#madderton au

[tarontherocketman]

Mr Madden | Madderton Teacher AU | Chapter 4

TW: BRIEF MENTIONS OF SUICIDE

Taron stirred in bed, glancing to the clock for the umpteenth time that night; it was only 4:57am. He had just over 2 long hours until his alarm was supposed to sound, it was still dark, and the birds hadn’t even thought about chirping yet. The entire night had been a series of waking up and drifting off, usually multiple times within the hour. His mind was disturbed by the thought of arriving at school to find out that Ella hadn’t made it, he had visions of her parents coming in to blame the school, leading to Taron being ratted out for not doing enough to help her, her poor parents screaming and crying at him, telling him that they killed their daughter. He made himself dizzy filling his head with these thoughts that deep down he knew just weren’t true, and Richard has done everything he could to assure him of that. The light from his phone and a soft vibration pulled Taron out of his dark thoughts as he rolled over to pull it out of its charging port and squint at the bright screen. 

Rich: you up, T?x

Taron: yep, been up most the night, why are you up??x

Rich: set an alarm for 5 cos I knew you’d be up and I wanted to check up on you x

Taron: what? really? Rich you didn’t have to do that you have work too..x

Rich: course I did I couldn’t bear the thought of you alone in bed feeling shit so I thought instead of another 2 hours of that you’d want to go for breakfast before work? Obviously the only place open is mcdonalds but you can’t go wrong with a maccies breakfast x

Taron: you’re right you can’t go wrong with a maccies breakfast, thanks rich I need this I was preparing for a long couple of hours, was considering going for a walk but this sounds much nicer x

Rich: no worries bub, I’ll come pick you up in 20 mins then we can go straight to work after breakfast x

Rich got himself up and ready for work, a routine that didn’t take long. As long as his face was washed, teeth were cleaned and his hair was tidy he was quite happy to get dressed and go within 15 minutes. He grabbed his keys and jogged down the stairs of his apartment to the resident car park, making the short drive to Taron’s place and sending him a quick text to let him know he was outside. Taron appeared quickly, looking a little less put together than usual. His hair wasn’t quite as neat as he usually bothered to make it, and his eyes were puffy from the severe lack of sleep.

“Jeez you look shit T,” Rich commented.

“Cheers,” Taron sighed.

“No I mean you still look handsome, obviously,” Rich scoffed playfully, “but you literally look like you haven’t slept for a minute.”

“You’re not too far off the mark there,” Taron replied as he pulled the seatbelt over him. “Seriously though thanks for doing this Rich it means a lot, you really didn’t have to wake up so early for me.”

“Don’t worry about it I knew full well you’d be up most of the night worrying, I know what you’re like by now, I’d rather that you get out of the house and have some breakfast and coffee rather than tossing and turning for another 2 hours and coming to work without eating anything,” Rich said softly as he put the car into 5th gear along a long, empty main road. 

“Thank you,” Taron replied, at a loss for what else to say to his incredibly thoughtful friend who knew him even better than Taron thought he did. 

The pair rode out the rest of the journey in silence, neither knowing exactly what to say at a time like this. Rich pulled into the car park of the 24 hour McDonalds and made his way inside with Taron following miserably behind. Rich noticed him trailing behind and stopped at the door to wait, putting an arm round him when he caught up as they walked into the building. Once the two had ordered, received their food and sat down at a booth table in the window, Taron held his egg muffin limply, taking tiny bites. Rich, having already finished the tiny thing in what felt like less than 5 bites, sat with his hands wrapped around his coffee for warmth.

“Look T, I know this sounds obvious but please stop blaming yourself for this, no one is mad at you,” Rich soothed, taking one hand away from his coffee to place it on Taron’s arm.

“But what if she dies, Rich? How am I supposed to deal with a student dying at my hands?”

“T, if she did die it wouldn’t be at your hands! Not one bit! You did what you could. And anyway there’s no point worrying about death now, if you worry about something that hasn’t happened you’re potentially putting yourself through it twice, ok?”

“That’s actually not bad advice,” Taron said, perking up ever so slightly.

“Yeah I got it off one of those facebook posts with inspirational quotes,” Rich admitted, laughing quietly at himself.

“Oh christ,” Taron chuckled softly, “well thank you anyway, I don’t know why it’s got me this down, I know it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid at all you’re a worrier, you worry for the world Taron, and it’s a heart warming trait but you’re gonna worry yourself sick,” Rich spoke in almost a whisper, rubbing Taron’s arm comfortingly.

“I know, I know,” Taron took a long sigh and finally finished his breakfast. Rich’s words did actually make quite a big difference, he didn’t need to be so miserable about something that he shouldn’t even blame himself for in the first place. “Thank you again for this I do feel better.”

“Anytime,” Rich smiled. Taron and Rich sat for the rest of the wait before work, sipping their second coffee and chatting mindlessly to keep Taron’s mind off things. As the time passed quickly, the morning drew closer to them having to go to work. The sun rose at last, and they knew they’d have to go sooner or later.

“You ready?” Rich asked, offering his hand to Taron, who reluctantly took it, deciding that there wasn’t really anyone around at this time of the morning who would see them and so they walked hand in hand to the car.

“I might not even hear anything about it today, no point getting worked up,” Taron assured himself out loud, staring out of the window at the sunrise lined buildings of the city that zooming past the window as they travelled.

“Exactly,” Rich agreed, putting his left hand on Taron’s knee in between changing gear. They arrived at work, deciding that a third coffee probably wasn’t a smart idea, but a visit to the staff room before they started might be worthwhile, in case there did happen to be any news on Ella.

“Morning,” they both said politely to the other staff gathered around the room, all looking a little bit like they didn’t want to be there for another day in the mad house that they called a school. Taron bit his lip, not sure whether to ask the question. The Headteacher, who was leaning against the kitchen counter waiting for the coffee in the coffee pot to brew, seemed to have read his mind.

“Ella’s parents got in contact, she’s fine,” he smiled, almost as relieved as Taron.

“Really?” Taron beamed happily, relief washing over him like a tidal wave, his whole body relaxing as if he’d been tensing for a week straight.

“Yes she’s stable, already recovering, and will be back in school next Monday if she’s ready so she’s got a little while to get better,” he informed, now turning around to pour coffee.

“Thank god,” Taron breathed heavily, taking a seat on one of the old tatty sofas and slumping forward in relief, rubbing his temples. Rich looked at him, longing for a cuddle, but knowing he couldn’t so just settled on patting him on the shoulder casually, avoiding the curious gaze of Mrs Reynolds who was clearly trying desperately to sniff out some gossip again.

“Coffee?” the Head asked in Taron and Rich’s direction, who both declined rather quickly.

“Suit yourself,” he smiled. Mrs Reynolds was now looking quizzically in their direction.

“Already coffee-d out?” she questioned, an eyebrow raised suspiciously. 

“Yep, uh, we do both have coffee at home, so,” Rich trailed off uncomfortably.

“No of course, I just don’t tend to get up early to use up the coffee in my house when it’s free here.” Taron was now looking up at her, his eyes narrowed slightly as if to say ‘keep your nose out of our business’ “Anyway,” she quipped, putting her mug in the sink and turning on her heel “I must be off to class.” At that she scurried out of the staff room making brief eye contact with the rest of the staff before she left, leaving them to sit in tense silence as they all attempted to sip their coffee nonchalantly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Taron and Rich took this as their cue to leave and head to Rich’s class, walking quickly down the hallway.

“Oh my god do you think they’re all onto us?” Taron whispered, leaning into Rich as they walked.

“I don’t know, but like you said the other day, there’s no proof, they have nothing on us!” Rich loud whispered back.

“You’re right, we just have to be extra careful,” Taron nodded as they arrived at Rich’s classroom and scuttled inside.

“Yeah we will,” Rich assured.

“Extra careful,” Taron smirked, leaning flirtatiously against the door to the supply closet.

“Taron..” Rich warned, knowing exactly what he was suggesting.

“Do people usually come snooping in your supply closet at 7:30am on a Tuesday?” Taron joked.

“Well no, but they do walk past the classroom and snoop through the big obvious window in the door, what if we get seen going in or out?”

“We won’t! We’ll make sure,” Taron reassured the Scotsman, who stood shifting on the spot nervously, his hands fiddling with each other. 

“Your mood has certainly improved in the past 10 minutes,” Rich observed.

“Of course,” Taron started, “I spent all night worried sick and now I know she’s ok I feel like a massive weight’s been lifted and I have some emotional catching up to do.”

“Right, that’s your logic?” Rich laughed, “in fact, you’ve changed your whole tune about doing things like this since I met you.”

“I know, like I said, everything changed when I met you! Now are you joining me or do I have to please myself?” Taron wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Argh, T!”

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” Taron assured quickly, laughing at Rich being a typical serious History teacher. “You coming in?” Rich shuffled on the spot some more, glancing back and forth at the door suspiciously.

“Hmm, ok, but we really shouldn’t be doing this though,” Rich muttered, following Taron into the cupboard.

“No we should not,” Taron agreed with cheeky smile, pulling Rich in and locking their lips firmly, hands running up and down each other’s backs lovingly.

“No really we can’t make a habit of this,” Rich said, pulling away for a moment in between breaths. Taron shushed him, pulling him straight back in, gently grabbing his thick, lovely hair from behind. The lovebirds carried on having their moment until they accepted that they’ll have to stop eventually and get ready for class. Taron cracked the door open slightly to look at the door to the classroom, making sure the coast was clear before grabbing Rich’s hand and pulling him out of the now fully open door.

“Hey look we literally came out of the closet,” Rich snorted, Taron nudged him playfully, laughing along. “Seriously though we can’t get too comfortable doing that.”

“I know, it’ll be fine!” Taron assured, following Rich to his desk to take a seat next to him. The two of them sat in silence while Rich turned his computer on and watched it boot up, the logo appearing across the screen in big letters. Rich looked down at his lap, and then back up at Taron, the secret kiss they just had now playing on his mind.

“T, what are we?” Rich asked, now ignoring his computer entirely to look into Taron’s pretty eyes. Taron sat thoughtfully.

��I don’t know, Rich,” he admitted, avoiding Rich’s gaze.

“Are we a thing or is this all just for fun?” said Rich, biting his lip in thought.

“Why don’t we talk about this later, you need to get ready for class,” Taron smiled, glancing at his watch. 

“Yeah, you’re right, come round mine tonight?” Rich offered.

“Pizza and beer?” Taron said hopefully.

“Course,” Rich agreed, turning to his computer that had now turned on, asking for his password. 

“I better get ready for class too, I’ll talk to you later,” Taron said, getting up from his chair and planting a small kiss on the top of Rich’s head. There was a somewhat solemn feeling between the two all of a sudden, they hadn’t delved into the relationship conversation yet. In fact, neither of them knew if they were ready for a relationship, it had all been fun and games up until now, but they had to decide if settling down was something that they both wanted to do now.

The day passed, slowly. Taron and Rich’s thoughts consumed by the reality of the conversation that they would be having that evening. At least there were some distractions through the day, working in a city secondary school always came with its daily challenges. Taron broke up two fights in one lunch break, had to mediate an argument between four girls in his afternoon class that had suddenly turned 2 vs 2 during a script reading exercise when he stupidly split the class into groups of 4 and not only let them choose their groups, but let them choose between them who gets to be which character, as if that could have ever ended well.

Rich had a student storm out of his class angrily after having to tell him more than five times to get off his phone, the students argument being ‘it’s my personal property fuck off’, and he had a 10 minute job of calming down an over-hyper class of year 7s that had just had a P.E class and were now on the last lesson of the day, which was just a recipe for disaster. Rich knew that being a secondary school teacher would come with challenges, based off his own experience as a student many years ago, but he swore teenagers had become 100x times crazier since then, but maybe that was just him remembering it from the point of view of a student, never really knowing at the time what teachers actually had to go through every day.

Once the day finally drew to an end, Rich and Taron met up to go straight to Rich’s seeing as they had both come in his car that morning.

“You sure you don’t need to pop home first? I don’t mind,” Rich offered.

“No it’s all good, these clothes are comfortable enough and we’ve got the same phone if I need a charger,” Taron replied.

“True.”

After a short journey home, Rich and Taron climbed the stairs to Rich’s apartment, he unlocked the door and let Taron in first, following straight after him. Taron stopped to look around the place, observing the colour schemes and decor themes going on. 

“Nice place,” he commented, nodding in approval at the well decorated room.

“Thanks!” Rich said happily as he threw his bag on the dining table and slung his jacket over one of the chairs, Taron did the same and joined Rich on the couch, both sinking down into it after a long day. Taron even more exhausted from his extreme lack of sleep the previous night, knowing full well everyone he had talked to today had just politely ignored the bags under his eyes. 

“So do you want a beer now, or?” Rich offered.

“I can wait, we should talk,” Taron said slowly, Rich nodded nervously, breathing heavy enough for Taron to hear it clearly now. 

“So.”

“So..”

“Ok, look, T, I’m just gonna say it- I really love you, and I think I’ve fallen fast, and if you don’t feel the same and are just in it for the fun I understand but,” Rich babbled, Taron trying so hard not to giggle at not only his rambling but the fact that he swore the Scottish accent was getting thicker as the sentence progressed.

“Oh shut up,” Taron chuckled, shushing him fully with a kiss. “Mr Madden, will you be my boyfriend?”

“Um, obviously!” Rich breathed, laughing from relief and leaning back in for another sofa make out session, one that meant even more to the two of them than the last time it happened, now that this had developed into a real relationship. One that neither of them were expecting considering they both had intentions to lay low in their jobs, but they couldn’t help it. They wanted each other so badly and would freely admit at this stage that that had been the case for quite some time now. 

“So you wanna order food?” Rich asked as the pair pulled away from each other.

“Hm, not yet,” Taron replied.

“You not hungry?” Rich asked in genuine surprise, feeling his own stomach rumble from a long day at work with not enough food, knowing Taron had eaten even less. 

“I’m hungry, but not for pizza..where’s your bedroom?” Taron smirked. Rich scoffed in surprise at the extremely forward question. 

“I- wow, that is very bold of you, Mr Egerton!” Rich said, taken back but not actual displeased by the question.

“Well, you’re my boyfriend now,” Taron smiled flirtatiously.

“Good point, right this way,” Rich grabbed Taron’s hand and let him into the door that was only a few metres away from the sofa, pulling him into the room and gently shoving him onto his king size bed, pulling his shirt off in excitement and kicking the door shut behind him, knowing that he hadn’t felt this content in such a long time.

___________________________________________________________

So. You may have just figured out, but I don’t write smut! Sorry! Love reading it but terrible at writing it, so you’ll just have to leave it up to your imagination if you so wish! Anyway sorry this isn’t quite as long as the previous chapter, I just went off on that last one, this is more the length that I’m keeping them. Although I’m slightly worried this chapter is a bit boring, but I hope you all like it regardless tho!

Tag list: @taron-eggmcmuffin @coffeetalkbaby @nataschalenasblog @stateofloveandvedder @winterismyfavoriteseason1945 

[applesfallingfromblondehair]

Cannes 2019 was a whole wedding mood, wasn't it?

Pictured: the groom and his groomsmen

Pictured: the groom and his stylist (we miss you Gar, come back)

Pictured: the groom, fully dressed and taking a tea break for the nerves

Pictured: the groom, on his way to the venue

Pictured: meanwhile, the other groom

Pictured: "am I really wearing a Bond Tux™?"

Pictured: "is my fiancé really wearing a Bond Tux ™ and why didn't anyone tell me he'd try outshining me on my our big day?"

Pictured: "alright you know what, we look fucking good together so I don't mind"

[khaleesi-ren]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Actor RPF, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Teen Wolf (TV) RPF, Rocketman (2019) RPF, Fate: The Winx Saga (TV), Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015), Robin Hood (2018) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Froy Gutierrez/Richard Madden, Taron Egerton/Richard Madden Characters: Richard Madden, Froy Gutierrez, Taron Egerton Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy Summary:

It happened a long time ago in a small village in the middle of the forest. Two best friends, and many legends. Old hunters said that fairies, water nymphs and elves lived there, but of course Richard didn't believe in any of that... did he?

Chapter 5 is up!

[defyingthestars]

here, some completely unrelated gifs that sort of set the vibe of the ridiculous Taron/Leo West AU I wrote.

I unapologetically and unironically love Ibiza, and we’ve all seen Taron when he goes to festival. so here, the Ibiza AU you didn’t know your heart needed.

mind the tag for recreational drug use. mild club drugs and shenanigans just like in the film. lots of love ♥️🍆

[burgers-and-french-fries]

Madderton AU!: Hospital Trip.

This was requested by one of my good friends. I really hope that you like this love. As per usual, I’m so sorry for the delay but I’m so grateful for all of your support and all of your patience. It really means the world to me.

I hope that you enjoy this and I hope that it brings a smile to your face during this time.

===

From the moment that you crashed and flipped over the handles of your bike and you heard your mother’s hysterical screaming, you knew that you were banged up pretty bad. 

“Emma, can you hear me?” Your mother asked as she leaned over you to  look you over. 

“No, I’m dead and can’t hear anything.” You sassed back, despite the pain you were in. 

“Stop fussing over her, help me get her up and into the car.” Your father instructed. Your father seemed to always be the calm one in situations like this and your mother was the hysterical one, no matter mundane the situation was, she would still freak out. You could still remember the camping trip you and your family had taken the summer before and your brother had accidently knocked into a tree slightly and your mother went ballistic while you, your father and brother laughed at how dramatic she was being.

“It’s going to be ok, I promise.” Your mother said again as she sat with you in the backseat. Your father, driving toward the hospital.

Once you arrived at the hospital, you were taken to a room and told to wait until a doctor came to look over your injuries. 

Your mother paced the room and your father sat in the corner watching her and ultimately making himself dizzy.

“For crying out loud, Judy. Sit down, you’re doing my head in.” Your father said firmly, making you chuckle, only to instantly regret it. Your mother reluctantly listened and sat down with a huff.

“She is clearly in pain, Robert. I wish they would hurry up and give her something for the pain.” Your mother snapped back, just as a doctor walked in.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” A thick Scottish accent said as he walked over to you. You smiled and so did your father, your mother on the other hand rolled her eyes.

“I’m doctor Madden. I’m just going to look over your injuries and then a nurse will be in to give you any stitches that you may need.” The doctor explained.

“Thank you.” You replied as he got to work with his examination. His touch was gentle and he was thorough, making sure he examined every injury well.

When he was done, he removed his gloves and gave you a warm smile. 

“Everything looks good but you will need a few stitches.” Dr. Madden explained, to which your mother nearly passed out.

“Mom, why don’t you and dad go and get some coffee while I’m being stitched up.” You say, making your mother huff. Your father stood up and walked to the door.

“You coming or not Judy?” He said and your mother left, trailing behind him. Doctor Madden smiled at you and you smiled back.

“I’m sorry about her. She doesn’t do well in situations like this.” You explained and the Scotsman shook his head.

“No need to be sorry, I have seen my fair share of parents that react the same way.” He replied as another male walked into the room. “Ah, just in time.” The doctor spoke as he then explained everything he had noted during his assessment of you.

“Doesn’t sound like anything too drastic. We’ll have you fixed up in no time.” the other male spoke. 

“Want to tell me how this happened exactly?” The other man asked as he got everything together for your stitches.

“I crashed my bike into our brick wall out the front yard and flipped over the handlebars.” You replied. 

Doctor Madden opened his mouth to speak but he was called to another patient.

“You ok here, T?” The doctor asked, making you raise your brow.

“Yup, all good here. Not much more to go.” T explained. Doctor Madden walked off, leaving you and the nurse alone.

“T?” You asked, curious to know the answer.

“Taron, but people just call me T. At work though, it should be nurse Egerton.” Taron explained.

“I like it. It suits you.” You replied with a kind smile. 

“Thank you. I like it too.” He said as he finished up his handy work. “Alright, you should be good to go.” He concluded as he removed his gloves.

“Thanks for being so gentle. I’ve had doctor’s stitch me up before and it’s always been so painful.” You said and he smiled.

“Well I’m glad I was able to make you feel comfortable.” He replied before going into the things you needed to know about the after care of stitches. 

=

The next morning, you sat in your bed reading a book when your phone rang. You placed your bookmark in the book before answering your phone.

“Hello, Emma speaking.” You said cheerfully.

“Good morning Emma, this is Taron. Doctor Madden and I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing today.” Taron replied with a smile.

“I’m doing pretty good. You caught me in the middle of reading though.” You said. 

“I’m sorry, I’ll let you go. I’m glad to hear that you are doing good. If anything changes though, please come in and we’ll get everything sorted for you.” He said, making you blush for a reason unknown to you.

“Thank you, I will.” You replied before the both of you bid each other goodbye.

Tag List: @sarahegerton96 @mairyleo @softeggsy @dogmom2014 @rocknrollmadden @superthiccthighssavelives @jobanan23 @hauntedflamingo @holdmeclosertinytaron @aberystwythboy @stronglyobsessed

[qveenpoppy]

thank god there's a royalty au in the madderton tag on ao3

[pcommune42-blog]

[fanficmoi]

This is not Beatles!!! So just ignore if you’re looking for that jijiji

This is Madderton sort of. It’s Eggsy x Prince Kit. Based off a post from here, tell me if it was yours and I’ll give credit.

[cheester16]

Madderton Au

¦ Eggsy Unwin x David Budd ¦

[taste-thewaste]

Trick-or-treating (Madderton fic)

A lovely anon prompted me with halloween prompt #15, “Dad!AU (take the kids trick-or-treating, etc”, with Richard specifically in mind. Thank you! This is long as hell, ~1800 words, and so fluffy. Tbh I never pictured myself writing the boys as Dads, but this was really fun and I kind of loved doing it lol, so if you like it I’d be totally willing to do it again. Thanks for reading!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The text from Taron came through at 2:45, while Richard was in the middle of a meeting and trying to stop his mind from wandering to what he wanted to eat. 

Gonna be a long day, love. Can you get the kids ready tonight on your own? I’ll be home before you leave, promise.

I don’t know what they’re supposed to look like, T. That was all you.

It’s foolproof, Dickie, I promise. Costume on, a little glitter on her cheeks and she’s good to go. Even easier with Jude. Stick him in the pumpkin costume and zip it up. What are you, afraid? ;) 

Not afraid, just don’t want to screw it up. I’ve got it, no problem...we’ll see you tonight, love. 

You could never screw anything up. Love you. x

Richard smiled a little. Taron was making it sound much less complicated than he knew it would be, and trying to give Richard a boost of confidence. He knew that whatever T had going on at work, it had to be huge, because he would never miss an opportunity to get Zoey and Jude ready to go trick-or-treating. 

He had always assumed that Taron would be a Christmas kind of guy. The lights, the snow, the presents, it had Taron written all over it. So Richard was shocked to find out along the way that Taron liked Christmas just fine, but he loved Halloween. 

Before the kids, it had been all about spider webs and fake witches, apple cider all month long and couples costumes that made Richard die a little inside. Halloween was when Taron could be as outlandish as he wanted, and he always dragged Richard along for the ride, introverted as he was. 

After the kids were born, he focused most of his Halloween energy on them, finding their costumes, perfecting them, taking them all to every Halloween-themed event he could find throughout the month of October. It was darling, really, and it made Richard love him that much more. 

And it made him nervous to try to get their kids ready for that evening. 

He supposed Taron was right, Jude’s costume was self-explanatory. Jude was almost two, and stubborn, and had insisted on picking out his own costume, something that drove Taron nuts. He’d picked out the simplest costume on the rack, a smiling round pumpkin costume that required no makeup, glitter or additional wiring. Just a zipper. Richard had watched Taron’s face fall when Jude had insisted on the pumpkin. 

“Don’t you want something like this?” Taron had asked, holding up a pirate costume. Richard had been able to see the cogs twisting in his mind, figuring out some way to turn it into an intricately designed zombie pirate or something. 

“No, this!” Jude had been emphatic. Taron had sighed with resign.

Zoey, on the other hand, was four, dramatic, and very into fairies. Richard had watched for weeks as the two of them had bent their heads together, designing the perfect fairy costume down to the last detail. They’d then spent the better part of a week deciding what kind of makeup would go best with her outfit, trying different shades and glitter. They’d only just declared everything perfect the weekend prior, and as Richard remembered the grin on both his daughter’s face and his husband’s, he was terrified that he’d mess it up.

Still, he had to try. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Richard came home, the nanny smiled at him and dumped Jude into his arms. “Zoey’s coloring in the playroom. They’ve both had dinner. Have fun tonight!” He nodded at her as she left, and looked down at his son, who had snuggled into him instinctively, and headed into the playroom. 

Zoey was parked at their coloring table, scribbling ferociously on a pad of paper. Her dark brown curls tumbled down to her shoulders, and he marveled at the light in her blue eyes. Their night would be chaotic, he knew: he had to pull a miracle out of his arse in the next twenty minutes with regards to Zoey’s costume; Taron was likely to come home in the next hour like a madman and start critiquing everything he’d done; by 7:45 his children would both be full of sugar and far, far from their normal bedtime. Yes, he knew their night would be chaotic, but for the moment, he could watch his daughter color, hold his son, and soak up the miracle that was his life. 

He kissed the crown of Jude’s head, into the same soft brown fluff that belonged to Taron when he let his hair grow out, and rocked him back and forth. Zoey looked up and saw him there, and before he knew it, she was crashing into his legs with a hug. 

“Daddy!” 

“Hiya, princess,” he said, setting Jude down so he could briefly gather both of his children into his arms. “Did you have a good day?” 

“Yes, we--”

Jude stepped in front of his sister and stared deep into Richard’s eyes. “Candy.” 

Richard laughed and Zoey tossed him a glare. “Yes, buddy, we’re going to get candy tonight, I promise.” 

“Candy now, Daddy,” Jude said, a serious look on his face. 

“Soon. First we have to get you two ready!” Richard said brightly, standing up. 

“We have to wait for Daddy,” Zoey said. “He has to do my makeup.” 

Richard bit his lip slightly and looked at his daughter. “He has to work a little late tonight, angel, so I’m going to get you ready, but he’ll be here before we go trick-or-treating, I promise.” 

Zoey’s jaw dropped. “You can’t do it! You don’t know what to do!” 

“I can do it, honey, I promise.” 

Zoey sighed dramatically, and in the back of Richard’s mind he feared for her teenage years, not for the first time. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No, Daddy, what are you doing?” 

Richard sighed. Well, Taron had been right about one thing: getting Jude ready was a cinch. His son was running around the living room, bouncing off the walls in his pumpkin costume, screaming in the distance about candy. He had no concept of his increased circumference, and had so far knocked over (and broken) an ashtray and a vase. It didn’t matter to Richard, though; he was ready to go. He’d stuck the kid in, zipped him up, and sent him on his way. 

Zoey, however, had been testing him since the moment they’d started getting ready. He’d gotten a run in two pairs of shimmery green tights, and put her skirt on backwards. He’d cursed Taron over and over again as he’d struggled to wrestle his daughter into the costume, all while she wailed like a wet cat when he did anything wrong. The costume had 12,000 pieces, it seemed like, which would have been all well and good if Taron had been putting her into it, as he’d originally planned. The skirt was made of dark green tulle and the bodice was a lighter green. It had the most ornate and intricate flower crown that Richard could remember seeing (which he’d jammed onto her head backwards, by the way) and completely impractical ballet slippers. 

She was darling, his girl, but he was out of his element. 

He was now holding the makeup pallet she’d shoved into his hands, his fingers pinched tightly around the eyeshadow brush as he tried to smear the right color onto her eyelids. It was dark, and heavy, and she looked like a tiny clown. He’d tried to put the glitter on subtly as she’d instructed him- “Just a little, Daddy, no, not that much!”-and failed miserably. He’d put far too much blush on her cheeks. 

“I...I think that’s it,” he said nervously, and she pranced over to the mirror with a smile on her face. He watched as it dropped off, however, when she looked at herself. 

“I know, angel, I’m sorry, I tried my best,” he said earnestly. They were interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming, and Zoey raced off. Richard followed sheepishly. 

“Oh, my days, would you look at you!” he heard Taron say. Richard stood in the doorway and watched, Zoey gathered up in Taron’s arms. He couldn’t help but smile. 

“Daddy did my makeup and he didn’t do it right!” she said. 

“Oh, he certainly...tried, though, didn’t he? It’s a look, eh?” Taron kissed her cheek, then looked up and smiled at Richard, who ambled over. “You’ve got to blend the eyeshadow, love, or else she just looks like a...well, like this,” Taron said, setting Zoey back on the floor.  

“I have no idea what that means, and no desire to. You’re a bloody saidst for forcing me to do this. Hello,” he said, kissing him briefly. 

“I know, I’m sorry,” Taron said, the sheepish smile that Richard couldn’t resist playing on his lips. “And would you look at this! We’ve got a little pumpkin destroying the living room!” Taron said, scooping up Jude and kissing him all over his face. 

“Alright, let’s go!” Richard said, gathering up the bags they’d bought for the kids to hold their loot in. 

“Candy!” Jude yelled, holding tightly onto Taron’s hand, Zoey onto Richard’s as they made their way out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they’d gotten the kids home, gotten them out of their costumes and into pajamas, wiped the clown makeup from Zoey’s face, and wrestled two sugar-laced children into their beds a hundred times, both Taron and Richard were beat. Richard padded into their bedroom where Taron was laying in bed, wearing nothing but his boxers and scrolling through his phone. 

“I know you love this holiday, but by God I’m glad it only comes once a year,” Richard said, throwing himself into bed beside Taron and curling up next to him. “What are ya looking at?” 

Taron started laughing, giggles coming from his belly as he stared at his phone. “Look at her!” he said, turning his phone to Richard and showing him one of the many photos he’d taken of Jude and Zoey that evening. Her blush practically glowed in the dark. 

“Hey!” Richard said, fake-annoyed. “You let me go in blind, love, I had no idea what to do.” 

“I know, I know. You did a wonderful job.” Taron kissed Richard, sliding his hand around the back of Richard’s neck and pressing his forehead to his. “You’re amazing.”

Richard sighed contentedly, burrowing closer to Taron, soaking in his body heat. “Listen. I love you, I love our kids, I love this life more than anything.”

“Mmm,” Taron said sleepily, closing his eyes. 

“But I swear, if you ever leave me in charge of Halloween again, I’m out of here,” Richard said, a teasing grin on his face as he joined Taron in closing his eyes.

[tarontherocketman]

Mr Madden | Madderton Teacher AU | Chapter 1

Ok SO, here’s the first chapter, I know it’s boring and short but just bear with me I didn’t want to jump straight into the action and drama because I genuinely haven’t written fanfiction since I was a teenager (I’m 22!) so I needed to familiarise myself with writing again and re-establish my writing style it’s a little bit choppy right now but I’ll get there over the next few chapters! Anyway, here goes! lowkey nervous that it’s been too long since I wrote and everyone will hate it

Taron sat in an empty classroom chewing mindlessly on the end of a pen, a stack of unmarked homework in front of him that he was already 95% sure he would be taking home with him tonight if this day didn’t get any better. Why did Drama students even need to do homework like this? They have enough homework from all the other classes, Drama should be their slice of freedom and self expression for the week, that’s how Taron saw it anyway. Of course, he could never say this aloud, he had to follow the system regardless of whether he liked it or not. After a small argument in his head about staying focused, Taron finally put pen to paper and began to write, not even writing one single letter before-

“For fuck sake,” he groaned quietly, forcing himself out of the chair and kicking it back behind him as he got up and walked to the door and around the building to the window he had just spotted it out of, another fight.

“Ok break it up lads come on,” he said sternly, not even needing to fully intervene with the wannabe hard nut year 7s. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry Sir!” they both said hurriedly as they scuttled off around the corner, afraid of receiving a detention. Taron rolled his eyes and sauntered back to his classroom, not even reaching the door before deciding he needs a coffee before he can even think of marking more homework. At this thought, he veers away from the door to the drama block to head toward the main building to the teachers lounge, muttering a polite “alright” accompanied with a small nod to the students greeting him as he walked down the hallway. Said students, of course, being girls. The girls all had a thing for him and he knew it, he saw the way they all gushed at him. Little did they know. 

“Have you seen the new History teacher?” a girl in the hallway squealed to her friend as she stood leaning against the wall, phone in one hand, bright pink bedazzled water bottle in the other. Taron’s ears pricked up, new History teacher? he thought, picking up the pace to the staff room to find out what was going on. Once he arrived, he pushed the door handle and poked his head round the door before fully entering. That’s when he saw him.

New History teacher, indeed..

In front of his eyes was the most gorgeous blue eyed man he had ever seen, thick lush brown hair with just the right amount of curl, perfect body, nice legs-

“Ah, Mr Egerton! Meet Mr Madden, he’s just joined today to replace Mr Little in the History department!” the excessively perky Head Teacher exclaimed, waving rather over enthusiastically towards the blue eyed beauty.

“Richard,” he introduced, extending his hand to Taron.

Scottish, as if he wasn’t dreamy enough.

“I- nice to meet you, I’m Taron, Drama,” Taron just about spluttered out, going in for the handshake offered, looking to the floor for lack of a better place to look without dying inside a little. Taron mentally pinched himself, he knew he needed to stop feeling like this. He vowed to himself as soon as he got this job that he’d keep out of anything of this sort, the last thing he needs is the entire school finding out he’s gay, so with this in mind he generally keeps his head down and lays low. Does his job, goes home. He can’t get soft for a teacher now after he’s come this far without screwing up and letting his guard down.

“Drama? I admire your confidence,” Richard commented with a smile. Taron chuckled softly.

“Not your thing?” he asked.

“Nah, just getting in to teaching was far enough out of my confidence zone! It’s done me a lot of good though- sorry I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this,” Richard stopped himself suddenly, a bit flustered.

“No no don’t worry,” Taron assured, “coffee?” he offered, gesturing as he walked over to the small staff coffee machine to make his own.

“Yeah would love one, thanks” Richard replied. Taron grabbed an extra mug for Richard, pouring two coffees from the pot that had already been prepared by the other staff who were coming and going from the cosy staff room. Taron handed Richard a coffee and the two naturally gravitated to a pair of chairs sat by the window.

“So, History?” Taron sparked up a conversation.

“Yeah!” Richard laughed softly, habitually rubbing the back of his neck. “I just got interested in it I guess, not sure I remember how..” he began to trail off, taking a long sip of coffee, “I actually used to be interested in acting.”

“Ahh my speciality,” Taron smirked, “what happened to that?” Richard sighed heavily, taking another sip of coffee.

“Ah I just don’t have the confidence,” he admitted.

“That’s fair enough mate, takes a lot of that I have to admit,” Taron nodded slowly, “never know, maybe one day!” Richard looked down and made a small ‘hmm’ sound with a smile. The pair sat in peace finishing their coffee before Richard placed his hands on his legs and sighed, signalling that it was time for him to get going.

“First class?” Taron asked gently.

“Yeah..I’m really nervous not gonna lie,” Richard confessed, feeling his cheeks go slightly pink.

“Aw don’t worry mate you’ll be absolutely fine, first one’s the worst. Do you have another teacher there observing you?”

“I do, and I’m not sure if that’s making me feel better or worse,” Richard replied, Taron laughed and nodded in agreement.

“I’ll walk you there if you like?” he offered.

“I would actually love that I’m still finding my way around,” Richard replied gratefully, standing up to put his coffee cup in the sink and walk to his new classroom with Taron, making small talk on the way there such as ‘what are the students like?’ or ‘are the other teachers nice?’ questions which Taron had elaborate answers for but not enough time to tell all his stories about, which resulted in him awkwardly asking Richard if he would maybe want to meet up for a drink at some point so he can “tell him his many stories”. Richard quickly agreed, which actually surprised Taron.

“Great, yeah, cool, I’ll talk to you soon then and we can..you know, arrange..something,” Taron stumbled very ungracefully and not near as smoothly as he thought that would sound in his head before he said it, inwardly facepalming.

“Yeah yeah good shout, see you later,” Richard smiled warmly, disappearing into his new classroom, pretending not to be trembling ever so slightly.

Later that night

Taron was curled up at the end of his sofa, iPad in his lap ready to open Facebook to try and find Richard and have a small social media stalk just to see his face again, those big blue eyes were calling him. He racked his brain for his surname, what was he introduced as? It definitely began with an M. He began typing ‘Richard M’ hoping facebook would magically know who he was searching for, but Richard was too common of a name. 

“Mm…M…Mmm, ma?” he thought aloud before pausing suddenly, “Madden!” he sighed, rolling his eyes at his own forgetfulness. He typed in the name and found him pretty easily. Excitedly clicking on his profile and doing the obligatory flick through the profile pictures, short scroll down the feed, clicking on some pictures he’d been tagged in, asking himself if this was creepy or if everyone did it. Or both. He also mentally noted to himself to remind Richard that now he’s a teacher, changing his privacy settings would be a very smart idea, some of those students are crazy, especially for young male teachers like Richard and Taron.

Cute Taron thought to himself, zooming in on a group photo when he spotted Richard chilling in the far left of it. He came out of the picture and hovered his finger over the  ‘add friend’ button, wondering if it was too soon. At that moment, as if in some sort of cartoon or movie, the bread he had put in the toaster a few minutes ago suddenly popped up, making him jump and press the button by accident. How does that even happen? He definitely looked too eager adding him already but it was done now, no point cancelling the request in case Richard already had his phone in his hand, that would be even more weird. Taron put his iPad to the side to grab his toast, buttering it and bringing it back to the sofa, noticing his iPad light up with a message. He hurriedly sat down and ignored the toast he had just made, picking the iPad up hastily and opening the message.

1 new message: Richard Madden Richard: hey, again x

“Heh,” Taron chuckled, loving a guy that puts a single kiss at the end of a message, deciding he should reflect his message the same way.

Taron: hey you x

Taron flinched after hitting send, realising suddenly how weird that sounded.

Richard: ha, ‘you’ love that x

Taron: yea sorry wasn’t thinking haha x

Richard: no you’re fine it’s sweet! when are we going for that drink then? x

Taron: well when are you free?x

Richard’s typing bubble appeared, disappeared and reappeared quite a few times suggesting he was on the fence about his answer, a quirk which Taron found quite cute. 

Richard: ...tomorrow night?x

Taron: yep definitely up for that! How did your first day go by the way? Didn’t end up seeing you for the rest of the day x

Richard: yeah was all good definitely didn’t need to be as nervous as I was x

Taron: nice one knew you’d smash it mate! Anyway I better eat the toast that I forgot about and get to bed, bright and early for school tomorrow!x

Richard: I know right feels weird saying school tomorrow again but as a teacher now not a student, sure I’ll get used to it, night T x

“T, I like that..” Taron thought, should he nickname Richard too? It only seemed fair..

Taron: night Rich x

Taron lay his iPad down on the table for the last time that day, shovelling toast in his mouth before taking his plate to the kitchen to wash up and get settled for bed, trying to ignore the slight feeling of butterflies in his stomach every time he thought about his drink with Rich the following night, this might be a doorway into the exact thing he promised himself not to do when he started this job, but he couldn’t resist. 

________________________________________________________

Tag list: @taron-eggmcmuffin

[applesfallingfromblondehair]

fic writer interview

(a pic to get your attention, and to remind us all of how strong a look this was--you're welcome)

Tagged by @phoenix-ascended, thank you!!

name: C (heavensfallingaroundus on AO3)

fandoms: I wrote a lot of Madderton in 2019/2020, before I lost all hope 😂 I also wrote them as David Budd and Eggsy Unwin in a Kingsman/Bodyguard crossover that is long, wonderful and tragically still unfinished to this day--but I swear we're going to finish it one day, hopefully soon. Basically what I'm trying to say is: anything with Taron Egerton, and I'm game. I also wrote some other British Actor RPF starring the usual suspects (Colin Firth, Kit Harington, etc.) and a single Achilles x Patroclus oneshot after finishing Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles. I read mostly Taron RPF (but not het stuff because it makes me uncomfortable, soz) and Hartwin--although I must admit I've not been reading as much as I would like, lately.

two-shot: What an odd question. I don't know if it counts as a two-shot, but this pair of crackficks (#sponcon) is definitely the best sorta-two-chaptered thing I've ever written, also thanks to my wonderful co-author and my favourite human on the planet, @its-a-soft-science. I'm also partial to where we're going, because it paints a version of events where everything turned out alright.

most popular multi-chapter fic: Still to this day, it's Three. If you were around when i was writing and publishing it, in the second half of 2019, you know how much that work took out of me and how I never took a break for around 6 months. It was the proverbial wild ride of my life as a fic writer, and even if I maybe think the quality of the work is not as good as it could have been, I still really love it. If you like a long and winding story, you should definitely check out Kingsman: The Highlands Liaison, which (I would like to solemnly promise once more) @misslittlefreckles and I are definitely going to finish.

actual worst part of writing: Definitely planning. I'm someone who would jump straight into writing a scene and 'go with the flow' most of the time, letting the inspiration lead me here or there... but in most cases one definitely needs to plan, cross the t's and dot the i's to make sure that there are no plotholes, incoherences of any kind, etc. And then probably the second worst part of writing is when you can't. The ol' WB is a bee in my bonnet at the moment, and I can't wait for it to pack its bags and fuck off.

how you choose your titles: Song titles and lyrics all the way. Music is a huge part of my creative process.

do you outline: Like I said--I don't love doing it, but I recognize the benefits in doing it, so the answer's yes.

ideas you probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice: Goddamnit, I have a list in my phone notes app all about this. Let's see: a third and fourth installment of this Madderton wedding series (I had started writing a stag do part 3 but I never got anywhere with it), a fic on the wild night before Carpool Karaoke (they reportedly got blind drunk and they looked like the most fucked out + hungover pair of lovebirds ever on the day), a massive AU that I'd plotted a year and a half ago where Taron is a bit of an Eggsy character (estate kid with an abusive family history getting in serious trouble) and Richard his slightly older and incredibly competent hot daddy lawyer, several Christmas stories based on popular Christmas flicks, and finally another massive AU, which I'm not telling you anything about because it might well happen at some point in the near future.

callouts @ me: People definitely seem to have beef with me not jumping on the Richard/F**y train. To all my haters, a kind reminder to live and let live xoxo

best writing traits: I tend to use language that is a bit baroque sometimes but it also tends to go down pretty well. I've also been told I can successfully build up a lot of tension and then deliver on it quite effectively.

spicy tangential opinion: After almost 2 years of waiting for it, the Madden CK campaign is terribly underwhelming. The definition of overpromising and underdelivering.

Tagging @himbomcavoy, @taste-thewaste, @johaeryslavellan, @zebraljb

[mobiuscinematicuniverse]

ok hear me out:

genderswap madderton. stay with me now: two bi girls being dorky and in love belting rocketman while driving around london ahhhhh and lemme say this: GiRlS wItH sCoTiSh aNd wElSh aCcEnTs

fuck me up i need this ugh

i cant write someone rp this with me

like bro an au with that trope where they just like wake up one day and they're the opposite gender with these two would be so great

message me please someone do this with me i stg please

[defyingthestars]

Begging you for some more richard/froy fic! I'll barter cake?

how did you know I like cake? and what kind of cake? it’s going to be a little wait on more of them but there is definitely another story coming, sort of the third part if this is a ~trilogy.

I’m working on something else first that’s sort of a Madderton AU...I can’t say more just yet. but it’s almost done!

[liminal-zone]

23! 24! 25!

fics you wanted to write but didn’t

Had a good cry. Now here’s an abbreviated list:

So much tros fic (STILL PENDING, just maybe not for 2019)

Finish uncharted territory (supercorp) (it’s been 84 years!)

Trinity was the One all along

Madderton at SDCC

SOMETHING with supercorp

SOMETHING with elton/bernie

The Reylo Truth Serum Chapter Fic

Jyn Erso/Tentacles 

Reylo Angel AU

Sophie/Pri/Joe/Nick

Finish the the whirligig of time (stucky) (not gonna happen)

Adrian/Peter 

I thought about King Bran and Queen Mera

Yuletide 2019 :(

favorite fic you read this year

Um, hands down Bedright by afterandalasia (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Evil Queen/Snow White, Explicit). Ummmm. Read the tags before trying it out. It’s Impressive but ymmv on appreciation of the kink. 

a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

I recommend Homestead by katemonkey, which is mostly gen/jedistormpilot post-TROS fic, and it’s very short but each beat packs a punch, and it had just everything I needed post TROS.

[tarontherocketman]

Mr Madden | Madderton Teacher AU | Chapter 2

The sun seeped through the curtains in Richard’s minimalistic decorated bedroom as he stirred awake, willing himself to get up and get ready for his second day as a teacher. The butterflies started to kick in as he fully woke up, partly from the job still being new and scary, and partly from the knowledge that he was going out with Taron that night. Rich forced himself up and out of bed, making his way to the kitchen to shovel cereal into his mouth, then to the bathroom to brush his teeth and freshen up for the day. After getting dressed and taking one last look in the mirror, deciding his appearance was acceptable, he slung his backpack over one shoulder and made the commute to work, heading straight to the staff room to make a coffee to take to his classroom and drink while he prepared for the day. Not one minute after sitting as his desk there was a soft knock at the door, followed by it opening slightly and Taron’s head poking through the opening.

“Good morning, Mr Madden,” he chirped, pushing the door fully open and sauntering over to Rich, seemingly harbouring a confidence that he didn’t have yesterday, as if sharing messages with a kiss at the end the previous night had established a new, less professional comfort zone between the pair.

“Why good morning, Mr Egerton,” Rich mocked in return, an eyebrow raised. Taron laughed softly as he pulled up a chair next to the Scotsman.

“How’s the lesson planning going?” he asked kindly as he leaned in to see Rich’s computer, who turned the monitor around a bit for Taron to see.

“Well, it’s…going,” Rich sighed, not sounding at all confident.

“It’ll get easier trust me, you’ll start to learn what your students do and don’t like, what they respond well to, stuff like that,” Taron advised. Rich nodded along in understanding, reviewing his presentation, trying to visualise it as if he was a student rather than a teacher, now backspacing and retyping phrases where he suddenly wasn’t happy with the wording.

“Any more advice?” he asked Taron, who leaned towards the computer screen more, brushing shoulders with Rich as he did. Rich’s breathing halted briefly at the contact, knowing full well this was because it had been far too long since anyone had touched him further than a quick handshake.

“Colour,” Taron stated bluntly, “it’s simple. These kids love colour, it catches their eye far more than a piece of black and white text. Also putting important information in some sort of bubble or cloud seems to grab their attention and make them remember it. Although I’m saying all this as a Drama teacher, I know History might be a bit harder to get kids interested in, no offence.”

“None taken, it’s genuinely a boring subject if it’s not your thing or it’s been taught to you by the wrong person, hell I found it majorly boring at school! I only got interested in it after leaving school and learning it my own way.”

“What made you get interested in it? You could apply that to your lessons,” Taron suggested. Richard paused for a few seconds to mull over his answer before speaking.

“I think...because the way it was taught to me in school made me think it was just remembering dates and learning about wars, because for some reason I swear that’s all we used to do, and then when I left school I had a friend that went on to do it in university and I discovered through him that it’s more than dates and wars, it’s about culture and society, how much things have changed and why they changed, it’s actually a wealth of knowledge about the whole world and what it means to be human. People also think it’s only about what happened in the past, but it’s not, it’s an insight about what might happen in the future based on what’s happened in the past!” Rich dripped with enthusiasm about his subject, Taron simply sat smiling brightly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise Rich that was amazing you NEED to open with that in class today, it will get the kids inspired!” Taron encouraged, nudging Rich happily who agreed and sincerely thanked Taron for his help, the school bell bringing their moment to an end.

“First class on my own,” Rich declared nervously.

“Good luck! I’ve got 2 free periods now,” Taron boasted, Rich laughed and rolled his eyes. 

“Ah it’s alright for some! Bloody part timers,” he scoffed jokingly. 

“Seriously though, Rich, you’ll do great, they’ll love you!” Taron patted him on the knee and got up from the chair he’d pulled up, putting it back where he found it on his way out, having to wait by the door anyway for a stampede of kids to flood into the classroom and find their seats.

“Good morning everyone,” Rich greeted his class in the most welcoming voice he could as they started to settle. Taron gave Rich a last thumbs up before disappearing out of the door, letting it close slowly behind him as it had one of those mechanisms that slowed it so it wouldn’t slam, or rather, kids couldn’t slam it in anger when they would storm out of a classroom. 

“So guys, I know you all think history’s boring, and you know what? So did I when I was in school!” Richard began his motivational speech, Taron peeked through the door one more time, smiling proudly at his friend. Rich’s voice became quieter and quieter as Taron began to walk down the hall and the door was still closing. 

“It’s more than that, it’s culture and society, how much has changed and why it changed,” he heard Richard say in the distance, nearly out of earshot now, feeling a warm sense of pride inside of him again.

___________________________________________________________________

The bell for lunch rang at last, which of course always caused a commotion of hungry, restless kids all clambering up from their seats to get to the canteen as quickly as possible as if it was going to run out of food or something.

“Alright I’ll see you lot again this time next week, just please try your best with the homework yeah?” Taron called out over the noise.

“Yes, Sir,” a multitude of students mumbled back as they filed out of the classroom. Taron turned to the whiteboard, erasing what he had written through the lesson which was mainly thought clouds about dramatic expression and such. As he turned back around from the board he was taken back by a student still sat at the back of the classroom staring out of the window. A generally slim but ever so slightly plump girl with long blonde hair, pulled back in to a simple high ponytail.

“Uh, you ok Ella?” he asked, walking over to the lone student.

“Yep,” she snapped, forcing a polite smile.

“Why are you still here? You not hungry?” Taron asked softly.

“Nope.”

“Is everything ok?” he asked cautiously. Ella just looked away even more, hiding her eyes that were beginning to well up. Taron noticed and tried to not to make a big deal of it and make her uncomfortable, knowing students don’t like the teachers that freak out and jump down their throat when they’re having an emotional moment.

“Did something happen, Lovely?” he asked gently, keeping his voice low and soft. Ella sat in silence, and Taron let her decide on her own whether she was going to say anything.

“They hate me,” she finally burst out.

“Who?”

“Everyone! The students, the teachers, everyone in this fucking hell hole,” she seethed. Taron ignored the swearing in this particular context and nodded sympathetically.

“I’m sure they don’t, especially not the teachers, I don’t hate you!” he said with a small smile.

“Well maybe not you, but only because you’re the first teacher to acknowledge my existence for something other than picking on me in class while ignoring all the students actually misbehaving. The students definitely hate me though, why else would they trip me up in the halls, throw pens at me in class, call me horrible names,” she said with a shaky voice.

“Aw I’m sorry, Darlin’. Teenagers can be horrible honestly, I remember what they used to say when I was in school, they don’t know when to stop with the vile comments. Most bullies grow out of it when they leave school, the others end up in prison,” Taron laughed before quickly adding, “that was a joke you don’t tell anyone I said that ok?” Ella let out a small laugh, nodding quickly. “As for the teachers, they’re just busy, they have a lot of students to keep an eye out for and it’s a very overwhelming job at times. Always having to figure out who did what, who said this, who said that, we have far too many students to look out for and none of us EVER mean to ignore you or pick on you I promise. Admittedly some of us are more attentive and intuitive than others, I like to think of me as one of those teachers..?” he half suggested.

“Yeah, you’re one of the good ones,” Ella confirmed.

“See! And what about the new History teacher, Mr Madden? Have you had any classes with him?”

“I have History with him next, after lunch,” Ella said.

“Great! Well he’s lovely so I promise you’ll have a good lesson with him. What about final period?”

“Free study period,” Ella replied. Taron shrugged in triumph. 

“There you go! The rest of the day’s agenda sounds pretty good to me,” Taron said as uplifting sounding as he could. Ella laughed quietly.

“Thanks, Sir. What about the rest of lunch break though?” she asked with a heavy heart. Taron thought for a moment.

“Stay here if you want,” he offered. Ella smiled happily, sitting back in her seat.

“As long as you don’t mind me over there working, you’re welcome to escape here any time you need.”

“Thank you, Sir!”

Taron made his way to his computer, sitting down and pulling his phone out first to message Rich quickly.

T: hey there’s gonna be a girl in your class after lunch called Ella be extra nice she’s having a hard time right now, don’t tell her I said anything tho obviously x

Rich: yeah no worries, everything ok?x

T: yeah all good, just got her in my classroom for lunch break, other kids being horrible x

Rich: ah poor girl x

Taron slid his phone back into his pocket, turning back to his computer to get some work done.

“So Ella, who’s your favourite actor?” Taron conversed while typing away.

___________________________________________________________________

The day finally came to an end, meaning Taron and Rich could both get home to get ready for their meet-up that evening. Taron settled on a white t-shirt with a navy denim jacket, black jeans, and white lace up shoes. Richard going for a similar style with black jeans, a navy jumper, a grey long coat jacket and black slightly smarter shoes.

Taron sat at the bar the two had agreed to meet at, sipping at one of the two mojitos he had bought for him and Rich.

“Hey, Taron!” Rich greeted as he approached the table by the window that Taron had nabbed, sitting opposite him.

“Hey! I remember you saying you liked mojitos!” Taron gestured to the drink.

“I do! Thanks T,” Rich said warmly as he tucked his chair in and sipped at his drink.

“How did your motivational History speech go?” Taron asked.

“Oh my god it worked SO well, the kids seemed really engaged after I did it, thanks for the help.”

“Yeah no problem, happy to help,” Taron said, looking into Rich’s piercing blue eyes until the pair got uncomfortable and looked away with a small laugh.

“So, uh,” Rich began, not sure where he was going with it.

“Yeah..” Taron trailed. Rich took a long sip of his drink for an alcohol confidence boost, knowing one glass wouldn’t be enough.

“Fancy another one? On me,” he offered, already standing up ready to go to the bar.

“Love one, thanks!”

Rich wondered to the bar to order two more mojitos, having a mental conversation, kicking himself for being so awkward. It was such a different setting to chatting at school in between lessons or messaging over facebook before bed, this was so raw and real, just the two of them in a nice bar with cocktails and a window seat with a view. It was almost romantic, and neither of them knew exactly what to do in this context or even where each other stood on the matter. Was this just two colleagues meeting for a catch up or something more? Was Taron gay? 

Rich walked back to the table with the drink, mentally telling himself to man up and talk to Taron like a person, instantly taking a long sip of his drink and a deep breath.

“So are dating at the moment? Is that something that you’re-” he blurted out, but stopping himself. Taron- relieved that Rich had broken the ice first- made a low ‘uhh’ sound.

“It’s complicated, I promised myself when I started the job at the school that I wouldn’t get involved in anything like that while I was there, I’m sure you know what students are like by now.”

“Oh yeah definitely,” Rich agreed, nodding. 

“Then of course you had to show up and-” Taron caught himself, realising what he just said. “Oh, I mean, I-”

“Wait are you also..” Rich began tentatively.

“Am I- am I what? Wait, are you?” Taron stumbled.

“Ok ok wait, on three, yeah?” Rich suggested, “one, two-”

“Gay,” the pair said in perfect unison, quickly both sighing with relief and laughing a little to themselves.

“I’m so glad we were on the same page there,” Taron laughed.

“Fuck, me too,” Rich laughed back, still practically catching his breath from relief.

“I did wonder, but you can never assume you know?” Taron admitted, resting his chin on his hand, starting to be able to relax now.

“Yeah of course,” Rich agreed, “so as you were saying, I showed up and-?” he teased.

“Hah, yes, just ignore that yeah?”

“No no, go on,” Rich waved his hand, gesturing Taron to elaborate.

“Ok fine. I met you that day in the staff room and thought ‘oh shit this guy is gonna ruin my vow to not get attracted to another teacher’ and, he did,” Taron admitted, making Rich chuckle in reply to this.

“Oh did I now?” Rich asked suggestively, leaning in over the table closer to Taron, who mimicked this, now looking into Rich’s blue eyes again.

“You did,” he smirked, the two not breaking eye contact. Leaning in again towards each other, getting closer every few seconds, before Taron broke away, leaning back.

“Anyway,” he said as he cleared his throat awkwardly. “God I only met you two days ago,” he laughed nervously. Rich pursed his lips and thought for a moment about his next words. 

“And what an amazing two days it’s been,” he said confidently.

“Indeed it has,” Taron smiled, lifting his glass to cheers with Richard. The full moon now shining right behind them as the night grew later and later.

___________________________________________

Ta-daaaaa, I hope you guys liked it! I said it would be longer this time! So Ella is sort of a side plot I’m throwing in because I wanted to base a character on me and my time in school, I didn’t have any teachers supporting me at my side when I was badly bullied so I suppose I’m maybe sort of living out this fantasy through this fic seeing as I’m still ever so slightly salty about school in general bUT ANYWAY. Hope you enjoyed <3 

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