Arithmetic
Title: Arithmetic
Author: ardvari
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Again, they're not mine.
Pairing: Ansgar/Lydia
Beta: Unbeta-ed
A/N: Here we go, another soap opera story. A little exploration of Ansgar's brain. This totally did not turn out the way I originally intended. The muses started to play with it and... I like it. :)
Arithmetic
There were certain things he couldn’t change about himself. His love for those amber-colored alcoholic sips of peace, for example. Or his sarcasm. He was also pretty sure that he would never get over his inane love of money. While it hadn’t exactly managed to make him a happier man, it had most certainly prevented him from being both miserable and poor at the same time.
Swirling the bourbon around his glass until a tiny hurricane licked at the sides of it, Ansgar stared out at the dimly lit park surrounding the castle. His home. The place where his life had shaped itself, where he had both suffered through and enjoyed the decisions he had made. It was the place where he had learned to love as deeply as he hated, where his sarcasm had gained the razorblade edge people cringed away from- and where he played with his son on rainy Sunday afternoons.
Currently the castle was most of what he wanted, but not all of it. The woman he loved, was pretty sure he would love forever, refused to move in, and that was his missing puzzle piece. Oh, she had her reasons; he had to give her that. Unlike him, Lydia hadn’t spent years of her life schooling herself in the art of being carelessly arrogant, of being ignorant towards most people around herself. She was still suffering through her guilt and whenever they met Sebastian he could feel her recoil beside him, recoil from the hurt still burning vividly in Sebastian’s eyes.
Growling, he put the glass down on the bedside table, checked the clock on the wall, and ran a hand through his hair. If he could, he’d make Sebastian go away. Now that he was out of Lahnstein Enterprises, why didn’t he just leave the castle, too? That would certainly make things much easier.
Ah, he really hated not getting what he wanted.
Still, he loved Lydia enough not to go around manipulating her into moving in. Lord knows he could manipulate the hell out of most people around him. He enjoyed doing it, too. In this case, though, he would wait. He hated waiting. But he would wait. Eventually they’d find a way. He could, after all, leave the castle behind, too, even though that thought made his insides turn. None of these other clowns camping out in what was, frankly, his castle deserved to be blessed with his departure.
It was almost ten when he slowly descended the stairs and called for Justus to get his jacket. The butler scampered off, still managing to look dignified, and retrieved the jacket for him. Slipping into its woolly warmth, Ansgar strode out of the castle, down the steps, and pushed his hands into his pockets as he waited for Lydia.
The sound of gravel crunching beneath her feet was the first thing that reached him and he started walking towards her when her slim figure appeared beneath the ancient stone arc. Her stride was full of purpose, the stride of a woman that knew pretty well what she wanted. She just couldn’t bring herself to fight for her happiness to the end…yet.
When she was right in front of him, she smirked warmly, chasing all the gloomy thoughts out of his head and scattering them on the gentle evening breeze.
“I love you,” he said, completely out of the blue and taking her by surprise.
“The feeling’s mutual,” she quipped, wrapping an arm around his neck before she leaned in to kiss him.
Author: ardvari
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Again, they're not mine.
Pairing: Ansgar/Lydia
Beta: Unbeta-ed
A/N: Here we go, another soap opera story. A little exploration of Ansgar's brain. This totally did not turn out the way I originally intended. The muses started to play with it and... I like it. :)
Arithmetic
There were certain things he couldn’t change about himself. His love for those amber-colored alcoholic sips of peace, for example. Or his sarcasm. He was also pretty sure that he would never get over his inane love of money. While it hadn’t exactly managed to make him a happier man, it had most certainly prevented him from being both miserable and poor at the same time.
Swirling the bourbon around his glass until a tiny hurricane licked at the sides of it, Ansgar stared out at the dimly lit park surrounding the castle. His home. The place where his life had shaped itself, where he had both suffered through and enjoyed the decisions he had made. It was the place where he had learned to love as deeply as he hated, where his sarcasm had gained the razorblade edge people cringed away from- and where he played with his son on rainy Sunday afternoons.
Currently the castle was most of what he wanted, but not all of it. The woman he loved, was pretty sure he would love forever, refused to move in, and that was his missing puzzle piece. Oh, she had her reasons; he had to give her that. Unlike him, Lydia hadn’t spent years of her life schooling herself in the art of being carelessly arrogant, of being ignorant towards most people around herself. She was still suffering through her guilt and whenever they met Sebastian he could feel her recoil beside him, recoil from the hurt still burning vividly in Sebastian’s eyes.
Growling, he put the glass down on the bedside table, checked the clock on the wall, and ran a hand through his hair. If he could, he’d make Sebastian go away. Now that he was out of Lahnstein Enterprises, why didn’t he just leave the castle, too? That would certainly make things much easier.
Ah, he really hated not getting what he wanted.
Still, he loved Lydia enough not to go around manipulating her into moving in. Lord knows he could manipulate the hell out of most people around him. He enjoyed doing it, too. In this case, though, he would wait. He hated waiting. But he would wait. Eventually they’d find a way. He could, after all, leave the castle behind, too, even though that thought made his insides turn. None of these other clowns camping out in what was, frankly, his castle deserved to be blessed with his departure.
It was almost ten when he slowly descended the stairs and called for Justus to get his jacket. The butler scampered off, still managing to look dignified, and retrieved the jacket for him. Slipping into its woolly warmth, Ansgar strode out of the castle, down the steps, and pushed his hands into his pockets as he waited for Lydia.
The sound of gravel crunching beneath her feet was the first thing that reached him and he started walking towards her when her slim figure appeared beneath the ancient stone arc. Her stride was full of purpose, the stride of a woman that knew pretty well what she wanted. She just couldn’t bring herself to fight for her happiness to the end…yet.
When she was right in front of him, she smirked warmly, chasing all the gloomy thoughts out of his head and scattering them on the gentle evening breeze.
“I love you,” he said, completely out of the blue and taking her by surprise.
“The feeling’s mutual,” she quipped, wrapping an arm around his neck before she leaned in to kiss him.