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sheeple · 4 months

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Miracles don't exist | 33: Heavy silks

Genre(s): Riddle!reader / Slytherin!reader / kinda slowburn / little happy moments Fandom(s): Harry Potter Pairing(s): Theodore Nott x Reader / Harry Potter x Riddle!reader Summary: Being the Dark Lord's daughter and raised under the strict supervision of the Malfoy's is no easy life. Especially if you start crushing on your father's arch-nemesis, Harry Potter. And that while being engaged to one of his follower’s sons. Warning(s): None A/n: I based the wizarding wedding traditions on this Reddit post. ALSO IGNORE THE FACE ON THE DRESS. I DIDN'T SEE IT AT FIRST OKAY🥲 [Masterlist] [Mini masterlist] [Playlist]

Your feet ache and the dress the seamstresses are anxiously fitting on you is heavy. The rich silk which feels soft against your skin. One of the ladies accidentally pricks you with a needle and you flinch. She starts to stutter out apologies as your aunt and Bellatrix hover nearby, glaring at the poor woman.

But you pay them no attention. Rather, you are focused on the Daily Prophet in your hands. There you are- the front page of the Daily Prophet standing behind Pius Thicknesse and next to Delores Umbridge. You look cold and heartless, a serious look on your face. You like what is expected of you by everybody.

Dolores — you're taking delight in calling that miserable toad by her first name since she can't do anything about it — has a satisfied smile on her face.

You don't even want to talk about Yaxley and Runcorn. Creeps.

What, however, saddens you the most is that your true identity was revealed with this arctice. Full name and all underneath the picture taken during the speech.

From left to right: Albert Runcorn, Dolores Umbridge, (Y/n) Riddle, Heir of the Dark Lord, Pius Thicknesse, and Corban Yaxley.

It sickens you that they had to include the fact about who you're a child of.

You feel people look at you and you quickly put away the papers, focusing instead on the others in the room. "I'm sorry?"

"How does the dress feel?", repeats Aunt Cissy her question as she sits on a chase in the corner, her eyes slightly watery.

You look at yourself in the mirror. Smoothing your hands over the bodice of the dress, you frown. It doesn't really look like a wedding dress you would have wanted to wear. But the Lord himself insisted that the fabrics must be in traditional Slytherin colours. Being prideful of our house and forefathers and whatnot.

"Good", you manage to croak out, not having spoken at all today. There was no need for you to. Every aspect of the wedding is already decided or is being decided by someone else.

Bellatrix raises one eyebrow. "Just good?"

You shake your head. "No. Great. I love it! It's just what I always dreamed of." You give the seamstresses your best and brightest smile. But you know it doesn't reach your eyes.

"May I be excused?", you ask to nobody in particular. You have to get out. Out of the dress. Out of the Mannor. Away.

Once you're released from your dress, you hurry outside. One part of the garden is off-limits to anyone except you and anyone you bring with you. You've heard Death Eaters discuss the place and that they have deemed it an honour to be invited by you to that corner of the garden. Ugh, as if.

When you finally reach it, someone's already seated on the stone bench located in the middle. You round the bench and go sit next to Draco, whose shoulders are sagged.

"How's Theodore?", he asks, not looking at you.

"He's fine. Getting his tux fitted right now."

"How are you?"

Now that is a loaded question. "Fine", you answer curtly, but both of you know that that is not true. You've been far from 'fine'. "Absolutely miserable. But I imagine that I speak for the three of us."

Your cousin looks at you. He is paler than he has ever been. Obviously has he not been eating and sleeping well. You know for a fact that if you didn't have Theo you would be in the same state.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

Leaning over, you rest your head against his shoulder. You sniff and swallow the lump in your throat. There is no need to answer Draco's question. Of course, you're not. Nobody is ready to unwillingly marry at seventeen.

You hesitate for a moment, questioning yourself if you can really ask that of him. You instead bite the bullet and just ask it. "Will you give me away?"

Draco senses up, snapping his head towards you. "What?", he asks incredulously.

"Tomorrow. Will you give me away? My... father won't be there, too busy with himself. And I want to not be it anyone other than you."

Draco's speechless. His mouth opens and closes like a goldfish as he stares at you. You give him a small, unsure smile. Just as you want to take your words back and tell him to forget you asked, he engulfs you in a tight hug.

"Thank you", he whispers, "I would be honoured."

There is a knock on your door as you sit alone in your bedroom, the stylists just having left and let you be by yourself for a moment. Picking up the many layers of skirts of your dress, you make your way over to the door.

Cracking it open just a smidge you're surprised to find Theo. "What are you doing here?", you whisper-shout, looking around the hall. "It's bad luck if you see me before the ceremony."

"I wanted- needed to see you."

You take his hand and pull him into your room. He presses his forehead against yours as he smiles. "Hi", he whispers.

"Hi", you whisper back, smiling shyly. You caress his face and push back the locks that escaped his gelled hair. "Your hair is stubborn", you giggle.

Theo's eyes flicker over your face, leaning into your touch. "I didn't think you could even look more beautiful than Yule Ball. I love to be proven wrong." He gives you a quick kiss before holding you at arm's length and ordering you to spin.

You do so and the many diamonds in your hair shimmer in the sunlight. Your gown balloons around you and it makes you smile to see the adoration on Theo's face.

He looks good. Theo's wearing a suit with embroidered sleeves in a matching shade of green to your dress. The embroidery shimmers in the light, giving the effect of it moving on its own.

Theo pats his jacket in search of something and pulls out a small box from one of the inside pockets. He looks unsure for a moment before getting down on one knee and opening the box. A beautiful golden ring with a pearl in the middle that’s enchanted to display little pearlescent swirls within.

"I know we're doing this backwards... but will you do me the honour of marrying me?" Theo looks up at you, his brows knitted together and his hands shaky.

You stand breathlessly for a moment, your eyes fixed on the ring. Slowly you nod as a smile breaks out on your face. "It would be nothing more I wish than to marry you."

He jumps up from his kneeled position and takes you in his arms, swirling you around. You kiss him while he slips the ring on your finger. You look at it and clutch your hand to your chest, running your thumb over the stone.

A harsh knock on the door pops the little happy bubble the two of you are in. "Quick, hide", you whisper, pushing him behind an armchair. You open the door and peek outside. A relieved sigh escapes you as it is only Draco.

"You haven't seen Theodore by chance, have you?"

You pull him inside before locking the door and tell Theo to come out. His head of brown curls pops from behind the high back of the chair as he gets up to his feet.

Draco smiles as Theo naturally gravitates towards you, his hand searching yours. "They are looking for you. It is about to start."

Theo gives your hand a squeeze as he leans in for a kiss. "See you soon", he says with a smile, giving one last kiss before leaving the room.

You sigh. Now that he left, the anxiousness you've been feeling all day returns. Pacing the room, you drag your dress behind you as you chew on your cheek, not wanting to ruin the lipstick.

A hand suddenly takes ahold of your own and you turn to look at Draco. He gives you a sad smile that wordlessly tells you that it is time.

From the way to the room where the ceremony will be held is all a blur until the double doors are opened for you and everybody turns around. You tightly clutch Draco's arm as he leads you down the aisle, towards Theo.

At the end stands your only driving for your feet to be moving. He has a soft smile on his face and eyes filled with love. Once you've reached the end without a hitch, Draco extends his arm and places your hand in Theo's. The two boys share a look before your cousin takes a step back.

Much of the ceremony is the same haze. The only thing you can focus on is your heavily beating heart and those warm brown eyes peering into your own. You follow the orders of the officiant to place the golden robes over Theo's shoulders and clasp the bracelet with your house crest, his house crest, and the rune of love around his wrist. Theo does the same to you, tracing your knuckles once the bracelet is secured on both of your wrists by magic.

"And with the power invested in me by the Ministry, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may share your first kiss as a married couple."

Your eyes meet Theo's and you close the gap, closing your eyes and pressing your lips against his. You cup his face as he leans into you, wrapping his hands around your middle.

For just a moment, it's the two of you. Not the room full of Death Eaters. No expectant stares, empty looks and contestant sneers. It's just you and your now husband.

Merlin, how great it feels to finally say that.

You close your eyes, breathing in deeply. "I love you, Teddy."

Theo beams up at you. "I love you too."

Taglist (bold means I couldn’t tag you): @the0doreslover @lqndkxlmqma @st4rrry @choppedpartymuffinwinner @ledtassoo @literallyobessed @lestat-whore @vanishingcherry @harrysnovia @pietrobae @ireallywannasleep127 @yeolsbubbles @fruityfrog505 @fluffybunnyu @theroyalmanatee @shinrjj @hegdus @kermits-bitch @m1kasawps @noah-uhhh-what @mypolicemanharryyy @fals3-g0d @decapitated-coffee @thatgirljas13 @slytherinambitious @raineisms @mastermindmiko @timmytime17 @regsg18 @supernatural-lover @bubybubsters @lafrone @hermionelove @the-sander-fander @akengii @aliciacat20 @unstablereader @burns-in-the-sun @rachelnicolee @damagelove @mqndrqke @llpovi @clairesjointshurt @222244445555 @jolly4holly @padf00ts-l0ver @fandom-life-12 @prettyb1tchsblog @pari-1 @f14ever

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just-a-queer-crow · 16 days

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Favorite pairings (romantic or platonic) in the show that ARENT Buddie:

Buck & Hen (Big sister/little brother, i need them to have more screen time)

Buck & Chim (Deeply underrated, Brother-in-laws)

Hen & Chim (BESTIES & SIBLINGS‼️‼️‼️)

Hen & Athena (Wine Moms Gossip Night fr fr)

Maddie & Josh (BESTIES, so funny, so sassy)

Josh & Chim (under explored dynamic)

Buck & May (also underexplored, step-siblings)

BOBBY & MICHAEL (PLZ ONE OF MY FAVORITE DUOS THEY R SO FUNNY TOGETHER)

Eddie & Hen (theyre so underexplored??? Eddies relationship w/ the team except Buck feels so underexplored but thats besides the point, i think these 2 should have gay little bitch fests together)

Eddie & Josh (theyre so funny i wish we saw more of eddie & the dispatch team in general)

Eddie & May (follow up from prev, she feels like he little cousin or smthn)

Maddie & Eddie (also criminally underexplored i feel like theyd be so funny together)

Karen & Eddie (in my heart they r friends)

Ravi & Everyone basically (I love him, he deserves more screen time PLEASEEE)

Albert & Buck (they r hilarious together)

Albert & Chimney (i love seeing siblings rebuild their relationship)

HEN & HER MOM TONI‼️‼️‼️ (i love toni she really grew on me)

Taylor & Buck (BUT AS FRIENDS!!! REALLY LIKED THEM AS FRIENDS THEY WERE FUNNY)

Buck & Athena (THATS HIS MOM‼️‼️‼️)

BOBBY & MAY (& Harry) (THATS THEIR STEPDAD!!! THEY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER SO MUCH PLZ I WANT MORE)

Maddie & May (i am a big big fan of may i want her and maddie to be sisters)

May & Josh (dispatch team go brrr i think hes like her gay uncle in my heart)

BUCK & JEE-YUN (uncle buck has my heart)

Hen & Karen (theyre such a good couple theyre so healthy and have worked so hard on their relationship its impossible not to love them)

Bobby & Athena (i adore them, they r the sweetest couple, i love the fact that theyre older but theyre still flirting and having sex and just being in love with each other, theyre so good for each other)

MADDIE & CHIMNEY (my favorite ship on the show, they have done SO much work to be together and love each other so so much, they are soulmates, they choose each other every day, they r silly, they show their love to each other so obviously and r so devoted to each other, im obsessed with them im so excited for their wedding)

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gold-rhine · 3 months

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What the guard dogs are for

There are some things you never want to hear your secret years-long crush saying, such as “I’m getting married,” “I think we should stay friends” or “I’m the destroyer of the present order, the one who shall judge all gods, and the foe of humanity.” Wriothesley’s very bad, no good day of trying to unravel conspiracy theories, fumbling a tea party with Chief Justice and learning Teyvat’s ancient history and vishap lore from the leading expert lector.

Genre: angst and misinformation campaign

Characters: Neuvillette\Wriothesley, Enjou

Warnings: sfw in a sense that nothing even remotely sexy happens, but there is dissociation, ptsd episode, brief mention of self-harm, and Enjou doing same thing he does in canon, which is not quite gaslighting? Anyway, let me know if you feel any other warnings need to be added.

Chapters: 1 out of 2. Wordcount: ~8k

With his morning tea, Wriothesley riffled through the reports as usual. Nothing was marked urgent, so he started with the most boring part, - the official ones. The production numbers, coupon consumption statistics, everything is prepared for Neuvillette’s upcoming inspection, which was mostly a formality, but he would want it to go as smoothly as possible.

Reports from the surface informants. Traveler stirring up a ruckus with the research institute… Well, about time, that pit couldn’t go on forever pretending that massive explosions are just a part of science routine.

Next, creatures called “vishaps” appeared recently in Erinnyes Forest. These vishaps are apparently a lesser form of dragons, and connected to Liyue vishaps, also lizard-like creatures, though in Liyue they are aligned with geo, not hydro. Non-hostile to humans, aside from one accident. But in that one they fought back against the hunters sent by nobles to capture them as novelty pets. So the only regrettable part was that they didn’t get the nobles, only their lackeys. For shame.

Next, there are gangs with new lingo going around, which generally was a good thing to pay attention to as they usually ended up in Meropide. Wriothesley frowned, reading the lingo translations, as he suddenly felt old. “Trendy Zaytun Peach” was something he’d got called for taking it up the ass a lot in his days, but now it’s a hip and cool nickname with the youngsters.

Informal internal reports. Victims of beret society are rehabilitating fine, preparations for the wedding are underway. Good. Albert, a new guy from the shop, is sending him tea. Quite good tea at that. Obviously a bribe attempt, though he didn’t ask for anything as of yet, so it was basically free. Everything was fair in love and bribes as far as Wriothesley was concerned. You could throw everything at the feet of your beloved as to the feet of your targeted bureaucrat, and receive nothing and you would have no claim to complain. Now, the fact he wouldn’t take it into account when making decisions about their proposals, and sometimes would even consider it a negative, was a different matter altogether.

He perked up reading the last report. There was a new conspiracy, whose agenda was not very clear, as they were more careful than the others, but the gist was something against Neuvillette, so Wriothesley was tracking it for some time. It was hard to get anything concrete though, as they were pretty good at keeping a low profile, but now apparently one of the members by the name of Jacque got into the Fortress on unrelated charges, and he was reportedly not the brightest shank on the block.

Wriothesley made the arrangements.

Half an hour later, he happened to stroll by when Jacque was being beaten up by three guys in the shadowy corner.

“Hey, what’s going on here? Leave him alone!” he said, walking up to them.

“Oh yeah?”, said one of the bullies, turning to him. “Well, make me!”

They were paid double for the pretend fight. It might have been an overkill, usually Wriothesley would go for just scaring them off without combat. Especially because anyone who’s been in the Fortess for some time or had a head on their shoulders would understand that nobody would try to openly fight the Duke outside of the fight club arena. But Jacque was as fresh as they get, allegedly stupid, and it was Wriothesley’s first chance at any info in two whole months, so he decided to make it as impressive as possible.

He went as easy on the guys as he could, they theatrically threw the fight and retreated.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, kneeling next to the guy in the corner and putting his hand on his shoulder for emphasis.

“Yeah, yeah, I think I’m fine,” Jacque muttered, shaking his head.

“Why did they attack you?”

“They don’t want me to spread the truth...” Jacque said with heavy emphasis. “But uh, thanks for helping me out.”

“No need to thank me. I feel bad enough that honest folk like yourself get picked on in MY Fortress. That’s not how I want to run my place, so it’s only natural that I stand up for you.”

It took a moment, but finally the guy gasped.

“Your fortress? Are you… the Duke?”

At least he knew what “Duke” is.

“Yeah,” Wriothesley grinned, turning up the charm. “And allow me to get you a couple of drinks to compensate for the rude welcome you’ve received so far.”

He got them to the Coupon Cafeteria, where best meals were already arranged, and generously poured alcohol into the poor guy, listening to the story of his life and misfortunes that brought him to the Fortress, nodding empathetically. He didn’t ask about Neuvillette at all, to not spook the target, trusting that he will come to this anyway, and finally his patience was rewarded.

“You know, you’re good!” the guy said drunkenly after some time, clasping his hand on Wriothesley's shoulder, which he beared stoically, grinning with all friendliness in the world.

“You know, they say we can’t talk to you because you’re bought by that lizard, but I think you’re a good guy. You just don’t know all the facts!”

“Which are?”

The guy leaned closer to him and lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. “Neuvillette is an evil dragon!”

Wriothesley choked on a laughter, which was way too obvious to turn into cough even for the dunce this stupid.

“No, you don't understand! Dragons were enemies of humanity that Celestia conquered. But they come back when killed! They reincarnate! He is a hydro dragon who was reborn in a human form so he could more easily trick us!”

Wriothesley blinked, remembering Neuvillette standing under the rain, and the old children’s song. “Hydro dragon, Hydro dragon, don’t cry….”

“He put our rightful archon Furina on that trial, right? No one else saw the verdict, so he pretended she was declared guilty. He forced her to abdicate and took the power for himself!”

Wriothesley realized long ago that Neuvilette, of course, was not human. It was clear to any idiot who talked to him for longer than a minute in an informal setting, not to mention a lifespan of at least five hundred years. But there were a lot of options other than “evil dragon”. There were old gods who did not receive archonhood, but instead decided to serve the archon, like Liyue’s adepti, and he always assumed Neuvillette was of the same kind. But the idea that Iudex was some kind of evil monster with a grudge against humanity was ridiculous. Especially when he showed up at the Fortress and saved the entire Fountaine and Wriothesley’s own hide from the flood.

“Really?”

“Yeah! We should restore our true archon Furina to her rightful throne!”

Furina’s insurrection? Interesting. Wouldn’t peg her for someone capable of this type of conspiracy.

“And did Furina herself give us her blessing?”

“She can’t speak publicly, as this monster threatens her.”

Hmm, inconclusive on Furina’s involvement.

He spent more time with the drunk Jacque, trying to get more details, but couldn’t get much more than unhinged ramblings on how evil the dragons are and how insidious it was for a dragon to pretend to be a human. He had to leave to prepare to Neuvillette's arrival the next day.

_____

Neuvillette stepped out of Opera Epiclese into the rain and slowed down his pace to prolong the sensation. It was a bit of what humans called guilty pleasure, as he felt guilty from inflicting rain on humans for his own pleasure. Though from his understanding, humans felt guilty because they saw this pleasure as something bad for themselves. Even if often this supposed harm made no sense to Neuvillette. Eating too much food until a human's stomach hurt was at least understandable to see as such, but he heard one of palais’ secretaries say that romance novels were her guilty pleasure. How could humans feel guilty for something as simple as reading? He stopped and asked her why she would feel guilty for reading, because melusines kept telling him that socializing with humans is very easy, you just need to ask them questions about themselves and let them talk about what they like. Well, it didn’t seem to work, as the secretary stumbled, started hyperventilating and emanated levels of panic and anxiety comparable to someone in the defendant’s chair. Sensing human emotions did not actually help Neuvillette in communicating with them, as he could not discern the reasons. He asked her if she perhaps came into possession of any cursed texts? He could generally sense the stench of corruption and there was nothing on her, but there was always a possibility that it was a curse he could not register. She panicked even more and vehemently denied. At this point he decided to give up on socializing, as it was obviously very distressing for humans, but felt obliged to tell her that if she ever did read anything she felt was cursed, to inform him. He hoped it would assuage her fear of reading. She thanked him, stuttering, and after that day avoided him at all costs.

The rain was a compromise solution in any case. Neuvillette always felt a bit strained and uncomfortable in his body, but after obtaining full dragonhood and most of the memories of past lives, the human shape felt downright stifling. He now remembered thousands of years of being something much bigger, long coils that could easily crush the spire of Opera Epiclese. Now, when he looked at his own reflection, it was hard to comprehend that this small and ridiculous frame was actually him. In addition, all of his memories and instincts called him to be submerged in water. But even with his poor understanding of humans, he realized that seeing the Iudex floating in the river would alarm humans much more than him standing under the rain. So rain was the closest solution he could get at his position.

He summoned rain instinctively, to be as close to engulfed in water as possible. It was a bit embarrassing that even humans noticed it and composed a rhyme, even if that rhyme was inaccurate. He didn’t cry, as vishaps didn’t cry at all and even his current human shaped body didn’t have tear ducts. The closest he could pinpoint to human experience, as he understood it, was being stressed and desire to be comforted, for which water was his best remedy.

And currently he was quite stressed, looking over the Fontaine laws in an attempt to revise them. The current system that treated justice as theater was clearly imperfect, which he realized long ago. But he never saw himself as authorized to change it, as humans were the responsibility of the archon and even without it, he was well aware he didn’t understand humans, so he knew it wasn’t his place to question the human justice system, to which he was only a temporary guest. But now, as fontanias became part of Teyvat after his decision, and so, a part of his responsibility as Teyvat’s god of life, even if the usurper tried to deny him, he couldn’t ignore the need for change any longer. The problem was that he did not understand humans any better, so it was very stressful to try and restructure their systems of governance.

He extended a hand, catching raindrops on his palm, when he noticed a silhouette near the elevator to the Fortress, and stopped himself from visibly controlling the weather.

Wriothesley caught his eyes and grinned, approaching him at brisk pace, umbrella over his head.

“Greetings, Monsieur.”

“Good morning, Your Grace.”

Wriothesley always somehow managed to make a “Monsieur” sound more impactful than Neuvillette could “Your Grace”, despite one being a noble title and another just a polite greeting.

“Would you like to…?” Wriothesley extended his arm with an umbrella, without actually covering Neuvillette with it. In the past, as a part of playing a role of “normal human”, Neuvillette accepted such offers, though there were not many aside from Wriothesley who dared to approach him with it. But now, as he was a full-fledged dragon, at the height of his power and influence in this land, surely he could afford to discard this role? Surely he could afford to be himself at least in this?

“No, thank you,” he said, smiling and trying to sound as cordial as possible, so that Wriothesley would not think it was a slight against him personally. “Don’t take it as offense, but I actually like being under the rain.”

The Duke smiled back, shaking his head.

“No offense taken, but why didn’t you say it last time? I felt like an idiot forcing you under an umbrella.”

“Really?” Neuvillette perked up, falling in step with the human. “You could tell that I…”

“Hated it? Yeah, for sure.”

“....prefered not to have an umbrella.”

Wriothesley let out a low, guttural bark of laughter that somehow got to the dragon despite him not being interested in humans in general.

“Not only I could tell I disturbed you, but I had to walk on the flowerbed to get to you, and then I trailed dirt in the Palais while everyone here glared at me for the audacity. Meanwhile you walked on the same dirt, but stayed pristine!”

“I’m sorry for…”

“Hey, don’t apologize. I’m just kidding, don’t worry.”

Neuvillette met the greyish blue eyes of thawed ice directly and sensed that he was truly not bothered, which didn’t make much sense. But Wriothesley was one of the very few humans who was not scared in the dragon’s presence. He was, probably, the only one who emanated only positive emotions at their meetings. Neuvillette mostly encountered negative reactions in his daily life at the trials, so he could not tell apart which positive feelings exactly that he read from Wriothesley due to the lack of exposure. But perhaps…

“I wouldn’t want you to feel unwelcome at the Palais,” Neuvillette said after a short pause.

Wriothesley grinned with a careless shrug.

“Then I will be there, even if the rest of your bureaucrats make faces. As I said, don’t worry.”

Neuvilette frowned, but didn’t see much point in pressing this further. After a confrontation with Navia, the dragon realized that his lack of understanding of humans hindered him, instead of making him truly impartial. Especially now that he was de facto in charge of the entire Fontaine government. And practice showed that only direct interaction with humans could give valuable experience, as watching from the Iudex seat did not allow him a nuanced understanding.

So perhaps, if Wriothesley was a rare human who was not scared of him, and he proved rational and trustworthy in the years they knew each other, Neuvillette could confide in his true nature and maybe ask for advice in understanding humanity?

“Perhaps staying for some tea would make up for this past offense?”

Wriothesley stumbled for a moment.

“Seriously?” He sounded as casual and ironic as usual, but the surprised burst of positive emotions from him was bright and obvious. “After all these years you finally decided to deign my humble office with your presence?”

“It’d be a completely unofficial visit, of course.”

“Sure, sure. It was never my secret plot to bribe you with a tea party, trust me, even I realize my tea is not that good.”

His voice was ironic, but for a moment Neuvillette could see his crooked grin turn into a genuine smile. So, reassured that he was not imposing, Iudex nodded and followed the human into the Fortress’ entrance.

_________

The inspection itself was mostly a formality. The Court of Fontaine technically had no direct authority over Meripode, but it provided guards and substantial resources, and so it had a right to oversee the use of these assets. The actual budgeting was done on the regular in behind the scenes reports though, as the data was not visible in the in person visit. Still, it was a time honored tradition that got Neuvilette to show up regularly.

“Take a seat. It will take me a minute to make tea.”

Neuvilette gracefully sat down on the visitor’s chair In Wriothesley office, folding his hands on the cane. He still sat with a ramrod straight back and perfect posture, but there was a certain lightness to him today, which was hard to put into words.

“The inspection is over, yet you are still nervous.”

Wriothesley knew he had a poker face good enough to cover it, yet Neuvillette saw it anyway. He had theorized for a long time that the Iudex could sense emotions, but usually he would not acknowledge it directly like this. “I wasn't nervous about the inspection to begin with. But inviting a high and mighty Iudex himself to the tea for years and then disappointing him when he finally accepts would be a devastating faux de pas. They will mock me on the first pages of all the papers tomorrow.”

Neuvillette frowned slightly.

“I must underline that I’m not here in any official capacity, and I would hope I’m talking to Wriothesley, not the Warden or the Duke. If you agree, I would ask that we leave the titles at the door.”

“No, of course,” Wriothesley, who had fantasized about leaving titles at the door and then clothes on the floor for actual years, said quickly, frantically recalculating how he could turn the tea party to wine tasting, which best wines he had confiscated in his storage and how he could make turning on the gramophone and then maybe leaning against the edge of the table in front of Neuvillette look natural and smooth. “Absolutely. I was just joking anyway, don’t mind it.”

“Ah, I see. I apologize, I’m unfortunately prone to missing humorous intent, so I appreciate your clarification.”

With how far the Iudex went out of his way to assure people of his good intentions in informal situations, Wriothesley really didn’t understand how everyone found him so intimidating. Especially because he very often had to interact with assholes in positions of power who did try to intimidate him on purpose and the contrast was very apparent. Neuvillette projected an aura of power without really wanting to, and then tried to over-explain himself to make others feel at ease. His earnest awkwardness was something like the clumsiness of a huge beast like an elephant trying not to step on the gaggle of kittens at his feet.

“In any case, there is nothing to be nervous about. After all, tea is liquid, and it’s really hard to make liquids unpleasant. So far I think only Fonta truly managed it.” Neuvillette drummed his fingers on the table and glanced at Wriothesley. “To be frank, if crimes against water could be prosecuted, Fonta would receive life in prison.”

Wriothesley snorted. “So no sugar in your tea, I take it?”

“No, thank you,” Iudex said politely and then, after a short pause, “And to clarify, I was not serious. There is nothing wrong with people liking sugary drinks, of course. I was just making an attempt at a joke.”

He really was horrendously bad at pretending to be a human. How could anyone hear him talk and still believe he’s a scheming manipulator was beyond ridiculous.

“No, I got it. It was a good joke,” The Duke grinned, placing a teacup in front of Neuvillette and sitting down across the table with his own.

Neuvillette gave him a graceful nod with a little smile and picked up his cup, giving it a swirl before tasting.

“Hmm. Interesting. Poignant. Bitter,” he said thoughtfully, tilting his head.

Wriothesley was about to mention that this sort was not usually bitter, but Iudex continued.

“Not by nature, but forced by circumstances. Not nearly enough water to be nourished, so it had to adapt and conserve strength, letting leaves seen as unimportant to die and concentrate on survival of the main branches. But there is not just hunger… there is a dream of rain. An ache of something not ever known, but yearned, longed for, without realizing what it is. But then…” Neuvillette closed his eyes for a moment. “It happened. There is a memory of luminous joy of water not gathered by mere drops, but drank in full, overwhelming, a feast after a life of fighting for scraps of morning dew. It had tasted rain at least once in the end.”

Wriothesley put his own cup down, leaning forward in disbelief.

“No way. This was a harvest from a drought year and it’s normally a mild sort, considered unusually strong in this season. How could you know this? Are you cheating?”

“You’re welcome to test me with other samples,” Neuvillette said with an air of a magnanimous ruler granting a boon and put the teacup down with a delicate clink.

“Oh, I’m taking you up on your word, trust me,” the Duke grinned, but then paused. He didn’t want to spoil the mood, but he remembered how strongly Neuvillette felt about the perceived melusines conspiracy. Wriothesley had to tell him about the evil dragon idiots just to make sure he’s not thrown off balance later. That’s what the guard dogs are for, after all.

“Actually, before we move forward with testing your psychic tea reading abilities, there is something concerning official business that I think you should know. And then we can forget it completely.”

Neuvillette inclined his head with a small smile.

“There is a small group of conspirators, - and I must reiterate, it’s very small - who operate on the ridiculous idea that… uh, that you’re some kind of an evil dragon who schemed to overthrow Furina.”

Neuvillette's smile froze.

“You don’t have to worry about it, really. It’s negligibly small, and well, anyone with a working brain would not believe that you’re a monster in disguise.”

Iudex was silent for some time, not meeting Wriothesley’s eyes.

“Are melusines implicated in this?” he said finally.

“No. No, there’s no connection to them in this stupid theory.”

“Good. That's good. They do love living with humans so much.”

Wriothesley suspected that Iudex was taking things kind of out of proportion again.

“Listen, it’s really nothing…”

“No, no, I understand. It would be so unacceptably horrifying for humans to learn their ruler is a… monster.”

Neuvillette's voice wavered, but his face was impartial, strict, previous lightness gone completely. Wriothesley saw his hands tighten their grip on the handle of his cane a moment before he abruptly stood up.

“I must apologize for impropriety, but I have important business in the Palais which was inappropriate for me to neglect for so long. I must beg your leave to depart.”

Wriothesley stood up too, scraping to understand what he did wrong.

“Wait, it’s not…”

“Thank you for your time, Your Grace.”

Wriothesley shut his mouth, the title feeling like a slap for the first time in his life. The formality and politeness somehow only made it worse. He took a deep breath and willed himself to sound calm.

“I hope you have a nice evening, Monsieur Iudex.”

Neuvillette left in what for his usual dignified pace could be considered a hurry. Wriothesley followed him without being seen, partly to make sure he doesn’t get bothered by inmates and partly on an instinct to investigate.

At the Fortress’ entrance, he watched Neuvillette walk under the rain, lifting his head upward. The blue strands of his long hair glowed and so did his coat-tails. They extended, shining brilliant bioluminescent blue, trailing behind the Chief Justice, in a moment looking like fish’s fins, then the next - as colossal snake’s coils. Sea waves crashed against the ridge without any wind, rising high, reaching to a lonely glowing figure of Iudex. With bated breath, Wriothesley watched Neuvillette extend a hand, as if catching raindrops - and rain stopped mid-flight in the air, lingering over his palm, waves frozen cresting over the earth. The raindrops gathered in a shuddering spheres, and then stretched upwards, against all laws of gravity. Wriothesley’s heart skipped a beat as Neuvillette closed his fist and the rain flew backwards to the skies.

Wriothesley stormed back into his office and frantically searched through the reports, pages flying about, until he found the one about vishaps. He looked at the photos, seeing similarities he would never look for before. The dark blue color of vishap’s hide was nearly identical to Neuvillette’s attire, but that was small beans, easily written off as coincidence. Their eyes, bright magenta with white vertical slice of a pupil, resembled Iudex, but there was room for debate, as his eyes were much paler, lilac merging into gentle blue instead of a bright pink, even as white vertical pupil was so similar. What really struck Wriothesley after all this, was actually the little blue feather at the side of the head of both vishaps and Neuvillette. It was identical and looked so… deliberate. It had to be chosen and placed precisely like this.

Still, this was not enough. He needed more evidence. He needed… he needed answers.

He walked to Jacque's block as quickly as he could without alarming inmates, but when he got to the conspirator’s room, Jacque was sleeping on the bed and a man was sitting on the chair next to him, reading a book. He looked up when Wriothesley walked in and stood up, clumsily dropping the book. He was tall and gangly, had dark hair, Inazuman features and light brown eyes behind the glasses.

“Who are you?” Wriothesley was really not in the mood for playing games.

“Well, my organization caught wind that you are interested in learning some… historical information, and our poor Jacque is really not the best source, which is why I’m here to answer any questions you have,” the man gave him a groveling smile. “You can call me Enjou.”

“Not here. In my office. Follow me.”

When they got there, Enjou whistled musingly.

“Uh, what a nice office! Must be a pretty sweet gig. I wish I had an office instead of slinking in dump ruins all the time.” He sighed theatrically. “So, I assume your main questions are on the vishap situation. I…”

“Wait,” Wriothesley said, walking up to one of his wall cabinets. “You can’t expect me to just believe you on your word.”

“Oh, of course, of course! You’re free to rough me up a bit first. Maybe a little bit of torture? But only a little bit, I’ve got a glass jaw, haha!”

Wriothesley didn’t live so long as an undisputed champion of fight club to not recognize a freak who gets off on pain. He grimaced, walking up to the table where Enjou was already trying to rifle through the papers. He stopped with an apologetic grin and put his hands up. Wriothesley put a glass vial on the table.

“Drink.”

Enjou raised his eyebrows.

“Are we dining and wining first or?...”

“It’s a truth serum,” it was a secret project of the Sumeru Akademiya, before the sages were overthrown. Dendro Archon reportedly could read the thoughts of people, and sages were trying to replicate the effect at least partially. Wriothesley came into possession of it after using his network to get the sages connected to the needed people in Fontaine institute, as Fontaine was at the cutting edge of mech technology and the sages were apparently building an artificial god. Didn’t pan out for them, but the serum worked. Wriothesley was sure of it, because he tried it on himself first.

“Oh! How exciting! How does it work? Will it perhaps burn my insides in agonizing pain if I lie?”

“Drink,” Wriothesley said through gritted teeth.

Enjou smiled and drank the vial in one shot.

“Well, nothing is burning so far, but the evening is young, haha,” he said, smacking his lips.

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“Why are you here?”

“Huh? What do you mean? To explain the history to you, as I said.”

“Because of the goodness of your heart? What’s your agenda? Your goal?”

Enhou cleared his throat.

“Well, first of all, I do believe in uncovering and spreading so-called “forbidden” knowledge. But with your particular case can you really question my agenda? I didn’t come to you first. You were the one who sought us out. I didn’t even want to be here! I was doing my own thing without knowing about you, to be honest! But, well, I am in an organization with some unfortunate morons who thought that recruiting a convenient idiot and then sending him into underworld prison to make sure he isn’t heard is a great plan. And then when the Warden takes note of the idiot and gets him to blabber, these same morons go, Enjou, you have to get there, because you’re a vishap expert! Ugh.”

Enjou shook his head in seemingly sincere frustration.

“But um, yeah, I’m not trying to recruit you or anything. We know how you’ve disposed of House of Hearth agents and how you generally obstruct Fatui’s activity, and we just don't want you to do the same to us. Because we’re not your enemy! So I’m here to provide you with the necessary context to see that.”

Wriothesley drummed his fingers on the table.

“Okay. Start talking about Neuvilette and vishaps.”

“Well, Neuvilette is a Hydro Dragon, that should be obvious. To clarify, Hydro Dragon here means Hydro Dragon Sovereign, because technically all hydro vishaps are hydro dragons. If you didn’t know, which is understandable, as you’re more of a fighter type and not a bookworm like myself, haha, vishaps are primordial elemental creatures, original rulers of this land and mortal foes of humanity. Long before Archons, there were Dragon Sovereigns in charge of each element. Then there was a war with Celestia, specifics of which are not widely known, but we do know that Celestia won, dragons were largely eradicated and the huge chunks of powers of Sovereigns were taken from them and given to the Archons. Hydro Sovereign was killed.”

Enjou made a dramatic pause, before leaning forward with a grin. “But you see, vishaps reincarnate. Neuvillette is a Hydro Sovereign reborn in a human shape. There was actually an Inazuman prophecy about it, recorded in the Byakuyakoku Collection. That Hydro Dragon will descend in a human form, and it specifically mentions a cane. This really baffles me, to be honest. How could they predict the cane? Why does he even need a cane? Surely not because of any weakness, he’s an immortal dragon, 500 years is very young for him. And the records say when Neuvilette took his position as the Iudex some 400 years ago, he already had a cane. Was he born with it? Like, had he sprung fully formed, with a cane? Did he pick it up as, I don't know, honorary agreement with a prophecy? Or were his fashion choices actually predetermined to the degree that the prophecy knew them millenia ago?”

“Get back on track,” Wriothesley growled.

“Oh, sorry. Hmm, this serum works by forcing you to spell your thoughts out loud, yes? Well, then it’s not my fault I’m even more blabbering than usual!”

Wriothesley clasped his hands together and said slowly, carefully watching Inazuman’s reaction. “Even if he is a hydro sovereign dragon, as you say, this alone does not make him evil, as your conspiracy claims.”

Enjou fixed his glasses. He really had the hands of a bookworm, no work calluses or fighting scars. But there were spots of reddened, peeling skin that looked like burns that didn’t get to fully heal before getting burned again.

“Did you miss the “mortal foe of humanity” bit? But okay, sure. This is Fontaine after all, presumption of innocence and all that. I mean, I can’t read his thoughts to tell you under oath that he’s evil, so don’t take me to court, hehe!” Enjou grinned, clearly pleased at his own joke. “But I can tell what I know and ask some questions. My first question is why, after losing a war and presumably being killed by Celestia, would an ancient dragon god want to serve a servant of Celestia? The Archon, who rules with what is actually his own power? Unless he had some sort of agenda, perhaps? And come to think of it, why would Hydro Archon put a mortal foe of humanity into a position of such institutional power?”

“Are you implying Neuvilette forced Furina to give him the position of Iudex?”

“Well, I wasn’t here!” Enjou raised his hands defensively. “But why else would he become the Iudex?”

“There are higher beings and gods serving archons in other nations. Like Liyue adepti serving Rex Lapis.”

“Morax was known as the prime of the adepti. None of them could compare with him at strength. Same with yokai and Baal in Inazuma, she was the strongest by far. It’s natural that they would accept servitude. But here…” Enjou glanced at Wriothesley with a sly smile. “If you had to make a bet on a direct fight between Neuvillette and Furina, who would you bet on? Come on, I know tales that her own court would not listen to her until the Iudex tapped his cane.”

Wriothesley couldn’t really argue with this. When the Primordial Sea started breaking out, he himself sent for Neuvillette and didn’t even think to ask the actual Archon.

“In that case, why didn’t he just kill her immediately? Why would he play the judge?”

“Well, you see, he would not get his power back from just killing her. It would just pass to the next Archon. No, the Hydro Archon had to destroy her own throne. And running out the ruler requires a long game, as you know very well yourself, You Grace.”

Wriothesley kept a calm face, but something must have given him away, as Enjou grinned predatorily.

“Next set of facts and questions. You know of the infamous Archon trial, of course? When it was revealed that fontanian people are actually oceanids, given human shape by the previous hydro archon, Egeria? And the prophecy of the flood works because Primordial Sea waters dissolve fontanians into their oceanid forms. Well, the flood actually came. Why were fontanians not dissolved?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me that.”

“Hehe, yes. It was because Neuvillette turned them into real humans with his powers of Hydro Sovereign. How generous of him, yeah? The question is, why did it take him so long? It’s been 500 years, and yet fontanians were made human only minutes before the flood.”

Despite a feeble bookworm posturing, there was a shadow of unhinged madness in his eyes, dangerous enough that in any other case Wriothesley would cut contact. But the stakes were too high right now. He needed to get all the information he could out of this lunatic.

“You might also remember that on the same trial it was proven that Furina is not a Hydro Archon. And I can tell you that the actual Archon, Focalors, was in the Oracle machine the whole time. Sorry, I’m not even trying to pronounce that full name, haha!”

The urge to punch this bastard was overwhelming, but Wriothesley kept himself in check, mostly because he could tell he was being baited into it and he didn’t want to give the piece of shit the satisfaction.

“Anyway, Neuvilette had an audience with her right after a trial, and as result she killed herself and gave him power back. You see, Hydro Archon doesn’t have the ability to turn oceanids into real humans. All of you were just… things, playing at being humans,” Enjou said with a smirk that looked more fascinated than mocking. “But Hydro Sovereign, the original god of life, does have the power to do so. And he also, conveniently, has control over the Primordial Sea, which you, Your Grace, already know as he stopped the flood in your own Fortress.”

Wriothesley raised an eyebrow and Enjou smiled with a shrug.

“Again, I was not there! But I do know Hydro Sovereign controls the Primordial Sea, and that there is an entrance to the Sea in the Meripode Fortress. I also know that there was some emergency in the Fortress, where inmates were told to run as close to the surface as possible, and then Monsieur Iudex visited and the disaster was somehow avoided.”

Wriothesley frowned.

“If he was really a mortal enemy of humanity, why wouldn’t he just let the gates of Meripode break and the flood happen right there and then? We would all be gone and he wouldn’t need to lift a finger. Instead he ran to help when I… when the Fortress called.”

“And what would that achieve? He still wouldn’t get his power back,” Enjou shrugged dismissively and then smiled, almost wistfully.

“No, you know what I would do if *I* was the Hydro Sovereign with an ability to take human form? And if the Archon who held my power hostage was relatively weak AND had the prophecy involving a flood of the Sea I control? Well, I’d infiltrate human society, take a position of high authority and make sure the humans not only see me as the personification of law and justice, but also respect me more than their own Archon. And when the prophecy deadline is coming up, I’d make sure I have people loyal to me in some key positions. Such as Royal Duelist… and the Warden of the Fortress.”

“He didn’t make me the Warden,” Wriothesley gritted out.

“No, but he did make you the Duke, didn’t he?” Enjou smirked with a wink. “Our sources say the Court was not thrilled to give the highest noble title to you. And if the Iudex did not throw his own weight behind it, it would have never come to pass. How generous of him.”

It was true, Wriothesley’s own informants reported that the Court loathed to give him a title, let alone as high as the Duke. Neuvillette was the only one who fought for him and fought hard, because usually Iudex’s one word was enough to make a decision, but here the stalemate lasted for two months. They wanted to compromise and give him the viscount, but Iudex wouldn’t budge, so in the end, they caved.

Wriothesley never asked Neuvillette for the title. Neuvillette never mentioned what he did for the Warden and never dropped anything even as close as a hint of asking anything in return.

Unless you see it as a part of centuries long game, where mundane favors didn’t matter, but being called first to the access of the Primordial Sea did.

“Ah, you’re starting to get it, don’t you?” Enjou sensed blood in the water, like a proper shark would. “Then I would orchestrate a public court hearing to absolutely discredit the current ruler and corner the actual Archon. And when Focalors is forced to talk to me…. I would make a bargain. Saving the lives of all fontanians in exchange of getting my full power back and Focalors dying. Isn't it ironic that the dragon playing human was the one to turn human-shaped water things into actual humans?"

Enjou leaned back against his chair, grinning with satisfaction.

“And then I’d have an entire country loyal to me as a ruler, which would make a great foothold to use for attacking Celestia.”

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“You really expect me to take you on your word? You might believe it yourself, which will pass the truth serum, but the word of a lunatic is not evidence.”

“Oh, of course not! I would never expect you to take my lowly word for it. Instead, why don’t you take Monsieur Iudex’s word?”

Enjou made a dramatic gesture of spilling a heap of conches onto the table. Wriothesley raised his eyebrows, when the other man poked one of them awkwardly.

“Now that I have reclaimed one of the Seven Authorities from the hands of the usurpers, I have regained my true form,” a calm voice that was undoubtedly Neuvillette, said out of nowhere. “I am now a fully fledged dragon, powerful enough to judge the rest of the gods. My final destiny is to judge the Usurper-King in the heavens above.”

“This could be faked,” Wriothesley said automatically, just to argue, but his heart already fell.

“You wound me! These are his words, and I spent an entire night fishing them out for you, I’ll have you know. It’s quite hard to capture this. You’re welcome to listen to all of them and see for yourself.”

Almost against his will, Wriothesley reached out and touched one of the conches.

“…I shall fulfill my vow to judge all of The Seven in turn, even if the sky should fall and the ground give way.”

Wriothesley took an abrupt breath through his teeth. Enjou sighed and stood up.

“I think it’s better for you to listen to this alone. After, you’re welcome to reach out to us, but please don’t make any hasty decisions. I’ll see you soon, Your Grace!”

Enjou walked down the stairs, and by the time Wriothesley got to them, there was no one there. The Duke couldn’t bring himself to focus on that though. Instead, he walked up to one of the wall cabinets and took out a bottle of whiskey he was saving up as a possible gift.

He didn’t bother with the glass. He fell down into the chair in front of the conches and clenched his fingers on the bottle, icy veins springing up from under them. He took a sip and touched another conch.

“…my grievances with the usurpers have yet to be settled... They owe a debt of blood that shall not be forgotten.”

He drank, staring blindly into the distance, and listened, and the quiet words burned worse than whiskey sliding down his throat. He caught himself on a familiar thought. “This can’t be happening. This is too monstrous.” The same feverish thoughts he had when he discovered the truth about his foster parents.

As if by now he shouldn’t have learned that nothing is too monstrous in this world.

“As a survivor of the dragon race who has regained my full dragonhood, I must fulfill my oath and obligations even if it means returning all the water in the oceans back to the heavens.”

It really did sound exactly like Neuvillette. Wriothesley tried to find the lie, something that sounded fake, but not only the voice, but the cadence and word choice fit. And it sounded calm, impartial as usual too. And then there were hydro vishaps appearing in Erinnyes…

Fuck, was it really that easy to fool him? Was he really this big of a fool? He learned to distrust sweet words and warm smiles, and he was so sure that he wouldn’t get caught in the same lies ever again, even if he sacrificed his ability to love for this. But all it took was a seeming opposite, direct and harsh, too cold and intimidating to appear manipulative, but endearingly awkward just sometimes, just enough to make him believe that… That there was something true and clear in this rotten world. That he could trust in *someone*.

“Nothing will stop me from rendering judgment on each of The Seven.”

He went through all of the recordings, frantically at first, wanting to find contradictions, then, when none were found, numbly re-listening to the few that hit the worst.

“…also the destroyer of the present order, the one who shall judge all gods, and the foe of humanity. “

Wasn’t it too obvious in hindsight? Why would the Iudex stake his own reputation on Wriothesley’s title? How could you not see it coming? Oh, because you thought you “deserve” it for turning this dog-fighting pit of a prison into something with a modicum of fairness? Because you thought he recognized your redemption? Gods, what are you, fucking fourteen again, did you learn nothing, why would anyone ever care about you, you naive goddamn idiot?

Soon, the bottle was somehow almost done. At this point he was running one recording on repeat, mindless and purposeless except for repeating slashes of pain, familiar rhythm like the knife on his wrists years ago.

"Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry." Whoever had penned that rhyme, as well as the Fontainians who came to believe in it, must not have known the Hydro Dragon all that well, considering that they thought the Hydro Dragon could cry. What did they take said Dragon for, some sort of bleeding heart who grieved for humans and the heavens alike?”

If this was true… If this was true, then Wriothesley didn’t just get fooled himself. Then he helped a monster take control of the country and potentially use it in war against heavens.

He clenched his hand and it took him a moment to realize he broke the bottle he was holding in it. That pain from glass pieces in his palm felt small and distant now. But at last, it spurned him into action.

If this was true, he only had one shot. He’d already told Neuvillette of the dragon conspiracy, like a good little idiot eager to please. And any tyrant worth his salt would make sure to take him out after his, especially now that he outlived his purpose in giving access to Meripode vaults. He might have some time because of how oblivious he was, dismissing the conspiracy openly, but it couldn’t be long.

He couldn’t take his time. He couldn’t hope for the better. He had to act like it’s the worst option possible. More than anything, he needed to confront Neuvillette, dragon Sovereign or not. He had to fix this, no matter the cost.

He realized he needed leverage. Brute strength was out of the question. Even before the flood, Neuvillette absolutely destroyed Fatui Harbinger in one flash, quicker than anyone in the audience could see what happened. Wriothesley would put himself against Harbringer with no hesitation, but he wasn’t an idiot. If this was how powerful Iudex was before, then after allegedly gaining his full power, there was no way Wriothesley could threaten him. No, he needed something else.

He took out the paper and wrote a note, taking care to not stain it with blood. Fortunately, he held the bottle in his left hand, so he could keep it out of the way.

“....and so confess that I, Wriothesley, Warden of the Fortress of Meripode, killed Chief Justice, Iudex Neuvillette.”

He finished the note and carefully put in his signature, then folded the paper into an envelope and closed it with his personal seal. Then he walked up to a safe, one of the hidden ones, and punched in a code. When the safe opened, he rummaged in it for a moment, until finally taking out two vials.

This was sold to him as the poison that could kill a god.

#rhine writes #rhine writes light #neuvillette #wriothesley #wriolette #genshin impact #enjou #i had a lot of fun with enjou here #anyway let me know what you guys think

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canonicallyobserving911 · 2 months

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Hello friend! So they have been apparently filming the Madney wedding stuff today, and while on location they did a celebration for their 100th episode! Here’s a few of the photos from it. Beyond happy to see Ryan and Gavin there and with Oliver giving us some nice family vibes. No one is fully sure outfit wise if these are versions of what they will have on during the actual wedding itself, Peter, Aisha, and Angela seem ready to go lol. Oliver would need a dress shirt added and Ryan would well…. need a shirt (I guess 😅💀😂) at all. But, if these are what their characters will be wearing then the fact they made the outfits for Eddie and Buck be complementary colors to each other has me feeling insane lol.

Thank you my friend, @mattsire for the ask. I did see the videos and the pics from the 100 episodes celebration and I have lots of questions.

First, I was trying to figure out what happened to RG's shirt (he isn't wearing one), his suit and his hair? Second, if they are in Madney wedding attire, why is OS not wearing a tuxedo and what happened to his suit (both of their suits are dirty)? Buck’s and Eddie’s attire makes it seem like they were involved in a rescue or something else 👀. Third, why is GM not wearing wedding attire? Is Chris not going to the wedding?

Is Buck not part of the wedding party or did something happen that relates to TM's comment during the TCA interview about everything "going smoothly" during the wedding because AH is dressed fabulously? Since Hen is Chimney's best friend and her and Buck had that conversation in 6x16 about who would stand beside Chimney as best woman or best man on his wedding day, it presents more questions.

Also, Mr. Lee wearing a suit with a blue necktie and a shirt and handkerchief with blue in it shows he's Chimney's dad and since there's no sign of Sang Han or Albert 👀, it simply added even more questions than answers.

Especially, since the actor who plays Phillip Buckley was/is on set.

I did notice AB and PK are wearing green and blue 👀 so if they're in wedding attire, then they're wearing the 6x13 couple's/ships' colors of love (post linked here).

The show or celebration coordinators could/should have let them get changed for the occasion instead of doing it while they were still in character.

Anyway, I have a lot of thoughts about episodes 7x5 and 7x6 and I'm still debating if I will do posts on them.

Thanks for the ask and whenever the wedding episode is going to take place, it seems like it's going to be interesting.

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creativeashproductions · 1 year

Text

Hung the Galaxy // Jake Seresin

IN WHICH: Your fiancé's betrayal sets on a course to meeting someone new after fleeing your wedding. Years later you return to LA with a new fiance

Pairing: Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x f!reader, ex!Evan Buckley x ex!reader

Warnings: Swearing, cheating/affair (not Jake), reader and Jake have a child but can be read as non-biological child, angst, and fluff

Words: 2.3k

A/N: Hi. I love doing crossovers, so I'll probably do a lot of these.

Masterlist

Los Angeles, California, 2020

The bulky planner that had become a staple on your kitchen island would be retiring to a storage bucket. It had served its purpose and would become a momentum of this big step in your relationship. Wedding planning was stressful when your fiancé was a firefighter.

Your hand glided over the material of your wedding dress. Tailored perfectly to your body and the dream dress when you thought of walking down the aisle. You were incredibly excited to get the dress professionally cleaned and stored away.

You also were excited for the two-week honeymoon Buck had planned to relax after months of intense planning. Buck had been tight-lipped about the honeymoon itinerary other than letting you know it was in Bali. However, he’d gotten discounts after having lived and worked there shortly.

“You’re gonna be gorgeous.” Your eyes lifted from the dress to Athena standing at the entrance. You knew from the beginning you wanted her to be part of getting ready for the day, partially because of how calm and levelheaded she was.

“I hope so.” You murmured, stepping across the room barefoot to hug her tight, “It took a lot of planning. Buck and I didn’t get to spend much time together with him working and all the appointments for planning.”

“At least Taylor’s photographer friend agreed to a discount.” Athena nodded, “Which reminds me, I need to make sure May’s got the Polaroids ready to go.”

You grinned, “I have to meet Taylor with the photographer, and then it’s officially time to begin the process of that dress.”

Taylor Kelly had been the roommate of a friend from college, and when your friend had to drop out unexpectedly, you’d asked Taylor. She’s been a great help in keeping track of everything, and you considered her a close friend; she’d joined game nights with Buck, Albert and Josh. She was a good friend and support to both Buck and you. Had even been your shoulder to cry on when communication had suffered in your relationship with Buck. Had offered sage advice.

The sound of the wedding march you hummed brought a smirk to your lips on the trip to the meeting room. Finally, you had time before your aunt and uncle arrived from San Diego for the wedding. Beau had juggled work around at the naval base to make it in time to walk you down the aisle. Not that they would miss this for the world with how deeply involved they were in your life.

“-married Buck. She’s my friend!” Taylor’s voice snapped through the crack of the door. Your hand hesitated in pushing it, “I can’t believe we’ve done this.”

“We’ve been-“

“Having communication problems? I’m aware of that, Buckley. I’m a bridesmaid in your fucking wedding. Sure, we haven’t slept together, but arguably we’ve done worse!”

“It’s not an affair.” Buck was firm in his response, and you could just imagine the crinkle in the skin between his eyebrows as he said that.

“Look up an emotional affair.”

It was silent for a moment other than the sound of Buck tapping away on his phone, “Okay, well, we’ll just stop or take time away to get over- “

Your heart shattered because even in the face of his wrongdoing Buck still wanted her in his life long-term. Your mind slingshot through the last year with how distant he had gotten and how Taylor behaved when you brought him up. She sidestepped the conversation when it came to her love life.

“That’s the thing, Buck. I don’t want to. I don’t want you waiting at the end of the aisle, and maybe that makes me the biggest bitch.”

You didn’t comprehend shoving the door open to reveal the two of them standing so close together, “Absolutely hilarious. The groom is being seduced by the bridesmaid! Tell her she’s delusional. That you wouldn’t waste thousands of dollars and peoples time for a selfish bitch looking to stomp on anyone for a news story.”

Your eyes focused on your fiancé. His blue eyes struggle to stay on your form.

“I can’t.” Buck quietly responded, shrinking in on himself, “I love her too.”

In the crisp morning air flowing in from the open French doors your heart audibly and cruelly shattered. Your soul shrivelled up, and you stumbled back, unable to look away from the wreckage of your relationship. Sure, Buck had always been immature and cowardly indecisive, but a cheater? You’d never expected that.

It took everything in you to tug the ring from your finger, “Fine. But you can march out to the room full of guests and tell them the wedding is off. That you decided that the redhead skank that took advantage of the 118 for a story is the reason you threw away a life with someone you love.”

You could read devastation in his eyes, but at the core of it, Evan Buckley, staunchly and often at the risk of self-destruction, yearned for respect and acceptance. And who was firmly in the centre of that? Bobby Nash.

“Bobby is going to be disgusted by your actions. And thank god we used your credit card, and everything is non-refundable.” You sweetly told your very much now ex-fiancé and turned to the bitch, “You seemed like such a pretty and smart woman Taylor, but your mind does not seem to work well. Must be lonely being the type of person you are to make games of destroying relationships.”

You had even fully turned on your feel when your eyes caught the group of surprised people just outside the French doors. Your lips quirked, noticing Hen and Karen’s son had been very obviously recording the scene.

“Enjoy the food and the open door on Buck and Taylor! But, unfortunately, I have a wedding dress to burn and an emergency appointment for STD testing.”

You strode through the crowd finding Athena holding up the duffle bag of your things, “I thought it was best I grab this and keep Buckley from attempting to stop you.”

“Thank you, Athena.” You murmured, squeezing her arm on your way to where your Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Beau were waiting. You heard the whispers of people as Buck attempted to move through the crowd.

The wall of firefighters kept him from making it to the car pulling from the curb. The moment the car turned the corner, the strong front you’d had splintered in the arms of your aunt.

San Diego, California, Present Day

You hadn’t stepped in Los Angeles since the day your life fell apart, all thanks to a two-faced bitch and weak fiancé. You cut off contact with the friends you’d made with Buck and build a new life. You had changed your phone number, blocked Buck on everything and removed a lot of people from your social media.

You knew through the grapevine the short-lived relationship with Taylor had ended. May had mentioned roughly the last time you spoke to her a year ago that Taylor had reported on a story Buck had confided her on.

Your response to her was indifferent to the breakup news, and you only asked if Hen and Chim were okay. You refused to answer any personal questions and hesitantly agreed to consider having May visit during the summer.

You had worked hard with a therapist to navigate grieving for the life you had thought you’d have with Buck. You’d slowly put yourself back with the support of your family. And what you attested to be kismet stumbled into someone a year after settling into Miramar.

You huffed, stumbling into a solid form and scrunched your eyes closed, waiting to hit the deck, but it didn’t come. Cautiously your eyes opened to meet the jade-green ones of a lieutenant aviator going off from the gold wings pinned to his shirt.

“Whoa. Sorry there.” The husky voice caused the breath to catch in the back of your throat. You could hear the subtle but unmistakable drawl of a Southern accent.

“It’s okay.” You softly murmured, releasing your grip on his arms when he levelled you back on your feet, “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Jake.” The stranger offered both his name and hand. His grip was firm but not suffocating as he shook your hand, “Can I help you?”

“My uncle Beau forgot his phone at home. So I was sent with it. I was barely walking the last time I was here.”

It took a while for Jake to wear both you and Beau down to take you out on a date, and the rest is what they call history. He was everything you wanted and weren’t looking for. His emotional maturity was astounding, and his firm expectancy of honesty and talking things through was welcomed.

Honestly, it was the healthiest relationship you’d ever been in.

So it wasn’t a surprise when a year later, you’d gotten engaged and moved in together. Being with Jake was easy, and it wasn’t just because of how steady and solid he was, like the Allegheny River you visited not that long ago. You adored everything about him. From the old hand-me-down Bible, his grandpa gave him the day he got the Naval Academy acceptance letter to his weekly phone call with his parents.

You were ever grateful for how supportive Jake was when he cleared his schedule to join you in LA when Eddie invited you. Usually, you would have said no to your old friend, but he’d gotten crafty by having Chris ask you.

“You got this,” Jake murmured against your temple. Then, like it was second nature, you guided Jake around the house’s side to the backyard’s open gate.

The entire area was flooded with friends and family of the Diaz duo. You could see every one of the 118 and felt more than saw Chris slam into you.

“You’re here!” Chris beamed as you pushed one of his curls off his forehead, “I didn’t think you’d come!”

“And miss watching your dad’s existential crisis at you becoming a teenager? Never.” You joked, kissing his head, “Chris, I’d like you to meet Jake and Ellie.”

Chris’s inquisitive eyes moved to the tall stranger standing with one hand on your lower back and the infant cradled on his chest. Chris had a feeling that Buck’s plan would burst into flames with how close you and this Jake guy were standing.

“Oh,” Chris murmured, looking over his shoulder to where Buck was chatting with Maddie and Chim.

Your smile softened at the blue tone, “I know it’s weird that I left LA after being with Buck and came back with someone new. I get that and take all the time you need, but you are still important to me, Christopher.”

Athena quickly snagged you from Jake’s side and dragged you to Hen and Karen beaming at you. Jake had already fallen into a conversation with Eddie about everything to do with Texas. You had a feeling football would be brought up.

“I’d ask who he is, but I feel he’s not just a friend.” Buck had taken the first opportunity to approach you. You’d volunteered to get more napkins from the kitchen, and Buck had used a flimsy excuse.

“Hello, Evan.” You declared from behind the open cabinet door to the cupboard above the stove. Your eyes caught the blue napkins of Chris’ favourite show at the moment.

“How’re you?”

You leaned back from the coverage of the cabinet to stare at him, stumped at his sudden question.

“Are you expecting me to burst out in song and dance to confess some sort of undying love for you?” You inquired, looking between his blue irises that made you uncomfortable with their evident love, “Because Buck. I don’t love you. I don’t even hate you, to be honest. I’ve moved past what happened.”

Buck couldn’t help but perk up when you admitted to not hating him like he had anticipated. He glossed over the part of your words, saying you didn’t have feelings for him because that tiny little hope fanned.

“If I had to put a name to what I feel when the odd time you’re brought up, it would be indifference. I have more important things now.” You informed your ex-fiancé with a perfectly timed movement to close the cabinet. It revealed the new ring sitting where the one he gave you used to sit.

Buck’s stomach dropped.

“Sweets?” Jake called as he entered the room. He barely gave Buck a glance because what did it matter? Jake had no reason to feel threatened by him, “Ellie-belly here is down for the count. We should head for the hotel and rest before we fly out.”

“My sweet girl.” You cooed leaning into the baby cradled on Jake’s hip to kiss her chubby cheek, “We’ll say our rounds and give Chris his present.”

You shot Buck a smile on your way back out to Eddie’s backyard to find the birthday boy in the mass. Jake split off back to Eddie while you made the rounds to the people you used to see almost every day. Your eyes fluttered back to him, listening to Eddie and cooing at your daughter.

“You look happy, Kid,” Bobby spoke upon joining Athena. His words brought your attention back to him, “You look at him like he hung the moon. And he looks like you did the same for him.”

Your lips quirked, “You say he hung the moon, but Bobby, I’d say he hung the galaxy.”

“I couldn’t help but notice the bling.” Karen grinned, gesturing to the ring on your finger, “When did that happen?”

“A little over a year ago. We were in the middle of planning when Ellie came around, so we’re having a small wedding in Jake’s hometown. We fly out from LAX tomorrow. So you should all come down to San Diego for the party our friends are throwing us.”

With a hug from Athena and Bobby and a long one with Chris, you leaned against the car door as Jake carefully juggled your daughter into her car seat. It was quiet. It was peaceful. It was perfect.

Tag List:

@websterss

#jake hangman seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin x female reader #top gun imagines #911 imagines #caitsy and ash productions

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incorrect-moriarty-sherliam · 11 months

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*Sherliam Week*

Sherlock *sweating*: Liam, there’s something I need to ask you- William: Finally! You’re proposing! Sherlock: How’d you know? William: Sherly, you’ve dropped the ring five times during dinner. William: I even picked it up once.

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

*Months after the wedding. Family reunion*

Louis: If I were married to you, I would put poison in your coffee.

Sherlock: If I were married to you, I’d drink it.

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*Family reunion 2*

Albert: Why is Sherlock crying on the floor?

Louis: He is drunk.

Albert: And?

Louis: He saw a picture of William's spouse.

Albert: But he is William's spouse.

Louis: I know.

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

*Family reunion 3*

Louis: Die

Sherlock: Come kill me yourself.

*20 minutes later. Louis is chasing Sherlock with a knife*

Sherlock: I WAS JOKING!

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

== Not so far, Liam is watching them with a huge smile ==

#sherliam #moriarty the patriot #incorrect moriarty the patriot

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madrigaljail · 20 days

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Abuelitas

My newest google doc is called "Abuelitas" and assuming I actually write it it's gonna be about Dolores going to all of her abuelas shortly before her wedding, to learn traditions, receive gifts, and get marriage advice. But playing the odds and assuming I don't write it, here's how it would go in order of solid ideas in my head:

Alma will accompany her to pick up the wedding candle. Lots of talk about the candle, how wax from it was used in Pepa and Julieta's candles, how losing that is another way the family is forging a new way forward. Alma confessing she wasn't married for long, and being unsure if she has any helpful advice for Dolores. They do talk about Pedro, and "to love at all is to love entirely" comes up, it's bittersweet.

Mercedes is gracious enough to invite her to her private room, and has a gold coin for her to put in her shoe, as is traditional. She tells Dolores her wedding day will be the one day of her life she feels the most special and beautiful, and shares a photo from her own wedding because of course she has one. The facade crumbles a bit, and she concludes that Dolores' fiance will be a better husband than her Mariano had been.

Josephine, Felix's mother, unfortunately has dementia. She's preoccupied with tidying her room for when her Albert comes home, and hopes it pleases him. He's been so busy trying to find work, and sometimes it's not good work but he does his best for his family, and she hopes Dolores' husband will do the same. It's hard, finding a good man, and sometimes bad things happen to good men, and one needs to be prepared for that. (Albert has been dead for over forty years.)

Beatriz, Abuela Bea, gifts her Bisabuela Sofia's wedding veil. Unfortunately I don't have much planned on how the conversation would go, something about the joy of knowing you found The One, of persevering, of not letting him get by on charm and good looks, and- oh! They can talk about children, what makes a good father, family, la familia <3

#encanto #dolores madrigal #encanto fic ideas #the madrigal in-laws #sedaverse

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weirdly-specific-but-ok · 3 months

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pt II the wedding dress: crowley's shirt

Dear GOD this post is so overdue I blame the 10khaos. But never fear I'm back on my bullshit.

Okay I'll just add the overview here and then get started on the info-dumping:

THE SHIRT OVERVIEW: For the shirt (which goes under the corset and cummerbund like I described in the pt I post), I went with the basic design sleeve-wise of a typical Victorian-era men's shirt, but with a shorter length (somewhere between a Victorian women's chemisette and the men's shirt). The length is reduced so it doesn't interfere with the silhouette at the waist where the upper part of the dress meets the lower (the lower half hasn't been drawn yet because I got hyperfixated on the cufflinks).

THE NECKLINE AND BODICE: The material would be muslin and it has a Regency-era neckline and bodice, both of these factors inspired by a 1805-1810 Regency muslin evening gown in the Victoria and Albert museum. Regency era gowns typically gathered just under the bust, and so will this shirt, which gives the slight pleats at the bodice below the ruffles. I figured this was best given which parts of the shirt would be visible and which hidden under the corset and jacket.

THE GOOD OMENS ALLUSIONS: The Victorian era is when the Edinburgh minisode happened, which is why I've leaned on it for the shirt. The Regency era, on the other hand, is where most of Jane Austen's novels were set, and so the neckline is a nod to Aziraphale's love for her novels and the ballroom dance he organised in season 2.

For reference, below are (L to R) a Victorian men's shirt, a chemisette, and the neckline and bodice of the V&A Regency dress:

[don't mind the shit images just take the vibes I'm working on a Canva whiteboard and I do NOT keep things organised on there]

Okay I think the ruffles actually need a separate post because I did a lot of overthinking for them. It involved textile trade in the Edwardian era and a lot of lace and Good Omens motifs.

Well... prepare for the ruffles post you poor sods you created a monster.

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brf-rumortrackinganon · 13 days

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“And anyway, just to sum all this up with anon’s original post about Monaco: I am fully expecting the BRF to give the Sussexes the Monaco treatment if there’s ever a divorce. All the footage will be scrubbed. All the articles will be sanitized, if not scrubbed outright.” Color me intrigued! Two questions: 1) what do YOU think happened with Charlene? I’ve vaguely followed but hearing about the tears has got my interest piqued. 2) what articles would be scrubbed? Positive or negative?

My theory about the Monaco wedding is that I think Charlene found out Albert wasn't so totally forthcoming about his past relationships, how many children he had, and how involved he planned to remain in their lives. My feeling is that she was spun a fairy tale of "you can fix him" and learned it was all lies just before the wedding.

I do think there's some truth she tried to leave shortly before the wedding but was somehow stopped, and I think she did have her passports taken, as some of the gossip that has leaked out claim, so I do feel like she's trapped in a terrible situation. (And part of me wonders if perhaps Meghan co-opted this narrative from Charlene as her own with her claims to Oprah that the BRF took her passports and kept her from leaving. There was quite a bit of gossip about Charlene's situation that Meghan would have been familiar with, even if only in a pop culture context.)

I'm not sure that I fully believe Monaco's claim in 2021 that Charlene suffered an ENT infection and required such a significant recovery that she couldn't travel; my suspicions are that it possibly was also a mental health crisis. I must admit, I was completely expecting a divorce narrative to emerge from that - or, if not divorce then a separation where Charlene is in South Africa, Albert remains in Monaco, and the children go back and forth. And perhaps Charlene's long stay in Souh Africa following her ENT infection/surgery was an attempt to negotiate terms of the separation but when it became clear that Albert was not going to let go of the kids, she had no choice but to come back and I think they now have an agreement in place where he lets her do her own thing as long as she shows up the handful of times each year that they need to play happy families.

Anyway, as for scrubbing the Sussex coverage - my theory is I think everything will go. The positive stories will be spun into attack pieces villainizing Meghan. The negative stories will be sanitized to be sympathetic to Harry. I think the BRF will try to take down all the "official" videos from accounts like their own official social media, the BBC, etc. - similar to how they pulled down footage from The Queen's funeral or the 1969 documentary - and make it archival on request only. It's going to be subtle, though. It's not going to be an overnight transformation; I think we'd see some of the older stories about Meghan misbehaving coming back up in a "see, the rot was always there" campaign feeding into a larger overhaul...kind of like a reverse Operation PB.

Of course, the caveat is that this is only under a King Charles, since Charles wants to rehabilitate Harry in whatever way he can to have him come home. If it happened under a King William, I think we can still expect the attack pieces on Meghan, but I doubt we'd see any effort to clean up Harry's side of the mess.

#ask #brf #monaco royal family #theories

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seeingteacupsindragons · 8 months

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So I was lazing in bed this morning and remembered this one Really Weird line Albert had in the tower while talking to William, and decided to pull it apart again, and....you know, I think it reads a lot differently after reading Sherliam's "wedding vows."

Obviously, William had that context in this scene, although Albert and the reader didn't at the time, which is also interesting.

Anyway, the context to this bit is that Albert had been lamenting his weakness in needing William's help, and William bounced it back at him saying that, no, he needed Albert's help, and that he was the weak one, and also who cared if they were weak, because it helped them empathize with people who needed help.

And then Albert's got this line that loosely translates to (and I can diagram it later if someone wants me to, but), "I see. People...seek to encounter love because of their imperfections. If they were perfect to start with, then love would not be a necessity..."

Which, to me, was just a wildly weird take on love. Like, IDK, expecting someone else's affections to fill the holes in yourself is like. Not great, generally? And people love for reasons other than that we're broken, and want love for other reasons? I don't know?

But in context of Sherliam basically both going to each other, "I'm flawed, and I need your help, and I want to be by your side to do it," that "会う" feels much more like "together" than "encounter."

Because "会う" is a word that indicates a kind of unity, but it can mean doing things together, or it can mean meeting, it can mean to match and fit together.

And now that we've seen Sherliam take love not as something they're seeking out, but something they want to do together, a way in which to fit around each other...the whole thing feels different to me. Their love/foundation is built on helping each other through their imperfections, not on being perfect for each other.

And, obviously, William and Albert and his brothers and his friends are also all getting there. But for so much of the series, they were all trying to be...perfect for each other. William wanted to be in control and make sure everything went perfectly. Louis wanted to do everything he could to ease his brothers' burdens. Albert was always trying to make himself as useful as he could. Moran wanted to be the staunchest defender. And on and on and on.

But Sherlock and William started the admission of being imperfect and leaning on each other to sort of three-legged race their way to their end, and now William is taking that lesson back to his family, and it's very sweet.

And I think it makes more sense now, to read this less as a treatise on the purpose of love (????) and more as a treatise on how to love, and what love can do.

#Yuukoku no Moriarty #Moriarty the Patriot

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moriartyluver · 10 months

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FALSE LOVERS CHAPTER X

"I MUST ADMIT, my lady, you are possibly the calmest bride I have ever worked with," said the wedding stylist as she styled (name)'s hair. "Most brides would be panicking about..well..everything I suppose. It seems love really does conquer all, that is why you're so well composed, is it not?"

The day for the wedding had finally arrived and although (name) was very good at concealing her feelings, as usual, she was still incredibly nervous. The wedding of Lady (name) (last name) to Lord William James Moriarty was the most spoken one of the season. Most members of the ton could all agree that the couple seemed to not only look good together but also were incredibly in love. As soon as the engagement was announced, those who had known William and (name) during their university days had spoken of their apparently 'flirtatious' relationship in their youth and one of (name)'s university friends had even said they had a bet of £90 that the two would eventually be married.

The first half of the ceremony would take place first and then the reception would be held in the Grand Duke's large celebration hall. From what (name) had seen on the guest list, there were at least 500 people apart from the family attending the wedding. She had told Albert and William that she didn't wish for a large ceremony but it appeared that her parents had other plans. Many of the upper class members of (home country) had come to visit England just for the wedding and there was even going to be British royalty at the wedding.

"Indeed, although the butterflies in my stomach are certainly there, but thanks to my family and dear William, I have no reason to worry." (Name) smiled as she looked into her reflection. She was all dolled up in a grand wedding dress, one that could put even Queen Victorias wedding dress to shame. The dress was white but cultural aspects from (home country) were incorporated into the design. Once more, only the best for (name) (last name).

A woman with dirty blond hair and green eyes behind (name) let out a girlish squeal. "Is this not so incredibly exciting, (nickname)?" She placed her gloved hand to her cheek "how I wish to find love!"

"I'm sure you'll find someone by next season, Lady Arabella," said one of the bridesmaids to the head bridesmaid.

Arabella Sinclair was a fairly close friend of (name). They had met in university but Arabella had left university only a year in to study abroad in France. She was two years older than (name) but acted a lot more energetic than her and had quite the bubbly personality.

Of course they weren't as close as (name) and her close allies such as Josephine or William but she had the role of (name)'s closest friend in the nobility and was always there for good conversation when (name) needed it. She had requested that lady Sinclair become one of her bridesmaid and her head one at that. She was a trustworthy girl and although she hadn't known anything regarding (name)'s criminal double life, her family, lead by Viscount Sinclair, was one of those families that had received the remaining Ashfordshire maids.

"Miss Winchester is right," (name) said as she turned to face her bridesmaids, all dressed in (favourite colour) dresses. "I'm sure many men will come calling for you soon, bella!"

Once her hair was done, the stylist clasped a necklace around (name)'s neck. A (last name) family heirloom. Her mother and her grandmother and her great grandmother and their mothers had all worn this beautiful necklace at their weddings so it was only normal that (name) carry on the tradition. It was a strange reminder to her that she was no longer the young girl who would 'accidentally' lock herself in her family library for hours on end to isolate herself or spar with her father or take etiquette classes with her mother which usually ended with the two of them in tears of laughter. She was now a woman with greater responsibility, and that was indeed scary.

"Oh (name)? you're not worried about the wedding night, are you?" Asked a Lady Beatrice Harrington, the only married woman out of all three bridesmaids. "I promise you, dear, it's not as scary as our mamas make it out to be."

(Name) could instantly feel her face heat up. Her throat grew dry and she could see Josephine, who was wearing a maid uniform with a (favourite colour) flower in her hair, giggling in the corner at her lady's now cracking facade. She was a lot more concerned about having to kiss William in front of everyone and would have at least appreciated a chance to practice before hand.

"You do know what happens on the wedding night, do you not?" The noir-ette asked with concern. It wouldn't be much of a surprise considering almost everything was taboo in such an era but a woman like (name) surely would have had some knowledge on the subject.

(Name) nodded furiously as the stylist attempted to reapply rouge onto her face although it seemed she didn't recall toy need it. "Of course I do! I have read enough fiction books to—"

"(Name), dear?" Her mother called out to her as she opened the door. The stylist had finally finished with (name)'s makeup and she was ready to leave to become 'lady Moriarty' soon. "your due to walk down the aisle any minute now."

"Ladies, please slow me some privacy whilst we speak," (name) said as everyone left.

(Mothers name) approached her daughter and rested her hand on her shoulder. "Being nervous is completely normal, (name). I did tell your father not to invite so many people but he insisted on showing off his precious daughter to as many people as possible..." she trailed off, and expression of concern evident on her elegant face. "Remember, as much as I approve of Lord William, as does your father, if he attempts to do anything you wish not to..well we didn't train you in various forms of combat for nothing, dearest."

"I'll be fine, mother...I just.." she struggled to find the words. "I'm afraid of..well..being regretful I suppose.."

The grand duchess looked at her daughter skeptically. "If you really love him, you won't regret anything. After our little meeting with the boy and you went aside, I could clearly see how you loved each other in your own way. Please don't feel like you have to pretended to be a certain way just for our sake, (name)." The older woman kneeled down to face her daughter "I was once like you, a girl who never thought I could love. It seemed impossible but once I had met your father..things changed. One thing you can count on is that hearts can change, and there is no shame in having your heart change." She said as she pointed to (name)'s chest where her heart would be. "Of course you dislike the feeling at first, and you try to excuse that feeling of love as hatred. But the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference..You seem to have struggled with emotional vulnerability since your brother —"

The grand duchess paused as if she felt she had said something wrong, noticing her daughter momentarily freeze up "I'll make you late to your own wedding. Come along so your father can walk you down the aisle."

"Yes mother," (name) smiled as she leaned forwards to hug (mothers name) briefly "thank you"

As The Grand Duke took his daughter on his arm and walked her down the aisle with her bridesmaids trailing behind her, he seemed to be tearing up. Her father was possibly the most emotional out of herself and the grand duke and duchess. Her mother had a rare but completely genuine smile on her face as she sat by the side. William was stood by the alter with Albert stood behind him as his best man and Louis stood beside the brunette.

"Do you, (name) (last name), take William James Moriarty as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do..?" (Name) said, although it sounded slightly unsure as she slid William's wedding ring onto his finger.

William smiled as he watched (name) avert her gaze. She had looked completely beautiful as she walked down the aisle. Indeed the dress was gorgeous but the woman wearing it had incomparable beauty, superior to that of angels. Not only did her countenance exude an air of absolute elegance, but she had seemed, although nervous, genuinely content even though the marriage was certainly not one done out of the love they had pretended to have.

"William James Moriarty, do you take (name) (last name) to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

He slid the wedding ring onto (name)'s finger "I do." William answered with a smile, lifting up the veil over (name)'s face slowly which was the only shield to hide her flushed face and now was gone, leaving her feeling vulnerable.

(Name) turned her head slightly to see her parents who were smiling at her, and her father seemed to crying out of joy, blowing his nose as her mother consoled him.

"You may now kiss the bride"

And with that, William gently lifted up (name)'s chin so she was now facing him, multiple nervous trains of thought running through her mind. This was not her first kiss, but all the others were meaningless methods of seduction as were all her previous intimate interactions with men, however this kiss was with William, and that instantly created an attached meaning to it that (name) would rather not face.

"Keep calm, my love, follow my lead.." William whispered against (name)'s lips before pressing them together and shutting his eyes, cupping her cheek softly and shielding the sight with his hand as the crowd of nobles cheered.

(Name) felt her entire body freeze up and then melt under her now husband's gentle touch, closing her eyes with him. Just as their lips were about to part and only rested against each other, william leaned in once more with parted lips to kiss (name) again, this time a lot more passionately than the first.

Eventually, william pulled away, took (name)'s hand in his own and raised it up to his lips to kiss before taking it in his and walked back down the aisle with his newly wedded bride into the carriage to take them to the reception.

The reception was very typical for one of the era. There was a banquet and the wedding cake, which was quite tall and the details were very intricate and once the ceremony was over and (name) had thrown the bouquet, which had coincidentally landed in the arms of a certain Lady Arabella Sinclair. (Name) had acted as ladylike as possible, speaking to guests from both the country she currently resided aswell as the one she was raised in, although the greetings seemed to have been prolonged and it seemed the noble lady was attempting to make the reception last longer than it should have been as if she wished for the day to never end.

(Name) had danced with her father, who was in complete tears after the wedding, sobbing about how much his little girl had grown and how proud he was of her. It was strange to think that this same man was renowned for his strength in battles and his ruthless strategic capabilities.

"I know I've said this already, (name), but I really cannot believe how much you've grown and matured so well in my absence" Her father said to her after wiping his tears away

(Name) chuckled as the grand duke had spun her around "do you remember when you were teaching me to dance when I was but a little girl? you would twirl me around like a whirlwind."

"Ah, my dear (name), those were the days..!" (Father's name) smiled as he moved in sync with his daughter "You had the grace of a swan even then, and I tried my best to keep up with your boundless energy, so much so that your mother had to act as my second whenever I would feel too tired to continue."

A melancholic smile made its way onto (name)'s face as she remembered her fond childhood memories. "I recall the time we attempted the quadrille and ended up a tangled mess of feet. We laughed so hard, we had tears streaming down our faces. Poor mother had to help us regain our composure."

"We were a sight to behold, sweet (name)! No dancer could ever match our expertise!" The grand duke laughed as the orchestral music slowly came to a halt. The two paused and bowed there head to one another. "Promise to visit often?"

"I have never broken a promise, Father." (Name) said as he painted a kiss on her forehead as the melancholic melody of a piano slowly stopped echoing throughout the opulent ballroom.

The newly weds had ended the night with a dance and a short speech from Albert, which wasn't actually as fabricated as (name) had initially assumed it would have been. He had spoken of his observations of the two and although he lied about them seeming like a match made in heaven, it was still fairly accurate.

Eventually the time had come for (name) and William to enter their horse drawn white wedding carriage to take them on a short journey away from the (last name) ballroom, which was unattached to their large family manor in England, to sleep in their designated room.

Once they had entered, (name) had noticed the door had been locked after them and looked at william, who was about to enter the dressing room attached.

(Name) coughed, trying to appear less awkward than she really felt as she watched William pause. "Ahem..are we not meant to.." she looked away, clearly embarrassed "nevermind —"

"There wasn't anything in the contract about consummating the marriage," the blonde said as her approached (name), leaning against the wall beside her, holding her face in his hands "but of course, if you wish to do so, I wouldn't object. As long as you are the one to initiate such intimate activities..~"

The flushed bride moved away out of reflex and stuttered out a "Ha- No way..!!"

William replied with a gentle smile and left to get changed into his pyjamas while (name) attempted to remove her many accessories and put them away. Once it was her turn to get dressed, she had faced a terrible struggle.

The zipper on her dress wasn't working.

(Name) kept tugging at it, but suddenly tripped on the trail of her wedding dress and tripped over, falling to the ground.

Thud

A knock came from the other side of the door "(Name)? Are you alright? I heard a thud-"

"Get this damn dress off of me." William heard his wife grumble from the other side of the door.

A pale hand reached down to the doorknob and opened the door slowly, covering his eyes with hand as he walked into the room.

"You can take you hand off your face, I'm fully clothed." (Name) said. William did as she said and saw her lying on the floor, her hair disheveled and in quite the tangle, as if she were trying to fight the dress whilst it was still on her.

Once she was helped up and untangled by her husband, William unzipped the dress and undid (name)'s corset. Her heart was thumping so loud and her face felt so warm she had hoped he wouldn't notice. Of course, the blond has seen through her instantly and instead of acting how a gentleman should have, he found it would be amusing to rile her up even more, causing him to place a kiss to her nape.

Chu

(Name) twisted around to face him, clutching her dress to her chest dearly. "What the-" she glared "what in God's name was that for?!" William laughed softly.

"My apologies, dearest," he said as he ran his fingers through her disheveled hair "where did you place your nightgown?"

"You don't need to help me get dressed, I'm perfectly fine now, you may leave." She said as she glanced at the little garment bag hanging by the side.

William nodded and left to sleep. The two were only to sleep here for the night, as the first night of the honeymoon, and then board a ship to (home country) to leave with (name)'s parents to stay for a week before returning to London where (name) would move into the Moriarty Manor and live with William and his brothers, louis and Albert (along with Josephine who (name) couldn't dream of leaving behind to stay working for the Marquis)

They had chosen to have the wedding in summer, which had now proven to be not the best idea considering britain had all of a sudden chosen to have correctly corresponding weather to the season but at least the room had good ventilation.

"This nightgown is incredibly thin..although I suppose it is suitable for the climate I can't help but feel.."(name) trailed off as she walked towards the 4 poster bed "It's rather revealing isn't it, william?"

Red eyes looked up and down her figure. She was right. It was rather revealing, after all, it was 'wedding night attire' although not so revealing it would cause (name) to feel too uncomfortable in wearing it around her 'husband'. The gown was made of a silky like material and somewhat translucent although nothing indecent was exposed. It was also quite short so that it the gown had ended at her thigh and the top half was certainly..something. He had to admit, it looked just as beautiful as her wedding dress did on her.

"Is this your attempt at seducing me?" William asked, his voice low and sultry, (name) could have easily accused him of the same thing.

(Name)'s face flushed as she wrapped her arms around her chest "No..! I swear I didn't have any u-ulterior motives!"

William let out a soft chuckle which soon erupted into hushed laughter. His wife repeatedly asked him what he was laughing at and he finally replied as he wiped a tear away from his eye from laughing so hard " Ah, I’m sorry, darling. Were there no other nightgowns available?"

"This is a guest room so it holds none of my personal belongings, and the other options were a lot more..." she explained, her implications as clear as she could make them. "Now that you mention it though, I could always wear a robe or something of the sort over it.."

William watched as his wife climbed into the large bed with him. (Name) had specifically requested it to be so that her then husband to be would be comfortable sleeping beside her. "Nonsense, it's much too warm for that.”

“You only say that because the only country you’ve ever been is England and you have yet to face the heat that many of the countries I have visited,” (name) retorted “I’ll be perfectly fine.”

(Name) was about to get up and find a bathrobe to wear over her ‘nightgown’ only to feel william’s hand wrapping around her wrist and pulling her down onto the bed. He let go and unbuttoned his shirt as (eye colour) eyes widened in surprise.

“H-Hey I thought you said I had to initiate it..?” (Name) said as she averted her gaze, trying not to let her eyes wander.

Instead of pinning her down to the bed or kissing her like (name) had read a man would likely do, William handed her his nightshirt and as expected for the weather, was not wearing anything beneath it.

“You can wear this over it.” He said as (name) looked at him hesitantly, attempting to maintain eye contact.

She nodded and slipped the shirt on, laying back on the bed then propping herself up with her elbows. She took three of the many pillows on the bed as William tried to lie beside her and put them as a barrier between the two. “That’s your side and this is my side. If you cross the barrier I’ve set between us..I’ll…I’ll bite you..!”

“Depending on where you bite me, I wouldn’t mind” (name) instantly threw a pillow at his smug face.

After laying in bed for what had seemed like hours, (name) eventually got up to get some fresh air. The summer air had certainly gotten to her and the pillow barrier she had set up had long fallen apart. She looked over to see William to see if he was still awake or not.

“Fast asleep..lucky man..” she whispered as she brushed a strand of hair away from his face.

She turned to face the balcony doors, which were shut but the curtains surrounding them had not been drawn, allowing (name) to see the ethereal moon casting its silvery glow upon the tranquil countryside that the family manor was in.

As she was about to open the door to enter it, she felt a hand grasp at her nightgown. The (hair colour)-ette turned around to see her tired husband rubbing his eyes.

“(Name)…where are you going..?” He said in a groggy, tired voice “..stay..stay with me..”

The woman in question pried his hand off of her and smiled. “I’m just going to get some fresh air out on the balcony. I’m not leaving this room, don’t fret.”

“I’m coming with you,” he said, his voice now sounding a little less like a whining plea as he sat up and then stood up beside (name), who looked away once more.

Once they had sat at the balcony, (name) took the shirt and handed it to William again. “What's this for?" He asked, still evidently tired

(Name) thrust the crumpled shirt at him "Wear it."

"But I gave it to you"

"And now I'm giving it back." She said, glad the darkness of the night prevented William from seeing how truly embarrassed she felt. "Besides, I can't talk to you properly when you're topless. Is this your strange attempt at showing your muscles off to me?"

William let out a chuckle and gestured to his torso "Believe me ,dear (name), there isn't much muscle to show off"

"There's nothing wrong with that. In fact I would much prefer lean and slim to muscular and large." (Name) said looking him up and down. He was more slim than muscular but I here was a slight outline of abs on his stomach , although she hadn't realised what she had said until afterwards when William let out another teasing remark

"So you're saying that you find me attractive...?~"

She didn't say anything.

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

(Name) sighed and looked up at the stars, watching for any constellations. She pointed up at the sky "look, it's Cepheus.."

William looked up too, spotting another constellation besides it "and so is Cassiopeia.."

(Name) finally spoke up and answered William's question. "I was just overthinking, nothing new to me..I struggle with sleeping quite a bit anyways..it must have been too warm."

"I understand. I have a strange habit of falling asleep at various times during the day due to overexertion." William said, fidgeting with the crumpled shirt.

"You do? So do I..!" (Name) exclaimed with a smile "I suppose we have something in common then."

"Indeed we do.." William continued watching the sky then turned to look at (name) for a minute or two before speaking once more, ending the comfortable silence "the moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

"It's covered by clouds..and it's not that clear as it was earlier when you were still asleep, but in theory, you're right.." (name) said as she looked up, unaware of William watching her with a soft gaze.

The two continued to watch the sky in silence, until (name) yawned. She laughed slightly as she whispered a 'pardon me'.

"Are you finally feeling tired, love?" Her husband asked with a teasing grin

(Name) nodded "Don't call me-" she yawned again. "I was beginning to feel as though I would be awake forever. The fresh air really did seem to have helped."

William held his hand out to her which she took with ease as he guided them back to their shared bed. Once they had got back under the bedsheets, the blond had noticed (name) was clutching a pillow as she shit her eyes whilst she tried to drift to sleep.

"Why are you holding that pillow as if it were a real person?" He asked, turning over on his side to face her back.

(Name) turned around so they were now looking at one another. "It's cold, and holding something always helps me sleep."

"You can hold me." William said, trying to appear as confident as possible despite his heart thumping against his chest. He reached over for the pillow in her arms and tossed it aside. (Name) rolled her eyes and glared at him

"You're getting bold." She said, awkwardly wrapping her arms around his torso and resting her head against his chest, keeping her eyes shut as if she were trying to avoid temptation.

A pale hand snaked around her waist as they embraced one another. Within seconds, William could see (name) now sleeping soundly in his arms, right before he did the same and shut his eyes to sleep.

“Good night, my love.”

A/N: Hey fl what were those books you were reading???🤨🤨Also can someone get the astronomy and moon reference (including the cloud bit) please and thank you. Finally got the long-awaited wedding chapter. Also little insight to fl backstory in her mothers monologue. Fl be like “I hate William 😡” and then cuddles with him while he’s shirtless. We're gonna have a little time skip next chapter and then move onto the main plot. With that, Act I is over! Thank you all for your support, it's very much appreciated. Bye byeee

#—false lovers 💋#Moriarty the patriot #William James Moriarty #William moriarty #William moriarty x reader #William James Moriarty x reader #mtp #mtp William #ynm #yuumori #yuukokunomoriarty #Moriarty the patriot x reader #mtp x reader #yuumori x reader #yuukoku no moriarty x reader #yuukoku no moriarty #liam moriarty

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heartofgoldimagines · 1 year

Text

Distant Memories -(John Shelby x Reader) Pt. 1

DISCLAIMER: I don’t not own any GIFs, picture or dividers that I use!

IMPORTANT: This is my first Peaky Blinders imagine, please be kind and provide feedback if you would like. I am from the US and the language may not be correct or historically accurate. If I make more parts the story will not be not be the same as the shows, changes will be made. Please let me know I what you think and if you want more parts. Thank you!

Link for Distant Memories Part Two

Taking a sip of coffee you look through the London paper as soft music plays in the background. You’ve become quite comfortable at your older half sister Evelyn’s home. You’ve been living here for about a year trying to make up for years of missed time. You smile at Evelyn and her husband Albert play fighting as they cook breakfast.

Your smile fades a bit as you think back to the time you spent with the Shelby’s in the kitchen. Well Aunt Pol and Ada, the boys were only there to taste test or steal food. Although, there were many times you and John would have long conversations late at night or while you cooked.

“Y/N are you sure about returning to Birmingham?” Evelyn asks breaking you from your thoughts.

“Yes I am.”

“But there is so much more opportunity here for you here in London.” Evelyn places a stack of pancakes and eggs in the middle of the table.

“I know there is, but I miss Birmingham.”

She smiles at you, “You mean you miss John Shelby.”

You roll your eyes, “I miss ALL the Shelby’s.”

Albert laughs at you two, “Well either way you know you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it, but I plan on leaving next week.”

Your 7 year old niece and 5 year old nephew come rushing downstairs, “We don’t want you to leave!”

Your nephew Lawrence takes a seat on your lap, “Aunt Y/N I’m going to miss you.”

Planting a kiss on his forehead you say, “I’m going to miss you guys too, but you can come visit me.

Abigail’s lights up and smiles, “That would be great!”

“Abby be a dear and got fetch the mail, before we eat.” Evelyn says.

“Yes mother.”

Abigail races out the door as you get up to help set the table. Everyone is at the dining table waiting to eat when Abigail returns. She waves a letter in front of your face, “ Aunt Y/N you got a letter.”

You look at the envelope to see that it’s from Tommy; which worries you because Aunt Pol and Ada are the only ones that write. Quickly opening the letter you feel your heart sink the more you read. A tear trickles down your face and Lawrence asks, “What’s wrong?”

You don’t answer him and Evelyn glances over at her husband. Albert says, “Children why don’t we eat outside in the garden.”

Neither child object and hastily take their plates to the garden. Evelyn takes a seat closer to you and gestures to the letter still in your hand. She takes the letter and she verbally gasps, “John is getting married? He can’t be getting married!”

You stay silent, frozen in complete shock trying to not burst into tears. She looks at you for a few seconds in disbelief that you haven’t said anything. She grabs your hand, “Are you okay?”

Silence.

“Will you say something!” She raises her voice.

You rapidly blink as if you were broken from a trance and stand up from the table. You say in a lower voice, “Well it looks like I’ll be leaving for Birmingham tonight.”

You swiftly walk upstairs and she follows asking, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to get the first train to Birmingham,” You grab your luggage sitting it on the bed, “I’ll have to stop at the shop for a wedding gift on the way.”

Evelyn grabs ahold of the blouse you’re about to pack, “Get a wedding gift?! You’re not actually going to just sit by and let this happen?”

You jerk the blouse from her hand and place it in your luggage, “I have no other choice, you read Tommy’s letter, this wedding needs to happen.”

“So Tommy’s word is law!” She yells at you.

“Evie you don’t understand, things are different in Birmingham than London! This marriage, this alliance needs to happen or it will be war!” You yell back.

All the sudden you see your niece and nephew in the doorway, you must’ve not heard their footsteps over the yelling. Abbigail asks scared, “Why are you guys yelling?”

Albert appears behind them, “Sorry they ran inside before I could stop them.”

You kneel down grabbing each of their hands, “It’s nothing sweethearts, your mother and I are just a little upset because it appears that I have to leave tonight for Birmingham.”

“No!” They say in unison as they hug you.

“It’s okay, like I said you can always come visit me” You give their hands a tiny squeeze, before beginning to pack once more.

Stepping off the train you’re overwhelmed with memories that come flooding back with familiar sights and smells of Birmingham. You start walking towards Watery Lane as your hands begin to burn from carrying your heavy luggage. Luckily you make it rather quickly to the Shelby home before your hands give out. You lightly knock and wait a few seconds, but there is no answer.

You slowly turn the doorknob to enter and be met with silence; which is odd for the Shelby home. Sitting your luggage down you slowly walk around the house and betting shop with a smile. You really have missed this place as crazy as it is you’re happy to back home. Quickly you realize that everyone is at the wedding and you’re going to be late.

As you suspected you missed the wedding ceremony, but a part of you was thankful for this. It would be too difficult for you to see John once again get married, it was hard enough the first time. Your hand tightly grasps your wedding gift bag as you swiftly walk onto the Lee’s family property. Your heart rate races as you hear the commotion of the wedding reception. The closer you get you see people singing, dancing, and drinking. You try to find the Shelby family and Polly is the first one to spot you.

Your heart soars as she smiles and brings you in for a huge embrace, “Oh there’s my lovely Y/N.”

You hug her tightly back, realizing how much you’ve missed her. You see her as a mother figure; she has raised you since you were six years old, “It’s so good to see you Aunt Pol.”

She pulls away keeping a grasp on your shoulders, “How are you?”

Forcing a weak excuse for a smile as you say reluctantly, “I’m fine.”

She raises her eyebrows seeing through your facade as she wraps an arm around you, pulling you closer to the party. “Will talk about it later sweetheart, I know the others will want to see you.”

You smile as you step closer and see Ada dancing in the crowd of people. Although you come to a halt as you feel your heart sinks, smile fades, and tears begin to form as you see John sitting at a table with his new wife, Esme. Polly gently squeezes your shoulder trying to provide comfort. She whispers, “Fix your smile honey.”

Quickly you smile once more and blink your eyes several times to keep from crying. You continue to look at John with a huge smile on his face; he hasn’t noticed you yet. You whisper, “Aunt Pol I can’t do this.”

She pulls you along towards a table with Arthur and Tommy, “Yes you can, be strong.”

Your attention is drawn from Polly once you hear Arthur’s deep booming voice, “Fucking hell, is that Y/N!”

Several people stop what they’re doing and look at Arthur, including John. He is so shocked to see you, especially today of all days that it brings him to his feet. Although, you don’t notice this due to your attention now being focused on his brother. Your smile becomes genuine as Arthur approaches, bringing you into an extremely tight hug, “When did you get here?”

You say through struggled breaths, “Just. Now.”

Tommy walks up behind him, “Arthur you’re squeezing the life out of her.”

You take a deep breath in as he lets go, but before you can take a second breath Ada hugs you. “It’s so good to see you Y/N.”

John makes his way over to you with Esme’s arm wrapped around his. You take a deep breath preparing yourself for an awkward encounter. John is the first to speak, “Hello Y/N.”

“Hello John.” Silence.

Esme nudges him, “Oh Y/N this is Esme…my wife, Esme this Y/N she is uh..a family friend.”

Esme says slurring her words, “I-i-I-it’s very n-n-nice to meet you.”

You force a smile back handing her the gift, “It nice two meet you too, congratulations.” You bite the side of you lip as everyone is quiet once more.

Tommy breaks the silence, “Well we have plenty of time to catch up, this is a party after all. ”

Ada’s smile grows larger as she grabs your hand swinging you towards the dance floor. For the majority of the night you were on the dance floor trying to focus on something else. You didn’t get a chance to relax much because every time you sat down someone would ask you to dance. At times you would look towards John to see him with his arms crossed and jaw clenched. You could tell that he was seething with jealousy every time a man would get too close to you.

Esme is unaware of the glances exchanged throughout the night due to continuing to drink and becoming intoxicated. By the end of the night, John had to carry a passed out Esme to the car. The more you thought about it the you became envious of Esme’s current state. It would have been a lot easier to get through the night drunk, but unfortunately you don’t drink.

You walk into the Shelby home followed by Polly, Tommy, and Arthur. Polly takes off her coat and hat, “Y/N you can take Ada’s old room.”

You take a seat on the living room couch, “Thanks Aunt Pol.”

Polly helps a wobbly Arthur up the stairs, as Tommy sits down in the chair across from you. “You know Y/N it is good to have you home.”

You slightly laugh, “Tommy we both know you were never fond of small talk, what is it really that you wanting to talk about?”

“I just want to make sure that you understood from my letter how important this alliance is to this family.”

His statement causes your brows to furrow, “Of course I do, for gods sakes Finn was almost killed. Why wouldn’t I understand?”

He leans towards you, “Well it’s no secret how you and John feel about each other. Now if there was another way-.”

“Feelings shouldn’t get in the way of matters such as this, you and John are just trying to protect your family I understand. We don’t have to talk about this.” You turn away from Tommy feeling tears start to form and a sniffle slip out.

You hear Tommy stand up and walk towards the stairs, “You’re apart of this family.”

You look at him with a smile as tears continue to fall, “Thanks Tommy.”

Tommy makes his way upstairs and you hear the front door open to see John walk in. You stand up to face away from him trying wipe your tears away the best you can. Although it’s no use because your eyes, nose and cheeks already have a pink hue to them. You say through sniffles, “What are you doing here John?”

His takes his hat and coat off, “I’ve come to talk to you.”

You turn and cross your arms trying to calm your nerves, “Shouldn’t you be with Esme, I mean……it’s your wedding night.” You feel a lump in your throat as you struggle to say the last part.

“Uh she drank a little too much and passed out as soon as I got her home.” He moves closer to you.

Both of you just look at each other for a few seconds, before he breaks the silence by turning on the phonograph. “You know I never did get a chance to dance with you at the party.”

He steps closer to you holding out his left hand. You bite the corner of your lip, “I don’t know if thats a good idea.”

He smiles, “Just one dance?”

You reluctantly take his hand and move closer to wrap your left hand around his neck. He puts his right hand on your side as he says, “I didn’t realize that you were going to be there today.

“For a second I didn’t think I would be.”

Your heart continues to race as you feel his thumb tracing circles on your side. He doesn’t brake eye contact with you, “How are you doing?”

You look down, “It doesn’t matter how I feel, what’s done is done.”

He tilts his head trying to regain eye contact with you, “It matters to me. I need you to know that I didn’t have a choice, I had to go through with the marriage.”

You lift your head up, and his face is inches away from yours. “I know John.”

You’re taken back by the closeness, but he doesn’t seem fazed. “I wish I could change this.”

You shake your head, “There no use in wishing for something that we can’t have.”

John and you dance in silence for about a minute, just enjoying each other’s company. He twirls you away from him and back as he says, “Do you remember when we would dance like this when we were kids?”

Your smile widens, “How could I forget? You always stepped on my toes.”

He laughs, “That didn’t keep you from always following me around though, it use to annoy the hell out of me. You and Ada would be close behind me wherever I went.”

“You would always yelled at us, but every time you would give in and bring us along. Eventually I got older and stopped.”

He leans his forehead against yours, “Yeah but then I started chasing after you.”

You stay silent as he lets out a deep sigh, “I’ve missed this……I’ve missed you.”

His nose brushes up against yours as his lips get closer and closer. You two stop dancing as he lets go of your hand to loop it around your waist as you lock yours around his neck. You close your eyes struggling to keep your breathe steady. His lips gently graze against yours making your heart ache to kiss him. “John don’t……don’t do this. You shouldn’t…..even be here.”

He lightly squeezes your side, “I want to be here, I know you want me here.”

You open your eyes as you slide your hands to his chest and move your head away from him, “Just because we want something doesn’t mean it will happen”

He takes a deep breath, his cheeks and eyes become light pink. You whisper, “John go home and be with your wife.”

He doesn’t budge and continues to stare at you intensely. You grab his hands and release yourself from his grasp. Closing your eyes you mutter, “Please just go.”

Your eyes stay closed to feel his lips press against your forehead. His lip lingers there as you fight the feeling of wanting to reciprocate his affection. “Goodnight Y/N.”

You refuse to open your eyes as he backs away, not wanting to see him walk out the door. You hear the door open and shut, but even then your eyes stay closed. A few seconds pass before you open your eyes to see your all alone.

#john shelby #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinders x reader #john shelby x reader #john shelby x y/n #peaky blinder imagine #john shelby imagine #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky fookin blinders

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