My mom’s in the hospital again so that’s fun. If any of y’all want some fluffy drabbles now is the time. Feel free to send in more than one. Some prompts:
Mark's a little hungover, but it's Louisa who's acting strange.
[a/n: written for day 5 of @bsd-rarepairweek. the theme was “i’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.” special thanks to the person who wrote the marcott coffeshop!au last year becuase they got me hooked on this pairing.]
Mark stumbled down to the kitchen with a splitting headache and a churning stomach. He'd clearly had too much to drink last night, considering the fact he couldn't remember a damn thing about it. He never should've agreed on that outing with Lovecraft and Melville. Both of them could drink him under the table.
There was a squeak to his right when he emerged to the kitchen. He lazily swung his head to look at the origin of the noise.
"Lou-Louisa!" he said, suddenly wishing he'd bothered to put on a shirt.
She was a deep shade of red, which wasn't particularly unusual for her, and she immediately hid her eyes behind her fingers before turning around to face the fridge. "Good—good morning," she stammered out.
Mark felt his own face go hot. With a guilty look on his face, he walked over to the coffee machine, well out of Louisa's sight. "Erm… sorry to barge in on you."
"It's fine. You're fine! You look fine… Good. You look good."
Mark's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He spun around to stare at Louisa's back. "Excuse me‽"
She squeaked again, but to his shock, did not back down. "You look handsome…" the last word came out as barely above a whisper. She clearly instantly regretted saying it because she put her face in her hands again.
Mark's heart fluttered violently in his chest, flattered beyond belief. "I—um, thank you?" he said, at a loss for what else to say.
He was just about to put the grounds in the machine when Louisa suddenly placed a mug full of hot coffee in front of him. He blinked at it. "Isn't it for you?" he asked, looking up to meet her eyes, but she looked away.
"No, no. I prefer tea," she said.
He'd known that, but the idea that she had made him coffee… he blushed again.
"You're, um, face is… cute," she muttered, then scurried away.
Mark felt as if he'd just been knocked back by a punch in the best way possible. He swayed on his feet, nearly knocking the mug of coffee off the counter in the process. He wanted to ask Lousia what exactly she meant by that, but she was long gone.
After he recovered, Mark turned to see Melville, not looking hungover at all.
"You look awful," Melville said with humor.
Mark pursed his lips and took a large swig of coffee.
"Your face is all red. Still embarrassed from last night, young man?"
"Aw, I always knew you'd beat me in a contest where alcohol is involved," Mark told him, trying to rid the blush from his face.
Melville quirked a brow. "Oh? Is that all you recall?"
"Er... " Mark thought for a moment but it was no use, "Did I do something I should worry about?"
Melville gave a chuckle deep in his chest, the sort of laugh only a man who had years of experience could give. "Oh almost certainly, if you care about the feelings of a certain young lady."
Mark paled suddenly and gave Melville a panicked look. "What I'd say to Louisa?" he asked.
"Wouldn't it be better if you remembered yourself?" Melville said, approaching the coffee machine to start his own cup.
Alarmed, Mark said, "With my luck, I never will!"
"Oh calm down, my boy. She'll be quite alright. You only told her you loved her."
Mark froze.
"And that in her eyes were like forests, her voice like rain showers, her hair like garnets—"
Mark lurched forward and covered Melville's mouth with his hand to shut him up. "I—I couldn't have said all that!"
Melville gave him a knowing look, then removed Mark's hand. "I'm doing you a favor, dear boy. Now, I think you should go find her, don't you?"
Mark didn't waste a second, turning on his heel and stumbling through the door Louisa had left through minutes before. She wasn't hard to find, sitting in one of the many living rooms with a good book. It was clear she only pretended to not notice Mark enter. Her ears turned pink and she buried her nose deeper into the pages.
It was only then that Mark realized had no idea what to say to her. Without a good dose of liquid courage, there were too many things that could go wrong.
After a moment he swallowed and approached. "Um… Louisa?"
She covered her face with the book, a sight that made Mark smile, then she said in a muffled voice, "Hello."
Mark sat down across from her, although he ached to sit nearer. It wouldn't do any good to scare her off. "Er, about the things I said last night…"
She uncovered her face abruptly and put the book aside with a slam. "I'll—I'll forget you ever said them! I know how people are when drunk so you don't even need to worry about it. I'll never think of it again." Her voice got increasingly quieter with each word, her eyes darting around the room as if she didn't know where to look.
Mark was a little stunned at the rapid-fire sentences. She wasn't one to say so much in so little time. He took a deep breath and looked away, feeling nervous enough that he couldn't maintain eye-contact. "Well see, the thing is…"
"I won't take it personally—"
"The thing is I don't want you to forget."
Stunned silence.
Mark blushed and finally looked up to see Louisa looking about ready to faint. He stood and took her hand gently before fanning her with his hand. "Louisa? Are you okay?" he asked in high-pitched concern.
After a moment she shook herself, then slipped her hand out of his with palpable embarrassment. "Only that… You meant all that?"
Mark didn't hesitate. "Of course! Every word. I do kinda wish I was sober to tell you, but…" he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Well, I got brave enough to tell you one way or another."
She bit her now quivering lip. "Oh."
Mark knelt in front of her so he could get a proper look at her face. She was crying. "Oh dear, don't cry," he said quietly, not sure if he should try to wipe the tears away or not. In the end, his hand hovered awkwardly inches from her shoulder. "I didn't mean to scare you! You don't have to like me back."
Louisa shook her head enthusiastically at this. "No, no," she said, "That's not it. I only…" she trailed off, then met Mark's eyes for the first time during the conversation, "Why me?"
Mark was taken aback, enough so he didn't know how to respond. "You're intelligent and kind and very, very adorable," he said, blushing as he did so. It all seemed rather pale in comparison of how he really felt, but that would take many years and sheaves of paper to tell.
That seemed to be more than enough for Louisa, though, because she started to cry again. "Aw, Louisa…" Mark stood so he could hug her properly. She clung to his chest and placed her forehead on his stomach. After a moment of uncertainty, he began to stroke her hair.
"I—I never thought... " she said, then she trailed off.
Mark softly hushed her, encouraging her to keep crying until she got it all out. They'd discussed her family before, so he had an inkling of an idea of how she felt. She wasn't going to stay feeling that way if he had anything to do with it.
When she had calmed down a bit, he smiled down at her, even though she couldn't see it. "Does this mean you're willing to try going on a date with me?" he asked lightly. His heart soared from the idea.
Without so much as a moment's hesitation, she nodded. "I—I suppose."
Mark beamed and he leaned down to plant a kiss on the top of her head. Louisa's eyes widened and she looked up into his eyes.
"Ah, sorry," he said, blushing, "I've been wanting to do that for a while…"
And then, she did the most shocking thing of all. She stood and gave him a kiss right on the lips. Mark froze, not at all sure how to react and before he could, she had disappeared from the room.
He smiled to himself and touched his lips, treasuring the tickling feeling on them. Never in a million years did he think Louisa would be the one to give the first kiss! Next time he saw her, he had about a million more compliments to shower on her.
