Work Text:
One person stopping a kiss to ask “Do you want to do this?”, only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss
Arguing had always been their thing, despite the fact Anthony had, had a crush on Kate since the moment she had stepped foot in Grosvenor Academy at the age of 12 and he had been running down the corridor trying to catch the wayward rugby hall that Simon had thrown when he had ploughed straight into her, knocking her to the floor as he sprawled on top of her.
Anthony had stammered an apology like a gawking chimp as he looked at the tangle of books, coat and dark frizzy hair and the longest pair of legs Anthony had ever seen and for the first time in his 13 going on 14 years of life, he had been tongue tied.
She gave him a look of such contemptment he was sure his blood had turned to ice as she picked herself up off the floor and with a huffed “you need to watch where you are going!” She collected her books and stalked off and Anthony was left standing there, his mouth open in awe of this girl.
He spent the next two weeks trying to get to know her but everytime he got close she just scowled at him and walked away, which Anthony thought was unusual given that he was part of the popular crowd, most of the girls at school cooed over him and wanted to get to know him and if he chose to talk to one of them, they never glared at him and stalked off.
He’d watched as she seemed to make friends with his younger brother who was in her year and he’d basically bribed and coerced his brother into giving him all the information he could get out of him about the girl.
When he had tried to ask her out a week later, she had shot him down in a rather spectacular fashion stating, she had overheard people talking about him, how he would kiss girls behind the school changing rooms, or at the big oak tree and never speak to them again, and she wasn’t about to be another on a long list of pathetic girls. This had needled him, as he had no intention of that with her, no one else seemed to spark that interest in him and he’d bit back. They’d argued, and afterwards, Anthony was pretty sure there wasn’t another girl in the world that would challenge him the way Kate Sharma did.
He didn’t give up though, he did take a step back, he wasn’t going to be pushy and he wasn’t going to stalk her, he was 14 for god's sake, he wasn’t desperate.
So over the next two years, he tried to ask her to the school disco’s, school parties, and each time she said no. He joined debate class just to spend time with her, and to argue with her, as it gave him a rise to bicker and argue with her.
He watched her with interest from afar, watching as she studied, watched her with the petite blonde, and he had to admit to himself, the day he had seen her punch the school bitch Rosamund, in front of most the school for bullying her friend, Anthony may have gotten his first stiffy in school, his hormones around Kate were a little squiffy at the best of times but this had been ridiculous.
He had missed his Maths class having to lock himself in the bathroom and conjugate verbs in french and german to get it to go away… but that night that vision came back and it was the first time he’d stuffed his hands into his boxers and made a hell of a mess of himself.
He couldn’t help but watch her from afar, he always wondered what she talked so passionately about with Benedict when they sat together at lunch. He felt a little jealous, wondering if she preferred his brother to him, but she never seemed to show interest like that in his brother and he knew Benedict saw her as another sister, and though Benedict teased him constantly about his “crush” on Kate… Anthony knew he would one day get payback on Benedict.
Which came less than a week after the punching incident when Benedict met Sophie, and if he thought he was a little pathetic about the way he felt about Kate and his inability to do anything about it, it was nothing compared to the way Benedict was with Sophie.
It was the few times Kate started to talk to him, when she walked away, leaving the two of them at the lunch table, talking and giggling together. “You know, if you want Ben to ask your friend out, you’re going to have to do more than just leave them together, he’s stupidly shy about asking girls out” he said to her one afternoon.
“Well, we’ll see shall we. I bet he manages to ask her to the Valentine’s dance” Kate said with a smirk as she leaned against the wall, watching the two of them, trying not to stand so close to Anthony out of fear that her body would set alight, he always made her feel strange and had done since day one when he’d ploughed into her.
She knew that she, a nobody originally from Somerset, the daughter of a doctor, had no right to date a popular boy like Anthony and so when she’d heard the rumours about him, she clung to the conviction that he just wanted to add her to his ever growing list of conquests.
So even now, at 16, he was handsome and tall, and nearly the entire school had a crush on him. Kate wasn’t blind but she knew she was never going to go there.
“I’ll take that bet!” Anthony smirked at her, giving her a little shove with his hip.
“Huh?” she said, looking up at him, totally forgetting their original conversation. “Oh right… sure… Ben and Sophie” he said.
“Honestly, I'm not sure I could cope if he manages to ask her out, he just sighs happily whenever he says her name, you can barely understand it” he laughed.
“It’s sweet!” Kate said in defense of her friends.
“Whatever you say… so terms for this bet?” Anthony said with a grin.
“What do you propose?” she said her brow raised skeptically.
“If you do not manage to get them to go to the dance together… then you have to come to the pictures with me the weekend after the party” he said, chancing his arm, this might be the only way to get her to go on a date with him.
“Fine but if I manage… you have to do my history homework for the rest of the term” she said.
Anthony frowned, History was one of his best subjects, and he knew Kate was a A* predicted student. “You have yourself a deal!” he said with a smirk and they shook hands, both feeling a spark as their skin touched.
Anthony felt hopeful as the week before the school party came around, he’d asked Ben if he was going on the wednesday morning, as they sat in the car on their way to school and he’d just grumbled about not having the nerve to ask so wasn’t go to go and Anthony had felt the little beast inside of him roaring with triumph.
But that night, when Benedict came in the house after his extra art class, he was practically bouncing through dinner, and when their mum asked why he was so happy and excited, he rather loudly announced “I've asked Sophie to the school dance with me next week! And she said yes!” he’d beamed.
Anthony had groaned, loudly. Earning him a swat across the back of his head from his father and a hurt look from Benedict.
He’d apologised to Benedict that night after he’d tried to lock himself in his room rather than playing on the playstation with his brother as was their Wednesday night tradition.
“You know you could just ask her for a dance at the party, she’ll be going since she’s a prefect!” he’d said in annoyance that his brother had been betting on his love life, and his inability to ask Sophie out for nearly a full year.
Anthony realised his brother had a point and when his father told him he had to go to the dance, since Benedict was going, he had reluctantly agreed.
Anthony was sure his heart was going to hammer out his chest when he saw Kate in her deep green dress, the colour complimenting her skin beautifully, her hair half up and down. He swallowed as she looked at him.
“Bridgerton” Kate said her voice a little startled “didn’t think it was cool enough for you to attend a school formal”
“Sharma…” Anthony said tossing her a lazy smile “no it really isn’t but when you have to keep an eye on your younger siblings… you get bullied into by your parents”
They watched as Ben led Sophie into the party and Anthony offered his arm to Kate, being polite “shall we?” he said, Kate felt a flush on her cheeks as she looked down but took it, both looking a little pleased.
Anthony walked into the school party, with Kate on his arm, feeling practically 10 foot tall.
Anthony barely saw his younger brother again from the moment he’d entered the dance. Him and Sophie had disappeared and he was left with Kate. The two of them walked around the edges of the dance, talking, not arguing for once. Anthony was telling her of his siblings, he talked with pride at Fran who at not quite 8 years old was incredible on the piano, of Daphne and Colin and their antics and Kate listened in raptures.
She told him of her family. Edwina, they both knew, was in the same class as Eloise and Fran in the lower part of the school but Anthony hadn’t realised they were only half-sisters.
Kate had explained that her mother had died when she was 3, on her 3rd birthday to be exact, they were on their way to meet her father from work to go out for dinner when a driver who was speeding in the storm had crashed into their car. Kate had no idea why she had told Anthony this story, but she somehow felt very safe with him.
They stared at one another for a moment before Anthony worked up the courage to stammer out, “do you… erm… do you want to dance?” he asked, his voice sounding gruff and nervous.
Kate nodded somewhat shyly, swallowing as she did so. She really did want to dance with him, the way he had given her his undivided attention made her wonder if maybe she had been wrong, she was sure she had seen a look in his eyes, that was so much like that of what Benedict used when he looked at Sophie and it made Kate’s stomach flutter.
Anthony had pulled her onto the floor and they danced, laughing and talking as they did so. “So when do you want me to start doing your history homework?” he asked with a brilliant smile.
“Oh right, you… you don’t have to do it” she said with a sheepish smile as he led her off the dance floor, her stomach fluttering
“No you won the bet fair and square and the gentleman doesn’t welch on his bets” he said, the charming smile still on his face causing Kate the flutter in her stomach to get worse and heat to crawl over her entire body.
“i...I… I need a drink” she said, feeling overly hot.
“Here, let me… just… wait here I'll be right back,” he said brightly. Kate nodded.
Anthony made his way over to the drinks, rather unable to believe that his brother’s advice seemingly paid off. He had danced with Kate, they hadn’t argued, he was sure she could feel the same tension and pull between them. As he picked up the two glasses of Lemonade, he steeled himself to try again, and ask her out. To see if she would go to the pictures with him, despite him losing the bet but as he turned he saw…
“Sienna, what the fuck do you want” he said, looking annoyed.
“You know exactly what I want…” she purred, taking the glass of lemonade out of his hand and draining it, and stepping closer to him.
“I’m not interested, and besides, you were the one who cheated on me, remember!” he snapped. He hadn’t dated Sienna for long, it was less than a month because he knew he couldn’t just moon after Kate for the rest of his life and Sienna had seemed nice enough at the time.
“But that was a mistake, surely you can forgive me” she said, her hands crawling up his arms towards his shoulder.
“Sienna fuck off, I’m not interested” he said again, his eyes now looking around the room for Kate.
“Come on, surely you’re not going to be like your sad baby brother and are dating the school loser are you!” she said. Anthony’s eyes flashed with anger as he grabbed Sienna with both arms.
“Kate is a million times better than you will ever be…” he snapped.
Sienna looked triumphant for a second, her eyes over his shoulder as she launched herself forward and pressed her lips to Anthony’s.
Anthony heard a loud gasp behind him and he shoved Sienna back with a yell of “what the fuck!” as he whipped around in time to see Kate disappearing through the crowd.
Kate had wondered what had kept Anthony, and made her way over to the drinks table, she hadn’t heard what was going on but she heard something and then watched in horror as Sienna kissed Anthony, as he had his arms tight on her.
Kate had felt her entire stomach drop and she felt like a fool, an idiot and as she felt tears welling in her eyes, she turned around and tore from the room, ignoring the yells of her name, Anthony chasing after her.
“KATE!! WAIT. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!” he shouted after her.
Anger and humiliation tore through Kate as she whirled around looking furious, looking like she would turn him to stone with her glare, her curls flying around her head in a way that almost made her look like medusa.
“Just stop! I should have known! All I was going to be was another notch! Another name to add to your ever growing list before you went running back to Sienna!!” she snapped, screaming at him.
“Kate...it’s not… it’s not that at all!” he stammered
“No! I was an idiot for thinking you might actually like me! That you might not be exactly what I thought you were!!” she hissed, tears in her dark eyes threatening to spill over.
“Kate…” he said again
“No Anthony! Just leave me the fuck alone…” she said as she turned again and ran off before he had a chance to stop her, jumping on the first bus that pulled up and she was gone.
Anthony had sworn loudly and punched the brick exterior of the school, breaking his knuckles as he did so. He ignored the pain in his hand, he didn’t speak all the way home, not wanting to spoil the happy bubble his brother was in but the next morning when his knuckles had swollen up and he couldn’t move his hand, he had to let his mother take him to hospital.
The monday in school, he had tried to chase after Kate to talk to her again but he’d found her next to the school bitches who were talking, loudly, about how he and Sienna were back together, how they had seen them kissing later at the school party, despite it being a lie… and though Anthony had screamed at the girls, denied every rumour… no matter what he tried, Kate wouldn’t talk to him.
She’d avoided sitting with Benedict and Sophie at lunch, out of fear he would join them, Anthony had tried to get Sophie to explain but whenever Sophie tried to talk to Kate about Anthony, she ran away or shouted at her so Sophie had stopped.
Eventually, the rumours stopped, Sienna started seeing someone else and Anthony just hoped that maybe he’d get a chance to speak to Kate.
Kate had been heartbroken when she’d seen Anthony kiss Sienna, or Sienna kiss Anthony, whatever had happened, Sophie and Ben kept trying to tell her one thing but she’d heard the rumours, she’d heard Cressida, Mary and Rosa talking about what they had been told from Sienna and it just hurt.
But her father then took ill towards the end of term and Kate just retreated into herself, trying to carry on, whilst looking after her father as he recovered from his heart attack. She had come so close to losing her father that the drama with Anthony no longer mattered.
The summer holidays were spent with her family, caring for her father, helping him regain his strength so when she went to school, ready for her last year, she had told herself she no longer liked Anthony Bridgerton, and it wouldn’t hurt to see him every day.
Whilst it was true she didn’t see him everyday as he was in the Sixth Form College, it wasn’t true that it didn’t hurt when she saw him. If anything, she was sure he had gotten more handsome over the summer. A little bit of stubble covered his chiseled jaw, his hair a little more floppy and he was a little more broad and toned.
It sickened Kate that anyone could look that handsome and she made a point of actively avoiding him again. With Edwina now in the main school. Aged 11, Kate spent her lunches with her, when she wasn’t on prefect duty. She would still have lunch with Ben and Sophie once a week but she did her best to avoid any connections with Anthony Bridgerton.
There hadn’t been any rumours about him dating anyone else, about seeing anyone else, or even being near anyone else after the school Valentine’s party last year but Kate kept telling herself she didn’t care.
Anthony knew Kate was still avoiding him and though it hurt, he had realised over the summer he couldn’t force it, he couldn’t make her talk to him if she didn’t want to. Sophie had told him to give her time. She was hurting but she was sure that Kate did like him.
Benedict had told him the same thing, and though it wasn’t in Anthony’s nature to be patient, he decided to try.
That was until he was training with Simon on the school sport’s field one afternoon, he could see Kate running around the track, her short running shorts had him entirely distracted as he lined up his kick for the posts and completely screw it up and it flew well wide of the posts, and struck Kate in the side causing her to stumble over.
“SORRY!” Anthony had yelled out.
Kate hadn’t seen the ball coming, she’d been in the zone and running at full pelt trying to get a personal best when the ball came out of nowhere and hit her in the side sending her tumbling and as she heard out the yell, the little bit of self-control, her restraint at the last few months of anger and rage at this boy, man, whatever… just slipped.
Getting up she stormed over to him, her hair wild again, like it had been that night, and fury in her eyes, not caring that half of the school was out here she screamed “haven’t you fucking humilated me enough Bridgerton?! Haven’t you made me look like a big enough idiot in front of the whole school without you having to hit me with a fucking rugby ball!” she raged.
Anthony took a step back, a little shocked at the way she was railing at him, the fury and anger in her eyes was something he had never seen on her face before.
“It was an accident! I never meant to humiliate you! And I didnt the last time! You just didn’t let me explain!!!” he yelled back, his own control snapping, she’d not even given him the chance to talk to him, to explain what had happened and just assumed the worst from him and he had had enough.
“What was there to explain!” she yelled back “you danced with me, left me in the middle of the dance floor and the next thing I see is you snogging Sienna!!” she said, angry tears forming in her eyes
“SHE KISSED ME. I WAS TELLING TO HER FUCK OFF” he roared back, his hands in fists as his side as he tried to tamper down his anger and rage.
“Likely story!” she scoffed “I don’t know what I ever saw in you!” she spat “just when I had been starting to think that maybe i’d been wrong about you! That you weren’t a complete fuck boy who wanted to fuck and snog his way around all the girls in school, you go and prove me wrong, in the most humiliating way ever!” she said, venom coating her words.
Anthony took a step forward, “I am not! I WAS telling her to fuck off! I was steeling myself to actually ask you out again! I’ve wanted to, and tried to ask you out for three fucking years!!” he yelled at her “I was being sincere every time! I only dated other girls to get my mind off YOU!” he yelled, breathing hard as he was just an inch away from her.
He could see the freckles on her face, desperate for her to see the truth in his eyes, to see that it was her, it was only ever her that he wanted.
Kate shook her head, “don’t… just… I can’t do this” she said looking at him, pain covering her face as she became painfully aware that half of the school was watching them screaming at each other.
Without another word she turned around and ran off towards the changing rooms.
Anthony watched blinking as for the second time Kate ran away from him.
“Mate! What are you waiting for!! Get after her!” Simon yelled, the only one who had heard the exact contents of their argument.
Anthony jerked to attention and took off at a sprint after Kate, grateful that whilst she was fast, so was he, and with longer legs he caught up with her before she made it to the changing rooms. He grabbed her arm “Kate, just wait!” he yelled.
“Get off me Anthony!” she snapped, yanking her arm back.
“Just listen to me for FUCKS SAKE woman, then if you never want to speak to me again then fine, but just… let me talk!” he yelled.
Kate yanked her arm free and huffed it over her chest. “Fine. talk” she said, her words short and precise.
Anthony pulled her around the side of the building away from anyone who might see them, he didn’t really want an audience for this.
“Kate… I'm really sorry for what you saw at the valentine’s party! I swear, I was coming back to you. I’d stopped to compose myself as I was really wanting to ask you out, I thought maybe, you didn’t hate me as much as you used to and that you might… maybe, well you might have given me a chance… its why I made that stupid bet in the first place, i’d thought it would be my only chance to get you to agree to go out with me… but Ben… he’d told me just to ask you to dance at the party and I did, and it was incredible and we laughed, and it just, it felt right… you challenge me in a way no one ever has. From the moment I knocked you over in the hallway, i’ve been intrigued by you, I’ve wanted to get to know you, hell it's why I joined debate just to speak to you, to argue with you cause I really like you Kate.” he said with a sigh, there was no going back now.
“I’ve liked you for years, and yes my logic was a little fucked up, i tried to date other girls to stop thinking about you but its why it never lasted, they couldn’t compete with you and Sienna, well, that was just a disaster from the get go, I tried to break it off after two dates but she wouldn’t let me, then cheated on me with fucking Cavender of all people, then decided at the party she wanted me back… what you saw… she kissed me, I was telling her to fuck off. She must have seen you over my shoulder as I told her that you’re a million times better than she ever would be and that's when she kissed me… and you saw” he said, his eyes gazing at her pleadingly.
“You… you’ve liked me for years?” she asked, sounding shocked.
He nodded.
“But… but… WHY?” she asked, her mouth agape like a fish, trying to wrap her head around all of this.
“What do you mean… why?” he asked, pulling a face, looking confused, surely it was obvious.
“Well… have you seen me…?” she asked “i’m not popular, i’m not beautiful or pretty, i’m not the type of girl the rugby captain and popular boy in school dates” she said sadly.
Anthony shook his head “I have seen you, I like you Kate because you’re smart, you're witty, you’re intelligent and you don’t take shit. You stand up for what you believe in and whilst you drive me mad, and your reasonings are often beyond logic… you enchant me and you have bewitched me and I will never, ever be good enough for you, I am sure of that now, the more I know about you, the more I like about you… I don’t want you to just be a name on a list, you were never going to be a name on the list… I really like you Kate” he said again, taking one more step closer to her
“I’ve really liked you for a long time, and i’ve seen you every school day for the last three years and you’ve only ever gotten more beautiful to me as the days went by, you are more breathtaking that you were yesterday and I know tomorrow you will be even more breathtaking than you are right now” he said again.
Kate could have swooned, her heart was soaring and beating wildly in her chest. “I really like you too. I have for ages but I just thought… I thought…” she was silenced by Anthony leaning in and pressing a kiss to her lips.
It was soft at first, lingering softly before he leaned back “can I take you to the pictures or out for dinner this weekend?” he asked
Kate pulled him back in, pulling his rugby jersey forward and kissed him again, a little more intense this time, she pressed her lips a little roughly against his, her experience with boys and kissing was very limited but she didn’t care, and as Anthony’s hands found her waist, pulling her forward towards him, before he broke off “Do you want to do this?” he asked, pressing his forehead against hers “Do you want to give us a try?”
Kate nodded saying “yes please” before pulling him back in, her lips pressing against his a little more firmly and confidently as she did the one thing she vowed she was never going to do, and let herself be snogged senseless behind the school changing rooms.
But the next day, as they walked into school hand in hand, having spent the entire night texting and talking, as the whisperings started, Kate found that she really didn’t care. She hadn’t been this happy as she had been in a long time and she knew, that despite having not been on an official date with Anthony yet, splitting a cheeseburger on the way home from school, he had told her, definitely didn’t count, that she was well on her way to being in love with him.
Anthony, had known the moment he kissed her goodnight at the end of her street before jumping on the bus, that he was already in love with Kate, and he was pretty sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.