![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Monarch of the Glen | Paper Hearts (Author's Notes, Part 1)
Title: Paper Hearts
Fandom: Monarch of the Glen
Universe: Canon (Series 3)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: M
Rating: Language, innuendo
Word Count: 9,455
Summary: Series 3. They could never quite get their timing right…until they did. Four times when Archie shouldn’t have kissed Lexie (but did), and one time when he very definitely should have – and did.
Links: DW | AO3 | FF.net
The easiest way to summarize this purpose of this story is to say "there wasn't enough kissing, so I added more kissing" :P
Series 3 contains the courtship between what is eventually the canon pairing, that of Archie and Lexie, but you wouldn't really know that just by watching it. I've actually watched it several times, and realized that, indeed, the problem is that there is no kissing, or any other convincing physical evidence that they are anywhere near a marriage proposal until it quite literally happens. And, though it was written that way for a reason (to capture a Cinderella aesthetic), it is ultimately disappointing, especially when you consider that these two characters had a major makeout session in Series 1 and a pretty hot kiss in Series 2. Series 3 was an exercise in wasted chemistry, and a frustrating one at that.
It took several rewatches of S3 to convince myself that it was worth keeping in my headcanon, and it was when I found the small moments that I realized just how valuable it is. It truly is those fleeting moments where their bond strengthens and deepens - the lingering looks and hugs and kisses on the cheek; the stark, high-stakes conversations they have about the future of the estate, as well as themselves.
Mix that sort of emotional bonding with the sizzling physical chemistry of the previous series and you have a smash hit of a ship, so that's what I did - I found those moments that would've benefited from a kiss and inserted it. Their running joke is that their timing is terrible, so that's the thread I went with, in an old-school five times fic, with four inappropriate moments and one very appropriate moment =) Because of the rich complexity of the canon, I'm breaking down my author's notes in separate posts for each scene.
So let's begin, shall we? =)
The idea for this story came to me after I watched the proposal at the end of S3E9 for probably the tenth time. I just happened to pop in my latest musical purchase - Zedd's True Colors album - and when the second song started, my brain just flooded with ideas. It was exactly what I was looking to do in writing fix-it fic for S3. My headcanon coalesced and I began to jot down lots of ideas, basically going backwards from the proposal to pick out what I thought were four other pivotal moments in this erstwhile relationship.
I decided to write this from Archie's POV because it's pretty obvious how Lexie feels about him. She propositioned him in the bath at the end of S2, so she's laid her feelings on the line already. He is the one that has to work things out here, and his is the more interesting POV because he can be rather obtuse at times :P
I kept coming back to S3E2 as my starting point. Here are the key points:
---
The context: The bank has finally taken over the estate in order to get their money back. The bridge was shuttered at the end of S2, so Glenbogle is in a holding pattern, unable to admit the paying guests they so desperately need. In order to stave off insolvency, Stella (the financial controller) more or less demands that they cut costs to the bone, and that includes a severe 50% paycut for the staff. They, of course, balk at that, and Lexie leads them on strike in protest. Before Archie finally figures out how to outmaneuver Stella, things break down between Lexie, Golly, and Duncan, and she leaves them to seek employment at Kilwillie Castle, the neighboring estate.
The scene:
There is a wonderful moment during this confrontation at the Kilwillie Castle kitchen, when Archie is trying to convince Lexie to come back to Glenbogle (2:12 in the above video). The way he looks at her...it just spoke to me. It would be the perfect place to insert a highly inappropriate kiss, especially considering that Stella has already taunted Lexie about her feelings for Archie.
Why it's the wrong moment: Archie has just broken up with Katrina, and though it was by mutual consent, it wasn't because they'd fought - it was because she left the estate for a job in London. So, he is still something of an emotional wreck, and he's already told Lexie in this very scene that he isn't ready for another relationship (~2:00 mark in the above clip) - and yet, if he kisses her anyway, that is a stark contradiction in terms. Here, he does it without thinking, and is punished for it, as she immediately pushes him away. He doesn't understand that she's upset not because she isn't interested in him, but because she is, and this is basically a tease of the worst kind :-/
It's obvious how attached he is to her, though, and how much she is an integral part of the estate's success. They are all kinda lost without her, and they realized it when she was no longer there. He leaves here, but he's not yet ready to give up without a fight. (It's also a piece of my headcanon that Molly is the one who packed Lexie's bags, and made sure to tuck in that picture of the castle that little Lexie had painted when she was nine - that seems like a very Molly bit of manipulation, hehe.)
Canon references: "That was my bosom - I'm sorry if it offended you" = their encounter on the stairs at Glenbogle the day before, when Lexie accuses Archie of cozying up to Stella instead of having his friends' backs, and he accuses her of trying to tease/seduce him out of jealousy.
"You can grab her gaskins all you want, Arch, it's no skin off my nose!" = this tiny bit of misunderstanding that is very definitely overplayed :P
"Glenbogle's your home, you've always said so" = in S2 we learn of Lexie's hardscrabble life back in Glasgow, and the reason why she left in the first place. She tells Archie that Glenbogle is the closest thing she's ever had to a home in her entire life, and that she'd rather leave it instead of attending to her sociopathic mother's calculated machinations.
---
So here, we see that he is already very attached to her, and feels quite close to her, and doesn't want to lose her in the grand scheme of things. There is also the ever-present undercurrent of romantic attraction, as he realizes that he's managed to say (and do) exactly the wrong things. He's fought hard for his friends, though, and isn't just going to give up on her because she's made it a bit more difficult for him. It inspires him to dig a little deeper in order to get her back. The addition of the kiss doesn't really change anything in canon, it just adds a bit of tension between them, and perhaps would give her hope that he hasn't forgotten about their previous kisses.
Fandom: Monarch of the Glen
Universe: Canon (Series 3)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: M
Rating: Language, innuendo
Word Count: 9,455
Summary: Series 3. They could never quite get their timing right…until they did. Four times when Archie shouldn’t have kissed Lexie (but did), and one time when he very definitely should have – and did.
Links: DW | AO3 | FF.net
The easiest way to summarize this purpose of this story is to say "there wasn't enough kissing, so I added more kissing" :P
Series 3 contains the courtship between what is eventually the canon pairing, that of Archie and Lexie, but you wouldn't really know that just by watching it. I've actually watched it several times, and realized that, indeed, the problem is that there is no kissing, or any other convincing physical evidence that they are anywhere near a marriage proposal until it quite literally happens. And, though it was written that way for a reason (to capture a Cinderella aesthetic), it is ultimately disappointing, especially when you consider that these two characters had a major makeout session in Series 1 and a pretty hot kiss in Series 2. Series 3 was an exercise in wasted chemistry, and a frustrating one at that.
It took several rewatches of S3 to convince myself that it was worth keeping in my headcanon, and it was when I found the small moments that I realized just how valuable it is. It truly is those fleeting moments where their bond strengthens and deepens - the lingering looks and hugs and kisses on the cheek; the stark, high-stakes conversations they have about the future of the estate, as well as themselves.
Mix that sort of emotional bonding with the sizzling physical chemistry of the previous series and you have a smash hit of a ship, so that's what I did - I found those moments that would've benefited from a kiss and inserted it. Their running joke is that their timing is terrible, so that's the thread I went with, in an old-school five times fic, with four inappropriate moments and one very appropriate moment =) Because of the rich complexity of the canon, I'm breaking down my author's notes in separate posts for each scene.
So let's begin, shall we? =)
The idea for this story came to me after I watched the proposal at the end of S3E9 for probably the tenth time. I just happened to pop in my latest musical purchase - Zedd's True Colors album - and when the second song started, my brain just flooded with ideas. It was exactly what I was looking to do in writing fix-it fic for S3. My headcanon coalesced and I began to jot down lots of ideas, basically going backwards from the proposal to pick out what I thought were four other pivotal moments in this erstwhile relationship.
I decided to write this from Archie's POV because it's pretty obvious how Lexie feels about him. She propositioned him in the bath at the end of S2, so she's laid her feelings on the line already. He is the one that has to work things out here, and his is the more interesting POV because he can be rather obtuse at times :P
I kept coming back to S3E2 as my starting point. Here are the key points:
---
The context: The bank has finally taken over the estate in order to get their money back. The bridge was shuttered at the end of S2, so Glenbogle is in a holding pattern, unable to admit the paying guests they so desperately need. In order to stave off insolvency, Stella (the financial controller) more or less demands that they cut costs to the bone, and that includes a severe 50% paycut for the staff. They, of course, balk at that, and Lexie leads them on strike in protest. Before Archie finally figures out how to outmaneuver Stella, things break down between Lexie, Golly, and Duncan, and she leaves them to seek employment at Kilwillie Castle, the neighboring estate.
The scene:
There is a wonderful moment during this confrontation at the Kilwillie Castle kitchen, when Archie is trying to convince Lexie to come back to Glenbogle (2:12 in the above video). The way he looks at her...it just spoke to me. It would be the perfect place to insert a highly inappropriate kiss, especially considering that Stella has already taunted Lexie about her feelings for Archie.
Why it's the wrong moment: Archie has just broken up with Katrina, and though it was by mutual consent, it wasn't because they'd fought - it was because she left the estate for a job in London. So, he is still something of an emotional wreck, and he's already told Lexie in this very scene that he isn't ready for another relationship (~2:00 mark in the above clip) - and yet, if he kisses her anyway, that is a stark contradiction in terms. Here, he does it without thinking, and is punished for it, as she immediately pushes him away. He doesn't understand that she's upset not because she isn't interested in him, but because she is, and this is basically a tease of the worst kind :-/
It's obvious how attached he is to her, though, and how much she is an integral part of the estate's success. They are all kinda lost without her, and they realized it when she was no longer there. He leaves here, but he's not yet ready to give up without a fight. (It's also a piece of my headcanon that Molly is the one who packed Lexie's bags, and made sure to tuck in that picture of the castle that little Lexie had painted when she was nine - that seems like a very Molly bit of manipulation, hehe.)
Canon references: "That was my bosom - I'm sorry if it offended you" = their encounter on the stairs at Glenbogle the day before, when Lexie accuses Archie of cozying up to Stella instead of having his friends' backs, and he accuses her of trying to tease/seduce him out of jealousy.
"You can grab her gaskins all you want, Arch, it's no skin off my nose!" = this tiny bit of misunderstanding that is very definitely overplayed :P
"Glenbogle's your home, you've always said so" = in S2 we learn of Lexie's hardscrabble life back in Glasgow, and the reason why she left in the first place. She tells Archie that Glenbogle is the closest thing she's ever had to a home in her entire life, and that she'd rather leave it instead of attending to her sociopathic mother's calculated machinations.
---
So here, we see that he is already very attached to her, and feels quite close to her, and doesn't want to lose her in the grand scheme of things. There is also the ever-present undercurrent of romantic attraction, as he realizes that he's managed to say (and do) exactly the wrong things. He's fought hard for his friends, though, and isn't just going to give up on her because she's made it a bit more difficult for him. It inspires him to dig a little deeper in order to get her back. The addition of the kiss doesn't really change anything in canon, it just adds a bit of tension between them, and perhaps would give her hope that he hasn't forgotten about their previous kisses.
Love this story
(Anonymous) 2022-08-22 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)It’s an interesting read. Thanks again
Re: Love this story