#caviar shop near me

[caviar-suppliers]

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[doromoni]

So Unaware | CL16

Ships : Charles Leclerc x F1 Academy Driver! Reader

Genre : Fluff

A/N : this is inspired by my own experience with a block mate from Uni. It was an entire situation, I can’t even comprehend so be distraught with me :))

Summary : When Charles mistakes Y/N’s enthusiasm and friendliness for flirting.

Masterlist

The F1 grid was having media day with the F1 Academy teams to show a united front or something like that. You weren’t so sure, you didn’t fully listen to the PR people’s instructions.

You were mindlessly walking around the ransacked snack bar looking for anything to munch on when suddenly a packet of gummies was in front of you and to your shock, it was Charles Leclerc himself who offered.

A wide smile presented itself on your lips as you thanked him for the snack. And being the nice person that Charles was he started small talk with you — the conversation found its way towards the passion you both shared it was your love for cold dairy treats! Ice cream.

Without noticing, you both got deep into talking — not minding other people present or the event happening around you. You were so deeply interested in Charles’ stories on his failed attempts to create the formula for Lec and Charles reciprocated the interest in your story of almost getting carbon dioxide poisoning as you overdosed on Dry Ice when trying to make Ice cream from home. You didn’t realize that people were noticing your interaction with the Ferrari Driver, with most of them thinking that there was indeed chemistry between the 2 drivers. People were starting to think that you had a thing for Charles.

“Ok, so what is the weirdest flavor you’ve thought for Lec” You eagerly asked the gorgeous red-clad driver in front of you who was leaning on the barriers.

“So much! But the weirdest has got to be the tomato with caviar. It was so repulsive you couldn’t imagine.” Charles's face scrunched up as he remembered the vile thing making you laugh at his theatrics.

“Well that sounds interesting, I mean caviar is salty so they balance each other out?” You muttered reluctantly

“Oh come on Y/N, don’t be nice on my behalf. It was disgusting. If you were only there to taste it” Charles said as he shook his head in amusement

“Is that an invitation, Mr. Leclerc? Count me as your beta tester then!“ You joked at the older driver.

“Oh I’m not sure, how can I be sure that you’re as good of an ice cream taster as you say you are Y/N” Charles joked back with a smile and you couldn’t help but notice the deep set of dimples on the man. How can a person be so attractive you couldn’t explain?

“How dare you question my professionalism, Mr. Ferrari driver! Well, I have a favorite Ice cream parlor near the hotel that I always go to when we drive in this country. Their Salted Vanilla and Balsamic with Strawberry is to die for! You need to try it” You exclaimed as you remembered the dainty mom-and-pop ice cream shop that held your heart — the Donofrios, was the breath of fresh air when you were having a hard time with insecurities and doubts about your career. Ever since then, it has become a tradition to visit them after every race here.

“Well ok Professional L/N. You need to take me there then” Charles replied cheekily at you.

“It would be my pleasure to share a treasure with a fellow enthusiast. How about after the race? Mr. Donofrio, he’s the owner and your fan, he would love to meet you” You giddily replied.

“Definitely! Give me your number so we can stay in touch” Charles gestures his phone towards you to put your number in his contacts.

“Oh yes of course! I swear, Charles you would love it there. Mrs. Donofrio even makes their waffle cones!” You answered excitedly as you gave Charles his phone back.

“After the race the “ Charles was cut off as you both heard someone calling his name. Looking at the direction of the voice, it turned out to be his manager.

“I need to handle something real quick, I’ll be back, ouias?” Charles says briefly squeezing your forearms and then proceeding to go to his manager. You nodded your head and sent him away with a smile and a wave.

“Did you just flirt with Charles Leclerc?” Emily, your teammate from Prema had suddenly sprung on you as she pulled you into the corner the minute Charles stepped away from your conversation.

“No? What do you mean?” You were confused at your teammate who was close to hyperventilating from excitement.

“I mean you talked with THE Charles Leclerc for a solid 30 minutes. You and him were smiling from ear to ear! Babe don’t get me started with the sparkle in your eyes” Emily said as she took hold of your shoulders and shook you till you started to feel dizzy

“Em, Stop! I’m getting dizzy. And what are you even talking about? We were just talking about racing, ice cream and some gossip in the paddock— that was it!” You exclaimed as you removed yourself from the clutches of your friend.

“Y/N, Babe. People don’t touch that much when talking about racing and ice cream” Em said a devious smile on her face as her eyebrows went up and down.

Horror suddenly fell on your face at the realization. You have the tendency to be touchy when you are over enthusiastic and excited about things — and Charles Leclerc was at the receiving end.

Based on your expression, Em then realized what had happened and started laughing hysterically.

“Y/N! I can’t believe you did it again! DUDE you’re so unaware, I love it! “ Emily was doubling over laughing at you and your overly friendly tendencies.

“EM! Not funny! Do you think Charles misunderstood? Do you think that he thinks that I was hitting on him? OH NO! Do you think that I was some creepy obsessed fan or something” You blurted out words at the speed of light. At your panic, Emily had laughed even harder.

You didn’t know what to think or do — when you felt a hand on your shoulder, causing you to look at the person.

Your eyes widened at the sight of Charles.

“Is she ok?” He asked referring to Emily still laughing with tears staining her cheeks.

“Uh… yes. I think. Yeah, she’s ok. Emily is ok” You replied forcing a smile, which you swore looked awkward. An elbowed Emily to stop laughing.

“So, uhm… can I have your teammate for a while, Emily?” Charles asked the girl who was trying her best to stop laughing. Emily only nodded as an indication of agreement, given that talking wasn’t an option at the moment.

To your surprise, Charles took hold of your hand — pulling you back to somewhere quiet.

“So, Y/N. Where did our conversation stop?” The Ferrari Driver asked with a smile.

“I wasn’t trying to flirt with you!” You suddenly blurted out, catching the Monegasque off guard.

“I’m sorry. What?” Charles asked a tad confused.

“I have this tendency to be over-excited and sometimes I get touchy… I just didn’t want to weird you out or think I was creepy and stepping out of line” You explained now getting nervous.

Charles looked at you for a solid 5 seconds then he started out laughing. He then suddenly held your hand again, now looking straight into your eyes.

“You weren’t flirting with me?” He asked.

“No…” you said quietly.

“Do you find me attractive?” Charles’ question catches you completely off guard. Rendering you speechless.

“Well do you, Cheri?” The Ferrari Driver asked once more, to which you only nodded sheepishly

“Great! Because I was flirting with you and I look forward to our ice cream date”

[mournus]

there was very little that could come between farrah and a pink quilted caviar double flap chanel bag. the dhampir had spotted it while shopping around the designer stores near a hit and knew that she /had/ to have it. and she had to have it as soon as possible. if that meant shortchanging herself into taking a kill for a mere 20k, then she would. farrah had meant to heckle for at least twice the offering, seeing that the kill itself would be messy and take up a good chunk of her friday night but... that chanel bag was just so darn cute! so here she is, mowing down a dozen henchman in the upper levels of a black market nightclub. no big guns. no fun, farrah would say. only toys that could have silencers. she's on what she thought was the last underling, twirling her trusty glock 19 before deciding to practice some acrobats and breaking his neck between her thighs.

ugh. she's gotten a little rusty. that's what happens when you start relying on long range weaponry rather than hand to hand combat, farrah! she flips her blonde hair back, strawberry gum smacking between her teeth as she spots... a leftover. who looks perfectly unharmed. she eyes his tall form up and down, cocking a brow.

"who the fuck are you?" because he certainly wasn't just a cookie cutter henchman.

Tae-min had heard the thumping, the dwindling of heartbeats before he had seen it. Visions of death fluttered through his mind. One. Two. Three. Over and over - all because of the same pink blob. Everything was getting louder, then quieter. Something was wrong. Even more so, he could feel the pull of death. Good thing Tae-hyun had already disabled all the cameras.

He couldn't risk staying hidden. If something happened to the one he was trying to get intel on he was fucked. It was part of something bigger, more important, something he had to protect. If some rival had gotten in or there was some dumb cop, Tae-min had to stop them from getting to his target.

So, he snuck out, stepped over the bodies (ok. Impressive.) and only slowed when he saw... a cute little... pink... Aiyah. What the fuck. Why did these things always happen to him? Why could both be simple?!

The question made him scoff and sneer. There were a lot of dead bodies... He couldn't even focus on that pink blob with all this around. He moved to the closest one, crouched and held a palm over their face. A black mist rose of the corpse's eyes, nostrils, mouth, rising up into Tae-min's palm. He sighed as if experiencing the most blissful pleasure. There were so many more to go, but at least he could think a bit straighter. He moved to crouch beside the next one.

"Don't bother jumping me, I can't be killed."

[enchantedtomeethyun]

Cruel Summer Part Four-Chan

The street was busy with people as usual. Chan and I walked hand in hand leisurely observing the life of others. A group of school kids excited to finally be on vacation make their way into an ice cream shop shouting and laughing. A street performer taking a break outside a McDonald's. People pushing passed each other to get to work or some where they are urgently needed. Then there is us. After what had happened earlier in the morning I thought it would be a good idea to spend the day out together. Chan wore his usual. A black Vetements hoodie and sweats. A mask to cover his face and pair of shades. He did look suspicious to be honest but he said it would attract less attention. I went for a much less black look with my pink hoodie and shorts. My favorite Chanel wallet and a mask. It was moments like this that made it seem easy to be together. Just him and me walking in the street. He would point out something in a window and I would agree it looked worthy to look at so we would walk in the store to snoop around. Window shopping was fun with Chan.

"Oh look at that! Wow it's so pretty!" I cooed looking into the window. Chan chuckled to himself and moved closer to see what I was adoring. He arm went to the small of my back which made me jump a little bit blush at the little things he does that makes my heart flutter.

"What are you looking at?" He said confused.

"That!! Right there in the front!!" I said jumping excited.

"Baby that's....a kids watch?" He said giving me a look. He didn't understand what drew me to it.

"It's Hello Kitty though!! Look at the little flowers on the band..." I said pouting a little. I read for his hand and hold it looking at him for a second. I then leap over towards the door of the shop dragging him along with me. Chan laughed again mumbling something this time I can't hear. The bell dinged as we entered alerting the sales lady to greet us.

"Welcome in! Are you looking for anything or for anyone?" The lady said approaching us. Her eyes were deep brown and hooded. Her lashes long and elegant. She stood confidently in front of us in her short black dress and heels. Her hair was long and black. It flowed to her elbows as she reached out for a hand shake from Chan.

"We are looking thank you." Chan said nodding his head politely and shaking her hand firmly. Her eyes looked him up and down smiling in a flirty way. This made him uncomfortable and he stepped back bumping into me.

"Ah sorry my baby are you ok?" He said concerned holding my back and my shoulder.

"Ah yes ummm good heh..." I said brushing off his touch walking towards the Hello Kitty display. He bowed shyly towards the lady embarrassed or his actions and followed behind me.

"Ahh wow look there's other characters too!" Said looking through the glass case careful not to get my finger prints on it.

"I like that one it would look cute on you haha.." Chan said nervously stepping over to the other side of me to look at it closer. He took off his mask looking over at me smiling. I take mine off as well and he reaches for mine to hold. I nod at him thanking him for his gesture.

The lady returns over near the case display we are looking at. With a bottle of windex in hand and a cloth she stands by waiting. I look up at her expecting her to say something. She just gives me a warm smile and continues to watch us.

"Um can I please look at this one please." I said pointing to the one Chan liked. He steps back to give the lady space and stands behind me closely so his arm can drape over my shoulder. The lady unlocks the case and reaches inside for the glove, putting them on. Taking the item in her hands she holds it in front of me to show off the items.

"How much is it?" I asked reaching to touch it. The lady quickly moved away and placed it back in the case. She giggled quietly before speaking.

"Maybe a little too much for you dear.."She said swiftly then spraying the case and cleaning off the non existent fingerprints. A little annoyed I huffed.

"She asked how much it is? So tell her." Chan said seriously placing his hands in the case. The lady was startled by this move and stepped back.

"Oh I'm oh it's... one moment.." She said trying to gain her composure taking a look at it again.

"800." She said confidently looking over at me as if she had defeated me.

"We'll take it." We both said at the same time making us laugh a little. The lady smiled again and took it over the the check out space. I gave Chan a look of "what the fuck" and he did a sheepish smile. Rubbing the back of his neck he mouthed sorry. I eased my way over with Chan following behind taking out his wallet the same time as me.

"No Channie I got it please.." I said handing the lady my card.

"Oh you better let your boyfriend pay he seems to know what he's doing.."She said looking down at me. Did I look weird? I looked at my clothes and then his. I mean yeah his hoodie is designer but we are both wearing hoodies.

"No I think she can handle it actually." Chan said sounding a bit pissed off. His hand instinctively grabbed my free hand holding it tightly. I smiled at the lady to mock her placing my wallet on the counter. Looking down she notices the Caviar wallet and realizes her mistake.

"Ah yes of course ma'am would you like it boxed as well?" She said bowing her head to show respect.

"Yes." I said flatly earning a laugh from Chan who was looking over at me fondly.

"I'll also take that right there." I said pointing at the Hello Kitty bag on the shelf.

"Ah yes one moment of course!" She said dashing over the grab it. She stopped for a second then rushed towards the back yelling:

"I'll get you a fresh one!"

Once she disappeared through the wall that was a door Chan and I began to laugh. He pulled me into a hug still laughing while rubbing my back.

"Ah oh my god!" I said wiping the happy tears from my face. We gained our composure and look at eachother as we pulled out of the hug.

"You know you didn't have to pay." He said to me quietly.

"Yes I did Chan. You can't let people like that walk all over you ya know." I said pursing my lips in a teasing way.

"I'm just saying I could of protected you. You didn't have to-

He stopped after realizing what he said. His head raised to look in my eyes. I was confused why he stopped talking but I feel like he just had something click in his head.

The woman returned with my purchases and handed them to me in the shopping bag. I paid promptly then we left with the ding of the bell going off again.

Walking back to the dorm we were silent. It felt comfortable though. It was like nothing needed to be said and we knew that. Chan was insistent upon carrying my bag and I reluctantly let him. When we arrived at the dorm we were greeted with hellos from the members and their guests. Everyone was having a lively conversation when Hyunjin's girlfriend approached me.

"Hey! What did you get? I'm nosy sorry.." she said excited sitting down next to me on the sofa.

"Ahhhh baby don't be rude she probably doesn't want to show you." Hyunjin said walking over to her then pulling her into a hug sitting with her.

"No no I'll show you. It's no problem I like Hello Kitty so I got this watch I saw in the window with Chan.... then uh this bag aswell." I said as I took them out of the boxes to show her.

"Broooooo oh my god I got the same exact bag!! Holy shit we are meant to be best friends..." she said excited and she reached over to hug me. Hyunjin laughed and apologized to me for her excitement.

"She likes Sanrio characters a lot. Ah... sorry" he said shyly pulling her away. I hugged her back laughing.

"No it's ok! I do too.." I said as I watched her eyes light up. Without realizing Chan was sitting there observing.

"Hyung are you going to help your girlfriend carry her things back to your room or are you going to sit there like a creep and stare at her." Hyunjin said earning a loud laugh from his partner.

"Ahhh Hyunnie don't be mean to Chan! Don't worry Chan I got your back!" She said shooting finger guns at him. We all laughed and Chan got up and nervously began packing the things back into the boxes with me.

"Are you ok?" I whispered in his ear.

"Yeah I'm good.." he said whispering back picking everything up and standing. I followed him to his room and watched him put my things down on the unused chair. He walked over to the bed sitting down with a deep sigh.

"Oh no .. you only sigh when something is wrong.." I said cautiously approaching him and sitting next to him. He laid back and I took this as an invite to lay across his tummy. Our bodies making an X shape across the bed.

"What are you doing baby.." he asked chuckling a little. I laughed feeling his stomach contort from his laughing. We both began to laugh not being about to stop. The felt too funny. After a few moments we fell silent and he reached for my hand.

"You know.. nothing is wrong. I wanted you to know. I needed today and it help me realize." He said.

"Realize what.." I said scared of his rejection.

"I need you in my life. I want to protect you. I want to laugh with you.. I want you. Please can I have you?" His voice cracked at the end. I sat up then sat on him my legs on each side of his hips. He lifts his neck to see what I'm doing before I engulf him in a big hug almost knocking the wind out of him. I cuddled him close my face in his neck. He responded by wrapping his arms around me.

"You always had me." I said in his neck. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Lifting myself off him my back was arched still in his arms.

"Hey you guys wanna watch the new 90 Day Fiancé with us! Hyunnie and I think it would be fun since..

She stopped talking as they stood in the doorway seeing us in the position we were in.

"Well at least he lets her be on top!" Hyunjin's girlfriend said. I gotta remember to ask her for her name.

"What do you mean?! You were on top last night!?" Hyunjin whinned pulling her into a hug as if it would stop their little argument.

"Barely! It was for 2 minutes but you said you wanted to be on top so you could muffle the sounds of ..

They walked off arguing. I was a bit worried but Chan opened his mouth.

"They aren't actually arguing by the way. That's just how they talk to eachother when they are around others. They are so soft for eachother when no one is around." Chan said as we sat up.

"I kind of wanna watch... 90 day fiancé..." I said to him.

"Yeah they make it sound so good huh?" He said standing up reaching my hand helping me up.

"Yah! Hyunjin save some space on the couch!" Chan said as we walked into the living room.

"Where did they... go?" I asked looking around and through the kitchen.

"Oh heh I uh forgot..." Chan said shyly looking down. I was scared to ask but I did.

"What?" I said.

"Their "arguments" are usually resolved rather quickly.."He said looking over at Hyunjin's room.

"Gross!" I said covering my face embarrassed.

"It's just you and me then I guess.." Chan said plopping himself down on the couch.

"Well we can wait.. you said quickly.." I said sitting next to him hugging his side.

"Oh did I say that.." he said reaching for the remote to turn on the tv.

"I meant loudly.." he said again turning up the volume of the tv of the movie playing.

"Gross!" I said again slapping him lightly.

[neverdoingmuch]

I just really love Two Person Love Triangles and Identity Porn. So, maybe a You've Got Mail AU? Or a superhero AU when one of them falls for both the masked hero and the secret identity?

because i love both of these aus i’ve written both!! but they’re pretty long bc i wouldn’t be me if i didn’t plot out an entire fic so the superhero au is here. 

as for the you’ve got mail au, i went off and watched the movie for the first time and i am delighted by your taste anon,,, the au works so well!! 

(okay for some reason tumblr won’t let me indent my bullets so idk how to fix that so big rip)

so we have lan & sons books, a company that prides itself on providing cheap books for everyone to read. think less evil corporation and more we wanted to provide easily accessible books for all people and ended up getting really rich off it

mr lan dadman was meant to be in charge but he ran off and lqr stepped up until lxc was old enough to take over and now lqr just kinda assists lxc when he needs help and does some other work

lqr is definitely the old guy who had a letter thing with this one woman who was enchanting but instead he was chatting to cssr and she was shameless 

anyway lwj works as *random high up job that joe fox has* and his best work friend (and real friend) is jin zixuan

jin zixuan is the heir to some coffee franchise and the two families have a deal which is why you have the cafe inside the bookstores

we gonna give lwj some friends

as for wwx, his mother owned a bookstore, the burial mounds (why did she name it that?? idk she probably told bssr that she wanted to call it that as a joke and bssr tried to call her bluff so she ended up having to call it that a la suibian)

anyway he grew up with his mother and grandmother and they left the store to him (idk what happened to them?? maybe they just retired and are now travelling the world while wwx gets to have the bookstore)

now for the actual plot!!

lwj and wwx met on omegle an instant messaging site and now exchange emails. wwx goes by yiling patriarch and lwj goes by hanguang-jun bc we want that flavour

so they’ve been emailing for years and they never share any personal information - wwx knows that hgj has a pet rabbit but not hgj’s name or his job

as for the significant others?? idk let’s pretend they don’t exist. 

wwx’s best friend nhs, who writes a column for so-and-so, always just comes over to his place and now he’s semi moved in and wwx isnt really sure why he’s here but he is. 

lwj just vibes bc i can’t see him putting up with a patricia unless his uncle  forced him to. even then he’d probably just be ~mysteriously~ gone while she’s home

maybe he has a really annoying pa who thinks its his job to come over and like make him breakfast. it’s su she,, it has to be

so wwx goes into work one morning and wen ning is waiting outside as he always is, ready for him to open and then like ten minutes later wen qing comes in and lastly granny wen comes in

why do they work together?? idk?? granny wen and bssr were close and so the wens and wwx kinda grew up as siblings? yeah i like that let’s go with that

so when cssr decided to go travelling wwx gets left with her store and he kinda knows how to run it but also he doesn’t have enough staff so he ends up hiring the wens (except granny who’s mostly there just to hang out with her family)

bonus: a-yuan always come to the shop after school and wwx gets to recreate the childhood he had with his mother with a-yuan. when the store closes wwx and a-yuan just twirl and twirl until they get too dizzy to stand up and then they lay on the floor and discuss their favourite book they’ve read this week. it’s very sweet

okay so the next day lwj gets to babysit his cousin/uncle/nephew/idk-how-they’re-related-person lan jingyi who is like eight or something?

they go out and hang at a festival and lwj does not buy him a goldfish bc i was very stressed by the way they treated the goldfish in the movie but he does get him balloons and a stuffed toy and plays all the games with him

eventually they’re walking back and see that the small bookstore near the new lan bookstore is hosting a story time so they go inside 

lwj walks in and he’s immediately taken by the atmosphere of the store bc that place was absolutely beautiful and then he hears this voice and follows it around to the back of the store to see the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen in his life sitting on a kinda too small chair with a princess hat? cone? thing on top of his head

he’d planned to stay for like one story and then take jingyi home but he ends up staying for the entire book and it’s definitely not because the guy reading the book smiled at him once or twice

after the story time ends, lwj is reluctant to leave so he ends up letting jingyi pick a bunch of books and looks at a few fancy first edition books with wen qing

and maybe his mother used to love collecting books - the old ones with the yellowed pages and beautiful pictures - and that’s why lwj helps out with his family business,, bc he wants everyone to be able to have books like that (never mind that all their books are like mass produced and lack any sentimentality & the staff dont actually care about the books)

anyway he sees wwx help jingyi pick out books and lets him borrow his handkerchief when he sneezes and lwj’s like oh nooo he’s good with kids too so now he has to talk to him 

so he goes up to buy the books and wwx’s telling jingyi about how much he likes daisies and lwj just blurts out “can i ask what your name is?” and wwx blinks but then smiles and is like i’m wei wuxian, but you can call me wei ying, and i own this store. what about you? and lwj is like wangji, you can call me wangji

wen qing takes one look at lwj and the way he’s staring at wwx and goes you’re going to come back aren’t you and lwj is trying so hard not to just run away so he just ignores her but then she mentions something about lan books and he’s Panicking and jingyi almost says that he’s a lan and lwj just kinda guides him over to a table and then goes back to flirt talk with wwx

anyway wwx ends up going on this big tangent about books and what they mean to people and the whole when you read a book as a child it becomes a part of your identity and who you’re going to become the way nothing else does (and lwj remembers his mother and her books) and then he apologises for going on and lwj is mentally going marry me, but he ends up calling wwx and his mother shameless

but it’s okay!! wwx & cssr are proud of it!

and then yada yada lwj buys the kinda expensive books and ends up awkwardly shepherding jingyi out of the store 

cut to the next day when the lan book store opens properly and lwj ends up telling lqr about how he met wwx and lqr is like >:/ the son of that shameless woman,, how terrible,, it’s okay he won’t be a problem for long bc they’ll be driven out of business. which isn’t the response lwj wanted but lxc seems supportive enough if a bit concerned about how it would work with them as business enemies 

business is already bad for wwx and it’s barely been a week since the lan store opened and he’s pretty bummed out but hopeful that maybe it’s a fluke

then nhs invites him to some fancy dinner with him bc wei-xiong they’re all so boring and smart and have opinions, please don’t make me have opinions so wwx gets dragged along

he ends up talking to lwj at the bar bc how could he not talk to the man who’s standing in front of all that fancy alcohol and getting some fruit juice. (he’d get water but lwj has had to put up with su she all evening so he needs something stronger)

anyway they chat and it’s pleasant but then after wwx gets approached by someone who’s like wow im surprised you’re talking to lan wangji and wwx is like lan?!

cue their passive aggressive argument around the food table complete with caviar and a turkey knife. 

now bc it’s lan wangji,, instead of making scathing comebacks he just makes like factual and to-the-point statements that end up being really bitchy (or does he intend them to be that way? it’s a mix of both of them tbh but in this case he’s definitely being bitchy on purpose) and wwx is spluttering bc that boy does not stand up well against hot and mad people

nhs ends up coming over and defusing the situation but wwx makes a point of stealing the rest of the caviar off lwj’s plate before leaving 

lwj ends up ducking out early as well to avoid su she and emails wwx that night at like 9:45 bc the guilt of being so rude kept him up late and yllz is like oh no that’s so sad ): but impressive! i wish i could zing people,, my brain just turns off the second i need to make a comeback

creative liberties,, wwx is good at teasing but not being genuinely mean? lets go with that

anyway now we get the delightful montage of wwx hiding behind cheese displays and lwj walking out of coffee stores with a newspaper covering his face as they try to avoid each other

when wwx gets in the wrong line at the supermarket lwj comes over and kinda glares the checkout woman into submission and gets her to let wwx use his card which wwx is really conflicted about bc why would he help me?? and once again angry lwj = hot lwj

a few weeks later wwx ends up asking hgj for help bc business isn’t getting any better but refuses to give any details and i refuse to have lwj watch the godfather so lwj just straight up messages him and is like tear that bitch apart

and so wwx decides to tear that bitch apart and asks nhs for help. nhs, fan of the arts and small businesses and local culture, is 100% down for it and writes a scathing article about lan books and how they’re destroying all the aforementioned things nhs cares about

it ends up getting a lot of traction and people show up to protest and wwx even goes on television

lwj ends up seeing the news coverage on the matter while he’s at the gym with jzx

jzx is 100% the guy who goes to the gym just to apathetically walk on the treadmill while lwj jogs

he sees the interview with wwx and lwj is like he’s not this nice in real life and jzx is like you met him?? and lwj is like mn. then jzx is like i bet he’s not as hot and lwj is completely silent but his ears are bright red and that’s how jzx knows that wwx is just that hot

also?? lwj goes on tv and says like three words and he’s kinda annoyed how the news decided to spin that but he also said like three words so what did he expect?

but, despite all the publicity, sales don’t get any better so wwx is like fine can we meet in person and lwj is like sure

he brings jzx along bc he doesn’t know the way there, it’s not because he’s nervous and kind of in love with yllz, it’s because he doesn’t know how to get to the cafe. (it’s two blocks from his apartment)

anyway jzx is like oof man it’s seems like yllz is wwx but he is that hot so not all is lost and lwj is like yikes no not happening im not going in but he also feels bad about standing wwx up so he ends up going in and sitting down in front of wwx

and lwj is like wei wuxian, all this publicity will do nothing to save your business and wwx is like lan wangji who do you think you are (or however that scene goes) but instead of lwj being asked to leave wwx decides he’s not gonna chicken out first so they end up spending like two hours having the most aggressive cup of coffee and chat he’s ever had

lwj is exhausted but he also refuses to give up

but then wwx spits something about how lwj is some cold, heartless suit who doesn’t actually care about or appreciate books so how can he possibly dare to think that he’s better than wwx and that hurts bc lwj had thought that he’d been doing exactly that so he leaves

anyway the next morning wwx is moping around the bookstore bc he didn’t get stood up, he swears. am i not cute enough he moans to wen qing and she’s like your hgj doesn’t know what you look like. but what about my personality? is that cute enough? and wen qing eventually manages to grit out that yes it is cute enough

wen ning comes in and is like are you okay? you got stood up? that’s good! your date might have been the rooftop killer xue yang! he got caught last night! and wwx is like i wish, i just got stood up like a chump

so they ignore each other for a few weeks bc wwx is very hurt and lwj doesn’t know what he’s going to say but wwx ends up caving and emails hgj about how guilty he feels and how even though wwx probably means nothing to lwj, he’s worried that maybe he did hurt lwj and also please hgj i still want to talk to you

now hgj never says a lot, he’s always really succinct and direct but this time he takes the time to write a proper apology. it’s not an explanation bc he doesn’t want to give this up, even if the yllz he thinks he loves is the wwx that he hates, but it is an apology

the next day wwx goes to lunch with granny wen and finally dares to ask her whether it would be okay to shut the store down. he doesn’t want, of course he doesn’t want to, but he doesn’t think he can afford to keep it open. granny just tells him that it’s okay and that if the time has come, the time has come

we don’t have to worry about wwx breaking up with anyone, so he just goes home and asks nhs if he can have some space and nhs quickly packs his stuff and goes home. as he stands in the doorway with his last box of stuff he tells wwx that he’s sorry and wishes he could help more and wwx sends him this tremulous smile but manages to hold it together until nhs leaves and then he cries and cries 

the next day he goes back to work and tries to stay bubbly and cheery even as he sees all of his shelves slowly being emptied and people who haven’t stepped foot in his store in six months are telling him what a shame it is and how they wish it didnt have to come to this and wwx is internally screaming

he manages to stave off any actual screaming but when he closes up that day he ends up going to the children’s section of lan bookstore and just as he had thought, none of the staff care about the books, none of them know any books and he ends up recommending a series to some young mother

lwj, who’d spotted wwx and come over to see if whether he was here to pick a fight, comes to the awful realisation that maybe wwx is right about his store lacking heart

he goes home that night and su she tags along even though lwj just wants space and the elevator breaks. he’s sitting there on the ground listening to his neighbour talk about reconnecting with family and the elevator button pressing dude talks about getting engaged and su she is just there whining about his job and the inconvenience and lwj goes fuck this. when the elevator starts working again he grabs his rabbit and goes back down to the ground floor, ignores su she’s shouts, and goes back to his childhood home

wwx gets stuck closing his store down. he looks around at the shelves and tables he’d grown up with and sees his childhood and a-yuan’s and countless moments he’s had with people he’s loved and realises he’s going to lose it all forever. he grabs the bell, the last thing he has left of the store and closes up for the very last time

in the meantime, lwj is living the high life. he hangs out with his bunny, gets to read pride and prejudice for fun and actually manages to get all the way through it and then his brother comes to visit

apparently he’d broken up with jgy bc he was gold digger-esque and had decided to run off with someone richer and lwj is like oh thats so sad ): anyway nmj is right there and he fills your heart with joy and lxc is like have you ever had someone like that? and lwj immediately thinks of wwx and is like fuck

his first order of business is to buy wwx’s shop bc it broke my heart that she didn’t get it back in the og movie and he starts filling it with books again. he buys ten copies of his mother’s favourite books and places them on the shelf by the door and then he sees a book that reminds him of jingyi so gets some of them and he sees a book covered in daisies and thinks of wwx. and slowly, slowly he’s building up his own library, his own store, and this time every single book means something and for once lwj looks out across the floor with pride and satisfaction

his second order of business is to apologise to wwx for being a dick. he buys some daisies and goes to his place and comes in and cooks soup for wwx. lwj apologises and tells him it wasn’t personal and wwx is like that’s not true, it was personal to me and it’s personal to a lot of people and lwj understands that now. he remembers the way he’d filled wwx’s store and left his own touch and bared his heart through each of those books and he understands. he doesn’t actually say this and just tells wwx that he wants to be friends 

lwj considers coming clean about being hgj but he knows now that he definitely loves wwx and knows that wwx currently hates him but damn is it hard not to say anything when wwx is telling him how much he loves hgj

anyway he’s like organise a meeting again with hgj 

i’d say it’s ooc for lwj not to come clean but this is the man who pined for x decades and just didnt tell wwx that his son was alive so like not ooc at all

so lwj decides he’s going to woo wwx as best as he can and organises to meet up with yllz and then goes and meets with wwx and they end up going to hang out and for some strange reason, even though wwx keeps getting stood up, he doesn’t seem to care too much. he keeps agreeing to meet hgj and when he doesn’t show is more than happy to spend the rest of his day with lwj

and slowly, they start to get closer. wwx takes a sip of lwj’s coffee and lwj buys him daisies. wwx brings him an interesting book and lwj tells him about his mother. they chat freely about hgj and lwj is happy for the first time in a long time

eventually lwj organises the final meeting. wwx is really confused about the place he picked but he’s hopeful that maybe this time hgj will show. after wwx and lwj’s farmers market date ends, lwj ends up asking wwx if he could love lwj and wwx is like you put me in such an uncomfortable situation. ie stammering and blushing and eventually going oh no ill be late and running off

anyway a couple hours later wwx finds himself standing outside his old bookstore and he refuses to look at it bc he doesn’t want to see what it’s become but then, through the open door of the store, a bunny hops out and over to wwx

lwj comes running out after it calling out its name (bichen?? flopsy?? rabbit?? one of them) and wwx looks up and is like oh,, it’s you, i’d hoped it was you and he’s all teary and lwj has a handkerchief that he’d embroidered himself (with gentians of course) and he’s like dont cry yllz and then they kiss and it’s beautiful

bonus: lwj takes wwx inside the store and shows him everything and explains the meaning behind every book that they’ve picked and then wwx does cry for real bc there is definitely an entire two walls dedicated just to wwx

do they open the store as a bookstore again and work together? does wwx end up writing books?? idk up to you. i like the idea that they open the store for story time and sell children’s books but lwj still works with lan & sons to get some heart in their stores and wwx works on his own books in his spare time

[gripefroot]

Feel So Yellow [4/12]

When you drive up to the house the next Friday evening, the sky a murky purple twilight and a thousand times more pleasant than the weekend before with snow flurries swapped for spring breezes - Bucky is already there.

Even inside your car you can hear Chestnut’s delighted barking as Bucky’s gleaming arm winds up to throw a stick - the dog bounces around, clearly eager, and when he does let it fly - she takes off like a golden flash of lightning.

Bucky is laughing when he turns to watch as you park the car.

Why is your head so foggy all of a sudden?

There’s really no reason for it, you tell yourself in annoyance - but you smile as you greet him, shutting your car door before popping the trunk. It’s a perfectly ordinary thing, for a man to play catch with his dog. Why should your tongue be so tied?

“I brought the goods,” you say aloud to Bucky, and he wanders over. Chestnut is bounding back, prancing closer with the stick in her mouth, which she deposits beside the driveway before coming to you for head kisses and ear scritches. Which you bend over to give her right away, of course.

“This is more than I asked for,” he points out, using one long finger to flick open a plastic shopping bag.

“I have my own projects,” you tell him tersely. “Shouldn’t I make an effort, after all?”

“If you want,” Bucky says, all good-nature. “We weren’t sure if you’d come up tonight or tomorrow morning, but if you’d like, I have some supper at my place and plenty to share. Might be nicer than the gas station for one night.”

“Well, when you put it that way,” you joke. “I’m expecting caviar.”

“Hmm,” he thinks for a moment, blinking fast. “Let’s just think...one tier above the gas station then.”

“You went all out, I see.”

“Of course. Wanna take all this inside?”

“Aren’t you cold?” you ask curiously - a slight change of the topic, but with just a t-shirt he must be cold. It’s still early spring, and the sun has gone down, after all.

“Hmm? Not really.” With several bags in each hand - and leaving none for you to carry - Bucky heads towards the house. Huffing, you shut the truck and hurry after him. “Chestnut took a nap on my jacket earlier today,” he says over his shoulder, and you try to beat him up the steps to open the door for him. A little breathless, you smile as you make it, swinging the door open for him. “It got hair on it,” he explains further. “Haven’t had a chance to wash it yet.”

“You let her sleep on your clothes?” you ask curiously.

“No. But I didn’t have the heart to move her.”

“I see. You’re a pushover.”

“Shh!” A definite smile lifts his lips as he deposits the bags near the steps to put a finger to his lips. “Don’t let her hear.” But you grin in return, and lean back to call out the front door,

“Oh, Chestnut! I have a secret to tell you!”

“That must mean you’re going to start paying my dry cleaning bill, right?” Bucky laughs, and Chestnut, hopping up the steps obediently, gets a pat from him for her efforts as you close the door behind you.

Supper isn’t caviar, but it is much better than Bucky had made it sound - a warm, bubbly soup of ham and beans in a rich broth that tastes, in some strange way, like home. Maybe it’s Chestnut curled up by your feet and sleeping, or the cicadas you can hear through the windows. He’d served the soup in the living room, apologizing profusely that his dining room was out of commission as, (as he’d put it,) “someone’s junk radio is in a thousand pieces on my table.”

“Surely not me,” you’d pretended.

“No, definitely my other landlady.”

“Oh, good then.”  

The night is still young after the soup, and despite feeling quite ready to curl up on the couch with the dog and take a snooze, you agree when Bucky suggests getting a headstart on the weekend’s jobs. So beneath the now inky, cold sky you drag yourself up the hill to your house, flashlight lighting the way as Chestnut bounds ahead.

“So,” you say to Bucky, as twigs and gravel snap underfoot. “I was planning, once the bathroom is up and running, that I’d spend more time up here. I can do my job remote and hopefully get more house updates done during the week.”

“It’ll be nice to have a real neighbor,” he replies, and in the dark his smile is eerily bright. “You haven’t changed your mind? Now that you’ve spent time with Chestnut? She can be a pretty lousy neighbor.”

“I think she’s great,” you laugh. “My cat might not think so, though.”

“You have a cat?”

“I do.”

“Does it like to chase mice?”

“I’m not sure. Not a lot of chances to find out in a New York City apartment.”

“Cross your fingers. I found some mouse scat in the basement when the HVAC was going in. I put some traps down there for the time being, but hopefully your cat - ”

“Snookie.”

“S - Snookie has an appetite,” Bucky finishes with a screwed up expression. “Seriously? Snookie?”

“It’s short for Snookums,” you explain.

“Right, right. I should’ve guessed.”

By the time you crawl into the motel bed near midnight, you’re certain you’ve earned it: the evening had been spent taking out the old toilet and sink to carry out to the dumpster. The extent of water damage visible once the bathroom was stripped down wasn’t pretty, and you’d taken a crowbar to the dated and yellowed vinyl flooring to expose a sturdy wood underfloor. Bucky had assured you it was in good condition, and so the new tile can be put in this weekend, fingers crossed…

But first, the plumbing.

Early Saturday morning Bucky takes you to the basement of the house with a flashlight to show you, at your direction, the state of the piping through the house. It’s a miracle the most recent owner had had the pipes updated to copper, which saves a huge headache and massive costs, and with no sign of recent water damage everything seems in decent shape.

Except for the bathroom itself.

Some supply line connections are worn out, and so while Bucky gets started ripping out the old rusty specimens to replace with the shining new ones you’d brought up (a one-person job), you don gloves and a mask to start stripping the amazing clawfoot tub of its rust and scum build up.

“Might take more elbow grease than that,” Bucky remarks some time later, when you’re sweating and the tub is scarcely looking better. He’d finished much faster than you and even started on repairing the cracks in the plastered walls with a can of joiner. It’s only a little difficult not to resent his speed as you grimace.

“I wasn’t expecting to be done in one day.”

“Well, when you’re ready for a break, I can hook up the shower.”

“Maybe you can do that next,” you tell him, out of breath, and then grit your teeth and scrub harder. It’ll be worth it, you say to yourself over and over again.

While an extra thick coating of cleaner sits on the rust, hopefully to make it easier to scrape off, you sit back and watch as Bucky rolls up the flannel sleeves of his shirt. Drill in hand, standing on a salvaged stool from the basement, he pokes the wall several times until you decide, yes, that’s where you want the shower head to come out, and he promptly drills the hole into the wall. Then it’s simply the matter of finding a place to piece together the water supply through the wall (more patching to be done) and secure the gleaming new shower head to the wall above the tub.

“We’ll test it out when the tub is clean,” you decide, standing back to admire the work - and so is he, looking pretty darn proud of himself, and you think he has every right to be.

“How about after lunch?” Bucky asks, lifting off his baseball cap to shake his hair out. Then slaps it back on. “We can pick up the new toilet and sink in town if we head that way.”

“Sure. Tile, too. You didn’t think this would be easy, did you?”

“Who says it’s not easy?” His blue eyes slant in your direction, and you laugh, peeling the gloves from your hands to drop on the floor for later, rolling back your shoulders.

“Is there a spa in town, by chance?” you joke. “Might need a full body massage after this one.”

“Get used to it, or you’ll be getting one after every room. You didn’t think this would be easy, surely,” Bucky teases right back, and it’s hard not to laugh more, voices echoing through the torn-apart bathroom before heading out.

He insists on taking his truck to town, and even offers you the passenger seat - “If you’re willing to put up with Chestnut all over you, it’s her seat,” he explains, but of course you don’t mind. The short walk to his house eases some muscle aches, but you’re happy to climb onto the plush seat of his truck after Chestnut hops up to stake her claim. But she’s happy to share, and you pet her head fondly as Bucky sticks the key in the ignition.

It’s a different drive from this seat, you muse to yourself -  might be the rattling engine, the slightly musky smell of old car, or Chestnut’s warm weight as her tail thumps the seat by Bucky.

With burritos in hand, the drive back rattles the boxes in the back; toilet and sink and several of tile that you’d ordered beforehand. The first sight of it had made you giddy, which had amused Bucky to no end.

“I hope you got a lot of grout,” he says around his burrito. “Those small tiles take a lot of work. So thanks for that.”

“I can grout myself,” you tell him. “I just thought it was something you were super into so I was trying to be obliging.”

“Oh, yeah?” Bucky asks, brows quirking in your direction. Chestnut pants her happy pants between you two on the seat, and you grin.

“Unless,” you say, lowering your voice. “You’re into...hardwood.”

He bursts out laughing, and Chestnut barks.

Soaking the tub in cleaner drastically improves the results - even Bucky has to admire how well it’s cleaned up, despite the skepticism in his glance, and seeing it restored to a semblance of its former glory is another giddy moment. New knobs and a shining new drain for it, and you think it looks like a million bucks.

While the patch jobs dry on the wall before they can be painted, you and Bucky work side by side to lay down the black and white tiles. The bulk of the laying goes to you, as you figure out the pattern, and he’s kind enough to chip away the corners of pieces that need to go around the fixtures with a chisel. Once everything looks perfect, with a pretend sigh for the work that lays ahead, the tile comes back up to put aside so that thin-set can be applied to hold the tile in place.

The sun has started to go down by the time the tile is done, and aching, you rub your damp forehead on your forearm as you stare at the new tiles from the doorway, still on your hands and knees. The light above flickers golden over your work, and pride swells up warm.

“I gotta say,” Bucky says from above you, where he’s leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. “I actually like it.”

“How kind,” you snark back.

“No, really. I wasn’t so sure when you opened the box. But it looks really great.”

“It’ll look even better when the walls are painted.”

“What color did you choose?”

“The sample was called Healing Plant.”

Bucky pauses. “Am I to assume that’s a shade of green?”

“The can is over there,” you point towards the stack of supplies in the hallway, some still in plastic bags. “If you want to have a peek.”

“I’ll wait and be surprised.”

“Don’t like green?” you ask, and hoist yourself to your feet. Suddenly the doorway seems very small, with Bucky’s broad shoulders just scant centimeters away, and his eyes so close glitter blue.

“I’m more of a neutral colors kind of guy,” he admits. “But after seeing this floor, I might trust your vision. Just a little.”

“Just think,” you bat your lashes for effect, which just makes him raise his brows. “If it turns out terrible, you can help me redo everything.”

“Wouldn’t that just be so kind of me?” Bucky teases.

“Super kind.”

“And you never assume anything, do you?”

“Never,” you say solemnly. “You’re picking up the tab for dinner, right?”

If you were to be put under duress - torture or that sort of thing - you might have to admit that making Bucky laugh is your favorite part of this house. But for now it’s an easy thought to deny and shutter away, and easier to enjoy his company without that acceptance.

continue

[ansgar-martinsson]

The Best Intentions - Part 12

Ansgar waited until Jolene lifted her fork and took her first bite of the smoked mackerel before he did the same. “Jesus,” he murmured under his breath, “that is amazing.”

Joline’s face, like his, was painted in a coat of culinary rapture. Her eyelids fluttered, her head rolled on her neck and her jaw dropped. “Oh, God!”

Ansgar was thankful for the first course, the timing of it, and the distraction of it. But he knew it would not last long. The two of them shared comparisons of the smoky flavor of the kohlrabi and the tang the pine nuts lent to the dish, but soon, as all good things do, it came to an end, and the waiter came in to collect their plates.

The door closed upon them once again with a quiet click, and once again, Ansgar took up Joline’s hand. He pulled her to him, but she stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. “You promised.”

He sighed, and gave a small smile. “I did, didn’t I?,” he said. “But,” he lifted a finger. “I did not say when. Frankly, Joline, I would much rather not bring my ex-wife into our evening. I don’t want….” he searched for the word, eyes lifted, “I don’t want her shade to haunt and loom over the happiness I’m feeling at this very moment.”

She squared her shoulders, her chin tipped slightly. A prideful, closed lipped smile appeared across her face. “You’re happy?”

Ansgar nodded, an unfamiliar expression of honesty writ upon his own face. “Very much so,” he said. “Happier than I’ve been in years.”

“Well, would you… would you be willing to tell me about your time in America, like… after… her?”

He looked up at the waiter, who had come in with the second course - a small plate of dried and herbed venison with a dollop of roe and a dark grey creamy sauce. Ansgar said his thanks, and waited, watching with a slight impatience as the server once again disappeared behind the glass door.

“It was not the best time in my life, Joline,” he said, his fork raised. “I was…,” he breathed, coating a piece of the jerked meat with the dark, charcoaled sauce. He pointed to the tidbit, using it to demonstrate his meaning. “I was a shadow of myself. You see, I sent a wire to my solicitors after she left, instructing them to tell the board of directors that I was taking a temporary leave, to close up my home, sell my cars, and to wire the money to a nondescript bank in the middle of Iowa.”

Joline blinked owlishly at him, chewing on a bite of roe. “Oh, Ansgar,” she bemoaned.

He held up a hand. “No pity, please. I’m simply telling you this, so you know where I’m coming from. I just returned to Sweden a week or so ago, so the whole experience is still fresh in my mind. It,” he inhaled and exhaled, “it helps, actually. Helps to talk about it. I only hope that it won’t change your opinion of me.”

She set her fork down, folded her hands in her lap. “Listen, Ansgar….” She set her fingertips beneath his chin and lifted, turning his face to her. “Look at me.”

He obeyed.

“Nothing you tell me,” she said, “short of things like you murdered someone, or stole a shitload of money, or….”

He quirked a grin. “If I’m still married.”

She matched his expression. “If you’re still married. Which you’re not, right?” She furrowed her brow at him jokingly.

“I most certainly am not.”

“Well, short of any of that, I don’t think there’s anything you can say to me that will make me want you less. Maybe,” she shrugged, “what you tell me will make me want you all the more.”

He took a long breath. “I started in New York,” he said, steadily. “That’s where we were living. I left our apartment on Park Avenue, and I bought this… this cheap arsed car, this Ford… thing, and I drove. I just, I just drove. And when that car gave out on me, I was in South Dakota, and there, I bought a bike. The Harley I told you of. And that, I took for months, just… just riding. Stopping here and there, meeting people, meeting women… I don’t even remember half of their names.”

She listened intently as he recited the tale of his past two years. He told her of his escape, his disappearance. How he cut himself off from his friends, his family… even his twin brother. He told of his myriad identities, of his many names. He told her of buying a car and working in a mechanic’s shop in Ocala, Florida; of heavy drinking and Mardi Gras queens and Zydeco music in New Orleans.

He told of the few months he’d passed in near domestic bliss with the Chocktaw rancher woman in Nowhere, Oklahoma, of the time he spent as a dive bar piano player in the most run down part of Detroit.

He told her of Chicago in the throes of winter, of when he met his old flame there, and she… she was the one who finally told him to go home.

He recounted how he went back to the Caribbean island where he and Faye had wed three years prior. How he spent months there rebuilding, with his own hands, the church where they were married - the church that had been destroyed by a freak storm on their very wedding night.

“And,” he said, “when that was done… I came home.”

By the time he’d finished, they were on their fourth course, the rare beef, cabbage and purple salsify untouched on Ansgar’s plate. He sat in silence for a long moment, chewing on his bottom lip, before he could finally meet her eye again.

But it was she who spoke. “No wonder.”

“No wonder what?”

She set her fork down, turned to him and took his hands in hers. “No wonder why you still wear the ring.”

“Tell me,” he said. “Tell me why you think I still wear it?”

“She…,” Joline’s words were shaky, breathy. “She messed you up pretty good from what you told me.”

Ansgar shifted in his seat and tugged on his hands, but she would not let go. “This… this is not what I wanted to talk about tonight. I… I didn’t want to feel this again… don’t want this… didn’t want it to interfere with us.”

“I know, and it’s not, really. It’s not going to change the outcome of this evening, is it?”

Ansgar chuckled. “It had better not.”

“I agree,” Joline said. “But I think you need to get it out. Before we… before we move on, you need to talk about it.”

“Not here,” Ansgar hissed.

“Yes, here,” she countered. “You need to purge your demons before we….”

“Ha!” he barked. “It’ll take a lot more than talking to purge my demons,” he said, darkly.

“I know. But it’s a start.”

“She did fuck me up,” he said after a long moment. “She was the first woman I truly fell in love with. I gave her everything of me, everything.”

“And,” Joline craned her neck, pushing her chin forward a little, “you’re hesitant to feel that way again, to… give of yourself like that.”

“Joline, I hope you don’t think – I – “

“No. Ssh.” She squeezed his hand and pressed a finger to his lips. “I get it,” she said, “and, I’m… I’m flattered, Ansgar. I’m actually a bit overwhelmed.”

“By what?”

She picked her purse up from the floor, opened the clutch and took out his ring. “That you gave this to me. You see, I understand now. She shifted her focus from him to the ring, and back to him. “This is your security. Your… sanity. This is what you were trying to tell me you and your sensei were discussing… when you went on and on about shields and fortresses and things like that.”

“Yes.” He swallowed. “Yes.”

“And you gave it to me.”

“I did.”

“Do you want me that much?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Are you saying, Ansgar,” she narrowed her eyes, “that you want to… to give me what you gave to her?”

“Joline – “

“Don’t mistake me,” she said. “I’m not asking for that, not at all.  I’m just – is that what you want? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“I – I don’t know,” he said frankly. “Maybe. Possibly. Sometime. I mean, I only just met you, but,” he paused, his lips pursed, “I don’t want that thing, that hunk of metal there,” he indicated the ring with his gaze, “to foreclose any future possibilities.”

She looked away, her eyes wide and glassy as she nodded her head slowly, somewhat absently as she processed his words. She shifted her gaze back to him, her face intent. “Are you… afraid of me, Sgar?”

“I’m not afraid of anyone,” he spat.

She waggled the ring. “Really?”

He blew out his breath. “No,” he said. “I’m not afraid of you. I… strange as it sounds, I trust you – and I don’t trust many people, believe me. But – I’m sick the spectre of my past blockading my future. I’m tired of false names and fake personas and hiding who I am. I’m fed up with this… half life I’ve been buried beneath.” His face went hard, determined. “Joline, I want to live again.”

And… the fifth course arrived.

The elegantly presented plates of blackened leek and caviar looked fresh out of the pages of Eat Out, arranged painstakingly to appear its most appetizing. On any other day, Joline wouldn’t hesitate in digging and enjoying every last morsel, but she didn’t… this time. The aroma wafted invitingly off the plate enticing her in, but she was nose blind to it.

As the server politely excused himself from the room, Joline confidently shoved the bequeathed piece of jewelry back in her clutch. It was an estate inheritance, in a real way. Ansgar, of his own volition, put to rest his previous self. It was a step into his new self, and he trusted her with the knowledge of it. That he was ready to let go of the past.

When she turned back to the table, Ansgar looked at his plate the way Joline felt about it, appetizing but not hungry for it. She grinned at his profile, “That’s how I feel.”

He pushed the plate away from him, towards the center of the table. “As appetizing as that looks,” he scrunched his napkin in his fist and dropped it on the table, “I don’t want any of it.”

Joline slid her plate from her and took a drink from her water. Without a beat or word, she put it down and pushed to her feet.

Respectfully, Ansgar pushed his own chair back to do the gentlemanly, polite society call: to stand if the lady did or excused herself from dinner. Joline held his shoulder, “Don’t move, I’m not going anywhere. Just… I want to be close to you.”

His gaze raised to hers in question, but got tangled in perhaps the most appetizing dish all night. Joline’s fingers walked the material of her dress up her thighs, gathering a handful of her skirt and revealing bare legs.

Before he could ask or object, Joline lowered herself into his lap, her legs spread wide. It wasn’t purely sexual but it wasn’t far off. “Before we’re intruded on…” she glanced towards the door, “Thank you, Sgar.” Her fingers combed into his ginger curls drawing his focus entirely on her. “Thank you for trusting me.”

While she wrestled for the other words she wanted to say, her peace, she laid kisses on both his cheeks like she’d wanted to after their first lunch together. She offered him kindness, acceptance and forgiveness in the otherwise generic gesture that any European would do. But maybe… just maybe in held a bit more after their chat. Although she’d properly distracted him by straddling him in a restaurant that she was almost convinced he’d engineered.

“I want you to live again too,” she pressed a kiss to his temple, then his nose, and finally his lips. “I’ve been where you are… when my dad passed. I found it difficult to go on. I felt what you felt.” She pressed her hand against the place where the lion slept under his suit. “You know that dread in the morning when you wake up after something awful happens. Sleep is that blissful nothingness, unawareness, but when you remember… actually remember that life’s changed and you can’t put it right. No matter what you do… how much you drag through and pretend that the darkness isn’t eating you alive… that blackness revisits every morning.

“I’d hide in the theatre, afraid to see my shadow, because he wasn’t there anymore. I’d hide in a crowd, lose myself in the noise and stench and fog of Los Angeles. When I resurfaced,” she took a steadying breath to keep her emotions at bay, “the loss hit me again.”

She traced the lines of his face tenderly, showing him that she like everyone else carried some kind of hurt with them. “Some days are good and you can forget for a little while. Others are dreadful and you only want to hide. I get that, but I see you emerging from that hibernation, Sgar. You came home, you returned to the family who loves you. You surrounded yourself with those who love you and don’t judge you for needing that space. You returned to the company that you put your blood, sweat and tears into building. Those are all steps to getting beyond that terrible hurt.”

Ansgar couldn’t keep his hands from her any longer, her monologue touching him, relating to him. He tucked his hands behind her knees and brought her in even closer, until it was considered entirely sexual and bordered on indecent. His palms grazed up the length of her thigh from knee to hip, learning the feel of her smooth, smooth skin, the heat of her, and how long it took before her skin pebbled in arousal.

“Can I tell you… something… else? Something… funny?” Her words were innocent enough and came from a neutral place, a  place to alleviate the seriousness of their discussion… but her voice… breathy, broken and belied the increase of her pulse.

He gruffed, “Tell me.”

“My mother cursed… me. She—ah!” Ansgar hijacked her with his lips at the hollow at the base of her throat. His hands cheated under the stretchy outline of her knickers, cupping the slope of her ass. His fingers pressed into her pliant flesh, laying a possessive claim on her.

“I’ve a complex—“ she tried to speak beyond the ache, the cramp of need inside her. “S-S-Sgar—my name!” She made a valiant effort against the storm of sensation his lips and his teeth created against her skin. “Dolly Parton made me the other woman!”

And he heard her! He absorbed the knowledge of it and let the comedy of it sink into him. Instead of heated kisses, he laughed against her breastbone. “You gave me a difficult time… over a song?” He couldn’t contain his laughter. It was ludicrous, asinine, illogical and surprisingly endearing.

Joline surrendered to the laughter that she gained from seeing Ansgar’s. He’d seemed so serious, without a trace of humor in him. But he admitted that he felt some happiness with her, to see and hear the evidence of that poked at that giddy feeling in her. Again. “I’m chuffed my trauma amuses you so,” she pouted for show. “I’m scarred. You don’t know what it’s like to be serenaded upon every introduction. Or asked if I ran off with Dolly’s man!”

He saw the ironic humor in her and appreciated it that much more. Removing one hand from her knickers, he captured a fistful of hair and brought her into a passionate kiss, one of pent up desire, delayed anticipation and… freedom. Freedom of impediments, obstacles, memories, emotional bonds, and even detrimental self-preservation taken to the extreme. Ansgar gave over to it in an act of affirmation, doubling down on himself.

Joline took his face between her hands and broke the kiss. Rocking her hips forward, she displayed a mischievous grin of her own. “You were supposed to tell me that I gave you a hard time.”

A hissing expelled from his clenched mouth, “Careful, woman. You’re playing with fire.”

“I’m interested in how hard though.” She kissed him, giving him a wink and a promise that she would learn just how hard shortly. She hooked her hands behind his neck and leaned in again, sobering that little bit as they probably didn’t have much longer in the room alone. She gazed into his eyes, “I’ve no expectation in this, Sgar. Whatever this is. Actually, I do have one… an orgasm.”

“Only one? Don’t underestimate me, darling.”

“Sgar,” she said with a note of seriousness in her voice. “You’re healing and I understand that. If you decide that this,” she waved her hand between her chest and his, “isn’t what you want, that’s okay. I’m happy enough to be with you when you want me. I won’t ask you for promises or the Kardashian’s shoe wardrobe or fancy gifts or expensive exotic journeys–”

The door began to open, and Ansgar spoke sternly, “One moment please.” The door closed immediately without a face appearing or anyone getting an eyeful of the couple giving into their attraction.

Joline scrambled to her feet as he released his hold on her hurriedly. She felt a twinge of regret that she didn’t get to finish her thought before they were caught. She straightened her dress back down, smoothed her hair and sat down again in her own seat.

She’d lost her momentum in the interruption and the removal of untouched course five. Her desire… she wanted him and her body couldn’t stand much more of this waiting.

She looked at him as the server cleared their dishes. “I won’t make demands on you– well, anymore demands on you.” She cracked a weak rueful smile since she inadvertently issued an ultimatum about the ring in the first place. “This is your time… to rediscover who you are–without the shadow and the mess and the darkness– what you want, and how you choose to move forward.” She traced the plane of his cheek below the cut of his cheekbone. “If I’m part of that, it’ll be a pleasure.” She placed her finger over his lips to stop what she thought was coming. “Not in the crass way, you dolt.”

[une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir]

Russia Visit Balance

I flew on Lufhtansa four times. Very nice company as usual, no problems. Nice catering and support. Very nice pilot and copilot and crew that invited me to check out cockpit. I study this stuff so of course this was quite a treat and gave me an extra boost to finally finish this doctorate once and for all.

EXCEPT Frankfurt. All fine with the check and stuff (annoying and slow, but understandable). But the dumb arsehole on boarding gate ewww. I was told I couldn't take my cabin trolley and it had to be taken with heavy luggage. I had already flown with it in that company that week thrice, it had the right weight. I asked why, he wouldn't explain. "It sometimes happens." Why? He didn't answer. I insisted as that is my right, I wanted to know why only me and he told me he already explained 10x times. 10m on this. Until his boss came and said the reason. It's because of the weight distribution on the airplane and cabin was already full. I study this shit for a living, hell there is a course where we learn to calculate it BY HAND. I looked like a standard tourist so boarding dumb employee fancied himself not needing to explain. This pisses me off. For me, because I had the right to know and I was refused to, as well as all the "ignorant" who also ad the right to know but this dumbarse thinks himself unnacountable to these people either. At leat he got chewed off. Arsehole.

Saint Petersburg

I want to live a couple of months of the year there forever. 😭😭😭

A beautiful city, the "centre" feels like stopped in time, the old architecture and decorations, yet modern enough for you to feel its modern times. Wi-Fi everywhere. It sucks because you need to provide mobile phone and I'd have to pay roaming. At least that's what I got.

Near summer solstice (~21/06) the days are the biggest and nights the shortest, the sun went down at 22:30 and got up at 3:00. Its the contrary in he winter solstice (~21/12). This is why May to September is tourist season so it's packed full. The temperature was warm enough 12C - 20C, supposedly it rain here a lot but it never did. I wonder if visiting it in March / April would be too cold and rainy... I like cold and rain though.

Saint Petersburg looks like Venice, rivers and bridges. The Neva river and all the others smell "nice". I cannot say the same for other cities with rivers running through them (* looks at my own country *). Whole place was spotless clean, not a single piece of garbage floor. YOU CANNOT DRINK TAP WATER. There are "free" washrooms which are very clean. You ask for toilette like the French.

I visited half of the big places too quickly to really appreciate it but enough to entice me to return on my own. My favourites were the historic centre (buildings, rivers, bridges), Hermitage (not the 8116627228283762 Chinese groups though) and Summer Palace (also not the Chinese they were everywhere, I've travelled plenty and I've never seen so many or so much disrespectful). The other half was closed for repairs. What a tease.

Can get scammed in both street sellers (sometimes they trick you, they sold me matrioska with 3 instead of 5 like promised) as well as legitimate souvenir shops (double the price from the streets). I got the best deals in the streets though, so keep an eye on them as they have the same stuff but at half price. I highly recommend "summary" books in your language (they sell them "everywhere") for about 10€ or 500p (I got them outside for 5€). Here I was not scammed and I made really good deals. This will change of course, but carry a calculator as exchange is easy. Rubles divided by "70" to get € (I believe "60" to get $). On the other hand, multiply € /$ for "70" or "60". Check exchange and not that some will be more anal retentive about the exchange rate than others. About half of the places accept € / $ but charge slightly more. If you have VISA you can withdraw from ATM (most have English version) and the tax isn't high. Exchange rate is more favourable in Russian soil.

There are markets open "24/7" or close to it. I know this because I had to go search for super glue at six in the morning and there was one open. Another thing worth knowing is pharmacy > ANTEKA and the traditional green cross, there are many of them. "NOBODY" anywhere except museumz speaks english but they will usually try to help (no matter the age). Take mobile with Google translate, photos, or something to draw. Improvise too. I got them to understand caviar by bringing fish and eggs together.

I want to hate Holiday Inn because of an incident with my football team. I've spent several times in different ones and yet I could not hate it, yet again. Damn them. Recommend. I found their "interpretation" of my national dishes hilarious, this is something recurrent because there were French and Italians laughing about the same.

Lots of salads, which I'm a fan of. Also soup made of salad apparently. Small doses (blasphemy for my country). Very soft meat but not much fish (understandable). Huge mugs for weak coffee they drink anytime and everywhere, as well as black tea. I like my strong espresso like any shameless Mediterranean dweller. There was a machine at the hotels but nowhere else.

Good Vodka every meal, except for one which not only was awful made me cry because it was the last meal I had there. I was offered a Vodka bottle for my sadness which I'm already chugging. There was one with Gin and Lemon(?). Please someone give the recipe if you know what it is. I almost died from how good it was.

Moscow

Moscow is opposite. Very cosmopolite, its like three cities in one. The old one (like Petersburg), the random urban jungle one, and the futuristic one. The guide said, Petersburg was more artsy and Moscow more economical.

Moscow very beautiful at night. The lights really make the place "shine" (urgh). Saw much less there because if was raining like the end of the world. I saw an old religious peregrine place (if you're not Protestant you will find their churches breathtaking), Kremlim and Red Square (its not red), as well as everything else there (Basil, Lenin).

There was some fancy mall (GUM which had limited edition dior makeup where I spent all my pocket money). I also bought a cute Moscow umbrella with monuments and a Gargarin t-shirt (first human in space) which I'd chose over all the makeup no matter if if cost 10x less. Sometimes it's the little things. I also wanted to buy shirtless Putin mounted on a bear flag but I was afraid I'd be arrested. I was very tempted in buying a shirt with Putin with Trump behind him with the word "friends' over it. Again,what if I was arrested.

There were also oil canvas 30x20 sold in souvenir shops in both cities (150€ each) and an interesting "matrioska" with all the Russian presidents since Lenin (on of them had a defect). My heart broke and a bit stayed with them as I couldn't bring them with me.

Hotel this time was Marriott. Veryyy good and veryyy bad. Rooms were better, food was worse, the reception girls were super nice but some employee stole stuff from several rooms as well (money, "lame" souvenirs - da fuq, fur hat / stoles / coats, sunglasses, even some fancy face creams). I always shove everything inside the safe and bags with secret code so I was good but I still spent one hour waiting for an engineer to come SUBSTITUTE the whole safe door because they were that determined in opening it.

Taxis have unfortunate reputations on every country. Apparently Russian taxis are cool because they are government issued. I cannot confirm. I paid 200€ for a drive and the ones that came after us paid 70€. This is of course impossible. I'd rather go on subway (I recommend checking the ones on Moscow, some are beautiful) bit I was with old people who were afraid of getting lost (how hard could it be srly). Well then. Something got lost alright.

Highly recommend!

[mrs-hollandstan]

Please write a whole lot for richkid! Tom!! I just love your writing sm and u

Thank you so much first off. I made it longgggggg and I may or may not have cried during the last little bit. Don't mind me. A lil bit of NSFW throughout.

Okayyyyyy

Tom is one of those kids that doesn't he's spoiled fucking rotten

He grew up thinking it was normal

He was the type of kid to ask his mom why the other kids didn't have a Maserati at five and six

But the older he got, the more cocky he got despite his mom trying to humble him

The second he meets you though, all of his cocky humbleness goes out the window

He's star struck and he doesn't know how to feel

He thinks you're absolutely stunning and he finds himself with his brothers at a diner for dinner and malts just so he can (totally not creepily) watch you flit around behind the bar

"Why don't you just ask her out Tom?" Harry asks

"Yeah... we've come here three nights in a row and I'm starting to miss the caviar at Le Gavroche." Sam adds

"You think she'd wanna come?" He quickly pipes up

So when the boys say they don't know, he just walks over and sits on a barstool and quickly sparks up a conversation

Only having a few, not so serious relationships, you're enamored by how easy it feels to talk to him and flirt

After only a few minutes he asks if you'd like to accompany them and you agree

So after your shift, you're being escorted home in a limo which is pretty terrifying

But the smile on Tom's face is reassuring

He's a cutie

But his brothers know he's a cocky little shit and once he has you, you're fucked

So you go on the little date and all and Tom loves hearing you talk about yourself and he's just grossly in love

Like... its sickening

But after that night he asks to see you again and it's really cheesy like straight out of a Hallmark movie and its disgusting

And soon you're on like your fifth date and he's officially calling you his girlfriend to people and he loves it

And now you're starting to see the other side of him

Not that it's really shocking considering he got a little tipsy at a ball he took you too (totally coerced you into buying your dress) and the way he talked about some of the 'whores' made you laugh and you knew you were in trouble

He's constantly trying to buy you things

You don't have enough fingers for the rings he's showed you and wants to buy you

"Tom, I don't wear jewelry all that often."

"So... it's just 5000 dollars... no biggy."

There have been a few times you swallowed your tongue over the 'no biggy's' Tom speaks of

But you just hold his hand and look as pretty as he makes you because he's insistent

He buys you clothes and jewelry and makeup and whatever you need and sometimes... if you're short money from the diner he'll pay a bill or two

Sometimes you're so grateful... and he may get repaid in a blow or two or maybe some good sex but the thanking is enough for him

He loves when you sleep over at his place and wear his shirts and look middle class domestic

And sometimes he loves that life too

Being rich is stressful

But there's a lot of parties and galas and all kinds of stuff and he likes to buy you dresses

And when it comes to sex, he can't get enough of it

He's obsessed with how you look naked and how you feel

He loves the way you look on your knees

He loves the look on your face when he eats you out

And all the positions... oof

Missionary: loves the way your face looks when you whimper and moan

Doggystyle: loves the way you cry out when he hits that special spot

Cowgirl: loves the way your tits bounce

Reverse cowgirl: loves the way you lean on the bed between his legs and he can just kickback and watch you take him

You guys have done it standing

And he's kinky so you have toys and lingerie and heels and all

You have a pair of red bottomed heels that he literally calls the sexy time shoes

He's a major dork

But okay... back to your first times for sex

There's this place you now call first time lake because it's where you've done everything for the first time

The first time you gave him a blowjob was when he was showing you this little cave thing behind a waterfall

Real pretty until you turned and he had a boner and asked you to blow him

He also got a handjob near that same waterfall but... ehh

He doesn't particularly care for it

The first time he went down on you, you were out with him and his brothers who went out on the lake while you sunned and Tom rubbed lotion on your back and just stayed on the boat and all

And then he appears and puts more lotion on your legs and you smile and look at him over the bridge of your sunglasses and he can see your nipple because you're not wearing your bikini top

No weird lines fam

And he just wants to taste you so he just drags you to where he's out of sight and you're watching to make sure his brothers aren't suspicious and when he pulls your legs over his shoulders and dives in, you just gasp

He's good at oral and you're not surprised

You cum fast and he's sitting up with a proud smile, kissing you

"Back to it. You're gettin a nice tan."

The first time you guys sleep together is similar to your first oral

It's on the same boat and while you're watching them play a similar form of water polo, giggling and all, Tom sneaks up behind you and holds a finger to your lips, drawing your bottoms down and gently sliding up into you

"You're beautiful. This is an amazing first time sweet thing."

Within minutes, your hand on his wrist, you both cum together

He loves everything about you and he loves spoiling you

The little look on your face when you're annoyed is worth it

And you love him

The longer you're together, the more he can see spending the rest of his life with you

He can see himself throwing an extravagant wedding and inviting all of New York and London

He can see himself making love to you nonstop on your wedding night

He can see you going to shops and them calling you Mrs. Holland

He can see himself knocking you up with as many curly haired babies as you like

He can see those sexy times shoes being changed to baby making shoes

As many as the both of you decide on

He can see all of this in your eyes, in your smile, in everything you do

He loves you more than anything and the feeling is mutual

Despite him being a little shit

[1dffexchange]

Am I My Brother’s Keeper

To: Leigh @thatoddpanda

From: Kate @fireawaynjh

Warning: Alcohol. Mild Swearing

Summary: Harry and Niall. Niall and Harry. Best friends, partners, practically brothers. They were inseparable for the majority of their adult lives and no spat could break their friendship. They’d survived missions through MI6 together, loss of loved ones, long nights and pub crawls when they got time off at the holidays. Nothing could touch them. That is until Anna appeared in both of their lives. They’d never fancied the same girl before and Anna had never dated two guys at the same time. When Harry and Niall discover they’ve both been dating the same girl, it’s an instant competition to see who can win her heart. But it doesn’t take long for the friendly contest between two gentleman to turn into a full on War. Who will Anna choose? 

Harry and Niall had been partners since the academy. They’d been through mission after mission together. Harry had been there when Niall lost his wife and child in a car accident. Niall had been there for Harry when his father passed away. Nothing could have come between them.

Harry had been pushing Niall to start dating again but Niall didn’t want to hear any of it. He was focused on his job and only his job. Besides having a relationship while working for MI6 always had its drawbacks. He could never tell someone about his work and in the past that had always caused problems. His wife and him were on the brink of divorce when the accident occured. He couldn’t get back into that again, it was better if he just stayed single.

That was until he met Anna. He had been walking down the street to the pub for lunch. Some bloke had tried to make off with her purse and he’d chased him down to return it to her. She’d been so appreciative of his heroism that she’d offered to buy him a drink.

“Thank you darlin’ but I’ve got to head back to work, I’m just on me lunch break,” he replied easily.

“Then let me buy you lunch, I can’t thank you enough,” she insisted. She was enthralled by his Irish accent and was swooning over his charm. She hadn’t been this taken with a man since high school when she first laid eyes on Marcus Landry the keeper for the school’s football team.

“Alright then fair enough,” Niall replied. He was enticed by her too, her eyes sparkling and her smile blinding. He swallowed as they turned to walk through the pub doors again.

“I’m Anna,” she added quickly as they made their way to the bar.

“Anna. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Niall.” She smiled and shook his hand. The two sat and ordered lunch. Niall wasn’t ready to leave when it came time for him to return to work.

“Anna?” he asked timidly as she finished signing the bill. “Could I call you some time? I really enjoyed talkin’ t’ya today.” A pink flush spread across her cheeks as she scribbled her phone number on the top half of the receipt and pushed it across the table. Her heart raced as his long fingers grabbed the small paper and tucked it carefully into his jacket pocket.

“I’d like that a lot Niall. Thank you again for returning my purse to me.” She smiled as they both stood and went their separate ways, Niall back to the office and Anna to the market for groceries.

As Anna wandered through the tents of fresh fruits and vegetables she passed Harry, who had just been chatting up the daughter of the citrus grove farmer. Her sweet perfume wafted under his nose and turned his head to find the source. Her beauty stunned him and he compulsively followed her over to the vegetable stand.

“Y’know I have the greatest zucchini bread recipe,” he said looking over at her delicate hands as she picked out three near perfect zucchinis. “I could make it for you some time if you like.” Anna rolled her eyes. She was so tired of guys thinking they were so hot and smooth. She also was too preoccupied thinking about Niall. She ignored him and moved on to the carrots.

“Or maybe my stir fry recipe? See the secret to a good stir fry is fresh ginger.”

“Thank you for offering but I’m not interested,” Anna snapped. Harry chuckled.

“Come on love, I could teach you a lot,” he smirked. She wasn’t falling for his moves though and Harry could tell. She paid for her vegetables and turned around to leave but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a couple walking towards the stand. Anna knew eventually she’d run into her ex and his fiance, she just didn’t realize that it would be so soon after hearing about their engagement. Carl had called her when it happened and asked about her life. Truthfully she hadn’t seen anyone since they’d broken up and the only relationship she had was with tequila, but she was too embarrassed to tell him that so she lied and said that she too was in a serious relationship.

The closer he got the more panicked she grew. She grabbed Harry’s hand and laughed as if he’d just made a joke.

“Please just go with it,” she begged through a smile. Harry nodded and slid his arm around her waist as she made a move to walk.

“Anna! Hi!” Carl grinned. “It’s so funny you still shop here. You remember Michelle right?” He gestured to the woman on his arm.

“I do, I do. Congratulations, speaking of I do’s,” Anna nervously laughed.

“And this must be your boyfriend.” Carl smiled extending a hand to Harry. “Carl Roberts, Anna and I used to date in uni.”

“Harry Styles, lovely to meet you.” He glanced down at Anna. “You never mentioned him before sweetheart?”

“Oh um, I never thought about it really,” she replied bashfully. She couldn’t lie, Harry’s posh London appearance put Carl’s Liverpool persona to shame. She could tell he was threatened and a part of her loved it.

“And that is why I adore you so much,” he grinned and leaned down to press his lips to her softly. The tenderness of his lips shocked Anna, she started rethinking his suave persona and lame chat up attempts. As he pulled away Carl laughed awkwardly.

“Well it was great to catch up Anna, and nice to meet you Harry.” He nodded and left with his bride as Anna and Harry rounded the corner to the next stand.

“So, I’m your boyfriend now am I?” He smirked charmingly. “Can’t say I’m complaining.”

“I’m so sorry, thank you for not selling me out,” she sighed.

“No worries.. But you can continue to thank me at dinner tonight.”

Anna wanted to protest, but she owed him so she simply nodded and gave him her phone number so he could let her know when to be ready.

 Back at the office Niall was beaming as he stared at the torn receipt and the numbers neatly scrawled across it. He had already saved them to his phone and had started and erased a dozen messages to her. Harry noticed right away the change in his best friend’s mood, forgetting about Anna as he sat down.  

“Alright who’s the girl?” he asked smugly.

“Dunno what you’re on about Harold.”

“You’re smiling, you never smile, so tell me who did you meet?”

“No one okay? S’nothin mate.”

“Fine then I’ll tell you about the bird I met.”

“Another model for you then? At this rate you’ll have hooked up with the entire cast of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show,” Niall loved to poke fun at his best friend’s casual dating habits. Everyone knew Harry as the smooth, typical James Bond type.

“No I met her at the farmer’s market.”

“Oh so you’re going for the health nuts now are ya?”

“If you tell me about your girl I’ll stop talking about mine,” Harry countered.

“Fine mate, she was at the pub and some bloke nicked her bag, I got it back for her and she bought me lunch.”

“Look at you Romeo, when are y’takin her out?”

“I’m not, relationships are too much for this job you know that.” “Mate just call her an ask her out tonight,” Harry pressed.

“No that’s too fast,” Niall replied. Harry stared at him. He knew if he stared long enough Niall would cave. And after thirty seconds he sighed and picked up the phone to dial.

“Oh, hello love,” he smiled. “Listen I was thinking maybe we could have dinner tonight?”

“Oh, y’know I’ve got a work meeting that’s going to go late tonight, but how about tomorrow?” Anna smiled to herself. She wasn’t very interested in Harry but she did owe him a favor and she wasn’t one to break plans.

“Yeah tomorrow works great, I’ll um, I’ll text you.” He smiled as he hung up.

“So dinner tomorrow?” Harry smirked. “Look at you mate! Finally gettin’ out there.”

“Yeah yeah, we’ll see.” Truthfully he was beyond excited to see her again.

 Dinner was a success if Niall did say so himself. He took her to his favorite Italian place and they stayed out for hours. Anna appreciated that he moved slow and didn’t try to make any big moves. She had gone to “dinner” (it was actually a club that served caviar to the VIP customers) with Harry the night before. He had tried to get her to go home with him and she didn’t enjoy it. He’d been respectful of course that wasn’t the issue. She didn’t like how sauve he thought he was. Sure he had reason to be, he was handsome and tall and very very charming, but he was in no way humble about it. Not like Niall, he was sweet and thoughtful, gentle even. She had agreed to another date with Niall that night, Harry hadn’t asked her again yet, she hoped that he got the message that she wasn’t interested.

Niall had given Harry all of the details of the night the following morning only after Harry nearly beat it out of him at their gym session. They’d made their way back to the office after showering, Harry embellished the very few high points of his date, neither of them realizing they were seeing the same girl.

 Harry knew he wanted to see her again. He sat at his desk for an hour before pulling out his phone to call her.

“Anna love! How are you?” Niall’s head shot up as Harry said her name.

“I’m well how are you?” she replied easily.

“Excellent, listen I was thinking we could get lunch today, I know this great spot, has the best french cuisine in all of London.” He was beaming over at Niall who was furrowing his brow in confusion.

“I um I’m working right now but,”

“I can come pick you up when you take your lunch break, just text me alright?” Anna didn’t have the heart to tell him no. She gave a pleasant goodbye and hung up.

“Who’s Anna?” Niall asked warily.

“The bird I took out the other night.” He kicked back in his chair with a smirk. Niall froze in his. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.. It’s just um... the girl I’m seeing is named Anna too.” Harry furrowed his brow.

“Yeah, that’s a crazy coincidence.”

“Yeah coincidence huh…” Niall swallowed thickly.

“Well pull up a picture of her.” Harry replied. He couldn’t deny the butterflies building in the pit of his stomach.

“You too. You show me first.”

“Oh don’t be a baby Niall we’ll show each other at the same time yeah?” Niall nodded. The two typed on their computers, each pulling up her instagram page, clicking the first selfie they found.

“On three?” Harry asked. Niall nodded with sweating palms. “Right.. One..”

The tension tripled in that one second. Both boys were intimidated by the other, though they would never say so out loud.

“Two….”

Niall wanted to throw up and Harry was ready to rip out his hair.

“Three.”

Both boys turned their monitors to reveal the same photo, confirming the fears they both had. Their Anna was the same Anna

“You can’t have her I met her first!” Niall said immediately.

“Mate I love you but clearly she’s out of your league.” Harry wasn’t trying to be mean, but his track record with girls was far better than Niall’s.

“I’m sorry d’you want t’say that again t’me?”

“She’s. Out. Of.  Your. League.” Niall threw his foam football at Harry’s head.

“She actually likes me-” “She’s going to lunch with me.”

“You could have hundreds of birds mate why this one?”

“I like her, she’s fit.”

Niall set his jaw and took a deep breath.

“Let’s let her decide,” he suggested. Harry thought about it. If he was honest he didn’t want to enter a competition with Niall. Yeah Harry had experience but Niall was a quality man, he had a kindness and charm that Harry couldn’t come anywhere near to achieving. But there was something about Anna, something that made his heart stop. Maybe it was how softly she kissed him despite the abruptness of her actions. He knew in his heart this was the only way for him to get her.

“That seems.. fair,” Harry conceded. Niall nodded. “No interference?” He nodded. “No hard feelings?” Another nod. “Okay...let the best man win.”

The two returned to their work, but while Harry was at lunch with Anna, Niall sent an intern to follow them and report back.

 Anna hated to admit that lunch with Harry was incredible. He was right when he said it was the best french cuisine. They sat for a good hour, her talking about the event planning she did, her latest client a russian billionaire, and Harry talking about his “job” as a travel agent. Anna grew more and more fond of him the longer they talked. She never would have guessed it but Harry was an incredible listener. He made thoughtful comments and asked genuine questions. It shocked her truthfully.

“So what’s the best place you traveled to?” she asked as she took a small bite of her salad. Harry had learned a lot about her in the short time they’d been eating. He realized she didn’t want some suave successful rich guy, she just wanted an honest man. So he didn’t try to impress her with charm and grandiose, he just gave truthful answers.

“How do you determine the best? Because my trip to Spain was brilliant, loads of fun and great scenery, but I also did some work in Sri Lanka and that was the most humbling thing I’ve ever done.”

Anna was stunned. She’d expected him to say Amsterdam or Ibiza or some other typical party spot. She felt guilty for writing him off as some macho Don Juan the first time they met. She just didn’t know him that was all. Harry showed her photos of the kids he met while he was there. His dimpled smile and obvious comfort around children warmed her heart.

Harry paid for lunch and dropped her off at her work again. He was kind and only hugged her goodbye but a small part of her wishes he had kissed her. She waved goodbye before disappearing inside the building and heading straight to her best friend’s office.

“I fucked up.”

Sadie looked up from her day planner. She saw the panic written on Anna’s face, not an unusual look, she panicked over her parking job most days.

“How much will it cost to fix?” she asked assuming it was work related.

“It’s not work.” Anna bit her lip nervously and sank back into the chair.

“Anna I swear to god if you’re pregnant and you don’t know the father-”

“No! No oh my god no I haven’t had sex in months! No there’s no way but honestly that’s kind of part of the problem I don’t know what to do and what if it’s bad oh my god how do-”

“Anna!” Sadie snapped, jaring her friend out of her panicked word vomit. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m dating two guys.” Sadie’s jaw dropped. Anna was the queen of calculated, no risk decisions. She over thought everything that’s why she threw the best events in the office. Sadie used to swear she did background checks on every guy she ever crushed on.

“You? You are dating two guys?” Anna nodded. “So what’s the problem?” Anna wrinkled her brow. Wasn’t it obvious? Sadie looked at her waiting for a response.

“I like them both! But it’s not okay to lead them both on!” she cried.  

“This is literally so small on the scale of problems you could have Anna, you  just have to make a choice. I mean seriously, just date them both for a few weeks and then decide who’s better.”

“Can I do that?”

“Babes men do this, women do this, teenagers do this, yes you can do this.” Anna nodded solemnly. She fired more anxious questions at Sadie, only stopping when the phone rang to signal Sadie’s client had arrived.

 Harry returned to the office smug, having noticed Niall’s intern the minute he and Anna arrived at the restaurant.

“How did it go?” Niall asked innocently.

“You mean your pathetic little errand boy didn’t tell you already?” Harry challenged. Niall scoffed and scrounged for a defense. “Don’t worry mate he still thinks he’s a good spy.” Niall set his jaw and turned back to his computer. “Only he left before he could see me kiss her goodbye.” Niall grabbed for a stress ball sitting by his desktop monitor and Harry casually flipped through a file, feet propped up on his desk as he smirked about his lie. Niall knew Harry would get him back, he was just scared to think how.

He told Harry the wrong place when asked about his date with Anna, truth was he was bringing Anna back to his place for a home cooked dinner. But Harry knew better, Niall always wooed women by making them dinner. He sent his intelligence team to the house to bug it with cameras and microphones.

 Anna nervously knocked on Niall’s door that night. She was hesitant to be at his house but at least if he tried to sleep with her it would make her decision easy. Niall opened the door for her, smiling brightly like always, and led her to the kitchen to pour her a glass of wine while she waited for dinner to be ready. But he was perfect gentleman, making her dinner (that was absolutely divine, she’d never had a butternut squash ravioli before) and playing soft music while they sat outside and talked late into the night. She learned he was a travel photographer, and about the end of his marriage and his daughter. And  at the end of the night when she stood up to head home, claiming an early start at work, he nodded and walked her to the door, kissing her cheek politely.

Harry sat in the intelligence room watching the whole exchange. His blood boiled because he knew Niall was wooing her, no one could resist his charm when he decided to use it and there was no way she could say no to a widower. He sighed and shut off the screen when Niall closed his front door.  How would he stop him. He’d never felt this strongly about a woman before, maybe he could just tell Niall that? He sighed and stood up to go home. He knew he’d just have to win her cause there is no way Niall would give her up. Not to Harry anyway.

He didn’t know how he got home, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't realize he was parked outside until he stopped the car. He opened a beer once inside and texted Anna.

Can’t stop thinking about you….

Back at her own home Anna sat ridden with guilt as she read over the words. Me either she quickly replied. The guilty pit in her stomach grew larger as she hit send. It wasn’t a lie, she found herself thinking about Harry quite often. But she also thought about Niall too. She still couldn’t decide. Her eyes glanced over the clock that read ten after midnight. She quickly dialed Sadie.

“Are you okay?” Sadie asked immediately. Anna had told her she was going to Niall’s house incase anything bad happened.

“Yeah I’m fine I’m at home. I just can’t decide who to pick” she whined, flopping back on her sofa. Sadie groaned.

“So don’t date either one, there are plenty of blokes in the world you’ll be fine.”

“But Harry is so handsome-” “So date him.” “But Niall is so kind…”

“So date him.”

“Sadie you’re not helping.”

“Anna I don't know how to help you!”

“Can’t you choose for me?” The line was silent for a few moments. “Sadie please you’re always so perceptive of guys.” Sadie finally sighed.

“Send me photos.” Anna squealed in excitement as she sent links to both of their Instagram pages.

“Oh...Oh wow you weren’t kidding about Harry.. Fuck and what a name, Harry Styles? God damn.” “I know… and he looks like such a wanker y’know? Like he knows he’s a lads lad. But he’s not really like that cause he was so nice at lunch the other day, he volunteers to build homes in developing countries and he’s great with kids, he’s a great listener.”

“And he clearly loves dogs, and he travels to cool places… and he seems like he’s secretly a sensitive guy. I think he just tried too hard to make a good first impression y’know? You could do that whole, ‘breaking down his walls and building a relationship on trust’ thing you love so much.” Anna nodded despite her friend’s jab.

“Yeah...” Anna let out a deep sigh.

“That was a love struck sigh if I ever heard one.”

“What about Niall?” She said rolling her eyes,

“Okay first impression? He looks like a wuss. But if you look back he looks like he used to have loads of fun. He probably went through a hard time and has just matured.”

“His wife and daughter died three years ago.”

Sadie stopped. “Oh shit that’s insane… are you like the first girl he’s dated since?”

“No but he did say he hasn’t dated very many people since.”

“Okay.. cause you do not want to be the first girl to a widower, it’s messy.”

“So which should I pick?!” Anna sighed.

“Honestly? They’re both great.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“Fine pick Harry,” Sadie sighed thinking maybe making a choice would help her friend decide. Sadly she had no luck and spent another half an hour creating pro con lists.

“I’m gonna flip a coin,” Anna decided. It was a long shot but at least it would make a choice for her. Or she would make choice while she flipped it.

 Harry and Niall both continued to pursue Anna. She didn’t have the nerve to flip the coin yet, and work had started to pick up as she planned the Russian billionaire’s event. Work picked up for Harry and Niall too. Word came through that diamonds were being smuggled into London and Niall and Harry were assigned to the case. Tensions were high between the two as their efforts to thwart the other increased and their work suffered because of it. Spats over who would take lead and who would interrogate sources brought operations to a slow and delayed any progress they might have made. Days passed and the sting to nab the diamonds at the airport failed due to Harry’s refusal to wait for the signal and to be the hero. Their failure led to more tense arguments and the possibility of losing their jobs.

 “Mr. Horan, Mr. Styles. I think we got something.” Both agents crowded around the monitor, examining the screen.

“The exchange is at an event?” Niall asked. “How are they going to do that?”

“Who knows sir, but we’ll get access to all the security and get agents at the event once we know more.”

“There has to be something that tells us more..” Harry mused. “Are there any big gala’s in town?” The tech shook his head.

“Steve... bring up the top 20 wealthiest people in london at this current moment, non residents as well.” Niall had a feeling this wasn’t just a smuggle but a sale. Steve brought up this list. “Scan for their names in the news in the last two weeks.” Steve clicked away at his keyboard again. After a few moments Niall pointed at a result. “That’s it.. That’s where it’s going to be.” Harry froze.

“Fuck.” Niall looked over at him concerned. Harry met his eyes. “That’s Anna’s event.” Niall paled and stood up straight.  

 The day of the event came around and Anna woke up more nervous than she could have imagined. This event was high profile and if she ruined it she’d never get another offer again. She paced around her kitchen while her espresso brewed, turning over every what if problem she could imagine. Before she knew it she was reaching for her phone. She needed someone there with her, she didn’t realize who she was dialing until he answered.

“Hey,” she smiled as his charming ‘Hello’ sounded.  

“Hello love, how are you?” he knew this was the day of the event, he hoped she wouldn’t catch him there that night.

“I’m good I’m good! Listen I um.. I’m planning this event tonight and I um… I thought you might want to… go with me?” she bit her lip praying he didn’t already have plans. His lips stretched into a wide grin. But then he thought about the mission. Could he let down his team like that? Yes, he’d still be there, just in a different capacity, in fact this would be better! He found himself nodding before he spoke. Anna needed him.

“Yeah of course, black tie I assume?”

“Yes! I um, I can come get you at say 7?”

“That’s perfect love I’ll see you then.” She nodded as he hung up and she stared at her phone. It looked like she’d made her choice between her two beaus.

He didn’t tell his partner he was going with Anna, He didn’t want to cause any more fights that could put her in danger. Instead he avoided all cameras inside the venue and waited for the team to continue without him. He shut off his phone too so they couldn’t call him.

His team sat in the surveillance van across the street waiting for him to answer his phone.

“I swear to god if he isn’t here in two minutes I’m going in without him.”

“Sir you can’t do that it’s against protocol, you’re one of the lead agents.” Steve protested.

“Yeah well so is he and he was supposed to be here an hour ago.” The team sighed. Two minutes passed and he gave the signal to begin. He strutted forward in his best suit, flashing an invitation at the bouncer and making his way into the party while the rest of the team stepped in as wait staff. He casually stopped at the car, ordering a scotch neat as he scanned the room. That’s when he saw him, Anna draped on his arm as they laughed with a few guests. His face grew a deep red as anger flooded his body. He tossed back his drink and started making his way over there. 20 steps in and Anna excused herself to the restroom. His fist was already in ball as he neared his supposed best friend.

“Sir did you find the suspects? Is this the signal?” The voices of his team echoed in his ear piece.

“No this is not the fucking signal. This is fucking revenge.” He was less than three meters away when he locked eyes with his friend and he realized what was happening.

“Niall I can explain.” Harry defended as Niall raised a fist to his jaw.

“Explain what?” Niall snapped as his best friend lay on the ground clutching his jaw. “That you fucking betrayed me for some bird? You left me stranded I didn’t know if you’d bloody show!” Harry slowly stood up.

“What was I supposed to do? Call you up and say she invited me to go and that I’d have to help you when I got here? And have you go into another depressive episode because she picked ME over YOU?! Have you ruin the whole bloody thing because y’got your feelings hurt?!” Both of them were seething as the insults flew. Luckily no one was paying them any mind as they stood off in the corner away from crowds.

“I would have fucking understood but you have put us ALL at risk do you fucking understand?! You’re me fucking best friend Harry and you’re tossin all that over some stupid girl?!”

“I am not. I can still do my part of the operation, I just got in a different way.”

“No you can’t. You’re fucking off the team I don’t fucking trust you.” Niall spat.

“Me? You don’t fucking trust me?! Thats bloody rich who was it who started the whole spying on the other business?! That was you Horan! You!”

“I told you I met her first! But you just had to go and have the one thing you couldn’t! You’re a goddamn child!” Niall was faintly aware of someone saying his name in his ear but he was too infuriated to listen to it.

“What so just because your wife died means you get automatic claim to any bird y’fancy? That’s bullshit Niall fuck you.”

“Niall?”  They both froze. “Niall what are you doing here?” Anna looked at the two boys in front of her. The more she looked the more she saw, both of them realizing it too. “You two know each other?”

“Anna darling I promise it’s not what it seems,” Harry insisted, reaching for her but she stepped away.

“Both of you get out… don’t talk to me again.” she demanded, motioning for security to come escort them out.

“Wait Anna no, no you don’t understand!” Niall pleaded but security backed them away to the exit, closing the doors once they were both outside.

They both stared at the door as the cold breeze blew, Harry breaking the soft silence.

“Shit.”

 “How the fuck are we gonna do this?” Harry asked as they sat in the van.

“We’ve got more waiter costumes, we could sneak back in?” Niall suggested. Harry was right, he did have his feelings hurt, but not because Anna chose Harry, because he’d turned on his best friend and he’d most likely lost him. Harry could sense the uneasiness in his friends.

“Niall..I’m sorry for what I said, and I should have backed off of Anna, But y’got to understand, she’s different for me, she’s someone I could spend me whole life with. But if It means I lose you as me best friend then I’ll never talk to her again.”

Niall sighed. “Why didn’t you just tell me? I mean honestly yeah I’d have been a bit upset but I’d never ruin a mission or our friendship because of this.”

“I know.. I should have told you, I’m sorry mate.” He opened his arms for an embrace. Niall broke a small smile as he hugged his best friend for a moment before stepping back. He reached for his gun and slid it in it’s holster, looking his best friend in the eye.

“Right, let’s do this.”

[scandinaviacroatiaengbergs]

Tuesday night and Wednesday! VOLVO! And then on to Norway, home of a-ha . . .

So, on Tuesday evening, we arrived to the Gothenburg Central Station and right across from it was the Clarion Hotel Post, which had basically a snazzy nightclub right outside and something of a British Royal Mail theme. The hotel was once some big municipal building, maybe their central post office, and it was refurbished into a nice hotel.  This was the night of our trip that was paid for by Volvo, and we would be having dinner in their fine-dining restaurant on Volvo’s dollar, or rather kroner.  We got all check in and then went up to our room.  In the room, some of the structural architectural elements were exposed, like a beam, that went diagonally from the bottom right corner of the room to the upper left corner  . . and  of course our resident monkey had to shimmy up that as fast as he could get to it.  Ugh.  Anyway, Cece has also taken to getting her wiggles out and exercise in whenever she can, and for her, it’s in the form of doing “pirouettes” in any space where there is more than two-square-feet for her to move in.  She puts her arms out, winds up, and then flings her body in a circle.  Anyway, I digress; after Rowan dusted that beam with his body multiple times by sliding down it, we headed out on the streets of Gothenburg for a few-hour walk before our 8:30 dinner reservation (yes, it was a late reservation, but that was per their decision, not ours).

We walked along a river, which had a linear kind of park, and then we wove our way back through a school’s playground (lots of climbing, swinging, balancing ensued) and a shopping district and got to the hotel with a few minutes to spare before dinner.  I will say, Gothenburg (and now Oslo) has a lot of construction going on, like, building construction and road construction.  It was also Pride week in Gothenburg and there were rainbow flags waving everywhere, and there would be at the Volvo HQ the next day too. So, dinner was to be Scandinavian delicacies, and the first course – which Eric and I got, but not the kids, because we didn’t get the pre-set meal for them and rather ordered off the menu, which we’d planned with Volvo European Delivery before we left—was some smoked fish and caviar and creme fraiche and some other little dollops of things.  We are not really “fine dining” people (I always think back and chuckle at the crazy insane fancy meal Cece, Alia, my dad, and I had in Riga, during which they brought my dad’s meat on a tiny little pyre of pine which they lit on fire at the table), but Eric cleaned his plate for that first course and I shared some of the fish with Cece.  Our second course was a white fish in a cream sauce with asparagus and tiny potatoes.  That was delicious.  The final course was dessert and it was super intricate: little gelled tartlets with meringue knots and yuzu sorbet and a few chunks of rhubarb and caramelized white chocolate sprinkles and white chocolate brownies, in three tiny pieces. See, I could barely remember all of the elements. Rowan devoured what was left of Eric’s, and Cece shared mine with me.  The kids main course was actually a mac-n-cheese variant and a side of roasted head-of-cauliflower, which I though was very delicious.  They also got sparking apple juice, which of course they loved. OK, so the next morning, the Volvo driver picked us up at 8:40 and drove us to HQ.  At about 9:20, we had the keys to our new car! It all happened so fast and rather unceremoniously!  I mean, there was some ceremony in walking through these sliding glass doors into a big room with curtains on the walls, where the new car was parked.  Maybe the romance was dimmed a bit by our squawking children.  For some reason, they were kind of at their worst at exactly the wrong time.  We were trying to get all of the info about the new car from the guy who was orienting us to it, and the kids were supposed to be playing just on the other side of the glass doors (we could see them) with Legos, and of course, they mutually decided it was a perfect time to terrorize each other.  Well, never mind, once we got the car all set up and got them somewhat sorted out, we went over for a really quick spin in our new car over to the Volvo Museum, which was really close by but was kind of a struggle to get to because of some super-sizable freeway construction plus a roll-over accident with a semi that closed a roundabout that was crucial to us.  That messed us up on the way back, too.  Anyway, the Volvo Museum was so cool!  The kids kinds of settled down once we were there, checking out all of the amazing old Volvos from through the years, including buses, construction equipment, firetrucks, and even a plane.   We made our way back to the Volvo HQ and were treated to lunch in the little café there.  It was very yummy: smoked salmon, potatoes, meatballs for the kids (which only Cece ate) and some vegetarian pancakes that Eric and I split. After that, it was time for  tour of the factory.  We had to put our cell phones in a locked drawer and don safety glasses and then hop in a multi-car little “train” wagon thing, with the other guests.  We were in the front car, with a very cool woman who was the MC (she is American, from Dallas, but married a Swede, and lives in Sweden, and guides these factory tour for European Delivery guests; she thought our kids were hilarious). The kids were soooooooo engaged by the tour.  It was amazing.  We went into the body shop part, where the metal pieces are  assembled and welded.  Then we went into another building where the other parts are assembled too: doors added on, components inserted, testing done, etc. It really appeared to be a very gender-balanced and age-distributed workplace.  The tour took and hour.  I would love to give more details, and I will when salient aspects pop in my mind, but my brain is tired right now, so this will have to suffice. When we got back to the HQ, we got our phones back and gave the glasses back and got a found out how we could avoid stopping to pay tolls on entering Norway (by doing an EZ-pass kind of thing where it just reads our license plate and charges our credit card).  Then, we re-packed the back of the car, got the kids latched in, and whizzed off on the road to Norway!  The land of a-ha!  My long-time dream!  I was joking that I was sure that as soon as we crossed into Norway, there would be a huge billboard saying, “Welcome to Norway, the Land of A-Ha.”  That wasn’t the case, surprisingly. We used the built-in navigation on our Volvo during our drive – and I have not yet stressed how nice this car is. It is so nice.  I mean, even though in Finland, Sweden, and Norway this car is like the standard one for taxis, it still resonates with me as the nicest ride ever.  But, the reason taxis are luxury cars in Scandinavia is because the industry is, and I quote Eric via an article he read because we were scratching our heads about it, “highly regulated and hideously expensive.”  Anyway, we got to our apartment in Oslo and we then had a struggle to actually get the keys to our Airbnb.  They were supposed to be with the employee working at the corner store, called “Joker,” and we went in, and the guy was like, don’t have ‘em.  He told me I was at the wrong Joker.  So, Eric went back to that one, because it was at the intersection we were told to go to, and the guy rebuffed him again.  So, Eric went a few blocks over to another Joker, and that guy was super nice and was like, nope, you were at the right Joker originally. So, we *all* went back to the original Joker, and lo and behold, the guy finally found the envelope with our names on it.  Then, the apartment building is a four-floor walk-up, which I can hang with since my apartment in the Renaud was too, but in this case, we didn’t have clear information on which apartment was the one we needed to enter.  I looked back at the original Airbnb posting and it said “sunny top floor,” so that answered that question, but there were two apartments!  So, we gambled, picked one, tried the key, and it worked.  Whew. It was super nice (I mean, it *is* super nice, as I am writing this from the extra-long kitchen table in this, indeed, very sunny top-floor apartment). I texted with my friend Ryley a bit, who lived here, and we went out by car to a grocery store near her and then popped by her place for a sec.  She’d made us banana bread and gave us a bottle of wine and my kids were bananas for seeing her kids, and they watched some hilarious puppy videos together while we chatted.  Then, we got back to our place, fed the kids yogurt and banana bread for dinner, and got them down – late again! And, in the next post, I will tell you all about our first day in Oslo when I did not, surprisingly, run into any members of a-ha.

[tsgneworleanslouisiana]

Celebrate Local: New Orleans Hosts The Scout Guide Editor Conference

May was a big month for The Scout Guide New Orleans! The Scout Guide hosted its annual editor conference in New Orleans. Sixty TSG Editors from across the country traveled to the Crescent City in search of endless inspiration...and of course, a good time. Mission accomplished thanks to the incredible small business owners who make New Orleans the most exciting place to live and visit. 

Christy Ford and Susie Matheson, Co-Founders of The Scout Guide and TSG Charlottesville Editors with Jane Scott Hodges, Founder of Leontine Linens and Taylor Morgan, Editor/Owner, The Scout Guide New Orleans

In true New Orleans fashion, we experienced a feast for all of the senses at the home of Jane Scott and Philip Hodges. Discussed the state of our brand and what makes a beautiful book at our NOLA Headquarters, Windsor Court. Engaged with business owners while shopping local on Magazine Street. And celebrated local at three of my favorite eateries, Arnaud’s, Cavan, and Brennan’s.

Tablescape designs by Jane Scott Hodges featuring Leontine Linens and a collection of tabletop goods including fabulous flower vases from Malachite Home

Leontine cocktail napkins pair beautifully with Patti Constantin, Designs in Catering, hand blown glasses.

Fried oysters and Cajun Caviar by Patti Constantin

Laura Kocher, TSG Headquarters, Stacey Leuliette, TSG Palm Beach and Nantucket, and Jen Stolp of TSG Wilmington

Black Magic Drum Line surprise editors courtesy of Jane Scott and Philip Hodges

New Orleans wasn’t just selected because its a fun place to be — I was one of the very first franchise owners to establish The Scout Guide outside of home base in Charlottesville, Virginia. For our first road show, co-founders Susie Matheson and Christy Ford wanted to share with our young Editors the experience of what The Scout Guide can be in a community. 

Building a brand doesn’t happen over night, but it sure does seem like ours did. Since 2010, TSG has grown to a network of 60 city guides dedicated to celebrating and supporting over 3,000 small business owners who keep communities unique. TSG combines print, online and a national network making it a pretty powerful platform for local businesses to shine.

Eight years ago when I first brought The Scout Guide to New Orleans, I had this one little blue book, The Scout Guide Charlottesville. There was no Instagram, barely a website or blog, definitely no searchable directory, or a network of 60 Editors to support local. I was selling my passion for New Orleans and desire to create a visual for our city to shine on a national platform (at a time when we were still convincing people we were open for business.) 

A collection of city guides - The Scout Guide book bar on display at Perch

From top to bottom: TSG Cleveland, TSG Northwest Arkansas, TSG Park City, TSG Little Rock, TSG Omaha, TSG Cincinnati, TSG Cleveland, TSG Fort Worth and TSG Wilmington

I had big dreams for my small business, but I am not sure I visualized a union of our powerful network in my own backyard. So when I looked around in a room and saw all the people gathered based off of something that I built, it was a pretty moving experience. 

Ralph Brennan shares the history of Brennan’s along with some lessons in business with our group of young entrepreneurs

Autumn Allen, TSG Washington, DC, Sarah Phillips, TSG Alexandria, Nelina Loiselle, TSG Hunt Country

Jane Scott Hodges, Patti Constantin, and Ralph Brennan were not only instrumental in the success of the Conference, but they have been crucial to the success of our brand. These uniquely New Orleans business owners, along with Ashley Longshore, Melissa Rufty and Adrienne Casbarian, Neal Alford, Roy Dunn and Stephen Sonnier, Alexis Walter, Lynn Morgan, Mia and Justin Devillier, and the Windsor Court team answered the call in my first year, trusted me to represent their brand in places near and far, and remain with me on the journey today. They have become our very own TSG celebrities so it was fun to finally introduce them to their fan club in real life. 

Adrienne Casbarian, owner of Malachite Home, Susie Matheson and Christy Ford, Co-Founders of The Scout Guide and Taylor Morgan, Editor/Owner of The Scout Guide New Orleans

Mariah Walton, owner of West London Boutique, signs her page in The Scout Guide New Orleans 

The Scout Guide is about people. We love connecting businesses to businesses, so I hosted a happy hour at Cavan to introduce New Orleans business owners to Editors in other cities. Kathy Slater who showcases her work in Dallas, Houston and Atlanta had the opportunity to meet the respective Editors. Susan Zackin who plans parties in New Orleans and Palm Beach (and everywhere in between) met her champion on the ground in any port of call. Interior Designer Shaun Smith and Restaurant Owner Robert Leblanc shared with Editors how The Scout Guide has supported the growth of his business.

TSG Naples, TSG Edmond, TSG Jackson, TSG Plano & Frisco, TSG Mobile Bay, TSG Dallas

Rebecca Vizard carved time in her schedule to share her story with TSG before darting to Baton Rouge to receive the Louisiana Legend award later in the evening

Today I have represented over 200 small business owners in New Orleans. I adore being their champion and I do experience some pretty cool things. But let me let you in on a little secret: you, too, can continue to peel back the layers in our city just by walking in the front door of these local businesses. 

Natalie Erwin Art pairs beautifully with Leontine

Flowers, antiques and gifts all under one roof at Dunn & Sonnier

Ashley Nettleton, TSG Edmond, Suzanne Dildy, TSG Park City, Susu Stall, owner of SOSUSU Boutique, and Susie Matheson, Co-Founder of TSG and Editor of The Scout Guide Charlottesville

Cole Pratt’s Erika Olinger shares with Christy Ford her art + technology exhibit 

TSG Headquarters Team with Shane Guidry of Pippen Lane

But where would we be without you, our reader? Thank you so much for supporting these small business owners. All a TSG Editor can hope for is that you find something you love here, visit the store, meet the owner, learn something new and buy local what you want (and of course, tell them scout sent you!). By doing so, you will have a profound impact on your local community.

Hopie Avery, TSG Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Leigh Ann Kalman, TSG Austin, Leigh Brown, TSG Fort Worth, Cheney Edmunds, TSG Richmond and Meredith Kallaher, TSG Miami shopping local at West London Boutique, Pilot + Powell, SOSUSU, Tasc and Villa Vici

TSG loves Ashley Longshore Art

Cozy conversations at Cavan with our newest editors TSG Phoenix and Tuscon at the head of the table

The experience of a French Quarter balcony at Arnaud’s

Champagne sabering every week day in the courtyard at Brennan’s

And just when I thought I had seen everything this city had to offer, TSG Co-Founders, Christy Ford & Susie Matheson, gifted me with a glittered field commander hat that they scouted at Peony. Certainly, there couldn’t have been a more perfect gift for the person leading the trombone parade of sixty lovers of local, and clearly, they had to stake their claim as the original scouts!

TELL THEM SCOUT SENT YOU!

—TAYLOR MORGAN, Editor/Owner, THE SCOUT GUIDE NEW ORLEANS

Most photos by Paul Morse Photo and a few by yours truly, TSG New Orleans. 

Enjoy TSG Miami’s recap of The Scout Guide Editor Conference on her You Tube Channel. 

Interested in becoming a member of The Scout Guide? Find more information here. 

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Marijuana Stores Near Me’ With Excellent Products

Did you just search marijuana stores near me? Are you searching for a dispensary in your area with high-quality products, a great selection, friendly staff, and affordable prices? Look no further than Roots Los Angeles if you answered yes to any of these questions! Here’s what you need to know

Searching ‘Marijuana Stores Near Me?’ We know what you’re looking for: a weed shop with potent strains, concentrates, and edibles that won’t break your wallet. You’re probably tired of the same dispensaries and products. Thankfully, you found us. Here are some product recommendations for the next time you stop by.

Try Caviar Gold Moon Rocks Check out products from Caviar Gold if you’re searching for a potent strain. The company has been developing powerful cannabis products for over 13 years and uses 95% pure THC liquid “inside” the buds.

You can select from potent moon rock strains such as Strong Berry or King Cavi. Or you can opt for the luxury product, Moon Rock XO Gold. And who knows; you might just find them on sale the next time you visit us in person!

Check Out Fun Uncle Cartridges Fun Uncle Cartridges is a highly portable, accessible, and low-key way to consume cannabis. Not to mention, each cartridge is over 75% THC! You have to try Fun Uncle Cartridges the next time you stop by Roots LA.

We recommend any one of the unique strains, but check out Cruisers – GG4 the next time you come in. The cart contains the fan favorite strain, Gorilla Glue, as it tastes earthy and spicy and offers a smooth smoking experience. Gorilla Glue provides a cerebral head-high and transforms into a relaxing body-locking sensation.

Enjoy Wyld Gummies Look no further than Wyld if you’re searching for the highest quality THC gummies on the market. Wyld is a certified game-changer when it comes to the edible industry. To develop delicious edibles, Wyld uses natural fruit ingredients, excellent cannabis extracts, and minor cannabinoids. Flavors like Marionberry and Huckleberry will have your mouth intrigued, and your body relaxed.

Get 20% Off Your First Order! We offer a wide variety of daily deals and discounts besides just the ‘Deals’ tab on our online menu. We have a deal for you whether you’re a recreational, medicinal, veteran, disabled, or senior customer! Here are some bargains to expect the next time you visit our weed shop:

20% off your first order on all products 15% from 6 AM to 10 AM every day 15% from 2 PM to 6 PM every day 5% off for veterans, seniors, and disabled visitors

Visit the Best Dispensary in Los Angeles Today Look no further than Roots LA If you’re searching for the best dispensary menus in your area. We offer a wide variety of brands, strains, and products for you to choose from. You’ll find incredible products with options like Kush Mints, Area 41, and more. If you get stuck with all the choices or need a gentle push in the right direction, our budtenders are here to help.

Our knowledgeable staff of budtenders is here to guide you through the process and ensure you find the best product for your needs and tastes. So what’re you waiting for? Come visit us in person at 11045 Sherman Way Sun Valley, CA 91352 or call us at (818) 210-0095!

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All about Calzones Products You Need To Know

For the next Valentine's Day, I want you to consider a Gift Certificate for your significant other. It is truly the perfect gift for that special someone who loves to shop. You will love the unique and innovative designs of the Calzones products. The selection of wines and champagnes is outstanding and you can have one or several bottles to select from. And the best part is the prices are very reasonable and worth every penny.

You know your significant other likes classy and sophisticated gifts. They enjoy looking at and enjoying wine and champagne. They definitely appreciate anything that is created with top quality grapes. Imagine getting the gift basket that contains two bottles of wine and three bottles of champagne for a very reasonable price.

Imagine how delighted your significant other will be when they open this amazing gift basket. They will be wondering where you purchased such an incredible product. They will be awestruck when they taste the wonderfully sweet Spanish Champagne. They will be wondering how they ever lived without this wonderful product.

A Gift Certificate makes a great addition to any collection and is ideal for an individual or couple looking for a gift for a special person. This gift basket contains authentic and premium brand name wines that can be enjoyed by anyone. It has a selection of sparkling wines from Spain's Mediterranean regions and California's vineyards, as well as a selection of other fine wines, champagne selections.

If you do not live near Mexico, you are still able to shop near this incredible location. Many of the shops are located on the grounds of the Hotel California, which offers a free shuttle to the airport and several shops. However, the shopping tends to be very busy at any given time. There are often lines outside and it is hard to get in and out without being crowded. In addition, you should avoid trying to maneuver through any crowds as they tend to get quite hot and steamy.

The Gift Certificate can be purchased online and shipped directly to any recipient in the United States. There is a minimum purchase amount and a discounted rate for large orders. You can shop during normal business hours year-round. The local shops are open every day from Monday to Sunday and most are open until midnight.

There are some other fantastic gift baskets that can be found at the Calzones near me delivery. One of these is the Torrevieja Nacional, which features a selection of five delicious Chardonnays. Another choice is the Secret Garden Gift Basket which has an array of local fruits, vegetables, cheese, crackers and cookies. If you are looking for something different, you can also try a Chateau Margarita which is topped with spicy black beans. For an even more unusual experience, try the G.H.A.M gift basket which is filled with everything from caviar and nuts to pretzels and cookies. These gifts are available at all locations in the cities of Mexico.

The choices for your Calzones near Mexico City gift basket are not limited to just these options mentioned above. You just have to look for “Calzones near me delivery”. There are many more to choose from including stuffed animals and tropical fruit. Try making up your own gift basket or buy pre-made ones that are well suited to being shipped across the country or internationally. It is certainly worthwhile to spend the extra money to make your gift worth keeping.

If you want to save some money on your shopping, try making your own. This is actually very easy to do if you follow instructions carefully and know what you are doing. You should definitely get some expert advice before trying anything new, though, as mistakes can make your gift worthless. With the right supplies and instructions you can make some wonderful personalized gifts that can be given to friends and family to show them just how much they mean to you.

To make your own gift basket you will need some filler. You may choose to use shredded paper and shredded plastic to create this. It does not have to be expensive. You can also find filler in bulk at large department stores, such as Target or Wal-Mart. You may decide to use a variety of fillers, or choose a specific one for the design of your gift basket.

Before you ship your basket to Mexico, you will want to wrap it carefully to help protect the contents. Choose a dark colored plastic bag that is sturdy and will not warp. Another idea is to use bubble wrap, cellophane, or aluminum foil. Wrap the entire basket in these items and package it using the large bag. Then, wrap your gift in the same way, and put it in the same box and tie with ribbon.

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The Best Dads Drive Trucks shirt

The closures have already The Best Dads Drive Trucks shirt . Thousands of workers were suddenly laid off, and businesses will forgo revenue for the near future. There’s a chance that many places that city dwellers know and love, from local haunts to Michelin-star mainstays, may not reopen. Ordering delivery or takeout is probably the easiest way to support your favorite restaurants—a number of which are offering these services for the first time ever. For example, Carbone (aka the hardest reservation to get in the city) is now on Caviar, which means you can now gobble up that spicy rigatoni vodka from your couch.The Best Dads Drive Trucks shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

Classic Women's

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Classic Men's  Le Crocodile, fresh off its three-star New York Times review, is serving up straight three-course dinners: for $35 dollars, you get a herb roasted half chicken, broccoli rabe, cucumber mint salad, potato & leek soup, and chocolate chip cookies, serving two The Best Dads Drive Trucks shirt . (Think that would pair nicely with a glass of wine? Hoodie, long-sleeved tee, female tee, men's tee, 3-hole tee, V-neck tee. You’re in luck: they’ve got a nice sauvignon blanc and pinot noir you can order on demand too.) Seriously it’s going to take that long for season 4 ugh fine I’ll wait even though I don’t want to wait season 3 ended with a lot of intensity left me on the edge of my seat. Will admit though when I first saw they were making a series based on one of my favorite movies I was skeptical to watch it afraid I would be disappointed I’m glad I didn’t let that stop me and watched it’s as my top favorite show. Eternalshirt.com thank you for your interest in the shop. Love Cobra Kai 1-3 can’t wait for season 4 hopefully there is more beyond season 4 great cast and storyline awesome job by the writers and creators of this series. Love this show it keeps getting better and better every season can’t wait for season 4 and hopefully many more to come. You Can See More Product: https://eternalshirt.com/product-category/trending/ Read the full article