i'm so tired

[another-day-another-shadow-ban]

Gwendoline Scenes From All Movies & Series I Could Find

So… I did a thing, which was learning how to cut videos?? Like it’s not even a big thing but I’m very happy with myself, and of course, I’m not out here doing amazing edits or anything but what I am doing is being hopelessly in love with Gwen, so I thought why the heck not to stare at her face non-stop on all roles I can find?

Movies The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) - Classy Shopper 2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - Captain Phasma The Hunger Games (2015) - Commander Lyme Absolutely Fabulous (2016) - Gwendoline Christie Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) - Captain Phasma The Darkest Minds (2018) - Lady Jane Welcome to Marwen (2018) - Anna In Fabric (2018) - Gwen Our Friend (2019) - Teresa A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2019) - Titania, Queen of the Faries The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) - Jane Murdstone Flux Gourmet (2022) - Jen Stevens

Wizards vs Aliens (2012) - Lucy/Lexi

Wednesday (2022) - Larissa Weems Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 All Episodes

The Sandman (2022) - Lucifer Morningstar Episode 4 Episode 10 All Episodes

That would be all for now, lovelies, till next time.

[bookishdiplodocus]

Reblog the writers’ fortune cookie for luck!

[redeadepression]

Guys I reblogged this and then wrote an 8000 word story I didn’t even have a solid plan for. Reblog this shit.

[dyingslowlysthings]

I mean look at her 🫶🏻

[deathlydistortion]

If Gwendoline is clowning us about Larissa Weems returning and she doesn't return, I will die. There is no way out, I will file a formal complaint and die

[pro-weems-places]

me

[pro-weems-places]

Lessons in French

Gwen (in Fabric) x Female Reader

Summary: French class is kicking your arse. Luckily, your teacher presents the course with the very attractive and prolific Gwen, who offers to tutor any student in need.

"You know," she began again, "the secret to mastering pronunciation... It's all in the tongue."

Content/Warnings: NSFW, cunnilingus, fingering

A/N: Posting this on my side blog so it'll show up in tags (og: @anti-bright-places)

A huge thank you to @coconutice22 for not only bravely enduring me blowing up her inbox with my constant whining about this piece, but also for helping me edit. And thank you to @fortheloveofaphroditesblessings for also looking this over beforehand.

This fic was inspired by @stanchett and their Gwen fic, and it's my first time writing wlw smut, but I hope it's not too noticeable.

Enjoy! X

"Caaassss," you whined for the third time in the past half hour.

"My God, I love you. Really, I do, but you've got to start bothering someone else."

You sighed, feeling both your own and your flatmate's frustration. It was just that French was kicking your arse and you had no one else to complain about it to.

"Who even thought to implement a second language rule," you quietly grumbled to yourself, "we don't speak a world language here for nothing."

But as things stood your uni did require you to learn at least one foreign language or you weren’t allowed to graduate.

Perhaps, you thought to yourself, you should've started in your first year. Cassidy, your flatmate who was only a few months and about 15 thousand words from graduating, had finished all required Italian courses in hers. But the way things were going with you and French, you'd still be sitting at this very desk, with your grammar and vocabulary books strewn about you, when you hit menopause. It just wasn't fair. Every other gay person was always going on about how languages were so easy for them. It was almost enough to start making you question whether you might not be straight after all.

~ 🥖 ~ \ ( ^ . ^) / ~ 🥖 ~

"Bonjour, classe," Madame DuBois said and you flinched in your seat, sitting up straight and trying to shake yourself awake.

You always got to French class early in the hopes that staring at your books for an extra twenty minutes would magically make you fluent. Obviously, it never worked and today your body had apparently decided it needed the rest more than additional study time; hopefully, no one had seen you drool on your desk.

You squinted towards the front where the old French lady walked around her desk and gestured for a tall figure at the front to come and join her.

"I 'ave noticed that some of you seem to be 'aving a 'arder time than is usual," you weren't quite sure, but you thought her dark eyes made contact with you for just a bit longer than anyone else.

With a slightly indignant huff you reached for your water bottle. No need to call me out like that.

"So, I contacted one of my best former students and she 'appily agreed to meet with us today. Anyone 'oo would like some tutoring can come to 'er after the lesson is finir."

You swirled the water around in your mouth - your little deskside nap had dried it out quite a bit - as you let your gaze sweep over to this mysterious former student and holy shit.

Every head turned in your direction as you spit out half of your water and choked on the rest. And when those beautiful blue eyes that had you make a fool of yourself focused on you, all you wanted to do was sink into the floor. God, but she was beautiful.

“Are you alright?” the woman asked with more than just a small hint of amusement.

And her voice. You coughed once more then nodded your head. Your cheeks felt hot enough to fry an egg, but you couldn’t look away from her. Her fair skin, dark hair and bright eyes. And her height. Even from your elevated position in the last row you could tell that she must be well over 6’.

Your teacher clapped her hands together once and your gaze momentarily slipped back to her.

“Right. So, now that we know we can come to Gwen for ‘elp we can start today’s lesson, non?”

There was a general murmur of agreement and Gwen gave one curt nod before settling back into her front row seat. But not before glancing your way again. It was probably just to see if you had recovered from your little accident, but you liked to imagine you saw a little spark of something light up her eyes.

It was sufficient to say that not a single one of your brain cells could focus on language acquisition when they were busy forgetting basic human functions as your eyes kept straying over to the dark head of Gwen.

It got so bad that when Madame DuBois clapped her hands together to announce that time was up, you got scared so badly you almost cleared your whole desk of your belongings. In a bit of a daze you watched as most of the class streamed out of the room, a few hanging behind to queue before Gwen. Slowly, you packed your things and shouldered your backpack. The whole lesson you had not doubted you’d go and secure yourself at least one tutoring session with Gwen, but now your stomach tied itself into knots and all you wanted to do was join all the other girls who had run down the doors as soon as Madame DuBois had let them.

You were just about to move from your seat in the direction of the door, when Gwen looked up at you and winked. And that was the moment you knew you couldn’t just run away, you had to get that woman’s number – purely for educational purposes, of course. You turned around and got in line behind Nick.

“You know, I bet she could teach a lot more than French, if you catch my drift.”

You sneered at him. As far as you knew, he didn’t know that you were gay, which somehow made him talking to you like that ten times worse. It wasn’t even as if the thought hadn’t crossed your mind, how could it not have when you were so clearly taken in by her beauty… Let’s just say, your mind was bound to drift off, but at least you knew that there was more to a woman than her physicalities. You weren’t sure Nick did as well.

He, unaware of your inner turmoil, just shrugged at your non reply, and while that little interaction had you lose another bit of faith in men, it also calmed your racing heart. Almost like a cold shower, his objectification had aided in reminding you that Gwen was also just a person. So, when Nick walked away without a phone number, but a 4pm library study session, all you thought about was that you desperately needed the help.

“Hi,” you started to introduce yourself, but Gwen cut you off.

“Water girl,” her pink lips parted in a grin, “good to see the choking wasn’t fatal.”

You felt your cheeks heat up despite your best efforts to stay cool. Of course, she would be enough of an ass to not let that slip without addressing it.

“Yeah, well I’d like to think someone would have called an ambulance. We hardly have the vocabulary for getting all our shopping done. Imagine someone had to report a corpse at the local market.”

Did this already count as rambling? You weren’t sure, but Gwen didn’t seem put off by your slightly morbid sense of humour.

“I don’t know, a little death behind the fruit stand doesn’t sound so terrible,” she paused as if waiting for a reaction, but you had no idea what she was on about. “Right, missing vocabulary. Anyway, I am fully booked for today, and actually, I gotta go now. Give me your phone?”

You plucked your phone from your backpocket and unlocked it for her. Gwen quickly typed in her number.

“Just text me and we can set up an hour for later in the week.”

You accepted your phone back and nodded at her, then she was out the door before you could say good-bye.

Well, that could have gone worse.

~ 🥖 ~ \ ( ^ . ^) / ~ 🥖 ~

Back home, you were draped upside down over the backrest of your sofa, eyes flitting between your phone and Cassidy, who was just across the room in the little kitchen area cooking the two of you some dinner.

“I don’t know what the big deal is. Just fucking text her, ask her if she’s free tomorrow. She wouldn’t have given you her number if she didn’t want you to contact her.”

You bit your lip in thought. Maybe she was right, but maybe it was all a trap and there was no right way to act. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t felt at least a little bit smug when Gwen had given you her number that she had denied Nick (and possibly all the other guys before him, but you didn’t want to get ahead of yourself) but now you wished you had already hashed out some plans with her instead of being stuck in the limbo of trying to come up with a way to ask her to save your arse without seeming as desperate as you most definitely were.

You let your eyes go unfocused as you listened to the sizzling of the pan. You were getting to a point where all the blood rushing to your head made you feel a little sluggish, but you welcomed the distraction.

“Oh for fuck’s – Give me that!”

Cassidy ripped your phone out of your hands. You immediately sat up and tried to snatch it back, but got too dizzy to actually chase after her. You barely managed to catch your phone as she threw it back to you.

It pinged before you could even read what Cas had written.

Hey, Gwen. This is Y/N from French class. I’m free all of tomorrow and Thursday, any chance we can meet up then?

Water girl! Let’s meet tomorrow. 7pm. Your place.

All the blood that had only just made its way back to your extremities rushed back into your face and Cassidy had to gently push you back onto the sofa in case you decided to faint any second.

So much for thinking of Gwen as just another person.

~ 🥖 ~ \ ( ^ . ^) / ~ 🥖 ~

You groaned, hiding your face behind your hands.

“I’m never gonna get this right.”

You felt your mattress dip and then gentle but strong hands pried yours away. You almost flinched back when you realised how close Gwen was all of a sudden, but the equal pull you felt towards leaning into her had you stay exactly where you were.

“You’re just starting to learn this language, it’s okay to have problems with pronouncing certain words. In fact, I would be quite annoyed with you, if you got it right straight away. It took me many a month of living in France to get to where I am.”

You swallowed. Her gentle, deep voice soothed your worries, but your body reacted to it in the complete opposite way. Your mouth was too dry to give her a verbal answer, so you just nodded.

She was still holding on to your wrists, her thumbs now caressing the back of your hands.

“You know,” she began again, “the secret to mastering pronunciation… It's all in the tongue.”

You couldn’t stop the slight whimper from escaping your lips. Was Gwen’s face closer than a few seconds ago? You were almost certain your body hadn’t moved.

Blue eyes flickered down to your lips and now she was definitely coming closer. Your breathing quickened, eyes going out of focus as you tried to keep looking into hers.

You could feel her breath against your lips and the smell of tea hit your nose. You were a little sad that it was strong enough to cover up the subtle scent of her perfume you had gotten a whiff off when she first squeezed past you into your room.

“Would you like me to show you?”

Without noticing it, you licked your lips. You would kill for a drink of water right now, but nothing could have made you turn away from the woman in front of you.

“Yes, please,” you managed to gasp. You sounded pathetic and going by Gwen’s chuckle she realised it as well. But she didn’t seem to mind it because less than a second later her lips were pressing into yours.

You groaned at the force of her impact and she immediately made use of your parted lips.

As she licked into your mouth, you fisted your hands into her black tresses, trying to pull her closer. Heat flooded through your body and settled low in your stomach. She tasted heavenly, with faint notes of bergamot and honey.

Gwen's hands settled on your hips, her grip so tight you hoped it would leave its mark on you. With a moan, you rolled your hips towards her and she broke away from your mouth with a satisfied smile.

“So eager, ma chérie.”

You whimpered in agreement, trying to pull her face back to you, but she resisted. With a frown you pulled harder, but instead of indulging you she pushed you off the bed, positioning you so that you stood in front of her. God, even like that she was only slightly shorter than you.

You looked at her with a questioning gaze. Instead of explaining, she only scooched to the end of the mattress and let her knees fall open. You choked back a groan at the sly look on her face. This woman had you wrapped around her (elegant and long) finger. She didn’t even need to tell you to get on your knees, your legs were getting too weak to stand either way.

“Mhmm,” Gwen sighed in appreciation, “that’s a good girl.”

She was staring at you through her lashes and you could feel your own wetness when your panties slid against your centre as you crawled closer to her, sliding both of your hands under her skirt to grab at her thighs.

Gwen leaned back on one of her hands and hiked her skirt up to reveal her own soaked underwear.

“Perhaps it would be best if you showed me your tonguing skills so I can make a better assessment and prepare some exercises for our next lesson.”

Gwen’s voice was airier than before, but you still thought she was too capable of speaking in whole sentences. The desire to have her reduced to unhinged moans consumed you like a wildfire and you didn't wait for further instruction.

You let your nails scrape over Gwen's stockings until you finally touched her bare skin mid thigh. The soft smoothness of it sent shivers down your spine. And they only intensified when Gwen loosened your ponytail and grabbed a fistful of your hair, trying to push you closer to her aching centre. You smirked up at her and she tutted, pulling your head back and leaning over your face.

“Aren’t you a tease?”

You couldn’t help the moan that escaped your lips at the tone of her voice. Your hands swiftly glided along her skin until they were at her arse and you pulled her further forward. Gwen fell back onto the mattress with a breathy laugh.

“Yeah, that’s more like it.”

You weren’t sure if it was her confidence and her snark, or her body that had your own juices flowing but you were determined to make this strong woman turn to putty under your ministrations.

There was already a dark spot on her panties and you could smell her arousal as you placed a few open mouthed kisses along her inner thighs, basking in the soft sighs from above. Slowly you worked your way up her legs, pausing right at her centre to blow some cool air over the wet spot. You licked your lips, even covered in fabric she looked amazing but you wanted nothing more than to see her out of it.

Gwen squirmed beneath you, trying to get some much needed friction. Your fingers had slid upwards to play with the hem of her panties and when you heard her puff out a needy breath, you took pity on her, pulling them down her legs and throwing them carelessly behind you.

“You’re so wet for me,” you hummed at the sight of her glistening skin.

Gwen’s voice was laced with frustration as she asked you, “And when do you plan on doing something about it?”

She didn’t need to ask twice before you were on her again. One hand slipped underneath Gwen’s leg to pull it over your shoulder. You rubbed your nose against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, before you retraced your earlier path of wet kisses up to her core. Gwen sighed in anticipation, her fingernails scraping over your scalp as she tried to get a better grip on your hair. When you reached your goal, you took a deep breath in as if you were trying to memorise her smell, then Gwen moaned with abandon when your tongue came out to lap at her folds.

If you thought her mouth had tasted divine, her cunt was on a whole nother level. Gwen’s hips bucked off the mattress as your tongue dipped into her and you had to restrain her with your left hand, purely so she wouldn’t end up breaking your nose. Her moans filled the room as your fingers tightened around her. Your nails dug into her flesh as your face moved up to flick your tongue against her clit.

“Ahh… more,” she demanded more than she begged, but you were too happy to comply to care.

You looked up at her. Her sinful lips were opened in sensual moans and the hand that wasn’t buried in your hair was massaging her covered breasts. You groaned at the sight of her. And when she looked down and met your eyes you feared you would drown in them. Until she raised an eyebrow at you, her still open lips curling into a slight smirk. With a huff you looked back down. Her clit was shining with your saliva and you dove straight back in.

Without any further preparation, you brought up your free hand and plunged two fingers deep inside of her. It was your turn to smirk, when Gwen screamed in obvious pleasure. You set up a rhythm that had Gwen gasp and grip your hair harder, pulling just enough to send sparks down your own spine, but never enough to pull you off of her.

Gwen’s moans lost their rhythm as they gained in volume. Had you not been entirely focused on her pleasure, you’d have thanked the Gods that Cassidy was staying at her boyfriend’s place. You curled your fingers inside her, grinning against her clitoris as you found the spot you were looking for. Gwen screamed and her hand clenched around your hair, making you hiss at the sudden pain. Her foot was pressed against your back and you had to double the pressure on her hips to keep them steady, while your fingers kept moving inside her.

Gwen’s thighs cramped up around your head and her back arched as you resumed sucking on her clit. She was getting close. When she clenched around your fingers, you moaned against her, the vibrations of which finally sent her over the edge with one last cry. You pumped your fingers in and out of her a few more times until her breathing had calmed down a little.

With a final kiss to her clitoris that earned you the loveliest of sighs, you pulled away. You gently eased her legs back down to the ground, massaging them lightly as you did.

“Mhm, that was lovely.”

You chuckled at her words. You hoped it was a little more than just lovely, but you couldn’t concentrate on that train of thought because the look in Gwen’s eyes reminded you of your own arousal. Your chuckles faded into a choked whine and you swallowed. Now that you had made this incredible woman come, you wanted nothing more than for her to throw you on that bed and return the favour.

Gwen sat up, grabbing you by your collar and dragging you forwards to meet her lips. Both of you let out a moan as she tasted herself on your tongue. You stepped forward until your knees hit the edge of the bed, but she kept pulling until you ungracefully landed in her lap.

The sudden sound of a phone alarm almost made you fall out of Gwen’s lap. Gently, she lifted you off of her. When she met your gaze you saw a mix of amusement and regret? in her blue eyes.

“Hour’s up,” she explained as she fished for her phone to turn off the alarm.

You weren’t any less perplexed after that statement, until you remembered that before she had insisted you study in your room instead of in the living room she had also told you that she only ever stayed for an hour – after that she was out.

“Wh - I,” you stuttered, not quite sure what you wanted to say, and not quite sure what was appropriate to say. Jesus Christ, you just had your mouth on her cunt and were worried about what was appropriate?

Gwen’s eyes scanned your face. She could guess at your current state of arousal, even if she didn’t know that there might have been more as to why you wanted her to stay.

“Poor baby girl. I promise, the next lesson will be much more rewarding for you. Same time next week. Can’t wait.”

She winked at you and with one last kiss to your lips she was out the door, leaving you to fall back onto your bed with a groan of frustration.

It wasn’t like this past hour hadn’t been rewarding for you, but you couldn’t help but feel a little written off.

When you turned to lie more comfortably on your side, your eyes fell on Gwen’s discarded panties. At least you’d been good enough to make her forget about them. The thought of her in her skirt without any underwear on only brought your attention back to the ache between your own legs.

Yes, you thought as you pressed your thighs together, I cannot wait for next week, either.

Perhaps, if you could make Gwen forget about her panties, you could get her to forget about her one hour rule.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ tags for those who might be interested: @a-midwinter-simps-nightmare @zephyr-is-tired @readingtheentrails @dianneking

[another-day-another-shadow-ban]

YEEES! I'VE SAID IT ON AO3 AND I'LL SAY IT HERE AS WELL

THIS IS HOT AS HELL, FOR THE LOVE OF APHRODITE INDEED

I melted reading it the first time and now I'm on the floor again, send help

[another-day-another-shadow-ban]

Only Pretending #6

Word count: 3.5k Author's note: sooo, I've decided that until I'm shadowbanned, I'll be posting this series here! I'll still reblog the chapters so it is on my primary blog. I won't be able to reply to comments still (as this is a secondary blog), but know that I sincerely appreciate every single note you people leave, so thank you so much in advance, you are so beautiful!

If pressed, you wouldn’t be able to tell how long you spent kissing that night. Wouldn’t be able to remember when you straddled her lap, holding on for however long you could.

Larissa’s hands were the gentlest torturers you’d ever known, softly but surely going from caressing your face to gripping your neck and ending up on your hips, pressing you closer with a desperate feel to it.

You could not remember the last time you were so thoroughly studied. Maybe never. There was no part of you her hands did not travel through and for the first time, you cursed your fuzzy pyjamas. What wouldn’t you have given to feel her fingers grip your thighs without any barrier between you? It was a curse but also a blessing. If you had felt cold fingers on your heated skin, you might not have had the strength to stop it.

Larissa was following a clear path. She had a goal, and it was undeniably thrilling to know she wanted you, but you were both intoxicated by more than one another. This was not a pure desire-driven endeavour; you were drunk and while your feelings and want were very clear to you, you could not know of Larissa’s. Hell, only yesterday she had asked you to be her friend. You could very well be the available option.

When you felt her hand skirting dangerously up your thigh, you mentally kicked yourself and put your hand over hers.

You separated for just a fraction, looking her in the eyes. They were heavy-lidded and you could see more than just a simple adjustment to lighting on her wide pupils. It killed you to know what your next words were when she looked so incredible, still towering over you even when you were on her lap.

“Larissa…” you whispered, and she chased your lips, stealing a brief kiss before you had the strength to part again, “I know this is frustrating, and you might hate me or thank me tomorrow, but I’d prefer having the knowledge that you were completely clear minded before choosing to go down this route with me.”

“Why are you so concerned about me all the time, it should be me who’s saying this,” she sounded defeated, dumping her head on your shoulder for the second time that evening.

You brought your hands to her nape and started to gently scratch her scalp.

“You’re concerned with everyone around you all the time.” You smiled. “Only fair that someone does the same to you.”

Her arms circled your waist, and she buried her nose in your neck. You kissed the tip of her ear and nudged her up to face you again. You felt a satisfying surge of pride seeing her small affectionate smile, and had to kiss it one more time, just as affectionately.

Getting up and turning to lie on the bed, you pulled her with you so she would be the one on top. You went down kissing, smiling, and chuckling once when she pressed her thigh between your legs a little too much and made you groan.

“Tomorrow, we discuss it, ok?” you breathed in the now darkened room and felt Larissa nod against your chest.

“Good night, y/n,” she whispered.

“Good night, Larissa.”

You woke up alone the next morning. Sunlight was coming through the half-opened deep-red curtains, warming a line up your jaw and burning your ear. Larissa must have woken with it in her eyes.

You got up and dragged yourself to the bathroom. Larissa was probably downstairs, which shouldn’t bother you, but you thought you would talk first thing in the morning and the fact that she preferred being in Morticia’s company instead of waking you to accompany her was nauseating. Maybe she was sparing you the bother of putting up with the woman and you were just worrying unnecessarily.

Taking your time to get ready and dress, you left the bedroom almost forty minutes later.

Upon stepping into the main hall, you were surprised by the large front doors opening abruptly. Through them, a squealing Enid ran inside, dropping two travel bags by the stairs and returning just as quickly to hug an unimpressed Wednesday, walking calmly inside (though the slight quiver on the side of her mouth hinted at her true feelings).

“I can’t believe I’m finally here! Stop with the pout, Addams! Your brooding days are over, time to enjoy the holiday!”

Wednesday rolled her eyes in your direction, still in Enid’s arms, as if she could convince you she wasn’t happy her girlfriend had arrived. As if it wasn’t all she talked about at dinner last night on the rare occasions she bothered to make a comment.

“Professor!” you were next in the queue of hugs, and Enid’s joyful skips towards you managed to soothe the minor discomfort that Larissa’s absence had caused. “I’m so happy that you’re here,” she whispered timidly and quite adorably, “I didn’t talk with my parents yet. I’ll do it in person, but I wanted to thank you again for our talk.”

“Of course, dear,” you tightened your arms around her, “And I’ll be here no matter their reaction if you want to talk again, ok? We can go to the Weathervane or the park, whatever you’d like.”

You separated and she smiled sweetly at you. You knew it was young love, but you wished they’d work out because looking at them, you could think of no one else who would protect Enid as fiercely as Wednesday and not a single soul that would keep Wednesday in check as Enid did. They were such an adorable pair you almost felt jealous.

“Rissa?” Morticia’s voice sounded again, a bit louder, snapping Larissa out of her reverie.

“Yes?”

“If you’ve finished eating, I’ll summon Lurch to clear the table for you.” She gestured while seating in one of the garden chairs around said table.

“No, I’ll wait for y/n, thank you. I think she’d like to have breakfast in the garden,” she smiled, remembering your idea of what your first date would have been like. She didn’t know much about you from these last few days, but she was certain you’d appreciate the fresh air and Morticia’s deadly plants.

“You know, I don’t understand what you think you’re doing,” the woman replied, rushing through the words in an uncommon manner.

“Whatever do you mean, Morticia?”

“Oh, don’t roll your eyes at me! I can see clearly what’s happening here!” she sounded impatient, which wasn’t unheard of, but she rarely showed it to anyone; that’s how Larissa knew they were alone, she got used to that secret side of the woman twenty years ago.

Masking her discomfort with a long-since practised smile, Larissa tidied the spread while choosing her words.

“And what do you think that would be?”

Larissa heard a snort, “You’re being used! You always had a soft spot for the unremarkable and that is a very generous quality of yours. I admire it, truly, but it’s the third time around, amore, and this will end up badly.”

“What?! Careful with your lies, Morticia, they’re getting bigger and bigger, and someday they’ll lodge in your throat,” Larissa was shocked by her own reaction. She thought she’d mastered how to maintain the higher ground around Morticia, but clearly, she was mistaken; at least when it was about you, apparently. “Be honest, you can’t care less about how this will end. You didn’t care the first time, why would you now?”

At that, her old roommate stilled.

“I didn’t know about her, and you know it very well,” her tone was dangerously controlled, she was looking ahead with her jaw set and from time to time her eye twitched, “When I heard the news, Gomez didn’t even have to finish sparring, I just ran to the car.” With a deep breath, Morticia turned to face Larissa, eyes sparkling and nose flaring. “You are an intelligent woman, Larissa; we both know that. So, you must have noticed the recurrent theme of charming young ladies trying to use you for their own purposes.”

“Don’t forget to include yourself on the list,” Larissa’s tone was colder than she’d expected, but Morticia’s uncharacteristic avoidance of her gaze was an exquisite treat.

Without another word, the woman stood up and walked back through the path from where she came.

The previous night, you attributed the mansion’s imposing aura to the melting of its high towery roof against the darkening of the skies that created a strange sense of elongated walls. However, through the morning sunlit corridors, the high ceilings and medieval-like decorations didn’t alleviate you of the notion in any way. You could swear one of the rooms you passed through had an actual medieval torture device.

When you started walking down the rock path, Morticia appeared from around tall white oleander bushes, looking sour, and even though her sweet smiles had been mostly false until that moment, you preferred them. Whatever happened to her, you prayed you didn’t have to know.

Upon seeing, though, her face morphed back into “alluring menace mode”.

“Good morning, my dear. Did you sleep well?” she said in a slightly hoarser version of her baritone, coming right up to you and standing close.

“Yeah, you have very good beds,” you smirked, “they barely make a sound.”

The twitch of annoyance in the corner of her lip gave away her feelings, and her expression changed again in a matter of seconds, brows knitting together and downward lips.

“Oh, did something happen in the morning then?”

“What do you mean?” what was she talking about?

“I’ve just spoken with Rissa, and she seemed very pissy about something, could barely talk to her for a minute…” you knew you shouldn’t trust her concerned tone, the glint in her eye had amusement written all over it.

So, Larissa wasn’t in bed because she was angry? Or she regretted your actions last night and seeing the person whom she started this all for irritated her? If she hadn’t wanted to prove Morticia wrong, nothing would have happened. No cuddling on the sofa, no trips and highroad hugs, and definitely no kissing like mad until you fell asleep.

She placed her hand on your shoulder and murmured, “I’d say to approach carefully, you never know when she has a temper.” before parting with her usual saunter.

So much for hope, in the end. You could only be grateful for the chance at knowing what it could be like to be… you didn’t want to finish the thought, even that felt tainted by Larissa’s repentance.

Turning where Morticia came from, you saw a few meters ahead a beautiful black iron garden table with matching chairs. Larissa’s shoulders hung softly. She didn’t look tense from her back, more contemplating with her fingers absentmindedly tracing the rim of a teacup.

You approached slowly, and when you were in front of her, she didn’t look near throwing you the cup. Unsurprisingly, Morticia was fond of hyperboles.

“Before you say anything, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. It was a mistake, it’s ok…” you felt your throat tight and breathed slowly in to control your emotions before continuing, “We were both drunk, and I’m happy we stopped because if not this conversation would have been a lot more awful than it already is to have. I won’t say a thing to anyone, and I won’t ask anything of you, as well, don’t worry. We can just pretend it never happened.”

Larissa’s confused expression didn’t last long. You could point out the moment she stopped being Larissa and became principal Weems in front of you. Her unguarded posture swiftly shifted to the picture of a professional stance, her face was neutral and her voice calculatedly suave.

“Of course. I’m glad that we cleared it out, I’d hate for it to be a source of miscomprehension between us,” she smiled, “Good thing that we both feel the same and can act as adults about it.”

You only nodded, too stunned to muster a response.

“Well,” she got up and gestured to the overstocked table between you, “I thought you’d enjoy breakfast in the garden. You did seem rather fond of picnics if I recall,” she ended with a breath. If you knew any better, you’d say she sounded wounded before she circled you walked away.

As soon as her towering figure was out of sight, which you knew because you watched her go without so much as blinking, you let all the air you’d been holding out, finishing with the mixture of a broken whimper and a sob. Now you knew, undeniably, that your feelings weren’t reciprocated. You felt so drained you couldn’t even cry; you simply fell into the closest chair and ignored the food by your side until someone came to get it.

When Morticia saw Larissa’s face coming from the garden, she concluded her little deception had worked.

More guests arrived in the afternoon. A lot of them very eccentric and intriguing. There was one particular guest you found very charming. Wednesday introduced him to you as Cousin Itt; apparently, he also attended Nevermore years back and was a consistent winner in debates.

“I and Pugsley facilitated his marriage years ago,” Wednesday said curiously by your side, a sinister smile indicating her rare amusement, “It was good fun to dispose of Cousin Margaret’s late husband.”

“Whatever do you mean by that?!”

She only smiled a bit more and stalked away to join Enid at the garden.

Larissa was missing for the greater part of the day. After lunch, which was stilted and awkward, only balanced by Enid and Gomez lively debating Wednesday’s adventures in the previous year, she left for who knows where and only appeared in your bedroom closely before the party was scheduled to start.

You knew you still were trying to deceive Morticia, and by her comment that morning she did seem to believe you were together, but now you didn’t know if Larissa wanted to continue with the plan; she looked so tired.

“Do you think we should talk about it?” you asked when she left the bathroom in one of the fluffy robes.

“Talk about what?” her tone was clipped.

You really wanted to maintain the illusion of being an adult, but it was so difficult with her displeased principal face. You felt like a child politely scolded for your bad behaviour. Your shoulders hurt and your chest ached; spending one afternoon away from her, not knowing what was going through her head was torture. You wondered how you’d survive the rest of the year now, if it would all fade away or if the dull aching would be a consistent reminder of all you wanted and could not have every time you walked by her or were called to her office.

It was Larissa who talked fist, prompting you out of your misery with an exasperated voice.

“Fine!” she snapped, “You want to talk about it? Let’s do that. Where do you want to start from? The part where I-“ she cut herself, looking at you with ill-concealed rage and… betrayal? What? “You know what? You start… this was your idea, to begin with,” she ended in a much quieter tone, rummaging through her belongings and producing a wine bottle before dropping into one of the armchairs by the unlit fireplace.

“You brought wine?!”

She was silent for a few moments before speaking, “I thought we could share it the first night, but you were already drunk and I was tired so I didn’t even remember it,” she sounded defeated, and the emotional rollercoaster of feelings this trip was putting you through was starting to exhaust you. You wanted just that. Simple things. Sharing wine and giggling about fooling her old roommate, being friends and not worrying about screwing everything up all the time.

“Can I have some?” you approached and seated in the chair in front of her.

“We don’t have glasses.”

“Do you really mind sharing a bottle? I mean, we did worse than that already…” you winced at the comment, but when she huffed and smiled you felt almost overwhelmed with relief and fondness.

She unscrewed the bottle and took a swing before passing it over. It occurred to you it wasn’t even the first time you drank from the same place. Last night you shared your last glass you whisky without even thinking about it.

You gulped down a healthy amount and were surprised by the sweet smoothness of it. It was the same you shared the first time you went to her office. She smiled again when your eyebrows shot up and you took another sip, savouring it this time and not just swallowing for the sake of liquid courage. You didn’t know quite what to say at the sweet gesture.

“How about we start with the reason you disappeared on me the entire day,” you prompted, gently, passing her the bottle.

She huffed a laugh again, but it was bitterer this time around. “I think you know why that was.”

“I really don’t,” you were speaking quietly, as if it was any louder something would shatter, “I can guess, but I’d prefer knowing. Not knowing things have already caused enough commotion between us, don’t you think?”

“Ha, I wonder how we’ll ever work together again after this,” she didn’t take the time to appreciate the drink, downing an amount that had her throat moving slowly to manage it.

“I think you should stop with that for now…” you took the bottle and set it on the floor. She did have a different system than you, but it was starting to feel like too much too soon.

“I don’t usually… I have been drinking much more than normal the last few days,” she confessed, her eyebrows kitting softly.

“It’s ok, I just think we’re always out of sorts before having honest conversations. The time in the car was the healthiest discussion we ever had, and it took us very high amounts of stress to even start talking.”

“You are correct, once again.”

“Again?”

“You said before that it was a mistake,” her voice was just above a whisper.

“And you agreed… with me.”

“Do you really believe that?” she huffed again, “You must know by now how I feel, you’re just too kind to tell me it is one-sided. Stop trying to protect my feelings, I’m more than a decade older than you.”

You were a bit oblivious sometimes, but you couldn’t misinterpret what she was saying, however, you could not believe it either.

“What do you mean, Larissa? Please don’t say things you don’t mean thinking it will make me feel better.”

She hid her face in her hands with a deep breath. Her hair was wet from the shower and even looking cosy and casual in her robe, all you could see in Larissa was tense exasperation.

“Who stopped us yesterday?” she murmured, dropping her hands, eyes almost boring holes in yours with her piercing determination, “Who came to me this morning offering me an out, implying we both made a mistake and not only me?”

“I thought you were…” you started saying, but she cut in.

“You thought I was what? Not interested after kissing myself molten in your arms? That I regretted while waiting for us to eat together in the garden? What did you think, y/n? Enlighten me because it really is a mystery to me what passes through your head.”

You were stunned into silence by her small outburst. She really was incomparable when her eyes lit up like that when the persona of masterly disguised feelings was put aside, and the real Larissa appeared.

“M-Morticia told me you were mad… in the garden before I met you,” you breathed, “I thought you snapped at her because she was the reason we’re doing this in the first place.”

At that, Larissa got up, you were still dazed to accompany her movements, but you felt her hands on your shoulders and suddenly she was kneeling in front of you.

“This is just a guess, but don’t you think Morticia would love nothing more than to ruin whatever it is we have since it’s exactly what she’s been trying to do since we got here?” you could very well drown on those resplendent blue eyes, clear as the Weddell Sea with emotion, “It would be laughable if we were actually together, let’s be honest, her methods are ‘petty teenager’ level, but I think we are so deep into our heads we’re falling for them just like a pair of teenaged fools.” Her hand came to caress your cheek, and you weren’t sure you were being played or if this was really happening, but you couldn’t think of any words, even less muster a sentence to agree with her, so you just had to pathetically wait for Larissa to fix everything by herself. She didn’t seem to mind so much, with a small smile and drawn eyebrows.

“Did you really regret it?” she whispered, looking almost vulnerable if it weren’t for her resolve to soothe your insecurities, “Or would you say something different if Morticia hadn’t found you before me?”

“You were all I could think about…” you covered her hand on your cheek, “I just wanted to be sure your feelings wouldn’t change…”

“They didn’t,” she said simply and leaned in to kiss you.

Tag list: @anti-bright-places, @the-bagel24, @regalbootie, @tundra1029, @thoroughly-confused, @lilsmeaux, @poorwritingandstalecoffee, @alder-saan, @jelly-frogss, @enchantressb, @imean-its-just-me, @lvinhs, @iloveyall-18, @kimiinou, @jeweleegrey (why won't your names tag? What am I doing wrong?)

Chapter Seven

[anti-bright-places]

Where do I need to sign to get her to teach me French?

[another-day-another-shadow-ban]

her talking in french is what made me pick up the language again

[jamesrhodey-deactivated20171030]

Gwendoline Christie at the D23 Expo