A rainy evening in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (@cs_snapshot IG)

Exmoor, England (by Harvey Grenville)

Night Landscapes.

Tom Hiddleston guest stars in the Birmingham Rep's revival of 'The Play What I Wrote' at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on December 06, 2021 in Birmingham, UK.

[ Part 2 ]

Stonehenge at Snowy Sunset

Wiltshire | England

Westminster, & London Bridge, Frederick Edward Joseph Goff (British, 1855-1931)

This is so sweet ❤️

Opening Up (2) | Mason Mount x Reader

Mason smiled as he saw his phone light up as they sat around the table, not escaping the notice of the rest of his teammates at the dinner.

"Who's got you smiling like that?" Jack called from across the table

Mason shook his head, not given the chance to respond by the sound of Bukayo making a suggestive hum. "I think I know,"

"Saka," Mason warned.

"Open it up to the group, come on, no secrets here." Bukayo urged causing the players and coaches to make 'Oohing' sounds as they teased him. Mason blushed slightly as he hung his head, grinning to himself.

"Go on Mount, what's the big secret?" Southgate urged as he poured himself another glass of wine.

Mason looked up and made eye contact with Steve who was wiggling his eyebrows, and he knew that there was no getting out of it now.

"I'm taking y/n/n out on a date," Mason revealed, the whole table bursted out in delight as he did so and he placed his head in his hands, hiding his wide smile at their reaction.

-

"Are you ready?" he asked over the phone. y/n smiled with a shake of her head as she walked though the modern building.

"Believe it or not Mason, I'm punctual." she laughed before ending the call. Mason looked up to see her walking through the building's foyer, dressed in jeans and a tight-fitting black turtleneck, putting on a bomber jacket.

She was effortlessly beautiful, and she had the ability to control any room she found herself in, and he could see it unfolding in front of him. People in the foyer had their eyes on her as she waved at the porter with a glowing smile, she walked out and saw Mason directly in front of her, a boyish grin on his face.

"You are punctual," he smiled as she came over to hug him, "and beautiful too," he said into her ear. y/n grinned as she pulled away to look at him, there was a moment between the two of them where everything drowned out, and y/n moved in to kiss him softly, feeling his hands grip her waist as he pulled her into him.

"Been a while," she smiled as she traced circled on the back of his neck.

"Too long," Mason smiled before taking her hand and walking her to the passenger seat of the Mercedes.

-

"Are you happy to be back playing Domestic?" she asked, resting her hand in her palm as she looked at Mason across the table.

"Well, I love all the boys but it's nice to be back with Timo, Edouard and Chris." Mason informed after sipping some of the wine, "There isn't as much competition, or tension."

"Tension?" She asked

"You know, this whole atmosphere of not knowing who will be picked for the next squad, there's always this subtle undertone of competition when there doesn't need to be."

"I get that," she murmured, "But you know you've got a guarantee, right? With you it's not even just about the football anymore, everyone loves you Mase, fans and the management. If you weren't picked I think they would have a fit." she smiled.

"I guess, and I don't say that to sound arrogant, but it is true." He sighed, "anyway, I want to hear about you." Mason dismissed.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, her eyes alight.

Mason bit his lip as he looked at her, she was bringing out something in him that he had never felt. "How did you get into football?"

"My uncles in Colombia, they were on the coaching staff at Atlético Nacional in Medellin, they brought my brothers and I into the game and trained us non-stop from like three years old. Didn't have kids of their own and my grandfather was in support of it, my mother didn't seem to mind and my dad's a huge football fan so he let them do as they pleased."

"Did you enjoy it?" Mason asked, picking up on her slightly tainted accent that he had never really heard before.

"It was all I knew, but when my mum passed it was too painful for my dad to stay in Colombia, so we moved, all of us, my twin brother and my two older ones. It kind of deteriorated the relationship between my dad and my Uncles but he promised that he would keep us playing in London."

"Well, clearly, you did."

"I did until eighteen, then stopped, I wanted a normal university experience, but I still played for exercise. Then I was training in West London and that's where Sarina found me, asked me to trial to join England, I declined but she was pretty persistent and said that she had plans for me to help the team. I knew the game analytically as well because of my Uncles, so knew how I had to play to make others work. When she got in touch with my uncles to research me they wanted me to go and play for the National Team in Colombia but I couldn't leave my dad, plus it's painful to go back there, so I just spoke with my dad and he encouraged me to do it, and here we are."

"I've heard some stories of how people got into football but nothing like that," Mason said with a shake of the head, "y/n/n, you should be playing in the prem, the UCL, not as a pacesetter."

"The women's game is very different in both of those leagues, it's not as appealing." y/n sighed as she trailed her index finger around the rim of her wineglass.

"That's true," Mason nodded.

"Plus, I'm happy with what I'm doing, I've got my plan to go into finance and I'm already being seen as a prospect by some banks, I'm in a good spot." She smiled softly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Whatever you want," she smiled.

"What was your mum called?"

y/n took a moment, a small smile on her lips as she reminisced in the fond memories of her mother, "She was called Valeriá, she was amazing, from everything i have to go off."

"How old were you when she passed?" Mason asked softly

"I was ten," y/n sighed, a look of sadness overcoming her expression, but Mason could tell that she wanted to talk about it, she seemed to be at ease. There was one question that she knew he was dying to ask though, and that was 'How?'

"You want to know the grand cause?" she sighed, watching as Mason extended his hand over the table to take hers. She placed her fingertips in his palm and traced patterns as he nodded, he looked inquisitive. "My uncles,"

Mason's expression changed into one of concern immediately, but y/n squeezed his hand ever so slightly. "They didn't kill her, or have her killed. But the sad truth is that in Colombia the cost of a mistake is human life, not yours but the ones closest to you. They didn't pay off their debts in time after they built their own training ground to start up a youth academy to get kids off the streets after school, the loansharks who lent them the money were, as it goes, tied in with the Narcos, and that was it, they had her killed."

Mason watched as she recited what had happened as if it was nothing, she went into an emotional shutdown in which she seemed to be on autopilot.

"I'm so fucking sorry y/n/n," Mason said, trying to find something in her eyes that said she was hurting, but he couldn't and it was a concern to him.

"Don't be Mason, she taught me to be kind and she taught me to be strong. What I got from her was something very special, I count myself lucky that I get to remember her so fondly." She smiled. Mason felt his heart warm at her optimism but he also knew there was a lot to uncover there, and he knew that a part of y/n remained buried deep underground.

He stood from his seat and walked round to her, tilting her chin up to him as he held her gaze before kissing her softly in the restaurant. y/n smiled as he pulled away, "what was that for?"

"I couldn't help myself," Mason murmured.

He walked over to sit opposite her again as y/n managed to tone down the wide smile that she wanted to break into.

-

Mason walked with y/n down The Kings Road, his arm around her as he did so. They made avid conversation, Mason making her laugh hysterically, until they were rudely cut off by an unwarranted jeer from someone across the street.

Y/n turned her head to see a group of drunken young men, probably in the middle of a night out, making unfavourable comments to Mason about his performance, calling all kinds of things. Mason shut his eyes as he exhaled and they kept walking, until one of them shouted, “Only good thing you’ve done is manage to land someone who looks like she’d be a good fuck!”

Mason spun round immediately to go and confront them but y/n was quick to get in front of him, “Mase, don’t even rise to it, if anything that was a compliment to me.” She quickly said, placing a hand on his chest and pushing him back from the curb before he could cross the road.

“I'm not going to stand here and let them talk about you like that,” Mason grunted as he pushed forwards to get to the still-jeering group of young men.

“Mason, look at me,” she reasoned, “you’re only giving them what they want.” Y/n said, placing her hand on his cheek to keep his focus on her. Mason met her eyes, an urging look being sent his way, “kiss me, take your mind off it,” she grinned.

Mason did as she said imminently, crashing his lips on hers with urgency, losing himself in her as he blocked out the comments being thrown his way. Once she pulled away y/n grabbed his hand and walked him down the street and away from the group of young men, looking over at him with a smile on her lips, “Are you okay?”

“Wankers,” he muttered.

“Indeed,” she laughed. Mason placed his arm around her again and kissed the side of her head as they walked to his car.

As they made conversation as he drove Mason snuck a glance whenever he could, her smile was illuminating, she was the embodiment of charm and Mason knew she was irresistible.

“Are you coming up?” Y/n asked with a small smirk as she looked over to Mason. He bit his lip, he knew what would end up happening, and he was conflicted; he didn’t want her to think he was using her by sleeping with her that fast, but the way in which they were so comfortable around each other, the way in which they got on as if they had been together for years, the way in which he didn’t care about kissing her in public, the sheer fact that he wanted to the whole time, that told him that whatever happened that night was meant to happen.

“Let’s go.”

-

Mason watched her as she fixed them both a drink, her home was different to how she seemed at face-value. She had photos up, ones that he assumed to be of her family, and then there was a striking one, of a woman who looked exactly like y/n. She walked up behind him with the old Fashioned and handed it to him, “that’s her.”

“Your mother?”

“Yeah,” y/n said, a warm smile on her face as she looked at the large portrait before knocking back a good amount of her drink. “I don’t know why I hung it up to be honest, it makes me sad to look at.”

“Naturally,” Mason said after consuming some of the liquor, “but maybe that’s a good thing y/n/n, it’s good to be upset about things, actually feel.”

“Not sad forever though,” she sighed before finishing her drink, “apologies in advance if you can’t keep up with me, you’re drinking with a Colombian.” She smirked, changing the subject and he didn't even realise her doing it purposefully. Mason grinned before knocking back the last of the drink and following her back into the kitchen.

Mason watched as she poured them both another, she slid it across the marble counter before propping herself up on it, drawing Mason in. He stood with his drink in one hand and his other on her thigh, watching as she sipped the whiskey; his eyes were fixed to her lips, lips that he constantly wanted to kiss.

“I never thought I had a shot with you, you know.” She remarked as she looked back to him, a hand on his chest.

“Why not?” He asked, running his hand up and down her thigh.

“Because you’re, well… you.” She laughed, “The golden boy of football,” she smiled. “I just would’ve thought that you would’ve been too busy with other options.”

“You’re not an option y/n, you’re so much more than an option.” He murmured, placing a hand on her cheek, “I got lucky with you, very lucky, the fact you even agreed to come out to dinner with me is me getting unbelievably lucky. You’re so different to anyone I have ever met, and your company is all I could ever want,” Mason confessed. Her eyes shone slightly as he spoke, her heart felt lifted, she’d never been spoken to by someone she cared about in the way he had just spoken to her. “And I want you to know again, I’m not using you, I haven’t felt like this before about anyone, and I don’t know what it is about you but I just want to be with you, literally all of the time, and I can never stop thinking about you, I mean, It’s a borderline problem.”

Y/n laughed as she listened to his last remark, “Mason, I feel the exact same way.” She confirmed before pulling him into another feverish kiss. It was remarkably more passionate than their first;

Y/n moaned slightly into his mouth as his hand trailed up the inside of her thigh. The kiss deepened and became even more heated as y/n peeled his jacket off him.

“Is our first time going to be on your counter or do you have a bed that I can get you to,” Mason murmured against her lips causing y/n to smile before nudging him back and taking him by the hand, leading him to her bedroom.

Mason pushed her down onto the bed, hovering over her as he examined her beauty once more. Y/n bit her lip as she watched him, the moment of pause between them speaking volumes, “Are you sure you want this?” She asked, placing a hand on the back of his neck.

“Are you?” Mason said with a soft smile.

“Yes,” y/n breathed.

Towers of the Tower of London

A man builds a house in England with the expectation of living in it and leaving it to his children; while we shed our houses in America as easily as a snail does his shell. We live a while in Boston, and then a while in New York, and then, perhaps, turn up at Cincinnati. Scarcely any body with us is living where they expect to live and die. The man that dies in the house he was born in is a wonder. There is something pleasant in the permanence and repose of the English family estate, which we, in America, know very little of.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author

The ancient forest of Richmond Park, Surrey (@richsearlephotos IG)

Heacham, Norfolk Photograph: Paul Marriott

Rice reading David Moyes's message. (West ham vs Chelsea)

Curtain Call - at the Birmingham Rep's revival of 'The Play What I Wrote' at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on December 06, 2021 in Birmingham, UK.

With Dennis Herdman, Thom Tuck and Mitesh Soni.

And, Tom Hiddleston as guest star.

A good catch

Worthing seaside resort, Sussex, England 1930-1935

Source: The Memory of the Netherlands

In love 🥰

I fucking love you Jed.

Re-do | Mason Mount x Reader

y/n felt her heart fall to the pit of her stomach when she saw him, in the middle of London at a random restaurant, just her luck. She walked over to the table to talk to Winston, immediately beginning to ramble.

"Stop talking to me like we're in the middle of a conversation, you literally just sat down." Winston drily said, causing y/n to glare at her best friend.

"Did you know he was here?" She asked irritatedly, he didn't respond immediately as he laughed nervously, "Winston!"

"You wouldn't have come!" He argued back

"That is my ex-boyfriend who you also know very well! What are we gonna do now?" She scolded.

"You just moved back home, I haven't seen you in three months since I went to see you in L.A. and I want to have brunch with my best friend," he shrugged, sipping his orange juice through a straw, "I hate that colour on you by the way."

"I preferred you when you were colour blind," y/n grumbled, "you're so strange." she sighed.

"Winnie needs a hug, and he's looking over at us right now, and it's really hard not to look at him whilst just sippin' juice."

"Oh my God," she sighed as she stood, crushing her best friend in a long-needed hug.

-

"Mason is walking over here," Winston sang playfully causing y/n to momentarily choke, "he is arriving," he sang again.

"Why can you never break news in a normal way? What is wrong with you? You've got so mu--"

"Hey guys," the confident voice sounded, one that gave y/n slight chills as she listened to it.

"Mason!" Winston enthusiastically greeted as he stood to greet Mason, y/n inwardly died at how uncooly he had played it off. "How you doing?"

"I'm good, yeah," he smiled as y/n looked up at him, his eyes were soft and loving, the same. She smiled radiantly as she stood up to lightly hug him, "you're back now?"

"Yeah, we're not gonna be filming anymore episodes," y/n informed

"I'm sorry to hear that, I loved the show." Mason sighed as he stood with his hands in his pockets, lie, that show broke them up.

"It's alright, we had a great five seasons," she smiled.

"So Mason, I was just saying to y/n that we should go to the game on Saturday," Winston said, causing y/n's expression to drop.

"Definitely! I've got loads of spares, I'll send you the tickets." Mason smiled, but y/n could've broken both of their arms, they knew just as well as she did what the other was doing.

"Thank you man,"

"No problem, I'll see you both on Saturday," Mason nodded before walking away from the table as if nothing had even happened.

"Are you broken?" She asked, her mouth agape completely.

"I am doing you a favour," Winston mused, "you know you want it just as much as I do, and he does, I feel like I should also make his very strong feelings slash never-ending love for you more important."

"Winston," she groaned as she put her head in her hands.

"y/n," he sighed, putting his hands together, "there comes a time in everyone's life where we have to look at ourselves and say, 'Why am I being an absolute clown right now?' and this is your moment." He shrugged.

y/n tried to protest but he didn't listen, "I swear to god if you don't listen to me i will scream-sing every single word to Les Mis in this restaurant!" he snapped causing y/n to roll her eyes, "do it, stop being an idiot."

-

y/n stared at her phone on the Saturday afternoon, she had been waiting for this day since Thursday and the nerves that were running through her were incomprehensible.

"I think I'm having a fucking nervous breakdown," she muttered as they walked to their seats. "I feel like I need to smoke weed or something,"

"Winnie's got you, and Winnie loves love, so if Winnie can make it happen Winnie will make it happen." He said smoothly.

"Winston, you are not Oprah! And no more referring to yourself in the 3rd Person today, I can't listen to it anymore." She said.

"Look, you two would be amazing together! He's grown used to the Long D."

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"The Long D?" he shrugged, "Long distance relationship, and he wouldn't even have to do that anymore."

"I actually don't know why we're friends." She muttered

-

y/n smiled as she watched Mason celebrate his goal against Fulham, biting her lip as she watched him run round the stands and point up to where they were sat in the friends & family section. Winston began to squeal like a little girl and she wanted to punch him in the stomach as he drew the attention of surround people over to them even more.

"That was all for you girl, all for you!" He cheered

-

y/n sipped on her drink as she watched a group of Players get to know Winston, and his hilarity had them all hooked to him. She shook her head as she watched him effortlessly get on and wondered how she, a tightly wound person, had managed to stick it out with a best friend like him.

She thought about a discussion she had had with Mason on the exact topic.

She answered his call "I'm with Mason and you're on speaker," she sighed.

He made suggestive sounds causing them both to laugh, "You can see my face right now and I'm smiling," Winston said amusedly.

"I can, now can you get to the point?"

"Oh no I was just bored, you two have a good night now." He said casually.

"You're so weird,"

"I'm gonna go record a bunch of noises that I've been hearing n my flat. Bye,"

The line went dead and y/n looked over at Mason, "I don't even have words at this point."

"He's special," Mason laughed as he pulled y/n over to his lap, "he brings you down though, gets you out of your head." Mason murmured as he slipped a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I guess, he really likes you, which is rare." She informed, "he has this whole criteria but it;s a Winston criteria so it's complicated." She smiled.

"And I passed?" Mason grinned

"With flying colours,"

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the door opening and the people in the room cheered to see some of the players walk in, Mason included, now dressed normally. Mason hadn't spotted her but she watched as he approached Winston, and she immediately busied herself with knocking back the rest of her drink.

She found herself looking up at him, a small smile on his face, "like the goal?" he asked.

"I did," she grinned, feeling herself relax.

"I'm glad," Mason said, "look, it's the elephant in the room and I want to ask you regardless of what you may say. I miss you, and i just want to take you out to dinner, catchup with you at least." Mason asked, y/n could perceive his nervousness but a small smile formed on her lips and found Winston's wriggling his eyebrows from where he stood with the group.

She smiled as she bit her lip before looking back up at Mason, "yeah, let's do it."

Mason exhaled in relief, "does tonight work?" he asked, "it's half-six now and I'll have to hang around here for a bit but i could get us in somewhere for eight and we could go from here."

"Yeah, that sounds perfect."

-

Winston had to keep himself from having a stroke when he heard the news twenty minutes before y/n and Mason were planning on leaving, "you've known about this for an hour and are only telling me now!"

"Because you get weird and tell everyone! Plus, we're just catching up!" She said as they sat next to each other on one of the sofas.

"I told you I love love, I'm not gonna push those feelings down." Winston said as he shrugged, rubbing his hands. "There is one thing though, he was asking me something."

"What?"

"If you were with anyone in L.A. after you guys broke up," he informed, y/n knitted her eyebrow as she looked over at Mason who was engaged in avid conversation with some teammates.

"What did you say?"

"I said that you weren't but he asked if the Max thing ever became, you know, a thing."

y/n's mind wandered again, back to just before they broke up.

"Mason, you have to trust me on this, nothing is going on, papers will spin it however they want and you know that just as well as I do." She pleaded over the phone.

"I want to y/n/n, it's just so hard with you being so far away." Mason croaked, his voice sounded broken as he spoke.

"Mase, I love you." She urged, she didn't get a response.

"And what did you say about Max?" Winston stayed silent and y/n could see right through him, "Winston!"

"He read me like a book, I tried! I told him that it was never anything serious though, that it was just sex, you two were just having sex, casu--"

"Stop talking," she groaned as she leant forwards. Winston whistled through his teeth before placing a hand on her back, rubbing it up and down.

"That guy loves you, he doesn't care, I know that."

"Because you're the 'Master of Love'?"

"Exactly,"

-

Mason looked at y/n from across the table, a small smile on his lips as she filled him in on what she had planned next now that she was moving back to London.

"I'm gonna focus on writing, Channel 4 want me to get involved with some shows and I prefer writing to acting anyway, and I'm just happy to be back here, you know how I felt about Los Angeles." She sighed, resting her hand in her palm. "But you've really become the golden boy around here, haven't you?" she grinned.

"It came out of nowhere," Mason said, shifting comfortably in his chair. "Everything seemed to click and suddenly I'm playing the way I'm playing."

"Spectacularly it seems," she smiled causing Mason to shake his head, "you should hear Winston talking about you, he thinks you're Maradonna."

"He thinks of me too highly," Mason said with a shake of his head.

"I'm pretty sure you're the only reason he supports Chelsea," y/n said with a shake of her head.

"Did you miss him when you were there?" Mason asked

"Everyday," y/n smiled, "you were right, he does keep me very grounded." she laughed, "I really needed that when I was in L.A., it was too stressful by myself."

"I wish you didn't have to go at all," Mason sighed, causing y/n to look at him evocatively, a sadness in her eyes as she did so.

"Mase, this thing with Winston today, what he told you about Max... I'm so sorry I hurt you like that,"

"You weren't in a relationship y/n/n, who am I to control what you do when we're on different continents." Mason said, y/n could see that he was hurt though.

"But it was wrong, and considering he had something to do with our breakup I feel like I disrespected you." She revealed, Mason's eyes changed and they held a look of love. "I'm not overthinking this, am I?" She asked with concern.

"No y/n/n, you're not. And if we're really talking here, I've been thinking about it, we should never have broken up. The distance broke us, but it wasn't us, it wasn't the way we were, are, together."

"I know," y/n breathed, her head hanging slightly as she thought about how they had missed each other, "I just thought that you would have moved on, I mean we've been broken up for almost a year now."

Mason laughed, shaking his head with slight disbelief, "I love you y/n/n, that's not gonna go away in a year or in ten." He urged causing her heart to flip innocently as a small smile formed on her lips.

"So you want to start again?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I want nothing more," he reinstated, stretching his hand out across the table. y/n smiled warmly as she bit her lip, forgetting that she hadn't given Mason a worded confirmation. "So?" he asked.

She withdrew her hand and stood from the table at the back of the restaurant, walking around to him and placing a hand on his cheek, feeling his rest on the small of her back. y/n kissed him longingly for the first time in a year, reminiscing in the feeling of him once more, he hummed against her lips as he broke out into a smile.

"I love you," she murmured against his lips.

"I love you too y/n," Mason replied before kissing her softly once more.

Early morning flower selling under the tunnel umbrellas at London Bridge railway station

Photographer Lucy Yates