did you know Italian?"

"Well, mom taught me a few phrases should I ever go to Italy," she explained, "but, um, that's how Makoto-san responded last time we asked about languages."

Rei put his glasses back on, pushing them up in an all too familiar way. Violet irises sparkled despite the pallor of their owner's skin. He leaned forward, rubbing his chin.

"So the musical ability to which legends refer extends to languages as well," he remarked. "Is it a voluntary choice to use a certain language? Or involuntary, such that they hear a language being used and respond to it?"

Well, Rei's curiosity had been piqued. She was rather surprised, actually, at the swiftness in which his tune changed. Then again, he did have a natural curiosity like Nagisa and, if someone close to him reacted calmly to something, he too was likely to have a favorable reaction.

Maybe this would be easier than teaching him how to swim.

"Voluntary."

Sousuke's voice surprised her, mostly because she hadn't expected him to be the one to respond. She turned to the mermen.

"So you choose what language to use?" she pressed.

"Well, I feel like it's both?" Makoto responded this time, looking thoughtfully upwards. "Like, we are more likely to respond in a language we hear, rather than choose a different language. But we don't have to respond in that language. If that makes sense."

"Yeah, it does," Rin remarked with a nod. He looked towards them. "Do you ever mix languages?"

Sousuke raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Not particularly." Makoto shrugged. "Since we're usually talking to other merfolk, we don't have to use anything but mermish."

"Mermish?" Rei asked.

"Our language," Makoto said with a smile just as the cabin door burst open.

Nagisa sprinted from the small room, sliding the last few feet to the mermen on his knees. He had something in his hands, which he thrust out towards the two. Again, Sousuke reared back.

Tohru stood from her leaning position to ease Nagisa away from them. She was sure Sousuke was already overloaded with human interaction. She didn't want him feeling anymore uncomfortable than he probably already did.

"It's cool that you guys speak so many languages, but check this out!" he chirped happily. "This is a guppy!"

He held up his tablet, which she only knew was his due to the bright pink case it had. Tohru covered her face in disbelief, hiding her reddening cheeks.

Rin began to snicker.

"…I don't understand," Makoto finally said. "How does that…?"

"Our tails look nothing like that," Sousuke huffed.

"What do your tails look like?" Nagisa asked brightly and excitedly.

Tohru took that as her cue.

"Suit up and you can see them in their natural environment," she ordered, nudging one of their air tanks with her foot. She smiled at the two mermen. "You two might want to move back."

Sousuke immediately dropped into the water. His actions were a bit abrupt, but she understood why. No doubt Nagisa had overwhelmed him. Care for him or not, her friend did tend to have that effect on people, even with all his good intentions. Besides, Sousuke shouldn't be forcing himself out of his comfort zone too much in too short a time. Makoto smiled indulgently at the water before dropping down himself.

Once they were gone, Tohru clapped her hands. She felt much better without an audience.

"All right. Nagisa and I will be down for an hour," she began explaining to Rin and Rei. "My camera is set up to immediately send any photos I take to my laptop, which you know the password to, Rei. We're just going down to take pictures and grab samples from the vegetation and silt for the control group and to analyze. Save for the mermen, nothing should bother us. Everyone got that?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Nagisa saluted her while Rin and Rei agreed.

"All right. Let's go!"

With a quickness that came from years of experience and practice, both she and Nagisa were in the water in record time. Blue stretched around them as they dived down towards the seafloor. Silence reigned as they explored, but Tohru felt much better now that she had a diving buddy. If they had radios, she might feel even safer, but that diving equipment was going to arrive with the rest of the equipment she had ordered. Nevertheless, she enjoyed her friend's presence in the great expanse of the ocean.

As they swam closer to the rocks, a dark shadow passed above her and Makoto appeared in her peripheral vision. She waved at him, ignoring Nagisa's excited fist shaking and finger pointing at the sight of the orca merman's tail.

"Sousuke's taking a nap," he reported, swimming around them with ease. He came back to her left side.

Tohru tilted her head, wishing she could ask if he was okay. Makoto, thankfully, seemed to understand.

"He's all right," he said with a smile. "Too much human interaction. He'll probably stop by again, once he recovers. He gets lost easily, y'know."

A snort bubbled up her throat, forcing her to press a hand to her mouthpiece so she wouldn't spit it out from laughing. Of all things, a whale shark getting lost was not what she had expected. Her shoulders shook from her suppressed laughter, which eased when she caught sight of the way Makoto's eyes crinkled with his smile. Suddenly, the hand against her mouthpiece was to prevent a startled gasp from drowning her. In that moment, he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Cheeks warming, she quickly returned her gaze forward so that she could get to work, rather than ogle the merman. There would be other times for more covert staring, better times than when she was underwater. Right now, she had research to do. Of course, it would be a while until they got close enough to the bottom so it would be rude to ignore him the whole time, but she really should focus.

Nagisa seemed not to care, gesturing excitedly to Makoto. He was trying to say something or maybe it was ask, but she couldn't understand it. Neither did the merman, honestly, as he looked confused, but he swam over to her partner's side nonetheless. Nagisa resorted to pointing at random body parts to emphasize his questions. Both she and Makoto caught on at that.

Nagisa pointed first to the merman's tail.

"I have the tail of an orca, yes," Makoto explained. Nagisa's finger remained pointing at his tail. "Ah, um, I have a lot of qualities like an orca, too. Um, like, echolocation is one."

Nodding, Nagisa then pointed at his hands. The merman frowned, looking confused as he held up his hands for them. Pale gray webbing connected his fingers together, which admittedly was the only weird thing about his hands. That and the black flesh on the back of them when he flipped them around to prove that his hands were totally normal. He even put his palm against Nagisa's when her fellow scientist reached forward eagerly.

"They're just like yours," Makoto said in confusion. Nagisa's fingers barely passed the first joint of the merman's fingers. "Maybe a little bigger..."

Nagisa pointed at the webbing. Tohru inched a little closer to see it, fascinated by the opaque membrane. The more reasonable part of her brain told her that she should be swimming lower, as there was still almost ten meters left to dive until they reached the bottom. The excitable scientist in her, however, wanted to examine and learn more about the merman in front of her. Especially since he was so willing to teach her.

He glanced up at her, catching her off guard, and then offered his other hand to her. Tentatively, she took his hand, running her gloved fingers over his palm before gently spreading his fingers to touch the webbing. She couldn't really feel anything, though, too eager in her excitement to remove her gloves. Frustrated at the lack of sensation, she released his hand to tug off her right glove, which she shoved into her belt. She then held his hand again and ran her bare fingers over the membrane.

It felt odd, simultaneously like human skin and something much smoother. Considering the difference between his patterns and the more human skin, this made sense, but the sensation of touching it nevertheless confused her. She stroked both sides of the webbing and found that they felt the same before she indulged her curiosity.

Turning his hand, she pressed their palms together and, like Nagisa, her fingertips barely passed his first joint. She supposed that made sense since she and Nagisa were almost the same size; she, admittedly, was heavier than he was and much curvier. Nevertheless, the size difference made her blush because she had never really been anything but the big girl. She liked that her hand was so much smaller than his was.

Her cheeks felt a little warm and awareness came back to her with a jolt. Maybe a little too fast, she pulled her hand away. Her mask covered her expression so Makoto would thankfully not see her distress, but that still didn't stop her from dropping her eyes to her hands. Her fingers shook as she fumbled to put her right glove back on. As much as she wanted to look up, she stayed focused on her task, as she was still too flustered to face either her partner or the merman. Even when she did lift her head, she looked between them and brusquely pointed to sandy seafloor. Then she turned and returned to her descent as quickly as she healthily could.

She was acting weird. She knew she was. Since when did she get so flustered over someone being bigger than her? When did she ever get flustered over anyone, period? Well, there was that one time when her idol, Professor Nishiyama, came for a lecture at her university, but that was different. That was a celebrity. Most people became flustered around celebrities. That was expected. A merman, however, wasn't a celebrity. A merman—well, a merman wasn't supposed to exist. It was illogical to get flustered about a mythical creature.

And yet, here she was acting like a school girl, swimming away because she got excited over the simple fact that her hand was smaller. Her hand was smaller than a lot of people's. Like Rin. He had bigger hands than she did. So did Rei and Seijuurou. She took as deep a breath to calm down, more sensing than seeing that Nagisa had joined her. She wasn't sure if Makoto had followed her or not. No matter, she had a job to do.

***

Makoto kept his distance as Tohru and Nagisa did their work. He half-watched the humans, more focused on his hand to give them more than an occasional glance. He kept flipping it back and forth, fascinated by the skin and bones and tendons that he had seen all his life. His palm still tingled from where Tohru had pressed hers to his. Only Sousuke had ever caused such a reaction in him and he was so fascinated that a human could cause the same reaction.

Maybe...Maybe he should be worried that she could.

After all, Sousuke was his mate and, yes, they had known each for years now. Yes, they were familiar, but that didn't mean palms touching and bodies touching and his skin on his skin couldn't cause excited shivers and sparks dancing down his arms and bones. Familiarity meant that they knew what excited the other, even if they were young and a little inexperienced. But he had only just met Tohru and her fingers on his skin and her palm against his tickled his nerves with the same intensity that Sousuke did. That meant something; he was sure of it.

He flipped his hand again, glancing up at a shadow passing overhead. Sousuke swam above him, gazing out towards where the humans were carefully doing something by the rocks and corals, before he swerved downwards to lie next to him. His mate kissed his shoulder in greeting, the brush of his lips making his skin prickle from the attention. A shiver followed not a moment later. Makoto shifted closer to the other merman, seeking more contact. Their shoulders bumped together and even Sousuke's rough skin couldn't deter him in his hunt for the buzzing heat.

His skin felt just as it had when Tohru pressed their palms together.

"How is Tohru and her...friend doing?" Sousuke asked.

"All right," Makoto hummed. "Nagisa is very excited about us. He kept asking questions."

He belatedly realized how that sounded.

"...how?"

"Oh, he just would point rather vigorously at anything he wanted to know." Makoto grinned a little sheepishly. "I think Tohru got annoyed, though."

Sousuke propped his head up. "She did say she had a job to do. Which, technically, we do too."

Makoto huffed as he slid down the rock. His chin rested on an uncomfortable edge, but that didn't matter. He pouted, but now that Sousuke mentioned their job, he did feel guilty. He had just been more focused on helping Tohru and Rin than protecting his town. Which was bad, especially for a so-called guardian, but he was curious and he already thought of them as part of his pod. And they were in more danger than the town at the moment.

Sousuke brushed his fingers down his back, derailing his thoughts. Shivers erupted where their skin touched. The fingers did not stop, instead swirling around in patterns up and down his spine and over his lower back and shoulder blades. They left heat in their wake and the heat pooled in his cheeks.

Makoto whipped up from his lying position and twisted his head around to stare at his mate when the sensations grew too much. Sousuke looked placidly at him, his chin on his palm and the other hand hovering in the water. He slowly blinked as a smile grew on his face.

"Is now the time?" Makoto hissed.

Nevertheless, he wanted more.

His mate hummed. "I wasn't doing anything."

"Uh-huh..." he grumbled before settling much, much closer to him. “Don't make me flip you."

"Mm, is now the time?" Sousuke teased, raising his eyebrows and settling his arm around Makoto's waist. He grinned at Makoto's displeasure before nudging their foreheads together. "Seriously, though, it wasn't my intention to rile you up."

Makoto pouted, narrowing his eyes, before he sighed.

"Sorry. Maybe I riled myself up," he murmured.

"How so?"

He glanced down at his hands, idly moving his fingers. He flipped one to see his palm.

"...Tohru...pressed her palm to mine and..." he trailed off with a sigh of bubbles and a rush of heat to his cheeks.

"And?" Sousuke pressed.

"...and I don't know," Makoto confessed with a frown. "I don't know how to explain it. It was...It was like when you touch me...or-or something."

Fingers trailed up his shoulder.

"Like...when I touch you?" Sousuke echoed. "Does...it bother you...when I...?"

Makoto laughed softly. "No, no. If it does, only ever pleasantly. Which is why...why I'm so confused."

All was silent save for the faintest clicking noise, which he assumed was from the humans. The sunbeams dappled Sousuke's already spotted skin with more spots. Makoto walked his fingers between the shifting light.

"I didn't think you fell so easily," his mate remarked. His voice was guarded.

"Don't be ridiculous," he huffed, tapping Sousuke's nose. "I'm not in love with her. I love you. I'm just...I'm curious..."

Teal eyes regarded him intensely before fluttering closed. Bubbles spewed between them.

"I can't blame you," Sousuke grumbled. He glanced towards where the humans were. "I'm curious too. ...a mermaid would have been easier, though."

Makoto snorted before nudging his face against the other merman's neck. Sousuke jumped and sputtered something incoherent as his chuckles popped against his skin. His shoulders sagged until he was almost completely flat against his mate, almost pushing him onto his back. Sousuke's grip on the rock was the only thing preventing that.

They couldn't rightly form that kind of relationship with Tohru. After all, how would it work between a human and a merman? Tohru couldn't breathe underwater without help from some apparatus and, well, they had tails. Besides, human mating and courting rituals were a mystery to them. For all they knew, Tohru and Rin might already be together. They certainly never seemed to be apart these last few weeks. Maybe...Maybe he was getting ahead of himself...

Before Makoto could follow that any further, Sousuke stiffened against him. He needed nothing else to alert him of danger as he swiftly moved away from his mate and began surveying their surroundings. His gaze didn't go very far when it landed on a group of four medium-sized sharks meandering around and between Tohru and Nagisa. He bristled, despite the relative calm both sharks and humans exuded. He swallowed a click of distress.

One of the sharks bumped Tohru and he almost darted forward at that. The only thing that stopped him was the ease with which the human woman dropped her hand and patted the nose and back of the shark. It wiggled and spun around her, bumping into her waiting hand excitedly. Slowly, she brought up her other hand and let it hover under the shark's chin as she rubbed its nose. She had to move it, however, when one of the other sharks came up to her other side, bumping against her. That too received a nose rub to appease it. Nagisa was doing the same with the remaining two sharks, though the animals frequently switched between the two humans despite their new sluggish behavior.

Makoto stared in shock, sinking down as he watched the two humans pet the sharks. He didn't want to remove his eyes, in case something happened, but he blindly reached out and patted Sousuke's shoulder. His mate gave his hand a squeeze before his spotted tail headed towards the divers. Breathless and shell-shocked, he followed him.

The sharks were unperturbed at their arrival. Tohru did look up briefly at their shadows, her shoulders tensing for the briefest of moments until she realized the shadows belonged to them. Makoto smiled at her and her shoulders lowered a little before she returned her attention to the strangely affectionate sharks. Sousuke floated down to them, glancing over the humans, but paying the most attention to the animals, which gave little acknowledgment to them. His eyes began to glow before he tapped each shark between the eyes. They froze and he began swimming away.

The sharks sluggishly began following him, abandoning the humans with little mind. With a glance towards his mate, Sousuke sped off with his new entourage. It didn't take long for them to disappear after him.

After several moments, wherein Makoto swam protectively around the two humans, Sousuke finally reappeared. He looked significantly drained, but otherwise was no worse for wear. His eyes no longer glowed as he rejoined them.

"Are you all right?" he asked once he reached them.

Makoto turned to see Tohru nod and then point upwards. With little other warning, she and Nagisa began their ascent back towards their boat. They seemed unperturbed by the encounter, but that didn't stop Makoto from encouraging Sousuke to follow them with him in case more sharks showed up.

They surfaced just a few strokes away from the boat. Both the humans removed their eye coverings and mouthpieces. Nagisa's eyes were wide and they seemed to sparkle as he took in Makoto and Sousuke. For coming face to face with sharks just moments ago, he was remarkably unfazed. A big grin formed on his face despite Tohru urging him to return to the boat.

"You're a whale shark!" he was saying, as he tried to both climb the boat and look at Sousuke.

"Nagisa, you're gonna fall," Tohru scolded.

"Oh, don't worry!" he laughed, waving his hand. "How many times have we made this climb?"

She rolled her eyes, but she kept a watchful eye on him as he clambered over the railing of the boat. Makoto didn't blame her, considering all that had happened to her and Rin. He himself was swimming worriedly behind her as they watched her friend scramble over the side of the boat.

However, she didn't immediately follow. Instead, she shifted closer to him, eyeing the boat before she leaned her face close to his. Makoto stiffened at her nearness and his cheeks heated up. A serious and nervous look decorated her face when she looked into his eyes.

Bringing up her hand to the side of her mouth, she whispered, "Nagisa and Rei don't know about the curse. I…I would like to keep it that way for the moment."

He frowned.

"Are you sure?" he whispered back, inclining his head towards her.

"One big surprise at a time," she murmured and her smile was a little wry and a little sad.

"What about the sharks? Won't he wonder about that?" he pressed.

Her mouth twisted as she thought, glancing back at the boat. She hummed before looking back at him. Another wry smile sat on her mouth.

"Probably not," she answered. "He might just think of it as an exciting occurrence. We have swum with sharks before, so..."

"What do you mean you've swum with sharks before?" Sousuke cut in.

"It's no big deal," she insisted and she turned back to the boat. "We weren't by ourselves."

"That—you're a human."

Tohru began climbing the side of the boat. She tilted her head curiously before she slid over the rail. Pulling her goggles and black hood back, she leaned back over to flash them a puzzled look.

"What does that have to do with this?" she asked, leaning her elbows against the railing.

Sousuke leaned closer to the boat. "You live on land! You're prey!"

Her eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to retort before pausing. Again, her mouth twisted as she thought over what he said. A mildly irritated hum sounded from her throat.

"...you're not wrong," she grumbled before huffing, "but it's not like we swam with them when they were hunting or anything. We were careful."

Sousuke scowled.

"Even still, you could get hurt," Makoto said, hoping to disrupt the ire growing on his mate's face. "Promise us you won't anymore?"

Tohru winced.

"I...can't really make that promise," she confessed. She glanced behind her before sighing. "Y'see...I work at an aquarium and I work with sharks there. And I have to go into their tank to make sure that they're healthy."

He frowned, confused.

"An aquarium?" he echoed. The word sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure why. "What's that?"

She hesitated, looking conflicted. Again, she glanced behind her before she grimaced.

"It's, uh... It's a...a building and..." Her fingers rapped against the railing before she began tugging at them. "Well, we display fish and-and similar animals there. O-Of course, Churaumi—er, that is the aquarium I work at, has taken the turn to rehab center in recent years so m-most of our animals only stay until they recover, b-but we do have some permanent residents, l-like Jinta because he's half blind, but most are released once they've healed!"

For some reason, she looked distressed as she explained what an aquarium was. Though the rehab part didn't sound too bad, whatever that meant, he couldn't help focusing on one particular word.

"Display?" both he and Sousuke echoed.

"What do you mean by that?" Makoto pressed, feeling more and more concerned.

Her mouth twisted and her shoulders rose to her ears. She looked away from them, but before she could speak, Nagisa jumped up to her side.

"They're in tanks relative to their size so that people can admire them," he explained, looking remarkably serious. "We take great care in making sure our animals are comfortable and stress free and, besides, any animal that isn't in the rehab program was born in captivity and even then, it's only our really tiny fish."

Just like aquarium, the word tank sounded familiar and hearing that they kept fish in them made him shiver a little. What was the point of that? The fish had to be miserable, even if the tanks were big enough to fit them. Nothing could compare to the sea. Nothing could compare to seeing them in the sea.

A brief flash of Lady Miho's lecturing face filled his mind, a lecture from a while ago, back when they were children. Warnings about humans, warnings about humans called scientists with greed burning in their eyes and mysterious tanks to hold captured creatures and other horrors she hadn't said, but alluded to with meaningful glares and looks into the distance.

Tohru, however, had never looked upon them with greed. She had never tried or alluded to capturing them, had never wanted more than to just know. This had been the first time she even mentioned an aquarium or tanks and even then, even now, she looked worried...worried about their response.

Despite himself, a smile lifted his cheeks. He should feel more wary, especially now with this new knowledge, but he couldn't find it in him to be. Not with how distraught Tohru looked and the seriousness on Nagisa's face.

"I may not agree with it. Fish belong in the sea," he began, considering his words, "but you seem sincere about the good that your aquarium does, so...I guess...it's okay?"

The glance towards Sousuke was instinctual, checking to see how his mate would react. He didn't appear upset, a carefully blank look on his face, but he was still scrutinizing the humans. It would be good to give him the space to consider his own opinion.

Makoto returned his gaze upwards. Thankfully, Tohru looked less upset and even she had a small smile on her face. His heart lurched when she leaned against the railing and reached over, her hand dangling downwards. Without much thought, he slid his fingers around hers.

"I don't much like having the animals in tanks myself," she confessed. "I much prefer seeing them in their natural environments, but...well, humans are arrogant and us scientists are trying to fix the damage caused by other humans. Sadly, that often requires tanks and aquariums to protect them. Especially the animals that have been injured beyond recovery."

"Like the one you mentioned?" he asked and her smile grew.

"Yes, like Jinta," she agreed. She gently bobbed their hands. "He has cataracts on his eyes and, though we removed most of them, he still has some issues seeing. He's been with us a while, so he at least knows the parameters of his tank so he doesn't get hurt. He's a good boy."

"...she says about a ten meter shark," Rin remarked from behind the two scientists.

Makoto tilted his head at that. From the way he said, that must be big. He wondered how big, though.

"He's closer to twelve, actually," Nagisa corrected, twisting to look behind him before quickly looking back at Tohru. "It is twelve, right?"

She nodded. "Mmhm. Last physical we did had him at twelve point twelve, which we thought was amusing. Samemaru is a little smaller at ten point seventy-five and Bei-Bei is eleven exactly, so they're all fully grown. Or, at least, as fully grown as they'll get in an aquarium."

Murmuring in understanding, Nagisa nodded.

Makoto was still horribly confused. A quick glance to his mate proved that he wasn't the only one confused.

Sousuke leaned his head close to his and, softly in mermish, whispered, "They're saying words and I have no idea what they mean."

"Don't be rude," Makoto scolded back, also in mermish. "...they're talking about sharks, I think."

"What do the numbers mean?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "...size, maybe?"

"Tohru, don't forget to take your gear off," Rin spoke up again, drawing their attention upwards.

"Oh, I forgot," Tohru murmured and her hand slipped from Makoto's. She disappeared from view.

Nagisa, however, stayed in sight. His attention was on his fellow humans.

"How do you forget? Your tank alone is like thirteen kilos."

"When I'm not moving too much, I don't notice. Besides, it's more like eleven," she answered and a few clunking noises followed. "I've lifted heavier. You've lifted heavier."

"Yeah, but it's not me wearing it, is it?"

"Am I going to have to give you another lecture on sexism? Do not test me, Matsuoka."

"Tohru can judo throw you, Rin-chan," Nagisa added with a grin. "Hell, she can judo throw Sei-chan. Twenty kilos of scuba gear is cake."

"They're saying numbers and words again," Sousuke grumbled.

Makoto nudged him before asking loudly, "What are meters and kilos?"

"Oh!" Tohru's face immediately popped up over the railing. "Meters are a human measure for length and kilos are a measure of weight."

"Yeah, and thirteen kilos is heavy," Rin chimed in.

She rolled her eyes before her face brightened. Quickly, she twisted around and something made faint clinking noises. When she turned around again, a big grin sat on her face.

"Tell me if this is heavy," she said before hefting her air tank over the side of the boat. She was careful to ease it down between him and Sousuke. "It's actually lighter at the moment, since it's not full anymore, but it does have a heft to it since I have a steel tank."

The tank was long, but still shorter than his arm. It was thin, too, or at least, thin enough that Makoto could grab it relatively easily with one hand. He still brought up his other hand to hold it, but as he passed it between his hands, bringing it a little into the water, he would hardly call it 'hefty'. Bringing it up out of the water again, he held it out one-handedly to Sousuke with a shrug.

Sousuke took it with a faint wrinkle of his nose. Still, he rolled the tank just like Makoto had, looking more and more confused. At least Makoto wasn't alone in his confusion. The tank wasn't all that heavy, barely heavy at all. Balancing the tank on one hand on one of its narrow ends, Sousuke lifted the tank back up to Tohru.

Both she and Nagisa were gaping at them. It took them a moment to even move, let alone take the offered tank. Nagisa was even mouthing words as Tohru pulled the tank closer to her, finally pulling it over the railing. Oddly enough, her cheeks were red.

"It's not that heavy," Sousuke remarked.

Makoto nodded. "It's not like it's a tuna or grouper."

"T-Those are significantly heavier!" Tohru squeaked. Her cheeks darkened.

"Exactly," Sousuke said. From his tone, Makoto knew he was lifting an incredulous eyebrow. "You weren't that heavy either."

Tohru began sputtering, her whole face an unhealthy shade of red. The noises she made almost sounded like the shrill cries of seagulls. She covered her face with her hands and sunk down behind the railing.

Nagisa lurched over the railing with wide eyes and grin. He dangled there and fluttered his hands before he could even speak.

"When did you pick up Tohru-chan!?" he exclaimed.

Makoto slapped Sousuke's hip fin before he could speak.

"She fell overboard one day and we helped her back onto the boat," he explained with a smile. "The water had been a little choppy that day."

"Tohru-chan, how clumsy!" Nagisa cackled.

Makoto smiled a little. He felt a little bad having to lie to them, but explaining how Tohru had almost died that day would be a feat. Besides, a promise was a promise, even a nonverbal one, and he wasn't going to break it just minutes after she asked.

Sousuke shifted next to him before he disappeared in his peripheral. A quick glance told him that his mate was swimming below the surface. At least he was staying nearby. He would really rather not look for his mate once they said goodbye to the humans.

A shadow covered the water. Makoto looked up to find Rin leaning over the railing where Tohru had been. He looked very serious.

"You broke Tohru," he accused before Makoto could open his mouth.

Makoto sputtered, feeling his eyes widen. How did he break her? What did Rin even mean by that?

A grin split across Rin's face, which made him look decidedly wicked. Or shark-like, really.

"Such guppies," he teased.

That made Makoto's cheeks warm.

"I don't know what you even mean with that!" he cried. He frowned. "And what do you mean I broke Tohru?"

"Sou-chan said she wasn't that heavy," Nagisa pointed out with his own wicked grin.

"Well, she wasn't," Makoto insisted.

A shrill noise followed his words. The two human men looked positively gleeful at the sound.

Makoto didn't share their glee. He was much more worried about Tohru. If Rin wasn’t leaning so close to the railing and Nagisa wasn’t leaning on it, he would pull himself up to make sure she was okay.

"Let's just say that Tohru doesn't often get that, eh, statement in regards to her weight from human men," Rin explained with shrug.

"And, by human standards, you and Sou-chan are very, very handsome," Nagisa added. "So hearing that she barely weighs a thing to you guys… Well…"

Both human men wiggled their eyebrows. For some reason, that made Makoto’s cheeks burn.

"Please, can we not talk about this?" Tohru begged abruptly from her hiding place. "Can't you guys focus on something else?"

"But they're super strong, Tohru-chan!" Nagisa laughed. "That's really fascinating, right? As far as I know, there are no myths about mermaids being super strong!"

"What about the myths about drowning sailors?" Rin asked.

Makoto frowned and flicked his tail in agitation. That was one of the few things he knew about humans, about how they feared merfolk because of tales such as that. The sirens were the ones at fault for those…for the most part.

"Oh, I guess that could be an example of super strength…" Nagisa amended with a hum. "Seeing as a lot sailors tend to be on the burly side…"

"Merfolk don't drown humans," Makoto spoke up. He couldn't help the sour expression from coming out. "It's against our code."

Nagisa's eyes widened while Rin grimaced.

Finally, Tohru peeked over the railing. Her cheeks were still red, but from what he could see of her face, she looked more composed. Seeing her eased the angry ball in his stomach.

"That makes sense," she murmured. "Otherwise you and Sousuke wouldn't have saved me and Rin."

"Then why do we have so many myths about mermaids drowning sailors?" Nagisa whined, flailing his hands.

Makoto couldn't help sinking into the water until his chin rested on the surface. The same reason they had all those myths was also the reason that Rin and Tohru were cursed. The same reason he didn't venture far into the depths alone.

"Sirens," Sousuke answered for him as he surfaced.

Rin's face contorted again, but Nagisa's eyes only seemed to get bigger. The smaller human leaned farther over the railing and only Rin's hand on his shoulder kept him from falling into Makoto and Sousuke.

Comparatively, Tohru remained mostly hidden by the side of the boat. Only the top part of her head was visible. Her eyebrows furrowed over her eyes when their gazes met.

"Sirens…" she echoed softly, lifting herself until her chin rested on the railing. “…what differentiates them from merfolk?"

"Appetite, mostly," Sousuke said. Water sloshed as he shrugged. "They're more…magical than we are. They…ugh, what is it again? Desires? They make desires seem real."

She hummed and leaned away from the railing. Her fingers ran over her lips as she took in this information.

Makoto wanted to change the subject. Sirens had always bothered him, had always made him fear going out alone. They were vicious and coldhearted and cared little for who or what they seduced. And worst of all, it was because of a siren that Rin and Tohru were cursed. He swung his tail in agitation, slipping under the water to lap the boat a couple times. Bubbles spiraled around him and danced in the sunlight and the shadow of the boat.

Once he had calmed down, once he no longer felt like fear was going to choke him, a tug of guilt had him return to his mate's side. How rude of him to disappear like that. The humans wouldn’t understand, even if Tohru was very accommodating with their quirks.

When he resurfaced, Tohru was conversing softly with Sousuke and both of her friends were gone. That guilt shot through his chest. He hoped he hadn’t offended Rin or Nagisa. Sirens just…made him uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" she was asking, tentatively reaching out to him.

Sousuke brushed his fingers against hers, letting her stroke his knuckles. He tilted his head a little.

"…I'll be all right," he confessed and both she and Makoto huffed.

The noise drew her attention to Sousuke’s right. She jumped a little, but happiness decorated her face rather than surprise.

"Oh! Makoto-san!" A smile bloomed on her face before it was again replaced by worry. "Are you okay? We're not overwhelming both of you, are we?"

He managed a small smile.

"I'm fine," he said before assenting at her pout and Sousuke's nudge. "Sirens are…a bit of a phobia of mine. They…someone close to me…"

Tohru offered her other hand to him immediately.

"You don't have to explain," she said when he took her hand. "I'm sorry that we brought up bad memories. I'm sorry to both of you."

"Why?" he asked. He rocked their hands. "What could you be sorry about?"

Her smile reeked of regret. His heart ached at the sight.

"That you got involved with us," she admitted, albeit quietly.

"I'd probably do it again," he countered and felt his cheeks warm at her surprised face. "Uh, I, that is…"

Her next smile glowed. It took him a moment to remember how to speak or what to speak or who he was. His tail stilled for a moment and he went under, surging back up a second later. His cheeks felt like his skin was boiling.

Sousuke snorted.

Tohru's smile became giggles.

"Are you okay?" she asked again.

"I, uh, yeah, I'm all right," he stuttered.

He swatted his mate's hip when he didn't stop snickering. He would bet that he too had been stunned for a moment by her smile. He just had the more embarrassing reaction.

Tohru laid her head on her crossed arms.

"Okay. I'll believe you," she said and he didn't think she really believed him. "…and let me know whenever you're uncomfortable. I know…I know I get caught up in…in the science and discovery of you guys and…I've made you uncomfortable before. Nope, don't try to say you weren't. I literally just ran my hands over you the first time we met."

Makoto couldn't argue with that, but the memory of her hands running along his arms no longer made him feel uncomfortable. Instead, his skin tingled at the memory, wanting more of that attention.

"All right. We'll let you know," Sousuke spoke for him. "Likewise."

She smiled at that.

"I don't think you've made me uncomfortable," she admitted.

"Not even the fiery comment?"

She laughed.

"Not even that."

"Mm. You're still pretty fiery."

"I'm still amazed you know what fire is."

Makoto smiled at their interaction, enjoying the teasing tone that Sousuke had adopted. Out of all the humans, he was probably most comfortable with Tohru, if only because she was just so willing to listen and learn. It made his heart soar that his mate was so comfortable around maybe his favorite human.

Just like before, a shadow fell over them. Just past Tohru was Rin, who cleared his throat loudly.

"As much as I enjoy your obvious flirting," here he ignored Tohru's attempts to contradict him, "we need to head back to land."

"Eh? But—!" Tohru began, twisting to look up at her friend.

Rin gave her a look.

"We didn't pack lunch or anything kind of food," he reasoned. "The only thing in the cooler is bottles of water and Pocari."

"It's…It's only been…" she trailed off, looking down with a frown. “…I don't know how long it's been."

"It takes about an hour or so to get out here and then you go down for about an hour," he explained counting on his fingers. "And we left at nine this morning, rather than eight because Nagisa and Rei are still jetlagged. So it's almost noon now."

"An hour did not pass from us just talking!" she argued, but her cheeks reddened all the same.

Rin raised an eyebrow and held up some kind of rectangle. There were symbols on the screen and Makoto thought they might be numbers. He had seen something before in some of the shipwrecks he and Haru had explored in their youth, but written language was a mystery to him. Haru probably would know what they meant.

Whatever the symbols meant, they made Tohru gasp.

"Say goodbye to your guppies and go get changed," Rin instructed.

Tohru floundered for words. She didn’t move.

"I-I don't need to get changed!"

Her friend crossed his arms. He honestly looked a little like a father in that moment. For a long moment, neither moved.

She pouted and looked between him and Makoto. She looked torn.

"Okay, fine," she relented after a moment of silence. "But I'll say goodbye after I change."

She stood and stalked down the boat. A door slammed and the music stuttered. Her other friends made confused and worried comments at that.

Rin clicked his tongue. He watched her for a moment before turning back to them.

Makoto straightened at his sharp look. He immediately began planning out an apology and explanation for everything he had done since meeting the humans.

"Okay," the human man began, kneeling down next to the railing. "Just what are your intentions with Tohru?"

That…hadn’t been what he was expecting.

"Eh?"

"You guys flirt with her, but you two are obviously together," Rin explained, pointing between them. His eyes narrowed. "I don't know about merfolk, but humans tend to be monogamous. So what's your intention?"

Makoto shared a look with Sousuke. His mate raised his eyebrows before looking back towards Rin. He followed suit, feeling an odd mix of emotions.

"Is Tohru your mate?" Sousuke asked. "We don't mean to intrude if—”

He stopped abruptly.

Rin's face had become alarmingly red after his question. His mouth opened and closed for a minute or two, but no sound came out. Quickly, he shook his head.

"Agh, no way!" he hissed. "She's like my sister! I'm asking because of-of brotherly worry! Not because we're dating!"

A surprising amount of relief flooded Makoto's body. So Tohru wasn't in a relationship with Rin.

"We, uh, that is, merfolk are open to many forms of relationships," Makoto explained. His tail swished faster. "Many have multiple mates and some only have one. And. Uh. That is, I-I didn't mean, um, well, a-a-about us f-flirting."

He really didn't know where he was going with this. He hadn’t thought he had been flirting with Tohru. He hadn’t thought either he or Sousuke had been flirting with Tohru. All he knew was that he was disproportionately happy that Rin and Tohru were not mates. He covered his face to hide the incoming panicked whine.

Rin hummed incredulously.

Sousuke brushed his shoulder as he moved closer. His fingers ghosted over his side.

"It's way too early for us—.” Sousuke's mouth snapped closed with an audible click of teeth.

"Why does Makoto-san look so uncomfortable? And why is Sousuke so serious? Rin, what did you do?"

Makoto whipped his head up to see Tohru standing next to Rin. Her fists were on her hips and she was wearing those softer clothes again. Unlike her wetsuit, they covered up her curves and made her look almost a little formless, but she looked incredibly soft. Like a seal or a dugong. He wanted to hug her.

Rin grimaced before turning to look up at her. Her eyes narrowed at what no doubt was an attempt at a placating grin.

"Don't worry about," he said with a blasé flip of his hand. "Just something between us guys."

He shot a quick, threatening glare at them.

Tohru crossed her arms and frowned down at him.

"Uh-huh..." she said slowly. “Just you guys, huh?"

"Yeah, so, don't worry about it."

She hummed and it was a very similar sound to Rin's own incredulous hum. Her gaze switched from her friend to Makoto and Sousuke, the former of which jumped at the attention.

He could feel the heat of his blush increase at her staring and his traitorous heart skipped a beat or two. Sousuke cleared his throat nervously. They ended up holding hands because for some reason her quiet stare was both intimidating and attractive.

She sighed.

"All right. Fine," she admitted. She ruffled her hair. "Well, let me say goodbye so we can head back for lunch. But! Next time, we're bringing lunch!"

"You're the boss," Rin chirped. He flicked his fingers from his forehead outwards at Makoto. "See you guppies later!"

"We-We're not guppies!" Makoto cried, but the human man was already gone.

Tohru had wrinkled her nose at her friend before sighing again. Her smile was lopsided when she turned back to them. Again, she knelt by the railing and leaned over it towards them.

"I guess I'll see you later?" she said, but it sounded more like a question.

Her eyes darted between them.

"Of course," Makoto said.

He smiled despite his hot cheeks.

"Just...stay safe," Sousuke added. "We've...become a bit attached to you."

Tohru's smile grew. Her cheeks became rosy and she giggled.

"I'll do my best," she answered. "I'll keep an eye out for Rin too. And...I've become a bit attached to you guys, too."

Her words and her accompanying soft smile made Makoto's heart dance. His mouth felt a little dry, which was such an odd concept, and Sousuke's words from earlier flashed through his mind.

He didn't fall that easily...did he?

[nebris]

What kind of man fights in 4 wars spanning over 4 decades, sustaining injuries that result in the self-amputation of two fingers, the loss of one hand, an eye, and a lung; has his plane shot down, lives in captivity for over 7 months – and despite all of the above fondly reminisces that “frankly I had enjoyed the war”? . The kind of man that is Adrian Carton de Wiart. . The life of the ultra-wealthy Belgian Aristocracy that he was born into, clearly wasn’t the life young Adrian wanted; which is probably why he ran away from his Catholic boarding school, and like so many great war heroes start out, headed straight to the nearest British Army recruitment office. Here he would go through the late 1800’s equivalent of convincing the recruitment officer his name was ‘McLovin’ which bought Adrian a ticket to his first war – The Second Boer war. Here McLovin would lead Bayonette charges against Boer Kommandos and get shot in the groin and lung – substantial injuries that got him sent back to Britain where he finally came clean his name wasn’t McLovin. He then would commission as an actual officer in the British army until the war ended in 1902. From here he went to Oxford University, married an Austrian Countess whom he had 2 daughters with, and lived as an Aristocrat. . This life of privilege however, was never the life Adrian wanted; But luckily for him, the dawn of a new age of warfighting was near. . At the outbreak of WW1 Adrian spared no time in ditching his wife and daughters (the whole “I’m just going up the road for some cigarettes” sketch – but much posher) to immediately re-enlist back into the British army. Due to his previous experiences of combat, he was assigned to the East Africa Camel Corps. This rather bizarre-sounding unit of old school desert fighters were actually more Ally than the passage-way between two large houses. Tasked with quelling a rebellion in British Somaliland, led by who the British Dubbed “the Mad Mullah” (Mohammad Bin Abdullah, who castrated his own fighters for cowardice) De Wiart would essentially lead Camelback Commando raids against enemy positions; and it was here while scaling the walls of enemy forts with a revolver and committing multiple acts of badassery that he would get shot in the face twice, losing his eye and part of his ear. Only in the eyes (or eye) of a triple hard bastard could this be taken as good news, but bearing in mind Adrian was the kind of man that celebrated life-changing injuries and disastrous news with copious amounts of wine, it comes as no surprise that this news was music to his ears (or ear). As this news in being sent home and given a glass eye - which he drunkenly threw out of a taxi window and opted for the pirate option of an eye patch - also resulted in him getting a ticket to France, where the most brutal war in history was waging, and where Adrian assessed “the real action was at”. . After arriving in France, Adrian would have his hand shattered by German artillery during the Second Battle of Ypres. Worried he would miss out on any action by the injury getting infected he went to a field hospital to get two of the fingers amputated. The doctors refused, so the one-eyed Commander amputated them himself, which didn’t matter too much because later on in the year the whole hand needed to be amputated; Just in time for the battle of the Somme, where there were reports from the men of a one-handed Commander wearing an eye patch pulling grenade pins out with his teeth and personally delivering them to Germans of the Western front. . Later on, in 1916 the Pirate Commander was leading the 8th Gloucestershire Regiment in a Bayonette charge during the Battle of Boiselle when 3 other unit commanders were killed. Adrian then took charge of all 4 Units – Running up and down the lines barking orders, successfully holding off the German counter-attack as German bullets whizzed past his eye patch. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, an award he humbly made no mention of in his memoirs, claiming “it had been won by the 8th Glosters, for every man has done as much as I have”. . Adrian went on to fight through the rest of the war. In total, he got shot/blown up 8 separate times whilst leading infantry into battle – including what should have been a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head. When asked about his time during the bloodiest war in human history he replied, “Frankly I enjoyed the war”. . In 1920, Adrian was sent to Poland to help advise the crown. His time here was pretty average really – He survived 2 plane crashes, he ran a gun smuggling ring to bring weapons into Poland to help fight the communists, participated in a duel against Carl Gustav (future overall leader of Finnish forces in WW2), shot his way out of Warsaw on an express train as a band of Cossack Cavalrymen tried to arrest and execute him. Aside from the above Adrian would spend his time hunting ducks with one arm and a shotgun on his rather large estate on the Polish border. . However, Adrian’s Duck hunting days were numbered, as Europe yet again was about to be plunged into times of War. . When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and blew up Adrian’s estate there was only one thing for it. Whilst getting strafed by German Stukas he made his way out of Poland; and despite being a British/Belgian man with one hand and an eye patch, travelled through Romania on a fake passport (Probably under the name McLovin) to finally reach British soil again. Here, yet again he would reveal to British authorities his name wasn’t McLovin and re-enlist in the British army; and now with his retirement on the back-burner, alongside his Austrian Countess wife and two daughters, he would lead British Commando raids against the fascist invaders of Europe. . In 1940 Adrian would lead a Raid into Norway, to re-take Trondheim from the Nazis. Things didn’t really go to plan, and when the promised naval/air support and reinforcements never showed up it was time for De Wiart and his merry band of lunatics to do a runner. Chased by German ski troops through the snowy mountains of Norway, whilst being strafed by the Luftwaffe and shelled by German destroyers this band of warriors actually made it back to an extraction point with the Royal Navy to get back to England – Just in time For Adrian’s 60th Birthday. . In 1941, appointed by Winston Churchill himself, General Adrian Carton de Wiart would lead the British mission in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately for the General and his RAF Crew the plane decided to wrap its tits in and nosedive into the Mediterranean ocean. Helping an injured comrade the 60-year-old General along with his RAF crew swam to shore. A Libyan shore. A Libyan shore that was unfortunately held by fascists of the Italian variety. Adrian was thrown into captivity into the POW camp at Vincigliata Castle. With not a single duck given since 1899 he proceeded to dig an escape tunnel over a 7-month period, which he and 6 others would use to escape their fascist captors. Unfortunately, it turned out that being a one-handed 60-year-old wearing an eye patch, as well as being distinctively British with a slight Belgian undertone… Well, clearly, he was swiftly recaptured. Fortunately, the Italians had decided they wanted to switch sides – and in war, what better bargaining chip than a General? . Having been back on British soil less than a month Adrian was sent to China as the special envoy to the Chinese leader. During this final four-year period, he would survive yet another plane crash. On his way back to Britain and actual retirement he stopped off in Rangoon, where he drunkenly fell down some stairs and broke his back. . Adrian Carton de Wiart would go on to write up his life story in his memoirs, hilariously titled “Happy Odyssey”. Winston Churchill even wrote the foreword for it. In the entire Book there is literally not a single mention or even reference to the fact that he had an Austrian Countess wife and two daughters. . Adrian would finally pass away in 1963, at the age of 83, having spent his final years fishing and in peace.