Hello dear Hamilton & AmRev community, this is my attempt at giving you guys more ways of sweet talking in modern (and arguably 18th/19th century) French for your Lafayette dialogues because as a French speaker I'm tired of the endless Mon Cher / ma chère.
I'd like to point out that technically Mon Cher / ma chère works for the canon timeline as a sort of translation of my dear BUT in a modern context no one uses that anymore apart (from my experience at least) from when one is trying to be condescending or sarcastic. Hence the following suggestions :
[note that these are just the ones I've personally used with partners, have had partners use for me and heard from couples]
1. Mon coeur
Literally translates to "my heart". It's very common for people to call their partner that. It's sweet, it's cute. Lafayette often called Adrienne this in his letters, so you can most definitely use it for canon era too :)
2. Mon chéri/ma chérie
If you want a better translation of "my dear", I think Mon chéri/ma chérie works best in a modern context, although it's closer to my beloved I'd say (note that my translation is rather approximative based on cultural and personal experiences)
It's more common to use that as a pet name than Mon Cher, although it can be used as a way to tease or be condescending too. It's also a way to refer to your partner to someone else "c'est mon chéri" would be like "he's my partner/boyfriend" in a rather cute way.
3. Mon amour
Aka, my love. Very common, simple but efficient. It's great. Fits both a canon era context and a modern fic, gender neutral... Perfect pet name
4. Bébé
This one is really common, rarely used with "Mon" but "Mon bébé" can work too. Absolutely does NOT fit a canon era context, this one is strictly modern and is the equivalent to babe
5. Mon trésor
"my treasure", this one can also be used for familial relationships (ex; your grandma calls you Mon trésor), I suppose it could work in canon era too but I can't say I have seen that.
6. Mon ange
"my angel", a really sweet way to call one's partner, not much to say about this one. Same as trésor, it can also be used by a parent for their child.
Hope this enriches your pet names vocab for the Lafayette writers hehe
EDIT: I'll add some when they come to mind
7. Chaton / mon chat
Essentially means Kitty/Kitten but without the potential weird cringe or sexual connotations of English. Much like some of the other names, it can be used by family members as an endearing nickname. (Your mom calls you "Mon chat" for example)
8. Mon mec - ma meuf
Not a pet name BUT it's used in modern French to talk about your partner in a colloquial way : "mec" means guy, "meuf" roughly means girl. So basically you're say my guy or my girl.
Ok, but like where are the modern day fics where Rosie still adopts Elsa; we see them becoming a family and Captain K and Finkel are Jojo's gay uncles who advise him on life (about as well as you'd expect from those two gay disasters tbh....) ??? Cause I want it!
All of these are multi chapter fics that are 5k-10k long, THIS IS UNCOMPLETED.
A Little Birdie Told Me
Summary: Gilbert has finally returned from his adventures at sea, only to learn about some new developments between Anne and Cole. Though he's relieved someone has been watching out for Anne, Gilbert doesn't understand why learning about their kiss and subsequent proposal makes him so upset.
thelooster | Completed | 4/4 | 6k
Your Name Upon My Wrist
Summary: The inside of Gilbert’s wrist burned sharply as he watched the name appear. He’d always known it would be her, but somehow seeing "Anne" written in her soft script upon his skin made him feel like she was finally within reach. He could imagine her shining brightly as she walked down the aisle toward him. He could imagine endless, golden days spent together. God help him, he could imagine the nights too. But her twentieth birthday was two years away, and who could say what handwriting would appear on her skin, claiming her? Soul marks were funny things. Just because Anne was his soul mate did not mean he was hers.
MegSamadhi | Completed | 4/4 | 6k
how to move on
Summary: Later that day, when Marilla inquired why she’d missed afternoon tea and forgotten to return Mrs. Lynde’s borrowed patterns, Anne would be sure to omit the undignified shriek she’d let out in the Haunted Woods.
Firstly, because she had no business loitering in said woods. With Jerry under the weather for over three days, both Anne and Marilla were swamped with inside and outside chores.
Secondly, because of distressing news that abductors and hoodlums roamed Prince Edward Island. Down in Carmody, six children had been taken and a storefront smashed while the owner was still inside. Folks were beside themselves with worry. Matthew had made her promise not to stray out of their property or walk alone until the culprits were caught.
And finally, because if word got out that she’d hugged Gilbert Blythe, she would never ever live it down.
FlowerStorm | Completed | 5/5 | 8k
Kill Me Now
Summary: The list of Gil-approved spouses for Anne included a single entry, and that entry was certainly not the man holding Anne on the front of the invitation Gil held before him. In the entire history of the world, has chicken or beef ever been such a difficult decision for anyone? Modern.
SoMuchDepends | Completed | 12/12 | 8k
the dreams of distant lives
Summary: Anne Shirley-Cuthbert comes back from Echo Lodge refreshed and finally ready to confront her feelings for her best friend. Life, on the other hand, has different plans for her. Modern.
The party was too busy, too loud. Flint wasn’t even sure whyhe had agreed to go to a party on New Year’s Eve, completely daft idea, butThomas had wanted to go, so here they were.
He looked around the room at the garish bright lights, reflectingagainst the wide windowpane looking out at the bright London night. He was gladto be back, he was, and yet…
Flint looked back at the window, and frowned for a moment.There in the reflection he thought he saw a face as familiar as his own staringback at him. It was a mirage. It was a ghost. It wasn’t real.
When he blinked however, the face was still there.
Flint turned around sharply.
There, amongst the rest of the partygoers, stood a man henever thought he would see again.
John Silver stood there, staring back at him with a look ofutter shock.
What the fuck was Silver doing here of all places?
Automatically, Flint’s eyes went to the exits, checking allthe areas where something could be hidden, where someone could be waiting.
He glanced back at Silver to see him just shaking his head,and walking away. For some reason that stung, seeing Silver just turn away likethat.
Flint took half a step after him and then…paused. what washe even doing?
He looked around the room, saw Thomas deep in conversationwith a fellow barrister. He could go over to them join the conversation,pretend he never saw Silver and the night would continue the way it was meantto.
Or he could go after Silver.
In the end he picked the third option and went out on thebalcony for some fresh air. It was chilly, but not freezing for once. He’sknown worse December nights. The view looked even more spectacular from herebut for once Flint couldn’t concentrate on it. He was still debating how Silverhad ended up at the party. Who did he know? Who invited him? Was it purelycoincidence, or was this a ploy to get Flint to come back to the service? Itseemed absurd, but he’d known higher-ups to employ tricks like that, anythingto get a man back after he’d walked away. Why would they think Silver would bethe right person to send for the job?
“Typical.” Silver’s voice floated over to him on thebalcony. “You’re at a party. You’re retired, as far as I know, and you’re stillchecking the exits.”
Flint turned to see Silver leaning on the balcony. Silverturned and gazed back at him.
“What about you?”
Silver tilted his head. “What about me?” He soundedindifferent, and for a moment Flint was tempted to believe it. But he knewSilver better than that, even when he thought he had forgotten. But he knewSilver, down in his bones.
“Why are you here?”
Silver shrugged. “A mate invited me. It’s the new year…and.”He shrugged as if to say, ‘that’s it.’
“That’s all?” Flint said skeptically. How could it be thatsimple? He wasn’t even sure if he wanted it to be that simple. If Silver hadjust come because of that…then it meant. He didn’t want to think about whatthat meant.
“Jesus.” Silver started laughing. “You actually think I’mhere to win you back. What a load of bullshit.”
“Why?”
“Well for starters, they wouldn’t send me.” Silver lookedout at the city, away from Flint. Long enough for Flint to examine his profile.Silver’s hair was longer. The ponytailsuited him. There was a faint scar running along the collar of his shirt, upthe back of his neck. It would have been hidden if he had had his hair down.Flint never would have known it existed. And now he wanted to know the story behind it, how had it happened, whatSilver had done in response. The scar was faded, it could have happened notlong after.
Silver turned back to face him, and Flint had to forcehimself to stop from asking about the scar.
“Believe what you want.” Silver said finally. “I’m here as acivilian.”
Flint paused. “But they did want you to recruit me.” He knewhe had guessed right about that.
At that Silver ducked his head and grinned faintly. “Yeah,they were willing to try anything back in the day.”
“Back in the day.” Flint echoed.
“Until I told them it was a waste of time.” Silver looked athim. “That once you made your mind up and turned your back on something, it wasfinished. Done. No forgiveness, no second chances.”
The words weren’t even bitter; they didn’t have to be. Flintheard them as from a far distance. Someone else was saying this. Someone notSilver. Someone he’d never kissed and held in his arms and almost…That was thething about almost. It didn’t quite exist. Not truly. And being left in thevoid of non-existence was enough to forget it ever nearly happened at all.
“I imagine they didn’t take it well.”
“Not too well.” Silver admitted. “I was kept on desk dutyfor nearly a whole year because of that.”
“Why?”
“Every few weeks they trotted out the same request. Didn’t Iwant to get back in the field? Didn’t I think you would want to be out thereagain? Didn’t I want to talk to you? Wouldn’t I be willing to do that for queenand country?” Now there was bitterness in Silver’s voice.
It would have been idiotic to apologize for that. Somethinghe’d had no hand in deliberately deciding, but Flint felt the urge all thesame. The trouble was, once he started apologizing to Silver, he wasn’t surehe’d be able to stop.
“Anyway.” Silver straightened up. “Lovely to catch up andall that.”
He started for the door.
“Wait?” Flint didn’t mean it to sound so hesitant, or maybehe did. He just didn’t want to leave it there but he didn’t know what to saynext. The words wouldn’t even come.
Silver kept going, leaving him alone on the balcony.
Flint went to stand by the bar and got a beer. He knewexactly where Silver was in the room. He didn’t even have to look for him. Hewasn’t sure what that meant but, it meant something.
Thomas came to stand beside him.
“He’s the one.” Thomas said unnecessarily. They both knewexactly who the young man was.
Flint nodded all the same. “He’s the one.”
It felt like a million years ago. He had been undercover,deep undercover for two years, at that point not even sure if he would evermake it back to his normal life, and to Thomas.
It had been a life or death situation, and he had fallen foranother man, had kissed another man, had thought he would die beside that man,and then at the last minute they’d been rescued, whisked off to hospital, andthen…
And then Flint had simply walked away. Walked straight awayand been reunited with Thomas. It was too hard to do anything else. He couldn’texplain it to himself, let alone to John.
He’d told Thomas when he’d gotten back of course, chopping thewhole thing into tight neat little sentences, ‘It was only the once. I thoughtwe were going to die.’ Thomas had been understanding, and none of it made itany better. It was over three years ago. It was done.
It should havebeen over and done with. Up to the point where he was faced with seeing Silveragain for himself, he would have said that it was. It would have been a lie,but there you go.
Thomas simply nodded. “We need to talk.”
“It can wait till we go home.” Flint took a long drink ofhis beer.
Thomas leaned in close. “No. It can’t.”
Flint winced at the tone, (it wasn’t for nothing that Thomaswas considered one of the most formidable barristers in London) but followedhim down the hall to a quieter space.
The minute they could hear themselves think, Thomas turnedabruptly to Flint.
“What are you thinking?” Thomas hissed. “Silver’s out there,in the same fucking room, and you’re not going to talk to him!”
“I did talk to him!” Flint hissed back. “There’s nothing totalk about. We should just go.”
“James, don’t be an idiot.” Thomas stepped back, pinchingthe bridge of his nose tiredly. “We both know how things have been the lastthree years.”
“And how have things been?” Flint snarled, and immediatelyhe wished he could take it back.
Thomas folded his arms across his chest, just gazing at him.This was his best cross-examining look and every time he used it in a personalsetting it either made Flint want to laugh or confess right away.
He didn’t say anything, a personal tactic of his own andfinally Thomas simply sighed.
“Just…tell me you don’t miss him, and we’ll go home.”
It should have been easy. It would have been easy, but itwasn’t the truth. And he’d never lied to Thomas, and he didn’t plan to startnow.
“I can’t.”
“I knew it.” Thomas murmured. He moved forward, putting hisarms around Flint. A comforting, familiar embrace that Flint could have stayed foreverin. He breathed in deep, closing his eyes.
“You’ve been pining over him for three years, James. Now,” Thomas’slips grazed Flint’s ear. “Go get him.”
“Thomas.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Thomas drew back, looking closely athim. “Okay? We’ll figure it out.”
Flint kissed him hard, a hundred memories flickering throughhis mind as he did, all precious. Somehow Thomas, because he was Thomas, knewhe wanted a chance to make memories like that with Silver.
“Happy New Year, my love.” Thomas whispered, and Flint foundhimself smiling into the curve of his collar, before he finally let go, andwent down the hall.
Flint moved through the crowd looking for Silver, and onceagain he found Silver near the widow, looking out at the balcony. He had his facetilted down, studying the cityscape below, his profile carved in stone.
Flint drew closer, unsure in this moment of actualconfession, what he was supposed to say.
Silver looked up at his approach. “You again?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Silver murmured.
“For everything?” Flint offered. “I’m sorry I left you therein that hospital after everything that happened. After…” Even now he struggledto say the words. They had so nearly died there in that dank, dark cell. He hadhad to do something, to let Silver know how much their partnership had matteredto him over those last six months. He needed Silver to know how much that hadmeant. And the only way he could come up with was to kiss him.
“I know that’s not enough. I know it’s not nearly enough.”
“Well, at least you know that much.”
Flint’s eyes focused to a narrow single point, Silver’smouth, turned into that charming smirk, the one he did when he wasn’t going totell you what he really thought, which was all right because Flint already knewit.
He reached out, coiling one of Silver’s escaping curlsaround his finger, and Silver froze.
“I know I love you.”
The stunned look in Silver’s eyes told Flint he’d never haveexpected Flint to say that. Flint leaned in, sliding his hands up to cupSilver’s face. He stroked Silver’s face gently, letting himself take the timehe’d never had before to touch the man he loved. Silver’s eyes closed under histouch, he looked exquisitely trapped by Flint’s touch.
“I love you.” Flint said again and pressed his mouth to Silver’s.It had been three years since the last and first time they kissed. Three years,two months and six days. Somewhere in there Flint might have calculated it downto the hours, but he didn’t want to think about the time spent apart now, notwhen there was no distance between them at all.
The firm pressure of Flint’s lips and the answeringintensity in Silver’s, the endless yearning passing like a current betweentheir bodies, was as ancient and enduring as the sea itself.
Silver finally drew apart with a soft exhale. “Happy newyear.” He mumbled and Flint was unable to keep from smiling.
“Come home with me tonight. Come home with me and Thomas.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Flint’s hands slid down to clasp the folds of Silver’sjacket, his thumb sliding along the crease tentatively, hopefully.
“Yeh, I’m sure.” He waited, still watching Silver’s face,waiting to hear confirmation before he released the breath he was holding.
“Alright.” Silver said. “Let’s go home.”
Memories start in the blink of an eye, imprints of livesthat you carry forever. Flint knew that there would be more in the days tocome. But for now, the things he knew he would remember always stood out amongstthe blur of the party around them. Thomas standing by the door, waiting withhis coat over his arm. The tinkle of glass around them and the muted laughterof the other guests. And the way Silver looked at him, slightly questioning,but following nonetheless, his hand on Flint’s arm, unwilling to lose hold ofhim again even for a second.
