#he made his family + henry and charlie too and they live nice lives | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sadesluvr · 1 year

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PROJECT: Emily (Henry Emily x GN! Reader)

Summary: Moving into a new town, you discover that your new neighbour ticks all the boxes. He’s hot, has an adorable daughter and is, most importantly, single. (Henry Emily x GN!Neighbour!Reader)

Note: Reader is in their late 20′s/early 30′s, and Henry is in his late 30′s/early 40′s, but nothing is specified. Whatever you chose the age gap to be, he’s definitely older than you! Also, Henry does NOT look like how he’s depicted in the books...

A/N: This was a fill from an anon ask! I had free time and I’ve been meaning to write for Henry hence the quick turnaround! (TYSM for sending it <3) Feel free to request things through my ask box :)

This is also my first Tumblr fic post (it’ll be crossposted to AO3) so apologies if the format is off!

Word count: 5.5K (I talk too much omfg)

Tags: SMUT, Fluff, age-gaps, creampies, Henry being a DILF...

It was during the spring when you’d met Henry Emily. You’d moved to a new town, where you could somehow actually afford a decent home at a good price, and so you wanted to do something nice for your neighbours as a ‘Please-accept-me-I’m-new-here’ gift. There were a lot of families in the area, and so you decided that cupcakes were the best option. How could you go wrong?

For starters, it would’ve helped if you’d had sugar.

Needless to say, you weren’t going to make the arduous journey to the store and back in the very middle of baking; and so you found the courage to ask your neighbours. After all, you were going to have to bite the bullet some day, weren’t you? Although people would’ve been more receptive to cupcakes in hand, they would have to respond to you somewhat decently - after all, they were your new ‘community’.

Mr and Mrs Henderson lived next door, and they had gone boating for the day (as you’d come to learn from the agonisingly loud sound of heavy equipment moving at 5AM) so they weren’t an option. Next door to them was a family, of whom you were rather ashamed to admit you didn’t know of yet. How could you knock on the door so brazenly? Were they even home? What would you say?

Your fears were cut short as the door swung open, causing you to immediately blurt out:

“Can I borrow a cup of sugar?”

The man blinked, and you thought he was going to laugh at you, which made you cringe and shrink into a ball internally, which was particularly awful considering the fact that he was quite attractive. He stood at somewhere over six feet, with auburn hair, tanned skin, and a burly build. He had a full, but trimmed beard, and was wearing a blue apron with a loose t-shirt underneath that exposed his large arms. He came across a bit like a bear, and if it wasn’t for a pair of reading glasses that sat atop his head you would’ve been scared of him, but, for some reason, the accessory felt rather comforting and homely.

“Of course,” the man said, with a smile, immediately stepping aside to let you in, which surprised you. Though, what surprised you more was the fact that you so calmly walked in, despite knowing him for all of thirty seconds. What if he was a pervert? A serial killer, even?

“Although I don’t usually lend things to strangers…” he said knowingly, his voice trailing off.

“Oh!” You gasped, totally startled. “Er - I’m Y/N - I just moved in — I live just after the Henderson’s…”

“Oh of course!” the man exclaimed, rubbing his beard as you both entered the kitchen. “Charlie told me there was a moving van, I've just been so busy that I didn’t get to stop by and introduce myself — Gosh, I’m getting ahead of myself!” he said, stopping to take a breath. “Charlotte is my daughter. I’m Henry - Henry Emily, it’s good to meet you,” he said, his voice clear, confident, and genuine. He seemed like a good man - certainly not one who’d harvest your insides - and so you took a breath, subtly relaxing yourself.

“I’m Y/N…” you said somewhat shyly, hyper-aware as to how much bigger the man was compared to you. “It’s nice to finally meet a neighbour, no one’s really passed by…”

“They can be like that sometimes,” Henry said dismissively, opening the cupboard. “As long as you keep the music down past 9PM, and don’t have any pets that could ruin their flower patches, you’ll get along with them,” he chuckled, and you smiled back. There was an air of homely easiness to him, and, whether it was the house itself or the fact that he smelt like an intoxicating blend of cinnamon and pinewood, you felt warm.

Perhaps it was something else? Something deeper, and primal…

“Here you go!” he announced, drawing you from your thoughts as he slid the item over the counter. “A cup of sugar. Though, you can’t really borrow it from me because I can’t get it back…”

“Uh - ? Oh… “ you chuckled awkwardly, resisting the urge to facepalm. “Thanks Mr Emily,”

“Mister?” He gasped. “Surely you’re not that young to have to call me that. Please, just call me Henry,” he said with a smile and you nodded.

“Sure thing…” you said, trailing off. “I’d love to meet Charlotte someday, if she’s up to it…”

“Oh, she always is! She loves making new friends, and I’m sure you’ll be no exception,” he beamed, beginning to move away from the counter and walked you towards the door. He opened it, and as you stopped on the porch he paused and leaned against the door. “Perhaps we’ll have you over for dinner. I can’t remember the last time I cooked for someone that wasn’t myself or Charlie,” he chuckled, his voice slowly trailing off, as if he were remembering something. It was then that you looked down at his folded arms, and realised that there was no wedding ring on his left finger.

Interesting.

“Thanks Henry,” you smiled again, this time biting your lip. Perhaps you were getting ahead of yourself, but you could definitely see yourself becoming ‘accosted’ with him in the long run…

If he was truly single, that was.

“Well…You know where I live now, so please don’t be a stranger, Mr Emily,” you said, your demeanour instantly changing to one of easy confidence, and your voice dropping an octave, laced with coyness. The man briefly raised his brows, and his hand adjusted the glasses that sat atop his head. Perhaps you’d made him nervous.

You better hope so! You’d much rather him be nervous than uncomfortable.

Waving, you sauntered back down the porch steps, your legs shaking and heart pounding some kind of a lustful-fluster.

One thing was for sure: He was certainly hot, but he did seem to be on the older side - perhaps at least a decade older than you? You weren’t a wide eyed, naive spring chicken, but it wasn’t as if you were fully mature, either - would he really fall for you? Could he fall for you? Was their room in his life for another person, considering he seemed wholly devoted to his daughter?

Only time would tell.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

It was two weeks later when Henry had stopped by. Although you’d met Charlie that very weekend, the man had seemingly given you some space to ‘settle in’, and, if it wasn’t for the fact that you were dealing with an absolute asshole of a contractor, you would’ve been freaking out over the thought of alienating yourself from the man with your blatant flirting.

Yet, that didn’t seem to be the case, as you were startled by a knock on your door, and, to no (but a pleasant) surprise, it was the Emily duo. Charlie’s hair was in two tiny pigtails that stuck out above her head, and was wearing her oversized backpack with a yellow t-shirt and lilac shorts and plimsolls, whilst Henry opted for a more low-key look, with a burgundy coloured Henley and loose jeans. The buttons on his shirt were cracked slightly, and you could see that he was wearing a makeshift necklace made out of cereal (courtesy of none other than Charlotte herself), which sat atop his broad chest, where a few hairs peeled out from between the fabric.

Did he know what he was doing, or was he just an oblivious, bumbling dork?

“Y/N!” Charlie said happily as you high fived her, stepping aside to let the girl in as her father followed. He nodded his head in an acknowledging manner, and, just as you closed the door the sunlight caught his brown eyes - within them nothing but a pool of warmth and goodness. He smiled at you before focusing his attention back on Charlie, who was running around the house like a madman.

“Please be careful, okay?” you called out. “There’s still stuff lying around…I don’t want you to get hurt!”“I’ll be extra extra safe, I promise!” She said happily, and you could hear her delving into the couch and slapping the cushions like a drum.Henry chuckled as you both followed the sound of the girl, looking around the house. The walls were still somewhat bare, the flooring was half done and there was a lack of furniture…Anywhere.“We just wanted to come around and see how you’re settling in…” he said ambiguously, and you bit your lip at the very obvious elephant in the room - your house was far from being a home.“…Goodness,” he began. “Everything’s —“

“All over the place? Yeah,” you scoffed, pinching the bridge of your nose. “My contractor is a B-I-T-C-H —“ you spelt out, careful as to not let Charlie hear. “Forgive my language - all of my furniture is delayed or out of stock, and I don’t know how to fix a floor to save my life!”you said, pinching the bridge of your nose. “All I know how to do is paint the walls, and even that’s taking forever!”

“Paint?” Charlie perked up. “I like to paint!” she said, swinging her feet in anticipation.

“You do, don’t you, Charlie?” Henry said, having his ‘lightbulb’ moment. “Why don’t we help you finish? I know my way around some tools, so I’m not a stranger to home repair…”

“Really?” You gasped, pretending to consider it. Like hell were you going to say no to him tinkering around your house, sweaty, with his muscles rippling as he toyed with and manoeuvred and carved and pounded —

Seems like you’re thinking about something more than housework.

“Thanks Henry!” you exclaimed, pulling him into an unexpected hug, of which he returned. Your arms fit snugly around his thick body, and you felt yourself melt into his comforting scent…Until Charlie joined the circle.

“I want a hug too!” she said, pushing her little body in between, making the two of you chuckle. It was that moment that you made eye contact with Henry - and you realised that he had a little blush on his face. For some reason, it felt like you were both Charlie’s parents.

Maybe you could be one day.

Maybe…

“I guess we’ll be spending more time together,” he said somewhat shyly, as he pulled away and looked around the house. He hadn’t even seen upstairs yet and he knew that it was going to be a long-term project.

Not that he minded, anyway. He’d been meaning to find a way to get to know you better, you were easily the friendliest person on the block, and, most importantly, Charlie adored you. In his mind, her opinion was law.

“It’s nice to get out of the house and go somewhere that isn’t work or school…Even if you’re a door or two away,” he chuckled, and you smiled.

“You’re lucky I don’t live directly next door,” you smirked. “I’d never leave you two alone,”

“There’s always room for one more…Especially if it’s you,” he smiled.

“Oh really?” You said, raising a brow knowingly, your voice barely a whisper. “Why ‘especially’ me?”

“Well, we like you…” he said nervously, diverting his gaze from you. Was he blushing? Oh God, he was blushing! Like a total schoolboy.

“Is that both of the Emily’s speaking, or just Henry?” you pushed, raising a brow.

“Both…” he mumbled. “For sure,” he said, anxiously clearing his throat.

“Well, I can’t wait to have you!” you said, clapping your hands together. “Around, that is. Let’s not worry the children,” you tutted playfully, nodding to Charlie who had zoned out completely, rambling to herself about all of the lovely colours she was going to paint the walls. You smiled down at the girl, giving Henry a moment to compose himself from your comment.

You just couldn’t help yourself sometimes.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Henry and Charlotte had done just as they said, and their spare afternoons and evenings after work and school were spent helping you around the house. Whilst Charlie happily sploshed paint in the smaller, obscure crevices of the wall, Henry did the harder, grittier jobs - assisting you in moving your fridge, washing machine, and had even managed to fix your car while he was at it! With every movement of his body, every intense twitch of focus on the task you admired him, pretending to paint the skirting boards, whilst you were really imagining what he’d look like from your position on your knees.

Little did you know he was doing the exact same, albeit as respectfully as he could. He’d sneak a glance at you every now and then as he’d change the screws or drills, quickly averting his attention to his daughter or the task at hand when he thought you had noticed him. He couldn’t help it, really, you were quite - as they’d say in his day - the ‘looker’.

One Saturday the duo hadn’t come around, and you found that the house felt rather empty and dreary without them, even though your house was beginning to feel more homely and full by the minute.

Get used to it, sweetheart, they’re not your family.

You decided to turn in early that night, throwing on an oversized t-shirt over your bare torso, and a tiny, barely there pair of shorts. You really needed to go clothes shopping.

Just as you were about to relax, there was a sudden knock on the door, making you jump instantaneously. Who could that be? You weren’t expecting anyone, and your neighbours certainly weren’t going to introduce themselves at 8PM at night. There were no weapons to arm yourself with in case of a robber, and you considered ignoring them...Until you realised who it could be.

Rushing down the stairs, you flung open the door, only to find Henry himself.

“God, I’m so sorry!” you exclaimed, stepping aside to let the man in. “I totally forgot that Charlie was with her aunt, and that you were coming tonight…” you rambled, trying to make sense of it all as you simultaneously tried to pull down your shorts. If someone didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought you were half nude.

“It’s not a big deal,” Henry chuckled awkwardly, removing his jacket and placing it on a peg. “It’s my fault - what sort of a chump comes to fix lighting at 8PM at night?”

Snickering at his vanilla language, you made sure to make him feel better.

“You’re just a generous chump, I suppose,” you laughed. “Well, either that or you’re a chump with not-so-pure intentions…”

“If you’re uncomfortable, I can leave,” he said quickly. “I’ve got all day to myself tomorrow, I can easily come back…”

“No! Please, stay,” you said, your voice low and throaty. “In fact, why don’t you leave the tinkering for tonight? I’ve got some beer in the fridge, how about we get to know each other a little better?”

Henry gulped, and stroked his beard before he spoke up again.

“I suppose we could do with a break…”

“Great!” you exclaimed, pointing to the couch. “I’ll be right back - Don’t get cold feet, okay?”

Henry nodded, and found himself overthinking how to sit on the furniture. Legs spread? Was that too crude? Crossed? Too formal? Hunched into a corner? Was that too rude and uninviting?

He felt like a teenager again, sitting next to his crush in class and unsure of how to make even the smallest bit of conversation without combusting entirely. Was he too old to feel like this? You were at least a decade younger than him, and whilst you were clearly old enough to drink and own your own home, he couldn’t help but feel a little…Uncomfortable?

Yes, you flirted with him, but you were young - it likely came naturally! You could easily just be using him for free food and labour and such, and, once you’d gotten what you’d wanted eventually, turn a blind eye to him.

What if you were using him to get to Charlie?

He shuddered at the thought. It was a parents worst nightmare, especially if they were a single parent like him. After all, Henry knew he wore his heart on his sleeve, and that he was deeply in tune with his emotions; which made him a rather easy target to many. Surely you weren’t that kind of a person, were you?

You seemed kind, confident and funny; traits that he deeply admired in an individual, not to mention you were extremely attractive to him, especially in those shorts of yours.

He blushed just thinking about it. How long had it been since he’d had deep, emotional human contact? How long since you’d last been able to —

“Hey! You’re still here!” You smiled, handing him a beer with a paper towel around it as you perched on the armrest. “I didn’t know if you wanted it in a glass or not, but I figured you look like a man who chugs it right from the bottle,” you giggled, and he nodded.

“Astute observation, Y/N, though you wouldn’t be the first to liken me to a lumberjack of the sort! I know I look like a very forward and staunch bloke, but I’m as frail as a lamb really,”

“Bloke? Frail as a lamb? What fancy language,” you snorted at the sheer formality of his wording.

“Forgive me, my work colleague is British,” Henry chuckled, taking a swig of his beer. “I’ve picked up so much from him, it’s unbelievable,”

“Finally!” you exclaimed happily, nudging him. “I’ve learned something about you that isn’t Charlie-based! A British friend, huh? Are you guys close?”

“Thick as thieves…He’s got three kids, and I’m like their Uncle, I suppose,”

“Wow,” you said. “That’s pretty cute,”

“I try,” he said bashfully, his body tensing slightly as you slipped next to him, but giving him enough space so that he was comfortable around you. You rested your back against the armrest, folding your legs to your chest so that your shirt rode up your thigh, your privates somewhat visible through the shorts.

Was it seduction? A little, but it was your house. You had a right to be comfortable!

“So,” you said, clearing your throat. “What other friends do you have?”

“Not many, really,” Henry said, playing with the bottle. “I know some of Charlie’s friends' parents, but that’s it…”

“Aww, why?” you pouted. “You’re such a great guy!”

“I'm not very sociable…I’ve always been a rather awkward kid,” he said, now strangely relaxing into the cushions. He didn’t look at you, but you could tell that he was starting to feel more comfortable in himself. “I would usually wait until someone else made the first move, just to be sure. Even then, it felt rather unnatural to me…”

“I understand,” you said, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, trying to not get too carried away in the act. How could he simultaneously be soft and homely yet bold and muscly? “I’m like that too…”

“Really?” he said, utterly taken aback. “You seem rather carefree to me,”

“What, just because I’m young? Not all ‘youngins are loud and boisterous, Grandpa,” you snickered, and he shook his head. “I guess we’re similar. We’re both a little shy, but once you break us out of our shells we can get a little…”

“What? Rowdy?” Henry interjected.

“I was going to say freaky…” You giggled, playing with the bottle and stroking it in a fairly suggestive manner.

“I’m not familiar with the newer lingo. What does that mean?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what it means…”

“I —“ Henry stopped himself, his cheeks turning as red as his hair. “You’re playing a very dangerous game, Y/N,“

“I like it that way,” you said softly, biting your lip. “Besides, it wouldn’t hurt for you to give in just once, would it? You work so hard, you deserve a release…”

Henry sighed, and put down his bottle before turning to look at you. Your eyes were wide with want, and also genuine affection - how could he say no? He knew he wanted it too, and you were offering it to him…It was everything he wanted!

“Y-You know I’m older, right? I’m sure there are people your age who are better than me…” he said nervously.

“Henry, I want this,” you said sincerely, taking his hand in your own. “I want you…Even if it doesn’t amount to anything, we can always go back to being friends!”

Of course you wanted to be more than friends, but Henry was such a sweet person to be around that you couldn’t imagine your days without a friendly wave from him, not to mention Charlie, in her entirety.

“So…Ahem,” he said somewhat uncomfortably, clearing his throat. “Can I kiss you?”

“I thought you’d never ask,”

You crawled towards each other, and Henry planted a soft kiss on your lips, his beard tickling your cheeks as you cupped his face, allowing yourself to melt into him. There was that all too familiar scent; that earthly, serene yet overpowering musk that you’d come to associate with the man. He didn’t stay on you for long, seemingly not wanting to agitate you, but as he pulled away, you noticed a certain something down below. Perhaps the brief kiss meant more to him than you’d thought. “Henry,” you sighed, your lips lush and moist with want. “Please don’t be shy…You won’t hurt me, I promise,”

“I just — You’re like poison to me Y/N,” he said nervously. “I haven’t had a partner in so long…And you’re so beautiful — I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold back…”

“Let go,” you said, your voice barely a whisper as you stroked his beard, staring into his warm brown eyes in the process. Whether it was alcohol or lust, his pupils were dilated, and he looked strangely vulnerable, which enticed you even more. “For me…Please,”

Henry nodded, and you crawled into him again, but this time he didn’t hold back. The kiss was still soft, but had a powerful, tender passion to it, leaving you with no choice but to surrender. You’d awoken something within him, and none of you ever wanted to turn back. Your arms wrapped themselves around his neck as your lips moved in tandem, as his ones found your hips, briefly grazing your buttocks, and back to your waist, hoisting you up effortlessly.

“Mmh — Copping a feel there, are we Mr Emily?” you teased, whispering into his mouth as you worked together to position yourself so that you were straddling him. “You can do it a little harder than that…I don’t bite…” you purred, and Henry moaned in response, his large hands massaging your ass. You could feel his erection through your shorts, where you were equally getting hot in yours.

Slowly, you began to grind your hips against his thighs, and he pulled away from the kiss to stare at you in total admiration.He was panting, his face was glowing and his hair had begun to become unkempt from your excessive rustling. He looked like a pornstar, a far cry from his wholesome dad status that had initially drawn you to him.

“Bedroom?” He said, his voice gravelly, and you were partly stunned at the quickness of his statement.

“Yes,”

“Is it done?”

“Does it matter? We’re gonna end up messing it up anyway…”

Henry shook his head, pushed himself up, and began to carry you up the stairs.

“There aren’t any loose nails about, are there? I’ve heard you could get tetanus from one —“

“Henry! Don’t worry about that stuff!” you giggled. “You’re such a dad,”

“I'm getting older, you know —“

“Yes, yes,” you said playfully. “We know. Jeez, you’re not senile!”

“How do you know?”

“Something in your pants is telling me otherwise…”

“Oh!” Henry said, blushing as he lay you on the bed. The room was totally bare (at least it was somewhat done up) “I’m sorry,”

“Don’t apologise! I take it as quite the compliment,” you purred, beginning to peel off your shirt, so that you were topless. Henry took a moment to look down at you, admiring your semi-bare form as he took off his own shirt, remaining in a white vest.

“You’re gorgeous,” he mumbled. “How on Earth did I get so lucky to end up with a neighbour like you?”

“Good things come to those who wait…” you said smugly. “…You’re going to get even luckier soon,”

“Hmm?” he questioned, sitting on the bed and caressing your torso, stroking and kissing your skin in total adoration. His hands were slightly calloused, but were still comforting, and if you had more than a loaf of bread and milk in your house you’d have broken out some baby oils. “What’s that mean…?”

“Lie back, and you’ll see,”

“Okay,” he nodded, beginning to relax himself. “Wait!” He interjected, sitting up to look at you as he realised what was about to happen. “I can’t ask that of you…”

“Let me at least feel it, Hen…” you said, palming his erection through his pants as you began to unzip them. “Just a little?”

“Just a — Oohh,” he hissed, letting out some air through his teeth as your hands came into contact with his cock. Luckily for you, the carpet did indeed match the drapes - he had a wild patch of reddish-brown hair around his base, and he was roughly six inches, with a decent girth.

No wonder he was so shy and calm, he was totally packing and he knew it.

It was a fresh, peachy shade of pink, and some precum had begun to sprout from the head. Smirking, you gripped it, one hand stabilising the base as the other stroked it up and down; agonisingly slowly. The man’s eyes were shut, and his teeth grazed his bottom lip as he seemed to fixate on his breathing, letting out small, but long moans from his chest.

“Oh, Y/N…That’s —“

“Am I making you feel good, Henry? It feels like you’ve been needing this,” you giggled as his heavy cock twitched. He opened his eyes, staring at you intently as he nodded.

“I’m going to need to hear you say it, I’m afraid…” you teased.

“Mfh — Y/N — I -“ he stumbled, utterly wrapped up in the calming sensation. “You feel so good, I might —“

You immediately pulled your hands away, not wanting to embarrass him, and he ran his hands across his beard in shock, licking his lips as he did. He was about to open his mouth, when you did the work for him.

“How do you want me, Mr Emily?” You said, with a curious head tilt and wide eyes.

“In my lap…Straddle me like you did downstairs,”

You did exactly that, and the man kissed you again as he pulled off your shorts, running the material down your legs so that they pooled at your ankles.

“You’re beautiful, Y/N. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he said sincerely, and you weren’t sure whether it was the glow of the moon, or just a simple nightlight, but it was then that you wanted him to consume you entirely. It was deep, and it was primal, an emotion that you exhibited through your frantic and passionate movements, of which he mirrored, adjusting himself so that his tip lined up with your entrance.

You locked eyes with each other, and with a small nod he entered you, causing your spine to arch in an almost inhuman way, and for the man to groan with relief. It had simply been too long since he’d been inside someone, and he shut his eyes in sheer pleasure as he accosted himself with the warm, squeezing sensation. You gripped onto his broad chest for support, burying your face into his neck as his hands found your waist, slowly moving your hips up and down his shaft.

“Henry — You’re so big— I don’t know if I can take it all…”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he said in an assuring manner, stroking your skin. “I’ll be gentle. You don’t have to take it all — it’s all about making us both feel good…”

“O-Okay,” you nodded, but you desperately wanted to consume him, just to see his face twist and contort with sheer pleasure.

Once you felt comfortable, you began to move up and down his shaft, your hips slowly falling into a gentle rhythm as he thrust up into you. One arm was on your waist, and the other steadying your back, guiding you through the motions as you engulfed his throbbing cock.

Henry’s moans turned into grunts as you began to circle your hips, making his cock twitch with desire as you took him so eagerly.

“Am I hurting you?” You said, eyes wide and lips pouted.

“The complete opposite, actually,” he chuckled. Even in the heat of the moment he still managed to possess his charming dorkiness.

“You’re so cute,” you giggled, pecking his cheek and throwing your head back in ecstasy.

“Not bad for an old man, huh?” He smirked, caressing your cheeks to stare at you again. He seemed to like doing that.

“Please stop calling yourself old,” you gasped. “You’re easily fucking me like a thirty year old,”

“Twenty five year old,” he bargained.

“Twenty- seven,”

“Deal,” he chuckled, beginning to slam his hips up into yours, creating a clapping sound. His thrusts were becoming more confident with every movement, and as you found yourself slowing down, he was quickening his pace.

Both his hands steadied your hips, and he leaned forward so that your body lay on the bed, whilst your hips were inverted, resting on his strong thighs. He began to pound you from this angle, admiring the way your body looked all sprawled out below him, leaning down to plant kisses along your chest and neck.

You, on the other hand, were in a sheer state of bliss, to the point that you could barely see straight. None of your college hookups had been able to fuck you like this, like an animal, but also deeply intuitively and caring.

Henry’s muscles were rippling, and he began to wobble, signalling to you that he was getting close.

“Uh - Mmfh - Y/N…” he moaned. “I’m gonna — Are you close?”

“Mmfh…” you nodded, unable to speak. “Please - Don’t pull out…” you begged, and Henry’s eyes widened, letting out a groan at the very thought of filling you up.

“Oh - I’m gonna — Fuck…” he whispered, cursing for what felt like the first time. His total bliss sent you over the edge, your body wobbling as you came, just as Henry keeled over, stabilising himself with his hands either side of you, panting as his chest rumbled. His eyes were shut, his hair glued to his forehead, and whispered sweet nothings as he pumped loads of his hot seed inside of you, for what felt like forever. He was so pent up that he thought he might’ve burst into millions of segments, like a firework on New Years Eve. Sighing, he tried to catch his breath as he withdrew from you, some of his remains leaking out of your hole as he fell beside you, his arm instinctively wrapping around your body and pulling you closer to him.

You swallowed some saliva, trying to desperately lubricate your throat as you scrambled to find the words for what just happened.

“You’re right…You do fuck like a twenty five year old…”

“It helps when the stimuli looks something like you,” he chuckled, drawing you to his chest as he kissed your forehead. You shut your eyes, drowning yourself in his embrace. Of course the scent was there, and although it was mixed with sweat and sex hormones, you didn’t mind in the slightest.

It was silent for a few moments until you spoke up.

“Henry?”

“Yes?”

“Can you stay the night? It’s cold, and the room is bare…”

“I can’t believe you’d assume I’d leave,” he chuckled, rubbing your upper back soothingly. His chest slowly began to drop to its regular levels, and you traced the outline of his pectorals as you did, finding yourself growing weary by the minute. You yawned, and you didn’t know it, but he smiled down at you.

“You know - I really like you…” you said drowsily. “I think we could make great neighbours…”

“Just neighbours?”

“We’ll see…” you teased. “Don’t get too cocky now, you haven’t even taken me out for dinner yet…” you finished with another yawn, your eyes now fluttering shut.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he chuckled. “Sleep well,” he finished, kissing your forehead once again. As your hearts slowed down from their high, Henry knew that you were the one. Even if it was temporary, he owed it to himself to see where the two of you could go together.

-FIN.

#THANK YOU ANON #anon ask #taking requests #request fill #henry emily #fnaf smut #fnaf x reader #henry emily x reader #HENRY STANS THIS IS FOR YALL #drop me a request!#michael afton x reader #smut #florence_nomachine #gender neutral fanfic #gender neutral reader #florence writes!!

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klein-sodor-bahn · 8 months

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Percy Gresley - Stanier (Avonside)

Teased him Charlie and Henry’s bios but here he is. Percy as a tiny 6 year old boy. And now I’ll tell ya about how he found his new family.

Percy came to the orphanage at 3 years old. His parents were unable to care for him properly although the real reason is unknown. He was a lonely boy in the orphanage playing alone with his wooden trains. He also watches a certain talking trains show. The other children despite how nice he was found him way too strange and some were terrified of his outbursts when he realized something was wrong with his stuff.

When Henry and Charlie entered the play room were all the kids play together the little redhead caught Henry’s eye. He was playing with his favorite engine a little green tank engine. Henry sat down beside him and watched how the little boy pushed the train along the loop. Henry asked him what’s the name of the little engine. Percy with big eyes replies: Percy, just like me! “And what is Percy currently doing?”, Henry asked. “Pulling some trucks!” “He should be careful with those troublesome trucks”, chuckled Henry. “You know Thomas?!”, Percy was flabbergasted. “My mum read it to me when I was sick”, smiled Henry, “I have to go now Percy.” “Mister!” “Yes?” “What’s your name?” “Henry”

After this encounter Henry and Charlie knew Percy was the right one. They traveled to Henry’s parents and got Henry’s old toys and books. His parents had kept everything. The duo painted and decorated the room within a week. And on a Sunday they traveled to the orphanage. Percy was again playing alone with his wooden Percy toy. Henry sat down again like last time and Charlie on the other side. Henry gets out a rather worn down green tender engine and places it on the track. “Hullo, Percy”, he began. The little boy froze. “Don’t be scared Percy. Would you like to come home?” With a shaky voice the little boy answers,” I..I would love to, Henry” Percy lets go of the toy and falls into Henry’s arms. “I…thank you, dad” Charlie meanwhile picked up the engines and rails and put them in a bag. “Percy dear we need to get your clothes”, she says, “can you show me your room so I can do it for you?” “Yes mum!”, with that he jumps up and runs towards the door. “Hurry mum we don’t wanna cause confusion and delay!” “I’m coming, Percy”, Charlie laughs.

Percy loved his new room and all of Henry’s cats. After a bit of suspicion they all regularly come to Percy for cuddles. And every night Henry or Charlie read a story about talking engines that live on an island near England. Donald and Douglas were at first jealous of the little dude, but when they learned that he loved playing pretend and hide and seek they adored him. Especially when he visits them at their heritage railway. They love to give him footplate rides. One thing Henry and Charlie learn is that Percy is afraid of bodies of water he can’t see the bottom of. So teaching him how to swim in the nearby lake was a tough challenge. And was made even tougher after Thomas had pushed Percy into that very same lake.

Percy and Thomas are like frienenmies. Thomas loves to bully Percy who regularly claps back and calls him out for his bad manner. Which offends Thomas who has a very high opinion of himself. Percy loves his new parents to pieces. He’s a sweet little angel although he’s accident prone so Charlie has to patch him up a lot. But that doesn’t stop him from exploring nature with his dad and occasionally visiting his mum at work in the local pub to the delight of the customers.

#ttte human au #ttte humanized #ttte #ttte percy #thomas and friends humanized #lore #lore dump #look at him #he’s so cute #Percy is just and innocent little Angel and I love him.#Also yes the RWS and TVS are canon in this AU #Percy must be protected at all cost!

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angelofrainfrogs · 6 months

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Spend the Night: Ch. 33

~Coauthored by @zeitghest~

Fandom(s): Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: The familiar melody of Grandfather’s Clock chimes through the echoing halls of the Pizzaplex…

Charlie wakes up in her Puppet’s vessel yet again with one goal in mind: to stop William Afton’s reign of terror for good. She enlists the help of Glamrock Freddy, the emphatic leader of the newest iteration of the Fazbear Band. But there seems to be more to this bear than meets the eye—and the same goes for the mysteriously familiar kid the duo find tinkering with animatronics down in Parts & Service.

With some help from friends new and old, Charlie’s journey into the bowels of the Pizzaplex will unravel mysteries none of them ever expected.

Rating: T

Read on Ao3

When you're forced to live in a mask for the rest of your years You pick up a thing or two about bone-chilling fear And we just wanna share with you everything we learned All the pain and suffering, tenfold in return We're not gonna lie to you, this is gonna hurt 'Cause now it's your turn

~We Know What Scares You by Tryhardninja, Halocene~

To Henry and Charlie's mild surprise, Evan's hand shot into the air. He'd stopped crying now, tear-streaked face wiped clean by the caring hands—and now-damp shirt—of his older sister. He moved away from her now, taking the sledgehammer that Cassidy had stored nearby and dragging it over to the arcade console. It seemed like it would be too heavy for his tiny frame, but with his android strength combined with the flash of defiant hunger in his eyes at finally getting revenge for all his family and friends' torment, Evan hoisted the weapon up like it was nothing but air.

With a sickening crack of breaking glass and machinery, the Midnight Motorist display screen was destroyed in one hit. Sparks flew out of the console, spitting angrily as if William's very soul was frothing at the mouth with unbridled rage that finally his plans of resurrection were foiled for good.

“Nice job, Evan!” Michael cheered, and Evan absolutely beamed at his older brother's praise.

“Thanks, Mikey!” he replied, then looked to the group with a questioning tilt of his sweet, innocent head. “Who's next?!”

Gregory had gaped in surprise at Evan's strength in his fresh new android body. After rising to his feet, Gregory would cheer him on alongside the others. Charlie came forth, hesitant as Cassidy made a move towards the game—only to drop in an ostentatious bow.

“No, please, I insist you go first,” Cassidy said, much to Charlie's surprise. Maybe all those years of hanging out with Evan’s softer personality had finally rubbed off on her. After Charlie thanked her, Cassidy would make it known to the whole room: “But I called next, got it?”

There was a smile on Charlie’s face, ancient tears dried as she carefully picked the sledgehammer from Evan's hands. Charlie motioned for Evan to back up, using the space around her to wind up a swing. She swept the legs out from under the tabletop game, the already busted glass breaking completely out of the case now.

“WOO! Take that, you old fuck!” Charlie shrieked with pure elation, though quickly apologized as she remembered the company of Freddy and her own dad. Cassidy rushed to her side, staring at the now smoldering machine.

“Oh man... That's like—did we hit a lithium battery or something?” Cassidy giggled, not worried for their health with obvious reasons. However, the idea of William exploding was playing in her mind on a loop that couldn't help but make her snicker.

“Looks like it,” Henry piped up, arms crossed over his chest and a satisfied smirk on his face. He let out a laugh of his own as all eyes turned to him. “Now, under normal circumstances I'd never condone this, so don't you kids start getting any ideas...” He raised a stern eyebrow, though the absolute shit-eating grin underneath it counteracted whatever seriousness he was trying to go for. “But I think, after all the fucking bullshit you've been though, I can selectively not hear any curses that might come out of your mouths for the next five minutes while you smash that thing to smithereens. What do you think, Freddy?”

Henry looked over at the bear, who was wearing a wide smile of his own. With demure tilt of his head, Freddy added in a tone of fake surprise: “Oh, will you look at that—my profanity filter seems to be temporarily turned off as well. What a coincidence!”

“I knew you were always the best one, Fazbear!” Henry said, jovially patting him on the back. There was a collective swell in the room as the kids started to process the temporary power they'd been given, and Mike couldn't help but let out a snort.

“Uncle Henry, you have no idea what you've just done...,” he commented, a delirious chuckle threatening to spill out of his mouth at any given second.

Gregory gasped, standing from his crouched position by the computer on the floor. Excitedly making his way towards the Midnight motorist game, he began stomping the more brittle pieces, snapping plastic casing away from the smoldering remains.

“Take this you dumb piece of shit!” Gregory laughed before feeling Cassidy's hand on his shoulder.

“Woah! Woah! Save some for me! Smashing him was my idea!” Cassidy whined slightly, though she wasn't really all that upset, laughing at the way Gregory chose to curse. For once, the two managed to get along as Gregory pulled her closer. Together they kicked at the remains before its damaged motherboard began to spark.

Far off and standing by Michael, Elizabeth watched with crossed arms. She didn't need to join in. She spent so long being angry, Liz felt the very notion tire her soul out. Though she would never forgive her father, she didn't want to expunge the energy needed it took to continuously hate him forever.

“God damn!” Liz mentioned, watching as Gregory stomped unperturbed by the slowly growing electrical fire. “Don't burn yourself, Gregory! Hahaha—” Liz couldn’t help but laugh at the kid’s eagerness to destroy what remained of their father.

“Watch your feet, superstar!” Freddy called, a flash of concern crossing his face as the little flame sparked and fizzled. Looking to at the oldest adult in the room, he said to Henry: “I do not think we should let that grow much larger...”

“Don't worry,” Henry reassured, hands on his hips as he watched the kids have their dark fun. “Between Michael and me, we're experts on fires by now.” After a glance up at Freddy showed this comment only made the bear more concerned, Henry chuckled and jerked a thumb towards a desk, underneath which a plethora of bright red fire extinguishers sat waiting for this very moment. “Ennard snagged some extinguishers before things went down tonight—we've got it covered, Freddy.”

Standing behind his siblings, Mike leaned forward and draped his arms around their shoulders to pull them into a tight hug. Unable to stand his giddiness he then pressed a quick kiss to each of their cheeks, laughing heartily as the pair instantly started wiping away his nonexistent spit.

“EW, Mike—that's gross!” Evan shrieked, which only caused Michael to laugh even louder.

“Yeah, yeah, suck it up!” he replied, refusing to release them even as the pair struggled. Though, based on how lightly they pushed against his arms, he could tell they didn't really want him to let go anyway.

“Gross, Michael,” Liz remarked, worming her way under his arm to give him the tightest squeeze. The odds of all of this having eventually worked out better for the bulk of them made Liz happier than berating her deadbeat dad ever could.

For one brief moment she looked to Evan, happy to see that being inside a new robot hadn't been giving him too much anxiety off the bat. From what Cassidy told him, he cried for the first two years of being stuck together… That didn't even include the time that Evan was alone.

As a small fire broke out Gregory fell back to avoid being burned, only to be caught by Charlie who's quick thinking made Liz laugh.

“Freddy warned you!” she called, and Gregory waved a hand dismissively her way.

“I'm hardly burned! Hey, uh... How do you use a fire extinguisher anyway?” he asked curiously while Cassidy left to fetch it.

“Uh... You use the hose? Duh,” the ghost replied, as if it were that simple.

“Let me help,” Henry said, retrieving his own extinguisher. Together he and Cassidy worked to control the flame, allowing it just enough spark to catch on the next piece of shattered equipment and reduce it to smoldering ash before quenching this particular section of fire. They didn't want to risk leaving anything salvageable at the end of all this.

Evan had been too distracted by the quick shift in bodies and subsequent well-deserved torture of his father to really register the android he was currently in. However, as things began to calm down his enhanced senses started coming into play—he could feel the warmth on his back as Michael held him close, the fabric of Lizzie's clothing as she pulled him into the family group hug, the vague remnants of dried tears on his cheeks... It was wonderful to be able to feel again, but something about this whole thing was beginning to tug at Evan's nerves.

After dislodging himself from his siblings—which was quite the feat—he wandered over to Charlie. She and Gregory were watching Henry, Cassidy, and Freddy work, the bear having joined in to assist with flame control. Tugging on the sleeve of the kind spirit who'd watched over him all this time, Evan quietly asked: “Hey, Charlie? Thanks for getting me out of Fredbear, but, um... a-am I stuck in this body now?”

Charlie had given him a quizzical look. She then relaxed, figuring Evan would be more uncomfortable in spectral form. This was totally fine in her book—goodness knows the boy deserved to be out of a robot for the rest of eternity if he wanted. He’d given the android a test run and Charlie knew Henry wouldn’t be offended if he kept it as backup from now on.

“Not if you don’t want to!” Charlie made that clear. She reached for Evan’s head, chuckling a little to herself as she took back her Gift. “Always feels wrong doing this. But if you’re fine with being a ghost…”

It didn’t take long. The separation was nearly instant as Evan’s robotic body shut its eyes, falling like a ragdoll to the ground. It was an odd sight as Charlie guided his spirit back onto the floor as well.

“Yeah! Who needs those stuffy robot bodies?” Cassidy remarked, then looked between the four people who outnumbered those without androids. “Uh… No offense to you guys! It’s probably weird being cooped up like that again.”

“Thanks, Charlie!” Evan sighed in relief, shaking out all his limbs. Just like Cassidy proclaimed, the thought of being trapped up in another robot wasn’t something Evan wanted to entertain if he could help it. This ghost form was light and free, and while there were benefits to having a body Evan much preferred the ability to go wherever and whenever he wanted without the restriction of solidity. Honestly, he’d been kind of jealous watching Cassidy warp through walls the past few days…

Once satisfied that he’d stretched out a good amount of 40-odd years of stiffness, Evan moved to stand in front of Gregory with a spring in his step. Holding out a hand, he grinned and said:

“Hi for real, twin from the future!” He giggled at his own little joke. “See, I said you looked just like me!”

By this point the Midnight Motorist game was nothing but a black spot of lightly smoking ash and extinguisher debris. Setting the red canister on the floor, Henry gently picked up the discarded android and carried it away to its cabinet until Evan was ready to try it out again.

Gregory glanced at Evan, staring him up and down as he finally took stock of his appearance. As with the others, he’d been so caught up in ensuring William’s demise he hadn’t gotten a chance to process everything else that’d come out of this crazy night.

“What the fuck?!” Gregory would laugh, grasping onto Evan’s hand before using it as leverage to raise himself back to his feet. Gregory, when given free range of speech without repercussion, seemed to have a little sailor mouth not unlike Michael’s. “Dude—you weren’t kidding!”

To Gregory, everyone’s reactions made so much sense now. He thought they may have been misremembering the way Evan looked after so long, but even now he could see how the poor kid’s own father mistook Gregory for his own…

“Am I looking in a mirror, or what?” he remarked, a wide grin spreading across his face. Cassidy discarded the extinguisher, quickly swiveling her gaze between the boys.

“Oh look—it’s Evan and Evan’s clone,” she teased, making Gregory roll his eyes.

“Double-trouble,” Michael muttered with a smirk, ruffling their hair aggressively and cackling at the identical cries of annoyance and vain attempts to push him away.

“Mike, you realize one of these days they’re going to team up against you, right?” Henry warned, settling next to his daughter and putting an arm around her shoulders. Knowing Henry’s claim was a very real possibility, Michael was quick to release his brothers and take a few steps back, palms raised in supplication.

“Hey, no hard feelings, right?” he asked, though his twitching grin detracted from his sincerity. He would surely bother his siblings whenever he got the chance—but never again would there be malice behind any of his actions.

Evan rolled his eyes and shoved Michael’s hip, the man making a dramatic show of being pushed off-balance that caused Evan to snicker. Freddy watched this display with a soft smile, intrigued to see how everyone got along when the looming threat of an immortal murderer was well and truly gone. The relief in the air was palpable, and despite the terror and uncertainty of the past few nights, Freddy was glad he’d been able to be there for those who needed him.

Speaking of time passing…

“Oh—it is nearly 5:15 am,” Freddy spoke up, blinking rapidly as he checked his internal clock. “If we would like to get out of the Pizzaplex before dayshift, we should start moving… There are still a few things we must do.”

Lizzie laughed at them. It was so easy to see Gregory becoming close to their family already. Good thing, because that Remnant wasn’t going away anytime soon. She bumped Michael with her hip when Evan pushed him closer to her. “You could barely handle two younger siblings. How on Earth are you going to manage three?”

Charlie had been hugging onto her dad, surreptitiously wiping a small stream of tears off on his ethereal shirt. At Freddy’s watchful observation Charlie shifted to hold Henry by the shoulders and meet his gaze. “I’m going to find Sammy, Dad. Apparently he owns this whole building.”

“Does he now?” Henry let out a soft chuckle. “Well, well… make sure all that power hasn’t gone to your brother's head, will you?”

To Gregory, Freddy alerting them was like his dad telling him to wrap up hanging out with his friends. Without even thinking, Gregory pulled Evan in for a quick hug.

“We’re gonna hang out again soon, okay?” He spoke with a determination in his voice. Cassidy quickly piled into the hug, and Lizzie was soon to follow—though the sheer instability of their unbalanced embrace had the group of kids falling over into a giggling pile on the dirty ground.

“We’re gonna hang out tons!” Evan confirmed after the laughter died down. He stood, helping Cassidy to her feet. “I want to see what this new place is like—Cassidy says it’s so different from all the other restaurants!”

“I think you all will have a great deal of fun in the Pizzaplex,” Freddy said, and Evan turned to stare up at him. After a second’s hesitation, he wrapped his arms around the bear’s leg to give him a brief squeeze before stepping back.

“Thanks for helping, Freddy,” Evan muttered quietly, falling back to Lizzie’s side. He wasn’t afraid of this particular Glamrock model in the slightest, but his lingering nerves towards any large animatronics still caused him to revert to shyness.

“There is no need to thank me; I am glad I could be there for my friends, no matter how new they may be,” Freddy responded kindly, then offered a hand for Gregory to take. “Shall we go?”

“We’ll be back soon,” Michael reassured, patting Cassidy on the shoulder before giving his siblings a final hug, then moving onto Henry.

With a battle they long dreaded finally coming to a satisfying end and a happy farewell, the Faz-gang hurried for the surface. As they traveled out into the darkness, Charlie walked behind Gregory. She was shaking her hands over his shaggy—albeit greasy—hair, squealing in praise: “You did so well back there, Gregory! Isn't he such a cool kid, guys?”

It'd been a long time since she felt this good; that she didn't have to worry so much.

“Shut up; you were so badass!” Gregory laughed. “The way you kicked the charging pod door closed was priceless!”

“Aw, shucks.” She feigned humility, then jabbed an elbow into Mike’s side. “And you two? Dude, you guys were ruthless.”

“I would say that our ruse worked perfectly,” Freddy commented, causing the group to grin up at him.

As they neared one of the staircases that would take them up to a higher level, there was a sudden movement in one of the dark corners. The group stilled, watching the huge, lurching shape come towards them, and for a horrible moment wondered if they'd somehow gotten it wrong—was William still roaming the Pizzaplex, having miraculously escaped the data transfer?

However, as Ennard stepped underneath a hanging lightbulb everyone relaxed. Well, three out of four in the group, at least.

“For fuck's sake, Ennard!” Michael groaned, raking a hand over his face. Then he paused, realizing something that needed to be addressed before they left. “Oh—actually, you know what? I have something to tell you.”

Of course Ennard was completely fixed on Mike, all eyes staring unblinkingly at his face. At this point it didn't even phase the android, who simply met the demented clown's gaze with a serious one of his own, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Now listen—the four of us are going to leave the Pizzaplex soon, and you need to stay here. We're coming back, so don't... come looking for me, or anything. Just stay down here out of sight and listen to Henry—got it?”

Michael hated subjecting his uncle to Ennard's attention in his stead, but at least he wasn't scared for the ghost's well-being... and he was sure that the second he set foot inside the Pizzaplex again, Ennard would be waiting eagerly in the nearest vent for a glimpse of his “friend.”

Much to everyone's stunned, silent gazes, it was almost a relief to see Ennard okay. They did a good job at keeping a close watch on them as per Michael’s instruction, up until the very end where they’d had their own part to play in the ruse. Where Gregory figured that Ennard would obey, they instead rubbed their arm bashfully.

“STAY..? B... BUT WE HELPED.” Ennard had worked hard. Being trapped here again meant no freedom. No freedom meant they couldn't go with Michael or the rest. They were trapped. Trapped like back at Circus Baby's Rentals.

No. This couldn't be happening again.

“WE DON'T UNDERSTAND...” Their voice sounded somewhat betrayed, the garbled tone harder to comprehend when feeling this intense emotion.

“You helped a great deal,” Freddy stepped in, deciding it best to take over before Michael went back to sulking. He'd hate for the man to lose his good mood so soon, and Freddy also knew how to use a bit more tact when speak to Ennard at this point. Smiling gratefully, the bear continued:

“We thank you for everything you have done, Ennard. It is not that we do not want you to come with us—” There was a grumble from Michael, which quickly turned into a yelp as Charlie's bony elbow jabbed into his side. Unfazed, Freddy went on. “It is just that there are a few things we need to sort out before we can bring anyone else along—not just you.”

Freddy left unspoken the fact that Ennard would scare the living daylights out of most people they came across, as this was a given. Instead he chose to focus on the positive, hoping that giving Ennard something to look forward to would make them accept staying behind a little easier.

“As Michael said, we will return soon—we promise we will not abandon any of you. Perhaps when we come back I can introduce you to some of the other animatronics, if they are functional again. You may be able to visit them during the night shift and make some more friends.” He hummed, tilting his head in thought. “Hmm... yes, I can already think of at least one you may get along with rather well. It will just take a bit more time, alright?”

Ennard tilted their head with interest, now looking at the situation in a new light. They approached the group, slow and hopeful that their friends wouldn’t be alarmed at the proximity.

“WE AGREE...,” they replied, sounding somewhat melancholy as they went to pass them in the hallway. They slunk around with eyes that wandered and flicked back to Michael every now and then. “YOU'LL BE BACK.”

It wasn't a lie, as far as Ennard could tell. After Charlie dislodged her elbow from between the faux flesh on Michael's ribs, she waved at the amalgamation.

“We'll see you soon, buddy! Take it easy think of all the awesome robot friends you’re going to make soon,” she encouraged, to which Ennard would give her a thumbs up—making sure to graze a wire or two over Michael's shoulders and they squeezed on by him.

“HAVE FUN... PLEASE COME BACK AND SEE US SOON...”

Gregory waved too, feeling a little bad for Ennard. But they were just way too conspicuous to take into the public eye. They needed to focus on the little quartet making it through alright by themselves for now. There still wasn't a good, concrete plan put into place for how exactly to do that.

Michael brushed Ennard away, but in a surprisingly non-aggressive manner. As much as it pained him to admit, Ennard had helped them and kept their word of watching over Gregory. As if reading the kid's mind, once they were climbing the stairs and fully out of Ennard's sight, Michael spoke up hesitantly.

“So, uh... what exactly are we going to do when we get out? Because I don't know about you guys, but I don't have any money. Or ID. Or... anything.”

He used to have those things, but they'd been burned to a crisp along with his original body in the diner fire. The only one who could have anything remotely close to things they'd need was Gregory, although they'd established already that he had no money—and any form of ID would be useless because he was only twelve and it would link him to the foster care system that may or may not have noticed his disappearance by now. Mike desperately hoped that Gregory was one of the unfortunate kids to have fallen through the cracks—a horrible thing to happen for anyone but the immortal boy who'd been adopted by an animatronic bear and two android siblings.

“—Cool.” Gregory smirked. “We're off the grid.”

He probably didn't even consider the fact they needed all of those things to do anything.

“All we need to do is get jobs! That'll be easy,” Gregory convinced himself. Once they all had money, then they could live somewhere. “Besides, if we need a place to sleep, there's this old van from like... The 70's or something in a junkyard around here. It's got a smelly water bed in the back and it's pretty comfy—”

Charlie winced. How long had this kid been on the run for?

“No—one, you're too young to work.” Charlie burst Gregory's bubble. “Second, we're not going to sleep in a decrepit old van... Unless we don't have a better option.”

It was at that moment that Freddy realized his knowledge of the outside world might be a bit... lacking, to say the least. He knew that people needed jobs to make money, which was obviously used to obtain everything. He’d been designed as a mascot for a Mega Corporation after all and was used to people spending exorbitant amounts of money for the smallest things.

But... how would they get to that point? He hadn't even considered needing identification. His adoptive children might be able to finagle their way into obtaining something, but what about Freddy? He was literally created as a bear, for goodness sake—how would that translate to a human identity? He didn't even know how old he was supposed to be in this new body he would soon take over, let alone what last name he should take on since Fazbear was clearly out of the question.

“We'll figure something out,” Michael said determinately. “Worst case, maybe I can throw around the Afton name a little—or better yet, the Emily one.” He raised an eyebrow at Charlie. “Your brother's still alive, and Fazbear Entertainment is famous; maybe we can find a cheap hotel close by and convince them we have a room booked under Sammy's name? I'm sure we can raid the registers around here for cash, too! Well, unless they clean them out at the end of the day...”

He trailed off, scratching the back of his head, and that's when he remembered the wound he'd sustained earlier. His nails came away coppery with dried blood, making Michael wince.

“Ah, crap... Hey, Gregory, would you mind fixing something in my systems before we move Freddy over to his android? Something got out of whack when I had an, um... incident with you know who earlier.”

“Crap, what’d you do?” Gregory asked. It was his turn to be concerned. The trail of dried blood leading from a crack at the crown of Mike’s skull made Gregory cringe at the sight.

“Dude, you need to stop getting so messed up,” Gregory chided. He tried to look everywhere else but the wound on his head. He’d have to suck up whatever repulsion he had from the sight of it later when they had access to tools. “That jerk really hit your head… Piece of—”

Gregory bit his lip to stop himself from cursing. Charlie gave Michael a sympathetic look, but agreed with him nevertheless.

“I’m going to go find Sammy after we make sure your head isn’t messed up… Well, more messed up than usual.” Charlie corrected herself, teasing him gently as they approached Rockstar Row. “Who knows—maybe Sam can help us out! He probably wouldn’t mind; after all we’re family!”

“I'm fine,” Michael said with a roll of his eyes. “I got an alert saying a gyroscope was out of whack, but other than the wound itself I'm pretty sure that's the only thing wrong.”

“I am sorry we could not help you at the time,” Freddy murmured, frowning at the blood smears. Michael shook his head with a smile.

“You guys had a job to do. And hey, now we have at least a little plan!” He shoved his hands in his pockets, subconsciously looking for danger as they approached Freddy's door. “We'll fix up my head, find Sammy if he's around, then get you in your new body.”

“Alright,” Freddy relented, not feeling the need to press the matter. He decided to knock on the door, remembering that Vanessa and Hannah were still inside, and was mildly surprised it was opened by the ghost. “Oh! Hello, Hannah; how are you?”

“I'm fine!” she said, peering around Freddy's leg to see the others, her eyes widening at the sight of everyone covered in grime and soot. “Whoa, you guys are so dirty... what did you do?!”

Before anyone could give Hannah a rational answer, Gregory hopped into the front of the group—probably being the filthiest of them all. His apparent grime dusted off of him in small clouds with each movement.

“We put an old man inside a video game and smashed it! It was intense!” he said with all the excitement of a child who’d just finally been told he could have a puppy. He moved inside of Freddy’s room all with the intention of telling Hannah every detail he could remember from the final fight with William Afton.

Charlie shared a look with Freddy and Michael, figuring they could afford to let Gregory relax and unwind with his new friend for a few minutes.

“Ness? You still here?” she called out, wondering if she had already decided to head on out before dayshift showed up.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Vanessa’s exhausted and worry-ridden voice came from the direction of the couch. She stood in front of it, having jumped up at the knock on the door, hand relaxing from where it’d been poised on her walkie to alert the others of an intruder. Hesitantly, she asked: “So is it… done?”

“It’s done,” Michael confirmed, watching Gregory excitedly explain the details to an astounded-looking Hannah. Turning back to Vanessa, he offered her a smile. “He can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

“Oh thank fuck,” Vanessa breathed out in a rush, pressing a hand to her heart. She took a second to process the fact that she was indeed free of the mind control she’d been under for far too long, then glanced at Hannah. “We’ve just stayed here—she played the arcade game for a bit but then she got bored and we’ve just been… talking. She’s a sweet kid.” Her voice caught on the last word, and Vanessa cleared her throat.

For Hannah’s part, the little girl was now 100% confident that the entity who’d kidnapped her and the woman who’d been watching over her for the past hour or so were not the same by any means. She couldn’t find it in her to blame Vanessa for her death, whose genuine remorse was palpable in every apologetic word and guilty expression.

“Perhaps after she and Gregory have a few more minutes together, Cassidy can take Hannah down with the others?” Freddy suggested softly, looking to Charlie. He had a feeling Cassidy might not appreciate another random summons, but the other option was for one of their quartet to trek down to be basement again to show Hannah the way, which they simply didn’t have time for.

Charlie watched as the young ghost acclimated well to her new existence. With Gregory telling her the colorful details of their daring battle with her killer, Charlie could feel her heart clench. Then Freddy’s words pulled her from the thoughtful stupor.

“Oh yeah; good thinking. I’ll call her soon.” Now Cassidy was in a better mood, Charlie reasoned the girl would be glad to make a new friend. Honestly, she was more worried about Vanessa.

“Are you going to be alright, though?” Charlie asked genuinely. After all, Vanessa never had a choice to be involved in all this, just like the rest of them. “It… It’s okay if you’re not fine, y’know?

After all, the majority of them were by all means not fine. Though Charlie knew they all had each other to get by… That raised the question if Vanessa had anyone who worried about her the way their Faz-family cared.

Vanessa gave a short, humorless laugh. “Not really, but… I’ll get better eventually—I hope. It’s just… so raw right now.”

The guard grimaced, looking to the floor.

“I still don’t remember everything, but I know enough to confidently say that William fucked up my entire life. I… I want the parents of those kids down there to know what happened. Not the details, of course, but at the very least they deserve finality that their children aren’t coming back.” She swallowed heavily, the air suddenly thick with the weight of William’s crimes against the innocent. “I’ll… I mean, I want you to know that I’m not going to say anything you don’t want me too. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would believe me… but I’ll wait until you all get things settled before speaking out.”

“Thanks, Vanessa,” Michael responded softly. He met her gaze, offering a small, sympathetic smile. “I promise we’ll do everything we still can for those kids. Who knows—maybe more of them are still hanging around like Hannah, waiting for Charlie to give them a second chance.”

“…You really think so?” Vanessa asked hesitantly, looking over towards the little girl. She was so lively and animated listening to Gregory’s tale, it was hard to believe she was actually a ghost who’d been killed in such a brutal, unceremonious way barely a week prior.

Charlie had been thinking on this topic since leaving the basement. Even with all of the safety features that Sammy kept inside this facility, there was still the aftermath of a “tragic accident” at a Freddy's location. Every single building that had to do with this IP turned into a murder scene. Like the very name was cursed. She always wondered if Evan's death had triggered it—just an unfortunate chain of events that led to the latest killing spree leaving nine kids dead and one brainwashing victim traumatized.

And one boy left permanently scarred as well, given an experimental drug that clouded his eyes stark silver...

For Charlie, it was easier not to think about. It's what the franchise had been doing for years after all. She'd have to bring up coming clean about everything to Sam with they finally met again. Charlie had been in a somewhat nervous mood since this realization—and Vanessa mentioning it just now made her chew on the corner of her finger in thought.

“—I want to do my best to help them. And... I don't know how we're going to do this. It might bankrupt Sam and we’ve got to be super careful not to incriminate him, but we have to tell the police something,” Charlie remarked, knowing the families must miss these kids be worried sick not knowing where their children disappeared to. Of course, it all felt too personal; too close to home for Charlie to take lightly.

“...Look,” Michael began with a heavy sigh. “Not that I'm condoning keeping this from the public, because this damn franchise has been hiding things for way too long... But let's just give it at least one more day, okay? We can find Sammy and get his opinion on the whole thing, and we'll figure out where to go from there.” He glanced at Vanessa with a raised eyebrow. “You're going to get a lot of heat for this, you know, regardless of how we spin it.”

“I know,” she agreed with an expression of acceptance. “I'm ready for whatever the consequences are. I might not’ve actually done the deed, but I'm still responsible for all those missing kids.”

There was another pregnant pause, before Vanessa's shoulders slumped with exhaustion. “Alright, if there's nothing else you need, I think I'm going to go home. Can you tell Hannah goodbye for me? I... don't think I can face her again. Not tonight.”

“We will,” Freddy reassured, giving Vanessa a smile. “Please try and get some rest.”

“I'll do my best; you all do the same.” Vanessa spared one more glance at the kids, who were still involved in their own world. Then, with a half-hearted wave she slipped out of Freddy's room and made her way for the main exit.

Once the door closed, Freddy walked into the back area to grab a toolkit used for quick, basic repairs so the group wouldn't have to go to Parts & Service to get Michael fixed up. As he did so Mike took a seat on the couch, calling over to his brother with a little smirk: “Hey, Gregory, any chance you could help me sometime in the next century? Charlie's going to get Cassidy to take Hannah down to the others.”

Gregory’s face was red. He had completely forgotten about Mike's busted skull in his grand recounting of events.

“Crap—sorry, Mike! I’ll come look at your head!” he replied without trouble. Gregory’s pale eyes flicked back to the girl and he promised with a subdued smile: “I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I’ll come visit you guys as often as I can.”

He didn’t want to seem too eager to hang out with her. As Charlie came beside them, she touched Hannah’s shoulder.

“Hey! Did you have a fun time chilling in Freddy’s room?” she decided to ask, attempting to gauge the ghost’s mood before meeting with Cassidy. Despite their differences Charlie personally came to love Cassidy as a close friend, though was fully aware that Cas could be a bit much upon first meeting her.

“Oh, uh... yeah!” Hannah replied, frowning a little at the whiplash of her conversation with Gregory being cut short only to start a new one with Charlie. She also realized that Vanessa was gone, and while Hannah was a little peeved the woman hadn't even said goodbye, she couldn't really blame her—Vanessa looked ready to fall right off the couch from exhaustion towards the end. Tilting her head, Hannah asked: “So... what now?”

“You can stick around if you want—we’re going to be leaving for a little while. But I have a few friends your age that would love to hang out with you. My dad’s around here too, and he’ll take really good care of you!” Vaguely, Charlie wondered how long Henry planned to linger. Then again, some people can’t choose when they pass on. Charlie did what she could to twist the threads of fate, but sometimes they snapped before she could get a firm handle.

While the girls conversed Freddy joined Mike and Gregory at the couch, handing over the toolkit so the boy could work. Despite all the blood matted in Michael's hair, the wound itself thankfully wasn't too intense—a bit of poking around on Gregory's part should do the trick to get him back to rights again.

Gregory had to access a switch he found between a flap of fake skin on the back of Michael’s head, just under his hairline. It almost made Gregory pass out when the back of his brother’s head flipped forward to reveal the intricate endoskeleton underneath.

“Fuck—” He gasped, covering his mouth before rasping out an apology to his dad. “—Sorry I… I mean just look at that.”

How could he be blamed? Gregory didn’t think it was going to open up in such a way, and though he was aware Michael’s body was robotic there was a stark difference between accessing the inner workings of the Glamrocks versus a humanoid vessel. Regardless, Gregory spotted the problem right away.

“Oh, the housing for the gyroscope is loose. Easy—Dad, can you pass me a hex wrench?” he asked, holding out his tiny palm.

***

At the main entrance to the Mega Pizzaplex stood a very distraught CEO, feeling a stress headache coming on as the day staff lead explained the current status of his once-beautiful building. The sheer state of the damages was going to cost him dearly. Just when sales began to peak, he had to renovate the place again?

“Sophie…,” he murmured lowly, interrupting the girl. “Where is Vanessa?”

He sounded one part mortified and two parts silently infuriated. The normally calm man watched Sophie clam up, floundering in her speech.

“Uh—I… I’m sorry—I really don’t know. She’s kinda been avoiding me. No one could get a hold of you over the weekend either, Boss…,” Sophie explained meekly.

Mr. Emily wiped his hand roughly down his face in frustration, knowing it was partially his fault for not guiding them but unable to admit it while he was this upset. “—Fuck it. I’ll call her. She can’t just not explain any of this!”

As Vanessa's hand reached the push-bar of the main entrance doors, she was mortified to see none other than Sammy Emily, the CEO of Fazbear Entertainment marching in her direction. Her eyes widened in utter terror and she backed up, wondering if she'd be able to dart into a closet and hide until he passed by. Unfortunately, it was too late—upon catching sight of her, Sam let out a surprised exclamation and picked up his pace, soon bursting into the lobby with fire in his eyes.

“Oh shi—um, hello, Mr. Emily! I-I didn't expect to see you for another few days!” Vanessa greeted with a weak smile, crumbling into herself. God, she was so fired...

Mr. Emily held out his arms in a matter of fact gesture as if to say, ‘Yet here I am anyway.’

“Hm—the meeting went well!” he said through grating teeth. Samuel could feel another grey hair coming in on the back of his head. “Now, if my new stockholders decide to come by, they can see how majorly they fucked up.” He smiled, but there was no joy in his eyes. “Yep. They’ll say: ‘wow I sure do regret investing in this dump.’ Vanessa—what the hell happened?!”

Ness opened her mouth to speak, then promptly shut it again. She had no clue what to say. No excuse she had could truly make Mr. Emily understand what went down. Well, if she was going to be fired anyway, there was no point in lingering—Vanessa was fucking exhausted.

“Honestly, Mr. Emily?” she began, moving around him towards the front door. “Some major shit went down this weekend; that's really all I can tell you. I'd suggest you visit Freddy's room—they'll be able to explain much better than I ever could. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a long. Fucking. Nap.”

Before Sammy had a chance to respond Vanessa turned and rushed out the front doors, keeping her head down and ignoring Sophie's frantic call. She didn't stop until she'd reached her car, which she jumped inside and sped off in towards home. She'd come back to the Pizzaplex eventually to help tie up some loose ends, but the sheer glee Ness felt seeing the place fading away in her rearview mirror was indescribable.

Mr. Emily couldn't believe what he heard from the supposed head of security who’d just—what? He wasn't entirely sure what happened just now. Had Vanessa quit, or simply taken an abrupt leave of absence for who knows how long?

He left Sophie behind to investigate on his own terms, taking it slow as he inspected the rogue points of damage around the Pizzaplex. Even from the state of the lobby, it was clear they couldn't open this place tomorrow. Mondays weren't particularly busy in the morning, but the place sure attracted kids after school was out. Besides, how was Sam supposed to run a business with only one working Glamrock?!

If Freddy had even been fixed after that gnarly stage malfunction, that is…

***

“There's more kids here?!” Hannah somehow managed to sound both excited and mildly upset at the same time. Vanessa hadn't gone into much detail about everything that'd happened, but she'd mentioned there were many more victims of this William guy before Hannah. However, the ghost girl hadn't expected to see anyone but Charlie so soon, if ever. Trying not to think about how or why the other kids were around, she gave Charlie a small smile. “Yeah, I'd like to stay with them! Especially if you guys are gonna leave; I don't want to hang out here by myself...”

It didn’t take long to summon Cassidy, and Charlie was glad to see her in a good mood and just as excited to meet Hannah. She laughed at the state of Michael's head when first appearing inside Freddy's bedroom, but ignored him fast enough to greet the new girl. She was surprised that Charlie was still giving out Gifts, but was amiable enough thanks to recent events to help the newly deceased girl acclimate.

“You've already met Gregory—but have you met his twin yet?” Cassidy asked, already playing along with the joke. Hearing this, Gregory smirked as he finished up the repair and worked to close Michael's casing back into place.

“He's got a twin?!” Hannah asked with a surprised gasp, looking from Cassidy to Gregory and back again. “That's so cool!”

Hannah liked this new girl already. Cassidy's confident aura was something Hannah naturally drifted towards. That's probably why she'd already gotten along so well with Gregory, too.

“Let's go!” she exclaimed, grasping Cassidy's hand without hesitation and eagerly swinging her arm back and forth. Hannah was also very glad for the chance to make new friends—it would distract her from thinking about other things. Before Cassidy could whisk her away, Hannah waved to the group.

“Bye; I'll see you guys soon! And thanks, Charlie.” She released Cassidy's hand for a just a moment to squeeze Charlie around the waist, then returned to her new friend's side, locking their fingers back together. “Okay, now I'm ready for real.”

“Hey—you're going to love this. Watch what we can do,” Cassidy prompted, taking a firm hold of her new friend's hand whilst waving goodbye to the others as she and Hannah began to slowly sink through the floor.

And not a moment too soon, as someone's shadow fell over the door.

***

Previous Chapter ~~ Next Chapter

Looking for more? Check out the Chapter Masterlist on Tumblr!

Or check out the entire Wires that Bind Us Series on ao3!

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the-hares-heir · 27 days

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How do Mike and Henry get along?

Thank you for the question! Summery is going at the start of the post because, holy hell, I made this so long😭

TLDR: Mike and Henry's relationship has lots (and I mean lots) of ups and downs. Henry doesn't blame Mike for Charlie, and he tries (and fails) to not blame him for Lucy's death either. He leaves Mike's life for a while (before Elizabeth's death) and eventually, they reunite before-ish fnaf sl would take place. From there, they form a father-son-ish bond (finally a good father figure) and work to take down William :]

At first, Mike and Henry really just knew each other through William. When Mike was younger, he always found it awkward to be around Henry. Henry tries his best to be nice with his business partner's kiddo, but he's kinda bad at it, lol. Real awkward 'n anti-social guy, Henry handles the business side of things and holes up in his office for a reason.

Charlie is weird like her dad. Charlie is just as unaware of social cues as Henry is, she just doesn't know you're "supposed" to mask that.

Mike and Charlie get along greatly. Mike gets to know Henry even more because of this, and eventually, Mike finds himself going off to the Emily household to escape his family more and more. Henry doesn't outright encourage this, but he also doesn't say Mike can't come over. Henry's definitely got his suspicions that something isn't right in the Afton family.

Charlie's death makes Mike avoid Henry more out of guilt, but after William attempts to frame Henry for his own daughters death, Mike can't help but show up at his doorstep more and more.

He finally can speak to another real, living person that William hurt, and he's so relieved. Finally, someone who can relate to him.

Mike ends up trauma dumping real bad one night (and in turn admitting what happened to Charlie) and Henry does his best to comfort him and process everything.

Their relationship is shaky after this, but eventually, things get better. Henry never blamed Mike for any of his father's actions to begin with, and he, of course, doesn't blame him for helping William with murder. Henry honestly assumes William would've just killed Mike if he didn't help, and tbh I don't think that's too far off. Henry is really bad at expressing this, though. Every time he tries to, he can't find the right words, or his throat gets so tight he can't breathe or a thousand other things.

Henry was finally able to tell Mike he doesn't blame him for anything. He had been planning to tell him at Lucy's birthday party, he'd assume Mike would be bored outta his mind there and that they could go idk sneak off back home.

Yeah see this doesn't happen.

Henry walks in on Lucy getting chomped.

Henry tries so, so, so hard to help Mike through this. He knows William won't comfort him in the slightest, but Mike sees through Henry very quickly. Somewhere, deep down, even if it's only a little bit, Henry blames Mike for the bite.

Come the opening of CBPW, and Mike has pushed Henry away entirely. He has no reason to stay in town after this, so he moves away to God knows where.

He moves away before the MCI. Thank God lol he can't handle more dead kids.

Henry doesn't even get to learn Elizabeth is dead or that the MCI happened until he meets Mike again before the events of SL.

Months pass. They live like a family.

Then Mike gets a call. It's William. He can save Elizabeth. All he has to do is go see her at CBEAR.

After Mike literally rots away in front of his very eyes after every shift, Henry is ready to do anything to stop William. (Mike is, too, once he gets that horrid metallic parasite out of his body.) Henry can't believe William would just lead Mike to death like that, and he honestly feels horrible he couldn't do more to protect him but tbh there isn't much he could've done anyway lol he's just blaming himself.

Uhhh, then fnaf 3 happens blah blah blah fnaf 6 everyone (except william) goes to heaven yay

Sorry, I gave up at the end oopsies.

#fnaf #fnaf au #fnaf ask blog #bigass lore post #Henry Emily #Michael Afton #William Afton #Charlie Emily #Crying Child #Lucy Afton #Elizabeth Afton #Elizabeth Gilles-Afton #lore #answered ask #no art this time #text post

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afton-family-askblog · 11 months

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Afton Family Headcanons That Are Basically Canon In My Head. (because I have brainworms)

- Elizabeth takes after her father's personality. She would've been a great lawyer, if she had had a chance to grow up.

- Mike has constant nightmares, and he's extremely lonely

- William was physically abusive.

- Mike tried to reach out to Henry about Willy's abuse once but Henry probably dismissed him

- Mike doesn't like uncle Henry all that much but he's okay...

- Mike has touch aversion. Only certain close people are allowed to touch him. He gets very touchy and clingy with his person™, also gets worried about being too clingy. (My baby!!)

- He (Mike) started smoking a bit after the scooping incident, but it was never quite as severe has his chewing gum problems.

- Clara was mostly absent after the bite and usually never even bothered to check up on Mike. Her grief almost took her life before she left William.

- Even at a young age, Liz got insecure often because of her father's expectations but never showed it.

- William's reaction to his children's death was mild inconvenience and annoyance.

- Charlie and Liz we're good friends. Charlie had a little crush on Evan. Only Mike and Liz knew about it though. Evan had a little crush on Charlie as well. Charlie and Evan both regret not telling each other about their little crushes on the other....

- Evan and Charlie would talk about each other non stop. Evan to Psychic Friend Fredbear and Charlie to Liz.

- Mike made fun of Evan's crush but secretly shipped them. Henry and Clara also shipped Charlie and Evan, they took them on playdates very often.

- Evan would get sick very often when he was little. Charlie used to worry about him and fret over him.

- Mike wished he had someone like Evan had Charlie too... He was maybe... Kind of jealous of their bond.

- Liz used to play with Mike's and Evan's hair.

- Mike was the "Only I'm allowed to bother my siblings" kind of big brother.

- He (Mike) was always soft with Liz.

- Liz always hid in a corner or a closet with Evan whenever their father got angry and slipped into an... Episode. Liz would tell Evan to just... Pretend that they were playing a game of hide and seek and they had to hide very, very well. Evan knew he'd never be as good as Liz at that game. After all, Liz was always so good at pretending.

- Mike used to confuse Evan. Because Mike tormented Evan relentlessly but somehow Evan just knew, that the black eye Micheal got from their father last night was meant for him. (My baby!! Pt.2)

- Liz would always bandage up Mike. It stung Mike when he had to help himself after the baby incident. The house felt empty without the sound of his sister bossing him and Evan around.

- Clara knew better than to intervene, lest she get bruises and scars of her own.

- 🦚 I hope this wasn't too much. I still have more in my head. But yeah. Thoughts? Any personal HCs you'd like to add? Live Afton Family reaction to me knowing all their secrets?/hj

Wowie! These are very nice :D

#The only one i would challenge is charlie and ev having a crusb kn eachofher #I hc evan as aroace nsjfj #Will that ever mean anything on tbis blog? Probably not #Buuut its one of my personal ones :)#fnaf #ask #ask blog

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fantasticgothicpeachsludge · 9 months

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Hello it is I connection terminated the random Tumblr user!

Ideas had:

Directly after waking upafter being controlled by a bunch of psychotic clowns for like a year Michael went to Henry for help. Henry built him the end of skeleton shell so he could do stuff again But also made Michael internalized the idea that his life is basically useless unless he does vigilante stuff. Also the idea that it basically didn't matter at all what happened to Michael himself as long as he could still walk and punch...

"Nightguar" Michael Is introduced at a charity event hosted by William. (I think he definitely has a "oh you have dead parents I have dead children isn't that so sad" talk with Bruce at some point) Also Tim is there. Then suddenly as Williams giving this speech about "Look at these new robots I made they have a criminal detection system will protect Any children who walk into my establishments!". When Michael bursts in through the glass ceiling and tries to kidnap/maybe kill his dad. But because The crowd and Batman don't know the context it just looks like scary villain came down from the ceiling and is now trying to kill nice children's entertainer William Afton. Basically Michael runs after that and has a little rooftop fight with Tim. Throws down a flash Bang and then runs away.

All of the fun times can easily disguise as humans everyone except baby is just really bad at acting normal. It's also not something they need to do much-

Michael has a lot of hang-ups about being the only non-human member of the bat family for so long. Like everyone else can kind of take off the mask and do normal people stuff (mostly). But Mike physically can't do that.... He also happens to live in a city where most of the metahumans are villains and most of the heroes are normal human people. He kind of sticks out and sometimes gets mistaken for a villain (Kind of a loose adaptation of the whole looking like William hence people wanting to attack him thing for cannon)

Whatever kind of ghost or something like that Michael Charlie and most of the other cast from fnaf are Makes anyone who is in the presence of them feel really Uneasy.. This kind of fades the more time you spend around the person. (This is a head cannon I have for normal fnaf too I just think it'll be fun here)

Cassidy's powers are based on how much pain herself and the people around her are in. Either emotional or physical. she shares a vessel with Evan (because it's easier To say then crying child) His constant sadness is A Perfect power booster! If you're wondering what her abilities are she can trap people in nightmares, Teleconesis, Telepathy, Reality bending,

Thank you for listening to my ramblings here's a sketch of Cassidy! More of a little concept sketch than her final design LOL but I hope you like it

Ah! Hi! Sorry for taking so long to answer I was recovering from my sister’s second baby shower (I didn’t have a panic attack at this one yay) but it’s been a few weeks and now I’m ready to type! (mainly hearts and key smashs)

HENRYYYYYYY!!!!!! I know you have good intentions but you are giving my blorbo even more of a complex than he already has :(

*lights up the bat signal to let Bruce know to make sure he has the emergency adoption papers ready*

Of course William would have the fucking audacity I want to hit him (and I know that that man is so good an actor probably the only member of the batfamily to notice anything off would be Cass and ether she’s not settled enough to go to galas yet or literally hasn’t joined the family)

There is no doubt in my mind that he pulled out the “I am so sorry about the loss of your son Mr Wayne. There is no pain worse than the loss of a child. I would know” I want to break his nose

Is it really a robin teen vigilante romance if it doesn’t start with a misunderstanding and a fight?

Of course she’s a good actor, she loves playing pretend. kill me

I have no words for this one just tears

Tim: Hey guys! this is my boyfriend Michael.

*the entirety of Young Justice about to beat up a corpse Because he has bad vibes*

Tim making distance between them with his bo: Back! Back I say!

I love her so much💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕 her little hat is everything to me

#baby showers are over #I am free #finally #<3<3<3<3<3 #💕🍄🧚🏻answers🧚🏻‍♀️🍄💕#I love reading your ramblings!#your brain!!#fnaf/dc au

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cocoabubbelle · 1 year

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Hi again! :) I just started to watch Scooby Doo and Guess Who today, and I love the concept of introducing celebs. I love it because its not new, it's a callback to the og episodes with sonny and Cher, and batman!

If the show hadn't been cancelled, who would you want to guest star? (I watched a clip of the gang meeting their voice actors and it made my day, I was feeling down. I only thought they would meet frank welker too so it was a really nice surprise!)

Hi!

This will be divided between real people and fictional characters.

Real (both living and deceased)

Brendan Fraser

Ke Huy Quan

Rob Paulsen

Dwayne Johnson

Zachary Levi

John Wayne

Pentatonix

Gal Gadot

Henry Cavill

BTS

BLACKPINK

Tom Selleck

Jackie Chan

Chris Tucker (preferably working with Jackie)

Mister Rogers (you can’t convince me that the persona he put for his show wasn’t his real self)

The Kratt Brothers

Steve Irwin

Sandra Bullock

Micheal Jordon

Charlize Theron

Ben Affleck

Anne Hathaway

Margot Robbie

Cate Blanchett

Judi Dench

Julie Andrews

Octavia Spencer

Zendaya

Jessica Alba

Blake Lively

Ryan Reynolds

Lupita Nyong'o

Sandra Oh

Bette Milder

Catherine Zeta Jones

Micheal Peña

Diego Luna

Rita Moreno

Eugenio Derbez

Priyanka Chopra

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Jet Li

Bruce Lee

Pat Morita

Duck Dynasty

ZZ Top

Spice Girls

ABBA

Liam Neeson

Chuck Norris

Tim Curry

Jon Heder

Honestly the list could go on but I don’t know if tumblr has a word count limit so moving on…

Fictional (individual + cast/duo) (apologies if some of these seem REALLY random; look, if they can meet the Addams Family and Batman, who’s to say what’s impossible?)

Wizard of Oz cast (either original book or MGM’s iconic film)

Willy Wonka/Charlie Bucket

Walker, Texas Ranger

Superman

^ + Bruce Timm’s Justice League

Blue + Steve from Blue’s Clues

Hercules and/or Xena

The Shazamily

The Animaniacs

Freakazoid

TEENAGED MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!!!

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Napoleon Dynamite

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youllallriseintheink · 2 years

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The headcanons for William and Michael were really nice. Do you have any headcanons for Michael and Henry?

Yes, actually! If I'm going to make my own FNAF timeline (I may or may not lose interest in doing so a week from now, we'll see!), it will definitely contain Michael + Henry found family.

-Henry was like an uncle to the Afton children growing up. He was a lot better with kids than William, and Michael (given how contentious his relationship with his father was) really liked visiting him. Unfortunately, the visits stopped happening a little after Charlie's death as Henry pulled away from the world. All Michael knew was that William thought Henry had "gone crazy," and he missed him.

-After the Bite of 87, William started to believe that Michael had the potential in him to be a killer. He gradually told Michael everything over a couple years, culminating in him admitting to Charlie's murder. Michael, 17, then knew that he had to talk to the only adult he could trust. He showed up on Henry's doorstep, told him everything in tears, and asked what they could do.

-Henry told him to come live with him after he turned 18 so that William wouldn’t be a threat to his life, and they’d take all their evidence to the courts and hopefully land William in jail. He’d offer to do it before then, but if he did, he’d legally be Michael’s kidnapper, and they needed to work within the courts.

-This was also at this point that Henry gradually started to get his life together after years of living almost as a shut-in. Had anyone else told Henry that he had been contributing to the deaths of children, it would have driven him into deeper despair, but seeing a kid in need of help- one he knew, no less- was a very strong motivation for him.

-Long story short, William did not go to prison. Insufficient evidence. Henry was obviously fired, and Henry and Michael moved out of town because they’d just made a serial killer very mad at them.

-Henry got a new job, and Michael lived with him as he completed his last year of high school. Henry taught him to drive and helped him with homework and whatnot, and Michael called him “dad” by accident one day, and it stuck. They remained very close in Michael’s young adulthood. Michael was very happy to finally have a steady parental figure he got along with.

-Michael also kept up with the rumours and disappearances surrounding his father’s franchise. Each time he heard about another disappearance, he couldn't help but think back to his own siblings and feel like he didn't deserve the chance he'd been given to heal. He wanted him and Henry to bring William down by any means necessary.

-Henry tried to persuade Michael not to go after William. Henry was doing well by then and was worried about going back to his old ways. He didn't want Michael to die or live in the past, either, so he encouraged Michael to find a way to help people that wouldn't threaten his life. Because he spent years grieving Charlie and had to get himself together to help Michael, he knows better than anyone that stewing in pain isn't helpful.

-In the end, Michael did go after William. He spent the next few years getting jobs as a night guard in various Fazbear Ent. Locations, trying to find out all he could. He and Henry kept in touch. It all amounted to nothing, and he was scooped by Elizabeth and turned into a walking corpse. Finding out about that is what caused Henry to do the work to gather up the animatronics and light the building on fire in hopes of stopping William.

-Henry did intend to die in that fire. He has extreme reactions to grief, and losing his adoptive son when he'd already lost a daughter was too much for him.

#five nights at freddy’s #michael afton #william afton #henry emily #thanks for the ask #tw suicide

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harrylilies · 3 years

Text

The Royal Series | Pt. VIII

The Royal Series Masterlist

"Come on, Henry!" You laughed at your brother, wrapping the scarf you got him around his neck. "It's your best picture!" The green and red scarf had a picture of him fighting a pap in 2004 all over it, ready to be worn.

"You were only 10 when this happened, how did you even remember this?" He laughed, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and squeezing you to his chest.

"Brings out the colour in your eyes." Will said, helping Charlotte off of his lap and letting her run towards you.

"Think you should wear my gift to your boyfriend's family meeting." Harry joked, letting you go.

You rolled your eyes, scooping Charlotte in your arms. "Did you see Granny's face when I opened the gift?"

Harry mimicked, making everyone in William's drawing room laugh. "Admit it, it's a nice sweatshirt."

"The best thing to wear to a first family meeting; Harry Styles have my babies. Excellent choice." You said sarcastically, swaying Charlotte gently in your place.

"Teetee, did you like my present?" Charlotte asked enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around your neck.

"I loved it! I'm putting that picture frame beside me, on my bedside table. So every morning when I wake up and every night before I sleep, I see you and your brother. It's the best to wake up and sleep to, Charlie." You smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "Also, our little squish here wrote me a very nice letter." You nodded towards Kate's baby bump.

Spending more time with your family doing nothing but laughing, teasing one another, and reminiscing the days when you were all younger, it wasn’t long before you were putting on your coat and ready to leave.

"Do you have to go?" Charlotte whined, frowning as she looked at you.

You cooed, "Aw, none of that now, Charlie. I'll be back before you know it."

"Yeah, Charl, Teetee will only be gone for a few days before she comes back." Kate said, standing beside you as she assured her daughter, "We don't want Y/N leaving with us crying and her getting sad, do we?"

Charlotte nodded before letting out a dramatic sigh, "Okay."

"Now, I really have to go. Want to help me get my bags?" To which Charlotte nodded eagerly to, making you grin, "Where's your brother? Where's Georgie?"

"I think he's in his room." Will said, standing up.

"Let's go get him, Charlie. Let old Daddy sit, wouldn't want him hurting his back." You said teasingly as you walked past your brother, hearing everyone behind you snickering.

"Hey! Don't tell my daughter that!" Will joked, making you wave him off.

Reaching George's room, you let Charlotte knock before you heard him give you a "Come in!"

You opened the door gently, peaking yours and Charlotte's head inside to see George sitting on his floor, playing with the train toy set you had gotten him. His head snapped towards you, a grin instantly drawn to his face as he stood up and sped towards you, hugging your legs. "Auntie, you're still here!"

"I am, baby, but I wanted to ask you if you want to join me and Charlie and help me with my suitcases?" You stroked his scalp gently.

"Yes, of course! I'll get my train." He said before walking back to his previous spot, taking one red train before walking beside you, holding your hand.

George opened the door to your room, going inside and climbing up the bed till he sat, his feet dangling and swaying as he made train noises and flew his toy in the air. You sat Charlotte beside him, giving her the small piano toy she had left in your room the previous day, before unlocking your phone, finding 3 missed calls from Harry.

"Shit," you cursed under your breath, turning your phone slightly to find that it was silenced.

You instantly called him back, balancing the phone between your ear and shoulder blade as you opened your plain blue suitcase, double checking that nothing was missing before checking your duffel bag, too.

"I thought you got cold feet." Harry said as soon as he picked up, followed by a heartfelt laugh.

You smiled to yourself, taking your red sweater in your hand, "No, no. My phone's mute button was probably pushed by accident. Is something wrong?"

"No, love. I just wanted to make sure that you're," he cleared his throat, "You know, still coming."

"I am, H. I'm about to leave," you assured him before chuckling, "They still don't believe you?"

"They don't. Even showed them a couple of pictures but they told me that my fans make insane photoshopped pictures. I’m starting to feel very offended."

You laughed, zipping your suitcase. "Good thing I'm spending New Year's with you then, huh?"

"The best. Still sure about that? Wouldn't your family have your head?" He asked. "One, I'm sure. Two, told you it's me who decides. Now," you held your phone with your hand, "I have to go get dressed. I'll text you when I'm near, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I'm waiting for you. Take care, yeah?"

"Always do. Bye, baby." And so, it slipped from your mouth, making your eyes widen and your other hand to cover your mouth.

The pet name didn't seem to go unnoticed by Harry as he giggled quietly into the phone, giving you an eager "bye!" and a kissy noise before hanging up.

"I'm going to go change, I'll be right back." You informed your niece and nephew who only nodded at you, too engrossed in their toys.

With the car door open wide for you, you bent down, hugging George and Charlotte close to your chest, kissing their temples. "Be good for Mummy and Daddy, will you?"

"Yes, Teetee." They both replied, their arms on you.

"Come on, give me a kiss." You smiled, patting your cheeks for them to which they giggled at, leaning forward and planting loving kisses on your cheeks. "I love you."

"Love you, Teetee!"

Getting into the car and blowing everyone a kiss, you nodded at your driver who stood by the driver's door side. "Don't worry, Ben. I’ll be careful." You smiled, "You spend some time with your family."

"I did actually spend a wonderful time with my wife and the kids." He smiled, closing the door after you got in and put on your seatbelt before you put down your window.

"Oh! Did they like my presents? I certainly hope they did. Although I'm not so sure about the sizes, I just picked the ones suitable for your daughters' and wife's ages." You chuckled, looking up at him.

"They loved it, Your Highness! And the sweaters fit them just right. Lilly especially wanted me to thank you and invite you for a tea party." Ben chuckled humorously as he referred to his youngest daughter, only being 5.

You grinned, perking up. "I love tea parties! I'd gladly come if you'd let me."

Ben laughed in delight, nodding eagerly. "Of course we would! You're welcomed to visit anytime, Your Highness."

You smiled, starting the car before waving at him before you drove off, already feeling the nervous butterflies in your stomach at the thought of meeting Harry's family after a 3-hour drive.

Meanwhile, Harry sat on his mother's sofa, laughing at Gemma's embarrassing stories that Anne was telling Michal, Gemma's boyfriend, laughing at his sister's sour face.

"Oh, come on. At least I'm not as delusional as Harold here, says he's with HRH Princess Y/N." Gemma snickered.

Harry groaned, dropping his head low in defeat. "She's coming in a few hours."

"Oh dear, I have to move the pebbles for when the horses arrive on our doorstep." Anne joked.

"She doesn't move in coaches, Mum." Harry laughed.

"Probably wings." Gemma joked, motioning with her arms to wings, making Harry throw a cushion on her.

"Stop it, Gemma. Stop making fun of your brother," Anne said, standing up and taking two of the many empty glasses on the table which belonged to some of Harry's family whom were in their presence but left, "I raised you both to never make fun of troubled people." She giggled, speeding off to the kitchen.

"Hey, why are you doubting him? Harry's pretty big and known." Michal defended him, looking at Gemma.

Gratefully, Harry made prayer hands as he closed his eyes, mouthing "Thank you" to him.

"I'm not belittling him but," Gemma began, "This 23-year-old woman, one of the most beautiful, whose father is Prince Charles and mother is Princess Diana and her grandmother is the fucking Queen and was raised and continues to live in the monarchy is pretty big, too."

"You always believed me when I told you about my girlfriends." Harry gave her a side eye, raising his eyebrows.

"Because you dated what we now call ordinary people, T Swift, Kendall Jenner. If a colleague of mine told me that they were dating them I'd believe them," she stood up, taking a couple of glasses before following Anne to the kitchen. "Better start cleaning before Her Highness arrives.”

Harry rolled his eyes, looking at Michal. "At least you believe me."

Michal chuckled, standing up as him and Harry started helping Anne and Gemma with the remains of the Christmas get-together they threw.

"It told me to make a left, so I did." You said, glancing at your phone in its holder before looking at your surroundings. "Alright wait, I'm coming outside." Harry said through the speaker, the sound of some shuffling around being heard next.

"Are you wearing a green jumper?" You asked, squinting your eyes to get a better look at the figure in front of you.

"Yes! Is that you in the black ca-Oh, hi." He giggled as you drove closer to him, finally getting a clearer view. "Bye bye." He eagerly said before hanging up, watching you park in front of him.

You grinned as you rolled your window up and took your keys and phone, Harry opening your door for you.

The moment you got out, Harry wrapped his arms around your waist, bringing you chest-to-chest closer. "You look very cuddly right now," he whispered, kissing your hair. "You always look cuddly now that I think about it."

You laughed, putting your hands on his chest and looking up at him. "I got some nice cocoa powder for hot chocolate. It's the best you'll ever have."

"I think we have marshmallows." He nodded. "Where are my manners?" Harry asked himself. Smiling as he leaned down, he pressed his lips to yours. Your leaned back on your car, smiling into the kiss as your hands moved to his jaw.

"They still don't believe you?" You asked as you took your breath, glancing back at his house before looking at him.

Harry rolled his eyes, "They teased me enough."

You tried not to laugh, though did a terrible job at it, before patting his chest, "Come on then. Let's meet them." You got out of his grasp and towards your boot. Right as you were about to take your suitcase, Harry beat you to it, taking it out, draping your duffel bag on his shoulder before closing the boot.

"I can take it." You said as he rolled your suitcase in one hand, the other holding yours.

"So can I. Come on." You both walked towards his open door, you smiling sheepishly as you tried not to look around.

"It's quiet." You whispered as Harry put your suitcase and duffel bag beside the door after kicking it close.

He chuckled, "They're in the back."

"I got presents." You whispered again, "Oh shit, I forgot to take them from the backseat." You opened the door, practically jogging towards your car before Harry followed you, grinning as he saw you take out neatly wrapped medium sized boxes in glistening and vibrant Christmas wrapping. "I trust you with the sizes you gave me."

"You got Mum that dress you showed me?" He asked, helping you and taking two boxes, leaving you with one which had a card on top of it with your neat handwriting that said “Merry Christmas, Michal!”

You nodded, humming. "And got Gemma the striped suit and the golf watch for Michal. Is that all alright?"

"Baby, I told you that you don't even have to get anything." Harry chuckled, bumping his hip with yours.

"It's Christmas, H. Everyone deserves nice presents." You smiled.

"Let's put these under the tree." Harry said, raising his eyebrows upwards as you both walked inside. Instantly smiling at the cosy aura the place had, your eyes fell on the twinkling Christmas tree by the window. You put the box under it, waiting as Harry put the other two there.

"And your gift is in my suitcase." You giggled, looking up at him.

"Yours is in my room." He replied with a dimpled grin, "Come on."

With his hand on your waist, you both walked towards the kitchen where you heard chatter and clinking, making you look at Harry, giving him a nervous smile. "Oh God." You whispered to yourself, huffing out before putting a strand of your hair behind your ear, your fingers lacing together in front of you, sheepishly.

Harry gave you a quick peck on the cheek before walking inside the kitchen, clearing his throat to catch his family's attention.

You could almost hear a pin drop. All of their jaws dropped, faces going tint red, looking intently at the new addition. You looked up at Harry for a second before looking back at the ones in front of you. "Hi, I'm Y/N."

"What the fuck?" Gemma was the first to speak, Harry cringing as he squeezed your waist slightly. Gemma's eyes caught her brother's, who widened his green eyes at her before she cleared her throat, drying her hands in the yellow towel on her shoulder before putting it on the chair. "Do I-Do I curtsy?"

"God, please don't," You laughed, moving forward and naturally wrapping your arms around her in a brief hug. "You look a lot like Harry. It's insane."

Still at a loss of words, Gemma awkwardly hugged back, looking at Harry from over your shoulder as he smirked at her, cocking an eyebrow. "You look like-" She cleared her throat, "Like how I see you on the telly."

You chuckled, pulling away, "I'm hoping that's a good thing?"

"Yeah, of course. Of course, it is."

"Excuse my daughter," Anne spoke, moving forward and approaching you with a wide, loving smile. "I'm Anne."

You and Anne hugged, her rubbing your back soothingly as she did. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Good things?" She asked jokingly as you both pulled away.

"The best." You nodded in confirmation.

"It's so nice to meet you." Michal said, leaning down and giving you a greeting hug before looking at Gemma, "Guess your brother isn't so delusional after all, huh?"

"Shut up." She said under her breath, covering her face.

"Let's take this to the living room, shall we?" Anne grinned enthusiastically.

"They're starstruck." Harry leaned down, whispering in your ear.

"I'm more of in awe that I'm meeting them." You giggled, holding his hand that was draped from your shoulder.

"Who got-Oh God, did you-" Anne gasped, looking back at you from the tree.

"It's Christmas. It's also a thank you for making me spend New Year's with you." You smiled warmly, feeling yourself get hotter, “I hope that’s okay.”

"Did I just get a present from the Princess of the United Kingdom?" Gemma asked her boyfriend quietly who tried to stifle his laughter and not burst out laughing before his face fell, looking at one box under the tree, "Yup. She got you one, too."

"I read online that's she's known in the royal family to get the funniest Christmas gifts." He whispered back.

They couple both shared a look before looking at you, laughing at something Anne said. "We did make fun of our Harry, honestly. Sorry, darling."

"I felt very offended, thank you very much." Harry put his hand on his heart dramatically before looking at you, "How was your drive here?"

"Very nice and quiet. That intersection you told me about saved me a lot of time." You pointed at Harry.

"No offense, sweetheart but what do we call you?" Anne asked warmly, “We have never really interacted with someone from the royal family this close before, excuse us.”

"Please, don’t worry. Just Y/N would be great."

"And please call me Anne," Anne pointed at herself, "Oh where are my manners? Are you hungry, sweetheart? We had nice turkey and mashed potatoes."

"Mum makes incredible turkey." Harry said from beside you on the sofa, his hand on your knee.

"Thank you so much, Anne, but I think I'm so full. I managed to get myself pizza on the way.”

“How many slices did you have? You can’t be that full, love.” Harry asked.

“Got a large and finished it all actually,” you shrugged, “But actually, I got us some fine cocoa powder if you fancy a nice hot cocoa cuppa. It's homemade." You grinned, standing up to walk towards your suitcase, "Actually if you don't mind, I can make them."

"Oh, love. You really didn't have to." Anne laughed in delight, watching as you shook your head at her with a warm smile, "Gemma can help you."

"Of course!" Gemma perked up, standing up, "I personally love eating cocoa powder."

You laughed, pointing at her, " Me too! My brothers make fun of me for it all the time."

You and Gemma walked towards your suitcase by the door before you opened it, taking the packet of cocoa from one of the pockets and closing it. Gemma hummed, closing her eyes "It already smells so good."

"Trust me, it's the best you'll ever have." You assured her as you both walked back to where everyone was. Harry leaned his head back on the sofa, looking at you upside down before giving you a childlike wide grin, almost as if he was assuring you that it was going well.

Standing in the kitchen with Gemma as you warmed the milk, she cleared her throat, getting you to look at her. You felt nervous, almost as if you were preparing yourself for the talk.

"So, you and little Harold? How did that even happen?" She chuckled, looking at you as she leaned on the counter.

"I've been a fan of One Direction for as long as I remember and I've always, you know, kind of had a soft spot for H. I don't get to go to concerts and shows very often but I went to his show a few months ago after getting in contact with Jeff then I met him. We met then we went to this local bar not far away with the rest of the band and we sort of," you shrugged with a smile, "Clicked."

"I bet he was shitting himself," she laughed, turning off the stove before taking out mugs for you. "From what he told us, you haven't been dating for long."

You nodded, "Almost two months."

"I'm sorry if this is too straightforward but does your family know?" Gemma asked quietly.

"My brothers and their partners know that we're together, yes. Uh, my grandparents and father know something is going on but we kind of had," you gestured with your hands, "A disagreement you can say. They'll come around."

"But you're planning on telling them, right?"

You nodded instantly, "Definitely," you paused, sighing as you looked at her, "I know what you're thinking. I really don't plan on hurting Harry."

"What about your family? Do they not?"

Deciding to not take it to heart, you simply shook your head. "My family won't get in the way of what makes me happy."

"I'm sorry if I come off as a bitch, I just," Gemma stopped, looking at you sympathetically.

"I understand," You smiled, "I'd do the same if I were in your place. You're just looking out for your brother and I truly respect that."

Gemma smiled in gratitude before shaking her head, "God, you sound so posh."

As the night went on and everyone was more comfortable, you were tucked in Harry's side, his arm wrapped tightly around you.

Empty mugs of hot cocoa were proof of the success and so were the smiling faces in the room. Gemma, Anne and Michal sat with their presents on their laps as they waited to unwrap them.

First went Anne, neatly unwrapping the present after complimenting your choice of wrapping paper. Her eyes almost widened at the Versace box, opening the lid slowly as she gasped at what's inside. She took the dress out, holding it at arm's length as she gushed over it. "Y/N! This is gorgeous, sweetheart!" She stood up, holding it over her.

"Ooooo, look at you." Gemma grinned, now feeling over the moon excited to open her present.

"This is a lot, Y/N."

"It's not, I promise. You're letting me stay here for 6 whole days, Anne. It's the least." You truthfully said, giggling when she gave you a kiss on the cheek.

Harry grinned at the interaction, rubbing your arm.

"Okay, my turn!" Gemma exclaimed, unwrapping the present before gasping at the Alexander McQueen box, "Oh God," She laughed, opening it. "Ooooo,"

"I trusted H with the sizes." You informed them, watching as Gemma took out the black and white striped jumpsuit out.

"I love you already." Gemma pretended to wipe her tears, making everyone laugh. "Thank you so much, Y/N." "You're welcome, Gemma. I bet it would look so good with red lipstick." You wiggled your eyebrows.

"You know what? We're going out tomorrow and I'm wearing that." She pointed at you. Gemma sat down, elbowing Michal, "Go on then."

Opening his box after unwrapping it, Michal let out an excited laugh as he looked at the expensive golf watch he remembers telling Gem about it a year ago. "That's massive! Thank you!"

"It's no problem. Harry told me you're really into golf. He helped me with this one." You smiled up at Harry who scrunched his nose.

"Did a great job, mate."

You left your hair down as you changed into your pyjamas, walking inside Harry's room. Right as you stepped inside, Harry quickly covered something with the covers, making you stand on the doorway with your hand on your hip. "Got something, Styles?"

"Don't know what you're talking about." Harry shrugged, tilting his head at you with a cheeky grin.

You sighed dramatically, "Guess I just won't give you your present then."

Harry laughed, throwing his head back, "Y/N!" He whined.

"Fine," you chuckled, "Alright I got you a bunch of stuff actually." You took the rectangular box out of your duffel bag, holding it out as you sat beside him on the bed, crossing your legs.

"Okay," Harry breathed out, copying your moves and sitting in front of you with his legs crossed, unwrapping the box. "You have really nice wrapping paper."

"Thank you, I take pride in choosing and wrapping them." You giggled, bringing your knees closer to your chest as you rested your chin on your knee.

The first thing Harry got out of the box was a book that had a cat in front books and a typewriter on cover, the title being "I Could Pee On This" along with "And Other Poems by Cats"

Harry burst out laughing; his eyes shut and his head back as his hand slapped his thigh. "Where did you even find this?!"

You only shrugged in response, grinning at his reaction. "I know you love cats and I thought it might be exactly what you need."

"I definitely needed that. Thank you, baby." He laughed, putting it beside him before taking out the next item. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the packet in his hand, reading what was written; "Animal butt magnets."

"When I first came to your house, I noticed your fridge didn't have any magnets so I thought you should add a few there."

Harry laughed, turning the packet to you, "You got me animal butts for me to stick on my fridge?"

You nodded excitedly, hugging your legs, "Precisely!"

"You're absolutely mental." Harry chuckled, leaning forward to peck your lips.

"Now for the grand, real gift!" You exclaimed in a reporter's voice, opening your arms wide.

Harry grinned, glancing at you before closing his eyes and taking the last item out of the box. His eyes fell on his hands, laughing, "Love, is that-" He glanced at you before opening the wallet in his hands, "It's a wallet! You got me a wallet that looks like burnt toast!"

"I love all of them!" Harry laughed, moving until he propped himself up on his knees, cupping your face in his hands as he pressed his lips to yours. "Has anyone ever told you how creative you are with gifts?" You hummed, smiling up at him before glancing at his lips, "Maybe one or two."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." You whispered back, pecking his lips.

"You might not know it but you've been touching your present all along." Harry chuckled, kissing your temple for a second before taking the box from under the covers.

"H, it's made a fucking lump. Of course I knew it was a present." You laughed, looking at the green wrapped box.

You unwrapped the box, Harry watching nervously and silently admiring how gentle you were while unwrapping the box. "Gucci!" You grinned, looking at him, "That's your favourite."

"I remember you telling me you like something of mine so," he shrugged.

You opened the box, "Loafers! You got me loafers!" You grinned, taking them out, "Are we going to be the cliché couple that match?"

"I think we're cliché enough to do that." Harry nodded. "There's something else in there."

You looked down, taking out the vinyl record in your hands, grinning when you read "Piano Man" and "Billy Joel".

“How on earth did you know I wanted this?"

"Might have had Farrah help me with that one." Harry smiled, shrugging sheepishly.

"You take your Christmas presents seriously, don't you?" You smiled, putting the shoes back in the box before wrapping your arms around his torso.

"Do you have any idea how hard picking a present for you is?" Harry rolled his eyes, groaning as he threw his head back.

"Hey, that goes both ways." You raised an eyebrow.

He laughed, raising his hand to push the hair that got on your face away, "You know what I got us for when we're back at my house? For our board games nights and all that?"

"And the Chinese takeaway?" You asked hopefully, making him chuckle and nod.

"And the Chinese takeaway," Harry confirmed, "I got us about 10 massive puzzle pieces."

You gasped, "You genius! I was actually thinking about getting us a new one."

"And now we have 10."

“And I have Gucci loafers.”

“And I have a wallet that looks like burnt toast.”

“Sorry about that, by the way. I didn’t know you took Christmas presents so seriously.” You sheepishly said, scrunching your nose as you looked up at him.

“Hey, none of that,” Harry frowned, “These are probably the nicest Christmas presents I have ever had. ‘sides,” he held up his wallet and new magnets, “What’s not serious about these babies?”

#The Royal Series #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles x princess #harry styles fanfic #harry styles au

321 notes · View notes

thebadboyfanclub · 3 years

Text

Lady Of The House Pt. 2 (Henry x Reader)

Heyyyyyy, so I finally finished this part, please let me know if you want to see more of this. Enjoy!

Part one

After the delicious breakfast Henry and (y/n) had he told her that they must attend a charity event that his brother was throwing. She always enjoyed those types of outings with him, she liked the attention and how Henry would proudly show her off and twirl her around the dancefloor, Henry always made her feel wanted and appreciated. However with that type of short notice, she was left running around her wardrobe room with Jennette and Angelina on her side, trying to pick an outfit, it wasn't like she didn't have any, but she always wanted to be perfect, the Cavill family had accepted her but not without difficulties, at the end of the day they all saw her as this little shiny toy Henry would dispose at some point.

"What about this? It still has the tag on it"

Angelina spoke lightly holding up the extravagant green gown Henry had bought her one day, she had mentioned her favorite designer so the next day Henry sent her 8 different gowns that he liked.

Angelina was new to the roaster, Jennette (y/n) quickly came to the realization that a few of the maids and butlers were giving out information about (y/n) to Henry's mom, she was a wonderful lady when (y/n) was around because she saw her as just a girlfriend and not the wife, so they swiftly got replaced. (Y/n) approached Angelina and let her fingers trace the fabric as she turned to look at Jennette.

"Isn't the slit a bit too much for a family event?"

"I think it's finally time for you to make this statement... miss Cavill"

(Y/n) giggled at the name, Jennette liked calling her that as a small joke and a reminder that she is now the lady of this house. (Y/n) was always a big personality but this life made her feel small and uncertain. She bit her lip before she started nodding to herself, Angelina smiled in triumph due to feeling accomplished with finding the dress for (y/n).

"Angelina help miss (y/n) put the dress on, I'll be downstairs if you need me"

"Yes miss jennette"

As (y/n) started to take off her robe to slip on the right dress, jennette walked out of the master bedroom and towards the entrance of the house, that's where Mister Henry was waiting for his lady. Jennette was curious about the reason he had asked to see her privately to talk about (y/n).

she wasn't worried about it though, Jennette had a good feeling about this since everyone could clearly see how madly in love he was with her, he had brought other women home in the past yet they were never introduced to the staff, they had remained anonymous visitors. She slowly walked down the marble stairs while Mister Henry was standing in front of a mirror, fixing his tie.

"You asked to see me sir?"

"Yes Jennette"

His tone of voice was light as a feather, kind and melodic as he finally rearranged himself and took his eyes off his reflection and turned to Jennette who was patiently waiting close to him.

"How's (y/n) been doing?"

"She is finally getting comfortable, Angelina has been helping with making her feel in charge"

Henry slowly nodded as a ghost of a smile on his lips. He remembered how scared she was in the beginning, how she would stutter while talking to the staff or some days she wouldn't even leave the bed until he came home. He could recognize how much she has flourished and rose to the occasion. He was so thankful when (y/n) started to smile while talking to him about Jennette, she needed an ally and now Angelina was another soldier

"I'm going to ask her to marry me"

Jennette gasped in a happy demeanor and started to clap fastly with her fingers while her palms remained together. Henry was aware how close the two of them had grown to become, Lady Jennette has been around his family since he was a young adult, when he first started getting involved in the "family business".

however all his brothers had kids and a wife, (y/n) was the only woman he could see a future with, just the thought of her with a big round belly made him feel all warm and fuzzy, he felt alive next to her and her presence never left his mind, he had a reason to keep living and working. As soon as he had laid eyes on her that night he stayed at the hotel she was working at he just had to have her, it was almost compelling

"Of course you can't tell her"

"I would never dream of such a thing sir"

Before Henry could speak he heard the door of his bedroom open, along with giggles that probably came from Angelina and (y/n). Both of them waited for her to turn the corner and appear.

(Y/n) felt his eyes on her as soon as she stepped at the top of the stairs. Jennette was smiling at the sight of her while Henry remained silent. Angelina helped her lift up her dress ever so slightly so she can take the steps down without a problem. You could hear her heels click on the well polished floor. Ever since she met him the look he gave her every time he saw her was addictive, she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world when he gave her this intense look that scanned her body.

"If the slit is too much I can go change"

"You look stunning my love"

He reassured her and walked to her. His hands immediately found hers and her raised one to his lips to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles while never breaking eye contact. She smiled back and instinctively she filled the space between them so she could hug him, his cologne made her feel safe knowing that he was there was the most comforting idea.

After a few moments she pulled away but their hands remained intertwined. Every single time they had to attend a family event he could sense her anxiety, at any other gala she was right at home but when it came to his family she looked like a kid going through school exams.

"Don't be nervous love"

"I'm not nervous"

She quickly shot back in defense. She could tell that he wasn't convinced, yet he chose to let it go, acknowledging the fact that pushing her more would only do more damage than good. Her hair was down and styled to perfection, her make up was done to bring out her beauty even more, she looked like a true goddess coming to bless the mortals.

"Don't wait for us jennette"

"Yes sir. Have a good night"

The car ride was spent by (y/n) looking out the window while her one hand traced her necklace and the other held Henry's, he chose to silently support her. He could comprehend how scary his family could be for an outsider, of course they were nice when she was around but (y/n) was no fool, she noticed the quick side eyes and the few whispers when she turned her back, she only bit her lip and smiled for Henry's sake, as well as the fact that if she wanted to be in this family she had to outsmart them, she was aware that they acted like that because she was the girlfriend, as soon as Henry would propose nobody would dare to say anything, she would officially be a Cavill. It was a shallow reason but she just wanted to be recognized for what she was, a woman that all she did was fall in love.

As the driver opened the door Henry got out first and then he helped (y/n) get out, before she got the chance he slightly kneeled in front of her to fix the end of her dress that touched the floor. His gentle grace of his fingers from her calf that went over her thigh brought goosebumps all over her body.

"I love this dress on you"

"I think you will have to wait until we get back home to show me how much you do"

Henry's reply was to lean down and press a kiss on her naked left shoulder before offering his arm for her to take as they walked in the Mansion as a couple.

(Y/n) felt the awfully familiar tightness in her chest as they entered, people were mingling, the smell of cigars lingered in the air as you could see the smoke in the air, even though the staff had done it's best to open windows and keep the air fresh.

"(Y/n)!"

She heard a woman call her name at a rather enthusiastic tone. As she turned she saw it was Henry's sister in law Chiara. She was dressed in a black dress that was a bit more modest than hers, yet it complimented her delicate figure in such a way that made her look like the glamorous Hollywood stars back in the day. The brunette woman opened her arms and offered (y/n) a warm hug. (Y/n) hugged back, feeling grateful that the host was one of the people in this family that she actually got along with. Chiara had married into the family years ago, she was rather tall and very intimidating, she vividly remembered the story of how Charlie traveled back and forth from the UK to Austria just to get a date with her.

"You look exquisite"

(Y/n) complimented her, Chiara smiled as she gave an up and down look with a smirk on her painted lips.

"Same goes for you dear, the hawk is going to have a heart attack… love it"

Chiara and (y/n) had bonded over how tightly Henry's mother held the strings, Chiara was the first to pull (y/n) aside and warn her that she is like that with anyone however she is all bark and no bite. Many nights have been spent over the phone with Chiara giving advice to (y/n). They were so different yet they found comfort in one another.

"How are you Chiara?"

Henry joined in, he didn't care that Chiara forgot to greet him, quite the opposite he was pleased (y/n) was getting the attention she deserved. Chiara looked at him and in the meantime Charlie started to approach her from behind, (y/n) had to admit that even though she met Chiara while she was married she still felt like Chiara was a single woman, Charlie traveled a lot which Chiara had stated multiple times that it was the reason she was still married to him, she needed her space and craved time alone. So as one can assume that she wasn't really eager to have a baby either.

"I'm well, I'm surprised you guys made it. I thought you had to be in Scotland"

"(Y/n) is not fond of Scotland"

He simply responded. To be fair she thought it was a beautiful country but it was springtime and she wanted to go somewhere with a bit more sun. A waitress approached the two couples and offered champagne, Henry reached for two glasses and offered (y/n) one, Chiara and Charlie were already holding a glass.

"Here you go love"

"Thank you"

"Cheers, to another successful season"

Henry raised his glass while the others followed. As they clinked their glasses and all the group took a sip, the taste of the bubbly drink soothed (y/n)'s nerves, her shoulders started to relax and the tightness on her chest was little to none.

"Where's mom and dad?"

"Oh last time I saw them they were talking to our brother"

"We should go say hello"

"Alright, it was nice seeing you"

(Y/n) said before Chiara leaned in a bit to whisper in her ear "you got this doll".

(Y/n) giggled at her and Chiara just stepped back and gave her a playful wink. Henry's hand found the small of her back before gently guiding her away from the couple, the last glimpse she got off the couple was Chiara turning to say something to her husband as she flipped her long wavy hair back.

(Y/n)'s heart stomped so loud she started feeling the pressure on her ears, out of instinct she clenched her jaw and tried to mask her nervousness. Henry spotted his parents and walked to them, knowing well that (y/n) is already done with the situation and depending on how this goes they might have to leave immediately.

"Henry and (y/n), is so good to see you"

Henry's father, Colin, was the first to greet them with a kind smile on his face. Colin had always been nothing but kind to (y/n), which was surprising to her since she had stereotypically thought that the father would be the hardest one to crack. Colin hugged his son and then proceeded to take (y/n)'s hand and give a kiss on her hand.

"It's good to see you young lady"

"Thank you"

"How are you dear?"

His mother Marianne said before going in for a very forced hug, yet she was grateful they still had a civil type of communication especially around others.

"I'm well, how are you?"

"You've lost weight, I was hoping you would have gained some, oh you would look so cute with a little baby bump"

(Y/n) let out a nervous giggle, not knowing how to answer. They weren't even married, let alone have a baby, she wanted to have kids but she was still young and wanted to enjoy having henry for herself a little longer.

Henry's hand went from the small of her waist to wrapping around her as a way to bring her closer to him. He had heard this over and over again, the only difference was that to him they questioned if she was worthy to bring an heir to the family.

"Not yet mother, I still enjoy seeing her in these tight clothes"

"Henry we are still your parents. He is right Marianne, let them have some fun"

"I'm sure (y/n) can have fun but Henry you are not getting any younger"

(Y/n) was at the edge of just disassociate as her gaze started to focus on a vase behind Marianne. In any other case if this woman was a random stranger she would have popped off and started to insult her. The squeeze she received from Henry's hand pulled her out of her trace. She bit her lip as she tried to find the right thing to say, she wanted kids but the subject of babies was something they hadn't even discussed other than the cheeky comments during sex. The squeeze she received from Henry's hand was enought to bring her out of her trance and now the tightness on her chest was replaced by a fire of anger.

"You know last time you questioned my credibility as a potential wife, so this new situation of wanting me to get pregnant is at least a step"

"Honey I don't know what you are talking about"

"You do, we all do"

She hit back before downing the rest of her drink. Henry smiled in triumph, he was taken back by her boldness on one hand, on the other she held her own and showed the spark he loved to see.

"I think it's time for us to leave. I love you both"

Henry hugged both of his parents and his dad gave (y/n) another kiss on the hand, when she turned to Marianne (y/n) smiled and took her in for a big hug, making Marianne let out a small "oh".

"Water under the bridge… dear"

(Y/n) said at a lower tone before she pulled away and took her spot again next to Henry.

"Have a good night"

Henry said before taking (y/n) away from them. Henry's hand slowly slid from her waist to her bum, he didn't do anything he just let it rest on it. (Y/n) was smart enough to understand that this small change of movement meant that not only was he not mad she responded, he was turned on by her.

"You never seize to amaze me love. I'll call the chauffeur but we got 15 minutes before he arrives"

"Plenty of time to see what decor they have in the bathroom"

Taglist

@the-british-koala @little-smurf @twhstuckylover @angywritesstuff @angelcavill66

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dearlybelovedluke · 4 years

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Sandman - Henry Cavill

Word Count: 1612

Warnings: baby fluff

Pairing: Henry x Reader

A/N: Wow look at me go, two posts in one day, this is wild that I’m actually posting them. Thank you @syversons and @sideh0e for all your support bc you both are literally angels!!💕💕💕💕

ALso i was wanting a gif of Henry and a baby but yk I saw this one and just had too so enjoy!!

Taglist:

@romyr4 @littlefreya @sideh0e @syversons@magdelen69 @scorpionchild81 @omgkatinka @omgkatinka @klaine-92 @radaofrivia @snatchedbylele @strangerliaa @mary-ann84

The beach was bright and beautiful as the whole Cavill family took over it. The kids ran around playing, being chased around by family, while the rest of the Cavill clan were relaxing in lawn chairs spread out along the beach. Henry’s parents found the perfect spot early that morning for the family to occupy for the day.

From where you were sitting you watched Henry, Charlie and Simon tossing around a rugby ball with the oldest children, while your two-year-old, babbled away in front of you while playing.

“Ah, there you are,” Marianne called, trekking across the sand towards you, where you lounged on the big beach blanket Henry had laid out for you when you had arrived at the beach that morning.

“Nana!” Jackson grinned as he reached for her. She held her hands out as she approached, letting him see the bag of sand toys that she had ventured back to the house to get.

“Hi baby! Look what nana has for you,” she said, shaking the bag gently. “Want to make a sandcastle?”, she asked as she sat down on the edge of the blanket beside the both of you.

Jackson nodded excitedly, mostly due to the fact that Nana was giving him something. Henry would probably be delighted to be there while he made his first sandcastle, but for now, he could play with the toys in the sand until Henry was done. This was the first time he was properly on a beach where he could walk around and not have to be carried by you or Henry.

He giggled softly as she placed the bag in front of him. “What do you say, baby?” he just smiled widely and babbled something before turning back to the toys shaped like water animals.

“Thank you Marianne.” you smiled, turning to look at her before fixing the little blue bucket hat on top of his head.

“Only the best for his first Jersey beach day.” she winked, before turning to watch her sons playing with her grandkids. Jackson let out a small shriek of excitement as he watched the sand inside the dolphin toy fall and make a pile on top of his foot.

“Do you like the sand baby?”, you asked, when he handed you the neon plastic shovel that he felt he had no need for. He makes some noise agreeing before scooping out another hand full, looking at it curiously as it falls again.

“It’s so nice having you guys back, I know it’s just for a bit. But having Henry home,” she trails off before accepting the small turtle mould from Jackson. “Thank you baby.” she grins, leaning forward, pressing a gentle kiss on his head. He lets out a toothy grin before turning back to the sand in the dolphin mould.

“He’s always happier when he’s here,” you say, making a little hole in the space in front of the blanket. “And I am too. Something special about being here, and now with Jackson. We miss you guys in London,” you sighed slightly.

“Well come anytime!” Marianne says, gently squeezing your hand, making you look up at her. “Think about how much shopping we could get done! Leaving Jackson with Colin and Henry! A girls day!” she exclaimed excitedly. “We’ll get all the girls in!”

“That sounds fantastic!” You grin back. “When Henry sorts out when he’s going back to film the next season, Jackson and I will come stay with you!” You say excitedly. Marianne lets out an excited squeal as she leans over and wraps an arm around you pulling you close to her.

“Well you know you are always welcome! Whether it’s you and the baby or bringing my busy bee of a son. Anytime! All I need is an hour’s notice” she winks at you, before letting out a laugh. “Of course” you laugh, “we’ll come all the time while Henry is filming,” you say, before turning to look at Jackson, jumping into motion as he brings the fistful of sand into his mouth

“Jackson, baby, no!”, trying to grab his little fist but it’s too late. The sand is in his mouth, and you can see a look of regret in his eyes as his face twists and begins to wail, trying to spit it out, reaching back for you to fix whatever just happened to him.

***

Across the beach, Henry hears the cries of his son and stops in his tracks, turning to where he sees a small tantrum forming. A slight panic overtakes him, making him toss the ball over to Charlie without looking and jogging over to you holding your screaming toddler.

“What happened?”, he asked as he slowed into a walk in front of you, reaching for Jackson, who now seeing his dad arrive on the scene, was struggling to get out of your arms and into his.

“Looks like he decided to be just like you,” Piers says, clapping him on the back, as he approached, seeing Jackson sputtering, face flowing with tears. You look up confused, trying to help Jackson by washing the sand out of your crying son’s mouth with the little bit of water left in the plastic bottle, but he was having none of it. He wanted to scream and cry, and be held in the comforts of his dad and Henry only, as his crying gets louder the closer Henry gets, his little hands reaching out for him. “When Henry was little, he did the same,” Marianne says reappearing with a water bottle. “Simon fed it to me.” He said, finally reaching down to scoop Jackson into his arms. “Sure he did.” Marianne and Piers say simultaneously, causing the rest of the group who had come to see what the commotion was about, to laugh.

Henry cuts glare to his family before focusing back on Jackson, slowly sinking to the ground, patting him on the back slightly to calm him down. “It’s alright baby, daddy’s here. Come on, spit it out. Good boy”, he says as he helps wash out his mouth to get rid of the sand.

After a couple of minutes of Henry calming him down and getting the sand out of his mouth, he pulls him closer onto his lap, before pulling you close and under his arm. “Daddy no sand” Jackson pouts. Henry chuckles, “alrighty Sandman, no more sand for you.” You watch and give a soft smile as his mini-me tries to cuddle into Henry as close as possible.

“I think someone needs a N A P” he spells out looking over at you. You nod before leaning in to kiss Jackson on top of the head, and then Henry’s cheek. “Let’s head back. He won’t make it any longer sitting in the sand.” You chuckle before moving to pack up your spot. “We’ll see you back at the house,” Henry called to his family, as he carried Jackson in one hand and the beach bag in the other to the car.

***

Later that night, with all the sand washed out of Jackson’s mouth and off your bodies, you and Henry stand in the doorway of his childhood bedroom looking down at the sleeping toddler.

“You know, Simon really did feed it to me.” He says without looking at you. You shake your head with a soft chuckle. “You were 3, how do you know?”

“Dad told me.”

“Mhm, I think he told you that so you weren’t embarrassed later on about it.”

“So I guess we’ll have to save him from the embarrassment when he’s older,” he chuckles softly, pulling you into his side. “I’ll tell him Simon did it when he’s older. Seems to be the blame trend in the family.” You let out a slight giggle into his shoulder. “Or Charlie?” he continues softly, “Maybe we should blame him. Simon has enough blame for messing with the other kid’s lives. We should put it on Charlie.” The thought makes you smile, knowing Henry’s family they’ll play along with it, and the Cavill teasing bond will pass down to your baby boy.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” you whisper back, snuggling into his side even more. Both of you stand watching Jackson for a few more minutes in silence before Henry speaks.

“We should have another one,” he says softly, turning so you are snuggled up into his chest. “Another one?” you tease, raising an eyebrow at him, lifting your arms up, sliding them around his neck.

“Yeah, I think we could go upstairs,” he teases back, sliding his hands up and down your sides, leaning his forehead against yours, his voice lowering as he continues, “I could spend some quality time reminding my wife how much I love her and who knows, in 9 months, we might have another one running around eating sand,” the grin on his face growing as he pulls you even closer to him, before his lips land on yours for a short passionate kiss. “What do you think?” he whispers as you both pull away.

“Well,” you say tilting your head slightly to look at him. “I don’t think we have to wait 9 months” you whisper. His head pulls back slightly and jaw drops as his eyes widen before growing into the biggest smile that could stretch upon his face. His hands move from your waist to your belly, which won’t show for another few weeks. “Really?” he whispers. “More like 7 months” you whisper back with a smile growing each second on your face. “God I love you” he whispers, pressing his forehead against yours softly before crashing his lips onto yours.

#henry cavill #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill drabble #henry cavill x reader

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themadauthorshatter · 3 years

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Henry Stickmin Headcanons Part 2, to "celebrate" the finale of the Toppat!Charles AU(Press F to pay respects). I'll be going in and oit of the AU as well, but that will be seperate from the other headcanons

In Triple Threat, and in order, the tallest is Ellie, standing at 5'9" and Henry is the shortest at 5'4". Charles sits comfortably between them at 5'7". Neither use their powers for evil, even though it's tempting to literally something over his head sometimes.

Each member of Triple Threat has their reactions toward horror in general.

Charles is pretty unfazed by games like FNAF or anything with heavy jumpscares. He will not watch a movie with bad jumpscares(jumpscares used poorly.) He was a baby watching Sinister, The VVitch, and Lighthouse.

Ellie gets scared by just about anything, but breaks whenever she sees evil clowns specifically.

Nothing really scares Henry. Or at least he tells himself that. He's less open by getting scared, but don't tell Ellie or Charles.

Ellie and Heney, because they were in a mischief mood, tried scaring Charles. He punched Henry in the face on accident.

Charles sings really well, but only when he thinks there's no one around.

Ellie is the smartest of the trio. That doesn't mean Charles and Henry are idiots, even though they've done things that have warranted them a spot in the dumbass hall of fame.

When Rupert first joined, he'd literally never been more annoyed than when he met Charles, who, in his opinion, talked too much and didn't take anything seriously. It didn't really help that Galeforce always partnered the two, as to keep Charles safe on the ground when he couldn't directly see him. Rupert was mad at the fact he'd gone through a lot of training and was promoted to government babysitter, and it boiled out of him when Charles asked if he was okay. Rupert snapped at him, shouting at the pilot to just shut up for five minutes and actually do his part in missions, which was have Rupert's back or keep him informed of anything around them. He also yelled that Charles is incompetent and shouldn't even be in the military, as all he does is talk. He had brought this up with Galeforce, when the two got back and Charles excused himself to allow Rupert to give the report on their mission, but got a very proper scolding. He apologized to Charles when the YOUNGEST PILOT EVER got them both out of a sticky situation using some incredibly evasive maneuvers that Rupert was sure would get them killed.

After the deaths and funeral of Mr. And Mrs. Calvin, Galeforce adopted Charles, something that was in the couple's will. Charles did not talk to him for a long time, not until a rainy day that prevented any work that needed to be done. Galeforce noticed Charles sitting near either a patio door or by a window staring up at the clouds. He carefully sat next to him and admitted that he missed Charles's parents, too, saying they were very good friends of his and were always good to turn to for a smile or just to take a breather. He couldn't imagine how Charles felt, but he still missed them and was sorry all the same. That's when Galeforce noticed a card Charles was holding to his chest; a birthday card, one that read, "Charlie, if you're reading this, know that your father and I love you very much. No matter what, always remember that. We couldn't have asked for a better son, one as silly, smart, and ambitious as you. We will always love you. I'm sorry. Love, Mom," from Charles's mother and, "Hey, hawk. If you're reading this, it means something really bad happened to us both. Sorry we won't make it back for your birthday, more specifically that I broke my promise to you. You deserve to be happy, and I hope you can do that again someday. Charles, you can miss us, you can be sad, you can cry, it's more than okay to. I just hope one day you can smile and be happy again for us. I'm sorry. Your mother loves you, Charlie. I love you so much, son. Love, Dad," from Charles's father. There smugdes on some parts of the card, some old and some new, and it especially struck Galeforce that the two extremely sad messages shouldn't have been on a nine year old's birthday card. Galeforce apologized for not being Charles's parents, though told him that he'd try to be what they were, maybe more. He didn't talk, but Charles did huddle closer to his side and Galeforce put an arm around him as they continued watching the rain.

Do not challenge Charles to a foot race. He will outrun you.

Do not challenge Ellie to an arm wrestling match. She will always win.

Do not challenge Henry to an underwater how-long-can-I-hold-my-breathe challenge. You will most likely drown.

Triple Threat beat each other in their respective challenges/contests by cheating/sabotaging each other; Henry will try tackling Charles while Ellie will try to trip him, Charles will try kicking Ellie's chair to push it away while Henry teams up with him to try and push her arm down, and Ellie will throw little pool torpedoes at Henry, which is more passive than Charles shouting, "This is the greatest PLAAAAAAN!" and cannonballing in before wrestling Henry back above water.

Charles wakes up Ellie and Henry in various methods, since he's usually up first: He'll usually use an alarm, but sometimes, when he's really energetic, he bangs pots and pans together, gets a teakettle singing, uses and airhorn, and, the most extreme he's ever gone, taped a brown lunch bag to a leaf blower and brought a really bright light into both their rooms, rigging the devices to a light switch. With a snicker, he began to play that army/military wake up song on a trumpet with a megaphone taped to it and flipped the switch.

Both of them were ready to kill him.

Henry was initially left at an orphanage, but he was adopted at the age of seven. He was brought up well enough, until one of his parents started noticing that he was acting "weird," as in his 'ability' to see his choices and fails. This parent started ignoring him and told him to start acting normal or he'd be sent back to the orphanage. The other parent, the one that also noticed but didn't want to talk about it, still loved him, though started to get a little irritated when their partner left out of spite; "Either I go or the crazy brat goes." The other parent re-married and this new step-parent was nicer, but happened to wirk as a janitor for the CCC, and warned Henry to be careful with his 'powers' because the people the step-parent worked for weren't nice and would do bad things to him. The step-parent meant well, but Henry, having the memories of the parent that left fresh in his mind, took it as a threat to behave, which made him a very anxious kid. Anxious enough to become a kleptomaniac and pickpocket to relieve stress.

Ellie had the most normal life, having two parents and a brother, but turned to a life of thieving because the pressure of being a good person and her family's view of a black and white world drove her crazy.

You would have to be crazy to try and take on all three members of Triple Threat at once.

The trio sometimes share a room and bed, because of nightmares and they don't want to be alone.

Yeah. Triple Threat is basically a found family.

Ellie is the father and Henry and Charles are her two, wonderful, dumbass children, even though there are times the two take turns being the mother.

Now, ONTO SOME POST TOPPAT!CHARLES AU STUFF! This is kind of like an Epilogue, so buckle in.

Triple Threat gets two weeks off to fully recover. (Thank goodness)

They return to their apartment and go straight to bed, though they actually just camp out in the living room.

They still sleep like the dead; they wake up LATE the next day, at 4 in the afternoon.

Breakfast for dinner.

Even when they know they should go back to sleep around 10 pm, they stay up and watch movies. They let Charles pick, and he chooses a collection of Looney Tunes, Merry Melodies, and even the Looney Tunes Show.

Henry and Ellie notice him giggling whenever Daffy's on screen, and can't help but wonder why, though they don't ask when he also gets tears in his eyes. He explains later that he used to watch the old version of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies with his parents and even Galeforce, sometimes, even though it was something that happened less frequently as Charles grew and became a more solid part of the military.

They stay up all night, taking turns watching movies, making small talk, and just enjoying each other's company.

Charles does have an episode when they're making lunch the next day when he accidentally drops a glass and has a flashback of Right killing the pilot of a destroyer sent to rescue him. It is a nerve wracking memory and it leads him to breaking down on the floor. Henry and Ellie do help him out of it, but he refuses to share what he saw with them. They don't push it and tell him to feel free to share whenever he's ready.

They keep an eye on him when he takes his ADD medicine, just to be safe.

They often go outside to do workouts, because they don't want to break anything in the apartment. Charles keeps up with them, and they simply enjoy the breeze and the outside when they're done.

Henry and Ellie do talk about what she told Henry back in Part 6, and she apologizes for not telling Henry sooner, also admitting that she was scared he would abandon her, if she told him. Needless to say, Henry's just glad the three of them are together.

Charles is welcomed back much more warmly when they return from their break.

First daybback and it's out of the frying pan and into the flame, because they have another group of thieves to deal with, smaller than the Toppat Clan, but still noticable: a biker gang that's here to steal stuff by any means necessary and be an insane headache for police and people on the road.

They don't know much now, but they will when the gang is followed in the air.

Galeforce offers Charles to fly and get some possible intell, though says that if he isn't comfortable with it he can back out.

Charles agrees, and says with an excited, nervous smile that he's missed being in the air.

Galeforce makes sure Henry and Ellie keep an eye on him, which they promise to do, before everyone sets out, Charles taking a seat in his fixed up helicopter with Henry and Ellie behind him.

With a deep breath, they head out, ready to do some government recon, which they're successful in.

At The Wall, Dmitri is grumbly and still a little pissed at how Henry got away AGAIN, but has to admit it's good to not have to worry about the Toppat Clan anymore, most of whom being in maximum security cells.

Right is bored as hell, but is glad that his cellmate is Reginald; Right's missing his cybernetic arm from the elbow down, his legs have been downgraded to be normal legs, and he is no longer OP.

Reg apologizes for letting this happen to the clan, but Right assures him it's not his fault, self deprecatingly admitting that he may have been stupid for MAYBE crossing the line. Reg can't help but softly chide him for it.

Right promises that they'll get out, though Reginald only snuggles into him more, saying it can happen in good time, but right now he just wants to be close to Right a little longer.

The CCC hasn't gotten a single major chaos reading since the orbital station was destroyed and the clan was arrested. Bill Bullet chuckles a simple, "Not bad, kid," as he leaves his readers to their work.

Terrence is kicking back in his new room, lying in a bed as he reads a book. He's enjoyed having regular, warm showers, access to a razor to shave, and, mostly, a sky that didn't have the orbital station in it; it leaves a bad taste in his mouth that Reginald actually outdid him, sending the clan in space for a short time.

He chuckles at the fact that Henry would've been a damned good leader, mostly because he could see overthrowing HIM to be easy. "Too bad he joined the government instead," Terrence sighs with a shrug before he burts into laughter, mad, hysterical laughter. It really would've been fun to see Henry as the leader of the Toppat Clan.😉

Back with Triple Threat, after their mission as they sit on a hill that would've held Charles grave, if this was Valiant Hero. They're quiet, enjoying the sunset and the sound of the waves below, not ready to go home yet.

Even though they're all quiet, Charles tips his head back and takes a deep breath, taking in the sun, the air, everything, before returning his gaze to the sunset.

"Man," he breathes, "I've... really missed this."

Ellie replies that she has as well, Henry nodding in agreement.

They all watch the remainder of the sunset, though, quite nicely, all three are holding each other's hands and smiling to themselves

#henry stickmin #completing the mission au #completing the mission #charles calvin #headcanons #ellie rose #stickvin #copperright #sad stuff #death of a parent tw #not nice parent tw #implied poor self medication tw #ptsd tw #fluff #angst

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keanureevesisbae · 4 years

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Mister Cavill, your dog is kinda fat - Chapter 15

Summary: Veterinarian Olivia Tran has zero time for bullshit. After becoming a mom at age twenty three, the one thing she wants is a good life for her daughter Vanessa. Her ex didn’t want anything to do with her nor the baby and she decided that man are officially banned out of her life. But then she meets Henry Cavill at her clinic and her ban slowly starts to crumble apart. Henry on the other hand is looking for one thing: a family. And when he meets Olivia Tran, he finds just that.

Henry Cavill x Olivia Tran (ofc)

Warnings: None

Wordcount: 2.2k

A/N: This isn’t a very long chapter, but a very important one for the story. I wanted to add this part to yesterdays chapter, but figured it wouldn’t necessarily fit there. Also, I don’t know whether or not I’m going to post a new chapter until the first of September. My new academic year is going to start pretty soon and though I’m really looking forward to it, I’m also a bit stressing out (since it’s going to be online and I have a new class with people I know absolutely nothing about) and when that happens, my writing isn’t the best. I know I have been spoiling you guys with a new chapter every day, but I want to produce the best work I can, so I’m not going to force myself with new chapters. I hope you guys understand 🥰

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

‘Okay, sunshine,’ Henry says, after he scooped up Vanessa up in his arms. She has grown a bit since the beginnings of this year and he notices that she is slowly catching up with her mother. He always thought that she was really tiny for a kid who is almost seven, barely reaching up to her mom’s hip, but now she is slowly moving up to Olivia’s waist.

He walks toward the big poster on the wall. Vanessa and Olivia made that, when he was at the gym yesterday. Olivia wanted something where Vanessa could see how many days until Henry would officially adopt Vanessa. She wanted to make it for her daughter, but Henry notices that he is maybe the one that loves this poster the most. ‘Can you tell me how many days until you are officially my daughter?’

Vanessa wraps her arms around his neck and says to him: ‘Ten days. I can’t wait for those days to be over.’

That last comment alone, makes his heart melt. ‘Me neither,’ Henry admits, bumping his nose against her cheek, causing her to chuckle. Ever since they arrived back from their trip, Vanessa seemed like she had grown up a bit more. He thinks the time spend apart from Olivia was good for her. Not that he is going to force Vanessa to sleepover at his parents every weekend, but it sure eases his mind that he can always rely on his parents and brothers and that Vanessa doesn’t mind.

He hears a plate shatter in the kitchen. With Vanessa still on his arm, he walks towards the kitchen, to see Olivia staring hopelessly at the shards. From the looks of it, she hasn’t placed any of the bacon or eggs on it, so that’s a win. ‘Love, are you alright?’ he asks.

Olivia rubs her face. ‘It just slipped out of my hands,’ she says, her voice trembling a bit. ‘Just stay there, I’ll clean it up.’

Henry frowns. He is aware that she hasn’t been sleeping well these past few days, but when he looks at her, he sees that the fatigue is now really catching up with her. ‘Sweetheart, let me take care of it.’

‘Yeah, mommy,’ Vanessa says. ‘You are not wearing shoes and whenever I drop something of glass and I’m not wearing shoes, you carry me to the couch, so I don’t get shards in my feet.’

Olivia sighs. ‘I can clean it up,’ she mumbles, but that doesn’t convince no one, not even herself.

‘Vanessa, sunshine, you go sit on the couch with Kal and wait for mommy, okay?’ Henry says.

The little girl nods and ushers Kal with her, so they can both sit on the couch. Henry carefully walks over to her and lifts her up in his arms. As he steps over the shards of the plate, he whispers: ‘I love you.’ He feels like she needs to hear it.

‘I love you too.’

He gives her a big kiss, before he helps her on her feet again. ‘Go sit with Vanessa, I’ll finish up breakfast.’

Olivia simply nods and when she plops on the couch, she pulls Vanessa on her lap. Her daughter can’t stop smiling, because she is always happy to cuddle with her mom, so she doesn’t mind at all.

Henry however is still worries about her.

He vacuums up the shards, after he picked up the biggest one and places everything on one big plate, so they can all—expect for Kal of course—eat of it.

‘Mommy,’ he hears Vanessa ask, as he walks up to them. ‘Are you tired?’

‘I am,’ Olivia admits and Henry sits next to them. Vanessa takes a piece of bacon in her hands and bites something off of it. ‘I haven’t really slept well in these past few days.’

‘You want to sleep with my bear tonight?’ Vanessa asks. ‘He always helps me to fall asleep.’

Henry watches closely, to see what kind of reaction she’ll have. And then she lets out a sob.

‘Mommy, don’t cry,’ Vanessa says, shoving the piece of bacon in her mouth and while she is chewing loudly, she wraps her arms around Olivia, who buries her face in the soft hairs of Vanessa.

‘I don’t know why I’m crying,’ Olivia admits in a hoarse tone, before she softly cries.

Henry places the plate on the coffee table, forbids Kal to even look at it and wraps an arm around her shoulders. He doesn’t know what to say to her. It kills him to see his beautiful girlfriend like this. The permanent tears in her eyes finally running over her cheeks and he knows that this is not only bothering him, but also Vanessa.

It’s funny actually, come to think of it, that the mood in the household, is always according to how Olivia feels, which is an indication on its own that Olivia is the most important factor. He shouldn’t be this surprised, since this was also the case back when he grew up. Was his mom annoyed, angry or a bit depressed, the entire household morphed into her mood. If a certain mood would hit his dad, no one seemed to act like him.

Olivia takes a deep breath and announces that she is going to take a shower. She gives Vanessa not one, not two, but five kisses, before she places her daughter on his lap. The two of them watch Olivia walk out of the living room, up the stairs. The second they hear the shower run, Vanessa asks: ‘Why is she like this?’

‘I don’t know, sunshine.’

‘Is it something I did?’

At this point, he doesn’t even know anymore. ‘I have no idea, sweetheart. I don’t think so.’

‘Is it something you did?’

He shrugs.

Vanessa places her head against his. ‘Maybe she doesn’t want you to adopt me anymore.’

Henry isn’t necessarily sure if this thinking in doom scenario’s is a quality he wants for his daughter. ‘I sure hope that is not the case. Maybe your mom just has one of those days where you don’t feel too good. That can happen you know.’ Is he saying this to comfort himself or Vanessa? ‘I think when we are at grandma and grandpa’s place, she’ll feel better.’

‘I hope so,’ Vanessa sighs. ‘I don’t like it when she is like this. That makes me sad.’

He presses a kiss on her temple. ‘Yes, sunshine, that makes me sad too.’

≫≫≪≪

Olivia’s mood is a bit lighter already when Henry stops the car and they get out to walk to the Cavill residence. Henry sends Vanessa a wink, who seems to notice the difference too. She carefully grabs her mom’s hand as they walk towards his parents’ place.

Olivia looks at Vanessa and smiles. ‘What’s wrong, sweetheart?’ she asks, when Vanessa won’t stop looking at her.

‘Are you okay?’ Vanessa asks.

They stop walking at the beginnings of the path and Olivia crouches down. ‘I was acting a bit weird this morning, wasn’t I?’

Vanessa agrees. ‘I don’t like it when you are like that.’

‘I don’t like it when I’m like that either,’ Olivia says. ‘I’m really sorry. Sometimes you feel like this and you haven’t got a clue why. That happened to me this morning.’ She wraps her arms around Vanessa’s waist, who is more than happy to hug her back. ‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart.’

‘It’s okay, mommy. It can happen to anyone.’ Vanessa gives her mom a kiss, before she rushes towards the door with Kal.

Henry holds out his hand for Olivia to take and he pulls her up.

‘I’m sorry,’ Olivia says to him.

He simply shakes his head. ‘Don’t feel sorry.’ He pulls her into a tight hug and kisses her forehead. ‘Are you sure though everything is fine?’

‘I am,’ she says, nodding in the process. She stands on her tippy toes, so she can give him a kiss. He hums against her lips, because he missed this.

‘Disgusting people at the end of the path,’ Piers yells, causing them to look up. He leans against the doorframe and says: ‘There are single people around here, who really don’t need to see that.’

Henry chuckles, taking ahold of Olivia’s hand as they walk together to the house. He always likes it when he can bring the two most important people to his parents’ place. Vanessa feels so at home here and ever since Belle started to date his brother Simon, she’s here a lot and it’s nice to see Olivia being so happy to see her friend here.

The Cavill family is slowly but surely expanding and he is not complaining at all. This is what his mother wanted and he is happy to help out.

‘Is Olivia okay?’ his mom asks, about an hour after they arrived. Everyone is spread around over the house.

Belle and Olivia are talking in the corner of the room, as they stare at pictures, Simon, Niki and Charlie are gaming and his dad and Piers are the victims of Vanessa’s make-up kit.

‘She just has one of those days. It was worse this morning, but she is better now.’ Henry wraps his arm around his mom’s shoulders. ‘Ten days until the adoption,’ he says, not wanting to talk about Olivia’s behavior anymore, since he can’t seem to wrap his own mind around the issue. ‘I can’t wait anymore.’

‘Oh honey, it’s practically the only thing your dad and I can ever discuss nowadays. We are so happy that it’s going to be official.’ Mom pats him on his chest. ‘I always knew that you would make an excellent dad,’ she admits. ‘And you are doing such a good job.’

‘Thanks mom.’ He rubs his face and clears his throat. ‘They are the best that could ever happen to me.’

‘Thank God for you overfeeding your fat dog, otherwise you would’ve never met Olivia.’

‘Mom, he finally has reached a healthy weight,’ he defends himself. ‘Don’t call him fat anymore.’

‘Just messing with you, my dear.’

Since it’s April, they go outside. His brothers, Henry himself and Vanessa are running over the grass with a ball. His parents, Belle and Olivia are sitting on the porch drinking tea, but even from here, Henry notices Olivia’s mind is somewhere else.

When Vanessa trips, all the Cavill men gasp and are ready to lift her up again. Like the real trooper she is, she stands up and looks at them with a frown. ‘I can get up myself. I don’t need help for that. I’m not a baby anymore.’

Belle applauses from the side and yells: ‘Yeah girl, you tell them that. You don’t need no man!’

‘See?’ Vanessa asks with a sassy tone, causing them to laugh. She kicks away the ball, but then looks at her mom, who seems to simply stare at her shoes and didn’t notice what just happened. It’s obvious that Vanessa seeks much approval from her mom, who is the best role model she could’ve imagined. Her heart is broken and that breaks Henry’s heart. He knows that it’s not Olivia’s intention to hurt her daughter.

‘Sunshine,’ Henry says, crouching down in front of her, placing his hand on her back, hoping that it brings a bit of comfort.

‘She didn’t hear,’ she mumbles, obviously distraught.

‘I know, but we’ll tell mommy about it when we are back home, okay?’

Vanessa sighs, but nods anyways. ‘Yeah, you are right.’

They watch as Olivia excuses herself and she walks inside. He stares at his beautiful girlfriend and he leans over to Vanessa. ‘How about I talk to mommy right now?’

‘Could you do that?’ Vanessa asks, a hopeful glimmer in her eyes.

‘Of course, because I’m a bit worried about her too.’ He gives her a quick peck, jokingly pulls her pigtail, causing her to giggle and he walks inside. Henry can’t seem to find her right away, but then he hears the flushing sound of the toilet. He recognizes the door opening with the well-known creak, something that hasn’t changed in all those years and Olivia’s footsteps.

She yelps when she notices him. ‘Oh shit,’ she says, looking paler then before.

‘Are you okay?’ he asks. He doesn’t even try to hide his worries anymore, because she should know how he feels.

‘I’m fine,’ she says.

He doesn’t believe her and he walks up to her. He holds her tiny hands in his and wants to lean in, giving her a quick kiss, but she pulls back.

She never pulls back.

‘Don’t, sweetheart, I’m disgusting.’

He truly needs to check what’s wrong with her, because this is an upright lie. ‘You are never disgusting.’

‘I just puked,’ she groans.

‘Are you sure you okay? You think you got a stomach ache?’

Olivia sighs deeply. ‘Henry,’ she says, ‘you know I love you right?’

This is giving him a minor heart attack and he squeezes her hands. ‘Is this a break up?’

Her eyes widen and she shakes her head. ‘No, no, no, of course not sweetheart. I have something to say to you, but first I need you to know that I love you.’

That is slightly easing his mind. ‘What do you think, sweetheart?’ he chuckles. ‘Of course I know that you love me and please know that I love you a lot.’ He leans in and gives her a kiss on her nose. ‘Are you sure you’re alright?’

‘Henry,’ she whispers, ‘I think I might be pregnant.’

#henry cavill #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill x oc #mister cavill your dog is kinda fat #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill x Olivia Tran

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carewyncromwell · 3 years

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The next Cinderella AU part is here...and I am so thrilled about this part, because not only do we get a new character (who I’m quite sure you can identify from the sketch above -- only my second time drawing him ever, and I’m actually pretty happy with it!), but we’ll also get a nice serving of drama! Goodie!!

Robin Hood as a legendary figure first originated through the oral tradition, so its history is a little hard to plot out, but his first reference in writing is a ballad from the 15th century. Although our modern image of Robin Hood is that of a chaotic good heroic figure, his original incarnation was decidedly less saintly -- he was a bandit, and although he did refrain from stealing from women, he was rather violent, reckless, and hot-tempered, as well as flagrantly against both clerics and all nobility. Robin Hood’s backstory of being a disgraced nobleman who turned outlaw after losing his title and land and who remains loyal to the “good king” Richard while opposing the unlawful regent Prince John was added later, presumably to make him a bit more “approachable” to an Elizabethan audience who was more accustomed to hearing tales about nobility (just look at a lot of Shakespeare’s plays from that period -- many of them center around royalty or the upper class). Plays about or referencing Robin Hood then increased in popularity on the British Isles throughout the 16th and early 17th century, until the rise of Puritanism in the 1640′s put a halt to theatrical productions. (Bloody kill-joys.) For more information on the history of Robin Hood’s development, I strongly recommend this analysis done by Overly Sarcastic Productions (...actually, just watch everything on their channel, it’s all great XD).

Previous part is here -- whole tag is here -- Katriona “KC” Cassiopeia belongs to @kc-needs-coffee -- and I hope you enjoy!

x~x~x~x

Carewyn had a lot of trouble returning to her daily routine at the palace the following morning. Getting so close to the border with Orion and hearing about how much scarier it was likely to get on the battlefield made her all the more worried for Jacob’s well-being. Even if the spell Charles Cromwell had paid for nine years ago made it so that Jacob would stay alive as long as he willed it, Carewyn dreaded the thought of what harm, physical and emotional, that Jacob might face. If she only had some idea which battalion he was a part of and where on the front he’d be, then she could always just try to send a letter his way...maybe even ask Orion to drop it off to the camp for her, since his father was an officer. But Carewyn had combed every military roster she could get her hands on, but hadn’t been able to find a single record of Jacob anywhere.

‘He must be under another name,’ Carewyn told herself.

It wouldn’t be too unreasonable that Charles wouldn’t want Jacob to advance in the ranks on the back of their family name. And really, Carewyn knew full well how displeased her grandfather would be if he found out she was trying to reach out to her brother without his approval -- he could’ve even forced Jacob to take on another name, just to try to make it that bit harder for Carewyn to contact him without his approval...

Carewyn’s friends noticed a rather abrupt shift in her mood. She was singing as always, but her choices were a bit less upbeat and her voice sounded oddly distracted and nostalgic. At one point, Andre mentioned offhandedly that he’d been designing themed outfits for his friends to wear to his mother’s New Year Eve’s Masque Ball, but Carewyn had trouble putting much attention on it.

“I’ve already finished some ‘owl wings’ on a cape for KC and a fur-trimmed wolf mask and gown for Erika...I was thinking perhaps a stag for Bill, a dragon for Charlie, and a lioness for Ginny? I considered a horse at first, but I think a pale gold would make her just glow, don’t you think? Yours I’m most excited for, though...I’m hoping to actually make your newest pair of shoes with fabric on the inside for comfort and diamond on the outside for sturdiness, if I can manage it!”

“Mm...that sounds great,” said Carewyn absently.

Her gaze was drawn out the nearest window, as far out as she could.

“...Andre,” she said slowly, “I realize this is very last minute, but...may I have this afternoon off, to go see my family?”

Andre blinked. “Is something the matter?”

“Oh no, no,” Carewyn lied with as pretty and reassuring of a smile as she could. “It’s just...well, it’s nearly Tristan’s birthday. My uncle keeps him very close to home, compared to my other cousins...I merely thought I might stop by and bake him a little something, as a surprise.”

Andre frowned slightly. “You...get along better with your uncle and his son than with Iris, then?”

“No, but Tristan is only a boy. It’s hard to hold any bad behavior against him. And well, maybe if he and the others don’t know I made it, he’ll enjoy it better.”

Carewyn could see Andre still looked confused and a little dismayed, so she quickly added, “I’ll be back by tomorrow morning, in time for my rounds. I won’t allow it to interrupt my duties.”

Andre offered a hesitant smile. “Well, all right...if it really means that much to you.”

Carewyn’s eyes softened. “Thank you, Andre -- I really appreciate it.”

Fortunately for Carewyn, Andre wasn’t the best at picking up on other people’s pretenses. Unfortunately for Carewyn, two of his most regular confidantes were his cousin KC and fencing instructor Erika, and they did pick up on Carewyn’s odd behavior.

“She said she wanted to surprise her cousin with something for his birthday?” asked KC, frowning deeply.

“Well, yeah,” said Andre. “I admit, it seemed a little weird to do something so nice without even wanting credit, but Carewyn is an awfully selfless sort. From the way she made it sound, she just wanted to do something nice for him.”

“And you believed her?” said Erika rather coldly.

She whacked Andre’s practice sword out of his hand with her own, making the Crown Prince hiss in pain.

“I’ve told you before, Prince Henri -- you all may think Carewyn Cromwell’s nothing like her family, but that’s absolute bunk. She might be more pleasant than them, but she’s not stupid and she’s not honest. Or did you not notice that that weird guy she hangs out with keeps calling her ‘his lady,’ as if she weren’t the penniless orphan of a deadbeat merchant?”

Erika picked up Andre’s sword and tossed it back to him with ease.

“Then of course that guy himself is shady as all get out.”

Andre frowned. “You mean Orion? Come on, Erika, he isn’t that bad -- I thought he seemed quite amiable, myself. Don’t you agree, KC?”

“He is,” said KC fairly. “But Erika isn’t completely off-base. There is a lot about Orion that we don’t know -- that even Carewyn herself doesn’t know. She admitted as much to me, after I first met him. That being said,” she raised her own sword and got into position to attack Andre, “I don’t think Orion’s a threat. You would think anyone with the ability to sneak over the palace walls not once but twice would’ve tried to make some move to attack you by now, but he’s only ever come looking for Carewyn. And although I don’t completely understand the reason behind why she’s acting like a lady around him,” she shot Erika a faintly reproachful look as she and Andre traded blows, “I’m pretty sure it has more to do with her own insecurities than because she’s a terrible person -- ow! Damn it!”

Andre had successfully disarmed KC.

“Insecurities?” he said, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. “What is there for her to be insecure about? I mean, yes, she has no dowry, and taking Orion’s wardrobe into account, I’d suppose he has to come from a family with modest wealth -- but Orion seemed to enjoy the Weasleys’ company quite well, and their family is poor. I think they’d make a lovely match, really,” he added with a rather smug grin. “They even matched at the Festival, without realizing it.”

KC massaged her wrist, frowning a bit sourly. “Yes...but Carewyn is solely under Lord Cromwell’s charge. He’s the one who sent her here. He’s the only guardian she really has. And I think it’s quite clear how much influence he has over his family -- even his daughters who married into other esteemed families still live at his estate with their husbands and children, rather than moving out onto their own estates. And in Carewyn’s case, she doesn’t even have a parent to help shield her from Lord Cromwell’s will. She doesn’t have a penny to her name. So that means, in effect, she’s chained to him, and in those circumstances...well...”

She hesitated.

"Well what?” Andre prompted her.

KC looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“I didn’t want to say anything before without knowing for sure...but I think someone’s been looking at our military ledgers, documenting troop placements. Everything’s neatly put away the way they should be, but there are more fingerprints on them than before. And usually I’m the only one who has much use to look those up, whenever I’m ready to suggest a new war strategy...”

Erika’s eyes narrowed very sharply and she got right up into KC’s space. “And you’re only just saying this now?! That information could be critical to Royaume’s enemies! What if that guy Orion sneaked in not just to see Cromwell, but to get his hands on those? Or what if it was Cromwell herself, working in collusion with him?”

“Impossible,” Andre said forcefully. “Carewyn would never be a spy for the enemy -- it’s not in her character.”

“And I don’t think Orion would know where those documents would be, even if he did sneak in,” said KC.

Erika, however, looked unconvinced as she made for the door. “You can coddle those two all you want, but I plan to tell the King and Queen -- they’ll want to interrogate Cromwell and this ‘Orion Freeman’...”

“Erika, belay that!” Andre said in a suddenly much sharper and more authoritative voice. “That’s an order.”

Once Erika had stopped walking and turned back around, the Crown Prince exhaled heavily and crossed his arms in a business-like manner.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said firmly. “If Carewyn is heading to the Cromwell estate, she’ll have to take the road through town, correct? I’ll simply take a horse and follow the road after her.”

Erika and KC looked startled.

“Uh, Andre,” said KC, “you haven’t forgotten that you’re not allowed to leave the palace, have you?”

Andre smirked. “No. I’m just sneaking out.”

Before Erika and KC could articulate an argument, he added in a much sassier voice, “Look, I’m doing it whether you come with me or not. I’d appreciate the company if you want to come along -- all I expect is that you’ll dress appropriately. I hear linens and cottons are fashionable for those who don’t wish to attract attention.”

And so Andre, KC, and Erika made preparations to follow Carewyn...completely unaware that a half-hour earlier, Bill and Charlie Weasley had -- after having a similar, but much more concerned conversation with Badeea Ali about Carewyn clearly lying to Andre’s face -- decided to take their horses and tail their friend themselves. And sure enough, the two eldest Weasleys soon enough found themselves following Carewyn on the road heading northeast, avoiding the Cromwell estate all together.

At the very same time, in Florence, Orion had finalized his plan. Today was the day he was going to request a formal audience with Prince Henri, as Prince Cosimo VII. As Carewyn had said, he’d need to act fast if he was going to stop his father from finding a way to complete his own ruthless strategy -- the battlefield itself would be a difficult place for Orion to make his case, with so many distractions, but he knew a more balanced, peaceful setting wouldn’t be. And so he wrote a long letter to the King, explaining everything that he had learned from Royaume and its people as well as Florence’s own, so as to make a case for peace. He then had the court magician Severus Snape deliver it to the Florentine camp in his stead, while he dressed in his finest and prepared to leave for Royaume.

When he made as if to take his own horse, however, Orion found Skye and McNully waiting for him, a black coach already prepared.

“If you’re planning on going to meet Prince Henri, you really should arrive in style,” said McNully with a wry smile. “A good first impression to the King and Queen would help your case by a good 45%.”

“And you have to know there’s no way in Hell we’re going to let you go out and expose your true identity to the enemy without back-up,” Skye added, her arms crossed over her chest. “

Orion’s black eyes softened. “...Thank you.”

As he climbed into the carriage, both McNully and Skye’s faces nonetheless betrayed some hesitation.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” McNully asked. “There’s a 74% chance they’ll respond badly to it -- I reckon there’s a 39.5% chance they’ll try to arrest you on the spot and hold you as a prisoner of war...”

“I carry no weapons with me, and I come with the explicit purpose of diplomacy,” said Orion levelly. “Therefore I’m not an enemy combatant. As long as I follow their direction while under their roof, then any harm they might do me would be violating the conventions of war...and the Royaumanians, for all of their flaws, do have honor.”

“One could make a case for you having been involved in espionage, though,” McNully pointed out, but Orion ignored him and settled down in the carriage, crossing his legs offhandedly.

“What about Lady Cromwell?” said Skye, her voice a bit lower and more concerned. “She’ll find out you’re a Florentine. And not just any Florentine, the Prince of Florence.”

Something sad flickered through Orion’s confident, unflappable expression.

“She was going to learn the truth sooner or later,” he murmured. “If our time together has come to an end...then at least I may have the memories to hold onto...and the knowledge that by ending this War peacefully, I may have spared her of more heartache.”

He closed his eyes and began to meditate, clearly having said his piece on the matter. Skye and McNully, however, couldn’t help but exchange a look that was both anxious and very sad.

As long as they’d known Orion, he’d always been a little reckless, but he was also passive and avoided direct confrontation. This plan to directly appeal to Royaume’s royal family, however, required a lot of guts -- far more than either of them had thought Orion possessed. And they knew such courage could only have been encouraged by one person...the very same person who Orion loved so much that he would choose to follow her example and protect what she loved, even if it meant destroying their relationship forever.

Orion meditated during most of the journey to the Royaumanian palace. It was merely fortunate that, as they approached, McNully broke him out of his trance by tapping him on the shoulder and pointing out the window. If he hadn’t, then Orion would not have seen a rather familiar trio of riders on horseback, riding through town past them -- a short, stocky lady with dark red hair and freckles; a very tall blonde with a square jaw and sharp eyes; and a very handsome dark-skinned man dressed in a purple tunic, emerald green pants, and gold-buckled black boots.

“Stop the carriage!” said Orion, his soft, level voice nonetheless very firm despite not rising in volume.

He barely waited for the carriage to completely stop before slamming the door open and jumping out.

“Andre! KC!”

Andre, KC, and Erika all stopped their horses in an abrupt halt and turned around as Orion dashed up to them.

“Orion?” said Andre, startled.

KC looked from the rather finely dressed Orion to the expensive-looking black coach behind him and back. Erika’s eyes narrowed critically upon Orion as he came to a stop in front of them, his hands clasping in front of him.

“I...had not expected to see you out and about,” said Orion, trying to put on his most pleasant, calm expression.

Andre glanced over his shoulder up the road, frowning deeply. “Yes, well...some business has come up.”

“Orion, have you seen Carewyn?” KC asked him, her face very serious.

Orion blinked.

“Not since last night,” he said. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Never you mind,” barked Erika, as she turned back to the road. “Come on, we don’t want to lose the trail -- ”

“Erika,” reproached Andre, before he turned back to Orion, his face visibly concerned. “...Carewyn asked for the afternoon off to go see her family, but it was very last minute, which isn’t like her. And according to what we’ve heard in town, there’s been no traffic down the road toward the Cromwell estate in the last four hours...”

“So Carewyn had to have been lying about where she was going,” finished KC, her face much more stoic but her voice no less tense. “We need to find her and figure out why.”

Orion’s eyebrows had furrowed over his widening black eyes. His heartbeat was slamming in his ears as the memory of Carewyn in the woods returned to him -- looking northward, toward the army camps, as if longing to run toward them --

“I know where she’s gone,” he said at once.

He rushed back to the coach, grabbing onto the window frame and standing on the boot of the carriage.

“To the northern border,” he urged Skye, who sat in the driver’s seat. “Quickly!”

“The border?” repeated Skye as a sharp whisper. “But Orion, your meeting with the Prince -- ”

“Can come later,” Orion told her very firmly under his breath. “Both he and I must get to the war front.”

He shot a significant look over his shoulder in Andre’s direction. McNully, putting two-and-two together, nodded and inched himself up to the window of the carriage.

“If you tie one or more of your horses to the carriage, we should decrease our travel time by a good 21% per horse,” he told Erika, KC, and Andre. “If Carewyn left an hour ago, then with one horse, we should be able to overtake her within an half-hour -- two, within twenty minutes, and three, within ten. Though with Orion on the boot, there’s a 12% chance he’ll fall off if we ride at full speed, so we might have to go at 95% instead -- ”

KC fixed the blond-haired man with an incredulous look as she leapt off her horse.

“Are you really calculating all that on the fly,” she asked, looking as if she wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or amused, “or are you just pulling those numbers out of fat air?”

McNully couldn’t help but grin. “Excellent! Now I can officially say that I’ve been asked that question over a hundred times before.”

Still looking faintly bewildered, KC moved to help Andre, who’d quickly started attaching his, Erika’s, and her horse’s to the front of the carriage with the two black ones already pulling it, ignoring Erika’s incredibly sour and distrustful expression. There was no time to lose.

From the boot of the carriage, Orion directed Skye down the same road he’d taken with Carewyn the previous night, Andre, Erika, and KC riding with McNully inside the coach. Once they’d reached the forest, Orion caught sight of a familiar-looking golden eagle with a bandaged wing -- at the sight of the Florentine prince, the eagle gave a loud shriek and flew down into the trees, and Orion urged Skye to pursue him into the woods. The road took them deep into the trees, until at last the eagle landed on a branch over the heads of two familiar-looking ginger-haired men, who were bound with thick rope to a tree.

Bill and Charlie were stunned at the sight of such an elegant coach, but were absolutely beside themselves with relief at the sight of Andre, KC, and Erika. Erika immediately yanked a knife out of her ankle boot and set about sawing off their bindings -- once she’d cut Charlie free, he immediately rushed forward and grabbed Andre’s shoulders.

“We’ve got to hurry!” he said anxiously. “They’ve got Carey!”

“‘They?’” said Andre, very startled. “They who?”

“This band of Florentine bandits,” said Bill, his voice very low and urgent. He kept maneuvering his bindings as Erika cut them to try to sever them faster. “They cornered us so they could try to rob us -- they were willing to let Carey go since she was a lady, but she bartered with the leader, saying that they could take her so long as they left us alone. Claimed that they could probably get more money from holding her hostage than us, given her family...”

Both Skye and McNully glanced at Orion. The Prince’s face had lost most of its color -- he’d turned his face away and closed his eyes, breathing in and out slowly as he tried to stabilize his emotions.

“The bandits in these woods are Florentines, so I doubt they will harm you,” Baroness McGonagall’s words returned to his mind, “but I cannot be sure how they would respond to a Royaumanian, especially one related to one of their wealthiest noblemen.”

“They took all three of our horses and tied us to the tree so that we wouldn’t follow them,” growled Charlie. “They left us a knife so that we’d be able to cut ourselves free, but it’s so dull I reckon it would’ve taken us hours to do it ourselves...”

Bill succeeded in snapping the weakened ropes in half and leapt back to his feet, massaging his wrists.

“They must have taken her to a camp of theirs,” said KC, her dark blue eyes narrowing. “Even bandits need some base of operation.”

McNully nodded, resting his arms on the edge of the coach’s window. “The lady is right. Given where we are, I’d say the odds are fairer that it’s southeast of here.”

“Closer to the Florentine side of the border, you mean,” presumed KC, and McNully nodded again.

“They were heading south through the woods,” said Bill. “But we won’t want to bring the coach. They stopped us because they wanted money -- if they have any reason to think any of you have it, they’ll no doubt want to imprison you too...”

“On the contrary,” said Orion in a very low voice, “this carriage may be just the thing we need, to ensure that they don’t imprison us.”

Everyone looked at Orion, their faces all a mixture of incredulity and revulsion, but he seemed disinterested in explaining himself.

“We must be quick, McNully,” said Orion, and although his voice and face were as level and unreadable as ever, they both betrayed a slight edge. “Time is not on our side.”

With Bill now sitting with the driver’s seat next to Skye and Charlie hanging off the boot with Orion, the black coach set off again. Overhead Orion caught sight of the wounded eagle again, which shrieked at them warningly -- the Prince thought it must mean they were close, but did not respond fast enough to the trap set out in front of them.

The coach rode right through a certain cluster of vines, and within seconds, they had magically sprung to life, lashing themselves around the limbs of the five horses pulling the coach. The steeds reared back, panicked -- Skye immediately yanked out a sword from her belt and began hacking away at them, and Erika and Andre both leapt from the carriage with their own swords to help, but it was no use. The vines only lashed onto them, binding all three of them fast and making it impossible for them to move. And when things seemed like they couldn’t be any worse, without warning, a group of green-dressed men and women had swung down from more vines attached to the nearby trees, surrounding them in a tight noose-like circle and pointing their arrow-decked bows at them.

They were trapped.

“Well, well,” said a voice from the trees above, “we don’t often see coaches that ritzy out here.”

The voice’s owner leapt down to the ground. Unlike his companions, his hooded tunic was yellow instead of green. When he lifted his head enough that they could see his face, it was the host of a mischievous smirk.

“Especially ones crafted in Florence,” the dark-haired and eyed bandit said breezily.

Andre, KC, Erika, and the Weasleys all stiffened.

“Florence?” breathed Bill.

They all as a unit whirled on Orion. His face was remarkably calm and solemn as he stepped off the coach and in front of the others and faced the bandits’ leader, his hands clasped in front of him.

“We do not come seeking trouble,” he said. “We merely come to retrieve a lady who surrendered herself to you. Frame like a robin’s. Hair the color of a red sunset. Eyes the color of the sky.”

The bandit’s leader raised his eyebrows curiously. “The maid called Cromwell?”

“That is her.”

“And what reason would you desire her in your custody?” challenged one of the green-dressed bandits with a cocked eyebrow, a dashing man with tanned skin and dark brown hair.

“Wants to ransom her off himself, no doubt,” sneered another woman with messy brown hair and cold magenta eyes. “He probably works for Lord Malfoy -- we all know he’s the sort to make money off illicit enterprises and keep it all to himself, rather than give it to anyone who actually needs it...”

Two of the other bandits -- a pair of women with long red and short pink hair, respectively -- exchanged a sour look.

“We have nothing to do with Lord Malfoy,” spat Skye, vainly tugging against the vines binding her. “We wouldn’t collaborate with that rat if you paid us -- !”

“Skye,” said Orion in a quelling voice.

The last bandit, a very strong-looking man with dark red hair and emerald green eyes, frowned deeply at the leader, who considered Orion carefully.

“I know your face,” he murmured.

Orion inclined his head, his black eyes boring into the other man’s face. “I’m sure you do.”

The leader’s thin-lidded eyes narrowed critically -- then they widened, realizing.

“Bring out Lady Cromwell at once,” he said abruptly.

The others all whirled on him.

“What?!” cried all three women and the dashing man.

“Jae, are you mad?!” said the woman with the magenta eyes.

“Do it,” said the leader called Jae firmly, without flinching.

The strong bandit -- the only one who hadn’t questioned the leader’s direction -- grabbed a vine, which immediately retracted back up above them.

Jae glanced at the magenta-eyed woman. “Merula, have the vines set them loose.”

Merula looked rather scandalized. “What? Oh come on, you know how much of a pain it is, to have to recast a spell after it’s broken -- ”

“Better that we do it now than wait around for the spell to expire on its own,” Jae said dryly.

Still looking very reluctant, Merula nonetheless did as she was told, holding up her hand, which glowed with light green.

“The terms are now invalid,” she muttered sourly at the plants.

The plants sparkled with a similar green flare before falling limply off of the horses, Andre, Erika, and Skye. KC and Bill moved to detangle the now harmless plants from their companions and around the horses’ legs, and Charlie moved to soothe the frightened steeds.

Within a minute, the strong bandit was back, holding onto the vine easily with one hand and holding Carewyn under his opposite arm. She had her ginger hair tied back in a loose bun and was dressed in the green peasant dress she’d worn to the Festival and her slightly oversized brown shoes -- no doubt because it was the most comfortable dress for travel she had. Orion was also beyond relieved to see that she was perfectly unharmed -- not a single cut or bruise.

“CAREWYN!” cried KC, Andre, Bill and Charlie in relief.

All three of the men immediately dashed right over to her and threw their arms around her in a group hug.

“It’s all right,” Carewyn reassured them with a small smile. “I’m all right.”

“They didn’t hurt you?” Bill interrogated her.

“You must have been terrified -- ” said Andre.

“Where are the horses?” asked Charlie.

“Tied up in a makeshift stable over there,” said the pink-haired bandit with a wry grin and a vague hand gesture.

“A bit tricky to lug them up into treehouses,” added the red-haired one cheekily. “And no, for the record, we did not hurt Carewyn Cromwell. She may be a stick in the mud, but she’s a decent sort.”

“And brave too!” said the muscled man, beaming. “She wasn’t scared at all, not even when Merula stuck a knife in her face!”

“I was only getting fed up with her smart remarks,” huffed the magenta-eyed bandit called Merula. “You’d think she was the Queen of Sheba, with how she acts...”

“She is a proper lady, to be sure,” said the dashing bandit, shooting Carewyn a rather Casanova-like smile.

Carewyn tried to stifle a snort of laughter behind her hand as Jae approached her.

“Seems you’ll have an escort after all, Carewyn,” he said, lowering his bow with a slightly more serious look. “I don’t think I can convince you to reconsider, but under the circumstances...well, just make sure you’re careful. I’d hate to hear of Royaume losing one of its only honorable citizens due to their own stupidity.”

Carewyn inclined her head to him, her blue eyes very solemn. “I’m far from Royaume’s most honorable citizen, Jae, nor from any other country, I daresay. But thank you.”

Jae nodded. He then looked up at Orion.

“By your leave then, your Highness,” he said with an abbreviated bow.

He then nodded to the other bandits, and one by one, they all disappeared back up into the trees.

None of the people on the ground, however, gave them much mind. All of them had turned back around to face Orion -- Carewyn felt like her heart had stopped still as she stared, taking in his neat ponytail and finely tailored black doublet and hose and boots.

“...‘Your Highness?’ ” repeated Charlie, shocked.

Andre’s eyes widened. “Then...then you’re...?”

Orion swallowed, but somehow managed to keep his composure as he nodded. His eyes were locked on Carewyn’s face, never shifting and as turbulent as a black ocean.

“King Cosimo’s new heir,” KC breathed, her face flooding with fresh understanding around her amazement. “Cosimo VII.”

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grigori77 · 3 years

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2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20. ONWARD – Disney and Pixar’s best digitally animated family feature of 2020 (beating the admittedly impressive Soul to the punch) clearly has a love of fantasy roleplay games like Dungeons & Dragons, its quirky modern-day AU take populated by fantastical races and creatures seemingly tailor-made for the geek crowd … needless to say, me and many of my friends absolutely loved it. That doesn’t mean that the classic Disney ideals of love, family and believing in yourself have been side-lined in favour of fan-service – this is as heartfelt, affecting and tearful as their previous standouts, albeit with plenty of literal magic added to the metaphorical kind. The central premise is a clever one – once upon a time, magic was commonplace, but over the years technology came along to make life easier, so that in the present day the various races (elves, centaurs, fauns, pixies, goblins and trolls among others) get along fine without it. Then timid elf Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) receives a wizard’s staff for his sixteenth birthday, a bequeathed gift from his father, who died before he was born, with instructions for a spell that could bring him back to life for one whole day. Encouraged by his brash, over-confident wannabe adventurer elder brother Barley (Chris Pratt), Ian tries it out, only for the spell to backfire, leaving them with the animated bottom half of their father and just 24 hours to find a means to restore the rest of him before time runs out. Cue an “epic quest” … needless to say, this is another top-notch offering from the original masters of the craft, a fun, affecting and thoroughly infectious family-friendly romp with a winning sense of humour and inspired, flawless world-building. Holland and Pratt are both fantastic, their instantly believable, ill-at-ease little/big brother chemistry effortlessly driving the story through its ingenious paces, and the ensuing emotional fireworks are hilarious and heart-breaking in equal measure, while there’s typically excellent support from Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) as Ian and Barley’s put-upon but supportive mum, Laurel, Octavia Spencer as once-mighty adventurer-turned-restaurateur “Corey” the Manticore and Mel Rodriguez (Getting On, The Last Man On Earth) as overbearing centaur cop (and Laurel’s new boyfriend) Colt Bronco. The film marks the sophomore feature gig for Dan Scanlon, who debuted with 2013’s sequel Monsters University, and while that was enjoyable enough I ultimately found it non-essential – no such verdict can be levelled against THIS film, the writer-director delivering magnificently in all categories, while the animation team have outdone themselves in every scene, from the exquisite environments and character/creature designs to some fantastic (and frequently delightfully bonkers) set-pieces, while there’s a veritable riot of brilliant RPG in-jokes to delight geekier viewers (gelatinous cube! XD). Massive, unadulterated fun, frequently hilarious and absolutely BURSTING with Disney’s trademark heart, this was ALMOST my animated feature of the year. More on that later …

19. THE GENTLEMEN – Guy Ritchie’s been having a rough time with his last few movies (The Man From UNCLE didn’t do too bad but it wasn’t exactly a hit and was largely overlooked or simply ignored, while intended franchise-starter King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was largely derided and suffered badly on release, dying a quick death financially – it’s a shame on both counts, because I really liked them), so it’s nice to see him having some proper success with his latest, even if he has basically reverted to type to do it. Still, when his newest London gangster flick is THIS GOOD it seems churlish to quibble – this really is what he does best, bringing together a collection of colourful geezers and shaking up their status quo, then standing back and letting us enjoy the bloody, expletive-riddled results. This particularly motley crew is another winning selection, led by Matthew McConaughey as ruthlessly successful cannabis baron Mickey Pearson, who’s looking to retire from the game by selling off his massive and highly lucrative enterprise for a most tidy sum (some $400,000,000 to be precise) to up-and-coming fellow American ex-pat Matthew Berger (Succession’s Jeremy Strong, oozing sleazy charm), only for local Chinese triad Dry Eye (Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding, chewing the scenery with enthusiasm) to start throwing spanners into the works with the intention of nabbing the deal for himself for a significant discount. Needless to say Mickey’s not about to let that happen … McConaughey is ON FIRE here, the best he’s been since Dallas Buyers Club in my opinion, clearly having great fun sinking his teeth into this rich character and Ritchie’s typically sparkling, razor-witted dialogue, and he’s ably supported by a quality ensemble cast, particularly co-star Charlie Hunnam as Mickey’s ice-cold, steel-nerved right-hand-man Raymond Smith, Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery as his classy, strong-willed wife Rosalind, Colin Farrell as a wise-cracking, quietly exasperated MMA trainer and small-time hood simply known as the Coach (who gets many of the film’s best lines), and, most notably, Hugh Grant as the film’s nominal narrator, thoroughly morally bankrupt private investigator Fletcher, who consistently steals the film. This is Guy Ritchie at his very best – a twisty rug-puller of a plot that constantly leaves you guessing, brilliantly observed and richly drawn characters you can’t help loving in spite of the fact there’s not a single hero among them, a deliciously unapologetic, politically incorrect sense of humour and a killer soundtrack. Getting the cinematic year off to a phenomenal start, it’s EASILY Ritchie’s best film since Sherlock Holmes, and a strong call-back to the heady days of Snatch (STILL my favourite) and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. Here’s hoping he’s on a roll again, eh?

18. SPONTANEOUS – one of the year’s biggest under-the-radar surprise hits for me was one which I actually might not have caught if things had been a little more normal and ordered. Thankfully with all the lockdown and cinematic shutdown bollocks going on, this fantastically subversive and deeply satirical indie teen comedy horror came along at the perfect time, and I completely flipped out over it. Now those who know me know I don’t tend to gravitate towards teen cinema, but like all those other exceptions I’ve loved over the years, this one had a brilliantly compulsive hook I just couldn’t turn down – small-town high-schooler Mara (Knives Out and Netflix’ Cursed’s Katherine Langford) is your typical cool outsider kid, smart, snarky and just putting up with the scene until she can graduate and get as far away as possible … until one day in her senior year one of her classmates just inexplicably explodes. Like her peers, she’s shocked and she mourns, then starts to move on … until it happens again. As the death toll among the senior class begins to mount, it becomes clear something weird is going on, but Mara has other things on her mind because the crisis has, for her, had an unexpected benefit – without it she wouldn’t have fallen in love with like-minded oddball new kid Dylan (Lean On Pete and Words On Bathroom Walls’ Charlie Plummer). The future’s looking bright, but only if they can both live to see it … this is a wickedly intelligent film, powered by a skilfully executed script and a wonderfully likeable young cast who consistently steer their characters around the potential cliched pitfalls of this kind of cinema, while debuting writer-director Brian Duffield (already a rising star thanks to scripts for Underwater, The Babysitter and blacklist darling Jane Got a Gun among others) show he’s got as much talent and flair for crafting truly inspired cinema as he has for thinking it up in the first place, delivering some impressively offbeat set-pieces and several neat twists you frequently don’t see coming ahead of time. Langford and Plummer as a sassy, spicy pair who are easy to root for without ever getting cloying or sweet, while there’s glowing support from the likes of Hayley Law (Rioverdale, Altered Carbon, The New Romantic) as Mara’s best friend Tess, Piper Perabo and Transparent’s Rob Huebel as her increasingly concerned parents, and Insecure’s Yvonne Orji as Agent Rosetti, the beleaguered government employee sent to spearhead the investigation into exactly what’s happening to these kids. Quirky, offbeat and endlessly inventive, this is one of those interesting instances where I’m glad they pushed the horror elements into the background so we could concentrate on the comedy, but more importantly these wonderfully well-realised and vital characters – there are some skilfully executed shocks, but far more deep belly laughs, and there’s bucketloads of heart to eclipse the gore. Another winning debut from a talent I intend to watch with great interest in the future.

17. HAMILTON – arriving just as Black Lives Matter reached fever-pitch levels, this feature presentation of the runaway Broadway musical smash-hit could not have been better timed. Shot over three nights during the show’s 2016 run with the original cast and cut together with specially created “setup shots”, it’s an immersive experience that at once puts you right in amongst the audience (at times almost a character themselves, never seen but DEFINITELY heard) but also lets you experience the action up close. And what action – it’s an incredible show, a thoroughly fascinating piece of work that reads like something very staid and proper on paper (an all-encompassing biographical account of the life and times of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) but, in execution, becomes something very different and EXTREMELY vital. The execution certainly couldn’t be further from the usual period biopic fare this kind of historical subject matter usually gets (although in the face of recent high quality revisionist takes like Marie Antoinette, The Great and Tesla it’s not SO surprising), while the cast is not at all what you’d expect – with very few notable exceptions the cast is almost entirely people of colour, despite the fact that the real life individuals they’re playing were all very white indeed. Every single one of them is also an absolute revelation – the show’s writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (already riding high on the success of In the Heights) carries the central role of Hamilton with effortless charm and raw star power, Leslie Odom Jr. (Smash, Murder On the Orient Express) is duplicitously complex as his constant nemesis Aaron Burr, Christopher Jackson (In the Heights, Moana, Bull) oozes integrity and nobility as his mentor and friend George Washington, Phillipa Soo is sweet and classy as his wife Eliza while Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Jacks, Altered Carbon) is fiery and statuesque as her sister Angelica Schuyler (the one who got away), and Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter) consistently steals every scene he’s in as fiendish yet childish fan favourite King George III, but the show (and the film) ultimately belongs to veritable powerhouse Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, The Good Lord Bird) in a spectacular duel role, starting subtly but gaining scene-stealing momentum as French Revolutionary Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, before EXPLODING onto the stage in the second half as indomitable third American President Thomas Jefferson. Not having seen the stage show, I was taken completely by surprise by this, revelling in its revisionist genius and offbeat, quirky hip-hop charm, spellbound by the skilful ease with which is takes the sometimes quite dull historical fact and skews it into something consistently entertaining and absorbing, transported by the catchy earworm musical numbers and thoroughly tickled by the delightfully cheeky sense of humour strung throughout (at least when I wasn’t having my heart broken by moments of raw dramatic power). Altogether it’s a pretty unique cinematic experience I wish I could have actually gotten to see on the big screen, and one I’ve consistently recommended to all my friends, even the ones who don’t usually like musicals. As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t need a proper Les Misérables style screen adaptation – this is about as perfect a presentation as the show could possibly hope for.

16. SPUTNIK – summer’s horror highlight (despite SERIOUSLY tough competition) was a guaranteed sleeper hit that I almost missed entirely, stumbling across the trailer one day on YouTube and getting bowled over by its potential, prompting me to hunt it down by any means necessary. The feature debut of Russian director Egor Abramenko, this first contact sci-fi chiller is about as far from E.T. as it’s possible to get, sharing some of the same DNA as Carpenter’s The Thing but proudly carving its own path with consummate skill and definitely signalling great things to come from its brand new helmer and relative unknown screenwriters Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev. Oksana Akinshina (probably best known in the West for her powerful climactic cameo in The Bourne Supremacy) is the beating heart of the film as neurophysiologist Tatyana Yuryevna Klimova, brought in to aid in the investigation in the Russian wilderness circa 1983 after an orbital research mission goes horribly wrong. One of the cosmonauts dies horribly, while the other, Konstantin (The Duelist’s Pyotr Fyodorov) seems unharmed, but it quickly becomes clear that he’s now the host for something decidedly extraterrestrial and potentially terrifying, and as Tatyana becomes more deeply embroiled in her assignment she comes to realise that her superiors, particularly mysterious Red Army project leader Colonel Semiradov (The PyraMMMid’s Fyodor Bondarchuk), have far more insidious plans for Konstantin and his new “friend” than she could ever imagine. This is about as dark, intense and nightmarish as this particular sub-genre gets, a magnificently icky body horror that slowly builds its tension as we’re gradually exposed to the various truths and the awful gravity of the situation slowly reveals itself, punctuated by skilfully executed shocks and some particularly horrifying moments when the evils inflicted by the humans in charge prove far worse than anything the alien can do, while the ridiculously talented writers have a field day pulling the rug out from under us again and again, never going for the obvious twist and keeping us guessing right to the devastating ending, while the beautifully crafted digital creature effects are nothing short of astonishing and thoroughly creepy. Akinshina dominates the film with her unbridled grace, vulnerability and integrity, the relationship that develops between Tatyana and Konstantin (Fyodorov delivering a beautifully understated turn belying deep inner turmoil) feeling realistically earned as it goes from tentatively wary to tragically bittersweet, while Bondarchuk invests the Colonel with a nuanced air of tarnished authority and restrained brutality that made him one of my top screen villains for the year. One of 2020’s great sleeper hits, I can’t speak of this film highly enough – it’s a genuine revelation, an instant classic for whom I’ll sing its praises for years to come, and I wish enormous future success to all the creative talents involved.

15. THE INVISIBLE MAN – looks like third time’s a charm for Leigh Whannell, writer-director of my ALMOST horror movie of the year (more on that later) – while he’s had immense success as a horror writer over the years (co-creator of both the Saw and Insidious franchises), as a director his first two features haven’t exactly set the world alight, with debut Insidious: Chapter III garnering similar takes to the rest of the series but ultimately turning out to be a bit of a damp squib quality-wise, while his second feature Upgrade was a stone-cold masterpiece that was (rightly) EXTREMELY well received critically, but ultimately snuck in under the radar and has remained a stubbornly hidden gem since. No such problems with his third feature, though – his latest collaboration with producer Jason Blum and the insanely lucrative Blumhouse Pictures has proven a massive hit both financially AND with reviewers, and deservedly so. Having given up on trying to create a shared cinematic universe inhabited by their classic monsters, Universal resolved to concentrate on standalones to showcase their elite properties, and their first try is a rousing success, Whannell bringing HG Wells’ dark and devious human monster smack into the 21st Century as only he can. The result is a surprisingly subtle piece of work, much more a lethally precise exercise in cinematic sleight of hand and extraordinary acting than flashy visual effects, strictly adhering to the Blumhouse credo of maximum returns for minimum bucks as the story is stripped down to its bare essentials and allowed to play out without any unnecessary weight. The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elizabeth Moss once again confirms what a masterful actress she is as she brings all her performing weapons to bear in the role of Cecelia “Cee” Kass, the cloistered wife of affluent but monstrously abusive optics pioneer Aidan Griffin (Netflix’ The Haunting of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who escapes his clutches in the furiously tense opening sequence and goes to ground with the help of her closest childhood friend, San Francisco cop James Lanier (Leverage’s Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (A Wrinkle in Time’s Storm Reid). Two weeks later, Aidan commits suicide, leaving Cee with a fortune to start her life over (with the proviso that she’s never ruled mentally incompetent), but as she tries to find her way in the world again little things start going wrong for her, and she begins to question if there might be something insidious going on. As her nerves start to unravel, she begins to suspect that Aidan is still alive, still very much in her life, fiendishly toying with her and her friends, but no-one can see him. Whannell plays her paranoia up for all it’s worth, skilfully teasing out the scares so that, just like her friends, we begin to wonder if it might all be in her head after all, before a spectacular mid-movie reveal throws the switch into high gear and the true threat becomes clear. The lion’s share of the film’s immense success must of course go to Moss – her performance is BEYOND a revelation, a blistering career best that totally powers the whole enterprise, and it goes without saying that she’s the best thing in this. Even so, she has sterling support from Hodge and Reid, as well as Love Child’s Harriet Dyer as Cee’s estranged big sister Emily and Wonderland’s Michael Dorman as Adrian’s slimy, spineless lawyer brother Tom, and, while he doesn’t have much actual (ahem) “screen time”, Jackson-Cohen delivers a fantastically icy, subtly malevolent turn which casts a large “shadow” over the film. This is one of my very favourite Blumhouse films, a pitch-perfect psychological chiller that keeps the tension cranked up unbearably tight and never lets go, Whannell once again displaying uncanny skill with expert jump-scares, knuckle-whitening chills and a truly astounding standout set-piece that easily goes down as one of the top action sequences of 2020. Undoubtedly the best version of Wells’ story to date, this goes a long way in repairing the damage of Universal’s abortive “Dark Universe” efforts, as well as showcasing a filmmaking master at the very height of his talents.

14. EXTRACTION – the Coronavirus certainly has threw a massive spanner in the works of the year’s cinematic calendar – among many other casualties to the blockbuster shunt, the latest (and most long-awaited) MCU movie, Black Widow, should have opened to further record-breaking box office success at the end of spring, but instead the theatres were all closed and virtually all the heavyweights were pushed back or shelved indefinitely. Thank God, then, for the streaming services, particularly Hulu, Amazon and Netflix, the latter of which provided a perfect movie for us to see through the key transition into the summer blockbuster season, an explosively flashy big budget action thriller ushered in by MCU alumni the Russo Brothers (who produced and co-wrote this adaptation of Ciudad, a graphic novel that Joe Russo co-created with Ande Parks and Fernando Leon Gonzalez) and barely able to contain the sheer star-power wattage of its lead, Thor himself. Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a former Australian SAS operative who hires out his services to an extraction operation under the command of mercenary Nik Khan (The Patience Stone’s Golshifteh Farahani), brought in to liberate Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal in his first major role), the pre-teen son of incarcerated Indian crime lord Ovi Sr. (Pankaj Tripathi), who has been abducted by Bangladeshi rival Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli). The rescue itself goes perfectly, but when the time comes for the hand-off the team is double-crossed and Tyler is left stranded in the middle of Dhaka with no choice but to keep Ovi alive as every corrupt cop and street gang in the city closes in around them. This is the feature debut of Sam Hargrave, the latest stuntman to try his hand at directing, so he certainly knows his way around an action set-piece, and the result is a thoroughly breathless adrenaline rush of a film, bursting at the seams with spectacular fights, gun battles and car chases, dominated by a stunning sustained sequence that plays out in one long shot, guaranteed to leave jaws lying on the floor. Not that there should be any surprise – Hargrave cut his teeth as a stunt coordinator for the Russos on Captain America: Civil War and their Avengers films. That said, he displays strong talent for the quieter disciplines of filmmaking too, delivering quality character development and drawing out consistently noteworthy performances from his cast. Of course, Hemsworth can do the action stuff in his sleep, but there’s a lot more to Tyler than just his muscle, the MCU veteran investing him with real wounded vulnerability and a tragic fatalism which colours every scene, while Jaiswal is exceptional throughout, showing plenty of promise for the future, and there’s strong support from Farahani and Painyuli, as well as Stranger Things’ David Harbour as world-weary retired merc Gaspard, and a particularly impressive, muscular turn from Randeep Hooda (Once Upon a Time in Mumbai) as Saju, a former Para and Ovi’s bodyguard, who’s determined to take possession of the boy himself, even if he has to go through Tyler to get him. This is action cinema that really deserves to be seen on the big screen – I watched it twice in a week and would happily have paid for two trips to the cinema for it if I could have. As we looked down the barrel of a summer season largely devoid of blockbuster fare, I couldn’t recommend this enough. Thank the gods for Netflix …

13. THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – although it’s definitely a film that really benefitted enormously from releasing on Netflix during the various lockdowns, this was one of the blessed few I actually got to see during one of the UK’s frustratingly rare lulls when cinemas were actually OPEN. Rather perversely it therefore became one of my favourite cinematic experiences of 2020, but then I’m just as much a fan of well-made cerebral films as I am of the big, immersive blockbuster EXPERIENCES, so this probably still would have been a standout in a normal year. Certainly if this was a purely CRITICAL list for the year this probably would have placed high in the Top Ten … Aaron Sorkin is a writer whose work I have ardently admired ever since he went from esteemed playwright to in-demand talent for both the big screen AND the small with A Few Good Men, and TTOTC7 is just another in a long line of consistently impressive, flawlessly written works rife with addictive quickfire dialogue, beautifully observed characters and rewardingly propulsive narrative storytelling (therefore resting comfortably amongst the well-respected likes of The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball and The Social Network). It also marks his second feature as a director (after fascinating and incendiary debut Molly’s Game), and once again he’s gone for true story over fiction, tackling the still controversial subject of the infamous 1968 trial of the “ringleaders” of the infamous riots which marred Chicago’s Diplomatic National Convention five months earlier, in which thousands of hippies and college students protesting the Vietnam War clashed with police. Spurred on by the newly-instated Presidential Administration of Richard Nixon to make some examples, hungry up-and-coming prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is confident in his case, while the Seven – who include respected and astute student activist Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and confrontational counterculture firebrands Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Succession’s Jeremy Strong) – are the clear underdogs. They’re a divided bunch (particularly Hayden and Hoffman, who never mince their words about what little regard they hold for each other), and they’re up against the combined might of the U.S. Government, while all they have on their side is pro-bono lawyer and civil rights activist William Kunstler (Mark Rylance), who’s sharp, driven and thoroughly committed to the cause but clearly massively outmatched … not to mention the fact that the judge presiding over the case is Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), a fierce and uncompromising conservative who’s clearly 100% on the Administration’s side, and who might in fact be stark raving mad (he also frequently goes to great lengths to make it clear to all concerned that he is NOT related to Abbie). Much as we’ve come to expect from Sorkin, this is cinema of grand ideals and strong characters, not big spectacle and hard action, and all the better for it – he’s proved time and again that he’s one of the very best creative minds in Hollywood when it comes to intelligent, thought-provoking and engrossing thinking-man’s entertainment, and this is pure par for the course, keeping us glued to the screen from the skilfully-executed whirlwind introductory montage to the powerfully cathartic climax, and every varied and brilliant scene in-between. This is heady stuff, focusing on what’s still an extremely thorny issue made all the more urgently relevant and timely given what was (and still is) going on in American politics at the time, and everyone involved here was clearly fully committed to making the film as palpable, powerful and resonant as possible for the viewer, no matter their nationality or political inclination. Also typical for a Sorkin film, the cast are exceptional, everyone clearly having the wildest time getting their teeth into their finely-drawn characters and that magnificent dialogue – Redmayne and Baron Cohen are compellingly complimentary intellectual antagonists given their radically different approaches and their roles’ polar opposite energies, while Rylance delivers another pitch-perfect, simply ASTOUNDING performance that once again marks him as one of the very best actors of his generation, and there are particularly meaty turns from Strong, Langella, Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as besieged Black Panther Bobby Seale) and a potent late appearance from Michael Keaton that sear themselves into the memory long after viewing. Altogether then, this is a phenomenal film which deserves to be seen no matter the format, a thought-provoking and undeniably IMPORTANT masterwork from a master cinematic storyteller that says as much about the world we live in now as the decidedly turbulent times it portrays …

12. GREYHOUND – when the cinemas closed back in March, the fate of many of the major summer blockbusters we’d been looking forward to was thrown into terrible doubt. Some were pushed back to more amenable dates in the autumn or winter (which even then ultimately proved frustratingly ambitious), others knocked back a whole year to fill summer slots for 2021, but more than a few simply dropped off the radar entirely with the terrible words “postponed until further notice” stamped on them, and I lamented them all, this one in particular. It hung in there longer than some, stubbornly holding onto its June release slot for as long as possible, but eventually it gave up the ghost too … but thanks to Apple TV+, not for long, ultimately releasing less than a month later than intended. Thankfully the film itself was worth the fuss, a taut World War II suspense thriller that’s all killer, no filler – set during the infamous Battle of the Atlantic, it portrays the constant life-or-death struggle faced by the Allied warships assigned to escort the transport convoys as they crossed the ocean, defending their charges from German U-boats. Adapted from C.S. Forester’s famous 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by Tom Hanks and directed by Aaron Schneider (Get Low), the narrative focuses on the crew of the escort leader, American destroyer USS Fletcher, codenamed “Greyhound”, and in particular its captain, Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks), a career sailor serving his first command. As they cross “the Pit”, the most dangerous middle stretch of the journey where they spend days without air-cover, they find themselves shadowed by “the Wolf Pack”, a particularly cunning group of German submarines that begin to pick away at the convoy’s stragglers. Faced with daunting odds, a dwindling supply of vital depth-charges and a ruthless, persistent enemy, Krause must make hard choices to bring his ships home safe … jumping into the thick of the action within the first ten minutes and maintaining its tension for the remainder of the trim 90-minute run, this is screen suspense par excellence, a sleek textbook example of how to craft a compelling big screen knuckle-whitener with zero fat and maximum reward, delivering a series of desperate naval scraps packed with hide-and-seek intensity, heart-in-mouth near-misses and fist-in-air cathartic payoffs by the bucket-load. Hanks is subtly magnificent, the calm centre of the narrative storm as a supposed newcomer to this battle arena who could have been BORN for it, bringing to mind his similarly unflappable in Captain Phillips and certainly not suffering by comparison; by and large he’s the focus point, but other crew members make strong (if sometimes quite brief) impressions, particularly Stephen Graham as Krause’s reliably seasoned XO, Lt. Commander Charlie Cole, The Magnificent Seven’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Just Mercy’s Rob Morgan, while Elisabeth Shue does a lot with a very small part in brief flashbacks as Krause’s fiancée Evelyn. Relentless, exhilarating and thoroughly unforgettable, this was one of the true action highlights of the summer, and one hell of a war flick. I’m so glad it made the cut for the summer …

11. PROJECT POWER – with Marvel and DC pushing their tent-pole titles back in the face of COVID, the usual superhero antics we’ve come to expect for the summer were pretty thin on the ground in 2020, leading us to find our geeky fan thrills elsewhere. Unfortunately, pickings were frustratingly slim – Korean comic book actioner Gundala was entertaining but workmanlike, while Thor AU Mortal was underwhelming despite strong direction from Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal, and The New Mutants just got shat on by the studio and its distributors and no mistake – thank the Gods, then, for Netflix, once again riding to the rescue with this enjoyably offbeat super-thriller, which takes an intriguing central premise and really runs with it. New designer drug Power has hit the streets of New Orleans, able to give anyone who takes it a superpower for five minutes … the only problem is, until you try it, you don’t know what your own unique talent is – for some, it could mean five minutes of invisibility, or insane levels of super-strength, but other powers can be potentially lethal, the really unlucky buggers just blowing up on the spot. Robin (The Hate U Give’s Dominique Fishback) is a teenage Power-pusher with dreams of becoming a rap star, dealing the pills so she can help her diabetic mum; Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of her customers, a police detective who uses his power of near invulnerability to even the playing field when supercharged crims cause a disturbance. Their lives are turned upside down when Art (Jamie Foxx) arrives in town – he’s a seriously badass ex-soldier determined to hunt down the source of Power by any means necessary, and he’s not above tearing the Big Easy apart to do it. This is a fun, gleefully infectious rollercoaster that doesn’t take itself too seriously, revelling in the anarchic potential of its premise and crafting some suitably OTT effects-driven chaos brought to pleasingly visceral fruition by its skilfully inventive director, Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Nerve, Viral), while Mattson Tomlin (the screenwriter of the DCEU’s oft-delayed, incendiary headline act The Batman) takes the story in some very interesting directions and poses fascinating questions about what Power’s TRULY capable of. Gordon-Levitt and Fishback are both brilliant, the latter particularly impressing in what’s sure to be a major breakthrough role for her, and the friendship their characters share is pretty adorable, while Foxx really is a force to be reckoned with, pretty chill even when he’s in deep shit but fully capable of turning into a bona fide killing machine at the flip of a switch, and there’s strong support from Westworld’s Rodrigo Santoro as Biggie, Power’s delightfully oily kingpin, Courtney B. Vance as Frank’s by-the-book superior, Captain Crane, Amy Landecker as Gardner, the morally bankrupt CIA spook responsible for the drug’s production, and Machine Gun Kelly as Newt, a Power dealer whose pyrotechnic “gift” really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Exciting, inventive, frequently amusing and infectiously likeable, this was some of the most uncomplicated cinematic fun I had all summer. Not bad for something which I’m sure was originally destined to become one of the season’s B-list features …

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