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maderrMy thoughts tend to meander, and where they stop tends to be pretty random. This is comletely and totally random, hopelessly pointless and, I think, cute. It's also het, should that actually bother anyone (it will never fail to amuse me that I have to warn when I write straight couples). I think it's probably set in my Regency verse, or I could put it there, if I felt like it. Hmm.
In unrelated news, Hostless' lemon fruit pies are a guilty, dirty pleasure of mine, but they are tasty. I am weak.
Betram loved his brother, he really did. But he positively hated the man's wife, and she might think she was going to horn in on the men's supper that night but she was sorely mistaken. He strode through the house, desperate and annoyed--but then he reached the main hallway, and saw her just coming inside from her weekly trip to the library, here to meet his mother for tea. In a moment, drinking in the sight of her flushed from the sun and exertion, smiling at the butler as he assisted her, his irritation vanished. It simply could not compete with her; nothing could.
"Constance," he greeted as she turned and saw him. As ever, he enjoyed the way her name felt on his tongue. Everyone else called her Connie, but he always liked her full name--even if at first he had done it to annoy her. Calling her by it felt like a treat, like something special, even if she had wrinkled her nose for a long time after they began to get along.
Taking her still-gloved hand, he kissed the back of it lightly, then dropped to one knee.
She lifted one delicate, pale brow, pink lips quirking in amusement. "Why do I feel this is not a proposal?"
He winced briefly, then resumed his smile., mustering all the charm he possessed even though it had never worked on her. "I need a favor."
Laughing, she withdrew her hand and removed her gloves, then reached up to smooth back the pale gold curls which had come loose beneath the bonnet already discarded. "Go on with you, then."
He captured her hand again and said pleadingly, "Mary is insisting upon joining us for dinner." 'Us' being him, his brothers, his father, and Constance's father. No other woman would be so insufferable as to insist she should and would be present, but no other woman was damnable Mary. "Get her away from us, or I shall be obliged to go to the hangman's noose in the morning."
"Oh, you musn't do that, darling," she said with mock severity. "Mama would throw fits at the very suggestion of my getting married in prison. La, think of what would become of my dress."
"Which is why I humbly beg this favor of you," Betram replied.
She nodded. "All right, I shall do it. However, you must promise me one thing."
"Anything you ask."
"When you do propose, vow you'll not do it in this manner. I refuse to be proposed to in like fashion as being asked to contend with Mary," and her loathing for Mary was just one more thing in a very long list he loved about her.
"As you wish," Betram replied, grinning as he rose. "You do know I love you."
She nodded, still acting with her mock severity. "Yes, though mama and I have tried to beat such unfashionable behavior out of you. She does despair of making you a proper gentlemen." She held her chin in thought. "Alas for you, love will not prevent my having revenge upon you for this cruel favor."
He groaned. "La, woman. What manner of evil do you plot to inflict upon my person?"
She grinned at him, then abruptly clasped her hands to her very becoming bosom and wailed in dramatic despair, precisely imitating the loathed Mary. "Oh, Mary, he says he loved but--there is no ring, yet, he says, and puts me off with promises that sound so golden in the morning, and so very black with the setting of the sun. Whatever shall I--"
"Stop, stop!" Betram said, laughing hard enough he was holding his side. "Do not do that to me, or I shall never again believe you love me. If that is your plan, allow me to present an alternative that might spare us both much pain." Grasping her hand, he reached into his jacket and pulled out the ring he'd planned on giving her tomorrow, and slid it onto her finger. Sapphire and diamond, and made to his exact specifications, with an engraving that would get him one of her particularly pretty smiles--as well as a particularly pleasant show of appreciation, but that would be much later.
She blinked, then smiled, then shrugged dismissive fashion and put on an air of exaggerated boredom. "Well, darling, if you insist, I suppose I could drag her away to discuss our marriage. If you do feel it is best."
"Oh, I do," he said with a grin, and leaned down to kiss her when she indicated that he very much should.
In unrelated news, Hostless' lemon fruit pies are a guilty, dirty pleasure of mine, but they are tasty. I am weak.
Betram loved his brother, he really did. But he positively hated the man's wife, and she might think she was going to horn in on the men's supper that night but she was sorely mistaken. He strode through the house, desperate and annoyed--but then he reached the main hallway, and saw her just coming inside from her weekly trip to the library, here to meet his mother for tea. In a moment, drinking in the sight of her flushed from the sun and exertion, smiling at the butler as he assisted her, his irritation vanished. It simply could not compete with her; nothing could.
"Constance," he greeted as she turned and saw him. As ever, he enjoyed the way her name felt on his tongue. Everyone else called her Connie, but he always liked her full name--even if at first he had done it to annoy her. Calling her by it felt like a treat, like something special, even if she had wrinkled her nose for a long time after they began to get along.
Taking her still-gloved hand, he kissed the back of it lightly, then dropped to one knee.
She lifted one delicate, pale brow, pink lips quirking in amusement. "Why do I feel this is not a proposal?"
He winced briefly, then resumed his smile., mustering all the charm he possessed even though it had never worked on her. "I need a favor."
Laughing, she withdrew her hand and removed her gloves, then reached up to smooth back the pale gold curls which had come loose beneath the bonnet already discarded. "Go on with you, then."
He captured her hand again and said pleadingly, "Mary is insisting upon joining us for dinner." 'Us' being him, his brothers, his father, and Constance's father. No other woman would be so insufferable as to insist she should and would be present, but no other woman was damnable Mary. "Get her away from us, or I shall be obliged to go to the hangman's noose in the morning."
"Oh, you musn't do that, darling," she said with mock severity. "Mama would throw fits at the very suggestion of my getting married in prison. La, think of what would become of my dress."
"Which is why I humbly beg this favor of you," Betram replied.
She nodded. "All right, I shall do it. However, you must promise me one thing."
"Anything you ask."
"When you do propose, vow you'll not do it in this manner. I refuse to be proposed to in like fashion as being asked to contend with Mary," and her loathing for Mary was just one more thing in a very long list he loved about her.
"As you wish," Betram replied, grinning as he rose. "You do know I love you."
She nodded, still acting with her mock severity. "Yes, though mama and I have tried to beat such unfashionable behavior out of you. She does despair of making you a proper gentlemen." She held her chin in thought. "Alas for you, love will not prevent my having revenge upon you for this cruel favor."
He groaned. "La, woman. What manner of evil do you plot to inflict upon my person?"
She grinned at him, then abruptly clasped her hands to her very becoming bosom and wailed in dramatic despair, precisely imitating the loathed Mary. "Oh, Mary, he says he loved but--there is no ring, yet, he says, and puts me off with promises that sound so golden in the morning, and so very black with the setting of the sun. Whatever shall I--"
"Stop, stop!" Betram said, laughing hard enough he was holding his side. "Do not do that to me, or I shall never again believe you love me. If that is your plan, allow me to present an alternative that might spare us both much pain." Grasping her hand, he reached into his jacket and pulled out the ring he'd planned on giving her tomorrow, and slid it onto her finger. Sapphire and diamond, and made to his exact specifications, with an engraving that would get him one of her particularly pretty smiles--as well as a particularly pleasant show of appreciation, but that would be much later.
She blinked, then smiled, then shrugged dismissive fashion and put on an air of exaggerated boredom. "Well, darling, if you insist, I suppose I could drag her away to discuss our marriage. If you do feel it is best."
"Oh, I do," he said with a grin, and leaned down to kiss her when she indicated that he very much should.
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Date: 2008-10-18 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 09:45 pm (UTC)Hm... perhaps one of their sons might be gay? *laughs* What can I say? ^_~
I hope work was not particularly unpleasant.
I haven't had one of those lemon things in ages. They are strangely good, aren't they? ^_^ Glad to hear you indulged.
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Date: 2008-10-18 09:55 pm (UTC)I love the Constance/Connie bit too, and how he chooses to call her Constance because it annoyed her in the beginning and because it was something that just he could call her. :3
Very, very cute. <3
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Date: 2008-10-18 10:16 pm (UTC)and the name Constance? I've always loved that name, so... that just makes it so much better.
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Date: 2008-10-18 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 11:02 pm (UTC)Anyhow. This was short and fun and sweet. Awww. Sounds like a fun couple. I love the Regency verse. =3
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Date: 2008-10-19 12:19 am (UTC)It's not stressing. It's more...expectations. I'm a slash writer. People expect slash to me. So, I feel I should say when I'm doing something that is not what people expect from me. I hate when an author does something wholly unlike himself; as often as not, it's like a slap to the face (like fucking killing chars for no good reason) so even with silly stuff, I like to say 'hey, not what I normally do'
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Date: 2008-10-19 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-19 02:42 am (UTC)Interesting proposal, I wonder what he was intially planning to do, seeing as he'd intended to give the ring to her 'tomorrow'.
Minor gripe: the wording of the first paragraph is slightly confusing. You have the main character thinking about his sister-in-law and then he 'saw her just coming inside'. Initially I thought the 'her' in question was the sister-in-law and was very much confused. Perhaps emphasise the 'her' in some way? Say, italics or capital H or something, just to make clear that this is an imortant and though-derailing 'her', and not the same woman as the one he was previously thinking of.
And my gripe wound up longer than my praise. Oops. But I do like this pair, they seem like a fun couple. :)
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Date: 2008-10-19 02:53 am (UTC)*shrug* I tried other things, didn't like them. I figured it would become clear enough as it progressed. AS it was just a drabble, I didn't see much point in stressing over it.
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Date: 2008-10-20 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-19 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-19 06:42 pm (UTC)ewwww. het. *snickers*
Only thing, I was alittle confused about who Constance was in the first paragraph, I thought she was, the later revealed, detestable Mary.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-21 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-07 05:20 am (UTC)Honestly, it's just as wonderful as everything else.