#willene

She’s his best friend’s sister.

She’s the love of his life.

She’s the wife of hisother best friend.

He received news of that last piece of information while hewas overseas and he can honestly say that particular letter hurtworse than the bullet he took to the hip later that week.

(They had never made any promises to one another, onlystolen glances and hands that hold one another a little too long to be called “friendly,” and yet the betrayal hit him with bone-deep pain that keeps him up at night even after all this time.)

But it’s been so many years since that day and so much haschanged.

For example, William no longer considers Celine’s husband tobe his best friend.

Sticking a bill on time spent together tends to sourfriendships, even one as tightly knit as his and Mark’s once was.

The thing is…William is pretty sure Mark still thinks theyare friends. And somehow that makes it worse.

He bursts from Mark’s office one late evening and ends upout on the back patio, sitting under the gazebo. He’s not quite sure how he ended up here, but it doesn’t really matter at the moment.

“You still owe me fromlast month, William. Do you ever plan on paying me back?”

Like the bastard doesn’t have enough money to feed a smallcountry.

“What happened back there?”

William sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. It’s likeCeline has a third eye specifically for times when he wants to punch herhusband in the face. “I haven’t been able to work off my debts,” he sayssimply.

She’s standing by the door and he finally dares to look ather. Her bright eyes are narrowed. “Do I need to talk to him?”

Oh, what William would pay to hear that conversation.

“I don’t think so. The old bag of bones would probably upthe bill out of spite.”

She rolls her eyes. “He’s been so cheap lately, abouteverything but his party functions. I don’t understand what’s changed…”

Neither does William. When he came back from overseas, Markhad given him enough money to get back on his feet, especially after months andmonths of not being able to find a job. With every financial roadblock Williamhad come across as a military man with little prospects, Mark always jumped infirst to help him.

But sometime last year…well, that’s when Mark startedpulling out check stubs and demanding recompense, without a warning.

And now…William feels like everything is about to crumble.

“Doesn’t matter, I suppose,” he contemplates aloud. “I’lleither pay the man back or live to serve for the rest of my life. I’ll be athis beck and call so much, you may as well slap a metal bracelet on my wristand call me a genie.”

That actually gets Celine to laugh. Her fingers entwine withone another and hang in front of her. “You’re so adorable…and awful at the sametime. How do you do it?”

“Years of practice, my dear.”

Wait. He hadn’t meant to tack on the term of endearment.

Crumbling friendship or not, William has never had anyintention to get between Celine and Mark. He’s not that terrible of a person.

Celine is staring at him with an intensity that wraps aroundhis throat without remorse. She’s fiddling with her wedding band.

She seems to do that a lot lately. Usually when it’s just thetwo of them.

But William tries not to think about that too much.

He stands up from the fountain and hurries towards the door.“Well, I better get going then. Have to get a jumpstart on those payments!”

Celine grabs his elbow as he passes, stopping him in place.

“Don’t let him walk all over you,” she says. “Or he’ll neverrespect you again.”

He doesn’t want to think about how she learned that.

William chuckles bitterly. “Oh, my dear. I think we’re wellpast that.”

He pulls out of her grasp and leaves the premises.

He doesn’t see Celine find her way to the balcony so she canwatch him go.

He doesn’t see her contemplative look as he climbs into hiscar and drives off.

He definitely doesn’t see how she stares at her wedding ring,as if wondering what is keeping it on her finger in the first place.

Oo00oO

Angst/FluffPrompt List: Send me a number and a pairing!

It’s for the best. Despite everything that has happenedbetween him and Mark, despite the still lingering Celine-shaped ache in his chest…

It’s for the best that he avoids her.

This proves to be difficult, seeing as he still works forMark. Celine’s husband.

(He repeats the title to himself like a mantra.

Mark is Celine’s husband.

Mark is Celine’s husband.

Mark is Celine’s husband.

It doesn’t help as much as he wants it, too.)

This is the plan until William accidentally comes to themanor on a day when the manor is almost totally empty.

Mark isn’t home. Neither is Benjamin the butler, nor theChef.

But Celine is.

He finds her in the dining room, staring down at the Tarotcards lined across the table.

(This doesn’t surprise him. She told him some time ago thatshe’s been dabbling in the Occult, trying to tap into a mystery. She failed toexplain the contents of this “mystery” to William, however.)

William is almost positive she hasn’t noticed him yet,despite the loud shutting of the door when he first entered, so he turns on hisheel and tries to scurry away—

“I know what you’re trying to do.”

He stops mid-step. He doesn’t dare turn around to face her.

“It won’t work, you know.”

William sighs. “What makes you so sure?”

“You really haven’t figured it out yet?”

Her tone makes him turn around. “Figured what out?”

He sees the hint of smugness in her tiny grin. “We’re meantfor each other, Colonel. We always have been.”

She may as well have shoved a wooden splinter into hischest. Why couldn’t she have said this before he left for the front all those years ago?

(Better yet, why didn’t hesay as much to her before Mark swept her away?)

William does as he always does when under the worst pain hecan experience.

He laughs.

“If that were true, you might have waited for me, wouldn’tyou think?”

That wipes thesmugness from her face. He swears he even sees guilt in the lines around hereyes.

He leaves before she can say anything else. Before she cantry to make him stay.

(He would have, if she’d asked at that moment. He can’tdecide how he feels about that.)

And later, when themoon is visible through the window even if the stars aren’t, there’s a knockingon his apartment door.

He already knows who’s on the other side.

After all, Celine wants what she wants. She doesn’t letanyone stop her, not even William and he’s the selfish bastard who understands herbetter than the rest of the people in her life.

It’s one of the things he hates (loves) about her most.

Oo00oO

Angst/Fluff Prompt List: Send me a number and a pairing! (No duplicates, please)