Moodboards + Mel/frank/kingdon

JACK LOWDEN as River Cartwright in Slow Horses 2.01

Why does no one write this?

River's mother suspecting he's into Diana Taverner... This gives me very, very interesting ideas...

(Lady Di would totally ruin him. Coercion and manipulation are sure to be involved.)

Generally, I'm not sure I totally get the whole "whump" thing. But that first gif, where he's being perp walked out of the Park by Hobbs with blood all over his face? Is that what you guys are talking about?

JACK LOWDEN as River Cartwright in SLOW HORSES Season 3 (2023)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Slow Horses (TV), Slough House - Mick Herron Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sidonie "Sid" Baker/River Cartwright Characters: River Cartwright, Sidonie "Sid" Baker Additional Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, OCs (secondary characters), Co-workers to lovers, One Night Stands Summary:

Sid asks River to be her date to fool her friends into thinking she's moved on from a bad break up. In a surprise to no one who's ever read a romance novel, the only one she's fooling is herself.

(I think maybe you could consider this fluff if you're willing to overlook the teensy tiny ethical violation of banging someone you have under surveillance.)

Apple

Summary: Teenage River visits his mother in France.

Adult language

No warnings

Gen

746 words

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When River arrives, the house is dark and empty. He floats through it like a ghost, present without leaving an imprint anywhere. Two days later, the door opens. He recognizes his mother's tinkling laughter. He's not sure if the brittle note was always there or if he just didn't notice it as a boy.

The burble of a conversational duet flows closer and then they stumble into the kitchen, where he’s sitting at the table. After a minute the man starts sliding his hand up under his mother's skirt and he realizes that if he doesn't announce his presence, they're never going to realize he's there. Zero situational awareness. He coughs and they jump apart.

“Oh! River! What are you doing here? You scared me half to death skulking there.”

He gets straight to the point. “Where were you?”

“At a party down the coast. Marvelous people. Marvelous wine. Some of the Cannes crowd, you know.” River really did not know. She paused a moment, taking in his presence. “What are you doing here?” River felt the genuine confusion of her question like a blow, hot poisonous shame immediately flooding his body. Again. Not fucking again. How does he keep falling for this trap? Stupid stupid stupid.

“I'm visiting you. We had agreed…” he heard the choked sound in his voice and hated himself for it. He cleared his throat. “You agreed that I would come visit at the term break....”

“Oh! Is that this week!?”

“Yes. Obviously.”

“Oh." Her face fell. "It's just, we hadn't exactly planned on you, darling. Gavin's friends...they have the yacht in port at Monaco... Well, it's not exactly an event for children…”

“I'm not a child.”

“I just wouldn't want you to be bored. You understand, don't you?”

“Oh River, don't be like that. Maybe you could come back next week?”

His shoulders tensed as he pulled into himself. “You don't want me hanging around ruining your image, you mean.”

“I have school next week.”

“You could miss a few days to see your own mother, surely?”

“I have O Levels prep”, he muttered.

“And that's a higher priority than me?” She managed to sound extravagantly wounded.

“You make everything a higher priority than me! Do you even remember I exist when I'm not around?”

Boyfriend #178 stepped toward River, a hand extended, and placed his arm between them like a boxing referee. 

"Now son" he started but River turned on him before he could get his platitude out.

“When I need your input I'll ask her for your credit card number.”

“Have some respect for your elders”, his mother hissed. River turned his scowl back on her.

“You're a fucking bitch.”

“Now look here you little shit, I know I'm not your father but I'll be damned if I let you speak to her that way.”

“Jokes on you, mate. I don't even have a father.”

“You do,” Isobel interjected hotly.

“Could have fooled me”, he shrugged.

“You're just like him”, she muttered, lip curling almost imperceptibly. But River saw it. It was hard to shake old habits and his included frequently scanning his mother's face for signs of gathering weather.

“Whatever. Bye.” He scraped the chair back roughly and went to collect his things, flipping a two finger salute over his shoulder as he left the room. When he got upstairs, he packed slower than he needed to, to give her a chance to come find him. Apologize. Yell at him. Anything. An hour later, he left without a word. No one tried to stop him.

Three days later, he opened the kitchen door in Tunbridge Wells.

“You're back early, River!”

His grandmother was in the kitchen,  busy at the counter. He could smell food. His stomach rumbled audibly. The pocket money he'd left with hadn't been meant to cover two and a half unscheduled days in Paris on the way back and he hadn't exactly been on three squares.

“Yeah. Mum got busy, so.” Rose put an arm around him. 

“She does get busy, sometimes”, she said in a knowing tone. 

“Yeah.” It came out as a sigh.

“Your grandfather's out in the garden. I'm sure he could use some help.”

“Okay. Thanks Nan,” he mumbled around the piece of bread she'd handed him. He opened the door again, wondering if his cover story about what happened in France would make it past the OB's radar. He was finding lately that he was better at lying than he would have given himself credit for.

JACK LOWDEN as River Cartwright in Slow Horses 3.01

dr. sharp angles and dr. soft curves

(hidden angst explained in tags)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Slow Horses (TV), Slough House - Mick Herron Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: River Cartwright/Diana Taverner Characters: River Cartwright, Diana Taverner, James "Spider" Webb Summary:

Her friends are so jealous / You know how bad girls get / Sometimes it's not so easy / To be the teacher's pet

Cartwright catches Taverner's attention during training. HR violations ensue.

⚡️10 People I want to know better ⚡️

Thanks @daydreamgoddess14 for tagging me. I'm doing this so I will feel like less of a creep commenting all over your fic. 😄

Last song: Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

Favorite color: green

Last movie: Barbie? I think?

Last TV show: Shafted (aka Super Males)

Sweet/savoury/spicy: Thai food so I can have them all at once

Relationship status: married

Last thing I googled: "requin ou raquin"

Current obsession: Slow Horses/Slough House series, Jack Lowden, Paul Mescal (I've never seen anything this man has been in but I watch his interviews, wtf self). I'm about to finally start Onyx Storm, so good chance I'll get pulled back into those books (they are so bad! but also so addictive).

Looking forward to: The improv class I signed up for starts next week.

No pressure tags: @ghost-woods @jamietarttsnorthernattitude @rivercartwrong @bobfloydpilled @too-many-rooks @cartwrong @ofnightandlight @louisaguy