Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It doesn’t take much to get Anne Shirley-Cuthbert worked up.

Certainly even less when talking about romance tales.

And somehow even less when it’s about her own romance tale.

Being pen-pals with Gilbert Blythe wasn’t exactly news for her, as they’ve already exchanged correspondence years before. Being pen-pals with her now suitor Gilbert Blythe was more news than she could have even imagined for herself, and her imagination is no joking matter at all.

She sighed, dramatically, at the neatly organized pile of letters sent by Gilbert over the months. So many stories and love confessions compiled into those pieces of paper Anne would read again and again from time to time, when the longing was most cruel. How unfair is it that the moment the boy of her dreams finally confesses his feelings, he immediately has to leave for good? She settled with agreeing this was the “tragical romance” she always hoped for.

The good news was: After so many months of sole written communication, Anne’s 18th birthday was approaching, and Gilbert had found a way to attend it. In person.

Of course he had come back once before, but schedules clashed, Anne couldn’t leave Queens at all and they barely had enough time for a little embrace and kiss. It was infuriating. Although they managed to escape and some heavier embrace that knocked her out breathless took part. Anne got up and started pacing around the room shared with Diana. Now would be different, she thought. Now they would have time to be together, to talk and do whatever courting couples do when they’re in close proximity.

Which reminded her, her last sent letter was under a frustrated tone, telling Gilbert how even after all this time they still wouldn’t tell her much about what couples do together. All of her friends were courting, for Heaven’s sake! They should know what to expect and what to avoid, at least. Gilbert had sent a response to the letter a week later, saying he would bring a gift for Anne that would help her greatly.

This didn’t help her calm down about it. Whatever did he mean? It wouldn’t do much to send back a letter asking about it, as he would get there himself before it even got to him. She kept pacing around.

“Anne, what on Earth are you doing? It's still the middle of night!” Diana turned around, woken up by Anne’s frantic pacing around their room. Anne turned to her friend and leapt to the side of Diana’s bed, kneeling down and shaking her by the shoulders.

“He gets here today, Diana! I can’t sleep at all!  It’s been so long now I don’t even know what to expect, what do I do when we meet? What do I say? Should I kiss him? Say hi? Probably say hi before doing anything else–” 

“Anne! Calm down! You’re gonna wake up everyone around us. Just try to rest, you wouldn’t want to look tired when meeting him.” Diana laid back on her bed yawning.

“Oh my, you’re right!” Anne ran back to her own bed, taking Gilbert’s latest letter and holding it close to her chest. “I’m just too excited about it. He’s going to be here much longer than last time and I’ll actually get to spend time with him, but what if I do something weird?”

“It’s still just Gilbert, Anne. He adores you too much, you’ll be fine.” Diana says dozing off.

It’s just Gilbert. We’ll be fine. She traces her fingers over the letter, having memorized most of it now. He responded to her reminiscing of the last time they’ve seen each other.

'I miss you dearly, more than I ever thought possible. I need to confess that on the most lonely nights, when sitting by my window and watching the gleaming sparkle of the moon, I too can’t help but let my mind wander back to our last encounter. How my hands fit so well around your waist it wouldn’t surprise me to learn they were made to be there. The warm lines of your fingers on my neck still burn as if a permanent mark was placed, even if by the lightest of touches. It keeps me warm under the most violent of winters.

Can’t help but wonder just what precious moments we’ll have together when I finally get to see you again.'

Anne squirms around, feeling her face burn. It was terribly relieving to learn he also thought a lot about that moment. She felt seen, understood, finding the description he used surprisingly fitting. The lines of his hands around her waist really did burn still, and she could also not help but wonder about what it would be like to do more, to feel them holding on other places.

Was that what couples did together? How else were they able to make each other feel? The thought of it alone made her mind overflow with the most wicked of ideas, and even with a trembling hot body and a busy mind filled with thoughts of dark eyes and firm hands, she was able to finally sleep.

“Anne? You should wake up, it’s a busy day! Anne!” Diana was brushing her hair in front of the vanity, and Anne sprung up so fast she felt dizzy for a moment.

“Oh my god! Is it today? Am I late?” Anne got out of the bed frantically, struggling to get detangled from her blanked and almost tripping down.

“You’re not late, it’s still pretty early. Is your luggage ready? Oh, I can’t wait to see Avonlea again!” Diana was now twirling around holding the dress she was about to wear.

“Yes, it’s all ready. I think I might have looked through it a least 5 times already.” Anne finally got up, folding the letter she spent the whole night squeezing back into its envelope. “Oh Diana, I’ll be 18 tomorrow, can you even believe it? And waking up on Green Gables too, what a dream!” She started looking around, checking everything she had already prepared days before. 

“It will be a beautiful day. Do you think all the girls are up already? Oh, what time did they say the train would arrive?”

“Our train leaves at noon, I’m sure. Can you help me with the corset?” Anne was now also brushing her hair, struggling to do it while getting dressed. Diana stepped close to pull on the strings and lace her up.

“No, silly. I was talking about Gilbert’s train. He gets here an hour earlier, no?”

“Oh my God, yes! Gilbert! A couple hours actually, he arrives at 10. What time is it now?” She looks up at the wall clock and has to do a double take. “Diana, it’s almost 9:30! You said it was early!” They both gasp in horror. Diana finishes lacing the corset in record time.

“Oh Heavens, I thought it was! Get into your dress now, we have to hurry! I’ll go as your chaperone, we can talk to the girls later.”

The scene of them getting ready is pitiful and chaotic, thankfully nobody else was there to witness it. Both start running out of the boarding house holding onto their hats and laughing at each other. They felt like young girls again, running around the city. 

It was a busy day indeed, all the streets were overflowing and the whole run was full of irritating obstacles. After some good minutes, they finally arrived at the train station panting and giggling, and for a moment Anne even forgot what was about to happen.

And then it did.

Gilbert was holding back from biting all of his nails off, he couldn’t bear one more minute inside this train. The ride wasn’t bad itself, but the anticipation was killing him. 

He was about to see Anne again after so long. They were going back to Avonlea and he would see all his loved ones again, sure, but he was about to see Anne. The last three or so hours were spent pathetically rehearsing what he would say to her, trying to imagine what she would respond, creating whole conversations inside his head. He wanted to be cordial, he wanted to be calm and collected. He also couldn’t keep from wishing he could just pick her up, run into an empty place and resume what the last time they were together left him longing for.

Of course he wouldn’t, though. He wanted to be cordial.

The last letter Anne sent him crossed his mind again, and he brushed his fingers over the briefcase next to him. Bringing this book was probably way too bold of him, but he knew it was best that she knew more about the topic. ‘She will appreciate it, Gilbert. You’re not a creep for gifting her with prohibited knowledge. Anne is an understanding, very intelligent woman, she deserves to know it.’

It was putting him in direct risk to show this to her, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He trusted Anne.

Finally, he could see the train station. It took all of his willpower to calm himself down, running fingers through his hair multiple times until his breath evened out. He closed his eyes and rehearsed what he would say again. 

‘I’m happy to see you again.' No, no. It was ‘You’re criminally beautiful tonight.’ No, it’s plain daytime, Gilbert! ‘Hi, Anne, I missed you.’ No, nothing to go crazy about.

The train stopped, he stood up still deep in thought, walking out.

‘Anne, it’s a pleasure to finally see you again.’ That would have to do. He finally looked up and focused on what was happening, it was happening. Was she already here?

And then he saw her, laughing, freckled cheeks flushed and full of life, his Anne with an E. The girl who was once always annoyed at his advances, yet he wouldn’t dare to stop thinking about. Fiery hair framing her face in a way he would gladly remember for a long while. She was wearing the same blue dress she had on when he first kissed her, and for a moment he couldn’t think of anything aside from doing just that once again.

“Anne?” She jerked up, letting go of Diana and turning around to meet his eyes.

They walked towards each other, entranced. Gilbert still held up his luggage.

“Hi.” He finally spoke up, breathless. Well, so much for rehearsing.

“Gilbert.” Her eyes were glossy and wide, and for a moment not even Anne could find the words.

Back to plan. 

“Anne. I- I mean, um. It's a pleasure to finally see you again.” He gripped hard on the handles he was holding up, silently cursing at himself for stuttering like an idiot in front of her.

She giggled, endeared, and almost jumped to hug him before stopping herself, realizing they were very much in public. She coughed a little. “It’s a pleasure to see you again too. We have about two hours before the train leaves, we need to get the girls from the boarding house. I think they’re all ready to go.” She steps back a little, looking at Diana. 

“Welcome back, Gilbert. Nice to see you.” Diana bows down a bit, smiling knowingly at the two.

“Thank you, Diana. Good to see you too.” They start walking back and Gilbert offers one of his arms for Anne to hold on to while walking back.

Diana walks right behind the two, and the three discuss details of Gilbert’s trip and the plans for later and tomorrow. It seems like it really will be quite a celebration, as most of Anne’s friends will attend the party, but preparations are running smoothly considering it’s Anne we’re talking about.

They finally get to the boarding house and the other girls are already close by, holding up their bags and talking to each other excitedly. When they finally see the three and all of the girls run to greet them, they spend a moment catching up before Anne and Diana also get their own bags.

The train ride is surprisingly calm. Spent mostly with excited chatter about all of them going to Avonlea, exchanged glances between Anne and Gilbert, and soft giggling from the girls when they noticed it. 

Back in Avonlea, most of the paths diverge and each girl goes to their own home. Marilla had told Anne that they would all be on Green Gables waiting for her and Gilbert together, including the Lacroix family, but that she would not tolerate it if they took long to get there as they would be alone together.

It doesn’t keep them from jumping into each other midway through, though.

“I’ve missed you so much.” Gilbert had her pinned against a tree kissing her face, and she frantically ran her hands up his torso.

“I almost couldn’t sleep, had to keep your recent letter clutched to my heart all night.”

He remembered what he wrote in that letter. It was a desperate moment, to say the least.

“You… you liked it?” He retreated, face starting to burn from the memory of it.

Anne’s voice was a bit windy, not much above a whisper “Of course I did. I felt seen, knowing you also felt it.” She looked a bit shy, holding back a smile.

‘Also felt it’. The implications in there were immense. Did Anne also spend countless nights replaying that moment inside her head? Did she also feel her skin boiling to the point she had to do something about it? Oh no, he had to stop diving into that thought for now. He breathed out heavily with his eyes shut down. They kissed fervently until he felt Anne’s hand snaking up to his chest and had to push her back.

“We have to go to Green Gables, they must be waiting for us.” He coughed, calming down forcefully.

Anne also started to work on catching her breath, walking side by side with Gilbert. Keeping a decent distance, of course.

“Yes, definitely.” 

They walked a little in silence, until Gilbert turned to look at her and saw her very restrained, embarrassed and almost hurt face. He realized he had to clarify himself.

“Hey, it’s all good. We’ll talk about it later, I promise.” He looked around. “It’s just not a very safe moment or place to… you know. It’s dangerous to you if someone suspects or sees something.”

She looked up at him and smiled, breathing out. “Okay, yeah. I hope Marilla isn’t about to pull out her hair.”

They both stood up, holding their bags close together while the scolding happened.

“God, Anne! I was worried sick! Whatever took you two so long?” Marilla had her hands on her hips, looking down on them from the front porch.

“Marilla I swear, it was a normal amount of time to walk all of this distance. Gilbert was already tired from the trip! We couldn’t come running!” She pointed at Gilbert who just nodded twice, worry covering her face and his eyebrows pinched together.

Matthew came from behind Marilla. “I checked. They didn’t take that long. Uh- walking pace, yes.” He nodded and stepped down, reaching his hand out to Gilbert, who promptly shook it. “Welcome back, Gilbert. Anne.” He smiled at her.

Anne jumped to him, hugging his middle. “Matthew! Oh how I missed you. How I missed Green Gables! Where are the others?!” She stepped back looking around.

Marilla smiled fondly at her. “They’re inside. Come in, both of you.”

“Bash!” Gilbert quickly came up to his brother.

They all had a lovely moment catching up together. Bash, Hazel, Delphine and Elijah were all there. A good amount of teasing about the whole courting thing and lively discussions concerning the next day celebration, Gilbert’s life in Toronto, Anne’s life in Charlottetown, and the recent news of Avonlea.

It was getting late and everyone went back home except for Gilbert, who gave his luggage for Bash to take. Everything but a smaller briefcase.

Marilla allowed him and Anne to have a walk around Green Gables, they greeted Jerry and just wandered around, breathing in the air of Avonlea, of home. The two were behind the barn and Anne was happily listening to some random tale of a clumsy classmate of his and hitting up the occasional commentary or question until her face lit up, reminding of something.

“Oh, Gilbert! I almost forgot. What was it that you said you would give to me regarding my… My questions? You mentioned it in your last letter.” She looked at him with a cocked head, expectantly.

Gilbert breathed in, and then out. “Yes. I brought you something.” He knelt down on the grass, opening the briefcase he still had in his hand. “I guess you can consider it your birthday gift? If you think of sensitive knowledge as a gift at all.” He held up a dark covered book to her. It was titled ‘Modern Medicine and Human Reproduction’.

Anne’s eyes went wide in wonder as she stared at the front cover. Gilbert scratched his head and looked away, embarrassed. “It was one of the most recent and complete books on the matter I could find in Toronto. I used it to study, too, so I hope you don’t mind my notes on it. I, uh… Left some notes for you, too.” He coughed, deeply flustered.

Anne gingerly took the book, daring a peek inside before closing it again. “Oh Gilbert. You risked yourself to get me this, didn’t you?” She looked up at him again with those glossy eyes.

“Well, yes. This is pretty detailed and… forbidden information, please don’t disclose this with anyone you don’t trust. I guess the other girls also have questions about the topic nobody will dare to answer, so you can help them with that, if you want.” He smiled weakly at her. “I’m sorry if it’s too forward, I just wanted to help you.”

She suddenly hugged him, gently kissing his cheek. “Thank you, Gilbert. I really, really appreciate it so much, you have no idea.” She looked down at the book and then up at him again, smiling deviously. “I hope you’re prepared for the follow up questions and lively discussion we’ll have about all this, though.”

“Yeah, can’t say I wasn’t expecting something like that.”

Anne looked around and jumped to kiss him deeply, gently holding his face and pressing him against the barn. She pulled down the hair on the back of his head and got a gentle whimper in response. “Good.” She stepped back and held her hand out to him, holding the book to her chest. “We better go then, Mr. Blythe. Wouldn’t want your future in-laws to worry about us, would we?”

Gilbert blinked a couple times, barely coming back to his senses. “Yes. Yes indeed.”

They strolled back to the front of the house so Gilbert could say goodbye to Marilla and Matthew.

“So you’re going? Very well. You go and have a peaceful walk back home.” Marilla shook his hand and then looked at Anne, noticing she was holding a book. “Oh, did you get a gift, Anne? How nice of you, Gilbert.”

He yelped briefly, but Anne stepped forward before he could ruin it all. “Yes! It’s a brand new novel he found out to be very famous around the streets of Toronto. A truly modern tale of an inspiring young heroine striding pridefully to the new chapter of her young adult life! How wonderful, isn’t it, Marilla? Which reminds me, tomorrow I also get to walk into a brand new chapter of my young adult life and I very much need some rest. You get home well and we will all see you tomorrow, Blythe.” 

Anne blurted it all out very quickly and reached her hand out for Gilbert to take. He nodded enthusiastically at her monologue, took her hand, kissed it and waved goodbye to them. 

“I better get inside then, big day tomorrow. See you in a bit!” Anne starts to walk into the house, successfully leaving behind a perfectly content Marilla and a mildly confused Matthew. Wonderful.

Anne doesn’t take long at all, she immediately closed the door and sat down against it to eagerly open the book.

‘Chapter One: Male and Female Anatomy through Puberty’

This would be a long night.

Chapter Text

Gilbert finally arrived home after a very thoughtful walk.

He didn’t exactly greet anyone and got right through the back door so he could wash himself and change in peace. Bash was the one who suggested he took some time to do so especially considering the long trip, long day and long list of feelings experienced. The last bit got some elbow jerks from him straight to Bash’s ribs. He methodically put his things down and walked away to wash himself up.

So he finally gave Anne the God forsaken book, and it was difficult to keep himself from panicking over it. ‘She might be reading through it right now. What will she think of it? What if she gets disgusted or feels creeped out by my stupid “extra content” put in there?’

He figured it wouldn’t take long until he had all of his questions answered. Anne needed this, she appreciated it. ‘Wait! Oh no, what if I messed up by giving her this right now? It’s her birthday celebration tomorrow, she should be resting instead of burying her nose into an improper book! Everyone will be visiting her!’

After almost biting off the inside of his cheeks, he settled with throwing a last splash of water to his face and getting dressed for supper. He walked out to see what the others were up to, finding Bash alone in the hallway.

“Blythe! You’re back. All set up already huh? What was the walk back home like?” Bash had his eyes squinted at Gilbert, and wiggled his eyebrows too, for good measure. 

Gilbert scoffed, playfully annoyed. “Completely fine, Bash. Me and Anne had a walk around Green Gables, I gave her something I’d promised and that was it.”

Bash looked at him with wide eyes, his eyebrows shooting up. “Something you’d promised? Wow, I think I overestimated your chivalry.” He rolled the last word around his tongue mockingly.

“No, Bash! Not like that! Well, in reality– I mean, it’s not exactly–” He was a complete mess, making the man in front of him start laughing in pity.

“Calm down, man! I’m just messing with you” He slapped Gilbert’s back a couple times. “You don’t have to worry too much about it, as long as it's what she wants.” Bash closed the distance between them, suddenly serious, pointing right at Gilbert’s face. “Except for knocking her up before marriage, I swear I’d rip your face off, Blythe.” He stepped back again, patting the terrified boy’s shoulder with a warm smile. “But I know you’re not that stupid.”

Gilbert sighed. “No, of course not. It’s just too much and… and I think I might have messed up. I don’t know what to do, to be honest.” Gilbert leaned against the wall. Bash smiled at him knowingly, looking around and pulling him to his room.

“Supper won’t be ready for a while, sit here.” He pulled chairs for both of them and closed the door. “Talk with yo big bro.”

Gilbert stared at him warily before letting his head hang down, sighing heavily. “I gave her a book.”

Bash glared at him. “A book. You gave Anne a book. Anne Shirley-Cuthbert.” Gilbert was still looking down. “What, Blythe? You want me to be surprised by this? What about it?”

Gilbert groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Not any book, Bash! I gave her a medicine book on… you know. Human reproduction. She was frustrated because nobody would tell her what couples do and I said I’d help.” He finally looked up. “And tonight, specifically! What if her day tomorrow is ruined because an idiotic, way too risky gift muddled her whole mind?!”

Bash looked at him, unfazed. “I knew you were stupid, Blythe, but not to this level.” 

Gilbert practically wailed like a hurt animal, throwing his head back. “I know! I shouldn’t have done it–”

“No! You’re stupid because you’ve known that girl for years and still underestimate her.” That one had Gilbert looking straight at him, surprised. “Come on, man. She wanted to know, nobody would tell her, that’s it. She’s about to turn, what now, 18? Anne’s a grown woman, stop thinking of her as a child.”

They stared at each other for a moment. “Was that it? Just the book?”

Gilbert coughed a bit, recomposing himself. “Well, sort of. I don’t know what to expect now, she said she would have follow-up questions.” Bash laughed at him again.

“Well good luck with that.” He started to get up.

“Wait, Bash! You have to help me. What do I do?” Gilbert jumped up to hold Bash down. “What do I expect? You know I’ve never done this before, please!”

Bash had his eyebrows furrowed, smiling fondly at him. “Tell you something. Like I said, you don’t have to worry too much about this as long as both of you are mindful of your surroundings and don’t do anything dumb. Neither of you know what you’re doing, it’s normal to take a while before you do.” He got up, holding one of Gilbert’s arms still on his shoulders. “And Blythe? Talk. Observe. Listen to her cues. No way to know something works if you don’t.”

Gilbert had a very puzzled look. “Cues? If something works… what?”

“You’re smart, you can do it.” Bash patted the side of his torso, starting to walk away. “Supper. Time to go.”

Anne was probably shaking, not that she had the available mind space to notice.

The book started on the development of male anatomy, so she was still skeptical about all of it, and the drawings were a tad unsettling for a moment. It wasn’t until she got to the development of female anatomy that she started to actually believe the thing was true, noticing the similarities observed on her own body over the years.

Knowing it was very real somehow made it even more frightening, but not in a bad way? It was a weird feeling, and calling the experience eye-opening would be the most pathetic of understatements. Anne started to imagine Gilbert going through this. She could see the marks of his studies, circled up structure names, underlined paragraphs and whatnot. He really used the book.

It didn’t take much to notice his notes got pretty heavy when the book started to discuss the ‘Observed preparations of the body to the act of intercourse', and the paragraph of female signs of arousal looked… well-noted. But certainly Anne was glad to understand what on Earth all of those feelings were, if not a little overwhelmed.

She felt way more prepared now, knowing to expect things like erections, orgasms, and the release of substances filled with tadpole-like things she found surprisingly endearing. What she was not prepared for was the piece of paper hidden right after that page, it was written on Gilbert’s handwriting.

‘The scientific literature available which covers this subject usually discusses mainly the acts of intercourse, and the next chapters of this book detail the process of fecundation and development of the embryo inside the womb during pregnancy.

However, I found it fitting to show you my discoveries aside from this, seeing that the nature of your question was not exclusively where babies come from, but what couples do together and how one can keep herself safe from getting pregnant while maintaining an intimate relationship.’

She also didn’t have the available mind space to notice her face start to burn. Gilbert described things such as the existence of rubber condoms (although illegal), stimulation of erogenous zones, masturbation, fellatio and cunnilingus. Anne could swear it was at the very least intriguing how he spent at least double the amount of effort to describe the last one. Her mind started to flood with the most unspeakable of thoughts. ‘Wait. Does he want to do that?' 

Anne felt a bit dizzy. ‘He’s a gentleman, for sure. And I asked him this. But we’re an item now, and he is describing means of keeping an intimate relationship between couples without pregnancy involved.’ She shut her eyes, tapping her chin with a finger. 

‘So we could do this. Could we?’ She kept reading his final words.

‘Please keep in mind this is not a suggestion, or me asking something of you in any way. My wish is exclusively to answer your questions, what you do with this knowledge or if you even do a thing at all is for you to decide, and you only.

It would, of course, be omitting of me to say I do not wish for any of this if you’d let us some day, but I really want to stress that the purpose of this book and note is informational .

– Gilbert.’

That had Anne chuckling to herself. The very last paragraph was noticeably written in a looser, quicker pace, and she could clearly visualize his pen getting faster as he furrowed his brows embarrassed when writing it. What a dork. She folded the paper back into its place in the book.

The last chapters were a nice read, too. Anne was very pleased to learn what the further development of a baby worked and looked like. She finally finished the book, lingering on the very last page for a moment, and then closed it to look up and stare at her window.

It was faster than she expected, the book was not that big. Marilla had only knocked on the door a couple times during the whole read to ask if everything was fine and lastly to remind her of coming down for supper in 10 minutes. At last, Anne closed her eyes and breathed out, pleased.

She was much less worked up than expected. Was Gilbert nervous because he thought she would freak out? She thought she would, at least. How interesting. Either way, she got up and secured the book deep inside her luggage.

Anne walked outside and down the stairs to find Marilla working in the kitchen and asked if she could start setting the table, promptly doing so. They exchanged some talk about the next day's schedule and what still needed to be done for the party.

“So what were you doing up there? Did you take a nap?” Marilla asked as she went out to ring the bell, calling for Matthew. Anne finished setting the table and looked at her.

“Oh, yes, I was reading the book Gilbert gave me. It was a nice story, even if shorter than I was expecting.” Anne smiled up at her mother, gathering all the innocence she could. Thankfully Marilla didn’t ask any further up questions about it and just smiled at her, caressing Anne’s head.

“I am very happy things worked out between you and Gilbert, he is a fine young man.”

Then, Anne had an idea. It wouldn’t raise further suspicions of her possibly knowing too much if she asked Marilla right here and now. It was brilliant! “Marilla, I have something to ask of you before Matthew gets in here.” She felt a bit bad for straight up acting like this, but it would probably be hilarious.

Marilla looked at her, patting her skirt down and nodding once, urging Anne to go on.

“Now that we’re courting and I’m about to turn 18, I was just wondering if you could finally give me some more information about what will happen when we get married in the future? I just want to be prepared…” She stared at Marilla expectantly, watching her face go from curious to surprised to horrified in under a second.

“Very– very well, it will happen when you get married, for now you two behave properly and everything will be fine. Gilbert is a gentleman I trust and expect not to do anything improper or against your wishes like what happened to that Pye girl a couple years ago.” Marilla nodded her head as she talked, making herself very clear. “You hear me? behave.”

‘Improper. What even is improper? It’s not like it would be against my wishes, too…’

Anne looked up at her, smiling and nodding at her speech. “Okay, Marilla, I understand. I’m sorry, you know how curious I get.” All of them started to settle down on the table as Matthew walked in, clearly noticing he shouldn’t dare to question what they were talking about.

Marilla smiled back at Anne “It is alright, child. I know how many questions you might have now and it’s not wrong to have them, but you will get the answers in due time.”

That she would. Anne held back a chuckle and only smiled to herself, having a lovely night with her parents before washing up and going to sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Anne woke up to a delightful present during breakfast. On yet another one of Matthew’s expensive streaks he got her a beautiful emerald necklace, saying it was a proper gift fit for a young woman. It matched perfectly with the planned green dress she would wear during the party, and she couldn’t keep a couple tears from falling down her face when she hugged him.

They went out in the early afternoon to set up for the planned picnic at the Lake of Shining Waters, just as Anne had wished for. Thankfully, everything was going according to plan, the day was beautiful and she was now touching up the decoration for the cake Marilla had baked for her. The girls were now swarming her, as they got there earlier to 'help with the finishing touches.' It was more to chat, honestly.

“Look, I already said I’m happy for Anne, but we have to recognize how handsome Gilbert is! It’s just a fact!” Ruby was throwing her hands up defensively as the girls laughed all around. “And such a romantic gentleman, too! We’ve all seen the pile of letters he sent her.”

Anne was also laughing, shaking her head at them. Diana spoke up. “Oh yeah, Anne. What about that gift he promised? Did you already get it?” They all turned to Anne expectantly, ‘ooohs’ all around, asking her what gift it was. She glared at Diana, who just giggled.

Anne braced herself, hushed all of them and whispered. “He gave me answers to our questions about couple intimacy–” All of the girls immediately started to gasp and cause a small commotion. “No! Stop! I swear I’ll answer everything and show you all I know when we get back to Queens, in the safety of our rooms.” She looked around. “We can’t talk about it here!”

They groaned in frustration, Tillie and Jane whispered back. “Just summarize it! You can’t leave us expecting like this!” “Yes, Anne, we’re going to die of curiosity!”

Anne smiled at them, wagging her finger up. “No can do. I had to wait all this time for Gilbert to get here so I could know it, you all can wait a little too. Now come on, it’s my birthday! We have to finish this place up, the guests are about to arrive!”

The girls sucked up their moods relatively quickly, getting excited for Anne’s party and got to actually helping. Everything was now settled, and the guests started to arrive. It didn’t take long before practically everyone was there, and the place was perfectly lively. Anne got some wonderful gifts, and had to contain herself from stopping everything just so she could sit down and go through them. 

Anne really couldn’t hope for anything better, happily talking to everyone and not spending a single minute without being surrounded by loved ones. She almost forgot Gilbert was also there, and catched him fondly staring at her from across the crowd. Of course she knew she couldn’t just abandon everyone to spend time with him, at least not for now. She also knew it was out of question for her to jump to him and kiss him. Everyone was around. Did she really want everyone there? Yes, she did. Did she?

Some time passed, people were talking to each other now after the cake was cut and things were slowly calming down. Surely they wouldn’t mind some very chaste interaction with Gilbert now, and it seemed he also thought the same, calling for her next to one of the surrounding trees. She excused herself after the people around urged her to just go already, and happily obliged. Gilbert looked like he was deeply thinking about something, and that was the best look he had, if Anne was to be honest about it.

Anne approached and he looked up, smiling dearly at her. “So, what do you think?” She asked, gesturing to the whole place around them. 

“It’s beautiful.” She noticed his eyes didn’t follow her gesture at all, exclusively focusing on her and successfully getting her flustered. He took out the hand that was in his pocket, keeping it closed. “I remember in one of your letters some time ago, you mentioned the different gifts Matthew got you over the years. One of them was the bracelet he got you when you turned 16, saying you could collect charms of all the Annes you’d turn into to put in it.” She nodded at him, shaking her wrist so the bracelet would slip from under her sleeve. “I debated on what exactly to pick, but I finally settled on an idea.” He smiled, holding her hand up so he could put what he held in it. 

It was a tiny silver charm in the shape of a carrot. Anne bursted out laughing immediately. “This was the first Anne I knew. The one I called carrots and got a slate broken on my head for doing so. Diana told me I’ve been smitten ever since, and I have to admit she’s really not wrong.” They were both laughing at each other, Anne was sniffing a bit and lightly smacked his arm. She turned her wrist up so he could open the bracelet and put the new charm on.

“You deserved it and you know it!” He agreed, still laughing. “Thank you, Gilbert. This is so sweet of you, I can’t believe it! That letter was sent so long ago.”

Gilbert closed the bracelet back. “I’ve been thinking of giving you a charm ever since you told me about it, if anything I’m glad I finally got the chance to. Happy birthday, Anne.”

They smiled at each other, and Anne really wished she could pull him into the woods and jump on him. She looked around to all of her friends and family and sighed, turning back to Gilbert. “And here I was, thinking my gift was the book. You’re too kind for your own good, Mr. Blythe. Be careful not to spoil me too much.” He stiffened up a little at the mention of the book, and it didn’t go unnoticed. “I really appreciated it, for the record. Thank you again for giving it to me. And I don’t think you were a weirdo or too forward at all, don’t worry.”

He breathed out, visibly relaxing a little. “Yeah, I was worried it would ruin your peace for today. I’m glad.” Once again they gazed at each other for a handful of heartbeats, before both started to pat at their own clothes in sync. 

“Well, we should go back to the party, it will only be a couple more hours before people start to leave. Shall we?” She looked at him, holding her hand out. He had to think for a moment before realizing what she proposed, and finally offered his arm for her to hold on to.

They walked back together, earning a few curious and approving looks from the crowd. Everyone there already knew they were a couple, but the teasing still stood strong. It’s not as if they didn’t like it, anyway.

People started to leave the place, waving their goodbyes to everyone and Anne specially. Practically everybody was already gone when Anne sat down with Josephine Barry. Cole was close by but realized that was a certified Aunt Jo Advice Moment and excused himself. They spoke quietly to each other. Anne seemed to be on yet another impasse and seeked words of wisdom. She disclosed information about the book to Aunt Jo.

“I guess I’m just worried about the morality of it all. Shouldn’t we choose for ourselves what to do as a couple? I can’t even properly hug him if there are people around…” Josephine closed her eyes, nodding, taking in what Anne had just told her. She spoke in the distinctive bitter tone she had when talking about something that annoyed her.

“I’ve always thought of courting rules as exceptionally ridiculous. And I’ll tell you this: People don’t really follow them, at least a good portion. If what you tell me is true and you now know what to avoid to care for yourself, then do as you please. There is no reason for frustrating yourselves just to keep from doing what you’d like to do.” She leaned into Anne with wider eyes. “I do advise you to be mindful of the observers. People can be cruel with rumors, I’m sure you’re aware.”

At last, Anne gave her goodbyes to them, as the afternoon came close to an end. They were about to finish packing everything before the weather suddenly closed and distant thunder started to strike. Heavy rain threatened to fall at any moment.

“Anne! You go home with Matthew. I need to go to Rachel’s and won’t be back for supper, okay? Go at once before the rain pours. Matthew! Matthew! Go already, for Heaven’s sake!” Marilla hopped with Rachel as Matthew scrambled around to get the carriage moving.

Anne thought fast, she was a clever girl.

Gilbert was about to go right after Bash left, but Anne moved quickly and pulled him by the sleeve. “Marilla won’t be home for a good while, you get to Green Gables. We have to talk.” She gave him a peck on the cheek and started running to Matthew.

And so Gilbert had a change of plans, running to Bash and telling him he won’t be home for supper. Of course his response was a thumbs up and a quick smirk, but that was to be expected.

They had to discuss those follow-up questions, after all.

Chapter Text

Where on Earth was that boy?

Anne watched from her window waiting to see his horse somewhere, it was already raining mildly, and a storm could break out at any second. She had enough time to wash herself and change into her nightgown.

She started to look through her gifts again, gently caressing the small array of boxes resting on her bed, and pulled out the bracelet on her wrist, smiling affectionately at the new little carrot there. It was such a thoughtful gift, and she made a mental note to show it to her parents the next day. Suddenly, she turned around again and noticed the figure of a man closing the entrance fence and taking a horse to the barn before coming back from it. She ran downstairs as quietly as she could, Matthew was in his room.

Anne opened the door just in time to see Gilbert jumping on the front porch to take out his muddy shoes. “What took you so long?!”

Gilbert pointed to the sky above them and held up a hastily put together bag. “I didn’t want to talk to you completely drenched, so I ran home to grab a fresh pair of clothes. Hope you don’t mind me cleaning myself and changing?” He was holding up and wiping his shoes clean, Anne looked at him, impressed.

“That is very good thinking, but be quiet–” Loud thunder struck down, scaring both of them. “Come in, I’ll wait in my room.” 

Some minutes passed until she heard soft knocks on the door and opened it for him. The rain was incredibly heavy now. Gilbert walked inside, now barefoot and in a matching pair of cotton grey pants and shirt, looking very comfortable.

Anne closed the door behind her and both of them felt a certain shift in the air inside the room. She kept leaning back on the door for a couple minutes and Gilbert stood still, staring at her.

What now?

Anne walked to him and took his hand, guiding him to sit on the bed next to her. She then stood up and got on her knees to rummage through the luggage and retrieve the book buried in there before going back. Gilbert shifted a little. She held the book on her lap, grazing her fingers over the cover. “So.”

“Yes, you said you’d have questions.” Both looked down at the cover.

“I thought I’d have more, honestly. But... is this all recent knowledge? Scientifically.”

“Some of it is. There have been studies on the nature of sperm and its relation to reproduction for centuries, but they thought the spermatozoa were parasites.” He scoffed, and Anne giggled.

“Well, I can understand why.” She flipped the pages to look at the drawings again. “But, another question. You said in your note that most medical literature focuses on intercourse and reproduction.” Gilbert nodded. “Where did you find information on the other things, then?”

Now the thing is, Gilbert was already expecting this question. What he didn’t count on was still being taken aback and flustered by it. 

“You see…” He scratched his nape, looking sideways. “It’s incredibly hard to uncover information on this aside from word of mouth, but I– I was… determined. You know, about it. I had heard around that a good portion of women weren’t really, uh–” He coughed. “Satisfied. By their partners. That for a long while modern society didn’t even care for female…” The pitch of his voice got higher. “Pleasuring. At all. Still doesn’t, really.”

He breathed mechanically, stroking his face with a hand. “I’m sure a lot of men don’t even know women can orgasm.” Gilbert sheepishly dared to look at her. The candle light was dim but she could see just how red he was. He whispered shyly. “I didn’t want to be part of those.”

Anne swallowed hard, feeling a shiver down her spine. Had he just admitted it was for her?

“And so I kept looking. Surprisingly, old societies were a good help. And asian literature. I also found some really cryptic poetry describing it. Oh! And you’d be shocked at the sheer amount of visual artwork depicting these acts.” He shook his head, chuckling.

“What? Like paintings?” She gasped and started laughing when he nodded. “I’d like to see that for myself.” He kept chuckling.

“One day I’ll show you, it’s incredibly graphic. But, uh– yes. That was it. Just me diving way too deep from interest alone.” They gazed at each other.

“This is honestly… very sweet of you. To do all of that.” She laid the book down by the nightstand, the candle light caught on her bracelet charms and glimmered.

“Oh no, if anything it was completely selfish.” He smirked and Anne gasped at him theatrically, making him laugh.

“Gilbert Blythe! How wicked of you. Were you thinking of doing those things with me? Unbelievable, what kind of sinful ideas do you have inside that head of yours?” Anne started to climb on the bed, getting on top of him. She didn’t exactly calculate how compromising it was to directly sit on his lap and straddle him, but it was done nonetheless. Gilbert, on the other hand, was completely stunned. She pushed him down on the mattress.

He ran his fingers through her hair, musing on its softness. Anne turned her head to take his hand and gently kiss him on the wrist, sighing when she felt his other hand being placed on her waist. Suddenly Gilbert seemed to realize just where they were pressed together, and it would make his insides burn if it wasn’t for his eyes catching a glance of the door behind Anne, making him start to panic. He thought of Matthew, and how he was probably thinking his daughter was perfectly safe inside this room. Was Gilbert being safe for her?

Gilbert then held Anne’s shoulder, keeping her from bending down and kissing him. She seemed to notice the expression on his face and stopped her movement, getting concerned.

“Gil…? Is there a problem? You want me to stop?”

“No! I mean– Anne, it’s just… this is just… terribly frowned upon.” He seemed a bit sad for stopping them, and she smiled at him.

“Oh Gilbert, you’ve known me for years now. Tell me, what about my actions ever since I’ve stepped foot on Avonlea has not been terribly frowned upon?”

“Well…” He trails off, looking past her. Thinking.

Anne frowned a little at that, eyebrows furrowing. “Do you think I’m bad?” Her voice was shy, small and worried.

“No, of course not! You’re just… you're just forward thinking.” He finally admitted it, in a defeated sigh.

“Yes. Forward thinking.” She repeated, leaning into him. Her gaze was focused and cloudy, as if she was under a magic spell. Enchanted.

“Anne…” Gilbert whispered out, strained.

Anne didn't really go much closer, not even touching him in any way. She just looked at him with such admiration in her eyes, as if exposing her bare heart out, fragile and vulnerable, directly to Gilbert.

“I wouldn’t dare to try and convince you into doing anything you don’t want or wouldn’t feel ready for. I just want you to know how deeply I want this, and if you’re holding yourself back for my sake… you shouldn’t do it. We can go through this in a well discussed and agreed upon manner.”

‘Talk! That’s right!’ Gilbert let out a relieved, yet nervous shaky breath. He sat up, gently stroking the side of Anne’s arm, with an endeared tiny smile.

“Yes. Let’s discuss this.”

She lit up grinning, immediately in a fierce mood. Anne got up and pulled him to the floor, sitting down right by his side with their hips pressed together, and took his hand on hers. Gilbert laced their fingers together, and leaned his head sideways into her.

“What exactly is worrying you? People finding out?” They were both looking forward to nothing in particular.

He took a deep breath and started quietly. “Not exactly my biggest worry. I’m just scared I might be taking advantage of you. It would shatter my heart beyond words to realize you regret anything we do down the line.” He grazed his thumb over hers. “I don’t want to hurt you, body or heart.”

Anne squeezed his hand and nuzzled into him. He looked at her with a confused face when he heard her giggling.

“Sorry, I’m just. Giddy? I… I’m really glad you’re being considerate about this, Gilbert. I should say that wouldn’t be much of a problem though, now that I have a much bigger knowledge on the… topic. We can promise to ask each other to stop at any given moment if it feels wrong though, can’t we?”

He hummed. ‘What was it about looking for cues?’ “Yes, that would be preferable.” Gilbert turned his head to face her again. “What about you? Anything bugging your mind?”

Anne sighed exasperated. “I’d say I’m just- just scared I’ll do something wrong. Like I’ll go ahead and ruin everything and disappoint you and you’ll leave me and never look back and I will shrivel up in complete and utter sorrow.” She blurted out in one breath.

Gilbert took a moment to process all the words, smirking amusedly with a raised eyebrow.

“Well that wouldn’t be very fair of me, would it?” They looked at each other. “We can’t really expect that it will go perfectly the first time. Not even scripted acts go well on the first ever take. I’m also scared of doing something wrong, but I think we can pardon ourselves.”

“How does someone even learn what to do in such a moment?” She mused, more to herself than as a real question. Gilbert answered anyway.

“I suppose it’s through talking? Most of the literature I’ve seen on the subject doesn’t go deep into the emotional side or the initial mishaps, but I’ve been told it’s normal to take a while until you truly know what you’re doing. Expected, even.”

Anne leaned forward and looked at him with a challenging smile. “But we’re not people that settle with ‘expected’ performances, are we?” 

Gilbert chuckled at that, shaking his head. “No, I suppose we’re not. But it’s good to know we can make mistakes.” He brought his other hand on top of their interlocked fingers.

Anne nodded, pulling her hand from his and giving a quick sideways hug to his middle. She perked up again and they stared at each other.

After gazing at one another for a moment, Gilbert grazed his hand on her face, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “So… any more questions, miss?” Anne shook her head, clearly looking at his lips through half-lidded eyes.

“No, I think I’m good. You, mister?” She leaned into him a bit more. He also shook his head minutely.

“Pretty sure I got all I wanted.” They leaned into each other, a heartbeat from pressing their lips together. Anne cocked her head and raised an eyebrow at him.

“All you wanted?” He laughed at her question.

“Ahh, you got me there. That’s right, I haven’t just yet.” 

Then her lips were on his, and the whole nervousness escaped their minds for an instant. Anne felt like her stomach was dancing around inside her. Gilbert pulled her head closer, one hand buried in her hair and the other squeezing her hip. They would probably spend the rest of life just like this if it wasn’t for Gilbert trying to move his leg and banging his knee on the bed frame. Oh that’s right, they were still on the floor.

Anne started laughing at the pained groan let out by the poor boy in front of her, who hugged his knee while laying down on his side. “Oh my God, Gilbert! Good thing the rain is so strong now, otherwise Matthew would definitely have heard that. Are you okay?” She got up and extended a hand out for him to take.

Gilbert groaned again, frustrated. “I think I’m fine, just upset you saw that happening.” He took her hand and also got up.

“I’m sure you’ve seen worse of me, and we’ll probably see worse of each other.” They looked at the bed, which still had some boxes scattered around half of it. “Let me get this out. Oh Gilbert, Cole and aunt Jo got me such a beautiful dress! It’s wonderful. I have to show everything I got to you later.” She started to place the boxes down.

He smirked at her, still massaging his knee. “Not now? I wonder what would have you in such a hurry.” She looked up at him, feigning defiance.

“Well do not fret, Mr. Blythe. If it’s to your wish we could spend the night doing just that.” She leaned to open one of the boxes and he laughed, holding her arm in place.

“Oh don’t stress over it, I’m sure I understand the reasoning behind your choice.” He took the last box, placing it down right in front of her feet and standing back up while sliding his hand from her hips to her back. He guided her to the bed, climbing on top of her right after, but stopped when she was fully laying under him. He looked suddenly nervous. “What do you want me to do?” His face was adorable.

Anne smiled up at him, locking her fingers in his curls and pulling him down. “You know, I was told not to care about these dumb courting rules.” She kissed under his jaw. “So do that.” He returned the kiss and hummed, pleased, when she licked into his mouth. Oh, so she must have heard of tongue kissing. 

Gilbert was suddenly aware of Anne’s clothing when he ran his hand up her thigh, noticing the gown had rolled up. He was touching her bare skin, and couldn’t hold back a soft moan when his fingers grazed at the hem of her undergarment. She was wearing a short pair of light linen drawers, and for a split second his mind went blank wondering if they were closed or split. He didn’t think too much when he sat back a little to have a better look down her lower abdomen.

Anne was panting, one arm over her forehead and the other still holding his hand. Her legs were open and the gown had rolled up to her hip thanks to Gilbert’s frantic petting. The drawers, he noticed, were closed. With a small pair of buttons closing them on the waistband. He wouldn’t ever admit it but he was shamefully disappointed at that fact even though it wasn’t by much, the sight was still mesmerizing and had his pants strained.

“I think I’m noticing it.” Anne breathed out, smiling with embarrassment when Gilbert looked up at her face. “The body’s preparations.” He shut his eyes and swallowed hard.

This was happening, it was happening right now. Gilbert braced himself to speak up, barely audible. “Can I touch you?” Anne propped herself up on her elbows and nodded at him.

“Oh I don’t know what you’re even waiting for.” She caught him staring down at her and sat up against the headboard. “I’ve noticed something, on your notes.” Anne pulled his hand to her face, making them lock eyes. “You seemed particularly curious about a couple things.” She guided his hand down to her chest, still not breaking eye contact. “We’re here to try, aren’t we?”

Gilbert was entranced as he cupped one of her breasts, gently squeezing at it. Anne let out a quiet gasp that had him biting his bottom lip. He leaned into her, kissing down her neck as his other hand kept running up and down her thigh, the tips of his fingers dipping under the fabric of her drawers.

Anne started to palm at his chest too, struggling to open up his buttons before managing to slip a hand into his shirt. She grazed her fingers over one of his nipples and he sucked in a breath, shivering, making her experiment rolling a thumb over it and leaning in to whisper into his ear. “Gilbert... Please touch me, like your note said.”

In a new display of courage Gilbert nodded, starting to scoot back and slowly leave a trail of kisses down her collarbone, chest, belly and abdomen. Anne’s breathing started to get heavier, her lower body feeling increasingly warmer. “I’ve always wondered how far down your freckles go.” He laid a kiss on her hip. “You know I love them, right? You had me trying to paint a picture of your bare body in my mind for so many nights.” Her face was really burning as she looked down on him. He stared between her open legs, and then looked up to lock eyes with her again, looking like he was debating on saying something or not. Apparently he decided on doing it, albeit hesitantly.

“I also... wondered if you’re red everywhere. Your eyebrows are, your eyelashes are… it was easy to assume.” She let out a bubbly laugh, covering half of her face.

“My God, Gilbert! Did you really think about it this much?” He chuckled a bit, nodding.

“I couldn’t help it.” He looked down and up again, hand reaching for her middle before stopping midway, waiting for confirmation. Anne quickly nodded at him, biting her lip expectantly. Gilbert had to shift a little, his pants were starting to get really uncomfortable but he had bigger worries right now.

He leaned into her, looking curiously into her eyes as he palmed her through the thin fabric and watched her breathe in, gaping at him. It felt warm and humid, soft. He started to circle his fingers around, trying to feel and map the structures to find the right spot. “Is this okay?” Anne shuddered when he pressed a little higher, letting out a breathy moan and nodding again. God, he was ruined.

“Yes! Keep doing that.”

And that was all he needed. He kept moving his fingers on a pace, kissing her neck and whispering to her ear. “I’ve been waiting to hear you like this for so long. You’re so beautiful, more than anything I could have imagined.”

Anne was tugging on his hair, and quietly whimpering against him. She reached over his hand and pulled on it, starting to undo the buttons of her own drawers. “Get this… thing out…” Gilbert watched her opening her undergarments, feeling his throat dry up. He tugged on his own waistband, frantically adjusting the hardness inside his pants. Anne looked at the bulge and stopped moving.

“Do you want to take yours off, too? I’d like to see it.” They stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment. Gilbert breathed out and nodded, reaching for his own buttons.

Both of them felt like they were about to take a Christmas gift out of the box, not wanting to surrender first without watching the other doing it. 

“Go on, you first.” Anne smiled at him, challenging.

“I wouldn’t dare, ladies first.” He smiled back.

“Yes, and I choose to see you first.” She cocked her head sideways, squinting at him. He laughed and mouthed a ‘touché’ before reaching down and undoing his pants, hesitantly taking himself out. Anne’s stare felt heavy, and it made him a little nervous. He didn’t know exactly what was a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ look for a penis, it all seemed like pretty much the same thing, from what he could gather. “How do you do it?” He came back to his senses, looking at her confused. “To yourself, how do you do it? Show me.”

Did she just ask him to stroke his own cock in front of her? And why did the idea of it make the thing throb? Good Lord, Gilbert. He obviously obliged, slowly stroking himself under Anne’s gaze.

He was definitely not prepared to see her get on her knees and slowly undo the drawers’ buttons, sitting back to slip them down her legs while he touched himself. She was red all over. Gilbert squeezed himself and whined. Anne was too shy to open her legs still but pulled him in for a kiss.

“You’re looking very good there, Mr. Blythe.” He let go of himself to hold her. She kissed him while guiding his hand down once more and now he really felt it. She was warm and wet, his fingers slipped around easily and his hips bucked involuntarily. He circled her clitoris and she clutched at his half-open shirt, barely holding in a moan.

“God damn it, Anne–” They kissed deeply, tangling their tongues together. Distant thunder still rumbled all around the place. He backed out a little bit to hold her face and look at her. “Can I do it? Can I use my mouth on you?”

Anne was panting. She squeezed his arms, shutting her eyes closed with furrowed eyebrows. She managed to catch her breath and gasp out. “Yes, please do.”

He gently kissed her lips and throat before crawling backwards on the bed, lowering himself. Anne watched over him eagerly. Gilbert now had his face right in front of her, pleasedly taking in the view. He then kissed her inner thighs, rubbing into her with a thumb. 

To be completely honest, he had no idea why he was stalling. Maybe it was the appreciation of a long journey, maybe it was just a skill issue. He felt like he was finally jumping into his goal and now had no idea of what to do with himself. Nonetheless, he heard Anne softly sighing, and looked up to see her face watching over him. Her lips were swollen, her eyes were half closed and her eyebrows were pinched together. Gilbert slowly moved his face from the side of her thigh, finally bringing himself to her middle and gently mouthing over her.

It was one of those moments when you confirm why you wanted so much to do something. Gilbert had spent multiple nights thinking of the day he’d get to do this with Anne, and the wait proved itself nothing but worthwhile when he heard the sounds she started to make. He tried sucking on her and she loudly gasped in sync with the powerful strike of a thunder, which would probably scare the life out of the two if they weren’t in such a deep trance.

Gilbert felt her fingers strongly pulling on his hair and groaned against her. He seemed to really like that. Anne was rocking her hips against his tongue and of all things, his mind suddenly went to Bash’s words suddenly. ‘Listen to her cues. Observe.’

He then had an idea.

He took his mouth away from her, earning a very frustrated whine in return. “Hey love, get up.” She looked at him with a questioning look. “Do you want to, uh– ride? My face?”

Anne’s eyes went wide. “Ride your face? As in, sit on top of you?” Gilbert eagerly nodded, licking around his lips. She looked down and considered for a while, before breathing out and sitting up. “Okay, yes.”

She pushed him back suddenly, and Gilbert gladly laid down on the mattress, chuckling in anticipation. “You can control your own movements and ask from me whatever you want.” Anne started to climb him until she was on her knees, right above his face. His mouth watered.

“Um. Tap on my thigh if you want me to... get up?” She heard his hum of agreement before carefully sinking down on him. Anne shifted her weight to the hands she placed above his head and slowly started to roll her hips back and forth. She had to regard Gilbert’s idea, it was a really good one.

It didn’t take long before her movements got faster, starting to lose control of herself. Gilbert held onto the sides of her torso, successfully getting her to fully drop her weight on him already. His hands trailed up and down her body from under her nightgown in a haze, softly moaning against her, squeezing, humming and holding her down when she slowed her grinding to ask if he was okay. She occasionally managed to ask him to change the positioning of his tongue, to which he gladly obeyed, and a pressure was building in her lower abdomen. Suddenly she felt freaked out by it, sitting up and pulling away from him. His face was a mess. 

She panted heavily, and had to whisper. The rain was calming down now. “Gil… something– something is happening.” She gasped again when he brought his fingers up to keep rubbing her.

“You might be about to reach your climax. But we can stop–”

“No, not that!” Anne shivered, batting his hand away and sinking down again. She was stubborn, she was committing to this, holding a hand against her mouth to muffle the sounds. The wet noise from under her was downright sinful, and it all was about to get her over the edge. It was overwhelming. 

Too much.

What is going to happen?

Anne looked down and saw Gilbert's face. His eyes were closed and his eyebrows pinched together. She glanced back over her shoulders and saw his hardness twitching around, dripping on himself.

He was really enjoying this.

She could describe what she felt right then as an enlightening experience. Empowering. Anne felt like she was chasing for her own gratification and she wasn’t wrong or selfish for that. She was good for that. This felt right. The man she loved appreciated her experience. He appreciated being part of her moment.

Oh, she loved being a woman.

She loved Gilbert. And he loved her.

The climax took Anne at full force and she bit down her hand so she wouldn’t scream, starting to shake uncontrollably on top of Gilbert. He held her, looking up to watch the divine view of her powerful orgasm.

Anne weakly raised to her knees to climb off. He got up, holding her and crawling back to lay her down against the headboard again, so she could come down from her bliss. He wiped his face with one of his hands and sat next to her, rubbing her cheek and watching, grinning like a fool. “You okay, dear?”

Her vision came back to her, and Anne opened her eyes. She laughed quietly, rubbing her hands on her face. “Yeah, more than. Oh my…”

Gilbert chuckled, leaning down to softly kiss her lips. “That’s good, I’m glad you liked it. Been wanting to do that for a while.”

“Oh I noticed. You weren’t discreet on that note at all." She pointed at him and he laughed, raising his hands in defense. Anne looked down on him, noticing he was still hard. “We need to do something about that.” He looked down at himself and covered it with his hands, shaking his head in embarrassment. 

“We don’t need to, don’t worry about it–”

“Come here” She sat up and scooted to the edge, patting on the place next to her. He sighed and moved closer, also leaning against the headboard. Anne looked into his eyes. “Show me how you did that earlier. I want to do it to you now.”

Gilbert watched as Anne reached to the hand covering his erection. He bit the inside of his cheeks before breathing out and taking it off. “Okay.” She wrapped her thin fingers around him and he hissed. “Like this.” He placed a hand on top of hers, guiding it up and down. "A little slower... oh– yes, like that–" He threw his head back.

“You squeezed it before.” She said softly before doing it, and he whimpered. Anne angled her head up to kiss his neck and lips as she kept rubbing him.

Soon her hands were on a fast even pace, and Gilbert was a mess. He moaned and whimpered into her mouth, trying to contain himself. His hips bucked up against Anne’s fist, and it didn’t take long at all before she was pumping him into oblivion.

Gilbert groaned at her. “Anne– Anne, it’s happening! Oh fuck–” She took his mouth into hers, muffling a final soft whimper before he shuddered and spilled all over her hand. His hips thrusted up a couple more times before he slowed down to a stop and fell back limp for a moment.

She analyzed the liquid on her hand and smiled at her knocked out beloved, pleased. “I never heard you swear before. You kiss me with that dirty mouth?” Anne poked a finger into his side and he jolted, laughing.

“Sorry, got worked up.” He opened his eyes and glanced at her hand covered in his spend, springing up all flustered to look for something to clean her with. “Oh God, sorry about that. Let me grab a cloth.” Gilbert stuffed himself back into his pants and scrambled around to find a piece of fabric.

“Wait, that's right! You didn’t even eat, did you?” She got up, patting at her nightgown with the non semen-covered hand.

“Oh, not really.” Gilbert handed her his slightly wet shirt from before to clean her hand with.

“Let’s go down for you to eat, there’s still some left from tonight.” She wiped her hand and tossed the shirt away again, starting to walk out with the candleholder. “And can you grab that for me?” She pointed at the tossed pair of drawers still on the floor. Gilbert did as he was told and Anne raised her one leg. He stared at her. “What are you waiting for? Put it on me!”

He laughed at her, amused, but crouched anyway. She slipped her feet on it and Gilbert stood up, closing the buttons under her nightgown. He stole a kiss when he finished closing it and they gazed at each other in silence. “For the record, I really loved everything we did here.”

He smiled at her. “I really loved it too. But I’m also really hungry now.”

“Oh, yes!” Anne turned around and guided him through the hallway and down the stairs.

They heated up some food for Gilbert, hushing and giggling at each other when something clinked. Anne grabbed some water to properly clean her hand and his face. They were still a little sticky. It was late at night so they tried to keep as quiet as possible.

Gilbert was finally full, and they spent some minutes on the front porch hugging each other, looking up at the last moments of calm rain. Gilbert whispered to the top of Anne’s head. “Won’t Marilla come back tonight?”

“I don’t know. It’s already very late and the rain was very strong, so I would guess she will be back by morning.” 

“I love you.” Anne looked up at him, as if questioning why he said that. “Just wanted to say it. Thank you for being with me.” 

She turned around and hugged him, deeply. “I should be the one thanking you, dummy. And I love you too.” Gilbert looked behind them and back at Anne.

“We should get back. I should probably get my things and go back home.”

Anne nodded, a little bummed, and took his hand to kiss it. “We can plan something for tomorrow. I’ll get Matthew to take me to spend the afternoon with you and the others.” Gilbert agreed, and they started to walk back.

They slowly walked up the stairs, and as Anne was about to open the door to her room, both of them heard footsteps from behind.

“Anne? Everything alri–” 

It was Matthew.

Matthew just turned a corner, saw both of them there, and everyone froze in place.

Good Lord.

Chapter Text

You could hear a needle drop.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say all three of their hearts completely stopped for no less than a full minute.

Anne was the first to speak up.

“Matthew, I can truly explain.” She said, raising her hand up and taking a step forward while putting all her brain power into coming up with an excuse on the spot. Matthew was still frozen for a few beats, but then looked up and down from between Anne and Gilbert, as if still processing what on Earth was happening there. He laid his frightened glare onto her lastly, waiting for her “explanation” before commenting on anything.

Anne opened her mouth, then closed it. She perked up again to try saying something. The horrifying realization that even she wasn't able to come up with something started to sink in. Matthew felt his heart drop and took a very deep breath before he passed out for good.

“What. What are you- what are you doing here at this time, Gilbert?” His grasp on the candle holder was shaky, clearly terrified of anything he was about to hear. Gilbert felt like he was about to die.

“Mr. Cuthbert, I’m so sorry. So, so terribly sorry–”

“I’ll have Marilla know about this. You two are not supposed to be alone at this time!” Matthew started to turn around, shaking his head. Anne yelped and grabbed him by the arm.

“NO! Matthew, no! Please! She’ll kill me! She’ll kill both of us!”

“Anne, you know– you know this isn't right! You have to… behave, yes, you have to be proper about your courtship.” He looked at Gilbert, still not fully turning to him. “You should know I’m very– very disappointed in you, Blythe.” Anne scoffed at that.

“Hey! I was the one who called him here! You don’t need to–”

“But he did! He came here knowing fully well what this meant to you, you can’t expect me to not be upset at your suitor taking advantage–”

“What?! Why would he be taking advantage of me if I was the one who wanted all this, he came here just to enlighten me on topics all of you refuse to talk about! I deserve to choose how to live my life and know how to care for myself, Matthew! I’m 18 now!” Matthew paused for a moment, reflecting on what Anne had just said.

“What– Enlighten you? What does… what does this mean?” He looked confused and stared between the two young adults in front of him once more, but at least he looked a bit less angry, which was relieving. A little.

“Matthew…” Anne looked down and then up at him again. “For years I and all of my friends have begged again and again for someone to teach us what we should expect from life. From a relationship. I live in a boarding house with so many young women, and none of us know what we should and shouldn't let a suitor do to us when courting. We hear so many terrible, scary stories around the city, girls who don’t know what they’re being led to, who trust their partner to take care of them just to get either hurt or pregnant, and then left behind! Abandoned! We deserve to know what to do to avoid that and take care of ourselves.” Matthew visibly softened, taking a shaky breath. His glare was still stiff, though.

“And was that what you did, then?” He looked at Gilbert, who weakly nodded, finally able to speak up for himself. 

“Yes. It wouldn't be fair for me to be the only one knowing everything while in a relationship with Anne, and we both know she’s able to handle herself. It was incredibly risky and forward for me to do so, but she deserved to know everything I do.” He blinked a few times, gathering up more courage to defend himself, and Anne’s integrity. “And we both also know Anne deserves to and is intelligent enough to live her life as she pleases. I have sworn before but will swear again that I would never do anything to hurt or take advantage of her. I respect you and Anne too much to do so.” Matthew furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Anne, who promptly nodded at him.

Matthew had known Gilbert ever since he was born. The boy was raised by John Blythe, and Matthew knew a thing or two about the man’s character. The Cuthberts had been very glad it was Gilbert courting Anne, the young man was known for the polite, respectful manner he interacted with everyone around him. Matthew truly did want to believe the boy wasn’t disrespecting his daughter, but the situation shook him to his core and took him too much by surprise.

He forced himself to fully calm down. If it was anyone else, Matthew would probably be chasing him outside of Green Gables with a pitchfork right now.

“Still it-it’s incredibly inappropriate for you to be together alone, in your…” He stared down at the two “Your sleeping clothes, this late at night.”

“Oh Matthew you can’t possibly expect me to not spend as much time as possible with the man I love after so much time apart! We don’t know how long it will take until the next time we’ll be able to see each other! Please, let me have this, I promise you we’re being mindful and taking care of ourselves. Gilbert really does respect me, we’re not doing anything inappropriate, we were just reading!” Gilbert had to swallow hard to keep his face straight at that last comment, but it was a necessary lie. Matthew didn’t need to know the details of their encounter tonight at all.

Matthew had mostly calmed himself down at this point. “I’ll still have to let Marilla know about this–”

“Matthew! You know Marilla even better than me, she’ll never believe us and will put up even more rules to keep me away from Gilbert…” She put her hand to her heart, putting out the best pleading face she had to offer. “Please, let us have this, Matthew… I’ve been told by multiple trustful sources that nobody follows the courtship rules anyway! Why should I be the only one doing it? That seems deeply unfair.”

Matthew looked around. It’s not like he knew anything substantial about real courtship anyway as he was never able to live one, but he’d heard enough about it to know Anne was right, people really did not follow the rules. His mind went to everything he’s heard from the Lyndes over the years. Their courtship was anything but chaste, and nothing ever happened. He looked down, thinking to himself. Anne was young, her suitor lived far away, his lively Anne’s boyfriend lived far away and she'd feel left out if she was the only one not living her young years of courtship to the fullest. He swore to give his daughter the full life she always dreamed about. Her young childhood was already taken from her, he couldn't take away her first romance escapades, too…

Oh Lord. His heart was way too soft, he thought, finally closing his eyes and lightly scoffing at himself. He trusted he wouldn't regret this decision later, Gilbert truly was a respectable match for Anne, but even more importantly, the young man was right. She could choose how to live her life herself, and she could take care of herself, too.

Matthew gave a final nod, occasionally cocking his head before speaking up. “Right. You are both right. I trust you. You know, to take care of yourselves, if you can promise not to do anything dangerous or reckless. But don’t get too bold out in the open… people… people talk too much too fast.”

Anne almost jumped around, bolting to hug Matthew and barely avoiding dripping melted wax over them both. “Thank you, Matthew, I promise we’ll be truly, really, deeply, completely, absolutely careful!”

Matthew paused his fond smiling to shoot a glare, and honestly a surprisingly aggressive one, at Gilbert over Anne’s shoulder. It successfully sent the message, and also a groundbreaking series of shivers down Gilbert’s spine. They let each other out of their embrace and Matthew smiled once more at Anne. He looked at the young couple, now pleased. “I, uh, I trust you’ll get home safely now that the storm has passed, Gilbert? It’s already late.” He said, pulling his pocket watch out. Gilbert nodded frantically.

“Yes, of course. In fact, I was already about to get my things and go home before we were cau– before we stumbled into each other.” Great save, Blythe. Flawless, even.

Matthew nodded, reluctantly turning back to walk into his room. “Good night, then, both of you. Get home safe.” He stayed out for a moment, before deciding it was okay to step out for good.

Anne and Gilbert stayed still for a few minutes, in silence, processing the interaction. Gilbert then giggled, breaking the silence with a broken, tiny high pitched whisper.

“We’re not doing anything inappropriate, Mathew!” 

Anne snorted, barely shushing herself with a hand on top of her mouth. “Oh my God, shut up! Grab your dirty clothes and get out of my house already, Blythe.”

They walked together inside her bedroom, Gilbert hugging her from the side and kissing the side of her face. “You know I like it when you call me that? I might have a problem.”

“Of course you have a problem, you got obsessed with me when I broke a slate over your head. That’s not normal at all, Blythe.”

They were both giggling while Gilbert put together his belongings. “All worth it.”

The two walked down to the front door, Anne was wrapped in a blanket. It was very cold now after the heavy rain. “Are you sure you won’t freeze before getting inside your house? You didn't even bring another coat.”

“I’m sure I’ll live. Got fired up enough tonight to keep me warm for a good while just remembering about it.” He joked, laughing at Anne when she rolled her eyes in a pitiful attempt to conceal her fluster. 

“You’re getting way too bold, mister. I’m still not sure I like it.” Without missing a beat, Gilbert bent down to kiss her one last time.

“Oh you do. You made sure to let me know you do like it.” He winked and giggled at her disbelief expression. ‘The audacity!’

Their eyes lingered on each other for a moment, not really wanting to be apart again.

“See you tomorrow?” She asked with a small smile.

“You know it, Carrots.” Anne stuck out her tongue at Gilbert who turned around, giddy, to retrieve his horse from the barn. He would never admit, however, how ridiculous he looked when sneaking in and out the barn as to not wake up Jerry, now that the storm was over.

Anne watched him until he was finally outside of Green Gables, waving one last time before realizing it really was freezing outside and deciding to get inside.

It took a while for both of them to sleep, now with all of the night’s events to process, but ultimately they could call the night a success even with the mishaps at the end of it. Anne was unbelievably happy this was really happening, and had to pinch herself a couple times before dozing off, just to make sure.

Anne then dreamt of something that would have her deep in thought over the next morning.

She really wanted to visit Gilbert in Toronto one day. Preferably soon.

It was a beautiful morning, and Anne woke up in the way she most loved: by the tiny rays of sunlight hitting her face through her room’s window, right here at Green Gables. She spent a few moments sighing to herself dreamily, once again pinching her forearm and then processing the last night’s events. My God, that really happened. Her mind recollected a few moments and Anne was forever thankful for the crystal clear memory she always seemed to have for even the tiniest of things. 

Her mind traveled to the glimmer in Gilbert’s eyes when he looked up to her, his face buried between her legs. She started to wonder what on Earth was in his mind at that moment, for him to look so… so… so what? What did he look like?

He looked like he was about to cry, she settled on and frowned. Was that it? Why did he look like he was about to cry? Was it a good cry or a bad cry?

Anne pinched her eyes shut, digging the memory the best she could. What came to her mind was the next moment, the wet pop sound when his mouth left her, drool falling down his chin, staring deep into her eyes as if trying to read what was in her mind. Then, the way his fingers dug into her skin when he held her down, pressing even more against her while she sat on top of his face. The pleased, hazy look on his half lidded eyes when she finally climbed off of him. Oh, oh my. Was that it? It was a good cry?

It made sense, the evidence backed it up. It seemed that Gilbert had been looking up to the chance of doing this for at least a good while now. But it had to be at least a little disgusting, right? How could he look so pleased with doing such an odd thing? She started thinking about a lonely Gilbert, late at night, struggling to fall asleep because he couldn't keep his wicked fantasies off his mind. The thought made her chuckle for a second, and then she noticed how breathless she was. All of the recalling had her in a state, for sure. 

Anne touched her face, feeling how hot the skin was under her fingertips. Gilbert felt good about doing all of it to her. She shut her eyes another time, focusing on all the desperate sounds coming out of his throat during the whole ordeal. Such a weird thing, how sounds like those had her shivering. But one particular ragged, broken whimper that escaped the boy’s mouth when she pulled hard on his hair made her guts feel as if they were made of fire. He sounded almost like a pained animal, so vulnerable, so open, so ready for anything she had the generosity of givi–

“Anne! Come down already and help me prepare our breakfast!” It was Marilla’s chipper voice. Anne scrambled around her sheets to get up feeling like she had just discovered her limbs, frantically shaking her head to scare the thoughts away so she could finally look somewhat normal, like she wasn’t just thinking about what she was thinking about.

Gilbert was beaming. The sight was almost sickening to witness, and Bash was more than ready to tease the ever living hell out of him for it.

“Someone had a good night’s sleep.” Bash muttered, making Gilbert almost bend over backwards by the full force he stopped his giddy little stroll across the kitchen. “Took you long enough to come back last night, eh, Blythe?”

Gilbert almost pounced on top of him, shoving his hand on top of Bash’s mouth. “Shut up! Why the hell were you up waiting for me anyway?!” He looked around to make sure nobody else could have listened to his stupid brother.

“Ay, ay, calm down princess, nobody’s in the house right now. And I didn’t wait for you, you almost broke through my bedroom wall going across the hall when you came back!”

Gilbert sighed, exasperated, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s not my fault all furniture was moved around since the last time I walked through here in the dark.”

Bash started to chuckle, slicing down his serving of cheese. “I take it your escapade went well, then?”

“I will never tell you anything about it ever, stop mentioning it.” Gilbert walked past him, shoving Bash’s shoulder. After a few moments of silence he muttered, barely audible. “But yeah it’s all good, nothing too crazy though so stop thinking about it, too.”

“I’ll have you know it’s disgusting to think about the two of you like that, so you don’t have to worry. Just need to remember to be carefu–”

“Matthew caught me there when I was about to leave.” Bash almost sliced off his finger.

“What?!”

“It’s all good though, we explained it to him!” Gilbert blurted out in one breath.

“Oh my God, what did you explain?” Bash started laughing at the pitiful figure beside him.

“Nothing, we were just reading.” Gilbert refused to turn around and face him.

“Oh, were you now? Jesus, Blythe, you’re so stupid.” Bash tried his best to stop the laughter, to moderate success.

“It’s not my fault!” He whined in a tone that made it clear it was absolutely his fault. “But yes it’s all good now and I would appreciate it if you acted normal around the three, for my sake.”

“What?! The one you should be worried about is yourself, kid. Lucky thing it wasn’t Marilla, she would have stabbed you on the spot.” Bash sat down at the table, munching on his food.

“Yes, I’m aware.” He sat down too, looking at nothing in particular. “They might come here to visit us in the afternoon. Well, I’m not sure anymore, but, well, yeah.”

Bash scoffed and shook his head at him. “Get your stupid bum ready for work, then. The day is going to be long.”

That he could do.

Matthew kept his cool in front of Marilla, which was good. By keeping his cool, of course, it meant barely facing her at all the whole morning, in true Matthew Cuthbert fashion. Thankfully in character enough that she never noticed anything weird about it.

“So, what are the plans for today, Anne?” Marilla asked her, perfectly pleased with herself. Anne couldn't stop thanking the stars for her good fortune.

“I was thinking we could visit the Lacroix house later in the afternoon, maybe.” Anne suggested, innocently. Marilla chuckled at her.

“Of course you were. It’s a wonderful idea, Anne.”

The early day hours passed by peacefully, it was a perfectly normal day on Green Gables. Anne and Marilla spent some well earned time talking to each other about all sorts of things when they heard soft knocks on the front door. Anne ran to it immediately.

“Anne! Hello!” It was Diana and all the Queens girls, all holding different items and baskets. Anne rushed to greet them all.

“Oh my, hello! What’s all of this?” Anne gestured to everything they were carrying.

“We came to pick you up for our picnic!” Ruby spoke up, attempting to twirl around her flowy dress, but stumbling a little on the other girls. They all laughed. “It’s such a lovely day, we can’t just let it go by.”

Anne beamed and went rushing to get ready and let Marilla know what they were doing. In no time, all of the girls were strolling down the beautiful roads of Avonlea, enveloped by the nostalgic feeling their walk brought to them.

They had a particular creek in mind, and the place looked dream-like. Anne took a moment to soak it all in, the wonderful warm glow of the afternoon sun, the orchestra of birds and insects around the woods, the soft whisper of the wind through the trees. She felt happy, at home. The girls laid down their picnic on the grass, ready to update each other on their last days back to Avonlea.

Anne was pressing her hands on top of the bag she brought, waiting for the perfect moment to unveil what she had in it. The idea crossed her mind while one step away from leaving her bedroom when she got ready, as her eyes gazed at the heavy luggage next to the bed. They would all be alone, in the middle of the woods, to spend some good hours talking to each other. It was a perfect moment to disclose her recent discoveries with her friends who wanted it so much. With a determined heavy breath, Anne dug into her folded clothes to take out that dark covered book and bring it to their picnic. It was time, Anne figured.

With a deep sigh in a moment when none of the girls were speaking up, Anne braced herself and began to talk.

“So, I brought something…” She clutched the bag a little, all of her friends looking at her expectantly. “I figured it wasn’t really necessary to wait until we went back to Queens, so…” Anne finally opened the bag and pulled up the book, revealing only the back of it to all of them. “This is the book Gilbert gave me, with all the answers.”

The reaction was immediate, all of them stumbled on themselves to get up. Tillie tried to snatch the book away from Anne’s hand, who barely managed to pull it away. “Wait! Calm down! We got time, you savages!”

“Come on, Anne! Give it to us already!” Diana giggled, trying to free herself from the human mountain about to be formed. They seemed to realize it wasn't necessary to react like that at all, but it was still pretty funny. Anne finally managed to stand up, raising the book above her head while looking down to all of her disheveled friends. So ladylike of them, huh!

“Okay! Okay! You won’t need to read it all right now. I can lend it to any of you when we get back to Queens if you want, but alas! It is class time, ladies.” Anne announced in the best eloquent voice she had to offer.

Something about her friends’ gasps, woohoos and absolute feral expectant faces made Anne believe she was about to give out the most chaotic lesson of her entire life.