magicmelinoe

[magicmelinoe]

Meet Me Halfway

by magicmelinoe

5.2k words | One-shot

Can be read as a standalone or as sequel to Like Syrup On His Tongue.

Henry prefers his food spicy. If only he didn’t come to this realization at the worst possible time - much to Alex's entertainment.

-

Texas has broken him. No, Alex has broken him.

The thought is stubbornly stuck in Henry’s mind as he scrapes another tiny bite full of food onto his fork and stares at it.

It looks fine, in all honesty. The same exact way it had when he was a child.

It’s been a while since he’s been here, he’s more than aware of it. Since he’s been away from Texas in general, disregarding the odd trip to California, New York or Mexico to visit Alex’s family. Even their last vacation - a long week in Rio for their wedding anniversary - has been more recent than the last time he stepped foot inside Buckingham Palace.

Maybe it was foolish to expect a sense of nostalgia when he’s done his very best to cut this place out of his life for years.

And yet, there is a whole plethora of things he does regularly long for - his favorite tea, Jaffa Cakes, scones with clotted cream. On the rare particularly cold winter day even a bowl of cawl that inevitably invites memories of family evenings in front of a fireplace in a Welsh cottage.

As it turns out, distance doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder.

He puts the fork to his lips anyway and wonders silently if chewing less and just getting it over with is an option. His stomach rumbles, clearly not in agreement with the rest of him.

But this. This is worse than realizing he hasn’t missed English food.

Alex throws him a questioning glance, tilting his head slightly, and Henry watches with morbid curiosity how his husband takes a perfectly normal sized bite of chicken and swallows it with a straight face.

(Continue reading on ao3)

[magicmelinoe]

ok mister legs for days (this just screamed henry with his jaffa cakes and his dog-eared austen novel so I had to)

[magicmelinoe]

Fandom Trumps Hate: RWRB Offerings

There are 32 RWRB offerings in the 2025 @fandomtrumpshate auction. Bidding ends on March 1 at 8pm ET. Get your bids in to support an amazing cause and win exclusive fan work(s)!

Here are the links to all the RWRB works on auction:

Fanfic

acheinmybones

cricketnationrise

MayQueen517

gracefulally

whimsymanaged

fakeTRex

LightningBoltReader

AfroGeekGoddess

anincompletelist (soldouthaz) #1 / #2

lark_ral

BeBraveDearHeart

mae

sharkie335

Inyw21

kiwiana #1 / #2

summers_even (plume_under_heel)

PorcelainMortal

sparklepocalypse #1 / #2

Podfic

sweaters_in_the_summer

aliteralgarbageheap

jesuisgrace

ReformedTsunderePodfics (ReformedTsundere)

Fan Labor

JustNo (sensitivity reading, specialist expertise, translation)

kiwiana (typesetting)

CelticSky (betaing, culture picking)

sharkie335 (sensitivity reading, specialist expertise)

Fan Art

seanchaidh7 #1 / #2

Fan Video

onthecyberseas

About Fandom Trumps Hate | List of supported organizations

Huge thanks to @faketrex for helping me to compile all the auction links! I hope this round-up post is helpful to everyone planning to bid.

[magicmelinoe]

🔴🌸✉️🔵

collab with @elorberryart !!!! thank u for entrusting me with the alex to your henry 😙

[magicmelinoe]

Mark your calendars... AWY is coming back with a mini exchange!

Sign-ups open this Sunday, Feb 9th. Over the course of this week, the mods will be revamping the event pages with updated rules, FAQ, and resources. Check back here in the coming days for more information ❤️💙

[magicmelinoe]

Decorating is a family activity🥰🎄

[magicmelinoe]

A tiny tribute to the wonderful Christmas fic @firenati0n wrote (read here)

[magicmelinoe]

Have a snippet because it’s Sunday and tattoo artist Alex is still tirelessly at work.

—

This is the moment Henry should stop him. The time to admit he’d really only made the appointment for an opportunity to talk to Alex.

Maybe part of it comes down to growing up in a palace where every decision had to be weighed for its merits and approved long in advance, but Henry is a planner. His therapist always tells him that a good routine is the key to stability and happiness, and Henry has lived his whole adult life by those words. Even the announcement of his abdication, though shocking for the public, had been brewing inside of him for years.

Henry Fox doesn’t do wild and spontaneous.

But then he looks at Alex. There is a whole patchwork of colorful lines visible around his biceps, emphasized when Alex crosses his arms. It's endlessly fascinating to Henry. But what draws him in is a warm smile that he still isn't sure he has earned. The impossibly long eyelashes framing kind eyes. That dimple Henry can’t ever seem to look away from.

He wonders if that kind of effortless confidence, that amount of life could ever seep into his skin, too.

And instead of leaving, Henry says, “Yes, let’s get that tattoo.”

[magicmelinoe]

Snowdog?☃️

day 8 of rwrxmas!!

[magicmelinoe]

Thank you for the tag @0npurpose

On this wonderful Sunday, I can offer you a few sentences from a WIP about Alex as a tattoo artist.

———

“I’m starting to remember how you got me to make a lot of questionable decisions in uni.”

“Hey now, you slept with the entire rowing team all on your own. I would readily claim that as a personal victory because it was glorious but alas, I had nothing to do with it. That was all you. Which brings me back to my original point: If you’re free to do anything, is your choice really to change nothing?”

Henry looks back at the website. Images of the studio are still rotating on a loop. He navigates the cursor back to the drop down menu and skips over Tattoos straight to Piercings.

A click leads him to the photo of a young woman with dark skin and short black hair, smiling at the person behind the camera. Henry’s gaze catches on the small metal rings adorning her nose, lips and eyebrows.

To be expected considering her profession, he supposes.

Nora Holleran, Professional Piercer the title states, followed by a short description of her personal background and a rather long list of certificates and industry achievements. They’re the same age.

Henry wonders what his list would look like if anyone had the guts to be honest.

A title he didn’t earn, a degree in English Literature from Oxford University he at least worked hard for, and three hundred twenty-seven irrelevant ribbons cut before he threw in the towel and ran away.

He scrolls back up. Nora looks kind and a bit cheeky, like she would immediately get on with his sister and Pez like a house on fire.

“I am going to get this earring.”

[magicmelinoe]

10 People l'd like to get to know better!

Thanks to @clockwrkpendrxgon for the tag! 🩷

Last song: Ma Meilleure Ennemie by Stromae & Pomme

Favorite Color: purple

Last Book: Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Last Movie: Howl's Moving Castle

Last TV show: Arcane

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: I love spicy food, I don’t care much for candy but I'm always down for pastries 🙂‍↕️

Relationship status: single

Last thing I googled: crochet patterns, I think?

Current Obsession: rwrb (and everyone was surprised 🤭)

Looking forward to: curling up on the sofa and plotting a new fic

No pressure tags: @miss-minnelli @firenati0n @sophie1973 @reagcdfox @jafffacakess @swoonoveryou3 and whoever else would like to play

[magicmelinoe]

today I offer you a merman prince and a pirate. tomorrow? who knows...

[magicmelinoe]

Long curls and glasses are the perfect look for kindergarten teacher Alex, you’re right 🙂‍↕️

Tzp in his glasses

I can’t send a vid through dms but @mylucayathoughts bestie he does wear prescription glasses!! Look at this 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[magicmelinoe]

Smoooooch💋

[magicmelinoe]

May I offer you some fluff and humor? Today the creators of the @anywhere-with-you-event were revealed, so I’m here to present to you my contribution!

Thank you to the mods for making this possible and to @jackzimmermemes for giving me a prompt that inspired a whole bibliography.

———

How Do You Say I Love You

Alex is a gold star kindergarten teacher. He doesn't technically have a star, he'd never take anything from the sticker sheet in his top drawer for himself. But he loves this job. And if you love what you do you never work a day in your life, that was the promise, right?

Well, Alex works, harder than any other teacher he knows.

The first time he introduces himself to a kindergarten class as their teacher and is met with wide eyes and grins missing a tooth or two, he knows he is exactly where he is supposed to be. This is what he’s worked for. This is what matters.

When he enters the teachers’ lounge that same afternoon and meets the school’s librarian for the first time, he has half a mind to quit and move into his mom’s spare bedroom in D.C.

Henry Fox spares him one agonizingly quick look from across the room and physically takes a step back before he storms out altogether on his disgustingly long legs.

It’s just Alex’s added luck that the door hasn’t fully closed next to him, so he clearly hears Henry muttering, “That cannot be the new kindergarten teacher. That’s ridiculous.”

Read on AO3

[magicmelinoe]

Creator Reveals!

Welcome back everyone for the last day of our event! Today we're unveiling the creators of all the wonderful fanworks currently in our collection ❤️💙 This is gonna be a long post so buckle up.

If you have not received your gift work yet, please check your email for more information.

I hope that someone gets my… by @onthewaytosomewhere (mae on ao3)

please could you be tender? by @judasofsuburbia

The Little Pup That Could by @wordscavenger

Seasons of Love Letters by @Muddbloodpotter05

vanity fur by @babygirlgalitzine

draw me like one of your french girls by @lesliesknopes (buttercupkisses on ao3)

Still Sitting in the Corner I Haunt by @brokenchairwrites

you should think about the consequence by saintsnames

watch where you put your hands by @thedramasummer (acheinmybones on ao3)

takes one to know one by @thesleepyskipper

There's clay under my nails and desire burning in my heart by @tinyarmedtrex

Crystal Heart by @dizzymisslizzie (LK_42 on ao3)

Without a Summer by @orchidscript

What Goes Up Must Come Down by bleedingballroomfloor

Change Your Ticket (Maybe I Miss You) by @cactusdragon517 (MayQueen517 on ao3)

omg they were roommates by @glasshouses-and-stones

Bake a Sugar Cake by @jackzimmermemes (Luminous_Bluebell on ao3)

let you love me by @thinkingaboutelephants

Comments Make the Heart Grow Fonder by @suseagull04

i'd rather tangle with him by @taste-thewaste

Don’t sleep with the customers by @swoonoveryou3

[podfic] rest your weary head by @schitthappens (dairaliz on ao3)

there's a million little reasons why i want you near by @henryspearl

We Fit Together by @cricketnationrise

Sweet as Cinnamon by quill_and_ink

Pretty Competent by @noahreids (High-Seas-Swan on ao3)

your kiss is on my list by @priincebutt

lost in the revelry (lost in the make believes) by @tailsbeth-writes

Fake It Till We Make It by @milowren29

Outshine the Stars by @luainthewild

a knight to remember by acheinmybones

Call It Fate by @emmalostinwonderland

[podfic] may the fourth be with you by @iwaizumi-keiji

Careful Cooking by @iboatedhere

90s romcom remix by @incalamity

It's not just like you're kind of on my mind (I think about you all the time) by haaaveyoumetted

How Do You Say I Love You by @magicmelinoe

you'll be in my heart (always) by @bigswitchenergyy (dreakawa on ao3)

you can see it (with the lights out) by @kj-bee

know that you deserve to have it by @read-and-write- (JustNo on ao3)

Keep You in my Incognito Tab by @louikazooie

That's a wrap, friends! If anyone promotes their fic here on tumblr, please tag this account so we can reblog your post, and if you haven't already go comment on your gift!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. We are grateful to each and every one of you for making this such a special event. Remember to take care of yourselves, and keep the things that bring you a bit of joy close.

History, huh? Bet we could make some.

[magicmelinoe]

Reveals - Day 4!

It's the last day for fanwork reveals! Creators are being unveiled tomorrow, so mark your calendars ❤️💙

Below you'll find a handful of the lovely works in the Anywhere With You 2024 collection. Click, read, kudos, comment, and share with your friends!

We also encourage you to comment on and reblog these reveal posts with your guesses about who may have written what. Everyone's got a signature style even if the creators are still anonymous - let's see if you recognize any! Creators, remember not to confirm or deny any guesses until after the creator reveal post goes up tomorrow, Nov 6th.

Careful Cooking for saintsnames | 16.5k | T

90s romcom remix for quill_and_ink | 13.9k | G

It's not just like you're kind of on my mind (I think about you all the time) for iwaizumi_keiji | 13.7k | T

How Do You Say I Love You for Luminous_Bluebell | 6.3k | T

you'll be in my heart (always) for wordscavenger | 6.1k | M

you can see it (with the lights out) for JustNo | 6k | T

know that you deserve to have it for judasofsuburbia | 4.3k | T

Keep You in my Incognito Tab for starry_pisces | comic + 1.5k | E