A/N: Hello after a year, my lovelies!
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*ducks under a table to avoid the inevitable punch of karma and other stuff*
I really am sorry. Honest.
Now that THAT'S out of the way, I noticed there weren't many (if any) Athos/OC stories out there, so on with my first ever Musketeer one-shot!
At first it isn't love. He's damaged and she tries to fix him because he's a good man; and she always knows the good men from the bad. She listens when he talks, and she comforts him when he's upset (and he is upset often, even if many believe him to be apathetic).
She looks after him when he stumbles into her home, drunk and looking for absolution. It was my duty, he says. It was my duty to kill the woman I loved. Her heart breaks with him and for him, while he breaks down in front of her. And instead of her usual comforts, she sits next to him and takes the bottle of wine from him and drinks.
"Tell me," she says soothingly, "Tell me what happened."
He doesn't.
So they both drink silently, on her kitchen floor, leaning on each other for support; and there are times when she feels he's about to snap and tell her everything, but he never does.
The first time he kisses her, they're both sober. She doesn't know why, and she doesn't question him, because in all honesty she's happy to be kissed by him (because he's a good man, and she always knows the good men from the bad).
The second time he kisses her is after she almost dies; because of her own carelessness, but he blames himself.
"I thought I lost you," he says hoarsely as he leans his forehead against hers, and she closes her eyes.
"You didn't," she whispers and this time she kisses him, and everything is wonderfully warm and perfect in that moment.
He's a musketeer, and she's scared for his life every time he's sent away. Athos is the best swordsman in the regiment, people assure her. But even the best fail sometimes, and she knows that one day he could go and die and never return, and she would be left alone; broken hearted and damaged just like he is now.
So she often cries when he leaves, but he always comes back to her. Sometimes after a day, sometimes after a week and sometimes even more, but he is always back.
She works and talks with Constance while he's away, because they understand each other; they're both lovers of musketeers, and there are consequences that come with it. Constance has a husband, and the discovery of her affair would be costly. She, herself, is with a man who has more secrets than the King's treasury, but she doesn't press him; because she knows that he will simply distance himself from her, and the shields that she had worked so hard to crumble will build around him again.
One late evening she sees him kissing another woman in the street.
It's raining and she's glad, because no one can see her tears as she rushes through the Parisian streets and into her home. And she does exactly what he used to; she drinks. He finds her later, sobbing in the kitchen where they both once sat, and she yells and screams at him, asking him what had she done wrong? There is regret in his eyes, but she's too drunk and upset to notice.
It's when she stumbles into his arms, eyes swollen from crying, that he realises how similar she is to him now; helpless and confused and asking why. So he holds her and doesn't speak and listens; he comforts and looks after her, and when she tires he puts her in bed and covers her with blankets.
For that one night, it's his turn to fix her.
So, voila! Obviously I don't own anything, but I really, really wish I did... *dreamy sigh* I might write more, because this is my favourite TV show right now... can you guess who my favourite musketeer is? Bet you can't ;)
Sorry if anything/anyone is OOC, but I did try, and Athos isn't the easiest guy to write about. I really enjoyed myself writing this story and hopefully ya'll did reading it!
So R&R and favourite if you did like it!
Love,
Me x