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whatisreggieshortfor · 1 year

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Renewed Fancy

For @sunshinejihyun, MC left unnamed as requested

Gary x MC, former Bobby x MC

She shouldn’t be surprised by the number of people they met that were shocked at the fact that she and Bobby stayed friends after they fell out of love.

At the fact that they kept their place together in Rochester and took up separate bedrooms now.

At the fact they were able to coparent their son, who was starting first grade in a week, without questioning each other’s decisions.

It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other. They loved each other a lot, actually.

They had just fallen out of love.

It was two very different things, and a point she often made known.

Bobby had even gotten a new girlfriend just before their son turned one, and Tuesday had become her second best friend in the world. Only after Bobby himself.

And their son seemed to understand. They had decided to separate the relationship before he was born, before they even knew about him, so by the time he turned six he understood why his mum and dad weren’t together anymore.

But it had been nearly ten years now since the Villa, and they’d had no contact for the most part with more than half of their fellow former Islanders. Social media became a lost option, after a deletion years ago, for keeping up with their lives when the media and the public kept scouting and scouring their pages for any sign to tear them down. Texts came every now and then, but hang outs hadn’t happened in a few years- not since before Nero. She had lost a good bit of her friends from before the show after it ended, they claimed it changed her. But at least she still had a friend in Bobby. It was easy to figure what the others had been up to in their own heads. They knew Lottie was off in America working her make up artist dreams. They knew from the internet that Chelsea, Lucas, Henrik, and Rahim had kept up their old jobs but with more notoriety now. They’ve seen Priya’s name on a clothing brand. Bobby had seen Noah at work in his library, and just a quick search of Hope’s company showed her as the thriving VP. Gary was their biggest question mark. His Nan must not have come around to the idea of a talk show, but they wondered if he was still working with cranes every day.

She ended up getting her answer in a way she didn’t expect.

Driving out to her parents to pick up Nero from his weekend with them, her car died. She called Bobby, let him know that she wouldn’t make it and he was immediately ready to run to meet her after picking him up, but she assured him that she called a tow truck already and just needed to wait.

It was only a few minutes before the truck pulled up, and as the driver climbed out, she recognized a still very familiar head of blonde hair.

“Gary? That you?”

His head snapped up from where it was going over his clipboard of the job, and a brief look a surprise flickered across his face before it was overtaken with a beaming grin, “Mate! I thought I recognized the name, but bloody hell I didn’t think it’d actually be you.”

She giggled, unable to keep her own smile from stretching wider as she raced up to give him a hug, “Bloody hell, thank god it’s you. I get so anxious dealing with strangers in these situations.”

“I’ll take a look, see if it’s not something I can fix now and get ya back on the road, but I need you to keep me company and catch me up on your life. Fair?”

“Fair! But you gotta catch me up on yours, too. We thought you’d still be up in cranes!”

He shook his head with a smile, “You got a deal, mate.”

“Great! Well, as for my life let’s see…” She tapped a finger to her chin and he chuckled at it as he got under the hood and started checking for any issues, “Well, I finished my degree since I last saw you. Got a PhD, actually, which wasn’t even the original plan. Got a job offer with the British Space Programme, but I took a remote job working for NASA now.”

He let out a low whistle as he checked the fluid levels, “Damn, mate. That’s impressive. What about Bobs?”

She beamed, “Bobby’s Boops has been up and running for a few years now. I help out there when I can, he actually had to hire on extra bakers to keep up with demand.”

“You tellin’ me ya learned to bake?”

She gasped, smacking his arm as he chuckled to himself, “Excuse you, I make better pies than he does. But no. I actually help with the business side of things.”

“Good to hear you two are still making things work.”

Her brow furrowed before realization hit, “Oh! Oh, no. We broke up years ago. But we stayed best mates. He’s been seeing someone else for a couple years now.” He looked concerned but she waved him off, “Don’t you worry, Gaz. I actually adore her. And it’s not like exes can’t be friends. You and Lottie got along fine at Chelsea’s Murder Mystery party.” He nodded at that, conceding her point.

They kept talking as he fixed the minor issue, he told her about going back to trade school and getting his certification as a mechanic and how proud it made his nan.

Before she knew it, Gary had her on her way in no time. But she desperately wanted to keep in contact again. So she got his new number- he had to change it after productions kept calling him at work. And a day didn’t go by that one of them wasn’t reaching out to the other.

Gary was finally free for a day to make the short trip to hang out, and she was still busy getting ready when the knock came. Tuesday volunteered to get it for her, and she agreed without a second thought. She’d been living with them for close to four years now, it wasn’t something that often occurred to her.

“Oh, hey, are ya Bob’s sister or something?”

“What? Oh, no, I’m-“

“Gary!” She called, finally entering the living room, “This is Tuesday. Bobby’s fiancé.”

“Not yet!” The other girl squawked.

“Mummy! The monsters got daddy!” The interruption called, little feet padded quickly down the hall, and she spun with ease, scooping up the child.

“The monsters? Oh, no, poor daddy. Is it the one under the bed, or the one in the closet?”

“His closet!”

“The ones in his closet? Oh, no!” She glanced at Gary, who looked stunned. “Gary, you mind helping me take down this monster and then we’ll answer whatever questions are brewing in that big brain of yours.” Tuesday took hold of Nero, gesturing them down the hall as she carried him behind them.

They found Bobby ‘dead’, laying on the floor of his closet, half tucked under the clean clothes Tuesday had been telling him all day to fold and put away. She just shook her head, motioning for everyone to be quiet and she took a broom handle and passed it to Gary with a wink, “For our brave knight.”

He raised an eyebrow but then her son spoke up, “You gotta defeat the monsters, knight!”

Gary laughed at the child’s desperate enthusiasm, before ‘charging’ into the closet and attacking the monsters. Bobby sprung to his feet after, bowing deeply, “Sir Gareth, thank you for your pertinent assistance.” Following it up with a cheeky smile, “Good to see ya, mate.”

“Good to see you, too, Bobs.”

Bobby took hold of their son, claiming it was lunch time, and she took Gary back to the living room. She hadn’t planned much for the day, just a few drinks together while they hung out, but as she stood up to get them he stopped her, “I didn’t realize you and Bobby had a kid.”

“Oh.” She blinked, “Well, we didn’t even realize I was pregnant when we broke up. Around four months in I noticed, and we agreed not to be one of those couples that only stayed together for the child. We have this place together, bedrooms on opposite ends, his in the middle. And he absolutely loves Tuesday. She’s been there since he was one, so she’s just…ya know, his second mum.”

“That’s…incredible, honestly, mate.” Gary gave her a soft smile, and she was almost startled at the things it did to her heart. She knew when she saw him again that the feelings that had been long forgotten were brewing back to the surface, only encouraged by every text they had exchanged in between. Then his grin turned cheeky, “Did I see an Alabama jersey on him?”

She flushed, “Guilty pleasure, okay? I have cousins in the states that bleed Crimson Tide, so I always stream the games. He loves watching with me, so for Christmas last year Tuesday got us matching jerseys for his favorite player.”

He laughed, “That’s actually really sweet.”

It became a weekly hang out at some point. Gary was actually an Alabama fan, too, back from his own sports days when he took an interest in American football, so he took to hanging out with the two of them on Sundays to watch the game. She surprised him with how loud and into the game she would get, but then he watched her mini me imitate it and he found himself getting just as intense. Bobby had taken more pictures than Gary would admit he saved to his phone of the scenes, the three of them wearing jerseys with the same number- he’d never tell anyone that he made one his home screen on his phone.

It only took two months before Bobby cornered him in the kitchen during halftime though, “You fancy her again, dontcha mate?”

Gary choked on his tongue, “Fancy- I never said-“

Bobby snorted, “You don’t have to say anything. I can tell. Just like I know she fancies you, too.”

Gary shook his head, “Doesn’t matter much. She’s got enough on her plate. She’s got you, your lass, him, work, your shop. I don’t need to add to it.”

Bobby’s brow furrowed, but Gary bustled passed him before he could respond. So instead he planned. Planned for a day that didn’t take place for nearly another year.

“Gary!” He almost had to pull the phone away from the loud voice as soon as he answered, setting his tools back into his truck after getting a customer’s car to the shop.

“Bobs, what’s up, mate?”

“Dinner, this weekend. Huge news. Think you can make it?”

Gary glanced at his calendar, not that he needed to. He hadn’t made plans with anyone else but his nan since he’d reunited with them. “Should be able to.”

“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at five on Saturday. Pack a bag, please.”

Gary raised an eyebrow to himself, but didn’t protest as the call ended. It wouldn’t be the first time he crashed on their couch lately.

Bobby picked him up that weekend, practically bouncing in his seat, and wouldn’t give Gary any details about what was happening, but he did thrust a bag of clothes at him and told him to change into them.

Gary was confused, but accepted, changing into the dress trousers and button up he’d been handed- much different from his usual style and he wondered how Bobby knew his size before figuring he probably gave nan a call. He’d been talking to her a lot since they started hanging out again.

He was surprised again when Bobby pulled up to a fancy restaurant, telling him to give the hostess his name and saying he needed to park the car.

Again Gary didn’t argue. Offering Bobby’s name to the hostess and following her back to a table with one person sitting at it.

Her.

At a table for two.

Oh, he was gonna kill Bobby.

Just as he depending leaving, his phone pinged with a message from Bobby, telling him that he left him there. And before he could reply, she looked up at spotted him, an embarrassed smile taking over her face.

He approached slowly, much slower than he needed to as he took deep breaths, trying to get over how stunning she looked in her dress. “Hey,” she offered shyly, “I guess you’re the blind date Bobby has been talking up for days now. Everything he said fits.”

He snorted, and several of the other patrons shot short glares in his direction, but she flipped them off. “At least you were told it was date.” He offered as he sat down, but he immediately wished he could take it back when he saw the disappointment and insecurity flash across her face before she gave him a careful smile.

“You don’t have to stay.” She shrugged, “I was gonna bail out anyway if it had been someone else. Claim I wasn’t feeling well or something.”

“Not now?” He really didn’t want to be hopeful. But when she was looking at him with those shining eyes that reminded him of all the times he almost chose her in the Villa, only to end up being too late in the line up… “For the record, I’m not against it being a date.” He clarified, “So long as it’s you.”

“Oh yeah?” She grinned cheekily, the mirth in her eyes making them shine brighter, “So you’ve thought about taking me on a date, have you?”

“Only every day since I met ya.” She was clearly shocked at the statement, or maybe the seriousness in which he said it, he just shrugged, “I told ya back then. I fancy ya. A lot. But you had Bobby. So I didn’t push. And it’s not like I didn’t like Lottie. I did.”

“Just wasn’t the same.” She added, her cheeks slightly flushed, “I thought about picking you a time or two. But I was never sure how you felt. And Bobby was always there, never made me feel like I was a back burner. And after Rocco…” they both winced at the mention of what he’d put her through, “I just didn’t want to risk it being a one way thing between us, I guess. And I did fancy Bobby that way. The years I had with him- I don’t regret them. I just mean-“

“I get it.” Gary interjected, gently placing his hand on hers, “You can care for two people the same way, at the same time.” She nodded.

“I’ve never understood that saying, ‘if they fall in love with two people, tell them to choose the second. Because-‘“

“‘Because if they loved you, they wouldn’t have fallen for them.’” He finished, “Never made sense to me either. Just because I had feelings for more than one person, doesn’t mean my feelings for either were worth any less or meant any less.”

“Exactly.” She smiled, hopeful, “What about your feelings now?”

Gary hummed playfully, wrapping his larger fingers around her slender ones, “Now, I would really like to probably wine and dine you. No pressure, just figure out where we are after all these years. Show ya I still fancy you.”

“That sounds really nice.” She agreed.

Dinner sped by, and when she drove them to the flat that evening, he gave her a sweet kiss. Nothing spicy, or sexy, but it was still intense. All the feelings he’d been holding back since they reconnected.

She didn’t let him sleep on the couch either. While they agreed to take things slow, no big bits happening until they were sure, he had to admit it was nice to fall asleep pulling her into a cuddle.

And when they were together for six months, Nero ran up to him as soon as he walked through the front door, “Papa!” Gary couldn’t even react before the little boy, now eight, was throwing himself at him for a hug. All he could do was catch him. He caught her eye too, wide and obviously terrified for his reaction, but Gary just smirked.

“Hey, how’s my favorite little man? You been good for mummy and daddy?”

Nero nodded, “And mum, too! I promise!”

“You promise, huh? Bloody hell, you must’ve been good, then.” He hoisted the boy up with him as he stood up straight, pulling her into his side and pressing a kiss to her head.

“Mummy, when does Papa get to live with us like Mum does?”

Gary watched her eyes bulge, but he just laughed, teasing, “Yeah, mummy. What about Papa?”

To his surprise, she smirked at him, “Whenever he thinks he’s ready.”

God, he was ready. He wanted forever with her. She wasn’t the one that got away anymore. She was his. And the ring in his pocket meant one thing. He was hoping she stayed that way.

Masterlist

@justtuesdays

#litg #litg season 2 #litg gary x mc #litg gary #post villa #reunion #friends to lovers #s2litgexchange

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raleigh-ocean · 4 years

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the devil’s lullaby | coven

Reader's magic only works if they manage to rest plenty, if not, the magic hides and wait until it charges again. None know actually know this and they don't let them get their proper rest, but maybe there's someone who exactly knows how to help them.

Your hands went to your eyes almost immediately, rubbing them and trying to read again the few paragraphs Zoe had given you all to read for that class.

It was something easy, a new cantrip which wouldn't take you much to learn as she said, but your lack of rest since you arrived to the Robichaux's Academy were taking its toll on you finally. You were used to the quietness of your home, well, the quietness of your underground room in your grandparents' house, so moving to a house full of too much noise was quite the change. You couldn't blame them, obviously you ever would, but you weren't used to that kind of life and it was affecting you enough.

To this day, none of the staff around the Academy actually noticed your tiredness, mostly because it was the middle of summer and everyone was. Not even your roommates, which basically were the ones to blame unknownly, so you always tried to get some power naps to keep on learning all you could and put your powers to use. But none of your tries were near to give you a complete ration of what you needed to thrive, to improve, so in the end you just tried to do what you could with what you have.

Being the last of the class wasn't your cup of tea, but it was better than nothing, and you couldn't help but look at your feet in shame when Zoe brought to your attention that you needed to put more of yourself onto the lessons. Promising that, you made your way to the dinning hall to get some lunch and think about how to restore your sleep schedule...which presented itself as a very hard task to do.

You had tried your hand at concoctions, which went terribly wrong because you didn't know enough nor had enough magic; you had tried pills, again, which never worked but hey, let's give it another try; you also tried to tire your body out as much as you could by doing sprints in the street, which only left you horribly sore and made Madison laugh at you when you came downstairs the next morning; you even tried to put the worst, most boring tv show around this days and you ended up enjoying it and losing more hours of sleep.

What the fuck could you actually do?

In between munching, your rambling was enough to not get many of your classmates to sit with you at lunch, so being alone made you feel at peace for a few minutes. When you got to your dessert, your posture in the chair was a mess, your body giving up on being properly sat and holding yourself by the almost horizontal position. There weren’t many people at this point in the dinning room, so none could see you actually falling asleep while eating your puddin. With each spoonful you felt closer and closer, you were almost there with the spoon still in your mouth...

...until you felt a presence trying to get your half eaten dessert, your eyes wide open a microsecond later and locked with Coco’s.

“Ahm, Misty needed some help at the greenhouse moving around some important pots and you were the only want not running away after lunch,” the blonde witch smiled at you, her hand now away of the reach of your spoon, now tightly held in your hand and about to attack. “Can you...?”

And there you were, moving pots and finishing your puddin, as if you did that every other day. Misty didn’t seem to care and Coco neither even when she was eyeing you from time to time, so once you were done with both tasks...your sleepy eyes came back, searching for a place to maybe take a little nap. The arbor was right there, and it didn’t seem none was going to sit there.

The arbor’s shadow would fight the heat better than nothing, you thought, feeling the seat already in your back...

...until another voice brought your attention.

“Y/N!” Kyle was exiting the kitchen through the back door, looking hurried as ever.

Whatever he told you, whatever he asked you to help with, you went and did it. Even when you wanted to say no and let sleep embrace you, maybe rest a few hours, you couldn’t say it. So the next hours of your day, since classes were resumed for the day, were spent helping moving stuff from the basement to the new rooms. You didn’t mind, though, because at least you were being useful around the house but you couldn’t help casually linger each time you moved a box, body drapped over and eyes closed to get some sweet seconds from time to time.

Doing stuff sleep deprived, however, isn’t really a good idea.

Or at least that’s what you thought when, upon moving the last box to the new room, you saw a cloaked shadow at the end of the corridor. Your eyes fixed in that, leaning your head a bit to the side trying to discern if it was real or not. Leaving the box by the banister without looking away, you cleaned your hands over your pants before walking towards it.

The shadow then moved, fast and unexpected, and you were left dumbfounded for a second, trying to figure out if it was real or not. But you kept moving in the direction it went, towards one of the rooms that was supposed to be occupied by the staff. Should you come in? Looking around for a moment, in case someone was also there, you considered the option of just going back to what you were doing.

But the tiny bits of your magic moved inside of you, as if something was calling them, and then your consideration went straight to Hell.

Taking a deep breath, you opened the door as quick and silent as you could before closing it behind you once you were in. It was Zoe’s room, you could only know it because of several frames with pictures of her and the rest of the coven. You looked around, trying to focus in whatever had called your magic and a soft laugh made you open your eyes wide.

The wall by the bed was...actually a door, one that was ajar and inviting you to peek your head into. And well, you moved forward to it without hesitation to do it, because whatever was there was calling you. With care, you opened the wall-door fully to find a wardrobe of some short.

There were a few coats here and there, but also some boxes and empty luggage that, by the dust over them, they weren’t used from a long time ago. Searching around the small space, you felt it was chilly and also that a small section of the inner wall of the place was crooked. Squatting down to figure out what was there, your hands removed the crooked board to discover some kind of small hidding spot. A brass box, some old books and candles, there was nothing of interest there...and then your eyes met a red headset, good as new, propped against a side of the secret place.

Taking it in your hands, you managed to make youself comfortable after dropping one coat in the floor, and you rotated it to inspect it. It seemed to have something integrated, maybe a mp3 player due to the few buttons and wires here and there, and you wondered if it still worked.

Maybe you touched something while seeing if there were any batteries, but the answer came to you as some kind of...rock song playing in them. Rubbing your eyes, tired but at the same time curious, you put it on your head to listen to it.

You soon discovered that the music was catchy, going through your body in a way that made you feel content and relaxed. It made you feel the knot you had been feeling forming in the back of your head during the day started to ease, giving you some actual relief after hours and hours. Not caring about where you were, you lied there in the secret wardrobe over the coat now probably filthy, your eyes finally closing with delight and just listening that music that was probably some years older or more.

While listening, you felt finally your heart start to be more calm, your breathing to settle and the kinder temperature to cool down your body. Smiling to yourself, indulging in that good and sweet lullaby, you only thought none discovered you for a couple hours if it was possible...

...and you finally fell asleep.

The wall-door closed slowly, giving you privacy to sleep to your heart content and at the same time living it enough ajar for your magic to start moving out of the room and into the whole house.

A new laugh sounded, mere chuckles that finally showed their source. The cloaked shadow wasn’t cloaked anymore, showing the features of a long gone habitant of the house, which happily found her way in the tiny place to not bother you. Her hand went to your hair, caressing with the care of those who are about to touch something precious, and her smile grew wider to that.

Nan could perfectly see how your magic was drifting away from you without being stopped and it made her happier to start hearing some ruckus set lose outside of your secret haven. Watching you sleep, ever so peacefully and now leaning in her lap to make yourself comfortable even with the headset on, was good enough reward for her.

And maybe hearing Cordelia shooting counterspells in the ground floor, trying to discover why the house was trying to attack and pull more than one prank to their wardens, while the rest tried to help. But that was something she had been planning for a long time, you only helped her unkwoingly.

Letting you sleep, Nan kissed her fingers before pressing them to your temple, giving you a tender reminder that she was there to protect you, to give you the rest she always wanted when studying at Robichaux’s but couldn’t get, to help you find your place between those walls and between those women that took you in when you needed it the most.

“I think I’m pretty much okay with being someone’s Supreme again, don’t you think?”

That last question, however, wasn’t completely for you, nor for her new employer and friend. It was for someone else, a young man that laughed openly up over you two, as if giving her his blessing to do as she pleased.

And knowing he was okay with it, Nan kept watching over you while napping, softly mumbling to the songs you were listening in your dreams, unaware that all the magic you couldn’t gather up for several days already was making quite the Hell downstairs.

#ahs coven #ahs apocalypse #american horror story #coven & reader #nan x reader

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wolfpawn · 4 years

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I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 79

Chapter Summary - Danielle's decision.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long. This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously

Right so, a few things, football is referencing Gaelic Football, it is an Irish sport and the season ends in September with the final game being played on the third Sunday of the month and there is huge excitement surrounding it and most Irish country people would go to Flannery's or Coppers in Dublin for it, both are...shall I say, unique places, more like a cattle mart than a pub/night club.

Connemara is a Gaeltacht region in County Galway, the first language is Irish and it is a general farming area.

There are a few airports in Ireland, I had Danielle land in Cork Airport as if she didn't suffer enough (I am from Cork, so I like to joke it is terrible....I'm not joking, it is.)

Siobhan is pronounced Shiv-awn.

We are going to be with Danielle's family for a bit, her aunt will be based on my mother-in-law, spiteful, filled with self-importance and an all-round female genitalia.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

Danielle sat on the plane, she was under no false pretences, she knew she looked like hell. If she was not so heartbroken she would have made a joke that she had some sort of superpower. She had a willing, handsome Tom Hiddleston, asking to pleasure her, and she declined him. Tom's face at her pushing him off her told how much she was crushing him, the only consolation she could give was that her own face mirrored his. She kissed him chastely on the cheek as she sat up on the bed, then she apologised and left.

As it moved on the runway, she felt the tears fall down her face. She wanted to be in bed with Tom, kissing and cuddling him but she knew it was for the best. She had said it to him before she left, they needed to take the time to assess themselves, perhaps, after some reflection, they may arrive at the same point once more, when Tom asked her what about if they did not, she could only shrug and say that at least they had tried. The flight was fairly full and the man next to her gave her a confused look as she wiped the tears from her face and looked out the small window.

When she arrived in Ireland, the Welcome sign caused her to feel some pang of joy in her stomach. She was relieved to have gotten the evening flight back, though it was to the wrong part of the country. Rather than driving, she went and got a taxi into the city and from there got on a bus to bring her back to Galway. A text to her cousin telling her she was arriving at midnight to the city was responded to with one that said that she had been drinking, so to stay there until morning. Not wanting to get a cab all the way to her grandmothers, she started to Google hotels in Galway, scoffing to herself about how she was a far cry from a globe-trotting singer, before becoming upset once more about how things had gone with Tom. As if by fate, he sent a text, just asking if she minded if he kept onto Mac until the day before he was going to Milan, he promised to walk and care for him properly. She could only bring herself to text back the word "sure" though several times she felt like texting more, saying that she was sorry, that she still loved him, but she stopped herself, as hard as it was, she was not going to be weak and rush back to him, she was going to look after herself, ensure she was happy before she even considered Tom and a relationship.

In London, the one-word reply filled Tom with relief that she had responded at all. As he looked at Mac, who seemed to sense there was a severe upheaval after occurring and was looking at him, he was glad to have the dog for company. In the time since his mother and sister had the dog accidentally brought to them in London before Christmas, he had become incredibly attached to the canine. He remembered the day he had found him on set, underfed and incredibly mangy, he rang Danielle out of instinct. She was not a vet, but she was a paramedic and the daughter of one, and he remembered how she told Emma how she used to tend to the weaklings for her dad, so he assumed immediately she would have some inkling as what to do. Since then, he had thrived as a loved pet and companion, and in truth, Tom was heartbroken at the idea that it was highly plausible that as well as losing Danielle, he could lose Mac too. Mac seemed to know what Tom was thinking and responded by getting up and walking over to him. "Hey, Mac." The dog groaned. "I am sorry for all of this, it is my fault." At that, the dog whined. "I am really going to miss you and our walks." The word 'walks' caused the dog to raise his ears in interest. "Not at this hour. At least I get to have you a few more days." Mac wagged his tail. "Do you think she'll give me access to you?" he half-joked, thinking about how his parents seemed to spend more time arguing after the divorce over where he and his sisters went on particular days and holidays than they ever did talking when they were married.

Danielle sat in the car with her cousin, whose only words were "You look as bad as I feel" since seeing her as they drove back to Connemara.

"Just so you know, you are Mam's focus at the moment," Siobhan warned her as they passed a sign telling them there were coming into the Gaeltacht region.

"Dare I ask?"

"'Your parents were married before they were your age, your dad is rolling in his grave that you fecked off to England and what good has it done you,' you know how she is."

"I am sure he wouldn't be too put out by it," Danielle stated, looking out the window again.

"Hey, are you alright, like, you're not going to puke or anything?"

"No, I am just tired, Travelodge is not renowned for its comfy beds."

"No." Her cousin agreed. "So, what's the craic, why are you here today and not on Wednesday like you said?"

"I needed to come home."

"Who do you owe money to?" Her cousin joked.

"I rather owe the money."

"What is worse than that?"

"There are things far worse." Siobhan looked at Danielle as though she was mad, but at only twenty-two, she had little idea of what issues Danielle had. "Has Laura not got someone new for your Mam to scare off?" She decided to get the conversation off her.

"Yes and no. There's a fella from her job, lovely guy and everything, Evan, but Mam doesn’t know about him."

"Good plan."

"Yeah, so you know, if you could not tell her..."

"Call me Jon Snow."

Siobhan laughed, Danielle gave a small smile. "So what about you, any hunky English lads?"

"At present, no." Danielle felt as though her chest hurt saying that.

"Meaning?"

Danielle cursed at her cousin's curiosity. "It's complicated."

"What happened?" There was a genuine tone to Siobhan's voice, one that told Danielle it was not about her making small talk, but intrigue.

"Well, one guy was a bit too full-on, really nice, but was too ready for commitment, we were not really compatible, he is actually engaged, or maybe even married now and has a baby coming."

"Well, as long as they're happy, what else."

"Another, we were not really…it just isn't working."

"How d'you mean?"

"It just went off track," Danielle explained.

"You realise that makes no sense, right?" Siobhan scoffed. "But I think I get it, it stopped being fun."

"There was a thing with him talking about his ex, it made me feel like shit."

"Yikes, fair enough, no one wants the ex pulled out and thrown in their face." Siobhan agreed. "How bad?"

"Effectively how it broke his heart, which is grand, at the time, but he said this over half a year later and after four months with me, in a very public manner."

"Okay, and the asshole of the year award goes to…what was his name?"

"Tom."

"Tom, welcome to the 'Asshole Hall of Fame’."

Feeling her hurt was after being justified but also not wanting to talk about it any longer, Danielle turned the conversation around, "What about you, any lads in college?"

"Maybe."

"So a yes, then."

"We are just having some fun, I mean, we met in Flaherty's last year…"

"Say it was after the All-Ireland, say it, I beg you…" Danielle pleaded.

The football," Siobhan admitted, causing Danielle to erupt in hysterics.

"Where's he from?"

"Waterford."

"Do they even know what a football is?"

"Shut up," Siobhan growled. "He's nice, but…"

"You're twenty-two so it's not like you are looking into a mortgage with him?"

"Exactly. Speaking of houses, Mam is going to try and push to sell Nan's place."

"What?"

"Yeah, she wants to do up hers and dads, but she is stretched with loans for other things, so she wants Nan’s sold so she can use the money from the sale to do it."

"It won't get a hundred grand, divide it up and that is less than twenty each way after solicitors," Siobhan said nothing. "What? What are you trying to say?"

"Right, you have to swear you won't tell Mam or Laura this?"

"Siobhan, I swear on Mam and Dad's graves, I will not tell anyone this." Danielle placed her hand on her heart as she spoke.

"Mam wants you out of the sale."

"What?"

"She thinks that because you are a grandchild, you shouldn't get a say." Siobhan seemed as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders by telling her.

"Fuck that, Dad left me his share of nan's, that house is a quarter mine."

"You never were interested in that stuff."

"I'm not, but I am not being swindled out of it either. I said it before, I didn't give a fuck who used the house for what gathering, but when I came home, I get to use a room, since I am barely around. I pay my share of the property tax, the repairs and the upkeep so I am not getting pushed out so your Mam can get some overpriced kitchen for it, she can fuck the fuck off."

Siobhan laughed. "You are so like your dad."

"Good, he was the only one she couldn't bully, I'll have to visit him before I deal with her to ask him to give me the strength to."

"Want to go now?"

Though she was exhausted, Danielle knew there was a turn not too far away that would bring her to her parents' graves, so she nodded. "Yeah, if you're not busy."

"It's only twenty minutes extra, Mattie was always so good to me, sneaking me a two euro for the shop."

"God you are so young, it was fifty pence for us."

"Well, the rate of inflation," Siobhan laughed, putting on the indicator of the car to go the road to the graveyard.

Danielle looked at the ornate stone in front of her, and the plot that contained her parents remains. Her gaze fell on the carvings that were their names and dates of birth and death. She hadn't realised her mother was older than her father until her mother died. When they celebrated their birthdays, numbers were never used. She'd felt somewhat foolish that she hadn't known that. She thought about her dad and herself, standing at the grave after her mother had passed, she never felt much point about graves, they never meant anything to her, she rather think of her mother down in the library and community centre, going to the active retirement with the other women, or doing knitting, she never really thought of her in some hole in the ground, and her father was someone she thought of going for a walk or turning turf, but it felt right to visit the grave, if just to think about them for a moment.

When she returned to the car, Siobhan gave her a sad smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just weird being back, not having them here."

"Did you leave because they were gone?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Do you like England?"

"It's grand, I think I would rather be here, but it's easier to get work there."

"I think I am going to go to Canada or Australia as soon as I am done."

"England wants nurses too." Danielle pointed out

"Maybe, but the further from Mam, the better."

"Fair enough, it's as easy to get from London as it is Dublin really."

"Too easy for my liking," Siobhan agreed. "You swear you won't tell her?"

"I am not going to tell her you told me, but I am going to prepare for it."

"I sorta guessed you would." There was still a slight doubt in Siobhan's tone.

"Look a secret for a secret, fair?" Danielle suggested. She always liked her younger cousin, they rarely talked growing up because of the age gap and because Matthew and Bernadette Hughes, though siblings, spent as little time together as they could, meaning Danielle, Laura, Siobhan and their brother Richard were seldom in each other's company, but the rise of social media meant that Siobhan and Danielle interacted online often enough. Siobhan nodded, seemingly relieved that Danielle was trusting her too, though she doubted anything Danielle would tell her would be too important, she had already explained to Siobhan about non-disclosure agreements. "I only sort of broke up with my boyfriend yesterday."

"Okay," Siobhan had to assume that that was not the secret, it was something noteworthy, but hardly a secret.

"You don't like comic book movies, sure you don't?"

"No."

"Right, hmm." Danielle had to think for a minute. "You like Taylor Swift, right?"

"Her songs are good, yeah." Siobhan had no idea what Danielle was getting at.

"Do you know anything about her boyfriends?"

"She is with them for about forty seconds, I don't think she knows anything about them. Like, is she even with half of them or just after publicity, honestly?"

"I have no idea," Danielle conceded. "I really don't. Not the point, do you know who Tom Hiddleston is?"

"Oh, the really sexy guy from The Night Manager."

Danielle cursed herself for not thinking of that, to begin with. "Yes, him."

"Yeah, one of the girls in college is in love with him, like fucking obsessed, she has a page to him and everything online, she made us watch a few things with him in it."

"Really, what did you think?"

"He's hot, but not obsessive hot, he has a really sexy ass, I saw him in this ghost movie, the man is…why are we talking about an actor?"

"The Tom I am sort of no longer with, that's him."

"What?"

"I was with Tom Hiddleston."

"And no one knew?"

"Well, his family, our friends in London…"

"But the media?"

"No, we made sure we were never seen together in public."

"So there is no proof you were with him?" Siobhan asked sceptically.

"We have pictures, just not published."

"How the hell did you bag an actor?"

"I just did." Danielle shrugged.

"But it's gone?"

"Yes," Danielle stated sadly.

"Why did you break it off, you look really upset?"

"Because he did an interview about Taylor Swift a month ago and the way he spoke was as though she was the love of his life and he was with me so I feel like it just was too much of a low blow."

"Okay, your boyfriend saying that sort of thing in front of people you know is just mean, saying it in an interview to the world, that is fucking cruel, but no one knows about this?"

"No, and they won't either, will they?" Danielle looked at her cousin.

"Not from me, they won't," Siobhan swore.

#I Hate You I Love You #chapter 79 #wolfpawn #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fic

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