#the trust framework

[coffeeandtheton]

Welcome!

Hi. I write Bridgerton across eras. There will be banter. There will be yearning. There will be at least one Bridgerton who could solve their problems by simply admitting they're in love, but will instead make it everyone’s problem first.

✨Modern AU ✨

➡️One Shots

Anthony/Kate ~ Swoon ~ Cursed ~ Matchmade (featuring Gregory/Lucy) ~ Six ~ Tea ~ Dosed ~ Negotiations ~ Lean ~ Hurricane ~ Weathered ~ Night Shift ~ Track 9 ~ The Assistant to the Viscountess ~ Surprise ~ It Doesn't Have to End ~ When We Run, We Run Together Sophie/Benedict ~ Worth It ~ Embraced ~ Violet Colin/Penelope ~ Revisions Phillip/Eloise ~ Home ~ I've Got You ~ Sticky Notes ~ Stay Kate/Sophie ~ Worth It Gregory/Lucy ~ Nerdy ~ Just Real Francesca/John ~ Cold Hands

➡️Multi-Chapter Stories

~ Everybody Has a Secret

➡️The B-Verse (Group Chat fics)

~ The B-Wives ~ The B Wives: Fall Edition ~ The Pregnant B-Wives ~ Eight Times the Bridgerton Family Group Chat Nearly Fell Apart (and One Time It Actually Did) ~ The B-Husbands ~ The B-Wives & The B-Husbands: Holiday Edition

➡️The Bridgerton Initiative (Professors AU)

~ The Trust Framework ~ What Comes Next ~ Against the Wall ~ Better On You ~ The Academic Findings of Anthony Bridgerton's Cardigan ~ Have Yourself a Smutty Little Christmas ~ A Field Study in Academic Rivalry ~ Rules Worth Breaking ~ Paper Clip Trail

✨Regency✨

➡️One Shots

Anthony/Kate ~ Already Won ~ A Generous Concession ~ For Warmth Benedict/Sophie ~ Mine ~ The Third Spring ~ My Dog ~ Be Here Phillip/Eloise ~ Better Benedict/Sophie & Kate Anthony ~ Reformed

➡️Multi-Chapter Stories

~ Seven Days to Choose You ~ When Time Stood Still: Five Moments in the Life of Kate and Anthony Bridgerton

➡️Season 4 Missing Moments Series

~ Becoming ~ Only Hope ~ Pinnacle ~ Never Again ~ Never in Halves ~ Already Home ~ Their Idiots ~ Worth the Risk ~ Edmund ~ One More Moment ~ Your Little Hand's Wrapped Around My Finger

[coffeeandtheton]

The Trust Framework

➡️ Read the first three chapters on AO3.

Kate Sharma lives by rules—carefully constructed ones designed to keep her safe from repeating the biggest mistake of her life. Anthony Bridgerton treats rules like obstacles to be charmingly negotiated. Unfortunately for both of them, they also have a joint university initiative, a syllabus they cannot agree on, and a frankly alarming amount of unresolved academic (and sexual) tension.

The more they work together, the harder it becomes to ignore the spark they’ve been pretending wasn’t there from their very first contentious email. And when one perfect, catastrophic moment pushes them over the edge, Kate and Anthony have to decide whether their rules are keeping them safe…or keeping them from exactly what they want.

A slow-burn academic rivals-to-lovers romance about rules, rebuilding, trust, and the courage to try again.

(Also, can we all just take a minute to appreciate this incredible moodboard @anon-pls24 created for this story 🩵. It's seriously perfection and I'm so thankful for it!)

[coffeeandtheton]

Not Dr. Sharma absolutely falling over herself as Anthony Bridgerton pulls his hoodie off to hand it to her in Better on You.

Aubrey University isn't ready.

[coffeeandtheton]

🌷March Flufftober starts tomorrow! 🌷 I'm so excited to share these with you all. Here's a preview of the prompts (and what I've written for each one so far) for the next two weeks.

Adding in more Benophie than I wrote in October because...season 4. And a lot of trips back to the The Trust Framework universe because that AU is just always an opened tab in my brain 🙃.

The final few are still TBD because it wouldn't be me if I wasn't writing at least part of this challenge in real time ✌️. I can't wait to share them with all of you!

Here’s the lineup:

Day 1 — Welcoming Spring Benedict/Sophie | The Third Spring (Regency) Day 2 — Silly Nicknames Anthony/Kate | Assistant to the Viscountess (Modern AU) Day 3 — Sharing Popcorn Benedict/Sophie; Anthony/Kate | A Field Study in Academic Rivalry (TTF AU) Day 4 — Secret Notes Anthony/Kate | Rules Worth Breaking (TTF AU) Day 5 — Fluffy Companion Benedict/Sophie | My Dog (Regency) Day 6 — “Hang on, let me help.” Anthony/Kate | A Generous Concession (Regency) Day 7 — Lazy Morning Benedict/Sophie | Be Here (Regency) Day 8 — Cold Front Anthony/Kate | For Warmth (Regency) Day 9 — “Surprise!” Anthony/Kate | Surprise (TTF AU) Day 10 — Flower Crown Anthony/Kate; Benedict/Sophie | Reformed (Regency) Day 11 — Tracks & Traces Anthony/Kate | Paper Clip Trail (TTF AU) Day 12 — Color Blindness Benedict/Sophie (Modern AU) Day 13 — Road Trip TBD 👀 Day 14 — “I never want this to end.” TBD 🩵

Also, can we please give @bees-bangles-banter all the credit for this incredible moodboard she created for this challenge even though she has about a million other things going on in her life?

[coffeeandtheton]

So we know Kate was struggling, and now Anthony does too. Does Kate find out how Anthony was dealing with his feeling for Kate before they got together?

Oh, she certainly does.

“Hey,” Kate said as she popped her head into Anthony’s office. “I’m out of paper clips. Do you have any?” Anthony looked up from his screen, his grin widening at the sight of her already crossing the room. “You didn’t have to invent a reason to come see me,” he teased, standing to wrap her in his arms. “I’m not inventing a reason,” she laughed. “I genuinely need paper clips.” He released her with a nod toward his desk. “Top left, I think,” he said, dropping a kiss to her temple before turning to gather his laptop and notes for his next lecture. Kate bent beside the desk, the scrape of drawers opening and closing filling the small space. “Not there,” she muttered. “Do you just throw everything in here?” “Maybe the drawer under?” he offered. Kate opened it—and stopped short. “Anthony, you literally have trash in your desk,” she said, lifting an old paper coffee cup with two fingers, like it might self-destruct. “Don’t throw that away!” The urgency in his voice caught her off guard. She raised a brow. “We’re forming attachments to garbage now?” His voice lowered, his gaze finding hers. “That was the coffee cup you brought me the day you broke your first rule.” Kate’s expression softened instantly, the memory rushing back—the anxiety curling in her stomach as she’d weighed which rule she could survive breaking. The way her heart raced when she finally landed on Rule 3: No surprises and arrived in his office an hour later with two hot cups of coffee in hand. “I think I offered to pour it on your lap.” Anthony laughed. “You did.” “And you kept it?” He shrugged. “I keep important things.” Kate turned the cup slowly in her hands. The cardboard was soft at the rim, the logo faded, the sleeve long gone. It had been carried. Moved. Saved. “You told me it barely counted,” she said quietly. Anthony huffed a breath. “I was being insufferable. You had just told me—in no uncertain terms—that you had no intention of letting our relationship be anything other than professional.” Kate winced. “Rule 5?” “Rule 5,” Anthony echoed, stepping closer as he took the cup from her hands. “And then I added Rule 6, thinking that if I could just get you to break one rule—to trust yourself just a little bit—” “Then maybe I’d trust myself with you.” His arm slid around her waist. The words settled between them, simple and heavy. “You believed in me?” she asked. “Even then?” “Especially then.” Kate swallowed, letting the weight of it settle—then, because she could now, because it no longer scared her, her mouth curved. “Anthony,” she said, carefully returning the cup to the drawer, “you were doomed.” His grin returned, softer this time. Thoughtful. “From the moment you broke a rule you made to protect yourself.” Kate’s breath caught. She looked at him then—really looked at him. Not teasing. Not braced. “So while I was obsessing over which rule I could survive breaking…” she said quietly. “I was taking notes,” he replied, sliding his fingers into hers. “The first time you chose me over your fear.” He nodded toward the drawer. “I didn’t know if it would ever mean more than that. But I knew it meant something.” Her throat tightened. “You never told me.” “I didn’t need to,” he said gently. “You weren’t ready to hear it yet.” Kate shook her head, still a little stunned. “You’re unbelievable.” “I’m patient,” he corrected. “There’s a difference.” She let out a quiet breath. “I had rules. Systems. Safeguards.” “I know,” Anthony said, brushing his thumb along her waist. “I had hope.” Kate laughed softly, eyes bright. “My rules never stood a chance with you.”

Thanks for the ask!

[coffeeandtheton]

Just a little post The Trust Framework drabble because Neddy has been on my mind lately.

The first time Anthony and Kate brought Neddy to campus, it was because of a childcare crisis. “You have a thousand people in your family,” Kate said wearily. “None of them can watch him today?” “Hyacinth is the only one available,” Anthony clarified. Kate closed her eyes and exhaled. The last time Hyacinth had watched the two-year-old, he’d come home with frosted tips. “Okay,” Kate said finally. “He’ll just have to come to work with us. Sophie can watch him while we’re lecturing. We’ll make it work.” Neddy spent his day taking laps around the School of Business with upperclassmen, scoping out vending machines, and commandeering rolling office chairs like he owned them. It didn’t take long for Aubrey University to become the toddler’s most requested outing. “School today, Appa,” he’d say proudly, his little red backpack—nearly as big as he was—already slung over his shoulders. Anthony could never say no to those big brown eyes, a clear inheritance from Kate, blinking up at him. And so, without really meaning to, he became the most recognized two-year-old on campus. A half day here. A staff meeting there. A last-minute cancellation that somehow always landed on a day when Anthony was already heading in.  Neddy learned which offices had snacks. Which lecture halls had the best acoustics for shouting his own name. And exactly how to sweet-talk his favorite aunt into walking him to the campus café for a hot chocolate he proudly told everyone was his “coffee.” None of this was a problem—exactly—until Neddy started school himself. “Hi, love,” Anthony answered. “What’s going on?” “I’ve just had a very interesting phone call from Neddy’s nursery teacher,” Kate said. “Something about him skipping school today?” “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Anthony stalled. “Hi, Mama!” Neddy called brightly. Anthony could hear Kate’s smile through the phone. “He’s going to learn more in my BUS-101 class than he will at nursery,” Anthony argued. “Well,” Kate replied, clearly amused, “he’s also going to be the only three-year-old who knows how to mitigate a merger instead of learning how to share.” Anthony glanced down at Neddy, happily swinging his feet beneath a desk far too big for him, and smiled. “He inherited your please face, Kate,” Anthony said reasonably. “I’m not sure what you want me to do here.” There was a pause. Then Kate sighed, a soft laugh escaping her lips. “I’ll take over drop-offs.”

[coffeeandtheton]

Fluffspring 2026 Day 3 - A Field Study in Academic Rivalry

@flufftober

🍿Fluffspring 2026 - Day 3 - Sharing Popcorn

🍿Fandom: Bridgerton

🍿Pairing: Benedict/Sophie; Anthony/Kate

🍿Title: A Field Study in Academic Rivarly

🍿Summary: When Dr. Sharma and Mr. Bridgerton can’t seem to make it through a lecture without HR getting involved, Sophie is assigned to supervise.

Benedict arrives out of curiosity…and brings popcorn.

You can read it here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/81053786

[coffeeandtheton]

Leaked: The Bridgerton Initiative (Aubrey University Internal Memo)

Before The Trust Framework had a syllabus, a logo, or a chance at surviving twelve weeks without a lawsuit or a restraining order...there was this memo. Dr. Sharma read it. Annotated it. Probably questioned every career decision that had led her here. Anthony Bridgerton, meanwhile, definitely lost his copy.

From my CEO Anthony and Professor Kate AU — “The Trust Framework” (coming soon)