It's a love story baby just say yes (Clark and Evie)

[elderfrye]

Evie doesn't think anything of it when she first sees the letter - Jacob is intrigued by the Frye crest on the envelope and begs her to open it, but she just assumes it's some family announcement, a wedding invitation or some such from an over-zealous aunt who's tracked down their somewhat estranged branch of the family tree out of a need for completeness. Jacob and Evie are aware they have relations beyond their father and uncle, but they're so rarely in touch with them they may as well not exist.

The letter is from an over-zealous aunt, her mother's sister, and it does concern a wedding, but it definitely wasn't what she expected. It addresses her as Evelyn, for a start, and nobody's called her that since... well, since the last time she was in aforementioned aunt's presence, and it draws her attention to certain arrangements made by her parents in her youth, a contract that she was being called upon to fulfill.

Jacob had mockingly hummed the wedding march for a week after it arrived, until they finally realised there wasn't any way of slipping out of this arrangement, that had sobered them both considerably. Before she had really registered what was happening, her aunt had arrived to tut over her entire wardrobe, whisk her away to the country house and start making preparations for her dress.

It was huge, and white, and the very latest style (which meant near-impossible to move in, corseted so tight she could barely breathe, and with a train that trailed pointlessly behind her tripping everybody up) and every single female relative, maid and friend of the family gasped and oohed and aahed over it until Evie was ready to scream. They all talked about how lucky she was, how handsome Mr Kent was, what a beautiful wife she'd make.
Evie had never wanted to stab a civilian harder in her life, but of course she couldn't, because Jacob had very wisely divested her of all her weapons - promising to take the very best care of them and return them to her as soon as the wedding was over, of course.

The ceremony was beautiful and overbearing, and while Evie was capable of agreeing that Mr Kent cut quite a dashing figure, it didn't in the slightest excuse him from being just another player in this whole charade and it certainly didn't prevent him from earning her ire, given that he was the embodiment of everything that was about to ruin all her carefully constructed plans for her life.
She plotted becoming a widow, and wondered if that would be frowned upon by the brotherhood.

Eventually all the frippery was done with, the toasts had been made, the meal served, the music played, the drink consumed (a lot), and the whirlwind of activity had passed, and now she was standing in an unfamiliar bedroom in an uncomfortable dress with a man she'd exchanged no words with that weren't vows.

And she had no idea what to do.

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[truth_and_justice]

He has absolutely no idea what to do.

It hadn't been anything he or his parents had intended to do anything about; after all, when the promise had been made between the two families, it had been on a battlefield and the Kents did well enough for country farmers, but certainly not well enough to ask such a thing of such fine folks, especially when it'd been years since the girl in question had even been out in the area. Clark especially had thought that he had his life set: he would go to the city, make a quiet living as a clerk, and use his God-given talents to help those around him. But then there'd been the letter and the insistence and the mentions of Family Honor that couldn't be more clear and then they were spending more money than they ought to after a lean year on a fine suit and far too much food.

He hadn't even gotten to talk to the girl before they'd been in the church, but he could tell from her grumbles and her general demeanor that she was less than pleased about things. He was... less displeased and more nonplussed, unsure how this was going to work with his plans.

At least she lived in the city. There was that.

But now they're here, in the room, the both of them dressed up and he knows what's supposed to happen, how things are supposed to go. But he can't make himself even consider the idea. Instead, what comes out of his mouth is-

"Should I sleep on the couch? I'm... pretty sure they don't do that awful business with the sheet anymore, after all. And you seem... upset."

A sigh.

"You look beautiful, though. If that's... any consolation."

[elderfrye]

Evie knows that she should be glad, that the first thing he said could have been much, much worse, and that she didn't have to try fight him off while unarmed and significantly hindered by this ridiculous gown, but she just found his earnest offer strangely irritating, after all the dislike she'd mentally heaped upon him during the day it seemed frankly unfair that he would say something so nice.

"I imagine they will become nosy about that sort of thing sooner or later," she commented with a sigh, working to unbutton the fine lace gloves from her hands, far more fiddly than any hidden blade she'd ever worn "and there will certainly be a servant entering in the morning who will have questions if you are not in the bed. Besides," she added, glancing over him with an arch of her eyebrow "I'm not sure you would fit."

Sharing a bed with him was the least of her concerns - not that she intended to do anything in it besides sleeping - it was more the fact that she was now tied to this man, stuck with him, and she would either have to tell him her secrets and hope he understood, or get very good at sneaking out.

[truth_and_justice]

"I could always sleep on the ground next to the bed, if you prefer," he points out in reply as he walks over and starts undoing his own gloves; he has workman's hands, big and broad, but they're curiously lacking in callouses even if there's a bit of dirt he hadn't managed to clean off from work the day before. It's a strange dichotomy.

"At least until we get to know one another."

He glances over at Evie with a chuckle.

"Though I have to doubt any servants will be coming in. It's our wedding night, after all. Most couples would, er, not want to be disturbed."

[elderfrye]

Evie drops her gloves onto the dressing table, glancing down at her dress thoughtfully and trying to work out where on earth to begin removing the layers of lace and silk. She wonders if she can get away with burning this corset the next chance she gets.

"You may be right, but honestly just sleep in the bed, no sense either of us being more uncomfortable than we already are." She sighs, realising there's not any way to avoid it, and turns away from him "I think there's some buttons or.. something back there. Could you undo them for me? I don't know how any woman is supposed to do anything in these things..."

[truth_and_justice]

"My mother says that dresses like that are made to trap a young lady and nothing less," he says with a nod as he walks over and, carefully, dips behind her to start working on the buttons. His touch doesn't linger, he doesn't try and touch her skin; he does as asked, nothing more and nothing less.

"She's not much of a fan of the current fashion." He smiles a little. "I heard her muttering about how you were supposed to breathe, let alone say your vows. My father was trying not to laugh, if I'm honest."

He tilts to one side to look at her.

"Not that it matters what I think, but you never have to wear something like this again if you don't want to."

[elderfrye]

Evie snorts in amusement, at least his mother sounds like a nice enough person, and he obviously doesn't have anything against her views, which is promising. Still, that doesn't make her any less annoyed at the situation, however disarmingly charming he is.

"I shan't, I'm afraid." She said, considering it probably best to prepare him because this primped and pampered version of her was rather far from the truth. "I despise corsets."

As soon as the dress is unbuttoned she steps out of it, making short work of the ties on her petticoat and crinoline, leaving her in her undergarments - although it's mere moments before deft fingers unlace her stays and she sighs in relief, the chemise and stockings the only two comfortable garments she's been wearing.

[truth_and_justice]

"I despise a woman being discomforted for my supposed 'pleasure' so I'm not terribly afraid of that future," he points out as he steps back and away from her, now that she's in her underthings. He only reaches down to pull the dress back and away to start placing it on a hangar to go in the closet where it will no doubt remain. As he works-

"Will you be troubled should I undress?"

[elderfrye]

Well, that was another point for him, and another reason for her to be annoyed at her lack of chance to express how annoyed she actually was, and it definitely meant she couldn't kill him, if nothing else he was far too nice for that.

At the question, she almost laughed, but managed to stop herself just in time - between the various injuries she's dealt with on Jacob or Henry or their other allies, she'd long ago lost any squeamishness she had about the male form, but it probably would insinuate other things if she said anything without explaining it properly. Honestly she was just glad that her underthings covered up most of her scars, those were questions for later.

"Not at all, go ahead." She advised, sitting at the dresser to begin the arduous task of unpinning the elaborate mess of chestnut curls stop her head.

[truth_and_justice]

He gives her a nod and a brief chuckle back; he'd heard her almost laugh and he'd assumed that it'd seemed a silly question to ask his wife, of all people, but he spreads his hands before walking over to the dresser on what seemed to be his side of the room as he starts to undress. If she watches him, she might note two very curious things.

The first, and most obvious, was the fact that even outside of having a rather pleasing shape overall, his body is entirely made of firm muscle, practically sculpted like something out of a Greek statue. The other, only slightly less obvious, was a lack of scars. Not a single mark on him, from top to bottom, or at least nothing showing from his waist to his hairline, as that's as far as he gets before reaching into the dresser to pull out sleep clothes.

"You live in town, yes?" he interrupts the silence as he turns to look at her. "Would you be- that is, I was intending to move into town myself before all this came about. Do you already have a home there or were you living in some manner of boarding house?"

[elderfrye]

Evie had positioned herself at the mirror, and she was an assassin after all, so it's almost instinct that draws her gaze to watch him as he undresses. She can't help but be slightly impressed at his solid build, if she ever needs pure muscle for anything he obviously has it in abundance, and his skin is remarkably smooth for a farmer, she would have expected to see some marks from his life but there's nothing, he's as unblemished as she's supposed to want to be.

Her eyes flick back to herself in the mirror as he turns and she hesitates at the question - does she tell him that she lives on a train with her brother and a fellow assassin? It's not the most usual of addresses and the train itself is rather obviously not one inhabited by ordinary people, perhaps she should ask Jacob or Henry to secure her house before she returns to town.

"I have an abode," she replies noncommitally, perhaps it would be better to let him acquire a house... "but if there's a particular part of London you'd wish to live in?"

[truth_and_justice]

"Nowhere particular," he admits as he pulls down the nightshirt. It falls all the way to his ankles, but as he hikes it up to push down his breeches, it's clear enough that his legs are the same as the rest of him.

"I've been to the city, of course, multiple times. I was going to apprentice there as a clerk within a few weeks. But I wouldn't want to waste time or effort."

A pause before-

"U-unless you'd prefer to live separately. I... wouldn't, for all the oddity of our union. I'd like to know you and build a life of sorts with you, even if the situation was not of my choosing. But I would never trap you. Though... I hope I'm not so terrible a fate as all that?"

[elderfrye]

Allowing the long tresses of her hair to fall down her back, finally free of the constraints of her wedding hairdo, she turns to look at him, trying to put into words everything she's thinking right now. Evie likes to plan, she likes to know exactly what's going on and there's too many variables right now for her liking.

"Look, I have a life in London, I'm not going to deny it, it keeps me very busy and I'm likely to be away at all hours. I'm not... completely averse to having a home with you, it might be nice to have a fixed base of operations sometimes, but other times..." it might be dangerous. She preferred the train, it was set up and ready for them and it generally kept moving, less people knew about it. A house... it wouldn't take long for the Templars to find out that one of the troublesome Frye twins was living under the name Mrs Evelyn Kent, and it was entirely possible they'd take the opportunity to attack if they found her there.

She sighs "it's been a long day, perhaps we should discuss this in the morning."

[truth_and_justice]

"Are we discussing it in the morning to give you time to think of reasons not to even try to make something of this, or simply because you're tired?"

He turns to face her, arms crossing over his chest as he tilts his head to look at her. Another strange details of his appearance: without the glass of his spectacles to cut the color, his eyes are an almost startlingly bright blue, unlike anything she might have seen for... well, for some years now.

"I'll respect the latter, but I'd prefer not with the former. I have no wish to make your life difficult, only happy, but we spoke oaths before God and family. Perhaps I'm a country fool, but that does mean something to me. And I should hope that means something to you."

[elderfrye]

Her eyebrow raises at his comment, actually a little pleased, he'd seemed so accommodating and almost submissive that it's almost nice to see a little push back, though the thought is pushed from her mind as he turns and her gaze meets his. His eyes are so blue it almost takes her breath away for a moment, and there's only one person she's ever met with eyes like that. Her memories turn to the boy she used to play with, before training took up all of her time and dragged her away from him. She loved him, in that earnest, childhood way, and she used to plan that he would be the man she married someday - until her Assassin training overtook any social norms she had taken onboard in her early years, and she wasn't sure she would ever marry anyone.

She looks away abruptly, not wanting to be reminded of simpler times, she so often kept those memories buried somewhere safe, away from the violence and danger of her adult life, as though it could somehow stain those memories.

"I'm sorry, this all came upon me very suddenly," she conceded, though her tone was stiff and a little irritated "I haven't even thought about marriage for... for a very long time, since I was a young girl."

[truth_and_justice]

He nods simply enough before walking over to her, approaching her for the first time since the altar. He reaches out a hand.

"Then we share that. I thought my destiny was a lonely one. But perhaps it doesn't have to be. For either of us."

[elderfrye]

Evie regards his hand thoughtfully for a moment, debating whether to reject his peace offering or not. Part of her wants to, thinking it will be easier to just leave him and become estranged and not put him in danger, but there's another part of her that's more sentimental, call it the reminder of her childhood sweetheart or just something long-hidden deep in her heart, that thinks maybe it would be nice to have another person on her side.

Eventually, she reaches out and takes the offered hand.

"Very well. We can try. Oh, and nobody's called me Evelyn in forever, please, call me Evie."

[truth_and_justice]

"I'll try not to end up calling you Ev," he says with a faint smile, memories from the past making the words sweeter than he'd intended. Evie Evie Evie. Well, my name's Ev so I don't know who they think they're calling! It makes his heart ache a little, thinking of his oldest friend, the one he'd played with all those years ago. The one he'd hoped to... well, to find again. But he was here now, they were here now, and he had to live in the present, in the life he had now.

[elderfrye]

Evie freezes, startled by the name, a name she hasn't heard in... in about the same length of time it had been since she last saw eyes that blue, and now that she's looking for it she can see it, it's there in the shape of his face and the shade of his hair, changed and older but still recognisable if you know what to look for.

"...Lark?" she breathes, almost hesitantly, as though saying it will make it not true, because there's still a more sensible part of her that thinks things like this don't happen, she won't see that boy again, he's probably long gone and married off with some sweet little wife and a horde of children by now, he can't possibly be the man standing in front of her, her husband.

[truth_and_justice]

He draws back, shoulders going up before he makes himself drop (as he'd lifted an inch or two off the floor in shock) before staring straight at her, eyes wide. He pulls the glasses aside, puts them in his pocket, and it's clearer now, without them making his face look a little different.

"Ev? You're my Ev? Ev, Evelyn?"

And he can't help it, can't help reaching out and to take her by the sides and hold her in the air in pure joy.

"Ev! Yes, yes, Lark. I'm your Lark, your little hidy-bird up too early in the morning."

[elderfrye]

If she hadn't been sure before, his immediate recognition was enough to dash any remaining doubts she had and convince her that yes, it really was him.

She yelps in surprise as her feet suddenly leave the ground, and places her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, but she can't help but reflect the expression of joy in his face with a smile of her own. She wants to say it doesn't change anything, that all the problems of this sudden marriage are still as they were before, but she can't deny that it does make her more willing to trust him, to try and make this work, because there he is, his arms around her waist, he really is her Lark.

"My god," she moves one hand to his cheek almost in wonderment "It really is you..."

[truth_and_justice]

His eyes close at her touch, like her hand is sunlight itself, warming him from top to toes at a single brush.

"It is," and his voice is soft, so much warmer now, and he shifts to pull her just a little closer, though still not improper. "I thought... I thought I'd lost you forever. My parents had said that your father would no longer let you come for the summers. I feared..."

He breathes in deep and slowly puts her down before finally looking her in the eyes.

"I suppose it's terrible to say that the day is finally a happy one for me, but it's the truth. I thought I was marrying a stranger and it turns out I've gone and married my best friend. Who could be luckier than that?"

[elderfrye]

"Jacob and I... father had so much more training to engage in, we didn't have any free time at all... I missed you..." she admits softly, her own prickly exterior melting into something shyer and sweeter and slightly less sure of herself. She can only imagine what he had thought in the mean time, likely similar things to what she had suspected about how his life had turned out, she'd never really explained to him exactly what it was their father had been training them for.

"Your best friend?" she says softly, expression a little sceptical "After all this time? Lark surely you've had other friends, better friends, other... other close relationships" she doesn't think she ever admitted how she felt about him. They were still so young, but she remembers how much she was looking forward to that summer, she had made plans, she wanted to tell him that she loved him, she'd planned the moment more than she'd ever planned anything since (and she is very, very good at planning), and then father had said they wouldn't be going to the country for the summer anymore. She hadn't even been able to say goodbye.

She'd written him a letter, once, but had never quite dared to send it.

[truth_and_justice]

"I missed you too," and he ducks his head a little at the question of best friends, shaking his head a moment later.

"And no, not really. I never really... there just wasn't ever really anyone who I got as close with. You remember how I was. How I am, really."

Shy, a little awkward with people, quiet; he's no longer sickly, obviously, but certainly different in a way that some people had problems with almost inherently.

"Call me ridiculous all you like, but I had hopes when I got to the city I'd find... something. I never knew I'd find you again, but I can't say I'm not utterly delighted."

[elderfrye]

"You're still shy?" she asks, arching her eyebrow at him as her gaze drops to the physique hidden by the nightshirt he wears, she doesn't really understand how any woman could be put off by that - the women who had helped her dress certainly admired it, although thinking about it there was a certain sense of admiration from a distance, a thing to be looked at but never approached.

"You say you going to apprentice to a clerk? I... I don't think we would have run in the same circles..." not that it was outwith the realms of possibility, she did often meet with some strange folk in her line of work after all.

[truth_and_justice]

His eyes drop to his chest and then back up at her.

"Shyness was not another symptom of ill-health," he points out mildly with a bit of a chuckle. "And I have no doubt we wouldn't have found one another any way but this. So... perhaps there's a touch of joy to this madness now, to have you returned to me and me returned to you."

This puts everything into perspective, changes everything in some ways.

"And... well, it changes quite a few things, including what I was intending to do when I got to London. The life I'd thought I'd live... well, it's not something I should ask of you without informing you of a few things."