Series of Unfortunate Emotions
"Darcy!" Lizzie sobbed from the living room of her new boyfriend's apartment. William Darcy came skidding out of his office. Though they had known each other for almost a year, they had just become a couple and at two weeks, there were still bound to be surprises in store for both of them. That said, any sign of abnormal emotion from his girlfriend was a cause for panic in the usually composed Will. And Lizzie never cried. The last time that had happened, her youngest sister had…never mind.
"What's wrong?" Darcy came around to the couch and knelt in front of Lizzie, who was staring at the TV. He took her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks. She raised a shaky hand and pointed towards the flat screen. Her boyfriend turned towards it uncomprehendingly. On screen, Eddie Redmayne leaned against a pile of old furniture and flags and signs, holding Samantha Barks in his arms. They were singing together. As Darcy watched, the girl's voice faded away and Eponine's head fell back as Marius finished the song alone. He stared at Lizzie.
"She didn't h-have to die!" she cried, smothering her words as she covered her face in her hands. "She deserved to be happy! But she got shot, and it's all M-Marius' fault!" Lizzie shifted uncomfortably, and then clutched her stomach.
Understanding dawned on Darcy. He never thought he'd have to deal with Lizzie in this state. He'd expected her to be like Georgiana. He could never tell when his little sister reached that time of the month because she never had major mood swings or complained about cramps. He pressed his lips together hard as he sat next to his girlfriend on the couch and watched her watch Les Miserables. She sat with her knees hugged to her chest, the tears falling down her cheeks, dripped off her chin, and onto her lap. Darcy tried not to show any signs of amusement, he really did.
A short laugh escaped from his lips, though.
Lizzie turned towards him, her expression dangerous. Darcy, uncharacteristically oblivious, continued to chuckle. The thought that Lizzie of all girls, her sisters' rock, the one whose calm demeanor endeared her to Mr. Bennet, might experience these extreme period symptoms was hilarious to Darcy.
"Is something funny, Darcy?" she said acidly.
He was smart enough to cut his laughter off right away. "No, nothing at all."
"No, really, if something's funny, I want to know."
"It's really nothing, Lizzie."
She reached for the remote beside her and paused the movie. She turned her body and faced him completely. "Tell me."
There were moments when William Darcy was so completely, utterly in love with Lizzie. In those moments, she was the center of his world and the power of her words was law to him. No one could do that to him except Elizabeth Bennet. If she kissed him then told him to jump off a bridge he probably would. It hardly made sense but love isn't supposed to, right? That's how much power she had over him, and that power was pure love.
This, however, wasn't one of those moments. Lizzie also had the power of being completely, utterly terrifying. He would never admit that out loud, but she was capable of being bossier, more dictating, and more confrontational than Aunt Catherine. She had been that way towards him at the beginning of their relationship, but rarely so now that they had started dating. He was grateful for that because he never wanted to be on the receiving end of her full fury.
Stupidly, though, he had brought it upon himself. He decided that it was best to get it over with and just rip the Band-Aid off.
"I just…um…find it funny that…" he trailed off as Lizzie arched an eyebrow and her green eyes penetrated his brown ones. Where had his eloquence gone?
"Find what funny, Will?"
"That you're on…you're on your…um…"
"My what?"
"Period," he squeaked. He looked at her nervously and was shocked as her eyes filled with tears.
"You're right," she sobbed. "I am on my period. And it's horrible, Darcy, it's horrible! My stomach hurts and I'm bloated and I'm crying and I don't want to be crying and I can't handle it, it's too much! And I didn't want you, of all people to—"
"—to what?" he asks gently, slightly caught off-guard by her outpour of words and emotion.
"To see me like this. I mean, I'm usually not like this but with you and me my emotions are running high and I just…I'm a mess." He stared at her, with her disheveled hair and tear-streaked cheeks. Her nose was even a little runny.
It was extremely endearing.
Darcy put his arm around her, which surprised even himself. She was the only girl (besides Georgiana) who could pull displays of affection out of her, public or private.
"I think you're beautiful regardless of what you look like."
"So you're saying I'm ugly!" Lizzie cried.
Darcy just shook his head. He'd have to remember to choose his words very carefully. "I'm absolutely not saying that. You could gain fifty pounds and you'd be gorgeous. You could get terrible bags under your eyes and you'd be lovely. No matter how your physical appearance changes, you'd still be beautiful to me because you're Lizzie Bennet. And Lizzie Bennet is synonymous with beautiful."
Lizzie sat up straight and wiped her eyes—and nose—on her sleeve. "Do you really think that?"
He smirked at her. "Don't you know me?"
She kissed him on the cheek. "Will Darcy is never anything but honest." He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest.
"Absolutely. And now that we've had this unexpected talk about periods, can I tell you something and will you promise you won't get angry?"
She eyed him warily but nodded.
"You are getting mucus on my favorite sweater and I fully expect you to pay for the dry cleaning."
A/N: Just a fun one-shot that came to me while watching Modern Family. This kind of got the P&P juices flowing, so hopefully that means I'll be back to writing The Bane of My Existence sometime soon. And yes, for all of you who haven't read that story that was a shameless plug. :D
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