#trutwritescobert

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Sailing Close to the Wind|| One: Chasing Rainbows and Spinning Dreams

*takes a deep breath* *opens laptop* *blows ever so softly*

*coughs*

Hello everyone, I bet you didn't think I would ever come back to write more Downton stuff. Maybe an update from me isn't in your 2024 bingo card. Not gonna lie, I'm just as surprised as you are. I've been gone for far longer than I ever was here, but I guess, prodigal children always find their way home.

YES. This is an update. I know.

In light of the new movie announcement, I made a trip down memory lane, and was inspired by one of my old fics. Not that my writing from five years ago was ever inspiring, really. Anyway, it was supposed to be a one shot, and so I felt like I was in under no obligation to add more, but add more, I shall do.

*steadfastly ignores the 300 other cobert fanfics I am supposed to update*

To my surprise as well as yours, this one had an interesting and very polite demand for more, and honestly, if I wasn't so neck deep in law school, I would have given this a go earlier. Of course, I chose the most inopportune time -- when I'm in over my head, drowning, in bar review and prep -- to finish this piece. But whatever. It was therapeutic. I do suggest you read the prologue first, again -- here or here-- because I doubt any of you still remember this. This one's a long one that I just had to get out of my system, because studying about my country's system is the equivalent of pouring bleach all over my brain.

I would like to say as early as now however, that as I have already mentioned earlier, I am in the middle of bar prep, so the updates are probably going to be few and far in between, if at all, towards the middle of this year. Not that it's anything new where I'm concerned. But I shall endeavor to finish before the end of year or the end of the world, at least, whichever comes first.

.::.

One

Chasing rainbows and Spinning Dreams

"Can it possibly beThe future for me is you…Wait until I can tell you all my schemesChasing rainbows spinning dreamsTell me please your name”  - Tell me your name, Jose Mari Chan

The silence in the room was so loud that one could hear a pin drop – as the old adage went, anyway, – and for one brief second, Cora found herself questioning if her boss was all right in the head. Maybe she had lost her mind after all the stress and was now clinically insane. 

That, after all, was the only logical explanation to her even remotely suggesting this.

Cora looked away from her boss, wondering what she should do or say next, when her gaze met the eyes of the man on the other side of the room. Robert, that’s what Rosamund said, but Cora already knew that. There was nary a soul in this entire company who didn’t. He rarely made any appearance, but he’s never missed one company party and his name was always on everybody’s lips. 

Cora could still – though she would never say it out loud or admit it – remember the first time she had seen the esteemed Mr. Robert Crawley. It had been during her first company Christmas party. She was new, a new hire fresh from her internship, and she’d been so young and so infatuated by the piercing blue eyes that barely looked her way even once in the party. He’d been caught up, talking to the big wigs, to his sister, and their other colleagues and didn’t have time for the little Miss Americana that was Cora. Not that Cora had minded very much, she was content with sipping her wine and admiring Mr. Crawley from afar. 

He was handsome and his laugh was loud and boisterous, although hardly offensive. He spoke to Mr. Carson and his wife, Mrs. Elsie Hughes-Carson, who both worked with them at the company, like they were old friends – with respect and authority, but with clear affection. Cora could have only hoped, at that time, to be treated the same.

Now, here she was, sitting in the office of her boss, having been just told that she should marry the CEO of the company she’s working for so she can stay in London. She felt like she needed more ruminating about the “brilliant idea” of the boss in question, but she figured there wasn’t really even enough time to ruminate that. It was insane. That, in her mind, should count as a red flag right? That her boss was insane?

“Well?” Rosamund started to speak, though she looked just a little bit nervous, or anxious, or maybe it was self-realization – Cora could only hope for the last. “It’s such an unmusical way of putting things, brother.” She cleared her throat and nodded anyway. Clearly, any hopes of sanity were dashed at this point. “I was suggesting a convenient marriage with a deadline…if you’re amenable, of course.”

More here or here.

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Miss you and your perfect content/ fanfic😍😍

Hope you are okay?😘

Hiiii! I haven't been here awhile, so I haven't seen this till now. Apologies. I am perfectly (used loosely) alright! Thank you for asking. Life's been hectic lately. For those interested to know, I have finished my law degree last year (2023) and now I'm just doing the exact opposite of chilling lol. Anyway, thank you again. Maybe I'll get around to actually updating someday. Hope you're okay, too and I hope this year brings you amazing things <3

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

At First Glance, Ch.11 || Cobert AU

Hello again. 

This update is for my love, @mcgonneville love you sweets!

              _________________________________

                                            Chapter Eleven

Five thirty on a Saturday morning finds Cora and Robert still tucked in bed, fast asleep. The wind is howling outside, and the raindrops pelt against the roof harshly, each pitter-patter driven by a strong force that hits against the surface. Outside, it is dark and gloomy, and the torrential downpour that greets them that weekend does not seem to have any intentions of letting up.

Cora rolls over to her side as her hands grip the blanket and she pulls it around herself tighter. It’s cold, cold enough to send shivers down her spine, and she moves, only just a bit, to snuggle closer to her boyfriend. She has stayed with Robert and Mary the night before because they are due at Robert’s parents’ estate that day for Rosamund’s party. And Mary had requested that Cora should be there to tuck her in, so Cora had found it very logical and reasonable to just stay with them. After all, they’re driving to the estate and they are leaving early. Although she knows she shouldn’t spoil Mary as much, and she does try to find the courage to say no to her little girl, she justifies to herself that Mary’s only a toddler, there will be time to learn how to say no later (she doubts it, but a bit of a valiant effort might work), besides it’s just tucking her in, Cora already loves doing that regardless, and it isn’t like Mary has asked for the moon (though Cora knows that if only it were possible and she can, she would). She’ll think about it, much, much later, she supposes, but for now, she’s content enough to know that Mary is only across the hall, fast asleep.

They all have to get up soon, and she’ll need to wake Mary, but one more hour isn’t going to hurt their schedule badly.

Cora feels Robert snake his arm around her waist and pull her closer. He is warm and cuddly, and Cora cannot resist from turning so she’s facing him. She’s not sure she can go back to sleep now that she’s awake, but she’s happy enough to snuggle here with Robert until her muscles protest and she absolutely has to get up. She buries her nose against his chest and lets the rhythmic breathing of his heart lull her to silence. The peace and tranquility of the moment is underscored by the silent love they share. In many ways, Cora feels blessed to be here, to be able to love Robert and be loved by him. It’s not ideal, and Lord knows it’s not easy, but when it’s love like this, how can it not be rewarding? How can it not be worthy?

Read more HERE.

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

100 Days || Downton Abbey (Cora x Robert| Alternate Universe) : Day 1

Hello and welcome back to the tumultuous ride that is another fanfic from me. Just kidding. I've had a bit of a break and thought it would be nice to get back to writing and I ended up with this. It's a work in progress. As in there is a lot of work needed and very little progress. I'm also very uncertain about many things but I wanted to get it out there just to push myself to get something done, or maybe because I missed writing. Who really knows why I'm putting you and me through all of this.

I would just like to preempt some things: No one, including myself, knows how this fic is going to turn out. I admit it's a bit too ambitious and hopeful, but I really hope you all enjoy it.

Also, this Alternate Universe so the things you might be used to in the canon verse, they might not apply here. There are certain relationship that are canon but aren't here. Just keep an open mind, I guess.

This is for my mothers @dreamofragtime and @latifraise

Anyway, in the light of the recent events in our world today, I just wanted remind everyone to take care and keep safe, and I hope this helps you forget the problems even for a few minutes. I love you all.

Without further ado...

__________________________________--_________________________

Day One

The sky was quite angry that day. The rain poured without mercy and the wind was cold and harsh. She probably should have seen that as a sign. Hindsight has always been 20/20, and later when she looks back on the past, she would realize with quite the desperation that this was the very moment it all happened.

This was the very moment it all fell apart.

Maybe the sun and the moon were in collusion, maybe the fate really was just cruel, maybe one planet or the other is in retrograde, honestly she would never be able to tell -  but this was it. 

At that moment, however, she stood - unaware - at the tube, waiting for the train to come so she could go home. She was cold and exhausted, in desperate need of warmth and sleep. She'd pulled another late night, last night. The pleading she was supposed to be submitting today had left her disappointed and she'd spent all night revising it and making it sound like it was written by a solicitor in practice for however many years, and not by a seventh grader barely making it out of English class.

Read more at ff.net

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Sailing Close to the Wind || Cora x Robert | Alternate Universe

This was supposed to be part of CobertWeek 2017, but things got lost in translation and it took me almost 3 years to even type this up and post it. Anyhoo, enjoy! Let me know what you think!

The prompt is: Pretend relationship.

______________________________________________________________

Cora Levinson feels her heart knock inside her chest as she walks the long hallway leading to the office of her boss. She’s not entirely sure how this meeting is about to pan out, not really sure how it’s going to go. Gwen, her boss’ assistant, had called her from the office line and had politely told her that her boss had asked to see her. 

She’d bit down on her lip in anxiety, but she knew. She knew what it was for.

It is, after all, a very clear cut what’s about to happen, or at least, it's a very clear cut to her what needs to be done, or not be done anyway. 

It’s a waiting game at this point.

Honestly, it’s all a very stupid mistake, after all. She’d not been paying attention, absorbed as she had been with the new project. As an architect, she had wanted to be hands-on. She hadn’t wanted her design to be butchered by the hands of an engineer who did not consult her or didn’t bother to consult her.

She takes pride in her work, on being hands on and available for her clients. If anything, she’s reliable and competent, knows the in and out of her own design. She likes to see it first hand as it is built, having a say on how it is built. She’s also known for being on time, on driving hard to get to finish projects on her given deadline.

And that is exactly what’s gotten her in this mess in the first place. 

It appears she is able to keep with her deadlines on all of her projects, but not in other things in her life - the ones that make it possible for her to even have projects.

Sighing, she halts her steps once she reaches the office. The door is closed, a heavy, dark brown surface - cherry wood, beautiful, she’s always thought so. She isn’t exactly excited about this particular conversation she’s about to have, and is in fact dreading it. She raises her fist and knocks on the door lightly.

“Come in,” she hears a muffled voice from the other side. Slowly, she opens the door and peers into the room, finding herself face to face with her boss. Rosamund Painswick is the Chief Operations Officer, an Architect by profession, with an MBA from Oxford. She ran the business with other members of her family - a brother, if Cora remembered correctly.

Cora noticed another strange face that is almost familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it in her head. They were sitting on the couch on the other end of the room. 

“Hello, Miss Levinson,” Rosamund greeted with a terse smile. 

Cora tried to read the room. Tense, that’s all she can think about. She swallows and urges herself to come in, telling her feet to their part and move. Her legs are shaking but she tries really hard to notice, or let it give in. 

"Uh, hello," Cora greets although it sounds more like a question than a greeting, and she fights a grimace as she pushes herself forward. 

She watches her boss, and notes that the way her red hair glows in the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the window makes her beautiful, but decidedly scarier.

Relax, Cora, she tells herself. You are not here to be executed.

"Have a seat," Rosamund invites politely, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. Rosamund's blue eyes are trained on her form, and they are icy as they are warm, and Cora has had first hand experience of the ruthlessness of the woman, as well as her generosity. Rosamund is known for her designs as well as her stance in the boardrooms.

Rosamund is only a couple of years older than Cora, but has already accomplished so much more than Cora could ever imagine. Rosamund Painswick is formidable and more than capable, of course, but she is also a member of one of the wealthiest and well-known  families around.

Their family - Crawley - owns the biggest firm in town. They've built many skyscrapers around Grantham, which parts of had been - from what Cora has heard - owned by their ancestors in the early days. A good number of infrastructure in London had been designed and built by them as well,  spanning decades and generations of Crawleys. 

When Cora had moved to London to study Architecture - much to her mother's consternation and her father's concern - she had planned to move back to New York and work her way up in some other architectural firm there. She had been hopeful, given how well she'd been performing her school and the series of internships she'd managed to get - it all looked very well in her portfolio. But then, she'd fallen in love with Grantham, one of the busiest, most beautiful places just outside London, when she'd managed to get an internship with Downton Designs. 

They had offered her a position just before she finished her internship and before she graduated from her degree. The visa process had also been quick and easy, sponsored by Downton Designs themselves, and she'd worked for them right out of University - almost two years ago now. Going back home to New York with such a wonderful prospect in one hand had become such a far away dream, and it fell down on the list of her priorities.  

After all, Grantham is just like New York, almost, with the added bonus of being thousands of miles away from her mother.

It's been a win-win situation for her.

Cora reminds herself that it's not going to be as bad as she fears. She already has a couple of contingency plans in place.

She hears Rosamund clear her throat, effectively waking Cora up from her reverie. Cora looks up with wide, apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry," she says, sitting up and straightening in her chair. She swallows the lump in her throat.

Rosamund nods and folds her hands on top of the desk daintily. "We seem to have a problem," she murmurs, and boy, oh boy, don't they. "What happened?"

Cora is certain her boss already knows exactly what happened, but launches into an explanation of her current predicament anyway.

It's a stupid thing really. A colossal mistake. An oversight on Cora's part. She had been so absorbed with her new project - the first really big one after almost two years in the company. She had, of course, worked on many projects before - big ones where she's the junior, or smaller ones where she's lead or working solo - but this is the first one she had worked on a really big one where she's the lead. She had wanted it to go so well and so smoothly, to produce great results. She'd been tied in meetings left and right, that she had forgotten the deadline for her visa application. Her best friend and roommate, Phyllis, had reminded her of course, but she still had forgotten. She had missed the extension as well, and had only realized with such a sense of dread, when she'd received the letter telling her that her failure to submit required documents and complete her application had now subjected her for reapplication, which means she has to go back home to New York. 

It's a right mess.

Cora breathes deeply as she finishes her story and looks up at her boss. The other woman's face is unreadable, and Cora feels her heart sink further into her stomach. She licks her lips and turns her gaze to the other man in the room. His lips are pulled down in a frown, and his brows are furrowed. He looks just about as readable as Rosamund Painswick is.

She turns her attention to her boss and watches her nod. "Alright we'll get back to you, Miss Levinson."

And with that, Cora is dismissed.

Read more here.

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Clinging to the Ruins of this Broken Home | Cobert AU (1)

Hello, welcome to another fic from me. When’s it gonna end right??? Anyway, it’s angsty and dramatic because that’s me as a person, really. I hope you guys like it!

TW: Character Death

Title is from “Someone to Stay” by the Vancouver Sleep Clinic

**********______________________________________********

~ Prologue ~

Cora Crawley likes to remind herself that time heals all wounds, but she's constantly reminded instead that it never really gets easier. The hours, the days, the weeks, the months, and the years, they all pass but still she remains. There is no change in the weather or turn in the season that helps ebb away the sharp pain of losing the man she loves. She has always prided herself on being a strong woman, but it is the cruel hands of fate that had broken her. It's all been so unfortunate really - a series of unfortunate events, if there was ever such a thing.

She'd been visiting her parents in New York - a trip planned for months - her three daughters in tow, and she'd been assured repeatedly by her husband that he very much intends to follow. He had been held up at work, running a company has never really been easy and she'd understood that. She believed him, and he had indeed tried to get to her, to follow her to the United States. He had given her a call when he'd boarded the plane, telling her he'd missed her and that he couldn't wait to see her. She'd told him the same. It had seemed mundane, then, something completely ordinary. After all, they'd flown to many places - often together, sometimes separately - and it had been routine at that point.

It had been his own hapless luck - a flapping of a butterfly's wing, a ripple in time, a turn of fate. His plane had crashed somewhere in the transatlantic journey, crashed into a coast in England, and there were only a small number of survivors, some of the body had been left unfound. Her husband had been one among those that had remained missing despite the lengthy and extensive search, up until such time that there was no choice left but to declare him dead despite the fact that there had been no body.

There had been a funeral, held at his parents' estate in Grantham, attended by the rest of their family. His parents, her parents, their children, his sister and her husband, their friends, and all their friends had been in attendance, commemorating what - to her - had been nothing but an empty casket. It's supposed to make them feel better, bring them closure, but home, she'd wondered often, when the only thing that can bring her comfort and make her feel better was lost to her?

She'd barely shed tears as they lowered the coffin to the ground, and she had felt so oddly detached and unemotional. The tears had come, later that night, when she'd had to sleep in the large bed, his side so heartbreakingly empty.

She'd tried to hold on to hope though, despite everything, tried to keep faith burning in her heart that he's still alive somewhere, washed up on some shore in some distant place where there was no one who knew him, but even the strongest of flames turned into embers through the passage of time.

She'd kept the home fires burning for almost two years, hoping, waiting for his return, clinging to the ruins of this broken home, but two years have passed and still nothing. She feels as though the hope she's tried to keep alive have toppled over, the ashes blown by the wind. Two years is a very long time to hope for the dead to turn up undead and hoping have only brought her more heartache than she can carry and she can't keep doing it to herself, no.

But still...there are little traces of him, little traces that are proof of his existence bringing sweet ache into her heart. There is something bittersweet about seeing him in every corner of their home, the ghost of his memory haunting her at every step.

It isn't like she hasn't tried. At the advice of her own children, she'd tried to spend time away from home, away from the fragments of the life she's once held in her grasp but are now slipping through her fingers like sand. Still, nothing. He is etched in her mind like a lifelong memory.

Loving him has been what she's always known to do, she no longer remembers how to stop.

Read more here.

And please, do take some time to read the end note :)

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

MoonlessMondays Cobert Fanfiction Mass Update

I mass updated. Links below. Enjoy!!

100 Days (x)

Remind to Never Forget (x)

and a new one shot:

Bamboozled (x)

This is for the quaranteam internationale, @mcgonneville @dreamofragtime and @latifraise

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

At First Glance Chapter Ten || Cobert AU

Hi everyone! Sorry this update took so long. In all honestly, I was a bit lost with this story. I had an idea of where I want it to go but I had to work it out. For now, though, we have this update that I've had to beat out of my brain. I hope it makes sense or more sense than the previous chapter had anyway.

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

                                                   Chapter Ten

Cora had come to a realization that domestic life really does agree with both her and Robert, and life truly has been blissful. Mary has flourished under the love and care of two loving parents, and Cora has found the home she's never really thought she's looking for. Robert, for his part, has been happier as of late, and Cora feels just as happy to be able to be a part of it.

The semester is also drawing to a close, and if Cora's honest, she's quite thankful and relieved. The end of the semester would mean she no longer has to hide the true nature of her relationship with Robert. While she doesn't expect to come out just so quickly, she does hope that they can be seen more socially - not right away, no, but at least they could ease the society to their relationship, or ease their relationship to society - whichever the case may be.

She isn't under any illusion that it will be smooth sailing from here on out, there's still their families to worry about after all, but she's hoping that with the end of the semester, the sneaking around and the hiding would come to an end as well. She hasn't even had the chance to be on a proper date with Robert, and they've been together for months now, and they share a daughter together (though informally). She's not discontented, truly, of the relationship she has with Robert, in fact she is so stupidly happy, it's ridiculous, but sometimes, all she wants is to grab his hand and hold it in hers, or even just be able to go out with him at all.

"What are you thinking of so hard?" he asks her as he slides under the cover next to her in bed. She looks at him in question. He smiles at her and runs a finger down her cheek in a soft caress. "You think loudly, you know?"

She snorts at that, and then turns as he settles next to her, placing her hand on his forearm as she looks at him earnestly. She slithers her hand under her cheek. "I was wondering if Mary would like a day in the pool," she murmurs, and that is technically a lie because she has been thinking of bringing Mary to the pool so she could teach er to swim. "Not right now, but when it gets warmer. I want to teach her how to swim, and she seems to be fond of the water enough."

Robert smiles softly at her. He always gets a look in his eyes when she speaks about Mary or the many things she wants to teach her - painting, playing the piano, riding a horse. It's always a gentleness or a soft sparkle that makes Cora feel tender too. "That would be great. Maybe we could make a day of that."

It's a little far away, and she's not very superstitious, though she can't help but hope they won't jinx things by talking about it now. Hopefully, maybe, things would have sorted themselves by then.

"I was thinking of the end of the semester," she tells him honestly then, because it seems that it is exactly where this thread of conversation is about to go.

"Are you excited?" he asks then. She thinks he's asking about moving up into another year, and he looks calm and collected - his face a blank slate - that she wonders if he shares the same sentiments as she does.

She nods once. "We won't have to hide anymore, at least," she confesses. She closes her eyes for a moment, hearing the sheets rustling and she supposes he's looking for a more comfortable position. For months now, she's been spending more time here than she does in her own apartment, although she does still spend time there, not just to curb suspicion but also to just spend time with her friend and roommate.

When she opens her eyes, she meets Robert's blue ones and he's staring at her intently. She raises an eyebrow.

"You know I love you, right?" he asks her, and of course she does. She is about to say that she loves him, too, but he silences her with a kiss on her lips. "And I would love to take you out...on a date, out on a picnic with our daughter, and just...I want to do all these things with you and not hide from the world."

"I know," she murmurs as she moves closer to him, cuddling closer to his chest. The insecurities of their relationship are always there, stark and clear, because this isn't the kind of relationship that allows for peace or complacence, theirs is a love story charged with many little furtive moments, built upon a secret, and discretion is of the utmost value. It's always around her, her insecurities, because they can never really be chased away, but the love is greater than the fear, and the insecurities seem only to be a dull thumping sound at the back of her mind. "And you will, I know, but just not right now. Not when so many things are on the line."

He kisses her forehead and pulls her close. "I love you, Cora,," is all he manages to say, but it is enough.

Cora smiles and murmurs the same to his chest silently, before sleep is pulling her in and she loses the fight and goes under.

Read More here.

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

The World Above | Cobert AU

Some of you may remember my Disney AU adaptation series for Cobert (not much a series as a one shot I did called How does a moment last forever), and I decided, out of boredom and because I was listening to the soundtrack of  Broadway adaptation of the little mermaid that I had to do it. No one asked me to, Im aware, but here we are anyway. I hope you like it. Let me know if there’s anything Disney that you’d like to see.

                                                        .~. .~. .~.

The World Above | The Little Mermaid AU | Cobert AU

Robert always knew that his cousin’s fancy with creatures out of this world would bring them trouble, - and so far, it has. From being often scolded to high heavens by Mama, to being caught in the middle of the storm and narrowly escaping its resulting wreckage (Mama had really blown her tops then), James and his obsession had brought a good amount of misfortune.

Robert was starting to see what Mama had meant by James is nothing but trouble. But Robert was deeply amused by his cousin’s conviction and his own thirst for exploration and adventure, albeit tamed now that he’s grown a bit older, led to many, many locations where the out of this world creatures might be found.

Robert had just never imagined that it would bring them here, of all places. Here as in the carnival.

He threw a look of disbelief at his cousin who seemed to be brimming with the uninhibited excitement of a child. They were only buying tickets to get in so far, and already James could not be calmed. “You do know it’s all farce, don’t you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow of pure derision at his cousin.

James, ever so unperturbed, only shrugged at him but continued walking in search of the tent they had come here specifically for. “The barman at Grantham Arms had sworn on his wages that this was not,” James had said proudly, unawares that his easy going nature had been used against him, yet again. “I deemed it worth checking, at least.”

Robert would have laughed but the disbelief was too high to overcome. “It isn’t worth much,” Robert had said, not as unkindly as it sounded. It seemed as though his cousin who was as good as his brother if he ever had one, was easily misguided. He’d known that, of course, but this was a new low even for him.

“I don’t take much stock in his words, Robert,” James countered with a roll of his eyes, and it could have almost fooled Robert. Almost. “I would know it if I laid eyes on it myself.”

Robert doubted that, but he decided not to speak of it. After all, what good would it do? Instead, he shook his head silently and only followed his cousin to the tent they had been searching for. Robert was not expecting to be surprised, but he hoped at least that it was worth his while.

Read More Here

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

100 Days: Day 3|| Cobert AU

Day Three

It was two in the morning.

She really should be sleeping, but she couldn’t. She was up because she was still exchanging messages with Robert, and getting a giddy feeling about it like a schoolgirl.

Preposterous, because she was in her late forties. She didn’t feel it appropriate to feel like she was a teen with a crush.

But then again, who made it a rule that older, more matured women were not allowed to feel this way. Life was short. She was allowed to feel so giddy, like there were butterflies in her stomach. She was allowed to smile broadly in front of her cellphone as she read messages from a handsome man.

Age was just a number. Feelings were more constant.

“Since you won’t be working tomorrow, would you like to have dinner together?” he asked through the message he just sent. They’d exchanged numbers earlier that day. So much for meeting him, thanking him, and leaving him in her distant but pleasant memories then, huh.

She bit down on her lip. Was he asking her out on a date? She really wanted to ask but she didn’t dare. She didn’t want the rejection.

Before she could type up a reply, a new message came: “I promise it’s not at the pub again this time.”

She chuckled. Her fingers were shaking just a bit as she replied. “That would be nice. Where would we go?”

The ellipsis appeared, signalling he was typing up a reply. She waited with baited breath.

“How about Patmore’s? It’s a really good place to eat, if you haven’t been.”

She had been, but she knew it was a new restaurant in town. It seemed like a good idea. “I have, and I’d love to.”

“Great. Pick you up at 7?” There was a smiling emoji at the end of the sentence, and it was adorable.

“Okay, see you then!” She replied, biting down on her lip and worrying it. She was so excited. She shouldn’t, she knew. It didn’t mean that much, or anything at all, but it was hard not to be swept away.

Robert was a dashing, charming man, with an air of mystery in him and she was smitten - that much she could admit to herself at least. 

“See you, Cora,” he replied, before sending a new text message saying it was late and that he should let her turn in. “Goodnight and have  pleasant dreams,” said his last message.

Yawning, she smiled and wished him the same before she went to bed herself. 

Read More Here

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Bamboozled | Cobert AU

Here is the Harry Potter and Cobert crossover that no one asked for. Originally an entry for the #Cobertweek2017 Day 1: Magic, now just a stupid one shot.

__________________________

She doesn’t really have much in the way of expectations, and she supposes that it’s just right. Sure she has hopes - those that have stubborn;y planted themselves inside her heart and blossomed inside her chest, despite her efforts to squash them - but she doesn’t really have any expectations. At least not for change, never for change. 

From where she stands, there isn’t much that’s changed, neither is there anything new at all, and that doesn’t even come to her as a surprise. She has come to accept it, expect it even, had known it from the very start, long before she had boarded the ship that brought her to London, an ocean and a few thousand miles away from home.

The looks still get to her, because she knows they are still looking. The whispers and the murmurs still make her conscious, because they still whisper.

Different country, same problems.

She knows she is different though, knows as much and that he difference applies to both the world she’s always known and the world she has recently come to know. She’s neither special nor normal, and therein lies the difficulty. She’s half included in both worlds, and she knows that, knows she doesn’t belong here, and not there either.

Did her parents listen to her though? Of course not. Did they believe her when she’s said to them that a continent apart would not change the way that people like her are viewed? Definitely not. It certainly hadn’t for the ones before her, but did they listen? Did they hear her when she said she doesn’t belong here?

And although she’s hoped, oh how she has hoped, she’d always  known that no, she does not. 

Her parents had not considered what she had to say, had not even bothered to ask and had decided on her behalf instead. They had the money to make it happen, too, although she doesn’t think there’s much need for it. Things have been done and some rules have been bent to accommodate her parents’ request. 

All her feelings had been set aside and ignored.

She breathes out a sigh as she looks up at the ceiling - that of which mimics the sky outside. It is dark and cloudy, no stars peppering the black sky and it seems like it will be raining some time soon. She knows it rains a lot here, she’s been properly briefed about the weather before she’d even left home.

She turns her attention from the ceiling to the doors. The students are now starting to gill the great hall, and there are hundreds of them, all in black robes, all chattering lively and excitedly. The buzz of many different conversations fill the din, and the staff are coming in with the students and are trying their best to bring back the peace and order. The ghosts, the likes of which are not new, but are entirely unfamiliar to her, are of no help as they float above freely, roaming as they welcome students, adding more to the noise.

She feels part indignation fill her as the first years start to file inside the hall. She really shouldn’t, she tells herself, and she knows it too. It’s hard not to be bitter though when she knows that they are all in the same position. All of their faces shine in equal parts excitement and fear, and she tries very hard to bite down at the dread she feels.

She should have been with them, she thinks, should have been delivered the same way they had been. The headmaster, bless him, thought it appropriate to let her come to the great hall with the little bit of dignity she could afford. He had insisted that she rode to the cancel the same way higher levels do. She is glad for the attempt to minimize the embarrassment, although she knows it to be futile.

It doesn’t matter really, she thinks as the Professor (Professor Mcgonagall, she remembers distinctly) starts to get the first year to line up. The professor had been the same one she’d had a conversation with in the Leaky Cauldron. She also knows the Head Master, Professor Dumbledore - she’d been introduced upon her arrival here.

Professor Mcgonagall had been pleasant enough, asking her what she’s learned so far and reassuring her that she will be able to catch up quickly, as the professor and her parents had discussed the terms of her transfer. It had contained a fair bit of confidential information and several cases of name calling and bullying to move schools for being who she is - a witch born from non magical parents.

“Levinson, Cora,” Mcgonnagall calls out her name and she looks up at the professor to find her holding up the hat they used to determine the house where a student belongs to. They don’t have such a hat in Ilvermorny, but they had other ways to sort out the students in the four houses: Wampus, Horned Serpent, Puckwudgie, and Thunderbird. 

She had been a part of the Horned Serpent herself, before she’d transferred here at Hogwarts. She doesn’t have a clue where she will be placed here, although she does know the four houses (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin). She isn’t sure what qualities best suit each house, but she does know one thing: she does not belong to Slytherin.

Come to think of it, she barely even belongs here.

“Ravenclaw,” the slightly battered hat yells to the crowd, and it is only then that Cora realizes how quiet it’s become since she has taken the stool.

Read more HERE.

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Love your cobert fanfics 😘❤️are you soon going to update “100 days” ? Take care Darling 😘❤️❣️

I am, yes. Soon. But while you're waiting for that, you might want to read my newest At first glance update, which you can find here! Thanks nonnie and keep safe!

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Love your latest fanfic update !!😘Take care Darling 🤞😘🥰❤️

Thanks lovely! I just posted chapter 2. Read here

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

At first glance chapter 8| Cobert Fanfiction

Hello! I know it's been a long time but law school hasnt been kind.

This chapter has neither reason nor rhyme I know but I wanted to celebrate my birthday with an update. Happy reading everyone. This chapter has smut so proceed with caution!

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

Chapter Nine

Robert feels as though the day might not actually end. He'd been ready to go home and rest since nine am that day, the long night he'd suffered with Mary being unwell and cranky had been enough to make him want to throw a temper tantrum himself. He hadn't even seen his girlfriend since the weekend, because he'd been preoccupied with Mary and her illness and her tendency to be clingy on days that she isn't feeling well. Cora had offered to help him look after Mary, concerned as she'd been, and had even shown up in his doorstep with soup for the child, but he'd been resolute in sending her home. He doesn't want her to catch the flu that Mary had because the exams were coming and Cora really couldn't afford to be sick at such a time.

She had acquiesced, but only after extracting a promise from him that she be allowed to come during the weekend. It's Friday that day, and the weekends are upon them, and Robert knows better than anyone that there is no stopping his girlfriend now. Cora had been beside herself with worry over his daughter, and he knows that Cora is itching to see for herself that Mary is getting better.

After all, she had been brought to the doctor's, prescribed some medicine that she mostly refuses to take unless tricked into them, and had been resting for a good three days. Mary is very much on her way to recovery, but Cora isn't so easily placated.

They had agreed to come home together. Robert is to pick Cora up in the coffee shop, or outside, and all he had to do was text her that he's waiting. He had received a text from her, though, that she is just in the library picking up some weekend reading, and that she'll let him know when she's there. It's almost six, and he worries a bit because they had agreed on quarter past five, and Cora is almost always never late. Fifteen minutes isn't much, and she'd already sent him a text informing him she's on her way, just running late, still he worries.

He's sipping the coffee he just ordered when she notices her walking towards the parking lot. She's not alone though, and he spots the same guy she went to the art gallery with tailing her. She looks very much annoyed, but he knows his girlfriend. He knows she's too nice to shoo him away. He wishes he could burst out of the car and make the walking carrot stick of a man go away, but he can't. He doesn't want to make a scene. And that, in no way, shape, or form, helps.

He doesn't know what's being said, but it seems as though Cora is arguing with him. He's helpless but he really wants to jump in defense of Cora.

Yet, he waits.

Read more at ff.

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

At First Glance Ch 8|| Cobert AU

It had not been difficult for things to fall into place after that. Of course, it is very ignorant to say that everything is easy, or had been easy, because that wouldn’t been true. Nothing this good could ever be easy, but everything else just sort of fit into their rightful places. Cora has never been happier since she’d moved here, and Robert seems so far from what he’d used to be before they got together – grumpy, annoyed, and sullen. He’s still very strict in class, but he’s no longer surly.

The students have taken notice of it too, and Cora tries very hard not to gloat or burst with happiness when her classmates speak about how much lighter Robert’s demeanour has been lately. She tries not to toot her own horn, but she knows she’s partially responsible. She knows this because she feels the same amount of elation and happiness that he feels.

Mary, too, has been such a perfect fit in her own life. She’d been doubtful, at first, where she would fall in the strong and healthy father-daughter dynamic, but everything seems to just fit. Mary has taken to her, and she truly does enjoy the toddler’s company. Mary is very insightful for her age. And although, they haven’t spoken to her about the true nature of their relationship, out of fear she might tell someone they cannot trust, Mary seems to know and regard Cora as someone special – in both their lives, and Cora can’t help but be grateful that she has the pleasure to be in both their lives.

It’s been hard to keep things tightly under wraps. Cora is conscious of being caught and getting Robert in trouble, and Robert is on the same boat. There’s so much more at stake than just his position in the school – there is Mary to think about, and neither Cora nor Robert is ready or willing to sacrifice her for anything. It’d be nice to walk together hand in hand when the air gets too bitingly cold, or kiss when the ghost of their last kiss begins to fade from their lips, or scream into the world that they’re together, that they are in love, but it is never worth risking Mary for just that.

Read more HERE

[neverendingsourceofmystery]

Absolutely no one asked for this. Well, @crawleyfan​ prompted me with “I don’t know what scares me more, the fact that one day you might ask me to leave, or that I love you so much that I would leave immediately to keep you happy.” Or I was scared to admit that I had started loving you because it would mean admitting that I would never stop.” for Cobert

I’m sure it was a different direction than this, but oh well. FOR COBERT. Also, yeah, yeah I know you didn’t ask for this. Humor me.

*If you want more context, read this. And if you wanna prompt me something, you can choose from this.

“I was scared to admit that I had started loving you because it would mean admitting that I would never stop.”

The admission comes as a surprise, and she hadn’t really seen that coming. It’s been years since the divorce, months since Mary’s wedding, and they had been back to their normal lives, or at least what constitutes as normal these days, with the ghost of his lips pressed against her skin haunts her at night and brought back memories she’s tried so much to bury because she knows they’re nothing more than that – bittersweet memories of yesteryear that serve no purpose other than hurt her and make her pine for what she can no longer ever have.

It’s hard, such as the life of a woman scorned but still secretly in love with the same man whose cruel hand held her heart and crushed it until it was nothing but ashes. She tries to forget, tries to tell herself that she’s nothing but a mere idiot to feel this way, but it’s fine because familiarity is on tricky motherfucker, and sure feelings resurface, but that’s just because she’s had them for so long. It’s impossible to stop loving someone you have loved for so long, although the longing does fade in time. Settling comes next, and then acceptance comes in second, and it all becomes better – somehow, anyhow.

And she has pretty much accepted her fate, that knowledge that had come with loving him for so long had equipped her with a heart of acceptance, and she’s settled with the life of loneliness and the bitterness of an ex wife who had once given her husband her all, only for him to turn around when the next bimbo in town came on to him.

So she had caved in when she’d been in her daughter’s wedding, had let him have his way with her, and had let herself have her way with him. Nostalgia and melancholy are ever the bitches that sucked her in, but that’s okay. Yes, that okay turns into nothing but desperation when faced with such situation – she surmises.

“What are you talking about?” she says back when she finally regains control of her bearings, and she looks up at him with disbelief and scepticism she had, unknowingly, reserved for this very moment.

She thought their moment had been over, very much over.

True, he’d tried to contact her multiple times since their little tryst, but she – unlike him – understood what it means to go back to our normal lives and live as though nothing happened. She doesn’t, didn’t, want to entangle herself further into him. Time for nostalgia and melancholy is over.

“I wanted to tell you before you left,” he says without missing a beat, and he enters into her office without invitation, not that he needed anymore when he had come bursting in, despite the protestations of Cora’s trusty assistant - Phyllis – and he’d had some sort of awkward declaration that had sent poor Baxter hiding behind her desk, jumping to do something else to make it less awkward for Cora

Not that it’s possible, with the way Robert is awkwardly hunched over her door, looking wild and rugged in his white shirt and black trousers. His hair is tousled and he looks like he might not have slept for a while, the bags under his eyes are as purple as they can be.

“Robert,” she sighs, placing the documents she’s been holding down on her desk so she can assume a position of woman with patience though she is supremely lacking – whatever. “What on earth are you on about? And what on earth are you doing here?”

He shakes his head wildly as he makes large steps towards her desk. He is frightening her, but she doesn’t let him know that, doesn’t let it show in the way she sits and looks at him directly – bright blue eyes staring at him directly and willing him to bow down.

“I can’t forget it, I can’t go back to the way it was before Mary’s wedding, I have tried...” he trails off and he looks manic, looks like he’s desperate and there’s a space in Cora’s heart that throbs for him, but her ears and her mind hear what he wants, and nope, no.

“Well you have to,” she tells him in no uncertain terms. “It was...nice and familiar and I don’t regret it happening, but it isn’t going to happen again. We agreed, Robert. You and I agreed that it was a – one time thing? – dalliance, for a lack of better word and we agreed that it was not going to continue once we move back to our normal lives.”

He looks at her and there’s something about his blue eyes, something wild and something desperate, and she isn’t sure what to make of it. It is a side of him that she doesn’t know or understand, and she remains quiet as she tries to gauge him. She purses her lips and stands her ground. She doesn’t want to make the same mistake again.

“I want to, I want to go back and...The only thing that kept me from saying I love you, that I had started loving you again...hell that I have never stopped loving you, was the knowledge that I wouldn’t know what to stop.” He paused, his eyes turn imploring. “Can you look me in the eye and say that it didn’t change anything for you – that our time together didn’t change the last few years of anonymity and...it was pure hell, Cora, living without you. Don’t tell me that the time we had together is not our second chance at this thing.”

My life was hell without you, too, but I don’t know if I can trust you again.

She wants to say the words, wants to tell him she wants to come back to him too, but she can’t trust him, and telling him that would give him ammunition to talk her out of something and into another thing.

“Nothing can change the last few years, Robert,” she says without emotion, trying very hard not to cry or tremble or show him how much she wants to stop being bitter and just start living the life they once promised each other.

But a few nights of pleasure could never take away the pain of what he had done to her.

“You can’t waltz in here and talk me into...Nothing can undo the pain you’ve caused me when you decided to throw our vows out the window and screwed your secretary!” she bellows and the carefully placed mask she had slips completely off her face. She is trembling and her fists are clenched and she is looking at him, somewhat dangerously.

“I –“ he starts but she doesn’t let him.

“Don’t you dare you’re sorry,” she tells him angrily. She doesn’t want to hear it. She doesn’t want to hear him say he’s sorry because it doesn’t change anything to her, doesn’t erase the last few months of their marriage when she had suffered from the pain of knowing her husband no longer wanted her, or the last few years when she had to live with the aftermath of their divorce. “You shouldn’t say what you don’t mean. You’re not sorry, Robert. At least not for what I need you to be sorry for. You’re only sorry because you now want what you’re not allowed to have!”

She is truly angry now, the words she’d longed to say to him for so long now brimming. She’s frothing at the mouth to lash out, to hurt him even just a tiny fraction of how he’d hurt her, all the times they’d been together at Mary’s wedding be damned.

“You can’t change what has happened before and you cannot undo the hurt you’ve caused.” She stands up and walks to the door, her steps are heavy and angry and her posture could not possibly mean anything but. She shakes her head at him. “Once upon a long time ago, I didn’t know what scared me more, the fact that one day you might ask me to leave, or that I love you so much that I would leave immediately to keep you happy.”

She opens the door and gestures for him to go out. He’s speechless, even as he walks slowly towards the door, his head hung low. Maybe, words are no longer needed after all.

“I guess I had been too focused on loving you that I forgot to be scared of the moment I no longer do.” She turns her head away from him. “Goodbye, Robert.”

She’s proud of herself, proud of how well she managed to stand her ground. But when the door closes and she’s left alone, she sinks into the floor and cries.

She never really ever wanted to say goodbye.

 Fin – 05/05/2019