#gardensparrow

Sorry this is late! I re-watched the sequel tonight and I’ve been put back in the Hartwin feel! I hope you enjoy!

He opens the door and sets down his bags. It’s been a long few weeks, being away from home, away from Eggsy. He’s been away longer of course, missions that take months to complete rather then the much preferred weeks, but it’s because he has Eggsy that it’s felt longer than it was. Eggsy’s expressed the same whenever the blonde has to be away as well, on his own missions that Harry easily hides how worried he gets when Eggsy’s gone. They talk whenever they can however, via text or the rare call. It’s never better then wrapping his arms around the younger man but it keeps him warm enough until he can embrace his lover.

Itstarted on a Monday when Harry went rummaging in his closet. He had troublefinding his good cashmere golden sweater. He was quite annoyed about that. Hehad a lovely tie to go with the sweater.

On thesecond day, it was his green wool sweater that had gone missing next. Harryhuffed, frowning. It wasn’t like him to lose his clothing like this. Somethingwas afoot.

On thethird day, Harry’s suspicions seemed to be on point when he couldn’t find hisblue cotton sweater. How odd that all his good sweaters seemed to be missing.He closed his closet door and walked down the stairs. He could hear Eggsy inthe kitchen, pouring some tea for himself.

It wasundoubtably freezing this past week, a few snowfalls here and there. It was whyHarry was annoyed his best sweaters have vanished. He would like to stay warm,but he would also like to look good while doing so.

“Eggsy,darling,” Harry began as he walked into the kitchen, “Have you seen any of mygood- “

Harrypaused when he saw Eggsy wearing his missing blue sweater. It was obviously bigon him, Eggsy using the sleeves to hold his hot mug of tea. He was also in somesweatpants, his hair lightly damped. He must’ve taken a shower. Eggsy lifts hismug up, lightly blowing on it before taking a sip.

“What’sup, Harry?” He asked.

Harrystared, feeling slightly betrayed but also couldn’t help but think how adorablehis boyfriend looks. “Have you been taking my sweaters?” He asks, crossing hisarms.

Eggsyshrugged, taking another careful sip. “Yeah? Do ya mind? They’re cozy and allof mine are kinda ratty. Been meaning to get some new hoodies but your sweatersare crazy comfy, Harry.”

Harrysighs, and a small smile creeps on his face. “Well, you could’ve asked nexttime, dear. But no, I don’t mind too much. You do look, very cozy in mysweater.”

Eggsysmirks, blushing as he sips his tea again. “Fancy for a cuddle on a couchthen?” Eggsy asks. He didn’t even wait for an answer, as he was already makinghis way to the living room.

So when the good dr cox and I lived in Minneapolis we were broke as fuck. Like sometimes choose between medicine and power broke. eating off the dollar menu broke. But you get bored. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts was free, and we could walk to it (it was a mile away from where we lived). And it is a really good museum. We would go around the rooms, separating if a piece caught our eye and then talking about it. We’d spend hours in there.

And there was this painting:

...wait there's a Hufflepuff Eggsy thing?! Idk if I can define the state I'm in as living until I read that.

I never engaged in the discourse, but seeing so much of it on my dash/fear of ending up involved in discourse is one of the reasons I ended up falling out of the DA fandom…it’s exhausting. I’m so glad that you’re taking care of yourself, and bailing on the drama bit early enough that DA is still fun. :)

It’s so sad that I see this pattern a lot, someone leaving/ reducing DA fandom interaction for fear of getting involved in a discourse train. And hey i’ll admit in my early tumblr life I engaged, but I simply can’t do it anymore for my own sanity. 

I support this wholeheartedly. More Merrill/Carver fic is always a good thing, and everyone loves a good Jane Austen AU! :D 

Thank you so much for the prompt! I managed to fit two of them in here, and I hope you like it! Cullen’s POV, 600 words. If I’d been planning better I’d have realized that this comes just before Silent Night, and I’d have posted them in order. 

Satinalia Sweaters

Also on AO3.

Cullen was working on grading finals in the office when he was sure he heard Mara rummaging around upstairs in their bedroom. He was still questioning his own judgement giving a final on the second to last day before the end of the term, but he wanted to use up every single day. A final was a good way to keep the kids engaged all the way up to the break. It was usually needed because somehow their teenagers turned into kindergartners three weeks before the actual holiday.

If only Cullen had a dollar for everytime a student asked him if they were going to have a “fun day” in class that day, he’d be a very rich man. So he hadn’t felt bad about giving the final, even if he was pretty sure he was the one actually paying for it.

Normally, he wouldn’t go upstairs to see what Mara was doing, but she sounded frustrated. He finished the test he was on and walked upstairs to find her basically buried in the closet. Argos was on the bed, his tail wagging when he saw Cullen.

“Please tell me you are not searching our room for where I’ve hidden your presents,” Cullen commented, leaning against the doorframe. He highly doubted she was, but if she was, she’d be very disappointed. He used her height against her, and always had hidden her gifts on the very top shelf of the closet under the stairs. Mara wasn’t even tall enough to see if there was something on the shelf much less what was up there. It was a stroke of brilliance on his part, and he’d hidden a very special small box up there as well. He was waiting for the right moment, for some sort of inspiration to strike. It hadn’t yet, but then he didn’t think there was any real rush.

Mara scowled at him. “Just how many Satinalia sweaters do you own?”

There were three very ugly and very awful sweaters laid out on the bed, and all three of them were his. “Um….” He rubbed his neck.

“There are more?” Mara asked incredulously.

“Maker, no. I did sort of forget I owned one, two years in a row?” Cullen explained sheepishly.

Mara held up the blue one with awful looking applique snowmen. “You forgot you owned this? I’m traumatized just looking at it.”

Cullen laughed. “Isn’t that the point of ugly Satinalia sweaters?”

Mara smiled before turning back to the closet. “I know I have a red sloth one somewhere, but I can’t find it.”

“A sloth sweater?” Cullen asked.

“The sloths are holding onto the tree, it’s ugly and adorable, and I need it for tomorrow,” Mara explained. Her hair was getting longer, and it was braided back. Cullen brushed it off her neck and pressed a kiss there.

“Do you remember seeing it when you moved in?” he asked.

She leaned against him. “Maybe?”

“Then it’s got to be here somewhere,” Cullen said wrapping an arm around her waist.

Mara nodded. “Don’t you have finals to grade?”

He sighed. He still had at least two class hour worths to get through. “Yes.”

Mara stepped away from him. “You should get those done.”

“And you should keep looking,” Cullen replied. He didn’t want to go, but he needed to get the finals graded before tomorrow. Argos jumped off the bed, and followed him into the office, curling up on the soft chair in the corner.

He hadn’t even gotten through another test before he heard Mara calling. “Found it!”

Cullen smiled. Last Satinalia had been wonderful, but he was pretty sure this one was going to be even better.