#wow im annoying sorRY ajflkajf

[shreyamistry]

This is me sending in requests! “I don’t care what anyone else thinks.” AME Mackenzie x MC, from the Fluff/Angst list. I would die of happiness if you used they/them pronouns for the MC. Also “you make me feel safe,” for Sabina x MC, ditto on the pronouns. Lastly, “I’m right where I belong.” For Annabelle x MC. I totally get if that’s too many, if you only do one, the first is my first choice! Love you, Nate! Hope you’re having a day/week as amazing as you are. 💘

Pairings: Annabelle x MC

Title: Dressing The Part

Word Count: 2k

Summary: The Duke decides to celebrate Hannah with a ball in their honor for this upcoming forced marriage. Annabelle can’t wait to see Hannah, but can the Duke ruin the night by opening his mouth and making them wear the most hideous dress they’ve ever seen?

A/N: Kylie (as a MH stan, your main blog icon makes me happy lmao, my favorite is Abbey)!! Thank you so much for the requests I’m so happy!! I haven’t got a chance to write Annabelle or Sabina yet so I’m excited! Look out for the other two, they’ll be their own post! Just in case I get any comments, I know that Annabelle is a lesbian and identifies as lesbian, this fic with the use of they/them pronoun for MC in no capacity is trying to deny that or take away her sexuality, the request called for a nb (they/them) lesbian MC and that’s what I did. If you have questions, google is free!

Thanks for reading! I hope you like it!

Hannah’s hands brush against the fabric of their dress, looking over the intricate patterns and designs, her lips curled into a frown as Briar brushes through their black hair. Briar can’t help, but frown at the pensive look on her best friend’s face as she places both of her hands onto Hannah’s shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

“Are you alright, Hannah?”

Hannah glances in the mirror on their vanity to see Briar watching them. They look at the ribbons sewed onto the dress in an abundance picking at it with their fingers. “There’s..just a lot of bows, Briar.”

“I can find a different dress, I mean Duke Richards might be very against it, but-” Briar starts to ramble on, as she places the brush on the vanity whirling around to see even more confliction on Hannah’s face, noting to be quiet letting her mouth fall closed resting her hands in the pockets of her apron.

“It’s quite alright. Don’t distress over me.” Hannah forces a smile, “I may look the part, but it doesn’t mean I am the part. Do you suppose… Miss Parsons may admire the dress?” Hannah glances at Briar to check her honesty, noting Briar’s tell in the back of their mind as scratching her wrist. They watch as Briar scratches her inner wrist smiling brightly.

“Quite positive she’ll admire it,” Honesty doesn’t quite reach her words, “Are you trying to impress her?”

“Can you leave me for a moment?” Hannah asks, their hands picking at the bows on the dress refusing to meet the gaze of their best friend. Blinking back tears as Briar nods with a sympathetic smile, squeezing their shoulder as she glides out of the room her hands clasped behind her back. The sound of Lady Grandmother’s voice is heard talking to Briar reassuring her of Hannah’s dress fitting and dressing going smooth.

They take a heavy breath, freeing themselves momentarily of their discomfort before plucking the scissors off of the sleek white vanity, before pocketing it into the satchel wrapped around their leg. I am… Lady Hannah and I can do this. They think to themselves before rising from the chair exiting through the door which Briar left moments earlier joining Lady Grandmother and Briar in conversation. Gratuitous, kind, and sweet.

Mr. Harper and Annabelle stand around with Prince Hamid and Mr. Chambers talking over paperwork and business activities with Mr. Knoevi. It warms her heart to see the secret smiles Mr. Chambers and Mr. Knoevi share, and the flush that rising in Mr. Chambers cheeks as he notices looking away from her and Hamid’s prying eyes. She smoothes the fabric of her deep green dress suddenly feeling nervous about seeing her fiance in the ball thrown in their honor by their actual fiance.

“Miss Parsons, is everything all right? You seem distracted.” Prince Hamid comments, turning his head to the side in a comforting understanding way. She nods forcing a smile to her lips letting her hand fall onto his arm.

“You know how these balls, time-consuming, lacking entertainment, and Hannah isn’t here yet.” She frowns at the last part and he shakes his head yes in agreement.

“Well, should you want to cause mischief,” He crooked his eyebrow at her with a smile, “I am a conversation away.”

“We shall attack by the night’s end.” She grins. The music from the band begins to swell loudly drawing the attention to the main doors preparing for Hannah’s arrival. Applause ripples through the room as Duke Richards presents himself through the door, a courtesy showing that Annabelle could see her friends around her and Mr. Sinclaire across the way not participating in.

“Thank you all for…”

The Duke addresses the group as Annabelle catches snippets of the gossip around her surrounding Richards, Prince Hamid’s off comment about his business relations lately sounding of particular interest to her - as she may use it to help Hannah with their problem - before the noise of the band cuts off all conversation between the group again.

Her heart jumps in her chest as she spots Hannah across the room, their smile thin and faded as they wave happily at their guests shaking a few of their friends from knitting circle’s hands. She couldn’t help, but excuse herself from the men pushing her way through the crowd that begins to return to the ball at Hannah’s request.

“Miss. Parsons!” Hannah’s voice cuts through the final few people as Annabelle passes Henrietta and Mr. Marlcaster, she clasps her hands around her lovers smiling brightly as she finally reaches Hannah. “I’m delighted to see you here!”

“As am I, Hannah.” She brings one of Hannah’s hands to her lips kissing the back of their hands. “You’re a breath of fresh air and beauty tonight, when you mentioned the dress being fashion forwarded I hadn’t the slightest clue you meant in this way.” She glances down at all the lace trimmings and ribbons adorning the dress. Her hands move to pull on one of the bows, her forehead creasing with a frown.

“It was the Duke’s grandma’s in her youth.” Hannah replies, “It’s quite ugly isn’t it?”

Annabelle tries to cover her chuckles with her hand, failing miserably earning her a giggle from her lover. “It is quite ugly. I see why the Duke finds the beauty in it, an ugly soul is attracted to ugly clothes.”

“Miss. Parsons.” Hannah gasps with a grin, “You devilish woman.” Annabelle laughs freely in response to their words, before letting Hannah lead her away from the door into the thick of the ball out of the prying eyes of those around them in the open. “Are you feeling alright? You seem quite out of it.”

“A conversation I had with Duke Richards earlier-”

“DARLING! Must you share our indecent moments with your companions? That’s very unladylike. And you’re slouching, you’re going to wrinkle the dress. And don’t think I didn’t hear you speaking about the state of the dress, that is a family heirloom.” The Duke hounds them with question after question leaving Hannah no room to reply or defend themselves, cowering away from the Duke as a caged animal may. Tension settles in Annabelle’s bosom, as she watches them retaining her anger with the Duke inside her to fore long his abuse against her lover. “Leave me now.” He demands, waving away the both of them with his hands after he finishes his one-sided conversation with Hannah.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Hannah whispers, their eyes burning with tears brushing past ball guests towards the patio not far from their location. Annabelle hesitates only a moment before following after her to ensure the Duke does not follow the both of them. Shoving her way out of the door, she sees a trail of footsteps off to the side quickly dashing after them hiking her dress up off the floor following the shallow steps towards the garden.

She finds a tearful Hannah sitting on the bench near the flowers, throwing things from the bench. Annabelle quickly approaches falling onto the bench besides Hannah fiercely gripping their hands to stop them from moving. “Hannah stop!”

“It. Needs. To. GO!” They yell, fighting Annabelle back for the scissors in their hands, the fabric of the bow on the front half cut. “I can’t deal with this Annabelle!” Their tears stream down their face, as they pull on the scissors nearly wrenching them out of Annabelle’s hands. “You shouldn’t even be here!”

“I’m right where I belong, Hannah.” The fierceness in her eyes causes Hannah momentary shock, allowing Miss. Parsons to quickly gain better hold on the scissors. “I wouldn’t rather be anywhere in the world except on this bench alone with you.”

“I…” Hannah trails off, before letting out a loud sob tucking their face away refusing to look at Annabelle. “Please, Annabelle. Leave me to solitude.”

“No.” Before they can get another heavy-handed pull, Annabelle leans in wrapping her arms tightly around her lover’s crying form, holding them to her chest shushing their sobs as sweetly as she can muster. Her hand running up and down Hannah’s back, soothing them into the touch as Hannah clutches onto the back of Annabelle’s dress. Resting their face on Miss. Parsons’ chest. Their grip on her never wavering clinging to their life support in human form.

The pair sits in quiet, the occasional sound of Hannah’s sniffles interrupting them followed by the sweet soothing of Annabelle’s reassurances. The moment seems to last an eternity as Hannah picks themselves back up from the pieces they’ve broken into. Enjoying the warmth of Annabelle’s form for a few more seconds before sitting up completely to face her, the back of their hand brushing against their cheek.

“I will help you,” Annabelle whispers, producing the scissors from the bench. “You’ll just leave unpleasant holes if you snip away without any care.” She brings the scissors to the first bow, looking around the fabric for the perfect place to start snipping, lifting a corner as she slides her scissors underneath before coming down on the fabric placing the bow onto her lap as she looks at the dress. “There.”

“Thank you.” Hannah sniffles.

“There’s no reason to thank me, Hannah.” She smiles softly at them, bringing her own hand to their cheek letting it rest gently on their skin, brushing her thumb back and forth gently hiding her smile at the way Hannah leans into the touch. “Shall, we finish de-hidifying this dress?”

“Please.” Hannah laughs, turning on the beach so their back is towards Annabelle. “Removing the back bows off might have resulted in an injury had I done it myself.” Annabelle chuckles in response.

“Then it’s a good thing, I was here to prevent that.”

Moments pass in comfortable silence as she finishes removing the last of the bows. She tucks them onto her lap underneath the others smoothing them over her lap to help keep them organized. Hannah turns in their seat to face Miss. Parsons again.

“I won’t provoke you further by asking,” Annabelle reassures, “But are you feeling okay, my love?”

“Yes.” They smiles taking her hand, “Because of you.” Leaning in Hannah steals a kiss from Annabelle who falls into the shared contact, resting her hand on the back of Hannah’s neck, deepening the shared moment between the pair. The moment lasts a million years in Hannah’s mind sharing the connection of a kiss with her lover. Annabelle clinging tightly onto them before breaking the kiss with a deep breath a smile tugging at the corner of their lips.

“We should be alone far more often.” Annabelle grins.

“I’ll make sure of it.” Hannah grins back, placing a sweet kiss to Annabelle’s lips one last time. “Shall we spend the rest of our lives in this garden?”

“So long as it includes kissing you, I should spend my life with you anywhere.” Annabelle brushes her nose against Hannah’s, their forehead resting against one another’s. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with you, you’re my home, Hannah.”

“I love you deeply, Miss. Annabelle Parsons.”