Pairing: Rumbelle and Lachacey (Lachlan from California Solo x Lacey)

Rating: M

Summary: Facing deportation, Lachlan MacAldonich calls his estranged cousin in Maine as one last hail Mary to stay in America.

From the beginning on ao3

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Well, it was worse than he’d imagined. Calling his cousin had been Lachlan’s last resort once he had burned pretty much every other bridge available to him. He’d thought nothing would be worse than meeting with his old manager, but he was starting to think that hadn’t been so bad compared to this.

He didn’t even know what to call him. On the phone last week, he’d used his first name, but everyone and everything in town called him Mr. Gold. Was he expected to as well? 

He used to be good with people.

Leaving the shop behind was like stepping back into the real world. Lachlan had attributed his unease at being in the dark, cramped space to missing the wide open fields of home, but once he was out and breathing in the fresh—freezing—air, he knew it was just Gold and his shop of horrors.

Not that he’d seen anything horrific, but that didn’t mean there was nothing lurking inside a grandfather clock or behind a tapestry. He wouldn’t be surprised. Gold looked like an undertaker.

He walked down the main road, ignoring the funny looks he got. He knew how much he looked like his cousin, and he remembered what it was like living in a small town. Everyone would be talking soon enough.

Pairing: Rumbelle and Lachacey (Lachlan from California Solo x Lacey)

Rating: M

Summary: Facing deportation, Lachlan MacAldonich calls his estranged cousin in Maine as one last hail Mary to stay in America.

From the beginning on ao3

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Mr. Gold had many regrets in his life. He regretted not divorcing his wife sooner. He regretted that he’d never told his father off before he died. He regretted not spending more time with his son. 

He regretted letting slip to the librarian, Belle French, that his long lost cousin was flying in from California to stay with him for the foreseeable future while he faced deportation.

“Are you sure I can’t stay?” Belle asked, leaning against the wooden part of his display counter and staring out the windows like Lachlan might walk through them. 

“Why are you even here in the first place?” Gold snapped without any bite. Belle just turned and grinned at him. She had never minded his foul moods, and had indeed discovered that ignoring him was the easiest way to get past his prickly barriers. He’d have been annoyed if he wasn’t besotted.

“I came to tell you your book is in,” she said. She’d been in his shop for almost half an hour and hadn’t mentioned a book at all. 

“Why don’t I believe you?” 

She reached into her purse and pulled out a book, and indeed it was the one he’d been in line for for six months. Archie had been reading it since April.