Chmergess One-Shots

This Isn't Your Kingdom Anymore

You've stumbled across a stressed Taylor oneshot! Neat. Okay, so if it isn't good, or there are editing mistakes, I'm apologizing in advance because I am stressed and exhausted, but falling asleep is proving to be a challenge, so...here you go! Enjoy! ❤

"This isn't your kingdom anymore."

The words of Mandy Moore, herself, played through Sharna's head over and over again. I mean, she wasn't wrong. Not at all. And that was the scary thing.

"Sharna...Sharna...Sharna May." The snapping of someone's fingers in her sightline brought her from her thoughts. "Babe, it's your turn to block." She soon recognized the voice as Val's.

"Right, sorry." Sharna stood up and made her way to the floor, where she was met by Artem. They were working on blocking for their latest tour. Val shook the thought of the Aussie's off behavior out of his head as he sat down, watching as the blocking of the other dances proceeded.

~~~~~

It was a couple of hours later when Val and Sharna were back home. They shared the apartment as friends. Nothing more, nothing less. It was nice. They split the rental, chores, and ontop of it all, they each had their own room, so neither one had to sleep on the foldout couch.

It was a couple of hours after they had gotten home, post dinner, when Sharna had gone to bed. Val wasn't too tired yet, so he was still up. Boredom soon consumed him, so he turned on a movie. The movie wrapped around two. It wasn't too incredibly late, but it wasn't what most would call a "reasonable bedtime". Val walked passed Sharna's room to get to his own, and when doing so, he realized her lamp was still on. He slowly opened her door; his plan was to just be quiet and turn her lamp and let her continue sleeping. Instead, he found her laying wide awake, tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep. "What are you still doing up?" Val asked quietly, not to startle her.

"Can't sleep." She sighed, turning around so she was facing Val. "What are you doing up?"

"I was watching a movie."

"Oh." Sharna took a deep breath and settled farther down onto the mattress below her. Val thought for a moment before walking over to the side of the bed Sharna wasn't on, and laying beside her. Sharna smiled to herself. She turned around once more, to face him. She chuckled.

"Do you mind me being here?" Val asked.

"No, not at all." Val's eyes wouldn't leave her's. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm trying to figure out what you're thinking about. I can tell your mind's racing, and that's probably why you're still awake." His soft smile fell. "What's going on in that pretty head of yours?"

"Nothing, I'm just really tired and frustrated because I cannot fall asleep!" Sharna sighed once more. "And I've been thinking about what Mandy said."

"Oh, about the kingdom?" Val asked.

"Yeah, and like, I'm proud of them, I am, it's just...I don't know. I don't know how I'm feeling, I'm just..." Her voice trailed off.

"Tired?" They both chuckled at that.

"Definitely."

"But you're also confused. And scared. And you're happy, of course, but you're also trying to make sense of a situation you can't necessarily make sense of." Val's thumb moved back and forth on her cheek. "Aren't you?"

"Am I really that easy to read?" Sharna asked with a small chuckle.

"Just a little." He winked and kissed her cheek where his thumb was moments ago. Val turned the lamp off, then gently wrapped an arm around her waist. "This okay?"

"It's perfect."