a/n: first reign fic. kind of au (and, honestly, i'm not sure where it falls on the timeline. sometime after their first kiss...). because i'm a bash/mary kinda girl.

It's quiet. He's gone outside because he can't sleep, holding a bottle in his right hand.

He expects to go for a walk. But, he's surprised, because he isn't alone.

"Mary," he says, in a hushed voice.

"Bash," she smiles vaguely. "Is sleeplessness contagious?"

He smiles at her, coming to sit next to her on the grass. He lifts the bottle. Tentatively, she reaches for it, looking through the neck before taking a gulp. Her nose wrinkles, because it is the most pungent wine she's ever tasted.

"That is disgusting."

He chuckles as she passes the bottle back to him. This is vaguely familiar. If he remembered right, it had already happened once.

He's comfortable to let it be quiet. Oddly, she is too.

"What's it like?" She asks.

"What like?"

"Not being responsible for a country."

He laughs, making her smile, in spite of the bitterness seeded in her chest.

"I am so tied to-" she shakes her head. How can she even list the things she finds herself subject to? "But with you-" She glances to him.

For a second, she realizes it- the difference. What Bash wanted, he pursued. Where he wanted to go, he went. What he felt- he felt. Deep and rich and passionate.

He tucks her hair behind her ear. "Certain lives are for certain people, Mary." He looks at her, sincere. "You're a queen, because you make a great leader." He skims her jaw. "Because you were, in no way, made to be ordinary."

He's so real. She's desperate- to keep this. In this moment, she loves him. Because he's restless, and honest, and so far from everything she has to be. She leans in. Slowly, at first- but then instantly. In a collision that makes her feel awake. They're crushed together, and her skin warms. And she isn't worried about Court, or Scotland, or alliances, or France, or Francis.

"If you want me to stop you-" his forehead tilts against hers. He talks into her cheek.

She shakes her head, thinking about how this might have been different. For tonight, she'll follow his lead. She'll take what she wants.

Love who she chooses.

a/n: if you'd read more one shots like this, please follow or review:]