#edited to add that also I work saturdays so weekends are not weekend and right now is weekend so yes
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coreancitizen · 3 days ago
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Caught a couple of new Korean dramas during the weekend; one I'd been anticipating ("When the Stars Gossip"), another that wasn't even on my radar ("Love Scout").
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"Stars" is Lee Min Ho's big K-Drama comeback after "The King Eternal Monarch" so there's a lot of buzz. It's a romcom with him as a space tourist with a hidden agenda while Gong Hyo Jin is an astronaut who eyes the new guy with a lot of suspicion. Looks like LMH heard the complaints about him only playing "prince on a white horse" roles LOL, Gong Ryong is a poor OB/GYN still saddled with medical school debt. BUT he does have a chaebol fiancee. I watched the first episode and he and GHY have a nice lowkey chem, their back-and-forth pretty solid. The tone of the series needs a bit of work. It wants to be serious but also wacky (that pool scene in episode 1 made my brain twitch). But things do settle down a bit later in the episode. Right now, the most I could say is it's great to see LMH again. (Saturday and Sunday, Netflix)
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Then there's "Love Scout," an office drama featuring a single dad who works as a secretary for a workaholic CEO with abandonment issues. Look, I was hooked the moment I saw Lee Jun Hyuk in his sharp suit. Then there's the always fantastic Han Ji Min. They made me care for former HR manager Yun Eun Ho and prickly boss Kang Ji Yun right off the bat. Eun Ho was fired from his HR job by his asshole boss who hates his guts for having the audacity to take parental leave when his young daughter was showing signs of depression. Ji Yun doesn't like leaning on anybody, except maybe her accountant bestie — and that can likely be traced to her dad not keeping his promise and disappearing on her, plus some shenanigans at her old workplace. She is super overworked and needs an assistant, STAT! Enter Eun Ho, the friend of bestie's hubby. He was hesitant to accept the job because he already had a couple of run-ins with Ji Yun, which didn't leave good impressions on both sides. But the offer comes with a 50% increase in salary plus flexible hours for child care! Even Eun Ho's adorable kiddo Byeol is giving the thumbs up! I dont think there'll be a lot of surprises. We know where this drama is gonna end up. But I'm still excited to see how these two people get there and how they will heal each other. (Friday and Saturday, Viki)
I think you can tell which one I've been telling my mom and friends to watch ASAP lol.
Edited Jan. 7 to add: Apparently my brain was more fried than I thought because I just realized I had only watched one episode of "When the Stars Gossip." I got very confused when I saw references to fruit flies. I'm sure I'll have more to say after watching that episode LOL!
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becomingkatie · 4 months ago
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Saturday morning at 10am I was stomping around like "the weekend is half over and I haven't gotten anything done yet!" Clearly I was feeling more than a little stressed about maximizing the weekend, lol.
Saturday morning I baked a loaf that I'd mixed up Thursday night and shaped and popped in the fridge Friday morning. It's got fish peppers from my garden and cheddar cheese in it - a nod to a jalapeno cheddar loaf, but I didn't have jalapenos. The fish peppers are SPICY. Like, I cut a slice of bread and my hands tingle and then I scrub them with soap and then if I rub my eyes it still burns them. Soooo, maybe not the best? If you've ever wanted to sweat and cough from eating spicy bread, I have succeeded in making the spicy loaf for you.
Saturday night I made marry me chicken gnocchi soup. I'd say it's medium. Good enough to happily eat the leftovers of, but probably not so tasty that I'll make it again. Well, I say that, but Ken has been saying, "Next time I think I'd (insert small change here)" so I think he actually really enjoyed it and might want it again. Anyway, it's gone well with a slice of toast on the side.
We had a big finances talk Saturday, too, since even over 2 years of marriage the only joint finances we have is a credit card I got where he's an authorized user so we can have a "joint" card. We're going to be moving to a fully (or at least mostly) joined approach (with some separate savings and investments) so we are getting ready for that.
Sunday morning I was in a MUCH better mood and we went for an "easy" gravel ride where I cried on the side of the road and nearly puked in someone's driveway because it was such a challenge. I haven't been riding much, and I haven't been challenging myself much either. Combine that with having covid a few weeks ago, and it was a shock to me how hard this ride was. Ken signed us up for a "mini" 25-mile gravel ride in about 6 weeks, so I have some work to do to make that an enjoyable experience and not a sufferfest. I've done a 40-mile gravel grinder ride a few times and loved it - it just makes me really sad to be in such worse shape now than I used to be. At least I genuinely enjoy cycling so the climb back to where I want to be is something I can have fun with.
After the ride we got bagel sandwiches in the town near the start/stop point. Mine had sausage, egg, cheese, and apple butter. I'm a sweet+savory gal so it was AMAZING. And then we showered and I napped on the living room floor for half a football game. ("Ken, can you put on the football channel so I can take a nap?") After dinner I made a blueberry muffin recipe that uses sourdough discard. I'd been meaning to make them for ages and finally had discard in the fridge and time to whip them up. It said to divide into 12 muffins... I am not sure that was the right move. But they taste great.
It's going to be a busy week. Plenty of work, a vet neurologist appointment for Theo, both individual and couple's therapy on Tuesday (I hate double-therapy days ugh), and trying to stay up late and push hard to finish editing this book so I can publish it before the end of the month. This weekend we want to bike again, and I want to do some training stationary bike workouts during the week, and we also both need to make sure we have clothes (or, more likely, get some clothes) for the two October weddings we have coming up. So I am Stressed but it'll be a good time if I can manage to enjoy myself through all the busy. And people add kids on top of this??? Howwww???
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eirian-houpe · 2 years ago
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The Monday Menu
I managed words today! I had such a long to do list that I didn’t think I was going to get there, but I did.  May it long continue - the words, not the log to do list.
The Rumbelle Showdown is on the final stretch. The two finalist are writing now for the win. Can’t wait for the big reveal!
Here’s what the week might look like.
Monday - The Monday Menu - what it says on the box. A plan for the week, also, sometimes, a Monday Mmmm. There won’t always be one of these, just when something troubling or interesting crosses my path.
Tuesday - TMI Tuesday. - Ask me… go on, anything.  Ask my characters -they’ll answer. Nothing is off limits, but be sure you want the answer before you ask the question.
Wednesday - WIP Wednesday - Current state of my works in progress. So many - and still climbing!
Thursday - Three Things Thursday - any fic of mine is fair game. Doesn’t have to be Rumbelle, I have Rushbelle, a bunch of crossovers, some shows people might no know, some ST: DSC, some SGA and some Tolkien too… ask three things, I dare ya…! Please… This is also the day I’ll do the ‘Behind the Scenes’ post, which might just end up as part of the TTT post.
Friday - Final Line Friday. - Assuming I manage to write anything, I will post a word cloud, and the last line that I have written right before I post this. Also I hope to be able to start a Fic Rec Friday too, which won’t always be Rumbelle, but could be any fandom out there.
Saturday - Saturday Secret - another one of those where you can ask about any fic, and I’ll tell (or show) you a secret. Feel free to follow up with conversation or guesses.  I will tell you if you get something right. Again, no one took me up on the offer… so we might also have to think of another ‘SA’ post.
Sunday - Seven Sentence Sunday. - yeah, I have to write something to be able to post this.
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Writing this week - I hope to get Still Waters finished.  I’m at least three quarters of the way done.  Just the tying up of loose ends, then editing.  If we’re lucky, it might even get posted at the weekend.
As always my inbox is open for thoughts, questions, asks… I don’t restrict people to any particular day of the week, and I - like most fic authors - love to discuss things to do with fics and fandom.
I just want to add a shout out to those readers who have left me comments and kudos these last several days.  It has not gone un-noticed.  love you guys for those votes of confidence..
Talk to me, peeps! My inbox is lonely,
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thegirlonpeetamellark · 3 years ago
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Everthorne Farms - Part 2 by Court81981
So I appreciate the response this little pumpkin patch/Scare Farm drabble got at Halloween, and while I didn't plan anything beyond that, listening to Taylor Swift's Christmas Tree Farm invited this little Part 2 to unfold in my head. It's edited hastily but I hope you enjoy. Thank you for all the continued support. There are more updates coming in the New Year, and yes, I hope 2022 is the year that sees CMP complete.  And El, thanks for putting up with me! Love you. to pieces. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! XOXO Court
“Can you believe it’s snowing?” Prim dances past me and peers out the tiny window of the shed. “It’s never snowed on opening morning!”
“It’s just a few flurries, Little Duck. Nothing to get too excited about,” I reply as I check the hot chocolate and cider urns and make sure the extra package of cups is nearby. “This is all just about ready. You’ll be okay in here?”
Prim rolls her eyes at me. “None of the early arrivals ever even come inside. I think I’ll be fine.” I cross the shed and come to stand next to my sister, glancing out the window. I can see headlights near the start of the driveway, even thought we don’t officially open for another hour. I look across the lot to where Gale and some of our seasonal workers—mostly guys who go Panem High with Prim and me—are hauling the dollies and saws out of the garage.
The four weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving are quiet at Everthorne Farms; the whole winter is, for the most part. But for a few weekends in late November and early December, we operate our Christmas tree farm, and Saturdays and Sundays are busy from open to close. The very first day people can come to tag and/or cut is the busiest, and that would be this morning.
The shed handle turns and Prim and I both jump back, a blast of icy air hitting us as our uncle Haymitch steps inside. A couple of snowflakes cling to the ends of his graying dirty blond hair.
“You girls ready to work?” He gives us his trademark smile, which is really more of a half scowl half smirk, and doesn’t wait for an answer before he thrusts a stack of tree tags at me. “Might as well start. There’s a decent line out there already. We’ll give it another 20 minutes, but once it reaches the main road I’m gonna let people in. Okay?”
“Okay,” I agree. I bump Prim’s hip and we exchange a smile. I grab my wool beanie and jam it down over my ears before taking the tree tags from Haymitch.
As I step outside the little shed, I pause to revel in the moment. The faint dusting of snow definitely adds to the mood. Prim is right; I can’t remember a time when we had any kind of snowfall on our first day. It’s not something we’d usually root for. A lot of snow would make most of the tasks related to cutting down trees more challenging, not to mention what it does to the roads our visitors need to travel on. But this gentle tumble of flakes won’t hurt anyone, and it’s so, so pretty.
“What does that guy think he’s doing?”
I nearly jump at the sound of Gale’s voice and I shake myself out of my reverie to turn to him. I hadn’t even heard him come up beside me. Our years of hunting have made us both fairly stealthy.
“What guy?” I ask. Gale jerks his chin in the direction of the road, where I see a vehicle coming up the other side of the driveway, completely ignoring the line. We have signs at the bottom of the driveway, since we use the right side to manage traffic flow as customers leave with their trees. Obviously, that’s not a concern at this hour, but it’s pretty audacious of someone to think they can bypass the line.
But as the vehicle nears, I realize I recognize it and my pulse quickens. I chide myself for the reaction, but my heart also seems to think it needs to join in, and it decides to rouse butterflies in my stomach.
Since Homecoming Night, when Peeta Mellark surprised me at the scare farm and asked me to dance with him under the stars, we’ve been spending a lot more time together, though hardly any of it has been outside of school. Just as my busy schedule calmed a bit, his exploded, between the start of the wrestling season and his hours at Mellarks’ Bakery. (It turns out I’m not the only one who has to toil at a family business, and Peeta explained to me that other than wedding season, the holidays are just plain crazy at the bakery.) Our relationship, if that is what you can call it, consists mostly of him waiting for me at my locker in the mornings and eating lunch together. We’ve had one date, to the movies. I’d be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t anxiously waiting for a second date. Or a kiss. So far, Peeta has been a perfect gentleman around me. It was only last week that he started knitting our fingers together when he walks me to my first period class.
“I think that’s Peeta’s Jeep,” I say. Gale’s face contorts in less-than-concealed disdain.
“So. What the fuck does he think he’s doing?” Gale repeats. I ignore him and start towards the Jeep. It comes to a stop and I can now clearly see that it is indeed Peeta behind the wheel. He hops out of the vehicle but leaves it idling.
“What are you doing here?” I ask and hope he doesn’t think it sounds accusatory. To be safe, I smile at him. (If things between us had progressed more maybe I could have greeted him with a kiss. Or maybe not, with half my family watching.)
He grins at me, though it’s laced with shyness, and then immediately moves for the rear driver’s door of his Jeep. A moment later, he approaches me, his arms laden with an enormous tray of cookies.
“I know it’s your opening day, so I thought maybe you’d like these. You told me about the hot chocolate and cider you put out for customers, but you didn’t mention any food.” He nods towards his Jeep. “There’re three more of these and a few trays of muffins.”
“You made these? For us? Peeta!” I exclaim, marveling at the rows of snowmen and snowflake cookies. “These look too pretty to eat.”
“It wasn’t any trouble,” he says. “We already make hundreds of these for the bakery, so what was a couple dozen more.”
I shake my head, incredulous at his gesture. “Your parents were okay with you giving your inventory away?”
His grin morphs, turning a bit sheepish. “My dad said what my mom doesn’t know won’t kill our bottom line.” I grit my teeth and hope Peeta’s right. His mother is not someone I’d want to see angry. I’ve never gotten more than an icy glare from her when I’ve delivered fruit or pumpkins to Mellarks.
“You wanna show me where to put this one and then I’ll bring in all the others?” he asks.
“Oh! Yeah. I can grab one too.” I start towards his Jeep.
“It’s okay. I’ll get them. I know you’re busy. That’s quite a line already.”
“Opening Day is always like this. Everyone wants to be first into the fields, as if the absolute perfect tree won’t be there any later.” I wave an arm towards the acres and acres of trees. “Because as you can see, the selection sucks,” I joke.
“Yeah, it’s probably safe to say you won’t run out,” he replies.
“Well, we could,” I counter. “We only sell from a few designated areas each year, and yeah, we do have a set number that can go. It’s generous, but we have had years where we’ve sold out.”
I lead Peeta up to the little shed that serves as our headquarters for the tree farm, where most people pay for their trees (though many of our repeat customers just hand their cash right to Haymitch) and we offer the aforementioned hot cocoa and cider. There are also some ornaments and wreaths for sale. I glance over towards my uncle and instead find Gale’s arctic stare aimed at Peeta. I challenge him with my own frosty glower and he turns to mumble something to his brother Rory.
“Haymitch!” I call. “Peeta’s brought us cookies and muffins to put out with the cocoa and cider. There are more trays in his car if anyone wants to help.”
Haymitch nods and orders a few of our newer seasonal helpers—two guys who I think are sophomores but whose names I have yet to learn and Gale’s youngest brother Vick—to get the remaining trays from Peeta’s Jeep. I hold the shed door for Peeta and we trundle inside.
“Ohmygosh! What is this?” Prim jumps off the stool behind the register and comes over to peer at the tray.
“Hi, Primrose,” Peeta greets her. Prim’s face splits into a huge grin.
“You can call me Prim. Everyone does. Are those for us?” Prim gapes at the gorgeous cookies.
Peeta nods. “For your customers, actually, but you can definitely sneak one or two for yourself.” He winks at her, and I can see my little sister practically melting at his feet.
I motion to the table where the cocoa and cider are. “Let’s put them down over there.”
Once Peeta turns and walks across the shed, Prim arches her blonde brows at me and wiggles them suggestively. I shoot her a look of playful admonishment and move to help Peeta get the cookies set out. Vick and the other guys cart in the remaining trays and Prim and I help Peeta arrange the muffins alongside the cookies. We leave most of the trays covered, since Prim says she can manage replenishing the treats as they dwindle.
“This was so nice of you, Peeta!” she gushes. Her gaze flits from muffin to muffin until it lands on one. “Are these all different?”
Peeta glances over at me, and he rubs at the back of his neck. “Ah, yeah. Well, sort of. There’s some cranberry, spiced rum, and gingerbread. Those are our holiday flavors, so I figured they were best to bring.”
“You really went through a lot of extra work for us,” I say. Peeta’s cheeks, already pink from the cold, flush darker.
“It’s no trouble at all. Not for you, Katniss.”
And now my cheeks are probably fast on their way to matching his. I respond with a smile as I try to get the butterflies flapping around in my stomach under control.
Prim plucks a muffin from the tray and peels back the wrapper. Her eyes close as she raises the muffin to her mouth inhales deeply before biting into it.
“So good,” she moans after she swallows her first bite. She opens her eyes and thrusts the muffin at me. “Try it, Katniss. It’s soooooo good.”
I can’t very say no, not given how kind Peeta’s gesture is, so I accept the proffered muffin and take a small bite, aware of Peeta’s expectant gaze on me. His eyes drop to my mouth as I chew and fight to contain my own moan. Good is an understatement. It’s delicious. Moist, and sweet but not overly so. Just the right traces of nutmeg and cinnamon and cloves to complement the ginger flavor.
“Peeta, this is amazing,” I praise, and the smile he rewards me with is so effusive that those damn butterflies start swarming again.
“Katniss!” Gale barks from the doorway. “Haymitch said he gave you the tree tags.”
“Ah, yeah, I’ve got them,” I reply, patting my coat pocket.
“Then start using them. The line’s reached the main road and we need to start surveying who’s tagging and who’s cutting.” He slams the shed door behind him. I aim daggers at where Gale just stood, annoyed by his bossier-than-usual-and-overtly-icy tone.
“I should let you get to work,” Peeta says quietly.
“Yeah,” I say. As we head towards the door, Prim calls out, “Watch out for the mistletoe!”
Peeta’s gaze wanders up to the rafters, where a cluster of mistletoe is suspended just above the shed door. He looks back to me, a nervous and slightly embarrassed smile lifting his lips. “After you,” he says, as he opens the door, careful to stand back out of the path of the mistletoe. My mouth twitches and I can only nod at him. Not that I want my first kiss to be out of some stupid holiday legend/obligation, or with my sister as witness, but there is a thread of disappointment that unspools in my gut and strangles those damn butterflies into submission.
“Wow, the line is long,” Peeta remarks as we trudge across the lot. “I don’t know if I can wait in that.”
“What do you mean?”
He looks over to his Jeep. “I mean…I brought my car and not the delivery van because…I, uh, convinced my parents to get a live tree this year and I didn’t know how easily it would tie to the roof of the van. But I guess I didn’t consider the line would be that long, and I am supposed to be at the bakery til noon. Working,” he adds. “I’m technically on the clock now.”
“You want a tree?” I ask, incredulous.
“Yeah. Is that ok?”
“Of course it’s ok! And forget about that,” I add, gesturing to the line. “You get executive privilege. You only brought us cookies and muffins and…” I trail off, unsure if I should actually utter what is edging closer and closer to the tip of my tongue.
“And what?” he prompts. A few snowflakes settle on those mile-long eyelashes of his, and he blinks them away.
“And so you get to be first,” I finish, unable to bring myself to say “and because you’re my boyfriend.” I flash him a smile and order him to stay put while I sprint across the lot to hand the tree tags to Darius.
“You know what to do, right?” I ask. Before Darius can respond, Gale glowers at me.
“What’s stopping you from doing it?” he says, his stony glare fixed on Peeta.
“I’m taking Peeta out to get his tree. It’s the least we can do so he can get back to work.”
Gale mutters an obscenity under his breath, but I ignore him and confirm Darius is okay with going from car to car to ask if they’re tagging or cutting. He assures me it’s fine and with a wicked grin tells me to go back to my boyfriend. Hearing that word spoken aloud invites a smile to my lips and a whirl low in my belly.
So why couldn’t I say it to Peeta?
Pushing away the thought, I grab a saw from the big shed and a dolly and drag it towards Peeta.
“Ready?” I ask him. He looks at the large saw and then his eyes meet mine.
“You’re going to cut it down for me?”
I narrow my eyes at him and lift my chin. “Are you questioning my ability to do my job?”
He shakes his head vigorously, snowflakes flying off his Panem High Wrestling beanie. “No, no! You’re just…you’re…”
“I’m what?” I arch a brow at him.
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
“I can’t get the trees onto the cars without help, but I can hold my own when it comes to sawing and loading. This helps.” I kick at the dolly. Peeta holds his hands up in supplication.
“Again, forget I said anything. I’d never doubt you, Katniss,” he says, emphasizing the latter part of his words as he stares deep into my eyes. I relax a little, exhaling. Peeta doesn’t have a mean bone in his body; I definitely overreacted. Typical me.
“C’mon. Lead the way.” He grins at me, and all the rest of the tension leaves my body. He’s so, so hot. Unfairly attractive, really.
I return his smile. “Okay.���
We start walking towards the front east field, our boots crunching on the frozen ground, the dolly bumping along behind me. Peeta slows his gait and glances behind us, then he looks off to his left.
“What?” I ask.
He motions towards one of the back fields. “Are you allowed to take from there?”
“Yeah. That one.” I point to the one farthest west on the property. “We didn’t cut from that section last year. But the trees are pretty big.”
“Our living room has a vaulted ceiling. I think I want a big tree. After all, this is the first live tree I’ve ever had.” His blue eyes shine with genuine excitement, and I can’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.
“Then we’ll go back there.” I change course and we cross the main field. Peeta chatters as we walk, talking about how busy he expects the bakery to be this weekend and how he’s not sure he’ll get his paper for AP English done by midnight tomorrow night, and why our AP Bio teacher thinks it’s okay to give a major test on a Monday. I stay quiet, letting him dominate the conversation. Peeta’s a natural conversationalist; I am not, but I join in his lament about the biology test.
“Maybe we, ah, could study together,” I suggest.
“Really?! I mean, yes, yeah, definitely!” He grins at me, and despite the frigid temperature, I feel warm everywhere.
We reach the edge of the section where the largest trees are. Since this is his first live tree, I figure I should help him out a little, so I caution him to check for branches that are already brown or are sparse of needles, because those will not last as long as fully green trees once they’ve been chopped down and stuck into a tree holder. His eyes sweep over the rows and rows of trees and his grin turns almost giddy.
“These all look good to me. I don’t even know where to start.”
“Well, you can take as much time as you want to look,” I say, even though I know he said he needs to get back to the bakery, “and when you find something you like, just let me know.” He knits his brows and blows out a breath. The white puff hangs in the air for a moment before dissipating. Then he cranes his neck, looking back towards the lot, which isn’t fully visible from where we are. He glances back to me, smiles, and starts meandering between and around the trees. I keep a few paces behind him, content to let him study each tree he approaches. The snow continues to fall, though even more lightly than earlier; just a smattering of flakes here and there.
Peeta is pretty far into the field when I hear him say, “This is perfect.”
I glance at the tree he’s standing beside and gape at him. “Are you serious? That tree is like twelve feet tall and—” I lose my words when Peeta steps towards me and gently takes the handle of the dolly from me. He lowers it to the ground.
“Put down the saw,” he says gruffly. The tone of his voice has me immediately complying. My stomach does a swan dive as his gloved hands cup my jaw. “It’s perfect for me to do this,” he whispers. His cold nose brushes my cheek as he descends on my mouth and his lips nestle against mine. Almost immediately, he draws back and gazes at me expectantly. His right palm gently caresses my cheek. When I smile at him, my lips tingle.
“I’ve been waiting to do that for…” One corner of his mouth quirks up. “Well, you probably don’t want to know how long I’ve thought about kissing you.”
“Well.” I draw a shaky breath to get my emotions under control. “If you had kissed me that night at the scare farm you could have been doing it a lot more.”
He stares at me, his blue eyes probing. “I guess I’ve been overthinking it. I just wanted it to be perfect, since…yeah, I’ve been thinking about it for years.”
“So that’s what you meant by perfect?” I exclaim and motion to the enormous tree behind us. “You don’t want this tree? Do you even want a tree?”
He laughs. “Yes. I mean, yes I want a tree, but yeah, no, not that one. My mother would kill me. But this tree is the right size to make sure we had privacy. If I wanted an audience for our first kiss I would have kissed you under that mistletoe.
“And with the snow falling and everything,” he continues. “Well…I hope it was perfect for you.” He gives me a smile I feel right beneath my navel.
“As far as first kisses go, it was perfect, yes,” I reply.
“First kiss…with me…or…” he winces and trails off, then rubs at his jaw with his free hand. “Sorry. That’s none of my business.”
“I don’t care,” I say. “First kiss ever.”  His blue eyes widen in shock, but I swear I see a tinge of pride flicker in them too.
“Really?” he asks, incredulous. “I’m…I’m your first kiss? I just assumed…” And again, he trails off.
“Assumed what?” I prompt.
He grimaces slightly. “You. Gale Hawthorne.”
“What!” I exclaim. “No. What. No. Gale and I are friends. Nothing more. I’ve never once thought about kissing Gale.”
Peeta presses his lips together, and he looks like he wants to say something, but he falls silent for a moment. “I’m really glad I could be your first kiss, then,” he says quietly.
“Me too.” I smile.
He leans down and his breath fans across my lips, a shock of warmth against the cold. “Can I be your second kiss too?”
In response, I loop my arms around his neck. “Yeah. And my third and my fourth…” I say, before I crush my mouth to his.
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emptymasks · 3 years ago
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I’ve seen a lot about your thoughts on Elisabeth and Tanz der Vampire, and they’ve been really helpful getting into those musicals! But you have a huge list of other musicals that people can get into…
So I was wondering if you had any musicals you hadn’t mentioned in a while that you really like or would like to talk about??? (preferably something from your lists that has a blue heart please?)
Oh if only you knew how long the list of European musicals really is... I however have only seen 9 (if I counted right) and I have a lot more that I still need to watch. Oh also, I only put the blue hearts on any musicals that I was providing multiple links for so people could see which version I reccoment the most highly. If a musical only had one link and didn't have a blue heart it doesn't mean I didn't like it.
I've watched: Mozart das Musical, Elisabeth das Musical, Tanz der Vampire, 3 Musketiers, Mozart L'Opéra Rock, Dracula (the Graz production), Rebecca das Musical, Roméo et Juliette and Schikaneder.
If you enjoyed those two you're likely to enjoy Rebecca! It's written by the same composer/lyricist team as Elisabeth and Mozart (and same lyricist as Tanz der Vampire - though if you're listening to any German musical, original or translated, 90% of the time the lyrics will have been done by Michael Kunze that man is everywhere). The Stuttgart production has my favourite set design of any musical! Well... Actually probably. There are so many big set pieces it's insane, way more than I've seen in some Broadway and West End musicals. You can tell so much work went into it and the visual effects that I won't spoil if you don't know the plot but if you know the plot you know what I mean by the effects at the end are so good and I didn't expect them at all and I freaked out so much the first time I watched it. Jan Ammann as Maxim in the Stuttgart production is the best Maxim. No I won't take any argument. Other actors feel a bit one-dimensional to me, but the way Maxim acts at times comes from trauma and some actors and productions seem to forget that, but Jan really goes for it and his Maxim is a lot more sympathetic and I just want to give him a hug. Pia Douwes as Mrs Danvers, if you've seen her in Elisabeth what more do I need to say, she's amazing. A musical goddess. Her Danny is a bit more wild than some, but she kills it. My favourite video, which I put the blue heart next to, has understudy Christina Patten as Ich/I, but I adore her she's my favourite. She adds some spunk to Ich in act 2 and her voice is so pretty and aaaa. I just love these three actors together in these roles.
Roméo et Juliette is another favourite of mine! It's hard to choose which one to recommend, but it has to be the original 2000/2001 production because of the sweetness and chemistry and voices of Damien Sargue and Cecilia Cara as Romeo and Juliet. They're so pretty and work together so well. The only reason I say it's hard to pick is Mercutio. I adore him, but in the original production they cut out a song they had planned for him and he doesn't really do much at all? In the 2010 revival they gave him two more songs and you care about him so much more and John Eyzen plays such a good Mercutio. So I'd recommend the original but if you want to like Mercutio more, which you should he's amazing, I'd recommend watching at least clips of John's. It's an interesting musical because all productions are non-replica and also change around the order of songs, add or take away characters, all sorts. The Hungarian production is also very popular and I'm sure it's great, I just haven't' gotten around to watching it yet.
Mozart das Musical was the first non-English language musicals I watched so I have a fondness for it, but it's not my favourite. However, I do realise I have forgotten most of the songs and the few I've gone back and listened to are better than I remember.
Dracula isn't super popular and I understand why, I don't love the plot of the Dracula/Mina romance in it, however. I do love this musical because despite how I find the plot lacking, the songs are so good! At least, I love them. And the actors are all doing a great job. And it's one of the few Dracula adaptions to keep Quincy Morris so they get bonus points for that.
Mozart L'Opéra Rock and modern French musicals... This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they're often more like pop-rock operas now. So if you're not into musicals with that style of music it might not be for you, but I still enjoyed it even though I didn't think I would because of the style of music. Mozart and Salieri's chemistry is very good, Salieri's bisexual crisis song is iconic, actually all of Salieri's songs are iconic.
Schikaneder... eh. I didn't like it that much and I didn't really like any of the songs. There's no English subtitles, but someone sent me the entire English synopsis and I watched it with a German friend so I had double the help of understanding it. Doesn't mean others might not like it, just none of the songs stood out to me and I had no desire to listen to any of them again. It's by Steven Scharwz of Wicked fame and I love Wicked, but I didn't love this.
3 Musketiers!! God it's so underrated and not spoken about within the European musical fandom that I even forget about it and literally forgot to write about it earlier in this post. It's a Dutch musical (though did also have a German production) and it's really good!? Faces you might know are Pia Douwes as Milady de Winter, Stanley Burlseon as Cardinal Richeliu (Netherlands Der Tod in Elisabeth), Henk Poort as Athos (Netherlands Phantom and Jean Valjean). The dialgoue is funny, the songs are good, some of the set pieces have no right to exist in this tiny musical?? They made this giant boat and pelt the actors with rain just for one 5 minute song and then we never see the boat again? And while I recommend the Dutch one because Dutch musicals deserve more love and it has official English subtitles!! Official ones, not fanmade! I have the DVD and it comes with English subtitles (and Dutch and German subtitles) which is so nice. The German version is also good, good cast, Pia came back and Uwe Kroger as Richeliu and omg they rearranged the songs and the German arrangement of Nicht Aus Stein is insane and amazing and frankly iconic.
That's all of the ones I have watched. Next on my list to watch are Rudolf and Notre Dame de Paris, both of which I have listened to some songs from and already love (I've listened to way too much of Notre Dame de Paris and am so in love).
I want to start organising streams where I'll host the musical either by getting the video from Youtube or my own files and anyone who wants to join can come along and watch with us, chat with us if you want or just watch there's no pressure to chat. I thought about doing weekly streams? This would also make me finally watch some of the ones I've been meaning to for ages. But I keep wondering about time zones. I'm in the UK and would want to stream at about 11pm at the latest (11pm BST/GMT+1 as we’re in daylight savings at the moment, if the streams continue past the end of October which would be wild then I’ll make a note of the time change that would be to 11pm GMT), which I know can work for other UK and Europeans, but for any Americans would be in the afternoon. So, I wondered if doing it on a weekend would be better? Then it doesn't matter if it's in the afternoon? Maybe Saturday evenings then? It would either be Saturday evenings UK time or Friday evenings UK time. What do you guys think? If people are down then I'll make a separate post with a list of what we'll be watching each week and if anything happens to me that means I can't stream one week then everything will just get pushed back a week, but I don't see that as likely to happen. And I'll only be streaming those that have English subtitles, so don't worry about not being able to understand anything.
edit: am also open to 10pm bst if others want that, im just trying to think of what time works best for everyone so sorry if 11pm is a little late for europeans, i know 10pm could be a little early for americans. also in case it sounded like these are the only musicals i will be streaming, thats not so, ive got more than just the ones mentioned on this list!
(Tagging some people who I know are or might be interested in streams to see what you think of that plan: @sirona-art @ringwraith100 @tanz-der-trash @smilingwoland @the-weird-dane @witchgaye @ami-fidele @kisstheghouls @looking-4-happiness @ladysapphire928 @sloanedestler @tinywound @persephonaae @phoenixdewinter @uwucoffee @freshbloodandgothicism )
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world-of-fire-and-flight · 2 years ago
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Just a little update
Hey everyone!
It's no secret that I've been super busy lately and while this is the last thing I want to do, I think I'm going to take a wee break from my Saturday snippets. It kills me because I know I left both Mirth's Ebenezer and The Lair in the Woods on cliffhangers/at integral parts, but it's important to me to do these stories justice and not just write them to keep a schedule.
With that said: I'll still be around! I've been trying to carve out time to get back on my dash and catch up on all the of the AMAZING things I've been missing out on in our writing community here, but alas my free time has been few and far between😅
Now you may be wondering what I've been working on so here's what I've got going on (besides the general hustle and bustle of the impending holiday season😜):
I spent most of September/October drafting book 3 of my Heirs of Tenebris trilogy
Finished book 3 just in time to receive my development editing feedback
am currently working on my revisions for book 2 based on my editor's super helpful feedback while also self-revising book 3
Working with my tremendously talented graphic artist to create a line of Heirs of Tenebris inspired book merch to sell
Working with my web developer to add e-commerce to my website
Gearing up for my first ever author event (it's a local holiday market so I'm super excited about it and it's also a good gateway as I'm not the main event😂)
I've also been trying to get in touch with local bookstores about doing author events in their stores, but it's slow going because my main priority has been drafting/revising books 2 and 3😉
Even though I've got a lot on my plate writing wise right now, I'll never be too busy for everyone who's been DMing me or popping by my ask box, I just needed to put my snippets on the back burner for the time being until things calm down so I can focus on them.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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bbugyu · 4 years ago
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if you wanted to go to the moon, he would take you there.
plot twist | crash zoom | happy ending
16.1k (lol) | joshua x afab enby!reader, fluff, humor, suggestive, reader is ace lol, youtuber au, chef au, swearing, drinking, detailed descriptions of meals, mentions of past trauma including sexual assault, i swear it's not that deep, lots of implied sex but none on screen (yet), watching movies and playing video games, yes i am trying to set up all my friends, would anyone get it if i said r&r
welcome to part two of classic!! please enjoy this tooth rotting relationship garbo in which i basically announce to the world that i have a disgusting crush on joshua. posting this later than intended but i started working five tens so i'm 😅 a little tired lol. but joshua makes it ok <3
when you mentioned offhandedly that you had never had bibimbap in jeonju, joshua practically dropped the groceries he was helping you bring up the elevator.
"how long have you been in korea?" he asked.
you looked at him, wide eyed. "four years?"
he squinted at you, jutting his jaw out. "and you've never gone to jeonju? it's, like, the food hub of korea. how the hell?"
"i…" you laughed, exiting the elevator when the doors opened. "i don't know? it's never been top priority, i guess?"
"okay, well it is now," he stated plainly, following you to your door while you adjusted your bags in your hands to punch in the code. as soon as the groceries were safely on your counter, he pulled out his phone. "friday to sunday?"
you looked up from the vegetables in your hands. "what?"
he looked at you. "we're going. this weekend? i need to reserve the ktx tickets."
you laughed. "this weekend? joshua, it's wednesday."
"okay, next weekend?"
you stared at him a second, purely because you were in disbelief. "no, i have a demonstration next saturday."
he exhaled, looking at the calendar on his phone. "okay, and jamie's birthday party is the weekend after, so," he paused, looking at you through his lashes. "this weekend?"
you pushed your hands onto the counter and sighed heavily. "when would we leave?"
he grinned, knowing that meant he had won you over. "after i get off work? i can be here by 3:30."
"how long is the train?"
"uhh," he quickly searched for the tickets. "two hours. less than. we can buy snacks for the ride and have dinner when we get there."
you chewed your lip. "i have to edit on sunday, so we can't stay all day."
he nodded, inspecting the time table for tickets. "stay two nights, leave after breakfast?"
you considered that for a second. "i could bring my laptop and export footage on the train."
a smile crept across his face when you puffed out your cheeks in thought. "is that a yes?"
your cheeks deflated as you exhaled. "fine."
"yeah?" joshua grinned at you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and tugging you into his chest. "jeonju this weekend?"
you exhaled again, your arms reluctantly winding around his torso. "yeah. jeonju this weekend."
"you're gonna love it," he said, pressing his lips against your temple. "i helped on an article about hole in the wall finds there years ago, so i know all the good spots."
you giggled, pulling away to look at him with a quirked eyebrow. "you used to write for the magazine?"
he shook his head at you. "when i was interning."
"aw," you poked at his cheek. "intern joshie?"
he rolled his eyes, separating himself from you as you giggled, and he looked at you slyly from the corner of his eye. "joshie?"
you grinned, reaching out to pinch his cheeks. "joshie!"
he laughed and batted away your hands. "joshie?"
you: i think i'm finally packed
joshie: i don't understand why it was so difficult when we're going for Two Days.
you: 😡
joshie: 😘
as promised, he arrived at your apartment in a cab and stubbornly took your roller suitcase despite your insistence that you could handle it. joshua was always doing things like this - for you, you imagined, he would probably even lay down his jacket in a puddle so you wouldn't have to walk through it. but at the same time, he wouldn't fault you for kicking his jacket aside and purposefully jumping in it instead. he would probably join you, even.
he had joked with you that this would be like a work trip for you, but only because he was the one that suggested you film - plus, he reminded you, filming a full video this weekend meant that you didn't have to film next week. and to be perfectly frank, you wanted the break. if you could have a weekend getaway with joshua and then a week long break to have a normal routine without a camera, it was a win-win.
equipped with coffee and cafe sandwiches, you casually kicked your feet and happily sipped at your americano as you edited a picture of it for your instagram story. joshua sat beside you, also doing something on his phone, and you watched him with no intention as he pulled his airpods out of his coat jacket and offered one to you. you looked at him, smiling when he gestured with the open case again.
"i made a playlist," he said quietly as you put the airpod into your ear. he took the one you left and did the same, tapping on his phone.
the thought of joshua hearing a song and thinking of you making your chest flutter to life, the heat rising through you until you were left in a comfortable glow, smiling softly at him as a melody started in your ear. he looked back at you, double taking slightly when he realized you were looking at him.
"what's that look for?" he asked, a sideways grin breaking his face in half.
you shook your head, unable to change your face. "that's, just... really nice."
"making a playlist?" he hummed, settling back in his seat as you stuck your straw between your lips. "i didn't consciously do it. i just started a list of songs to show you because i thought you would like them, and this ended up being a good time to share it."
you sighed dramatically, falling back against the window of the train. "that's even nicer, you dickhead!" he laughed, shushing you and looking around, worried someone might have understood your slightly-above-inside-voice exclamation. "i know for a fact i didn't do anything to deserve the sweetest, handsomest, loveliest boyfriend on the planet, so what's the catch, mr. hong?"
his eyes went to the ceiling as he thought, kneading his lips once before saying, "i think you forgot funniest, too."
"ah," you said, a dry chuckle following the realization. "that's the catch."
"hey!" he laughed, eyes big as he pretended to be offended. "i know i'm funny!"
you giggled with him, mentally noting that you liked the song that he was playing. that he must have somehow picked up on why you liked the music you did. you thought about how you had the same thought, sometimes, when you were listening to music alone in your room and a song popped up on your discovery that sounded like something he would listen to. how you would immediately text them to him, knowing you would forget if you didn't send it right away, and he would react with some assortment of positive emojis. how he must have been doing the same thing, but wanted to be there when you heard them, and didn't have the same flighty memory as you. you brought your straw to your lips again, staring after him as he adjusted something in his bag, taking too long to refocus your attention to story you had been trying to post.
he later nudged you, getting your attention as you responded to an email on your phone, gesturing his finger with the melody, and you gave him a childlike look of awe, as if to tell him that yes, you agreed, this was exactly the kind of run you really enjoyed. he pounded a fist against his knee at the beats, pointing up at the key change, and you exploded into a stifled laugh, your palm covering your mouth. he laughed with you before he showed you the now playing page on his phone, holding it open dutifully as you quickly searched for it to add to your own library.
as promised, joshua provided great insight for the food tour the two of you set out on. travel day, he had told you, meant that you would have something easy - bibimbap and makgeolli at two of the best places he knew, apparently. by the time you made it back to the hotel room you had checked into before headed to the bar, you just about collapsed onto the queen bed.
"i'm so full," you exhaled, eyes dancing across the ceiling. "i'm never gonna move again."
joshua just laughed at you, toeing both of your shoes aside at the door before shuffling into slippers. "we have a full day of eating tomorrow, so you better move."
you let our a breathy laugh, rolling your head to watch as he flopped onto the bed beside you. "i'm glad you also plan trips around the meals."
he gave you a puzzled look. "is there another way to plan a trip?"
you rolled onto your side, tucking your arm under your head to look at him. "some people like sightseeing. or activities."
his brows were still ruffled in confusion as he looked away from you. "i like looking at food. and the activity of eating food."
you giggled, and his face finally broke to reveal the bewilderment had been a bit all along, his smiling laugh meeting yours.
you walked a lot the next day, and you were grateful for the light exercise to help your digestion a bit between meals. the local famous kalguksu for breakfast, a visit to a cafe for coffee before walking down a historical street together. you filmed with a smile on your face, shaking your americano for camera with a colorful background, just for you to pull down the drink and let the beautiful buildings and trees take the focus.
joshua could watch you forever, he was pretty sure. watching you conceptualise what you wanted this out of the ordinary video to look like, seeing the way you managed to be present with him, joking and giggling on your scenic walk, but squeezed his hand in warning before letting go, telling him quietly you wanted to get a shot. he had seen the way you filmed food, and how you filmed your kitchen, which was incredible in its own right, but this was the first time he got to see your process on the fly. when you went to work, as it were, taking in your scenery and deciding the way you wanted to portray it - more thought went into this than filming at the same barbeque restaurant for the fifth time, but joshua saw the similarities in the way your eyes twinkled when you saw something through your camera lens for the first time, even if only the first time that day. the way you would review the footage quickly, smiling at the way it turned out, but announcing that you were taking a second shot for safety.
then, he took you to another restaurant.
you barely noticed the passage of time, but when he conveniently "happened" upon the next stop on your food tour, you were pretty sure your stomach growled at the thought of eating an insane amount of dumplings, and you smiled at him in a way that made him want to cause it constantly.
if having your pick at dumplings was enough to make you giddy like a child, the night market was life altering. the food stalls were set up like they always were friday and saturday nights, joshua told you, and that meant you got to experience korean street food in a way you hadn't yet. you found the best pad thai you had ever eaten, succumbed to the tempting smell of grilled squid when passing a busy stall, and you even got served alcohol practically in passing, the specialty liquor being offered in a way that was hard for either of you to say no to. after a few too many, you had to stop joshua before he dragged you to a choco pie stall.
"we should eat more first," you said, gesturing to a woman making hashbrowns on a griddle. "while we have free hands. loop back around for dessert and buy some for the road."
joshua tapped his nose, then wagged his finger at you. "smart and hot."
you laughed, pulling him towards the hashbrown stall.
that night, you laid in bed beside each other, talking like you hadn't just spent literally the entire day together. recalling highlights of the day, sharing related anecdotes with assorted friends and family. you didn't even want to sleep - your body did, sure, clearly, by the way it kept interrupting your conversation with yawns. joshua would laugh, then yawn in response, and tell you that you should sleep. you would shake your head, a pout on your lips, and he would just smile and keep talking about whatever the yawn had interrupted.
being in bed with joshua wasn't demanding, nor was it uncomfortable, and you were pretty sure that meant something good.
you were making curry. he had mentioned that it looked good while you were watching some show the week prior and you couldn't get it out of your head. so, even though it was midsummer and far too warm for something as hearty as japanese curry, you decided you needed to make it anyway, if only for your own peace of mind. you invited joshua over to cook dinner for him, and he asked where your camera was when he arrived with your requested potatoes (you had some, except they were older than you thought and started sprouting), but you told him you weren't filming tonight.
"this ones for us," you said matter of factly, giggling when he looked shocked. "i don't film every meal, y'know. sometimes i cook things just for me."
he watched you dump the potatoes into the sink to wash. "what if it ends up being really pretty?"
"josh," you said, looking at him. "i don't make things that aren't pretty."
he asked if you needed help with anything, but you just shook your head and told him to relax. that you had made this a million times, and that you could do it with your eyes closed. he asked again if you were sure, and you laughed, scrubbing potatoes and using your shoulder to get your hair out of your face.
"actually," you said, raising the wrist on which you kept a hair tie. "do you know how? my hands are wet."
joshua smiled and nodded, coming over and pulling the tie off your wrist, careful to not get it too wet on your hand. "how high?"
"ariana," you said, making him laugh as you giggled. "as high as you can manage, but i don't really care."
he just smiled, taking your hair in his hands as you washed the potatoes one by one, and you tried to ignore the way you heart skipped a beat when you felt his touch drift across the back of your neck. he gently gathered it all in one palm at the crown of your skull, brushing through it with his fingers. "here?"
"perfect," you said, chewing your cheek and smiling. he pulled the band over your hair, tying it off tightly and pulled at the hair gently to keep it in place.
his hands glided over your waist, leading his arms to wrap around you as his chin landed on your shoulder. "not too tight?"
you shook your head, smiling. "you're multi talented."
"i have a sister," he reminded you, then put a kiss on your cheek.
you managed to convince him to sit at the counter, and he smiled and laughed with you as you conversed about anything that came to mind. he talked about his latest work antics, and you told him about a café you found the day before that you really enjoyed. he watched you skillfully chop vegetables and prepare chicken, flitting around your kitchen with a familiarity that could only be fostered by time. he glanced at the time on his phone, then looked at the door behind him that led to a bedroom.
"is karol here?" he asked. she normally would have emerged to say hi by now.
you looked at him before going back to pan frying the chicken. "no, she's in busan this weekend with some friends. she'll be back sunday night."
an alarm went off in joshua's head, and he tried not to think too deeply about the fact that you had invited him over while your roommate was away. sex hadn't even been a discussion on the table yet, but not because joshua didn't want it - because, frankly, he wanted it - he was just more concerned about you and your wants. for most things, he felt as though he had learned your thoughts and opinions naturally over the last few months, but outside of a few passing jokes, you hadn't ever mentioned how you felt about sex in general, much less sex with him.
so he stared at you, suddenly unable to ignore the fact that you were wearing shorts because of the weather, but they were hidden under the hem of the neutral toned apron he saw in your videos every week. or the way you smiled at him as you talked, your eyes glinting with mischief when you made a joke at his expense, but only made him laugh and want you more. he stood and came around the island, standing with his hip against the counter as the two of you continued conversing and you added the roux cubes to the pot.
his eyes never left you or your actions, and you noticed the way he inched towards you as your cooking became less involved and began to wrap up. you didn't argue when he put his arms around you again, watching you stir the curry with his cheek against your ear. he wasn't in your way, not even when you reached over to pull a spoon out of a drawer to give it a taste and make sure the seasonings were right, so you instead just enjoyed his presence.
you hummed, licking your lips briefly as you appraised the flavor. "not bad," you said, using the ladle you had been cooking with to pour more into the spoon you had just used to taste. you blew on it, then displayed it for joshua, who looked at you in his peripherals before accepting the bite.
"oh, wow," he said, making you giggle as you put the spoon aside. "that's better than a restaurant."
"thanks," you said, tapping the ladle on the side of pot to get the excess back in the pot, a spot of sauce landing on the back of your hand. you put it on the spoon rest next to your stovetop and replaced the lid on the pot of curry, quickly turning the burner to low. "now we just wait for the rice to pop," you said, spinning in his grip and licking the spot off the back of your hand.
joshua stared at you, desperately wishing in that moment that he wasn't such a damn man, because it was clear in your eyes that it was a completely innocent action. you got some of the delicious sauce on your hand, so why would you wipe it off when a towel wouldn't appreciate it like your tongue would? you wouldn't, obviously. he wouldn't have, either, if it had been his hand. but here he was, gaze fixed on your mouth as you pulled your hand away from it, and one of your eyebrows raised when you noticed.
"can i help you?" you asked, glancing down at his lips when he involuntarily leaned into you.
"i-" he swallowed. "sorry, i'm just-"
in that moment, you registered what his gaze meant. and while you were fairly oblivious to most things, you were far from innocent, so you put your arms over his shoulders and knit your fingers in his hair. "you're just?" you prompted.
there was a chuckle on his lips as he backed you against the counter, and he shook his head lightly. "i just think it's insane how into you i am."
joshua had this way of kissing you that made you think his life depended on it. he kissed you like you were in the final scene of an apocalyptic movie and he had come to terms with the fact that this was the end. like he knew that if your lips left his, he would magically disappear before he could tell you how much you meant to him. like he could stop time as long as he had you pressed against him with his hand on your jaw, but the sun was setting and he wasn’t ready to say good night.
when he finally pulled away from you, you were trying to catch your breath as his hands ran down your waist, and you stared into his eyes. his lips were parted, and his fingers gripped at your hips in a way that you knew meant he wished there were less layers between your skin.
your mind raced, thinking quickly back to how long the two of you had been seeing each other. how long you had known that you were interested in keeping joshua around for the long term. you wracked your brain, thinking about when people normally took the next step at your age, finding a discrepancy in the timing. you had made him wait for so long, but this was the first time you had noticed him trying to bed you - though, this was hardly subtle, so perhaps you had missed signs earlier? hell, the two of you had even shared a bed at this point, but you were pretty sure he hadn't tried anything then, either. you considered the fact that this relationship had gone for over two months without so much as a hint to take the next logical step, and you decided that joshua was definitely the only guy you had met in years that you would be willing to allow under your covers.
"the curry can sit for," you started, blinking rapidly as your mouth caught up to your mind. you swallowed once. "well, until tomorrow, technically, but-"
joshua's lip quirked upward. "did you invite me over to have me stay the night?"
"not-" you exhaled. his tone was slightly accusatory, but only playfully, and you found yourself more flustered by the question than you would have liked. "not consciously, but…" your eyes studied his face. "do you want to?"
"are you kidding?" he asked, making you breathe out a laugh, his forehead landing on yours. "did you not hear me when i said i was insanely into you?"
the rice cooker beeped, drawing both of your attention as it sang out a small tune to alert you it was finished. you looked at joshua. "are you hungry?"
he looked back at you, a smile sneaking on his lips. "i mean, working up an appetite wouldn't hurt, right?"
he let you lead him to your bedroom, which he had only been in once, briefly, when he had helped you put some lights away. the two of you admittedly spent most of your time in kitchens or restaurants, the remainder of your alone time being split between joshua's car and a couch to watch a movie, but joshua thought your taste suited his as he glanced around again, and that he would happily lose time in bedrooms with you. you kissed him again, and he was quick to pull you against his body, leaning into you, making you giggle as you bent backwards at the hips. "josh."
"what?" he asked, giving you a half lidded smile as his hand found your jaw, pulling you back into him. "stop leaning back and i'll stop chasing you."
"i'm-" you giggled into the kiss he interrupted you with. "i'm not leaning back, you're pushing me."
joshua made you feel like you were out of your depth, but in a way that was more exciting than scary. it had been ages since someone had been able to surprise you, or had helped you surprise yourself, but today he was doing both. the last time you had let a man into your heart, it had been less than perfect, especially towards the end, but joshua felt like home. cozy. he made you feel safe. like he wouldn't let you fall backwards unless your mattress was waiting for you.
and when you fell, he crawled over you, connecting your lips again with a hand against your jaw, the other holding himself above you, and you tried to restrain a whine.
"josh," you said suddenly, pushing on his chest lightly, processing fully what was about to happen and a shot of anxiety running through your chest. "c-can i tell you something first?"
joshua paused his motions, studying your eyes, his expression skewing scared. "oh, shit, are you a virgin?"
"what?" your eyebrows creased, a laugh on your lips. "no, what the fuck, josh? i'm in my mid-twenties."
he blinked at you. "there would be nothing wrong with you if you were a virgin in your mid-twenties."
"i'm not a virgin, joshua."
"right," he shook his head slightly. "sorry, i don't know. what were you saying?"
you chewed at your cheek nervously. "i just. i haven't… been with a guy in a really long time."
his eyes examined your face, looking for a hint at what you meant, because if it was only what you were saying, he didn't understand why you were so worried. "okay?"
"like, really long," you reiterated.
"baby, i promise," he said, forehead against yours. "i promise you, i don't care."
you exhaled sharply, wishing you could just enjoy things normal people did. that you knew what people wanted out of these encounters innately, instead of having to overthink them. "like, i don't want to… i don't know. disappoint you."
"disappoint me?" his head bobbed backwards in shock. "how the hell could i ever be disappointed when you're you?"
your eyes shut, grateful that he could still make you smile when you felt so out of your league. "i just mean that i-" you paused, trying to figure out how much you were willing to say, and how much you could without ruining whatever mood had been fostered here. "i just don't really do this. like, i feel like i don't know how."
"baby," he said, pressing his lips to yours briefly. "honey, sweetie, darling," he continued, punctuating each name with quick pecks. "you could starfish and i would have the time of my life."
you laughed, a hand landing on his shoulder sharply as he smiled at you. "okay, i'm not that bad, jesus."
"i'm telling you," he assured. "i don't care. i don't care if it's been months or years or forever, i don't care." he paused, appraising your expression. "we don't have to do anything. i'd be happy to just kiss you for an hour and a half if you're not ready."
"no," you whined, crinkling your nose. "it's not that, i just…" you took a breath. "i might just need you to take it a little slow."
"well, baby, you're in luck," he said, giving you a teasing smirk as his lips closed in on yours again. "slow and steady is exactly how i want you."
karol had said you hated men. she hadn't been wrong. you hated a lot of men, and how they made you feel like a prisoner in your own body. you hated the men you had encountered in your past, who made you feel small and weak. ugly and only wanted for one purpose, disrespecting your boundaries, your presentation, and your being. you hated those men, and nothing would ever redeem them for you.
joshua was different, though. he wasn't like them, because even though you didn't say explicitly why you needed a little extra care, he was more than prepared to give it to you. without even needing specific direction, he paid special attention to your reactions. to your body. he waited until you were ready, and asking him for more. and even when he sheepishly admitted that he'd started carrying a condom in his wallet the month prior, you could only giggle and silently be overwhelmingly thankful that he was truly nothing like any man you had ever been with before.
you swore you had made the same recipe you always did, but your curry tasted sweeter than you remembered. maybe it was just that you were eating it in your underwear with a man that made you feel comfortable in your skin for the first time in forever, a home improvement show remaining unwatched on your tv as the two of you joked together.
joshua woke the next morning in your empty bed, and was only confused for a second as he looked around your white walls. he stretched once, then sat up, eyes meandering over your orange patterned rug (one he remembered describing as "groovy" when he had first seen it, which had made you laugh in that way he adored), then noticed your laptop had been turned on. it was saturday, he realized, and you were likely going to edit today so you wouldn't have to tomorrow. he decidedly did not peek, though he wanted to, and peeked out your bedroom door instead.
you were easy to find, standing in your kitchen with an oversized shirt on and your hair pulled out of your face as you formed rice balls. you looked up from your work, smiling when you saw him, placing the triangle of rice you had just made on the cutting board. "good morning!"
it was, he thought. it was a really good morning.
you teased him for hugging you in your kitchen while he was only wearing underwear, saying that he seemed to have made himself comfortable quickly. he just playfully ran his hands under your shirt, saying, well, what about you, then? making breakfast with no pants on?
"i live here," you said, giggling and using your hip to bump him away. "i pay rent. what do you do?"
his eyes darted away from yours as he thought. "sit still, look pretty?"
that made you laugh. "you are very pretty."
he grinned, taking the opportunity to pull you into his chest again. "you, too."
he looked at what you had made, noticing the pot on the stove for the first time.
"soybean paste soup," you said, reacting to his gaze, then pointed at the neat triangles of brown tinted rice in front of you. "mushroom riceballs, and i'm making tamagoyaki next."
joshua blinked at you after processing everything. "do you do this every morning?"
"not every morning," you giggled. "but i wanted to today."
weeks later, you were biting your pinky nail to oblivion as you scrolled through comments on the video you had posted earlier that morning. you were sitting on the couch in joshua's living room, your laptop perched on the arm and your boyfriend fixing something to eat before the two of you sat to watch a movie. you had made a risky move in your video - one you thought would have been fine, but clearly people read more into it than you expected. joshua came over for dinner earlier in the week, when you had made pasta with all the delicious fresh seafood the two of you had found at a market the day before, accompanied by a simple salad and white wine. karol was working late, so you had set some aside for her, but that meant it was just you and joshua in frame when you filmed your usual table setting shot.
people were speculating.
you knew it was inevitable, and a few comments had pointed out the man that had eaten sushi with you in the vlog that included your first date, but at this point, the comments were flooded with questions and hypotheses on who the mystery man could be. most assumed boyfriend - which, while true, made you feel slightly annoyed - and a few wondered if he was your brother, or close friend, but they all noticed that his hands and voice had become regular guest stars on your channel. that, while you still got meals with krys and karol, this nameless, faceless man sat opposite you more often than anyone else.
the jeonju vlog is what sparked the most comments. people suspected some amount of intimacy when they realized this guy was travelling with you, too, and you probably would have thought the same if it had been someone you watched regularly. you had been careful with the editing, only including clips with food and the scenery shots that didn't star him (while you had filmed a lot that did, those were just for your own personal record), but you supposed it was in peoples' nature to try and find a romantic plotline in your slice of life.
"josh?" you said suddenly, pulling your pinky from between your teeth. you heard his vague noise of acknowledgment and spun around on the couch to watch as he cocked his head at you from the kitchen. "should we go public?"
"uh," he paused, looking at the scallion pancake he was cooking, quickly grabbing the panhandle to flip it. "give me, like, two minutes and we can discuss? i'm almost done in here."
you puffed your cheeks out and nodded, turning back towards your computer. "okay, baby."
when joshua came into the living room, the spread he had quickly put together across a tray you had bought for him (because you wanted it, mostly, but karol would kill you if you brought more home), he put it on the coffee table and sat next to you, quickly addressing the subject again.
"people keep," you paused. his eyebrows raised, prompting you, but he only chewed on his bottom lip to let you take your time as you hugged your knees to your chest. "people keep assuming you're my boyfriend anyways, so i'm just thinking-" you exhaled sharply. "should we just say fuck it? just confirm that we're a couple?"
joshua studied you. "you've always been pretty private."
you chewed your cheek, putting your lips against your knees. "that's on purpose."
"you don't have to say anything you don't want to," he reminded you, rubbing a hand against your back. you put your chin on your knees and gave him your biggest doe eyes, making him smile. "they can speculate all they want, but you don't owe them an explanation."
you nodded lightly as you hugged your legs and looked around, briefly studying the tray joshua had brought over. he had quickly stirfried some vegetables, grilled the frozen pork belly slices he always kept on hand, and even cooked your favorite premade scallion pancakes, the spread complete with several side dishes you had made together earlier in the week and two bowls of rice. your brows knit together, fingers itching to film how neatly he had put together a light meal for the two of you because you had said you wanted to show him your favorite movie without interruption, and he knew you would be hungry soon.
"would you-" you cleared your throat, looking up from the food and finding his eyes. "what do you think i should do?"
he let out a breathy laugh. "does it matter? you'll do what you want anyways."
you whined, pushing his shoulder as your feet dropped from the couch. "i'm serious, your opinion matters here. would you be okay with being public?"
"you're joking, right?" he laughed, adjusting his posture, and grabbing your hand to folding it between his. "baby, you know i care about you, right?"
your lips pursed as you nodded, looking between his eyes shyly.
"and you know i would never try to say that i, like, own you, right? like, i don't claim ownership over you as a person."
you let out a short laugh. "right."
he held your hand tighter. "i want to tell every viewer of every single one of your videos that you are mine."
your cheek puffed out as you smiled. "really?"
"especially the reply guys, oh my gosh," he rolled his eyes, making you laugh. "there's a place i think you'd like! i could take you, smiley face. yeah, get lost, creep. move along."
your palm landed on your cheek as you laughed. "shut up, are you serious?"
"you don't see those?" his eyes wide when you shook your head. "baby, there's so many people trying to take you out in the comments. so many."
you giggled, pressing your lips together. "well, there's only one guy that gets to."
"that's right," joshua said, a proud look on his face. "the ultimate reply guy fanboy."
you pushed his chest, laughing again. "shut up."
you decided an faq would do, but in the style of your regular videos. you definitely didn't want to just sit down in front of your camera and talk through questions and answers - that wasn't your style, and would feel wrong uploading. so instead, you spent a few hours compiling questions you had been asked often and organized them in a way that made sense, planning on showing your daily life. questions like what camera you used, what your go-to quick breakfast is, where you bought the clothes you liked - it was easy to plan them out to create a vague storyline of your standard day. you woke up on a wednesday (a day you went to the studio, because many of your questions were about what goes on there), excited to film but slightly nervous. as you set up your camera for breakfast, your phone buzzed on the counter.
joshie: good morning, baby! you got this! can't wait to see you tonight 🥰
you: 🥺🥺🥺 thank you!
the day went well, filming your planned clips on the subway and at the studio, and when your coworker asked what all the questions you were filming for were, you sighed.
"normal stuff," you said quickly, taking off your apron after several hours of cooking and shooting. "favorite recipes, what equipment i use… y'know."
yunhyeong nodded at you, his eyes squinting slightly. "is that all?"
he knew you. he knew how you reacted when you were nervous. how you could practically hide it from anyone, but that certain subjects would always make your eyes look slightly panicked and your speech speed up. the worst part is that you knew he knew, and your facade was almost immediately broken.
"and if i have a boyfriend."
he stared at you for a second before he laughed in disbelief. it took him over a week of bugging you about the guy in your videos before you admitted you were seeing someone, and even then, you only did because joshua had started picking you up from the studio and - against your wishes - introduced himself to your coworkers. yunhyeong thought about how protective you were of your privacy, and how you had never revealed something as personal as a relationship online before - partly because none of the people you had gone on two or three dates with had been serious enough to reveal, but he mostly thought about how you barely even showed your own face. that you stayed mostly silent when you filmed, and if you had to speak, it was a voice that was only adjacent to your usual cadence, as if you were trying to create another barrier between you and your online persona. how you had mourned your grandfather's passing and uploaded your vlog like normal two days later, but called out of work for the week following.
"and you're telling the truth?"
you exhaled, wiping down the stove top now that it had cooled. "yeah, shua and i discussed it. people are speculating, anyways, and it's not like he's going anywhere any time soon."
yunhyeong nodded again, organizing the spices as he put them away. "i'm happy for you."
you looked at him. "what do you mean?"
"it's a big step," he said, purposefully keeping his eyes from you so you didn't get self conscious. "you haven't been this serious about someone the entire time i've known you. i think it's really great that you found someone you care about."
you watched him spin bottles to be label out as you considered his words. "thanks."
he peeked at you, smiling. "of course."
yunhyeong's words rattled in your mind as you walked to the restaurant joshua had agreed to meet you at, filming your feet as you went with the intention of answering a few random questions with on-screen text in the edit. someone you care about.
you thought about how joshua had said the same thing about you when you had asked if going public was something he would be comfortable with. the way it has made your heart flutter. you wondered, briefly, if perhaps this was something more than just caring.
when you were editing the video that saturday, you procrastinated on the last question as long as you could, and when it was the only thing left to do, you escaped to the kitchen to make lunch in favor of finishing the part that was haunting you. your bagel sandwich was delicious, but you could barely enjoy it, mind clouded by the task that made your anxiety peak for seemingly no good reason.
it took you too long to finish it.
when you showed it to joshua, wanting his blessing before you uploaded, he couldn't hide his giddy reaction.
"it's okay?" you confirmed, studying his face.
he nodded at you, lips pushed together into a lopsided smile. "it's really cute."
"cute?" you asked, clicking through the video. "that's good, right?"
"yes," he laughed, squeezing your shoulder to put a kiss on your head. "it's great. post it."
so you did. and while you had gotten a tiny bump when krys excitedly dragged the two of you onto her stream that afternoon, you had no way of predicting the way the rest of the internet picked it up a few weeks later.
"r/relationshipgoals," jeonghan read off his phone, leaning against your kitchen island along with several of your friends that had come over when they saw the two of you on their newsfeeds unprompted. "'cross post from r/cutecouples, the most heartwarming boyfriend reveal you'll see this year.'"
"twitter, too," karol announced looking up from her own phone, seated in a barstool beside him. "you're a twitter moment. people found the clip from krys' stream, even."
you were on the counter opposite them, kicking your feet nervously to the beat in your head as you chewed your lip. you sighed and covered your face. "how long is this gonna last?"
"a while, hopefully," krys said, turning your laptop screen towards you. "your subcounts are insane right now."
you whined into your hands, making joshua appear at your side to put a hand on your spine. you took a breath at the touch, relaxing your tensed thighs on the counter. "it's okay to be nervous," he muttered at you. "but it's also kinda exciting, right?"
you exhaled deeply, letting your hands fall and your eyes trail to his before a smile broke on your face. "kinda."
so after you calmed yourself down, you managed to go through some of the posts about you, and you surprised yourself by letting them put a smile on your face. even the idea of having a public relationship had scared you shitless less than a month prior, but this… this wasn't so bad. seeing twitter repost the same video of you filming your feet as you walked into a restaurant, panning the camera up to reveal joshua sitting at a table and waving excitedly at you. the cuts you made to show clips that had landed on the cutting room floor of past videos - the footage you had taken of him pointing out the new wok you had started using a few weeks prior in a kitchen specialty store, and the goofy face he revealed after holding it in front of himself as he brought it back to you. the video of joshua grasping your hand, panning up to his playfully serious face as he dragged you down a boardwalk in jeonju, gesturing to the sunset. the unedited audio from your first date, when you had said something about it looking really good, and he had said something along the lines of how it would have been a waste if you hadn't recorded, and the two of you giggled together in a way that nervous new couples did. short bits of you swinging your camera around to reveal a laughing joshua as you tried to film quiet shots. a clip of him wearing a triangular menu on his head like a hat, acting as though it was completely normal.
you had a hard time believing anything you ever did would be viral-worthy, but even you had to admit, this was a pretty understandable thing for you to go viral for.
besides, it felt like it made sense for this to be the one thing about your personal life that ended up getting attention. it felt like he was an innate part of you at this point, and that you wouldn't be honest if you hid him.
it was august when he broke your heart.
"how could you?" you asked him, staring in disbelief. "you haven't seen lord of the rings?"
"okay, i lied," joshua said, still washing the dishes. "i saw them when i was a kid, but i don't remember them really."
"well, we're fixing that."
he looked at where you were sitting on his kitchen island - a well known habit of yours at this point. "today?"
"not today," you said, poking your toe at his hip. "this weekend, maybe? if we start now, we'll be watching til you go to work tomorrow morning."
he shut off the faucet and gingerly placed the pan he had just washed on the drying rack. "how many movies is it? i thought it was just three."
"it is," you said, laughing at his shocked look. "the extended editions are around four hours each."
joshua exhaled, leaning against the counter as he used a cloth to dry his hands. "you're lucky i like wasting hours with you."
you grinned, hopping down from your seat. "you're lucky i let you."
and that weekend, the two of you did just that - waste time, ordering delivery food for two meals as you camped out on the couch in various positions as the two of you got comfortable repeatedly. you couldn't help but recite specific lines, mouthing along with every word gandalf said like you had thought of the words yourself. you pointed out behind the scenes facts along the way, even, excitedly saying viggo broke two toes when he kicked that helmet, or how faramir's flames were a mirror trick. joshua watched you, because while he knew it was your favorite movie and he really should pay attention, he couldn't help but get distracted by his own favorite movie, and it starred you getting excited about something you loved.
you slept later than joshua that sunday, and when you emerged from the bedroom, you spotted krys sitting at the island with a plate of waffles in front of her, then found joshua leaned against the counter with a cup of coffee. he smiled when he saw you.
"i made breakfast," he said, gesturing to the counter.
you looked around at the spread as you walked over to him. waffles, fruit, bacon, and the promise of a fried egg upon request - a spread worthy of your own brunching standards. "what about second breakfast?" you asked quietly, in accented english.
joshua laughed, his arm wrapping around your midsection as you came over to kiss him good morning. "elevensies?" he shot back, in the same vague accent.
you broke your serious face to giggle. "luncheon?"
"alright," krys said, voice raised in annoyance when the two of you looked over at her. "i get it, y'all are in love or whatever, but can you have some respect for those of us who are lonely?"
you rolled your eyes, laughing at the fact that she had absolutely brought this upon herself by forcing the two of you together every chance she got, but joshua went cold when he heard her say the thing he had been thinking for a while, but was too scared to say out loud. the thing he felt when you grabbed his arm and told him that if he wouldn't let you carry the ring, then you could at least carry him with all the same dramatics as one samwise gamgee did. when you cried as frodo and bilbo sailed into the sunset for good, even though you had seen it a million times over. the sneaking thought that he was in love with you, but didn't know how to say so. he swallowed down the thought, shaking his head when you raised a questioning brow at him as you dished up a plate of waffles and fruit.
it didn't take you long to trust joshua enough to give him your door code so he could let himself in, but it took him a while to actually use it. he said something about not wanting to intrude, but you told him it was more intrusive to make you come to the door when you could possibly be doing important things and he was completely capable of getting in on his own.
"babe?"
you hissed. you had the thought right before you started this boss battle, that he would arrive before you finished and you would be trapped at your computer. you were right. "in here! gimme like two minutes!"
you heard him enter your room, and his bubbly laugh when he spotted your back at your desk desperately clicking your mouse and striking your keyboard. "wow, is this what you meant by important things?"
"please, please, please," you whined, intermittently squealing as you reacted to the enemy attacks. "i'll get off in a second i just need one more cleansing heart to ascend xin- fuck! not the stupid birds!"
he laughed again, his hand finding the back of your shoulder, thumbs pressing into the constantly sore flesh. you winced as he kneaded his fingers into your shoulder but exhaled, making him laugh lightly when you got knocked over by a boar. "hey, there's a boar there."
"yes, thank you, joshua." you quickly cracked a knuckle as soon as you had down time, sticking your neck out as he continued to massage your shoulders. "i think i have two more waves."
"waves? because it's a water level?"
you groaned into a reluctant laugh. "no shitty jokes right now, i'm trying to focus. normally krys and i co-op this one but she was busy."
he hummed, moving to stand next to you with his hand resting at the base of your neck. "wonder what she was doing."
"don't you live with her?" you teasingly asked, glancing up at him for the first time while sprinting across the platform, your game camera spinning uncontrollably when you suddenly pulled both hands to your mouth and gasped. "what the fuck, joshua?"
he stifled a grin, but it was completely obvious in his eyes as you stared up at him, blonde hair curled lightly to stay out of his face. "what's up?"
you stood from your chair, inspecting his head. "what the fuck?"
he laughed, wrapping his arms around you when you ran your fingers through his bleached locks hesitantly. "do you hate it?"
"i-" you blinked at him repeatedly. "what? no, i don't hate- what the fuck, joshua?"
"what?" he whined, eyebrows tenting at you even though his lips were still smiling. "does it not suit me?"
you held his head and squinted at him. "josh, you're hot. you look hot. but what the fuck?"
he laughed, finally planting his hello kiss on your lips. he watched the gears turn behind your eyes, puckered lips becoming a pout.
"did you go to a salon?"
he grinned. "krys did it."
you made a fist at him, scrunching your face for a second as you exhaled, looking down at the screen right as your last team member died, respawning at a statue. "that's why she used so many smiley faces when she said she was busy."
he put his lips to your cheek, smiling into your skin. "not bad though, right? you got a pretty handsome boyfriend."
and while you would have loved to roll your eyes and tease him, you were overtaken by a giggle as you turned your head towards him again, the tip of his nose gliding across your cheek. "yeah, i do."
his eyebrows went up. "wow, wasn't expecting you to admit it so readily."
you laughed, a light, carefree laugh, your palms on his jaw as you kissed him. "i have eyes, joshua." he just smiled against your lips, lacing his fingers together behind your tailbone, and you pulled away slightly to look up at his hair again. your hands went to his nape, fingertips against his scalp. "how long did it take? you have thick hair."
"we did three sessions," he said. "enjoy it while you can, it might fall out."
you laughed with him, brushing your fingers gently in his bangs again. "it feels fine, though?"
"yeah, i made this incredible discovery that i'm almost positive i'm the first to hear about it. it's called a hair treatment."
you batted at his chest, giggling. "shut up."
"make me," he said, the sweet smile on his lips making the phrase more playful than suggestive.
"i can't believe you surprised me with bleached hair," you said, plopping into your seat and exiting the game. "you know i hate surprises, right?"
"that's too bad," he said, his hand returning to rub against your neck. "i like surprises a lot. get used to them."
you puffed out your cheeks, sighing slowly. "usually people compromise."
"not on this," he stated. "i'm a gift giver."
"yeah, i figured that out when you got flowers sent to the studio on our one month anniversary, then again on our second, then here on our third…"
he was just smiling smugly at you when you stood again, maneuvering around him. "and you love getting them?"
you rolled your eyes, not even commenting when he playfully patted your butt as you went by. "they're always tasteful and it's nice to have some seasonal flowers for the counter."
"so you love them," he repeated. "because it sounds to me like you love them."
you laughed, reaching out to catch his hand in yours and pull him along with you as you exited to the main living area. "and what if i do? so what, joshua hong, if it makes my heart beat a little fast when we suddenly get flowers delivered and i realize it's the fourteenth? are you gonna call me a hypocrite because i vocally advocate that traditional chivalry is bullshit?"
he just listened to your playful accusation, more proving that you were self aware rather than egging him on. "no way," he said plainly. "you can still think traditional chivalry is bullshit, it won't stop me from trying to make you smile."
you felt your face heating up, your jaw dropping slightly to let out an annoyed huff. "cheesy, joshua. i'm offended."
"want me to make it worse?" he asked, wrapping his arms around your waist.
your hands landed on his chest as you squinted at his grin. "i'm scared."
he gave you a crooked grin. "happy one hundred days. i brought sushi."
your head whipped over to the counter, spotting the paper bag with a familiar logo. "from nori table?"
"of course, from nori table."
joshua had promised jeonghan that you would make an appearance as a couple at a party he was throwing the next day, and you found yourself almost nervous. you got on with jeonghan famously - almost enough to drive joshua insane - and you even warmed up to seokmin pretty quickly, but from what you had been told, jeonghan enjoyed partying, and you didn't really like getting drunk.
"you made it!" seokmin grinned big, spreading his arms to signal for you to let him wrap you in a hug. you laughed and greeted him, enjoying the friendly comfort, then watching him hug joshua after he let you go. "and you're blonde! life's good?"
"yeah," joshua said, making eye contact with you briefly as his fingers tangled with yours. "life's good. you?"
seokmin blinked before he said "yeah, good!" and your brow knit slightly before you consciously adjusted your face to hide the analysis of his hesitation happening behind your eyes. "this is your first time here, right?"
you nodded, smiling and following him as he led you into the crowded apartment. "yeah, it's been busy lately. but i finally made it to one!"
"well, you need to meet my friends," he said, continuously looking back at you even as he walked ahead, towards a corner of the living room. "you're gonna love them."
"aye, josh!"
you looked to the source of the call, spotting the guy pulling himself to his feet from his seat on the couch, arms wide in greeting to your boyfriend.
"hey, hosh," joshua said, a sideways grin on and his brows tented as he gave him a quick handshake into a hug. quickly, he put a hand on your opposite shoulder, pulling you towards him and quickly introducing you.
soonyoung initially went in for a hug after your introduction, but immediately noticed the way your eyes widened slightly and instantly pulled his arms down, leaving a hand extended for you to shake. you laughed, taking it, and apologized for not being a hugger.
"no worries," soonyoung laughed, and you wondered if he was always this pink in the face or if he had already started drinking. "seokmin will hug me, right?"
"everyone!" seokmin ignored him, pulling you towards the people gathered on and around the couch. he announced you to his friends then quickly went down the line - soonyoung, seungkwan, jihoon, dongmin, yugyeom - you repeated the names back to him like you would remember all of them, even though you knew you wouldn't unless they became regulars in your life, too.
jeonghan flitted by and expressed his greetings to you both some time later, intending to abscond with joshua for drinks and conversation elsewhere, but he stopped jeonghan from pulling him away before he put a hand on your elbow, looking at you meaningfully.
"i'll be okay," you told him, smiling. "go ahead."
he squinted at you. "you sure?"
"seokmin's here," you reminded him, nodding your head at the boy you had practically adopted as your own brother. "real quick, about soonyoung-"
he quirked an eyebrow at you. "what about him?"
you chewed your lip, smiling. "karol's been a little too focused on work lately, right?"
his eyes widened, thinking about your roommate. his eyes went to the man you had referenced, who was currently chanting something into seungkwan's face as he rolled his eyes. "karol?"
"what do you think?" you asked, looking back at soonyoung.
he blinked. "i think he'll drive her insane."
your eyes shone at him. "i think she'll love it."
he laughed incredulously, registering that you had asked his opinion instead of just doing whatever pleased you, and he wondered if that meant you trusted him. "you're right," he said finally. "try it."
"of course i'm right," you said, giggling against the quick peck he put on your lips. "remove him, jeonghan."
"finally," an impatient host shot back, rolling his eyes in a way that landed in a sly smile at you. "for what it's worth, i think your plan will work."
"didn't need your approval, but i'll take it," you said, smiling smugly at him. "i'll update you later."
the update you gave the next time you saw him, weeks later, was that karol had left the apartment every week since to go be with soonyoung somewhere fun and exciting, and you waved her off with a shiteating grin every week, culminating in the two of them arriving to krys' birthday party hand in hand.
jeonghan laughed, stealing a carrot stick from your cutting board as you arranged them into a rainbow themed charcuterie platter. "knew it. soonyoung loves women stronger than him."
you looked at him as he took a bite. "and karol loves someone she can take care of."
"look at us," he said, waving the half eaten carrot between the two of you with a lopsided grin on his face. "what a duo. we should hang out more. fuck joshua."
you laughed at him, then at the offended look on your boyfriend's face as he walked past. "now?" you asked eyebrows raised as you looked at him expectantly, and he laughed when he realized what the last words out of jeonghan's mouth were seconds before.
"please, this is a child's birthday party," he reminded you, and you laughed at the overexaggerated look he gave you to sell the joke.
you looked over to where krys was laughing with seokmin, soonyoung, and karol, then back down to your work as you nudged around quartered figs with a vague smile on. "seems like the kids are having a nice time."
jeonghan sighed, falling dramatically against the counter. "oh, to be young and in love."
joshua laughed. "karol's our age."
his cheek was planted in his palm, elbow on the counter as he gazed after the group. "i'm talking about seokmin and krys."
"what?" joshua asked, voice nearly cracking, and you let out an explosive laugh. "seokmin and who?"
"stop acting stupid," jeonghan waved ahand at him, then popping his eyes up to catch your look of solidarity. he pointed at you. "see? we're on the same page, which means we're right."
joshua looked at you and you raised your hands in surrender. "are you serious?" he asked. "my sister and-"
you landed a hand on his face, effectively shutting him up as you giggled. "shush, josh. just leave it, okay?"
"good idea," jeonghan sighed, straightening and picking up the platter you had finished. "dining table?"
"please," you responded, looking back and giggling when joshua looked just as dumbfounded as he had before you looked away. "she's an adult. seokmin's a good guy. let it happen."
he closed his mouth, stealing a glance at his sister. "he is a kindergarten teacher."
"and both your best friend and your partner love him," you reminded him. "she could do worse."
he gave you a look. "she has done worse."
"shut up," you said, pushing his shoulder in your friend's defense. "you've done pretty bad, too."
his eyes went to the ceiling, remembering the accidental altercation you had been forced to have with one of his more regrettable exes. "how many times do i have to apologize-"
"you don't," you laughed, putting your hands on his cheeks and focusing his eyes on yours. "but krys is an adult. she's allowed to judge her own partners, and even if she ends up being wrong, she's old enough to make her own mistakes."
joshua huffed, knowing you were right but not wanting to admit it. "sorry i'm trying to protect my one and only baby sister."
"yes, and you're adorable," you assured him. "best big brother ever. but it's her birthday, and if you don't start getting drunk soon, she'll be very upset."
drinking with joshua was fun. because he wasn't much different than yourself - he didn't get crazy, he didn't get loud. he just got loose. he let stupider jokes out, and he was more willing to join in on krys' performative comedy bits throughout the night. you found yourself falling onto a couch with him, giggling as he caught his breath after a particularly involved musical number.
the most fun you had drinking with joshua was in itaewon, long past midnight but still what you considered halloween. you had been dragging karol with you for years, but now you had a boyfriend, and she had a boyfriend, and you both had a new joint best friend, so it only made sense for you to get them all take the train ride out to your favorite part of seoul.
ratatouille. that was the only way you could get joshua to go with you. he wanted a couples costume and he wanted you to be the rat.
"this feels backhanded," you told him.
"do you want to be linguine?" he asked. "i can be sexy remy. i can find grey hot pants, but you have to be the one to attach the the tail because i have no idea what my butt looks like."
you laughed, resigning to your fate and buying the outfit online, then looked at him suddenly. "liar. i know you check yourself out at the gym."
"okay," he said, eyes on the ceiling as he herded a giggling you into his arms. "then… i want it to be accurate, so you need to attach it directly at my tailbone." he cocked his head at you after you settled into the hug. "i have to be wearing them, obviously."
"obviously," you said. "but unfortunately, i already ordered the body suit."
josh pressed his lips together and made a quick fist in victory. "awesome. i-i mean! aww, well, that's fine, i suppose." he sighed dramatically, convincing absolutely no one that he hadn't wanted this outcome all along. "i'll be linguine."
"i don't feel like fighting a bunch of gays in itaewon for your affection anyways," you said, making him laugh and kiss your cheek quickly before pulling away.
"grilled cheese?"
"is that even a question?"
it wasn't a question when you were weaving through throngs of bunnies and angels, either, holding hands with both him and his sister to not lose them in the crowd, karol and soonyoung trailing behind krys, all five of you on a mission to get carbs in you after starting the night off nearly too strong.
halloween in itaewon was different. it was special, you thought. you usually didn't like crowds, but this one felt good. halloween wasn't a celebrated holiday in korea, but with internet, influencers, and immigrants, the culture found its way into the new age scene. you loved an excuse to celebrate your favorite characters by paying them homage, and joshua had thought that was a noble enough reason for him to justify staying up too late and drinking too much.
you had just left the diner themed bar that you devoured griddle top sandwiches from, as well as another drink, and you spotted a familiar angel making a beeline for you.
well, not you.
"how many times have i tried to get you to come to itaewon with me?" jeonghan asked, pushing joshua's shoulder as soon as he could reach it.
joshua laughed, looking shocked by the sudden appearance of his friend. "you never agreed to be remy!"
jeonghan looked at you, and burst into laughter, making your jaw drop in indignance and whacking your fist against both their arms. "at least we're original. way to put in the effort, han."
he shrugged bringing a straw to his mouth, and you eyed the pink liquid that had clearly been funnelled into a water bottle. "i look better than all these clowns and you know it."
"there you are!"
jeonghan spun, the straw still in his mouth. "shit, i haven't lost you?"
seokmin gave him a sarcastic laugh, adjusting the shoulder of his soccer jersey as he walked up behind him, quickly adding to your small circle as he greeted you and joshua. you stepped aside suddenly, revealing the members of your party that had been lagging behind. "o-oh! it's all of you!"
you made brief eye contact with joshua, who was trying to not laugh at your less than subtle attempt. "you match!" you said quickly, pointing out that krys was dressed as a baseball player. "baseball, soccer," you trailed off, looking around for help.
"sports couple," jeonghan said loudly, slipping you a quick look. "cute."
soonyoung had to put his entire palm over his mouth to stop himself from exploding into giggles when seokmin went red in the ears and krys tried to change the subject as kindly as she could manage.
when you finally made it back into joshua's room, it was far too late (early? you could think about it more, but you preferred resigning to the fact that the passage of time was beyond you and moving on), the sun already starting to light the sky as it prepared to break the horizon. when you stole his toque of his head, he put his hand on your waist, backing you up against the closet door and gently working his lips onto yours.
you giggled, your arms landing on his shoulders. "aren't you tired?
"yeah, but," his eyes fluttering over your face. "i just really like you."
you were smiling when he pressed his lips to yours again. "i really like you, too, but we've been at a sweaty block party all night and we need to shower."
"together?" he asked, a spot of childish hope in his voice. "singular shower?"
you sighed on his lips, playfully threading your fingers against his nape. "if you want?"
the hot water felt especially good after trekking home in the cold without a jacket. and even though it was just meant to be a shower, he kept kissing you like it was something more, pressing you against the tiled wall and running his hands all over your shape. you couldn't stop giggling. pushing his hands away, saying you need to wash up, but giving him looks like you wanted him to keep going. you were running your hands over his chest, rinsing away suds, when joshua couldn't help but put a hand at the base of your neck, tipping your head slightly to deepen an already heated kiss.
"cut it out," you muttered against his lips, feeling them curve despite your eyes staying shut.
"cut what out?"
you looked at him, barely processing anything other than how incredibly handsome he was, even with his lashes stuck together with moisture and his hair slicked back against his head. "trying to fuck me in a shower stall."
he laughed teasingly, leaning into you again. "then why'd you agree to come in here with me?"
your back hit the tile again, and you giggled. "to save water."
and then he's kissing you again, a hand steady on your nape as he worked you open, tongue lapping against yours with a desperation that could only mean one thing. you whimpered dumbly, the squeaky whine escaping you with no difficulty as your hands ran up his chest, your grip longing for any amount of him you could get.
his lips leave you abruptly, asking if this was too much. if you wanted to stop. but you shook your head at him, hands eager to feel more of his shoulders, his neck, his scalp, despite your legs starting to give out. steam drifted between you when you told him your legs felt like jello from your full shift of partying, and if he didn't want to hold you up, you should probably take this to bed.
you were giggling as you frantically dried each other off, stealing kisses that were far too deep to be so short and longing touches that could have been interpreted as purposeful drying if you squinted hard enough, but felt much more like careful teasing. his hands felt right running up your body, and your hair was still damp, but that didn't bother either of you when you fell into bed together.
"i cant believe you want to fuck me when i was dressed like a literal rat," you teased.
he laughed, tugging your thigh up on his hip as his nose nuzzled against yours. "a sexy rat."
you giggled, lips parting when he kissed you. "a rat from a pixar movie."
he didn't miss a beat. "a sexy rat from a pixar movie."
you roll your damn eyes at him, and he just laughs, knowing that it mattered very little what you were wearing before, because now you were bare, clean, and safe in his bed, which was exactly where he wanted you for the rest of forever.
the sun was past its peak when you woke, stretching your sore spine and legs with joshua's arm draped over you. his hand seemed to wake before he did, finding your hip and squeezing gently as he took in his signature first breath of the day.
"g'morning." you smiled at his soft voice as he squinted at you, and you rolled into him to plant a kiss on his lips.
"it's almost two," you said finally.
he groaned, burying his face in the pillow. "too early." his grip around you tightened, making you giggle. "nap time."
you whined. "i wanna make coffee before it gets too late."
"i said nap time," he muttered, face still against the pillow.
"baby, i have a headache."
his head popped up, squinting at the bedside. "there's water."
you laughed incredulously. "i need caffeine."
he just pulled you tighter. "i need you here."
"wow," you said, wrapping your arms around him as he snuggled into your chest. "would rather i suffer from a caffeine headache for your own selfish need to cuddle than let me escape for two minutes to make a coffee and come back?"
he smiled, rubbing his cheek against your sternum. "mhmm."
you giggled, carding your fingers through his hair and resigning to a few more precious moments of uninterrupted snuggling before you could relieve the vague aching in your temples.
he did eventually let you slip out of his grasp, and you asked if he wanted a coffee, too, to which he just blearily blinked at you and nodded once. you laughed, finding a shirt in a drawer and pulling it over your head before exiting to the kitchen.
you hit the kettle first, having a craving for a hot cup of coffee rather than the usual iced, grabbing a mug and glass from a cabinet. the espresso machine sat on the long counter against the windowed outer wall, and your eyes danced across the outside world as you made the two coffees. when you returned to the bedroom, joshua was on his phone, and when you cleared your throat, he dropped his phone on the pillow and pretended to be asleep, complete with a loud snore.
you giggled, sitting on the edge of the bed and nudging him carefully. "get up or i'll put the glass on your neck."
he winced at the idea. "evil," he stated plainly, flopping around to comfortably sit up and taking the iced coffee from you.
you sipped your coffee and put it on the bedside table to swing your feet back under the covers. you shoved at the pillows to support your back as you sat, grabbing your coffee and phone to begin your weekend morning routine of checking the news as you sipped at an americano. "i brought you coffee in bed at two pm. i think i'm pretty saintly."
he gave you a fake laugh, making you giggle and push your foot against his leg under the covers in a half hearted kick. "is that why you said 'oh, god' so much last night?"
you groaned. "gross, joshua. and for the record," you said, eyeing him slyly as a smile broke out on your lips. "that was this morning."
"time is an illusion," he declared, taking a gulp from his coffee and setting it down to get more comfortable beside you as you began to read an article. "are we doing anything today?"
you shook your head, eyes still focused on your screen. "nada."
"nothin'?" joshua fished.
"zilch," you concluded.
"rad," he decided, a light tone in his voice as he grabbed his phone to resume whatever he had been doing before you returned. "do you wanna order breakfast?"
you let out a breath, your head falling back as you looked at him. "yes, oh my god."
he laughed, and his eyes ran over your face in a way you recognized well at this point. to you, it was him just smiling back at you, and you liked that it reached his eyes. but to him, it was the way he looked at you when he was memorizing all the little reasons he adored you, and it was getting harder for him to pretend it wasn't more than just simple adoration.
"question," he started, eyes darting away from yours as he licked his suddenly dry lips and swallowed quickly.
"pasta," you said immediately, pulling your phone to your chest as you gave him your biggest, most convincing eyes before a finger came up to demonstrate a point. "and before you say that's not a breakfast food, i would like to remind you that it is 2pm and i had to sit through a hundred of your italian food puns yesterday despite ratatouille being set in france."
he laughed, and you gave him a confused look. "we can get pasta, but that wasn't the question."
your eyebrow quirked. "what other question could you possibly ask me right now?"
unknowingly, joshua let his face settle into the same look he was giving you less than a minute earlier. "would you want to move in?"
your eyes ran over his face repeatedly, trying to register how serious he was as you considered the idea of staying in this comforting bed and presence for the indefinite future, and even you couldn't hide how nice that sounded. the only thing stopping you was that you couldn't bear to leave karol alone. you had been living together for over four years now, she had been your first roommate in korea, your best friend for years, and an inexplicable source of quiet but understanding comfort for you.
"i understand," joshua assured you, placing his hand over yours after you expressed your hesitation. "i don't know what i'll do with myself when krys decides to move out."
you nodded, studying his face but mind wandering to other things. "krys," you hummed, and he eyed you.
"what genius plan is that brain brewing?"
you shook your head, brushing the thought out of your mind - the thought that krys had said something about needing to find a new place soon. the thought that she had said she was never gonna properly grow up when josh was taking care of her, whether she wanted him to or not. "nothing."
but it wasn't nothing. it was a compromise - you and krys would swap leases.
"are you sure?" you asked her, elbows on the island as krys ate the donuts you had anxiously made that morning. you had brought up the idea to her days before, and she excitedly agreed, but something about it felt too easy to you.
"yes," she assured you, wiping her bottom lip clear of powdered sugar. "i swear, i'm sure. how many times do i have to say it?"
you chewed your cheek. "i don't want you to feel like i'm kicking you out."
"you're not kicking me out," she said matter of factly. "i'm moving out. it just happens to be the same day as you're moving in."
you pouted. "and you're moving into my apartment."
"yeah," she said, nodding. "i get to pay lower rent and have south facing windows in my room. i should feel bad about kicking you out."
it took almost a month to organize everything, but by early december you were just waiting for the date. you purposefully scheduled for a weekend, in order to not disrupt krys' streaming schedule and your video uploads, since you had planned to do a separate moving vlog about safely packing tableware. the weekend before, krys came over to her soon-to-be home for your usual monthly brunch.
flipping pancakes that day felt a little somber, knowing it was the last time you'd be cooking brunch while living with karol. you had been with her for four years, and it felt surreal that you were finally parting ways like this. not only that, but you were moving in with a guy. the idea itself scared the shit out of you - cohabitating with someone other than karol. you'd be sharing a room. sharing a kitchen. sharing all of your space - normally, that would scare you away from agreeing, but something about joshua made you feel safe. he made you feel like you would never try to get back the distance you generally held so dear.
months ago, the idea of sharing space like that while trying to decompress would be unimaginable, but recently, you found alone time with joshua just as healing as alone time with yourself, so the idea of being able to snuggle into his side every night actually put a warm feeling in your stomach. you looked at your friends, who were laughing and drinking bloody marys as you tried to keep up with their conversation. your brain swirled, and you looked back down at the strawberries you were cutting, suddenly realizing you had never felt that way about a boy before.
"woah, you okay, babe?" krys bobbed her head downwards to check your face. "are you crying? i thought only onions did that to you."
you threw your head back, sniffling noisily trying to force the tears back under your ducts. karol stood. "oh, my god, what's wrong?" she frantically put down her drink and rushed around the counter to your side.
"wait, yeah-" krys shook her head rapidly, then reached over to take the knife out of your hand, her face creasing into a worried pout. "what's going on?"
you gathered yourself, embarrassed at how quickly you had cried so hard over such a stupid realization. you almost laughed, realizing what a scene you were making. you never cried. you weren't even sure either of them had seen it before now, yet you were ugly sobbing over something that they all probably already knew.
you swallowed harshly, clearing your throat. "i think i'm in love with josh."
krys and karol always knew you didn't truly care about the gender of your hypothetical partner, but that you had avoided men for a reason other than your attraction to them. they knew you gravitated towards women for practically your entire friendships with either of them, they knew that you never liked to get genuinely drunk and instead took care of the rest of them, and they knew you had never been very interested in sex. these were all known facts about you, and your friends understood that you kept the reasons for these facts close to your chest. they respected that.
but you finally wanted to share why. and the why was your ex.
when you had imagined telling your closest friends about your trauma, this certainly wasn't the situation you expected - crowded around the kitchen counter as your pancakes went cold, and only because you had burst into tears. it wasn't the right place, you thought, for you to talk about how he got you drunk. how you were practically asleep. how you tried to push him away but your body was weak with intoxication and you were powerless against him. someone you trusted. someone you loved.
you had always been the type to fight your own battles. you could stand up for yourself without difficulty, yet he made you scared of men. of what they could do to you. he reminded you that despite your effort to air on the androgynous, you had a body that some people might enjoy against your will. he made you want to hide everything about you and your body, wearing baggy shirts and oversized hoodies every chance you got, avoiding the unwanted gaze of men.
but recently, you've been wearing shorts more. you cropped some old shirts you never got use out of anymore to wear to your weekly yoga class. you had even bought a schoolgirl outfit for exactly one purpose, which had been entirely out of your comfort zone until roughly two months prior, but you had happily worn to please a man.
but in your defense, joshua hong was not like most men.
his appreciation of your body never felt predatory, and it always felt like it was bested by his appreciation of your mind. he didn't treat you like a prize, or like you were his for the taking. he appreciated your body as yours. while you may have found yourself the subject of his desire, you were never an object, and it had been a long time since you had felt comfortable wearing the clothes you liked in favor of opting for whatever would hide the most skin.
krys was crying. karol was too, but she was more focused on hugging you tight as you wiped off the tears that had trailed down your face. krys rounded the counter, loudly vocalising how much she loved you and everything about you, and you laughed out loud as she let out an exaggerated wail.
"actually, though," she said, pulling away slightly and sniffling. "drop the address. we're rolling up on this guy tomorrow."
you laughed again, wiping at your face when your arms were free. "wouldn't even know where to find him now."
"good!" karol declared. "fuck that guy! cut him out! you're a bad bitch!"
krys pouted. "i'm really happy josh helped you heal."
you stared at her for a second, registering that she must have been right. you eyes swam over the counter, thinking about all the times he had helped you feel more comfortable with yourself. with everything. enough to let someone in. enough to love. "i guess that's what this is, huh?"
karol cleared her throat. "so, you love him."
a grin broke out on krys' face, and your eyes immediately rolled. "you love him."
"you love him so bad."
"you wanna marry him and make adorable little hong babies."
"oh my god," you said, pressing the backs of your hands into your eye sockets, annoyed laughter on your lips as they bounced off each other. "you guys suck."
joshua started acting… odd. that was the only way you could describe it. there was nothing specific you could name - maybe the way his eyes were moving slightly too quickly from side to side? or maybe it was the way he inhaled a little extra when you asked him what was up, only for him to push his lips into an exaggerated pout and insist that nothing was. whatever it was, it made you watch him a little bit longer, your eyes squinting slightly more than usual.
you called him the day before, asking if you could bring some stuff over in hopes of making the next day as easy as possible, but his response was quick and surprising.
"what do you mean, no?" you laughed, putting down the wooden tray you were deciding the fate of. "do you have a girl over?"
you could hear him faltering on the other end. "and what if i did?"
"good luck getting her to make you breakfast."
he laughed. "i'm kidding. i have a guy over."
"oh?" you asked. "jeonghan?"
"shut up," he chuckled out. "i'm having something installed, but it was supposed to be a surprise."
"joshua," you reminded him, thinking of what the hell he could have meant by something. "i don't do surprises."
"you do now."
you groaned, a palm landing on your counter. "what is it?"
"a sex swing," he said plainly, as though that were the most obvious fact that you could have questioned, and you practically choked on your laughter, not even letting him confirm that he was joking before you were folded over your counter. and quite frankly, you could not wait another day to let him make you laugh like that as a routine.
you finally seceded, but you were glad when joshua arrived - the suv he rented loaded with krys' things - because it was a signifier that the distance between you and said surprise was shrinking quickly. soonyoung had become a surprisingly helpful voice of reason as you went through your piles of tablewares, telling you which ones to leave behind and which ones to take with you. seokmin had even arrived not long after the suv in his own car, a few brightly colored belongings in his backseat. you and karol exchanged a look when you realized he had volunteered to help krys move, but said nothing out loud, knowing she would do nothing but deny the obvious.
after yours and krys' affects were swapped in the car, you looked around one last time before telling josh you thought that was it.
"wait!" krys faltered, realizing she didn't have a good reason to stop you. "i- uh,"
"they know there's a surprise waiting for them," he said, digging the rental keys out of his jacket pocket.
karol looked to you. "do you know what it is?"
"of course not," joshua stated proudly before you could respond. "i'm like a steel trap."
you laughed. "that's definitely not how that phrase is meant to be used."
he raised a brow at you. "that doesn't change the fact that you could never get that info out of me."
"they absolutely could," karol said.
"for sure," krys agreed.
"i just wanted to let you have this," you admitted.
joshua looked between the three of you with his jaw slightly dropped, and seokmin put a hand over his mouth while crossing his arms to disguise the almost laugh on his lips.
"well, i want to see your reaction," krys decided. "so i'm coming."
"wait," soonyoung asked, putting down the retro boombox he had been investigating, among the other things that had been brought from the loft. "like, the surprise?"
"does everyone know about this but me?" you asked, hands hitting your sides in exasperation.
seokmin looked at you with wide, confused eyes. "i don't."
you lifted your hands in a vague prayer towards him. "thank you for your solidarity."
"i wanna see your face, too!" soonyoung said, ignoring you both. "you're gonna freak."
"joshua," you started, turning to him with a look of dread on your face. "what the fuck did you get?"
"i told you!" he exclaimed. "a sex swing!"
there was an excruciatingly long second of silence, making your palm land directly on your face - just above your eye - before seokmin let out a surprised, "a what?"
"he's kidding," you announced, much to the teacher's relief. "and if he's not we're breaking up."
it was decided that the entire party would move to the loft for the surprise reveal, and you watched your friends pile into seokmin's car with your palms sweating slightly and your molars gently gnawing at the fleshy party of your cheek. because, truly, you didn't handle receiving gifts well when you knew what they were, but you didn't have a single clue as to what could be waiting for you in your new home, and that made you a little nervous to have an audience for your possibly piss poor reaction.
joshua's hand found yours on the drive to the apartment. "you okay?"
you blinked and looked over at him, his eyes catching yours between glances at the road. "i don't do surprises."
"so you've said," he nodded. his fingers squeezed at yours lightly and you exhaled. "do you want to know before we go in? you can just act surprised."
your felt your face soften, registering what he was offering you. "joshua, you don't have to do that-"
"i know," he said. "but if it makes you more comfortable, then…"
"no way," you said. "i'll just stop being a baby. you set up a surprise, the least i can do is participate the way you want me to."
he eyed you, then the way you laced your fingers with his. "but you are a baby."
you rolled your eyes. "shut up, no i'm not."
"my baby," he clarified, and you let out an involuntary giggle.
he was guiding you into the kitchen, his large hands placed over your eyes and covering most of your face by proxy, and you didn't quit your playful complaints for the crowd of your closest friends that had gathered around, their presence obvious despite your vision being impaired.
"ready?" joshua asked.
"josh, i literally hate surprises, do we have to do all this?"
"yes," he said frankly. "because i'm doing something nice for us and you're going to love it so can you shut up and let me do this the way i want to like you told me you wanted me to?"
you paused, hearing the way your friends stifled their laughter as you took in a deep breath.
"ready?" he repeated.
"yeah, i guess," you sighed.
the light was harsh when his hands left your face, and you blinked repeatedly at the kitchen that you spent countless hours in, registering what was different. then, it suddenly clicked, the stovetop joshua had always had was replaced by the blue vintage styled range of your dreams.
"joshua!" you gasped, hands going to your face as you spun to look at him, then back at the range. "you bought me a lacanche?!"
he grinned, hands snaking around your waist from behind as you stood frozen in place. "i bought us a lacanche."
seokmin leaned over to krys. "what's a le conch?"
she reached up and put a finger over his mouth, eyes fixed on you. "shh, they're communicating."
you rushed over to the range, joshua following behind you as you ran your hands over the polished chrome handles that you had stared at on the website for years. "and it's all hooked up?"
he nodded, eyes on you with a smile on his face. "tested it last night."
"without me?" you asked, incredulous.
he laughed. "i didn't want to ruin the surprise by burning the loft down directly after."
your finger fidgeted on the handle, looking over to joshua. he gestured for you to go ahead, and you pushed and spun the knob, lighting a burner and squealing. you shut it off again before launching yourself into a hug.
"joshua!" you wailed, arms wrapped around his neck as he laughed, putting his around your waist. "i love it so much ican'tbelieveyouboughtusafucking lacanche range in portuguese blue for no goddamn reason!"
"there was a reason!" he laughed, letting you pull away slightly to study his face. "it's a housewarming gift. i want you to know this place is yours, too, now."
you did your best to suck the tears back into the ducts they belonged in, trying to not show just how much the gesture meant to you in that way, but you were sure one escaped down your cheek when your hands went to the base of his skull, pulling him into a kiss. you forgot the context of the move. you forgot about your friends that had been excitedly crowded in your new kitchen, anticipating your over the top reaction to what they saw as just a new stove. you, however, were overwhelmed by the specifics - the fact that he had picked the color you chose most often when building your hypothetical dream stove on the website you frequented more often than you would ever admit. the fact that it matched the details on the tile of his kitchen backsplash, a detail you hadn't even noticed when you were looking at them online. the chrome vintage knobs, the layout of the burners - everything was exact to what he had seen you dream about, and you couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the love and care that expressed, hoping you could tell him just how much it meant by working your lips against his.
"ok, gross," krys announced, looking away when the two of you didn't pull apart. "i'm saying goodbye to my wallpaper and we're leaving. would anyone else like to pay their respects?"
seokmin raised his hand, his eyes on the ceiling, and krys grabbed his arm and retreated towards the hall, karol telling them to hurry as soonyoung put up a hand to obstruct his view of you and joshua. when you finally pulled away, it wasn't for their reprieve, though they reacted as though it was. it was so you could look into joshua's eyes, creased with the grin on his face as you gave him a similar one, and you couldn't wait to cook with him, on your, plural, portuguese blue lacanche range, with chrome classique handles, four gas burners, a griddle, and a warming drawer. and it would be your best brunch yet.
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janeofcakes · 4 years ago
Text
Soulmate: How John Met Sherlock...Again  Chapter 2
Hello, my friends! I come to you today knowing there is but one burning question in your minds today: What will Gracie and Olive get up to next? Okay, maybe two: When the hell will John and Sherlock meet, Jane? Tell me. Tell me now! Haha. Patience, my lovelies. You know I can't write a story without stringing you along for a while first. I am very firmly on the naughty list and like our dear friend, Martin Freeman I cannot abide being on anyone's nice list. Mwahaha.
I also wanted to say that the next few chapters are not as long as the first. There was so much to get through in that one. I hope you aren't disappointed. The good news is my typing and editing are going well so I should be able to keep my weekend schedule. Hooray!Happy reading. Jane
----
Gracie casts a side look at Olive from where she sits on the jungle gym. It is afternoon break and the two girls just climbed frantically up the poles and bars to sit at the top for a rest after running themselves ragged all over the playground pretending to be Nancy Drew and George Fayne solving a mystery. Every day since Monday has gone more or less the same way. They play together for morning break, talk at lunch and play again in the afternoon. They write notes on one another’s notebooks during lessons, but manage not to disrupt class or miss instruction. It has been a truly amazing first week of school, better than Gracie could have ever imagined.
Gracie looks at Olive again and feels her throat swell. It’s like she has known Olive forever. They seem to always understand each other and be in perfect sync. Gracie has talked about nothing else at home and has even dreamed about playing with Olive each night. Olive has told her all kinds of things about London and its history. Tower Bridge, London Bridge, the National Theatre, but what Gracie is most interested in seeing is the Tower of London. She asked her father just last night if they could go sometime to see the old castle and the crown jewels. She can’t wait to see and do everything, and it would be even better if Olive could come along for some of it. London is much more exciting than Bath ever was, hands down!
“Gracie,” Olive begins in a lazy tone, “how do you feel about bees?”
Turning to face her friend fully, Gracie furrows her brow and frowns. Olive does not react to the movement and continues looking at something in the distance, or perhaps at nothing at all. Gracie says nothing at first, wondering if Olive had been talking before and all Gracie heard was the bee question. The taller girl finally turns her head and fixes the blonde with an inquisitive gaze. Gracie frowns as she considers the question. She is not really partial to any insect, nor is she upset by them. 
“They’re all right, I guess,” Gracie shrugs. “They make honey, so there’s that.”
“Mm…” Olives hums in approval. “True.”
Gracie raises her brows, every inch of her face asking ‘What are you on about?’. Olive blinks and seems to realize she was lost in her own mind, leaving Gracie with absolutely no context for the question.
“That’s what my dad wants to do when he retires,” Olive explains. “Beekeeping. In Sussex, probably.”
Oh no. This can’t be happening. Gracie just met Olive and had the best week of her life and now she’s going to lose her to bees?!
“You’d leave London then?” Gracie chokes on the words, not even trying to hide her distress.
“Yeah,” Olive answers absently, playing with the end of her long braid. “He says they’re fascinating.”
Gracie’s whole body tenses and her stomach roils. She feels sick and a bit dizzy when she glances away from Olive to a girl laughing wildly on the swings. It’s like a bad dream spiraling out of control to the soundtrack of that girl’s mad laughter. Gracie bites her lip hard to ground herself and looks back at Olive.
“Is he close to retiring?” Gracie forces out, beads of sweat beginning to collect at her temples.
“What? No,” Olive huffs a laugh and looks at Gracie again. “He’s definitely old, but not ancient. He has too much fun working anyway. Hey, are you okay?”
“Fun?” Gracie asks incredulously, ignoring her friend’s inquiry. “At a crime scene?”
“Oh, yeah, he loves it,” Olive laughs, seeing Gracie begin to relax. “He loves a good mystery. Locked room murders are his favorite.”
“Wow,” Gracie mutters, only half understanding what that means.
“He used to have a partner, you know,” Olive adds with a grin. “He loved it even more then.”
“So he had his own Clue Crew?” excited energy vibrates through Gracie’s body as she pictures a grown up and male version of Olive with a man and woman posed behind him like on Charlie’s Angels. Gracie’s dad loves old shows and movies, so she has seen her fair share. James Bond is his favorite. She makes a note to ask Olive if she has ever seen any of them.
“Not a crew,” the brunette corrects. “Just the one partner. They solved all kinds of cases together. They were best friends.”
“Like us?”
“Yep, exactly like us,” Olive says with a flash of teeth. Gracie grins too and is about to ask about Bond when something else pops to the forefront of her mind.
“Oh! It’s like my dad’s bedtime stories!” Gracie blurts eagerly. “Sam Williams and Dean Jensen. They’re best friends and solve crimes together. That’s how I got started on Nancy Drew in the first place. Dad’s read some of the old ones to me.”
“Really?” Olive cries. “Oh! Oh! Mystery of the 99 Steps?”
“That’s my favorite!” Gracie shrieks, her hands flying to her cheeks.
“Mine too!” Olive gasps.
“Girls,” the teacher on duty calls up to them from the ground below. They look down at her, all wide eyes and smiles. “Time to go back inside.”
They climb down as the teacher walks away to tell other kids. The two girls bound towards the school, slowing to a walk as they get closer. Gracie feels something brush against her hand and glances at it just in time to see Olive’s longer fingers wrap around it. She shifts her wide eyes to her friend’s, barely able to contain her joy.
“We should get our dads to read us the same old Nancy Drew book, a chapter each night,” Olive tells her conspiratorially. “Then we can compare notes the next day and see if we can solve it before Nancy.”
“That’s the best idea!” Gracie crows. “We can figure out which one during library time.”
“And then you check it out,” Olive says decisively. “Mrs. Hudson has all of them. I can borrow it from her.”
“Ok,” Gracie agrees, already knowing so much about Olive’s godmother that she doesn’t even question the woman would have the whole series. Honestly, Gracie wants to meet her almost as much as she wants to meet Olive’s detective father.
The two girls giggle for a moment at their new plan and then skip into the school building.
***
Saturday afternoon finds Gracie hand in hand with Candace McCleary, a nanny John handpicked while Gracie was still in Bath. They met the day after Gracie arrived last week and she instantly fell in love with Candace, much to John’s relief. Candace would not be a live-in nanny, but is employed like one. John needs her to get Gracie from school and stay with her until he gets home in the evenings. He also needs her to be available at a moment’s notice for when an emergency, like the birth of a baby, arises. John had warned his daughter after Angela Taylor’s check-up on Wednesday that he thought the baby would come early and probably at a most inconvenient time. Sure enough, he received the call just as he started lunch. Gracie was disappointed that her first trip to Hanover Gate Children’s Playground in Regent’s Park would be without her father, but was still over the moon when Candace was happy to take her. She had been looking forward to it almost all week.
“Oh my gosh!” Gracie exclaims as she and Candace approach the playground. There is equipment everywhere to climb and swing on and slide down. Gracie immediately decides the sandpit is first on her list. A tall tree stands in its center with wooden bridges and walkways built all around it. Rope ladders and nets offer admittance and there is even a hammock to sit on. “Candace, this is amazing! This is the best park ever!”
“Why don’t you jump right in?” the woman laughs. “I’ll just be right on this bench if you need me.”
Candace points to an empty green bench as she speaks and starts heading for it before someone else claims it. Gracie calls out her agreement and makes a b-line for the nearest rope ladder. She is up it in seconds and running across a bouncy bridge, laughing all the way. She runs the whole course, turns right back around and does it again. There are quite a few kids in this part of the park, but it’s still easy to work her way around them. After a few more laps on the equipment, a small group of kids asks Gracie to play tag. She recognizes them from school and accepts.
A good hour later, two of the kids have to go home and Gracie is exhausted. She begs off, having had her mind set on playing in the sand since she and Candace got there. Plopping down in a shady spot, she plunges her hands beneath the beige and brown grains. The sand is cool and dry and feels soft in between her fingers, not like the rough sand that is sometimes used in parks. It’s like the white sand from a beach. She has half a mind to pull her shoes off and let her feet sink into its depths. Gracie closes her eyes and wiggles her fingers, feeling the sand move around them like a favorite blanket. She opens her eyes as she curls her fingers around the tiny grains and watches them slip through when she lifts her hands. 
Gracie does this again and again until she grabs a stick and begins to drag it through the sand like a plow. At one point, she makes a short trench and plants sunflower seeds and raisins from the snack baggy in her pocket. She pats the sand with satisfaction after covering them and looks toward the bench where Candace sits. She waves and her nanny waves back. Gracie giggles and gets to her knees, but stops when a figure just sitting down on the hammock suddenly blocks her view of Candace.
“What the…” Gracie mutters, her mouth falling open in disbelief. She gets to her feet and runs straight for the rope hammock and its occupant, who hears her footfalls and looks up with blue-grey eyes.
“Gracie!” Olive cries in surprise as her friend trips in the sand and drops face-first next to the hammock. “Gracie?”
“I’m okay,” the blonde girl declares, pushing herself up and standing quickly. The two girls lock eyes and start laughing. “What are you doing here?”
“We come every weekend,” Olive replies, pulling Gracie onto the woven rope. “Our flat’s just that way.”
“Really?” Gracie gasps with a delighted squeak. She points in the opposite direction. “Mine’s that way.”
“No way!” Olive shouts with glee. “That’s amazing! I had no idea we lived so close.”
“I know right,” Gracie exclaims, beginning to rock the hammock a bit. Olive unfolds her legs to hang them down and help push. “What are the odds?”
“Well,” Olive considers, adopting her contemplative face. Gracie knows instantly that a deduction is coming. She giggles and her smile widens as she watches her best friend. “Since we go to the same school, it seems fairly likely that we would live close together because it’s usually based on geography. However, it’s a bit different with public school. Kids can come from all parts of London as long as they have the money to pay.”
“Oh my god,” Gracie can barely contain her excitement and she stamps a foot on the ground a few times. “We could play here every weekend! I’m sure I could get Dad to bring me.”
“Yes! Let’s set it up now,” Olive sits up straight, ready to jump off the netting. “Is your dad here?”
“No, he had to deliver a baby,” Gracie rolls her eyes. Olive makes a dismissive noise that sounds like she just opened an air-tight container and sinks back into the hammock “Exactly. I mean, babies are important and all, but now he has to wait another week to see all this.”
Gracie swings her arms out wide and tilts her head skyward before flopping unceremoniously onto her back. Olive lets herself tip backwards as well and they soon lie side by side, looking up at the clouds. Gracie points out one that looks like a panda and proceeds to tell her friend all sorts of facts about pandas.
“I even have a panda,” she finishes.
“You do?” Olive asks, her eyes widen with wonder. 
“Since I was three,” Gracie nods. “She’s my favorite stuffie. She’s called Pandy and I sleep with her every night.”
“I have a bee,” Olive says without hesitation. “I call him Wellington, sometimes Wellies for short.”
“Do you like bees as much as your dad does?” Gracie is curious because Wellington might have been a gift like Pandy was, but it certainly sparked her interest in pandas. 
“I don’t think anyone could like them as much as Dad,” Olive huffs a laugh, “but yeah, I definitely like them too. It’s amazing how they make honey and their whole society and all.”
“Wow. Would you tell me?” Gracie fixes her with a serious gaze and licks her lips. “I loooove honey.”
“Sure, and you can tell me more about pandas,” Olive grins and points to a medium-sized cloud. “That one looks like a catapult.”
Gracie cocks a brow and follows her finger to a cloud that, amazingly enough, does resemble a rudimentary catapult.
The afternoon passes as the two girls tell each other stories and make up new games, their favorite being pirates sailing their hammock boat across the sea to a mysterious island. They leave their spot at this point to explore sandy beaches, nearly being vanquished by a giant hippo and almost losing Olive beneath quicksand. Gracie keeps her head about her and is always within Candace’s line of sight, and it’s a good thing too because the two girls are interrupted as tea time nears.
“I knew I’d find you here,” a low rumble of a voice comes from behind Gracie where she sits facing Olive. They have just dug up a treasure of sunflowers and raisins, a very valuable find on the sea. Their eyes grow wide as a menacing laugh fills the air around them. Gracie swallows hard and turns slowly to see the towering silhouette of a man in a billowy black coat. She shields her eyes, but with the sun behind him, she cannot make out his features. He probably has an eye patch and everything.
“What are you doing on my island?” the man demands as he steps closer. Gracie gasps and pushes herself backwards toward Olive to get away from the dark figure only just coming into focus.
“Hi, girls. Is everything okay?” Candace McCleary asks from the right and Gracie glances at her gratefully. Her trusty companion must have bolted from her park bench as soon as the giant appeared. Now she stands alert as though ready to pounce and Gracie breathes a sigh of relief. She hadn’t even seen this man until it was too late. Gracie grits her teeth and silently berates herself as her father’s words about being observant come to mind.
“Uhhh…” Gracie finds her voice, but it comes out as a meek croak. Meanwhile, Olive leaps up next to her and runs for the figure with open arms. Gracie gapes, sure she is about to see her friend eaten before her very eyes.
“Daddy!” Olive cries, launching herself into the man’s arms. Gracie blinks and it is like a cloud has moved from where it had covered the sun. The giant, no longer in the shadows, transforms into a tall man wearing a nice suit with no tie and a long coat. Gracie finds herself marveling at the fact that he doesn’t appear to be hot in the slightest and momentarily wonders if he has ice in his pockets, but stops all speculation when she sees his face. Angles and cheeks like Olive, dark curls and the same grey eyes that seem to change from green to blue and back. The corners of Gracie’s mouth turn up and a sense of ease washes over her.
“Is it time to go already?” Olive is speaking at a mile a minute. “We only just started playing pirates. Can Gracie come home with us? We’re having Thai for dinner. I bet she’ll like it.”
The tall man chuckles at his daughter and the sound is like a really warm blanket, soft and comfy. He glances at Candace and settles his gaze on Gracie. She bristles for a moment at those all-seeing eyes. It’s true they are like Olive’s, but much wiser. Gracie has the feeling he is learning much more from just watching her than anyone else can. She’s not entirely sure how she feels about that, but supposes it’s why Olive is so perceptive and she loves her. Besides, this is her dad. Gracie feels like she knows him already after all the stories she has heard.
“Ah, so this is the infamous Gracie,” Sherlock says surreptitiously with a look in Olive’s direction. The girl smiles broadly and nods while Gracie smiles a little timidly. His chin dips in greeting. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
“I know a lot about you too,” Gracie replies as she rises, finding her tenacity again.
“Of that, I have no doubt,” Sherlock answers. He turns his attention to Candace, who still looks a touch uneasy. “And this is your friend?”
“Yeah,” Gracie confirms enthusiastically. “This is Candace.”
She jumps up and grabs Olive’s hand, pulling her toward the young woman.
“And this is Olive,” she exclaims.
“Oh,” the last traces of suspicion vanish from Candace’s eyes and she gestures at the girls. “Of course. You’re Olive. Gracie has been telling me about you all week.” “And this is my dad,” Olive introduces. “Sher…”
“William,” Sherlock interrupts, offering his hand. Candace steps forward and takes it in a firm shake. “Will.”
“Nice to meet you,” Candace replies, not noticing the quizzical look on Olive’s face, but Gracie sees. She also sees Sherlock glance at his daughter and communicate something that clears the confusion from Olive’s mind in an instant. Gracie tilts her head in thought, considering this new information. She and John can do that sometimes too. It makes her that much more certain that Olive is meant to be her best friend.
“It’s quite a coincidence them meeting in the park like this,” Candace is saying when Gracie emerges from her thoughts. “Do you live around here?”
“Yes, just on Baker Street,” Sherlock answers politely, but with a tinge of the tone Olive has when she mutters that something is obvious. Gracie lets out a quick giggle.
“Oh, right,” Candace nods with a friendly smile. “That’s not far at all. Maybe we’ll see you here again.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Sherlock looks down at the two girls, both of which are very excited. Olive is almost dancing in place and Gracie would swear she needed the toilet if she didn’t know better. “We’re here every Saturday just after lunch.”
“Perfect,” Candace says. “That’s about when we arrived. I’ll let her father know too. He’ll usually be the one who brings her.”
“He had a baby to deliver,” Gracie supplies. “He’s a doctor.”
“So Olive tells me,” Sherlock tells her with a certain mirth in his tone. “I would very much like to meet him, especially now that I’ve met you.”
“He’s wanted to all week,” Olive exclaims, giving Gracie’s hand a squeeze. “Ever since the first day.”
“I just can’t believe we ran into each other like this,” Candace declares, still a little dumbfounded.
Gracie doesn’t hear Sherlock’s response because Olive leans in close to whisper in her ear how great it will be when their fathers meet. The blonde nods her head vigorously and they laugh together quietly.
“Oh my, it’s nearly tea time,” Candace says to her watch. “I have to get her home. Are you ready, Gracie?”
“I guess so,” the girl pouts. She throws her arms around Olive in a huge hug. “I can’t wait to see you on Monday.”
Gracie gasps and looks at Olive with wide eyes, her hands still clamped around her arms.
“I’m going to write you a special note tomorrow and make a comic with my favorite markers,” she announces with glee. “They smell like strawberries and grapes and stuff.”
“Oh, wow!” Olive hoots. “I’ll make one of my maps for you.”
“It could be of this park!” Gracie shouts as Candace’s mobile sounds. She pulls it from her pocket and glances at its screen, pressing the surface to turn off the alarm.
“We really have to be going,” Candace says apologetically. “It was so nice to meet you both.”
“And you as well,” Sherlock dips his chin in farewell as Candace takes Gracie’s hand and leads her away.
“Bye, Gracie!” Olive calls, waving madly.
“Bye!” the blonde shouts back.
Olive waves for a good thirty seconds and then turns to face her father with her arms crossed over her chest. She raises a brow expectantly and Sherlock knows precisely why, but says nothing.
“Let’s go, shall we?” he begins walking toward home, knowing she will follow. “I believe Mrs. Hudson is making fresh biscuits.”
“What was that about, Dad?” Olive asks in disbelief, already matching his steps. “Why William?”
“You know I use aliases at times,” Sherlock replies without looking at her.
“Yeah, for cases, but these aren’t criminals,” Olive insists. “These are my friends.”
“I know, love,” he turns his head to see her earnest expression looking up at him. “I just don’t want to prejudice Gracie’s father.”
“What’s prejudice?” Olive furrows her brow as she repeats the word.
“Well, you know my profession can be dangerous,” Sherlock begins.
“Yeah…” Olive says slowly, eyeing him curiously.
“A lot of people know that because they see my name in the media,” he explains. “I don’t want Gracie’s father to hear my name and assume Gracie will be in danger. I’m concerned he will get the wrong impression and feel uncomfortable about you being friends.”
“Oh,” Olive says flatly as if she hadn’t considered that. They walk in silence for a moment until she speaks up again. He knew she would. She is too smart and inquisitive not to have follow-up questions. “So what are you going to do when we’ve been friends for months and it’s time to tell them your real name? Say ‘By the way, my name is really Sherlock Holmes.’?”
Sherlock gives her a withering look and says nothing. Her jaw drops and she shoves him lightly.
“Dad! You can’t NOT tell them,” Olive insists. She bends at the knees slightly to emphasize the word not. “It’s dishonest. Dad, it’s lying.”
“Sometimes we lie for the greater good,” Sherlock tells her curtly.
“Now you sound like Mycroft,” Olive sneers and that stops Sherlock dead in his tracks. He turns to face her, dropping into a squat and meeting her eyes.
“I would do anything for you, Olive,” he says sincerely, resting his hands on her shoulders. She curls the corner of her mouth and cocks a brow.
“Dad,” Olive begins matter-of-factly, “I know that and I would do anything for you too, but you told me I couldn’t lie.”
“Yes. Yes, I did,” Sherlock sighs and then continues resolutely. “You’re right. I’ll introduce myself properly when we meet Gracie’s father. Okay?”
“Okay,” Olive grins and they walk again, hand in hand.
“Olive?” Sherlock says, glancing her way. She looks up at him in answer. “Don’t compare me to Mycroft again.”
Olive lets out a quiet chortle and tightens her grip on his fingers. 
“Desperate measures,” she replies more than a little pleased with herself. Sherlock puffs a quick breath through his nose and smirks as they walk on. Like father, like daughter.
---
What the hell, Jane?? I know what you said at the beginning, but this is unfair. Gracie and Candace get to meet Sherlock, but not John?! I want the boys to meet again! NOW! So sorry, my friends, but you'll have to wait a bit longer. Worry not, it will happen. Eventually. (insert evil smile, cruel chuckle and holding of fingertips together like Mr. Burns) Love, Jane
@johnlock-rocks
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imagineclaireandjamie · 4 years ago
Text
Shielded: Chapter Six; Spring Watch.
Anonymous said to imagineclaireandjamie:
A hard man is good to find. [Mae West]
--
Jamie woke with a start, the alarm blaring in the background.
The dream had been intense and had left him panting, a sheen of sweat on his skin as he pushed the duvet aside and stood. As always it was light outside, the sunrise half blinding him as the blasts of orange and red permeated the old curtains. Washing the night from his skin, he plunged himself beneath the pounding rivulets of water coming from his power shower, his body temperature receding slightly as the morning wore on.
Fortunately Claire wouldn’t be awake yet and he could slip from the house almost unnoticed. He needed to get a good day of work done, and to forget the memory of his dream before he faced her again. The mere thought brought colour to his cheeks, the heat in his belly reminding him of how incredibly realistic it had been.
Delicate pink skin appeared without his permission and once more he could feel the remnants of it haunting him as he slid his wellies on and closed the door softly behind him. Working in a daze, he prepared his cows for milking, the heat of the morning fading slightly as the clouds rolled in. The animals barely paid him any mind, going about their own business as he fed, watered and tended to them.
She hadn’t snuck into his bed, as she had in his dreams, but she had infiltrated his thoughts and no matter how hard he tried, sporadic jolts of her came unbidden throughout the day as he worked.
She’s married, he told himself, although the argument felt pretty weak in his own mind. In the abstract she was, he could tell that she still thought herself that way despite starting her new life. Without knowing it, she often rubbed her wedding ring finger - though the ring had long since been removed. It was obvious she was struggling with the transition and who could blame her, it had only been a couple of weeks. She was still hesitating on her name whenever he spoke it out loud to her, the subtle twitch betraying her.
But she was beginning to thaw, the shocked reaction he received when he spoke to her growing less and less as time went on (which, secretly, made him smile).
The baby lambs were out in force as he pulled the sandwich from his rucksack - one Claire had made him the night before. He smiled to himself as he perched on the fence, watching his first time mums as they paraded their babies around the perimeter of the field. Food somehow tasted better when someone else had made it for him, the slight differences in style allowing him a great enough change in routine to be noticeable.
She, it seemed, had a penchant for adding multiple salad products on her ham sandwich. Whereas Jamie was always in a rush at 4am, trying to collect his thermos as well as various food items to keep him going for the day, usually he would just throw slices of meat on top of bread without much thought. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and *butter*, however, made all the difference. He even had potato salad on the side and a bag of what looked like homemade crisps.
Before Claire had arrived, John had given Jamie a very brief update as to her situation. Knowing a limited amount, he gauged that the difficulties she’d encountered recently hadn’t really set in yet and, instead, she was going through some sort of nesting, using her time at Lallybroch to cook and clean, ensuring that her mind is actively kept away from thinking about much at all.
His mind needed something similar as the image of her pottering about in his kitchen whilst he was away brought to the fore those visions that had him startled awake this morning before his alarm had even a chance to ring and he shook the picture of her bare skin from his thoughts, turning back to his task list.
The orphaned lambs were thriving now. Most had been ‘adopted’ by other nursing mothers but he still had two rogue ewes who were waiting for collection - Rupert, his nearest (mostly by proximity but also by friendship) neighbour had offered to take them for him but had yet been unable to drive over to collect them. In lieu of this, Jamie had been spending time hand feeding them every day though he worried each time he left them that he might return to something unmentionable.
Luckily, they’d survived another night in the small outhouse and he crawled in between them, the straw poking and prodding him as he settled with the warm milk bottle. The first, the largest of the two, squirmed in excitement, rushing to plonk herself by his side and suckle noisily at the teet.
“Easy now, lass, there’s enough for the both of you.” He soothed, watching as she butted the bottle, falling to her knees as she fed. Sheep were notoriously terrible pets, losing their fear of humans when in contact for too long and he had worried this close contact wouldn’t be good for the ewes, but watching the smaller of the pair sit helplessly in the corner made him think of Claire.
An idea came to him all of a sudden as he moved towards the lone female. He could, if he wanted, take the lamb home that evening and leave her in Claire’s care. Not only would it give the poor wee thing a greater chance, it might give her something else to turn her attention to in the day. There was a large chance he’d lose this one if he didn’t do something drastic.
-- --- --
An odd feeling settled in her stomach from the moment she woke up. Though she couldn’t put her finger on what the issue was, she felt a strange atmosphere hovering around her. Her skin prickled as she got out of the shower and she immediately felt as though there was something she should be remembering but couldn’t quite hold onto the memory.
She’d heard Jamie leave this morning, which was odd in itself. Usually she was fast asleep at dawn, not waking until much later when the house was quiet and she was alone. But she’d been woken this morning by some forgotten thought or dream that she couldn’t picture from the second she’d opened her eyes.
After barely speaking for two weeks, the weekend had been a welcome change.
Conversation had not been forced or odd, Jamie had allowed her time for quiet reflection and had seemed really quite pleased with her suggestions for the upcycling of his old furniture.
She felt useful, finally. A feeling she hadn’t had in some time.
Putting herself to work, she opted for cleaning downstairs for the best part of the morning. There was still a lot of dust residue from the sanding epic they’d had on Saturday, even spending most of Sunday dusting and hoovering hadn’t removed it all, so she pulled the dyson from under the stairs and tried to be as thorough as she could be.
Like cooking, she had never considered herself to be fluent in the art of housewifery. Before...when she had been able, her time had been dedicated to studying. There had been a cleaner for such tasks and, even afterwards, she hadn’t *needed* to be useful in that way. Here, though, there was nobody else to clean, do the dishes or cook and she found that losing herself to each task kept her mind (and body) active.
Sitting with the remnants of her crisps, she decided that was the dish she’d been most proud of since her introduction to the kitchen. She found herself thinking of Jamie and hoped that he was enjoying them too.
Their food deliveries now consisted of a greater variety of produce and she’d been able to add some colour to his lunch - which she had been making every evening and putting into the fridge for him to take when he left in the mornings.
She felt pleased as well as shocked at how easily she had moulded to fit her new life here.
Happy with her efforts, she turned her attention to the bookshelves in the back living room. There were titles dating back hundreds of years. Thick leather covers with yellowed pages sat proudly amongst the newer softback novels. She could tell which books had been read just by glancing at the spines, though there had been fingerprints in the thin layer of dust that had been there only hours before.
They were categorised, it seemed, by the surname of the author, carefully and methodically organised so that each time a new title had been purchased, it had been added in the right spot though there wasn’t room for many more.
His taste was eclectic, from non-fiction books on farming, agriculture, holistic medicines and horticulture to the classics (neatly bound with multiple editions ordered together, oldest first) including Jane Austin, Victor Hugo, Descartes, Melville and Hemingway. Jumbled in were some biographies but she’d assumed those belonged to either his parents or sister as none had been touched for some time.
Her fingers ran over the spines, stopping to hover over the drawing and painting books she’d first read when learning to doodle on the post-it notes in the first few weeks. She didn’t stop until she reached a relatively new title that she hadn’t noticed before. There was ruffling on the edge, a clear sign of frequent use, and some damage to the corners. Pulling it from the shelves, she settled into the comfy armchair, her cup of tea now cool enough to drink, and began to read.
It was modern, eloquently written with intricate plot weaving from the moment she turned the first page. The front cover clearly denoted that of a romance but there was intrigue and art as well as carefully homegrown characters. Before she’d had time to digest the prose, the front door opened and closed and she blinked. The clock on the desk ticked loudly and she noticed that hours had passed without her knowing.
Placing the book back on the shelf, she decided to leave it where it was for the time being and come back for it before bed. Though the visuals she’d imagined for herself stayed with her as she stretched and went in search of Jamie.
A loud noise caught her attention and she burst out laughing as she walked into the kitchen to find him wrestling with a small lamb.
“A new friend?” She said, her shock fading quickly.
“Ah; lass, I need ye!” His words were breathless, his cheeks a vibrant pink from the exertion of keeping the lamb from darting off and wrecking the joint. “I have a challenge for you, if you’re up for it!?”
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inevitably-johnlocked · 5 years ago
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hey steph! how long would you say you spent on sorting out fic recs and tagging them and all that stuff? just curious because i really wanna start a fic rec blog too
Hey Nonny!
UGGGHHHH Tumblr deleted my entire response, so I’m going to just jot out what I remember.
Depending upon how long you’re willing to spend, a LONG time. You guys have NO idea how much work it is, and how much off-tumblr time I spend doing it. When I keep saying “it’s a full time job” it really is. The blogging you guys actually see takes about 2 hours, from filing my blog to answering a few asks here and there, but the rest is ALL filing my fics and creating lists. 
Now, mine is “perfected to my liking” after two years of trial and error and headaches, but yeah, if you’re serious about becoming strictly a fic rec blog, prepare to put in a lot of time and effort. BUT to be fair, I’m ridiculous in my sorting and organizing... I have a weird OCD thing where I need stuff sorted in a certain way, and it takes longer than it probably should. But it works for me and it has become very streamlined now that almost all of my Ao3 bookmarks are finally sorted. In the beginning, when I decided I would start reccing fics, it was only meant to be a here and there thing, but then people kept coming to me more and more and that’s when I decided I needed to keep an offline list. So here’s some tips from me to you:
Keep offline lists. Tumblr fucks up enough that you WILL lose interest in redoing a big 50-fic list if tumblr decides that nope, today I don’t feel like posting your file because you didn’t refresh your page BEFORE typing it out.
Going along with the above, keep an offline masterlist of your read-and-tagged fics. All the recs I give you guys? They’re all on one of three list masterlists I have offline: GO Recs, FFNet Recs, and Ao3 Recs. This will be SO much easier for searching for topics when making new lists.
Do the lists WAY ahead of time. This has given me back many-a-Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights because I prep my lists ahead of time.
Develop the “public” system of filing for your things, and use that for your Masterlist, so you don’t have to redo it every time (so like don’t have just Ficname by author if that’s not what you want to do for your recs). For example, my system is this, emphasis included: Fic Name by Author (Rating, wordcount, Chapter count || WIP/AU if applicable || PODFIC LINK if applicable || list of personal and/or author tags here, even if they spoil the story; i’ve found some people with triggers appreciate that I tag EVERYTHING I find in the stories) – Author’s description or personal description if there isn’t one. Series link if it’s part of one. This way, all I have to do is copy-paste it into new documents for each list, and then copy-paste the whole list into the Tumblr doc. 
Also, re: the above, do the layout in Tumblr if you’re doing a Tumblr rec blog. It keeps the formatting consistent and I don’t have to fix it between Ao3 and FFnet if I just copy-paste everything into a blank Tumblr doc, and then copy paste THAT onto the masterlist. Trust me on this one. 
Draft everything. This goes along with all the above. I always “start” a list and put a big header so that I can find it in my drafts (that’s why they have the big bold H1 headers on them) and then hit “draft”. Then keep a list of your drafted fics in your preferred method of organization. I keep everything in Text Edit RTF files. I believe Alexx told me once she did spreadsheets. Either way, develop a system BEFORE jumping into this thing, because you will EASILY get overwhelmed if you aren’t used to high-stress levels.
Tag fics as you read them. Trust me on this one. Because it will save you MONTHS of re-reading every single bookmark so you can properly file fics. I do this on my Notes App with the story title, and then all the tags I know are popular requests or are for lists I know Nonnies have asked for.
Keep CONSISTENT in your tags. Don’t tag one thing O!verse but another Omegaverse. I had to redo a lot of my older tags because CMD+F was pointless on a document I purposely made to streamline the process.
USE Ao3′s TAGGING FEATURE for your bookmarks. Just make sure that if any of your tags are spoilerific, make sure you keep the rec private.
File EVERYTHING as soon as you bookmark it. It will save you a LOT of hours of going through all your recent bookmarks to file them. 
That said, HAVE A FILING SYSTEM if you’re keeping everything offline. Keep separate documents for each list... Trust me on this. I used to just have one document each for Fluff fics, for example, and put subheaders in them, and it just got messy and annoying as my fic reccing became more common and plentiful. Instead, have a nice list like this, for instance:
Tumblr media
The grey dots next to some of them are old filing methods that I need to fix and pull out. Also, as you can see, every time I finish a list, I file it into Posted and start a new list appended with a Pt number. It just keeps the system moving smoothly. I also have a system for the coloured dots; Grey is Old and refile, Orange is drafted on Tumblr, and Orange and Green means it’s drafted and ready-to-post.
I also have an offline “drafted posts document”:
Tumblr media
That also has a system as you can see, but it keeps me knowing what I’ve already got drafted on Tumblr if I forget to tag the files with the colour dots.
It looks tedious and complicated, but I promise you, it’s really simple once you’re familiar with my method. Which is why I’m saying, you need to develop this kind of system REALLY early rather than 2 years later like I did. This drafted posts list is only recent as of... February I believe is when I started it.
Hmmm. Ah, yeah, so you can see it’s a lot of work, and this is why I absolutely dislike HateAnons negatively criticizing my lists, because it IS a lot of MY free time, between 8 and 48 hours a week. But if you truly enjoy sorting and organizing like I do, it’s a bit easier to cope with. So, yeah, whenever I tell you guys “I need some time away” this is why, and usually I switch to playing video games or doing art, both of which I miss doing on the weekends. I’m trying to keep the Tumblr stuff to mostly Weeknights these days, so that it’s an extension of my day job. Funny how I have less free time working at home than I did when I wasn’t; because I feel obligated to always be on my computer now, and I hate that. Like right now, I just bought 2 new games to play and I haven’t tried them yet because I’m always working both day-job stuff AND Tumblr stuff on weekends. 
So yes, that’s another tip: Don’t let it consume you, and set a schedule. Don’t feel obligated to answer every request. When I am tired and I just genuinely don’t have the energy to dig through 1000+ fics to find 2 or three for an obscure ask, I usually make it an interactive ask – not only does it encourage community involvement and a sense of belonging for everyone, but I also discover new fics to read too! I am IMMENSELY proud and happy that my fic lists have essentially become “fic exchange” grounds. Before it was only on one or two lists, some timid new authors added their fics to my big lists, but now, since people SEE that I add their fics hidden in the notes to the main post, now everyone is happy to share their faves on the main lists AS WELL AS the smaller single asks. I like to think of myself of a “curator of happy things” so that’s what I like to do with these. 
That said, you have to also decide if you’re going to be this interactive as well. Because that adds an ADDITIONAL hour or so as you make a separate “MFL” document and file those too. It’s time consuming, but totally worth it because if I’ve read the fic, all I have to do to that post in my MFL list is add my tags and file that block of text :)
I hope I helped you out a bit, Nonny, and I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of my process. If I can get OBS to work on my laptop, maybe I’ll do a short video so you guys can see me doing it live. 
Anyway, sorry this got long. :P
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beeprblog · 3 years ago
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Beepr Goes To Shows: Governor’s Ball 2021.
In this first installment of Beepr Goes To Shows, I spent all 3-days at this years Governor’s Ball to give you crowd coverage you deserve and concert recaps/reviews you want. Stay tuned for more show write-ups and other updates!
Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist
What happens when you put two legends on the same stage? You get one hell of a fucking show. Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist were on another level that Friday afternoon, delivering classics from Madlib collaborative albums (Crime Pays, Fake Names, Palm Olive, Thuggin), recent singles from Freddie (Big Boss Rabbit, Gang Signs), and all your favorite offerings from Alfredo (Baby $Hit, Scottie Beam, Something To Rap About). The braggadocious swagger Freddie brings to the stage is tempered by Alchemist’s suave production and generally reserved demeanor, making them a very balanced performance. Despite being an acclaimed producer, you get the sense that The Alchemist is there to support Freddie rather than make the performance about himself. Freddie’s natural humor shines through in between songs, cracking jokes while taking tokes and hitting a bottle of Hennessy. Chants of “Fuck police,” cheers for the Alchemist, and concert-goers belting choruses created a deafening atmosphere, rivaling some sold out indoor venues I’ve visited. To call Freddie a cult artist would be disrespectful of all the mainstream achievements (Grammy nominations, cracking Billboard Top 25s, etc), and yet for some reason, he remains on the fringes of superstardom. Part of what people love about Freddie Gibbs is his larger than life personality, as he has an authenticity about him that’s naturally charismatic. If there’s anything I can be certain about after that set, it’s that Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist have undeniable chemistry and I hope they have more on the way.
Phoebe Bridgers
In January of 2018, a report from Nielsen Music identified that rap had surpassed rock in terms of overall music consumption. But Phoebe Bridgers will not allow her genre to go quietly into the night. She very well may be the next iteration of a rockstar. From her band all being in uniform, to the stage production, and most importantly, her diehard fans: Phoebe Bridgers is killing it in all aspects of the game. Apparently, I had been living under rock for quite some time as I only did a deep dive into her music when I saw her on the Governor’s Ball lineup announcement. How foolish was I? Phoebe has an incredible catalogue despite being only 27 (bolstered by her work with groups like Boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Center). Songs like Motion Sickness, Garden Song, and ICU feel more like Phoebe hosting a singalong, as the entire crowd is belting back each and every lyric at the top of their lungs with emphatic energy. Tracks like Kyoto also fall into that category, but there’s an immense rush of excitement as the brilliance of Bridger’s music blares through over the speakers for the chorus. Ballads like I Know The End are blissful moments of serenity, as I found myself swaying with my eyes closed in my little spot in the crowd. Her nonchalance in between songs is intoxicating, as it’s a beautiful contrast to her immensely emotive and personal performance. It’s so endearing to see past what’s on the outside and find an individual who profoundly cares about their work. What perhaps is most endearing about Phoebe’s performance is how she’s unabashedly herself: quips like “Fuck nihilism, too” are interjected in between songs, her outfit a glamorized rendition of the classic skeleton t-shirts. While I might have been late to the party in terms of the Phoebe Bridgers hype train, you can bet I’m going to be early to every one of her shows from here on out.  
A$AP Rocky
As Saturday night of Governor’s Ball was drawing near to an end, there were millions of individual conversations buzzing around in the crowd. But almost all of them were centered around one question: When will A$AP Rocky start? At 9:12pm EST, our question was answered, with a bang. Crowd surfing around in an inflatable car, bullhorn in hand, Rocky showed off some new sounds as unreleased tracks (Grim Freestyle amongst the slew of unreleased tracks) boomed over speakers. Mosh pits opened up left and right as the concert slowly evolved into a beautiful, New York block party-esque chaos. Hearing recent work like his features on Slowthai’s MAZZA and Famous Dex’s PICK IT UP were unexpected yet gratifying moments. But what really amplified the crowd was hearing some of the “older” radio hits. I can’t remember a time in recent memory when I’ve been as excited as when the first synths on LPFJ2 and Telephone Calls hit. Classics like Praise Da Lord and Yamborghini High ensured that there were no lapses in energy or excitement. Babushka Boi set the crowd ablaze, as the off-key notes intermingled in the beat acted as cues for the rowdy meter to kick it up a notch. Rocky even gave up some of his set to ensure the rest of the Mob was represented, as he had the DJ play Plane Jane by A$AP Ferg. The softer side of Rocky’s discography was met with equal anticipation as Sundress and A$AP Forever were met with exuberant cheers. Fully embracing his trippy side, after asking us if we liked hallucinogens, Rocky performed L$D to a roaring crowd (he also teased us with the unreleased Mushroom Clouds after asking us if we fucked with mushrooms too). During what felt like a showcase of the Harlem rappers’ ability to generate raucous ovation, the time had the crew informed Rocky his set had to be wrapped up. An earnest plea to keep it going was made, begging to at least get off Peso, but the euphoria was always going to be finite. It’s safe to say, anyone saying Rocky fell off is full of it.
Burna Boy
From start to finish, Burna Boy kept it hot. Bringing plenty of Nigerian flair to the CitiField air, I can safely say that Burna Boy’s set was one of the most enjoyable of the weekend. Even before he appeared, loud chants imploring him to take the stage could be heard ringing throughout the grounds. As his band and mom (who doubles as his manager) patiently waited, you could see them grinning and laughing as they knew we were in for a great show. Burna Boy then graced the stage and we were transported to another world, filled with laid back vibes, political protest, and triumph. Opening up with Gbona, it was apparent that the entire show was going to be electric. Hitting dance moves, grinning from ear to ear, it was obvious that Burna Boy planned on making a stellar first impression at the Governor’s Ball (he also earned major New York brownie points by giving us an animated performance of his velvety feature on Enjoy Yourself by Pop Smoke). Hearing some of my favorite songs live cemented them even further in the favorites category, as his performance adds another level of fun and personality. Collateral Damage, a beautifully subverted political protest anthem, felt truly harmonious as the entire crowd chanted the chorus with their fists in the air. As much as I love my AirPods, the heartfelt energy of both the crowd and Burna Boy I felt in the crowd during Anybody and Dangote could never be matched by speakers. Even the less upbeat songs (such as Wetin Man Go Do) he performed were met with incredibly cheerful reactions as. Live riffs from the band during some of his most popular singles added great spice for those who are familiar but equally exciting for new listeners. It’s apparent that there’s a great sense of camaraderie amongst the whole crew, that their main goal is to put on a memorable and joyous show. I can only hope that Burna Boy and the band make trips to the states more frequently.
Ellie Goulding
Have you ever felt the urge to forget everything that’s worrying you and just live in the here and now? Then you should go to as many Ellie Goulding shows as humanly possible. There’s a good chance you’re already familiar with some of her work (I’ll get to that in a bit), but it’s an entirely other thing to see her bring them to life. Hidden under the surface of a soft-spoken, singer-songwriter is a powerhouse performer, ready to give the show and attendees her everything. Watching her confidence grow during the set, seeing her come out of a shell that had likely developed as a result of not touring, was a beautiful sight to behold. In between comments about how grateful she was to be performing, quips about her outfit, you really got to watch her conviction begin to grow and take root. Anthemic at every instance, the crowd was equally ready to return the same energy Goulding graced us with. The only thing that was all over the place about her refined and poised performance was the eclectic mix of work she pulled from. From Lights (and yes, if you’re curious, that shit slapped) all the way up to her latest album, Brightest Blue, we got treated to the Ellie Goulding evolution set. Intermingling a solid slate of collaborations like Diplo’s Close To Me (I don’t know if I’ve ever sung along as fervently as I did for that one), Calvin Harris’ I Need Your Love (okay, I lied, this is the one where I lost my voice), and Major Lazer’s Powerful, there was a reference point regarding how they discovered Goulding for everyone in the audience. Hearing oldies like Aftertaste, Anything Could Happen, and Only You instantly transported me to simpler times, back when bills and deadlines seemed like an abstract concept. In another edition of music star leads a sing-a-long, the crowd could have taken over for Lights and Love Me Like You Do. Thankfully, we got to hear Ellie too. It’s a magical moment when a few hundred (maybe a full thousand) are all united by one common goal: to embrace the present and shower the performer with adoration in the form of knowing every lyric. Harmony amongst total strangers, tied together through a common love of music. Ellie Goulding gave us more than one of the best sets from the weekend, she gave us a sense of unity and togetherness unlike any other I’ve experienced.
Post Malone
When you find a superstar, with millions of fans and millions in the bank, that you feel like you can still crack open a crispy Bud Light, you’ve found something special. And we all know that Post Malone loves a cold one. The final chapter of Governor’s Ball 2021 ended with Post Malone’s Sunday night set, a perfect way to wind down the weekend. Opening up the set with an inquisitive “Hello?” to test out the mic, this show was one of the most authentic and down-to-earth concerts I’ve been to in quite some time. It almost feels like you’re just hanging out hearing some song ideas from your friend Austin Post, wearing some regular denim shorts and a “Where’s Waldo” style striped shirt, until the audible roars from the crowd of “Posty” remind you you’re at a headliner. Arguably the most larger-than-life aspect of Post’s set was his entrance on the stage, via a smoke-cloud suspended platform adorned with metal chains. With a healthy mix of beerbongs & bentley’s, Hollywood’s Bleeding, recent singles and old hits, Post Malone was showing us all of his repertoire. Chugging beers at the request of the crowd, checking in with all of us in between songs, calling for celebration and happiness, Post goes to great lengths to ensure that the crowd is with it and that everyone is having a good time. Tracks like Psycho were somehow both relaxing and energizing at the same time, as the chorus transformed the venue into an incredible echo-chamber. We also got to see how many friends Post has, as we got guest appearances from Young Thug (performing Goodbyes), Roddy Rich (gracing us with Every Season and The Box), and 21 Savage (to perform Rockstar, which Post Malone did his best to embody all night). With each feature, the crowd seemed to kick into another fear of excitement, but that’s not to say people didn’t lose it for some of Post’s solo work. Stay, which Post performed seated strumming an acoustic guitar, was as heartfelt as it could get in its stripped down state. Despite previously admitting to not being able to sing without autotune, you could see how much he cared about capping off the weekend right while performing that song (without autotune in an effort to be as real as possible). White Iverson and Congratulations were both barn-burners, as the whole festival grounds were chanting lyrics and bouncing along. After a very long weekend of raging and raving, Post Malone’s set managed to run through the whole gambit of festival emotions: joy, excitement, surprise, and relief. It’d be disingenuous to say anything other than Austin Post has mastered the art of headlining.
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anachrosims · 4 years ago
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Personal Note:
This is copied from a post on my Patreon, which is public here. 
The following is the same text, just edited for brevity here on Tumblr.
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I have to admit that I'm not going to finish everything to things posted tonight (Saturday).
I also want to note that I am very, very sorry that I haven't put out more content this month. I always want to do what I can to be worth your time and money--I want to do right by the people who are helping support these creative endeavors.
As some of you who have been patrons since last fall may know, I was unemployed for a year, and faced homelessness by February/March of this year if I wasn't able to find employment. [Luckily] I eventually found employment essentially on the year anniversary of leaving my last job, and have been in training since. This week was my first week out of training, and it's been... a lot, but in a very good way. [...] I'm happy that things are different, I'm just... in flux.
[...]
I don't say this to beg for sympathy, or to manipulate anyone into staying as my patrons. I simply want to let you all know the truth, that I am in a time of adjustment in my life, and have certainly not taken your support for granted.
I'm honestly very sorry my output just hasn't been that high this month. I've been working with Peebs to get the Gorgeous Georgians CAS stuff done, and most of it will actually go out Sunday, 1/31, as will the Gorgeous Georgians Add-ons set. Next weekend the other half of the set will come out, and then it's time for the final home stretch of working on finishing the GG Build part.
I think I'm going to set up some polls to see how y'all want content to be issued from now on, whether in monthly batches or as it becomes available, so keep your eyes peeled for that. I also need to spend some time thinking about taking better care of myself, about not putting myself under high stakes pressure--at work, I've found myself stressing so much to the point that it's caused muscle spasms in my back (related to a spinal injury I had five years ago that caused permanent damage). And I've even found myself stressing about not doing right by y'all. And at the end of the day, not even the job that pays my rent and bills is worth that level of stress. So. I just want to arrange things so that I can still do something I enjoy, while still doing right by the people who choose to show support (monetary and otherwise) for that effort.
Finally, I'm going to overhaul the Patreon page at some point with pretty graphics and of course, the following stipulation:
If you decide, for any reason at all, to unsubscribe, please send me a message here on Patreon. You do NOT have to tell me why you've unsubscribed! I don't need to know. Frankly, it isn't my business. But messaging me will help me keep track of you so that I can send you any CC I upload for the next month.
I know this may seem counter-intuitive in terms of patron rewards and making money, but...... I'm not here for the money (though it has certainly helped me get back on my feet financially). It is a gesture to prove that I want to do right by my subscribers and by the community as a whole. I wouldn't be here, doing this, if it weren't for the community itself and the lovely people in it. I also want to communicate that I do not harbor any ill will toward people who don't subscribe to this Patreon page, or to those who choose to leave it, or have to leave it for financial reasons.
Thank you, again, all of you--subscribers, onlookers, friends, strangers.
As ever, your feedback is extremely important to me, so don't be afraid to shoot me a message here on Patreon or on Tumblr.
Take care of yourselves, and look forward to downloads tomorrow and next weekend.
x x x
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lacrow · 4 years ago
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SXF Collaboration Story
@nonokoko13 , @sxfobsessed , @nagy-bari
First off I’d like to apologize. Under my insane direction, this little ficlet has turned into a 12k behemoth. Therefore I will be positing it in two parts (and also linking to ao3 since I threw it in with my one-shot collection). I’ll add the link to Part II when it’s edit/posted. Thank you to everyone who helped come up with this idea, it was a lot of fun to write!
Title: Cabernet Makes Her Clothes Fall Off
Rating: T
Part I: ao3
Part II: tumblr, ao3
Parties Involved: Loid Forger, Yor-Briar Forger, Anya Forger, Bond, Franky, Yuri Briar, Becky Blackbell, Camilla, Dominic, Millie, Sharon Mission Objective(s): host a dinner party for friends and acquaintances, [INCOMPLETE] Reporting Status: [IN-PROGRESS] ADDENDUM 1 [NIGHTFALL]: After careful review of last night's mission report, it has come to my attention that Twilight's conduct has been highly inappropriate for that of a WISE agent. I recommend personnel changes be made for the ensured success of Operation Strix. ADDENDUM 2 [TWILIGHT]: Sorry, I forgot to save you leftovers. ADDENDUM 3 [NIGHTFALL]: That's not what I meant, and you know it. ADDENDUM 4 [HANDLER]: He's married. Also, thank you for the leftovers, they were delicious.
Part I
A cacophony of sounds emanated from the Forger house as Yor frantically tried to get things ready for what was sure to be a total disaster.
In just a few hours, guests would be arriving for an impromptu dinner party that she had no right organizing in the first place. It wasn't her call to make, not without consulting her husband first, but...she went and opened her big mouth anyway. Now she was suffering the consequences for it, and not just her, either. Yor looked up through the window above the kitchen sink as she desperately went about getting things ready for the evening's festivities. Loid and Anya stood by the door as they started to put their coats on. The latter had her school backpack on, though in lieu of books and pencils it was instead filled with a change of clothes and some toys.
"I'll be back soon to help set up," Loid called out to her. He went to gather his hat and gloves. "I already called the Blackbells' nanny and told them I can't stay long."
"Ok," Yor replied meekly. Half of her wanted to tell him not to rush. The other half desperately wished to ask the opposite of him. "Please be careful you two."
"Bye mama!" Anya looked over at Yor as Bond came up to sniff her goodbye. "Have fun with your party tonight!"
The Forger matriarch couldn't help but to frown. "You do the same at your friend Becky's...do everything her parents tell you, okay?"
"I will!" Anya replied back. She smiled brightly in anticipation at her upcoming sleepover, though it waned the longer she stared up at her mama.
Yor had no way of knowing her daughter was reading her mind. If she did, it wouldn't have made her feel as guilty when Anya suddenly ran around the corner and wrapped her arms around her leg in a tight embrace. That wasn't to say she didn't appreciate the gesture; if anything she desperately needed it at the moment. It's just that she assumed Anya's hug was less out of fondness and more out of pity, though in the end she accepted it all the same. Yor knelt down and pulled Anya in close as Loid waited by the door with a well-hidden smirk on his face.
"Love you," Anya smiled encouragingly, eyes closed in content.
"I love you, too," Yor teared up a little. She squeezed her daughter tight. "I'll see you tomorrow."
They held each other for a moment. Though she didn't want it to end, Yor ended up being the first to let go. She smiled at Anya before the little girl waved and skipped off towards the door. Already turning the knob to leave, Loid let their daughter out first before turning to his wife. He said nothing, but gave a small, comforting smile to her before exiting. She nodded as a silent thanks before watching him leave, and it soon became just her and Bond. The Forger hound sat there with his tail wagging, and he looked up at Yor with an expectant look on his face.
Yor glanced down at the dog and sighed. "Well, Bond...time to get back to work."
Bond said nothing back, as was to be expected.
/*\
"You're joking, right? Not even a housewarming party?"
A familiar face; the deadpan look of an unimpressed Camilla, though to Yor she seemed just as pleasant as ever. If only the poor girl knew what every other woman working at city hall knew, which was that Camilla loathed her with a(n admittedly waning) passion. No one had the heart to say anything though, which was mostly why they stayed silent as Yor revealed to them that she and Loid had never had a get-together at their house before. Individual people, of course, but never more than one person at a time.
"Er, well...no?" Yor's lips squiggled. Was that a bad thing?
"Really, Yor, you're hopeless!" Camilla shook her head, exasperated. "Don't you and your husband have any friends?"
Yor blinked. "Well, of course we do. You, for starters."
Camilla's jaw dropped as the other women snickered behind her. Yor continued. "And I suppose that includes Dominic, as well? Also Loid's friend Franky, and his co-worker Fiona, and-"
"-Alright, alright, I get it!" the blonde woman grumbled, waving Yor off. "Fine, you have friends. So why then haven't you hosted before?"
Yor frowned a little. She knew why; it was because Loid was always tired and she was terrible in the kitchen. If there was going to be party then he would have to do the cooking, and Yor didn't have the heart to ask that of him. Not when he had so much on his plate already (pun unintended). Still, Yor could see where Camilla was coming from. She had been nice enough to invite her over to a get-together at her house, while Loid and herself had never shown the same courtesy back. It was rude, and not to mention suspicious.
Couples invited people over for dinner, right? So then, what would people think if she and Loid never did?
The more Yor thought about it, the more she realized her attempts at playing house were falling short again. Yor looked up at Camilla, Millie, and Sharon, and all of a sudden she felt self-conscious. They seemed to be waiting for an answer that Yor couldn't give them, or at the very least one she refused to share; that her marriage was a sham and she didn't know the first thing about entertaining guests. It was the truth, but they weren't meant to know that. All Yor could do was think about what her husband would do in her situation. What would Loid's response be?
He'd make it happen. One way or another, he'd pull through like he always did.
"W-well," Yor stammered. She flinched a little. "Why don't you all come over this Saturday?"
The other women paused, most of all Camilla. The three of them threw glances at one another, suddenly finding the spotlight reversed on them. They seemed to have a wordless conversation amongst themselves, while at the same time Yor kicked herself for opening the door to her home like that without talking to Loid first. He liked his privacy just as much as she did, and the weekend was one of the few times he got to relax (and even then it wasn't guaranteed). Yor's head started to slowly spiral; what if he got called into work, or she suddenly had to take a contract-killing job on short notice? This was a bad idea. She had to rescind her offer, and fast-!
"-Do you want us to bring anything...?" Camilla asked reluctantly. It almost looked like it pained her to say it out loud, mostly because it did.
Yor froze. The worst case scenario had come to pass, even more so because she had brought it upon herself. She stood there as three pairs of eyes stared at her once more, only there was no going back this time. The window of opportunity for backing out had already passed, and the only thing Yor could do was try her best to swallow the quickly growing lump in her throat.
"...N-no," Yor shook her head. She gulped. "...My husband and I will cook something for dinner..."
/*\
"I'm a horrible wife," Yor lamented as she straightened out her white polka dot dress. "I never should have agreed to this. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine, Yor," Loid eased. He closed the oven door and threw his mitt onto the stove top. He turned towards her. "There's no reason to beat yourself up."
Yor frowned. Loid sighed. They both looked to the clock on the wall next to them and immediately came to the same conclusion; their guests were fashionably late. A quarter past six and no one had shown up yet, but that ended up being more of blessing than anything else. Loid had gotten held up at the Blackbells' a little longer than expected, and Yor had only just barely finished cleaning by the time he made it home. She at least had it to where all he needed to do was fix up the casserole for later; the rest of their home, from the living room to the bathroom, was immaculately spotless.
"So remind me again who all is coming?" Loid asked uncomfortably as he looked back to the kitchen. He was fairly certain there was enough food, but...
"Well..." Yor thought for a moment. "The girls, so, Camilla, Millie, and Sharon. Dominic as well, and he of course told my brother so Yuri's coming, too. And also Fiona-?"
Loid shook his head. "She won't be coming. Something came up at work and she won't be able to make it."
Some hostage situation at the embassy, last he heard. Nothing Nightfall couldn't handle, though it'd certainly take her the whole night to sort through it all. Tragedy aside, it at least worked in favor of Loid's dinner planning. Along with some easy-to-make finger foods, there would be more than enough to keep everyone satisfied. On top of that, they'd rearranged the furniture in the living room to open it up a bit more. They had also moved the dining room table up against the wall, and Loid even got a hold of a couple breakfast nook chairs (courtesy of WISE) for the counter at the kitchen window.
This little shindig of theirs was turning into quite the gathering. Loid smiled a bit at the thought, even as Yor continued to look up at him in dismay. He had half a mind to reassure her some more, but knew it would only fall on deaf ears. Instead, he took it upon himself to leave her for a moment to go digging in the pantry. He fished out one of the cheap bottles of wine they'd gotten for the evening's festivities. Yor immediately held her hand up to protest, though karma had come full circle to spite her. She didn't listen to Loid. Therefore, neither would he listen to her.
A moment later and he arrived with a glass in his hand, filled halfway with blood-red courage. "Everything will be fine."
"I know..." Yor replied weakly as she took the wine glass from her husband. "...I just feel guilty for dragging you along with all this."
"Hey, we're a team," Loid reassured her. He smiled again, and Yor's face became flushed. "You just focus on enjoying yourself, and I promise it'll all work out."
For what felt like the first time that night, Yor gave a smile back. A small one, of course, since she still had a million things running through her head, but at the very least she gave Loid the response he was looking for. Yor closed her eyes and took a sip and, as if her husband had been right all along, there came a knock at the door immediately after. Yor paused; she quickly tried to swallow her wine in order to answer it properly, though Loid was already opening the door by the time she had composed herself.
They both figured it must have been Yuri (since he was usually quite punctual), but Loid's face fell flat as someone else came into view. "I hope I'm not late!"
Shaggy hair. Scraggly chin. A stature half that of Loid's; the man glowered. "Franky, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm here for the party, of course!" Franky gave a stupid grin as he held up another bottle of wine. "I didn't get the invitation, but I figured you must've forgot!"
"...Right, of course," Loid's eyes narrowed. He continued to glare while Franky grinned. "Must have slipped my mind..."
Stiffly, Loid stepped back to allow his friend entry. He looked to Yor as Franky shuffled in, and he shuddered to think what an unaccounted for guest would mean for her party. Surprisingly, his wife seemed pleased at Franky's presence. She set her glass down and gave him a proper greeting, to which Franky did the same. He placed the bottle of wine on the counter after shedding his coat, and immediately made a b-line for the bathroom. The door shut behind him as he made his pit stop, leaving both Forgers alone again for a moment.
"I'm glad Franky could make it!" Yor smiled.
"Likewise," Loid added flatly. He shook his head in dismay.
"Next time I'll be sure to remind you to invite him," she added while grabbing his arm.
Loid relented with a smile to his wife, though the inside of his head was working overtime trying to sort through possible scenarios for the evening. It's not entirely that he didn't want Franky there (part of him truly didn't), but the less he mixed up Twilight's affairs with Loid Forger's the better. Not even taking into account just what a bad idea inviting an SSS agent into his home was, having Franky and Fiona there would have thrown a whole headache of problems into the equation. Nightfall could have handled herself well enough, but Franky...
He prayed to whatever god above that the little fool could behave himself. Just for one night.
All Loid could do was have a little faith, though that wasn't really his M.O. He'd try not to worry in the meantime, but would continue to keep an eye on Franky for the rest of the night. He eased up on the guy once he emerged out the bathroom and approached him and Yor for pleasant conversation; his initial terseness passed, and the three of them actually got on well enough for a time. For how long, specifically, Loid couldn't say. Before any of them knew it, there came another knock at the door. This time Yor was the one to answer.
"I'm so sorry I'm late, Yor!" an impassioned voice cut through their home, and Loid knew right away it was Yuri. "I got held up at work and missed my train!"
"That's okay, Yuri, so is everyone else!" Yor smiled, and Loid did, too. She was letting the guest situation roll of her shoulders, which was good.
There was a shuffle at the door as both Briars came inside. Yor took her brother's hat and coat, and he smiled pleasantly at her in silent thanks. The moment his head swiveled in Loid's direction, however, that pleasantness quickly took a nosedive. Yor was none the wiser, of course, though Loid was more than aware of his brother-in-law's killer vibe. He smiled.
"It's good to see you again, Yuri!" Loid chimed politely. His smile grew as Yuri's turned even more.
"Loi-Loi," Yuri bowed his head stiffly in acknowledgement. Beside him, Franky cracked up at his friend's stupid nickname.
Yuri's eyes fixed on Loid and Yor's other guest. Likewise, Franky looked to Yuri. This was the first time either had met each other properly, though Franky was more than familiar with Yor's brother and his position as an SSS agent. Admittedly, it was a bit unnerving for Franky to be in his presence, especially with that...weird look he stared at him with. Loid had warned him about it multiple times; the dude was nuts about his sister. Him being friends with Loid probably didn't lend him any favors, so his opinion of him probably was at rock bottom at the moment.
Nowhere to go but up from there, right? "Hiya! The name's Franky, nice to meet you!"
Franky held his hand out to shake. Yuri glanced at it before looking back up. He offered no hand of his own.
"Yuri! Don't be rude!" Yor chastised her brother from behind. He cringed and glanced at her over his shoulder. "Franky's my friend, too!"
The Briar boy turned back around to find two smug smiles waiting for him; an obvious one from Franky, and a thinly-veiled one from Loid. Whether he noticed them or not, Yuri made no comment. He simply shook Franky's hand (reluctantly) and offered a halfhearted hello in reply. The two promptly separated and went their separate ways. Franky followed Loid into the kitchen while Yor stayed behind to talk more with her brother, and both groups kept up conversation for a time until another knock came at the door.
Camilla and Dominic. The pair entered, both carrying offerings for the party; a tray of enticing appetizers and another bottle of wine, respectively. The couple were met with multiple greetings and they offered their own before splitting up almost immediately. Loid showed Camilla into the kitchen while Dominic stayed behind to talk with Yuri. Franky joined everyone else in the living room, seeing as how there wasn't a lot of room in that tiny kitchen for three people. Besides, Loid didn't trust him in there, which was fair.
"Thank you for the food, but you really didn't have to go through all the trouble," Loid told Camilla as he dug into the cabinet for plates.
"Well, Dominic insisted we bring something, and it's a recipe I've been meaning to try out for a while now." She stood off to the side to stay out of his way.
"It smells great, can't wait to try it," Loid smiled pleasantly. A moment later and he procured the dinnerware. Camilla offered to take them into the living room for him.
Loid handed the plates off to her. Camilla turned to walk away, but paused as Loid spun around to gather his own appetizers. She shifted uncomfortably as she scanned him up and down; a nice dress shirt, perfectly sleeked hair, muscles, and an air of confidence that most men spent their whole lives pretending to have. Loid Forger had it all, and Camilla couldn't fathom just how in the hell Yor ever bagged such a hot husband in the first place. Seriously, how? It was downright frustrating just how perfect he seemed; the man could cook, raise a daughter, deal with Yor, and still seem nonchalant about everything. If she didn't know any better, Camilla would have said his and Yor's marriage was some kind of front for the mob or something. There was just no way...
"...Babe, you alright?" Dominic's head suddenly popped into the kitchen. "You're spacing."
Camilla jumped out of her skin and nearly dropped the tin, in no small part because she was caught red-handed thinking about Yor's husband. Luckily for her, Dominic didn't come to that conclusion. He smiled and waved her over and, after she shook herself out of it, Camilla followed him obediently towards the living room. The two of them dropped the food off on the dining room table on the way, which was joined by Loid's tin soon after. He stuck around to open some of the wine bottles, and Yor had half a mind to offer him help but ultimately decided against it. He was good at popping corks, and she would have honestly just gotten in the way.
Yuri, Camilla, and Dominic stood off to the side and chatted. Franky kept Yor company until Loid appeared a minute later, and the three of them sat gathered around the coffee table while they waited for the other guests to eventually arrive. So far, so good, Yor thought to herself as she scanned her apartment. Wine glass in hand, she let out a poorly hidden sigh of relief. At that point, Loid smirked. He must have been thinking the same thing she was, at least that's what Yor assumed. He leaned over the table to pat her shoulder comfortingly, and she flinched at his touch (out of habit) before quickly relaxing. Her husband was right; just enjoy the evening, and everything would work out fine.
She nodded to herself and took a sip of wine, and a small smile tugged at her lips soon after.
/*\
Millie and Sharon arrived stag together soon after. With Franky taking up the baton for Fiona, everyone Yor had invited ended up coming. Bond was promptly kenneled in Anya's room (with plenty of food, water, and a bone) and the party was in full swing. 
Loid started to drop off plates in front of people, and he couldn't help but be thankful that Handler had secretly requisitioned him the extra chairs. It was just enough for everyone to have a seat, though he distinctly remembered her shaking her head initially at his request. Not that she wouldn't do it, but more to do with the fact that he was going native, as she had so eloquently put it. A dinner party for his wife's friends? The higher-ups would rip them both a new one if they got wind that Twilight was blowing agency funds again over something stupid.
Regardless, she wrote it off as a business expense for an upcoming mission.
Handler always was a sucker for parties.
Loid just needed to save her some leftovers, which was easy enough. A couple missing appetizers and a suspiciously absent square of casserole were tucked safely away in his fridge for his boss. The spy game could get weird sometimes, and vicarious party attendance was just one of those things that agents did to keep themselves entertained during missions. Usually that involved going out of their way to secretly acquire a bottle from the bar to bring back to a safe house or finding out a way to smuggle out a whole chunk of wedding cake without being seen by the bride and groom. It was a stupid inside joke amongst spies; that being said, Loid was no stranger to it. He fully expected the same from Handler the next time she attended a party for a mission.
"Thank you, Loid!" Yor beamed up at him as he pulled up the chair next to her. All the plates had been delivered, and he held the last one in his hands as he sat down.
"Yes, thanks for cooking. It looks great," Sharon added politely across from them. At her side, Millie echoed the sentiment while trying hard not to eat without everyone else.
Loid nodded and waved off their praise. Meanwhile, Yuri grumbled from his spot against the wall. He of course wasn't about to afford his brother-in-law any good will, though Franky next to him had more than enough for the two of them. He stared down at the food in front of him with big eyes and watering mouth; it was by far the best looking thing he'd seen in a long time. He wasn't necessarily the healthiest eater at home. Mostly his pantry was filled with noodles, cereal, and the occasional box of macaroni. This was a downright feast.
There was only one thing missing, and he almost forgot it before digging in. He hadn't eaten anything all day so he'd abstained up until then, but now was definitely the time for a tall glass of wine. He swung down from his chair and shuffled into the kitchen as the rest of the party cut into their food and carried on in conversation. Nobody paid him any mind, save for one man whose head immediately shot over when he noticed a familiar bob of scruffy hair struggle to uncork another wine bottle. Loid quickly excused himself with no one the wiser.
"No drinking," he stated firmly as he came up behind Franky and lifted the bottle from his hands. The latter spun around incredulously.
"Excuse me?" Franky guffawed. He held his arms out to the side to accentuate just how insulted he was.
"Do you remember what happened the last time you drank at my house?" Loid replied flatly. His voice was hushed. Their conversation needed to be quiet.
Franky considered for a moment. He genuinely gave it some thought before slowly shaking his head. "Er...no?"
Loid pinched the bridge of his nose. "You nearly blew my cover, plus you convinced me to spend thousands of dalc on a castle rental for Anya!"
"Hey, that was your fault for listening to a drunk guy!" Franky shot back, which only caused Loid's eye to twitch in annoyance. "Also, what are you talking about?! Yor's drinking and she's way worse than I am!"
"I can handle my wife. I can't handle both of you," Loid shook his head like a father reprimanding his child.
"She's your fake wife!" Franky whispered back loudly. "I'm your best friend! You're really just going to cut me off like this?"
Loid leaned over his so-called best friend. Their height difference was on full display, and Franky gulped. "This whole party was Yor's idea! It's important to her, and I'm going to make sure it goes off without a hitch. If that means keeping you dry for an evening, then so be it!"
Twilight made a brief reappearance; those cold eyes he was known for were suddenly aimed directly at Franky, and they got his point across loud and clear. With a reluctant nod, Franky agreed to skip the booze. Loid soon eased and nodded back before leaving to return to the other guests. That just left Franky alone by himself with an open wine bottle and a half-full glass on the counter in front of him. He grimaced at the thought of pouring it back into the bottle, a social faux pas if there ever was one. Dumping it certainly wasn't an option, either. Franky was never one to waste a good drink, regardless of the situation.
The newly-sober intelligence agent put his brain to work and came up with a quick solution; if Loid thought so lowly of him at the moment, why not prove him wrong? He was trying to score points with Yor (probably, he really didn't know why Twilight cared in the first place), so maybe if he helped make sure she had a good time then that might make him back off a little. Yeah, that's it! He'd pour the rest of the wine and treat her to a glass, then...well, he'd think of the rest later! His first priority was to make sure Yor was liquored up. Can't have a good party without feeling good, of course!
It all made sense. At least, it did to Franky, anyway.
With a smug grin, he filled the remainder of the glass. The bottle glugged in his hand until there was nothing left, and he promptly disposed of it before carefully curling his fingers around the cabernet meant for Yor. He focused intently on the red liquid as he walked, staring down at it to make sure that none of it came splashing out. Franky narrowed his eyes and suffered full on tunnel vision; for all the years he and Twilight had known each other, also taking into account what a connoisseur the latter was, it was a downright shameful how little Franky knew about handling wine.
Anyone who had ever carried a glass before knew to look forward when they were walking, not down at their hand.
Nobody noticed him at first. He scooted into the open room and crept up while everyone was eating and talking. Yor had her back to the wall, and Loid's was towards him. All the better to surprise the Forgers with a kind gesture, Franky plotted. He let a sneer cut across his face as he arrived and cleared his throat, summoning his hosts' attention.
"Here you go, Yor!" Franky announced obnoxiously. All eyes turned towards him. He lifted his nose haughtily in the air. "I thought you might like a glass of wine-!"
-He suddenly stopped.
Not of his own volition, but because something had caught his foot and sent the rest of him reeling forward. Franky's eyes widened, and he looked down to find he'd tripped over one of Bond's stupid chew toys. He hadn't seen it before. It was too late to do anything about it. Already he was lurching towards Yor and Loid, and even if he caught himself from falling over there was no stopping the overflowing cup in his hands from spilling everywhere. Franky watched, captive, as cabernet rained over the one person Loid had done his damnedest to please that evening.
Yor sat helpless as her white polka dot dress suddenly splattered blood red. Warm liquid stained her and her clothes, and the rest of the party froze for a millisecond as what was happening still registered in their brains. Then, immediately after, Loid jumped up. Yuri and Dominic did so as well, while the women covered their mouths in disbelief. Yor stared down at herself in shock as her brother and husband clamored around her, though it was Dominic that ended up gathering all the available napkins to sop up whatever wine was left puddled around her.
Franky ultimately didn't fall. He caught himself at the last second, though he quickly wished he'd landed flat on his face and passed out from the trauma. At least then he could have been spared from Twilight's wrath; when Westalis' legendary agent quickly ascertained his wife was alright and promptly spun around, Franky could feel his soul being pulled out from his body. And the worst part about all that was, Loid wasn't alone. For the first, terrifying time, both he and Yuri seemed on the same wavelength. The two pierced through him with blood lust in their eyes. An SSS and WISE agent both teaming up to gut him; hell had certainly frozen over, and Franky felt the chill down to his bone.
"...Franky!" Loid menaced. He said nothing more. He didn't have to. The mere mention of his name alone was enough to make the agent quake in fear.
Yuri on the other hand was far more animated, though Dominic was at least on standby to forcibly reel him in. "How dare you spill wine all over my sister you q-tip-headed moron!"
"Hey now, it was an accident!" Dominic reasoned with a pained smile, even as Yuri tried to break free from his grip in order to pummel Franky's face into casserole.
"...H-he's right," Yor piped up reluctantly. Everyone suddenly got quiet and spun around to face her. "It's fine, you two. I'll just...have to rinse off in the shower real quick."
Loid paused. He looked at Yor to find her already standing up. She hid her face with a frown, and immediately Loid's heart sank. With a muted excuse me, she walked past Loid and the other guests on her way to the bathroom. The party watched in silence as she darted into the bathroom. No one made a peep, not until the door closed behind her; at that point, things picked back up exactly where they left off. Yuri went to rip Franky a new one. Dominic did damage control. Camilla and the girls mumbled to each other in hushed tones, and Loid was left standing there in the middle of it all. He stared at the bathroom, disheartened. He wanted to help, but knew there was nothing he could do at the moment besides keep the party going. He had to. For Yor's sake.
With a heavy sigh, he flipped on the switch once more. Back to being Loid Forger, the perfect family man.
With a fake smile and calm demeanor, he went about trying to put everyone at ease. Yuri was by the far the most difficult of the bunch to appease, but after much pandering (and an honest promise to kick Franky's ass later) Yor's brother finally calmed somewhat. He sat far off at the other end of the living room away from everyone else, and once he settled down the rest quickly followed. Conversation slowly picked back up, even more so once the sound of a shower being drawn came from the end of the hall. Yor was getting cleaned up. She'd be back at the party in no time, and the thought was enough to finally get things back in full swing. Franky was still the odd-man out, but Loid didn't care about that. The twerp.
New house rule, Twilight thought to himself as he went back into the kitchen to pour the ladies some more wine. No more WISE agents at social functions.
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xxsovereignsarayaxx · 5 years ago
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Fifty Shades of Mikaelson
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Authors Note: So here is the first installment of a mulit chapter series, I posted a teaser chapter last year and after a lot of work and editing here is the first chapter. This will be a slow burn series but I hope you will stick with it. Word Count: 2953 Pairing: ???Mikaelson x Reader Insert (Slow Burn) Warnings: Implied sexual humor. Richmond Virginia is the home to Mikaelson Enterprises, one of the largest companies in the US to date, with countless connections across the country and the world. After receiving the company from the untimely death of their parents and younger brother Henrik the six remaining siblings all took a share and equal role within the company. 
The loss of their parents and younger brother was hard on the remaining family and became so tough on Freya and Finn that they ultimately took a step back from public eye of the company and became silent partners, this allowed Elijah, Niklaus, Kol and Rebekah to have a free rein on the company so to speak.What made Mikaelson Enterprises different to all the others was the fact that it didn’t have one sole purpose. 
The company originally thrived at investing low market sales. Rather than take the risk and invest in the higher term stock markets each sibling took to different sectors and reaped the rewards of their own doing which allowed them endeavour into other opportunities.Each sibling was different, Rebekah stuck to fashion. Her aim was that she wanted people to look great whilst not breaking the bank and so she worked with a large team of designers to manufacture a line of clothing that was stylish while being at affordable prices. Kol and Niklaus went into business together to create the bourbon of bourbons, wanting to create a new brand and enjoying the odd glass or two led them to a likely partnership. Elijah was different compared to his other siblings rather than go out into the world and create a new product he used his studies and degree and built a highly respectable law firm. And each separate business venture was all under the same roof in the tallest building in the city.
Springtime in Richmond was often cold and or wet, and as I watched from my large bedroom window the weekend hustle and bustle of those wanting to get to work on time hurried in large packs and then would disperse quickly into different buildings. I padded barefoot through my large apartment, still half asleep, yawning and stretching relying on my auto-poilet function to get me to my kitchen so I could sort myself out with a cup of coffee and some much needed breakfast. Scratching my scalp with my nails I waited for the kettle to boil when I heard my laptop ping with an email. Groaning that I had emails to read on my day off, I ignored them whilst I carried on waiting for the water to boil but then the glorious chime of the skype ringtone filled my ears and I begrudgingly went over to my desk and answered the call.
“You’ve got some explaining to do love.” Klaus said, as I clicked on accept.
“I'll take your late night business meeting went well.” I teased back wiggling my eyebrows, carrying my laptop to my kitchen island. 
“Why didn’t you tell me Caroline was the representative for the Salvatore’s?” 
“I didn’t want you to have...performance issues.” I replied with a higher tone of voice whilst also swinging my hips as my back was to the camera while I continued to fix up my daily dose of caffeine. 
“You can do better…” Klaus deadpanned sounding un-amused. 
“Is that what Caroline said, aww champ.” I said as I turned back around to the camera with a mug in hand sipping away at the hot liquid. 
“I need you in the office today.” He said changing the subject. 
“You know I don’t work Saturday’s.” I replied, leaning back against the kitchen cupboards taking another sip of coffee. 
“Kol needs a new assistant…”
“And that is my problem how?” I sassed back.
“Unless you want the extra workload? I suggest you find somebody.” Klaus said smugly as he raised his eyebrow. 
I leaned towards the camera slightly. “I mean the extra money would be nice but it doesn’t quite fit in with my schedule, but who in their right mind is going to put up with your brother? Come on how am I meant to pitch this? By the way the guy you're going to be working for is arrogant and so self absorbed not to mention he thinks he’s the hottest and smartest guy in the room.” I ranted sarcastically. 
“I’ll see you within the hour Y/N.” He said bluntly and he ended the call. 
Letting out a huff I closed the laptop lid in a swift motion and lent back on the kitchen cabinets and took my time drinking my coffee. I glanced up at the clock, I saw I had about forty five minutes to get into work, which meant an hour give or take. Putting my now quarter empty coffee cup in the sink I headed over to my bedroom and picked out some clothes to wear. Selecting a form hugging, white knee length dress with a thin black belt, I then moved into my on-suite bathroom and jumped in the shower.  
As I entered the building to my workplace I did my usual rounds of saying my good mornings and made my way to the elevator. Standing patiently I waited for the metal doors to open and it made me think back to my very first day at the offices working for Niklaus or Klaus as he liked to be called. I was fresh out of college and had my tuition debt looming over my head and as I read through the job adverts in the daily paper I saw that there was a position at the esteemed Mikaelson Enterprises, hearing that it was good money I applied for it and I had been working happily here for the past two and a half years.  
Strolling through into Klaus’ office he looked un-amused just like he was in the video call earlier.
“You're late…” He scolded.
“I told you I don’t work Saturday’s.” I sassed back. 
“Do you want to find yourself unemployed?” He threatened. 
“Oh please you couldn’t even last a day without me, I know you better than you know yourself. Tell me again who is it that sends out Christmas cards to the shareholders? Or handles organizing all of your meetings?” I replied, rolling my eyes at his lame threat. 
“Organizing meetings are a part of your job Y/N.”
“Ahhh Y/N there you are darling, here is the list of candidates you asked for.” Kol interrupted, walking into Klaus’ office interrupting mine and his bickering and the younger Mikaelson hands me a stack of files.
Taken aback by the weight of the files, I gave him a sarcastic smile. “I did?” I asked, gritting my teeth sending my boss daggers with my eyes. 
“Brother would you like to join me for a drink? The distillery has a new batch they would like us to try.” Kol asked. 
“Would love to, I’ll catch up in a few moments just have a few things to sort out here before we leave.” Klaus replies and with that Kol says his goodbyes and leaves the office. 
“Really? You're calling me into work so you can play hooky?” I questioned, gesturing with my free hand.
“Duty calls. If it makes you feel better you can work here.” Klaus says with a smile and gets up from his desk and grabs his leather jacket and heads for the door.
“Would you also schedule a meeting with Marcel?” He asked as he turned slightly facing me. 
“Sure, how does the 10th of kiss my ass sound?” I deadpanned, rolling my eyes.
“Perfect love, I’ll see you later.” 
Klaus left his office and I let out another huff, so much for spending my Saturday at home binge watching TV whilst having a face mask on and eating a tub of ice cream, hanging up my woolen coat on the coat stand I placed the files on his desk. Slumping back against the leather office chair I reached out for the phone and slotted it under my ear and shoulder as I dialed the number for Marcel’s office while I looked at the first résumé. 
“Hello Gerard Corporation, Davina speaking.” 
“Hey Davina, it's Y/N.” I replied whilst scanning down the document. 
“Hi, Y/N! What can I do for you?” Davina asked in a chirpy tone.
“Can I book Klaus in to see Marcel next week? I did say it’ll be the 10th of kiss my ass but if that doesn’t work how does the 6th?” I asked her, spinning in the chair. 
I heard a chuckle down the line. “I have no idea how you can get away with talking to your boss like that!” 
“Takes practice, don't worry though in a year or two you’ll be speaking to Marcel exactly the same way.” 
“I doubt it, but you're in luck Marcel is free on the 10th. I’ll email you a confirmation this afternoon. But why are you working today? I didn’t think you worked on a Saturday?”
“Yeah so did I. Klaus called this morning saying that Kol needs a new assistant and that unless I want the extra workload to find someone suitable.” I replied with a grumble. 
“Oh dear. Have you found anyone yet?” She asked.
“Well so far I’m on the first one but listen to this.”
“Ok.”
“I’m hardworking, loyal to a fault and will complete any task given to me to the best of my ability.” I said in a completely different accent and all I could hear from the other line was Davina laughing.
“Kol is...a difficult person anybody sweet and nice would just crumble under him.” 
“Tell me about it, well here's to hoping I can find someone in this stack who can stick it to him. I best get back to work but fancy going for a drink on Friday night?”   
“Sure thing, let me know how it goes. Speak to you later Y/N.”
“Bye D.” I said as I put the phone down and got back to looking at the applicants. 
Taking another of the résumés I left the office and headed to the break-room to fix myself another hot drink. As I was leaning over the counter waiting for the coffee maker I heard a clearing of the throat. 
“Nice to see your putting in the extra hours Y/N. Niklaus seems to have taken the hint about getting you to work one weekend a month.” Elijah says. 
Slapping the document on the counter I span around. “Do you really have to make me sound so cheap Elijah?” I teased feigning that he hurt my feelings. 
“Deepest apologies Y/N, you are looking lovely today might I add.” Elijah says.
“Why thank you, what brings you to this floor?” I asked him, fluttering my eyelashes.
“I was hoping to see Niklaus, is he available?” 
“Wasted your time I’m afraid, he’s playing hooky with your brother down at the distillery. No idea what time he will be back. But I can call you once he gets back into the office?” I suggested, picking up the cup and slid the résumé under my arm.    
“That would be rather helpful, thank you. I couldn’t help but also notice that some of my brothers' employees were looking a little frazzled. Perhaps you could aid them?” Elijah said back. 
“I’m a secretary Elijah, I’m not running a day-care when your brother goes out.” I replied pulling a face, rolling my eyes and walked past him leaving him alone. 
As I walked through the office back to Klaus’ office one of his employees called Joshua collared me. “Miss Y/N the fax machine isn’t working.” He uttered stumbling over his words. 
“Joshua darling, did they not teach anything at college? Here hold this.” I started, handing him my coffee cup and file and went to the fax machine to which was surrounded by a few other members of staff.  
“Listen up children.” I called out. 
“Bessie has done her service over the years you just need to know how to deal with her.” I added as I lifted up a flip, kicked the bottom drawer and pulled out the paper that had jammed. 
“Thank you.” I said quickly taking my cup and file and made a rather sharp getaway and back into the safety of Klaus’ office. 
I spent the remaining part of the afternoon going through the remanding résumés and to be honest out of the thirty I had read none of them stood out to me, the majority of the applicants were female and seemed ‘too nice’ and I didn’t think they would stand a chance, what male applicants were there also didn’t seem to be packing much in the spunk department. Looking at the clock on the wall I noticed that it was three-thirty and I was seriously hoping that Klaus and Kol would be making their way back to the office soon so I could go home. When I had an idea. Picking up the receiver on the phone I dialed a number to which I hoped would be the savior I needed. 
“Hello.”
“Cami? Hey It’s Y/NN how are you? Just a quick one, are you still looking for another job?” I asked, twirling the wire around my forefinger.
“Y/NN, I’m good thanks and yeah I am. Why do you know of somewhere?” She asked me back.
“How do you feel working at the same building I work at? My boss's brother Kol, he’s looking for a new assistant. I will warm you though, he may be hot but he can be an ass.” I told her with a chuckle.
“Honestly I’ll take what I can get, the hours at the bar are getting fewer and fewer.” 
“Pop down to the office on Monday. I’ll schedule an appointment so you can meet him and get a feel for the place.”
“Alright I’ll do just that, thank you so much Y/NN.” 
“No worries Cami glad I could help.”
Ending the call and putting the phone back, the door to the office swung open and Kol and Klaus stumbled in, while Klaus propped himself up by holding onto the back of the sofa, Kol crash landed onto it. 
Raising an eyebrow. “I take it the tasting at the distillery went well?”
“That it did love.” Klaus slurred back.
“Did you find me a new assistant? Y/N” Kol asked me, shifting his position on the sofa.
“I did, I’ve set up an appointment on Monday so you can meet her. If she is too your liking she can start as soon as.” I replied back to him, moving to another part of the room that had a jug of water, pouring it into two glasses. I handed one to each of the boys. 
Klaus and Kol looked at me and then at the glass of water in their hand, letting out a sigh I made a drink up motion with my hands. 
“Elijah was also looking for you earlier, I did tell him I would contact him when you got back to office however I don’t think now is a good time. And that is also me done for the day thank you very much.” I added and collected my things and left the office. 
Walking into my apartment I was exhausted, dumping my handbag and coat on the sofa I stripped off and turned the shower on. Standing underneath the water flow I enjoyed having the hot water fall onto and down my body as I felt the day drain away from me. 
Monday came and I was back in the office like normal and already typing away at my desk which was located just outside Klaus’ office. I was in the process of sorting through some of the stray bits of paperwork that was scattered on my desk when the familiar notification came through. Glancing at the screen I let out a scoff, Klaus wanted to see me in his office. Pulling out the USB drive that was in my computer and strutted into the room. 
“His lordship wishes to see me.” I teased, mocking a curtsy. 
“Did you type up the transcript from the Salvatore meeting?” He asked bluntly. 
“Yes it’s all on here but you also have paper copies in the bottom drawer in your desk, you have a meeting in twenty minutes with Marcel and I also made a reservation at that fancy restaurant for you and Caroline at eight.” I replied, motioning to the USB stick in my hand when I mentioned it. 
“What would I do without you love?” 
“Probably you wouldn’t survive at all, but is it really a good idea to be seeing Caroline outside of business negotiations?” I asked him. 
“You see love that when people have too much to drink they let details slip. All you have to do is ask questions. But would you be a sweetheart and pick up my suit from the dry cleaners?” Klaus replies smugly. 
“If you say so, but in my opinion playing Caroline like the way your aiming is just a dick move. And what did your last slave die of?” I told him bluntly. 
“Love I’m not playing your friend. I’m playing the odds so I can win the bothersome game between us and Salvatore’s just remember who you get your paychecks from, and we ‘evil villains’ have minions such as yourself to go and pick up dry cleaning. Now if you don’t mind.” 
“Yeah, yeah I get it. Just if you do you know find yourself in a compromising position later tonight make sure you wrap it before you tap it.” I sassed, winking at him and left the office. 
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kookscrescent · 5 years ago
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Early Morning Talks │ knj
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➤ pairing│Namjoon x female reader  ➤ summary│Your traditional early morning talk with Namjoon leads to a little worry, but he always knows what to say. ➤ rating│PG-13 ➤ genre│fluff, marriage au ➤ warnings│a little fluff to make your heart melt, a little bit of angst, kissing ➤ word count│1.8k│semi edited ➤ release date│September 15th 2019 ➤ disclaimer│This is all fiction! Nothing mentioned/written are facts and/or real! So please just keep that in mind when reading and enjoy! Thank you ♡
⇥ Masterlist
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Namjoon’s soft pillowy lips gently brushes against yours. His hand combing back the few pieces of hair that has fallen over your forehead.
You can’t help but sigh into the kiss, enjoying the feeling of his lips gently moving against your own. The pace is not too fast and not too slow. It’s the perfect way to wake up on a Sunday morning.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look waking up in the morning?” He pulls away just enough to ask you, his eyes capturing yours in the dimly lit bedroom.
“You have mentioned it once or twice before.” You shrug sarcastically.
Every morning he tells you that you look beautiful, and every time it sends a herd of butterflies through your stomach, making you thank your lucky stars that you found your soulmate so early in life.
He leans in to peck your lips again. This time they link for a longer period of time before he pulls away. He lays down beside you, your faces facing each other and your hand intertwining between you.
Outside the sun is barely even up yet. The streets are still quiet and most of the streetlamps are still on. It’s early. Way earlier than most people probably likes to get up, but this is yours and Namjoon’s little Sunday tradition. You are both so busy during the weekdays, and everything is always so hectic with work and life itself, that you barely have time to just be together the two of you and talk like you used to before you got married.
On Sundays you always wake up before the sun does. Together you will lay in bed, cuddled up next to each other, and talk for hours about literally everything and nothing. You personally don’t really care what the topic is, you just love to lay and listen to Namjoon speak – speak about how his week have been, any troubles he may have had, or his dreams for the future.
“We should go on a vacation soon.” Namjoon suddenly interrupts your thoughts.
“A vacation?”
“Yes,” he confirms. “we haven’t been on a vacation since our honeymoon and that was three years ago. It’s time.”
“We went to Busan last year.” You remind him, a smile playing on your lips.
“That wasn’t a real vacation,” he firmly states. “That was a two-day weekend trip with your parents to go visit your brother.”
You can’t help but laugh at the frown that has settled between his brows as he tells you this. He props himself up on his elbow, his free hand playing with the wedding band on your finger.
“No, we should go on a real vacation. To Hawaii… or… or Bora Bora. And for at least two weeks.”
“That’s expensive babe.”
God, that really does sound like a dream. To be able to go to a tropical place for two weeks and just relax and not worry about work or any real-life problems.
But it’s only a dream. “There’s no way we can afford to go on that expensive of a trip right now. I still haven’t gotten promoted at work, and you always tell me that your supervisor is on you for not working hard enough – to which I might add is a complete lie and he can go fuck himself,” upon hearing your words Namjoon throws his head back, a laugh escaping his throat. “because I barely get to see you because you are working your ass off! Plus, we’re saving up to start our family soon, remember.”
“I know baby, I know.” Kissing your forehead, Namjoon pulls you closer. The warmth from his body radiation onto yours and your curl yourself closer, your face nuzzling into the crook of his neck. He still smells like faint cologne and soap from his shower last night.
“But we will make it work! I could maybe pull some weekend shifts over the next few weeks,” he feels you tensing in his arms at his words. “I know it’s not what you want, it’s not what either of us wants, but it’ll only be for a few weeks and if it means that well be able to go on vacation and still put money aside, isn’t it a win win situation?”
“I guess…” you sigh into his neck.
The idea of him working during the weekends doesn’t sit well with you at all! You barely get to see him much these days as it is, and to be able to have the weekends to yourself is precious to you and you don’t know if you are willing to give that up.
“How many weekends are we talking about?” you ask him.
He takes a minute to think, going over all the calculations in his head before giving you an answer. “If I work both Saturday and Sunday… a month maybe. But if it’s only Saturday then it will obviously be longer, so maybe… a month and a half, two months tops.”
A month? That doesn’t sound like that would be too bad.
Bringing your head up, you look at his face. “But I’m more worried that you will overwork yourself during that time then!”
With his thumb he smooths out the frown between your brows, his lips gently brushing over the sport right after. “Don’t frown baby.” He tells you.
“I promise you that I will be fine! If it means that I get to go away for two weeks with my beautiful wife, then I don’t care how many extra shifts I have to pick up.”
Still, you don’t feel like he should be the only one putting in all this effort for you to go away. You should be participating as well!
“I will pick up some extra hours at work as well then!” You know he is about to protest with the way his eyes start to narrow and his jaw clenching, but you are not giving him a choice in this matter!
“If you are going to work over time, then I’m going to work over time too!”
“Babe, it’s really not necessary! It will be more than enough with the hours I’ll work!” He protests.
“Then it will just be some extra money going straight to our savings – no problem there then.”
He groans loudly and you know you won the battle. He really didn’t have any choice in the matter anyways, but it still nice to know that he’s not going to be mad about it. Maybe a little sulky for the first few days, but that you can deal with.
Suddenly another issue comes to mind that you haven’t even thought about and is a big deal breaker in all of this.
“Will we even be able to get time off at the same times?”  
“Don’t worry about that right now,” he rolls you around, so you are laying on your back with him covering half of your body with his. “if I ask my boss long enough in advance, I’m sure I can accommodate my schedule to yours.”
Your heart flutters wildly in your chest at the pure love his eyes shine at you. You can’t believe you got this lucky to find the perfect man. He never does anything to make you sad or uncomfortable, and he always tries his best to make you feel like a princess and to feel like the happiest woman alive.
And he truly does succeed in doing so! Not a day goes by where you aren’t grateful to have him in your life, and sometimes you even think that you don’t deserve him. You’ve never told him this of course. You could never. You know that it would only make him feel sad that you are thinking this way.
“I love you so much.” You tell him before you firmly capture his lips with yours.
He kisses you back immediately. Your lips quickly finding their rhythm and moving together like they always do so well.
Namjoon pulls back slightly to be able to look at your face. His hot minty breath fans across your cheek as he kisses his way down to your ear. He gently takes your lobe between his teeth, nipping at it but never enough to hurt you. “I love you so much more.”
“Not possible.” Your breath as he keeps kissing and nipping at the skin around your ear. It tingles, and you close your eyes, enjoying the feeling.
“Possible.” He simply says against your neck.
At this point, you don’t bother arguing back. You both know how much you love each other, so the is really no reason to get into at ‘who loves who more’ battle.
And besides… you know he would win in the end anyways, by using all of his cheap tricks to get you to forget about anything other than the feeling of his lips against your body.
Eventually, Namjoon leaves your neck be. You are sure he’s left a few love marks while he was there, but you don’t really mind it. It’s nothing a little makeup can’t hide, and if not, you’ll just wear one of your shirts with a high collar or a scarf.
“What time is it?” you softly say. Your hand running through his hair at the top of his head to his neck where you stop to massage his scalp.
He twists in your embrace to look at the clock on the nightstand. “A little past seven,” he sighs. “We should get up soon.”
“I don’t want to.” You pout. “I wanna stay in bed with you all day!”
“I know you do,” he smugly replies, a smirk dancing on his lips. “But the chances of my mother uninvitedly coming over after breakfast, are extremely high.”
“Why?” you ask with a frown.
“She may have mentioned that she was going to stop by.”
“Ugh…” you groan.
It’s not that you don’t like your mother-in-law, but she has a tendency to stop by at all hours of the day – uninvited, and she always stays for hours, hogging your time with Namjoon.
“She may or may not also have mentioned something about bringing a present.” He tells you.
You perk up immediately at the word present. “A present? What present?”
“If I knew it wouldn’t be a present.”
If there is anything you love nearly as much as Namjoon in this world, its presents and surprises! You love it! You love when you aren’t expecting it or when you don’t know what is inside the box – it’s like Christmas all over.
“Well come on then!” you cheerfully say, your voice raising as you throw the covers off you and roll out of bed. “Let’s get the day started!”
As you rush to the bathroom you can hear Namjoon’s loud laughter, the sound music to your ears.
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This was just a quick little story i got the inspiration to write - it literally took me no time and it’s still unedited so it might be a little messy, with some gramma errors, but i’ll edit it later. 
Remember, if you enjoyed reading this, please like or reblog! ❁
All Rights Reserved © 2020 Kookscrescent
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dansnaturepictures · 4 years ago
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My 10 wildlife and photography highlights of 2020 blogs: Blog 4-My year of butterflies (with mentions of other insects and flowers) Part 1
Complete housekeeping from the offset in that I began this year in these blogs as any other with one post for the highlights of my butterfly year with mentions of dragonflies, damselflies, moths and this year beetles and flowers I’d seen in places too this year more than ever for the latter. It became so long and like a dairy format charting days of lockdown and working from home, which was important in examining my year. So I let this blog run until my week off work in late June, then with the pandemic creating some spare slots this year in the thread my sixth of these highlights posts on Wednesday is a continuation mentioning butterflies and the above add-ons if you like notable experiences after that point. This post in the paragraphs below has the general sum up of my butterfly year and the next one is just pure diary of notable experiences from the summer onwards and the usual season winding down type things.
I am going to be quite honest with you and say I wrote this bit of the blog in March during the lockdown because of coronavirus, I have used time as I often do at this time of year so early on to start writing bits of these blogs and getting structures together for them to chart how the rest of the year unfolds. I had had some butterfly action to write about already. Unlike the bird highlights post I started writing the day before when no matter what happened with the virus I’d already had a pretty brilliant three months of birding to tide me over for the whole year, I currently have no idea what kind of butterfly year I’ll have due to Covid – 19 enforced restrictions. But what I can hand on heart say right now which will ring true in December, is this was definitely a memorable and different year of butterflies for me! Sticking to the figures though, I saw 43 species of butterfly in 2020 my second highest ever amount in a year after last year and just ahead of 2018 so actually in the end I did pretty well! I did manage to still luckily see quite a few butterflies during lockdown in great bits of weather, continuing when lockdown eased bit by bit when we could go to see species at further afield locations and it helped me a lot as I express below and a lot in my second butterflies.
Perhaps this year especially in the first lockdown due to seeing them outside the New Forest where I usually would I ended up mentioning seeing other insects quite a few times in this post, but talking about moths, dragon/damselflies etc. sort of relates still so it’s a bit longer than usual I’m afraid but does have butterflies as its main focus. This was an important year for these insects for me as 10 years since I saw and photographed a Silver-washed Fritillary at Bolderwood in the New Forest and said I’d like to know what species it is which sparked my whole interest and passion for butterflies. The trusty butterfly ID book I got that year to learn them from included moths which I dipped into then as I have since and it paved the way for me to take notice of the different dragon and damselflies too so it was a nice milestone a decade.
My butterfly year started in a similar manner to 2018 (the famous – for me – butterfly year where I saw one in the winter before bad weather came and I had a slower start but my season boomed over a hot summer) in that I saw an overwintering species on a sunny day just before storms Ciara and Dennis and that really bad patch of weather hit when I saw a Peacock butterfly dart past me on a sunny day at Toyd Down when that day we went to nearby butterfly haven for us Martin Down too in early February one of my most memorable days this year as I talked about in bird edition of these highlight posts. Date wise it was my second earliest ever first butterfly sighting in a year a theme that would trickle throughout my butterfly and insect year. Everyone noticed this really with a hot spring meaning every butterfly species emerged so early, the summer ones in particular came out around a month earlier which I noticed a lot, and the whole season seemed to be a month ahead which was both fascinating and concerning of the impacts of climate change.
After that the lull came and it wasn’t until the penultimate weekend of March I saw a butterfly again a Brimstone on a verge on the M27 on the way to Fort Cumberland my last regular weekend trip out before the Prime Minister announced the first lockdown. The week that followed was that butterfly awakening moment I always have in the early spring as we had a long patch of really sunny and quite warm in places weather and they came out on mass. Butterflies dominated my once daily allowed walk out to exercise over Lakeside and nearby areas with so many seen of four species. I saw my more Brimstones, my first Small Tortoiseshell and Small White of the year and more Peacocks. I took the first picture in this photoset of a Small Tortoiseshell near Lakeside and second of a Peacock in Lakeside that week. The Small Tortoiseshell made personal history for me as after months of practicing on flowers and plants etc. with my new macro lens my birthday present my main macro subject is butterflies I longed to use it on a butterfly and this was my first butterfly picture produced with my new macro lens as I felt the thrill of the chase of trying to photograph butterflies again to herald a new era for me which excited me very much and I very happy with how good this macro lens is. It gives me detail I have found astonishing when taking the pictures. Seeing the butterflies on these walks and just the walks in general really kept me going during the early parts of the lockdown and my spirits up. As did taking flower and blossom pictures in what was I thought a strong year for me for taking pictures of sights and signs of spring subjects in sunny and cloudy conditions from February onwards with probably my best ever set of blossom pictures and biggest variety of flower pictures in a year taken this year with my new macro lens very useful for flower pictures firstly I practiced it on them ready for butterflies but then was interested enough to photograph them alongside butterflies a lot which felt pivotal in my macro photography part of my hobby and as I chart in these two butterfly highlights posts especially this paved the way for me to learn flowers lots this year. It was a nice opportunity just to observe what was around me on the walks and in the gardens seeing birds, butterflies, bees (which I also saw well throughout the year) and many great flowers and local views. I gained to some extent a greater sense of appreciation for the little and simple things in nature all around me during the lockdown. I got so used to and thoroughly enjoyed Lakeside lunch time and when restrictions eased a bit evenings too sometimes walks I missed them or certain parts of them when rain or something hindered me doing them on a day. It’s amazing how many of the butterflies I saw for the first time in 2020 over my local country park Lakeside some I wouldn’t normally see here too so like with bird year ticks I got there it made me appreciate just how much is about on my local site being there daily. In 2018 this highlights blog in that year’s thread about butterflies reflected the stark weather extremes and how it impacted my year a key theme of my 2018 more than most of the blogs and this year it does the same for the coronavirus and this period of time where I worked from home early on and we were in lockdown is a definitive stretch of my 2020 so impacted my hobby massively.
The weekend after that week on a sunny and very warm daily exercise walk by the river Itchen I was delighted to see more Peacocks, Brimstones, Small Whites and my first Comma and female Orange Tips of the year. These were key first sightings of 2020 in a classic spring walk for me where I saw so many birds and butterflies and my first Swallow of the year too really lifting my spirts over that time. The next day I saw my first Speckled Wood of the year and many other butterflies mostly Small Tortoiseshell at Lakeside. During the following week I saw my first Large White of the year over Lakeside during daily exercise putting me on a pretty healthy 8 butterflies for the year at that stage given it was nearly three weeks into the lockdown so the butterflies began really emerging from the lockdown onwards but as I said at the time it came at the right time in a way as the ones emerging obviously were the early/all season butterflies which are the common ones and ones I did not have to travel to see. On Good Friday that week on a hot and sunny daily exercise walk at local Stoke Park Wood I saw six butterfly species, my first Holly Blue of the year and first male Orange Tip of 2020 both seen for an extended period the highlights as the butterfly season continued to blossom at that stage. On Easter Saturday a very hot walk at Hut Wood contained many more Peacocks seen and other butterflies most notably a male Orange Tip we saw fly by. Hut Wood was somewhere I’d never been before that day but during the lockdown 1.0 we relied on this beautiful and precious patch, hidden away in an urban area really, a lot for daily exercise walks and saw brilliant wildlife and views all round along the way on various walks a very key place for us to still get out as we safely could in that period. On Easter Sunday I saw some more butterflies beside the River Itchen with male and female Orange Tip the stars as well as Small White and Small Tortoiseshell. Even with the sun in and out somewhat and temperatures lower it seemed on Easter Monday where we went to Lakeside for daily exercise I saw a nice Speckled Wood flying. A key event in my Easter weekend too was seeing the tree visible from my room out the back in a neighbouring garden blossom really rapidly in hot weather. There was literally more blossom on it and in greater blossom every time I looked even within one day I noticed the difference on the Good Friday. This set the tone for me to enjoy this tree and notice it in glorious green all summer and into the autumn after the blossom was gone. Nice for a tree I first ever noticed in its red autumnal colour. I took the third picture in this photoset of another Speckled Wood at Lakeside the next day which was also very sunny during daily exercise. The day after that I got more great butterfly views at Lakeside of a few species especially of Holly Blue and nice bright views of male Orange Tips flying some of my best views of them this year in another strong spring for me for them and I also saw my first Large Red Damselfly of the year on that walk my first dragonfly or damselfly seen this year and my earliest ever sighting of the species in a year.
In mid-April on a Sunday daily exercise walk at a hot, sunny and yellow cowslip covered Magdalen Hill I had a wonderful and standout day of watching and photographing butterflies with me hitting some butterfly form with my new macro lens as such. We saw seven species of butterfly that day a high at that stage in the year, including my first Red Admirals and Green Hairstreak this year the former a relief I waited a little longer to see my first Red Admiral this year again and the latter quite the surprise as my earliest ever sighting of one in a year my first ever April sighting of one a special species I thought I may miss due to the virus. We got cracking views of it, the Red Admirals which I took the fourth picture in this photoset of one that day and the other species on that walk; many male Orange Tips, Holly Blue, Peacock, Comma and Brimstone including three flying together in the air which stood out as a memorable image in my head from the walk. The Green Hairstreak sighting was one of my moments of the year and I took one of my favourite photos this year and ever of it, an early strong one with my new macro lens and all the detail it brings of a butterfly what I mostly have a macro for so it was quite magical. Back on a weekday Lakeside daily exercise lunch time walk that following week I saw my next butterfly species this year when I stumbled across a beautiful Small Copper in a grassland area and watched it for a bit. Whilst I had seen them here before this was another surprise sighting for me really and another that was my earliest ever of the species. I was relieved also to see it as it was one I often see at locations we couldn’t go during the lockdown. Just like my first Common Tern of the year that I saw on the same walk that day it was a species that is common but that I don’t often see so locally that it showed me this day it is here locally and during the lockdown when I could look really close at what is immediately around me I saw what remarkable species are there and its one positive I took out of this difficult time for us all. That Friday that followed I finally saw a more common species that I’d been hoping to see all that week on exercise walks when I saw my first Green-veined White of the spring in another Lakeside daily exercise walk as well as some more Orange Tips very well. That was the last early common one I needed to see so brought a great sense of satisfaction. On that day it made my butterfly year list my joint second highest ever on that date compared to previous lists of mine on that date only one behind last year which was my highest ever butterfly year list total so it showed how the immense sunny and quite hot weather that we had during the lockdown helped me make a solid start to my butterfly year list during exercise walks.
The count of butterfly species in a day was higher still during a daily exercise walk the following Sunday the last of April on a very hot, sunny and memorable afternoon at Farley Mount. I saw my first Grizzled Skipper, Small Heath and Dingy Skippers of 2020 which was great the first two my earliest ever sightings of them in a year and also first I’d ever seen in April. It took my year list to 16 my highest ever amount on that date in a year. Other notable butterflies seen that walk included another Green Hairstreak just hanging on a tree something I really miss days I could see that now and for me that is spring and Red Admiral and more Orange Tips. The following Friday I finally got my first Orange Tip picture for just under five years the fifth of my pictures in this photoset when I saw a couple, and a Green-veined White very closely and so much more wildlife on a particularly memorable day where I took many photos too as I did a daily exercise walk over Lakeside. I had really been hoping for and trying to capture a rarely landing Orange Tip with the camera after a brilliant spring for them this year just like last year with how many I saw. I was glad I could achieve this. This year was the year to do it. I also reflected this day how I hadn’t ever seen one at the local for me Lakeside before this year and I didn’t really think Orange Tips one of my favourite butterflies would be about here but I frequently saw them along this path on the north of the site this year with great bits of vegetation for them. So it was one positive thing to come from the lockdown that I now know I have these species very close to me in the appropriate season and I had a feeling about that across the board that lockdown taught me just what amazing wildlife is on my doorstep so was a positive to take from this defining and difficult period of 2020. And it may change how and where I do and see things in years to come now.
On a visit to Bentley Wood in early May I was delighted to see my first Pearl-bordered Fritillaries of the year flitting around at various parts of the area we walked in decent numbers. My earliest ever sighting in a year of this one of our most precious and delicate butterfly species and one I always look forward to looking for in May. That day I also saw my first dragonflies of the year in the form of Broad-bodied Chasers both male and some females which was lovely on a sunny day, this also my earliest ever sighting of the species in a year. The following Wednesday I was delighted to see Orange Tip and see and photograph Small Copper flying past the house and on the grassy area outside the house respectively, the closest I’d ever seen both these brilliant species to home. At Lakeside on that walk it was also very nice to see a beautiful and so well coloured Swollen-thighed Beetle on an oxeye daisy and photograph it on the flower. One of the key species I learned in terms of beetles in my best ever year for them. The next day I saw a Small Heath at Lakeside not one I often see there but did loads this year, I photographed one here the following Tuesday the seventh picture in this photoset I had a good year for these I thought. The day after that the VE Day bank holiday Friday I saw Small Heaths in great numbers at Magdalen Hill during a daily exercise walk nice to see so many flitting around the grasses as well as yet more Green Hairstreaks in my best ever spring for them probably. Brimstone, Green-veined White, Small Tortoiseshell and views of Whitethroat bird wise also stood out on that very hot for May and sunny walk that day. On another very hot and sunny day at Hut Wood the following day I was pleased to see Brimstones with three males chasing a female all flying together in a long line which looked great and more of them, Peacock, Holly Blues and my first Beautiful Demoiselles of the year my second earliest ever sighting of one in a year. The day further became about different things for us to see and the little things of nature as we enjoyed views of lots of lovely Green Tiger Beetles flying and moving around, nice to see them again after a Studland in Dorset sighting of them in 2013 I have always liked them since and it came at a great time as I showed great interest in beetles those few days after the Swollen-thighed and I’d put together a list of all the identified ones I’d ever seen. I took the sixth picture in this photoset of one of the Green Tiger beetles that day. My first Foxgloves of the year and a slow worm on the path seen also stood out that day. That night a pretty Small dusty wave moth flew into our house which I photographed. The next day a grey one at Stockbridge Down the walk was rather lit up by a Common Blue flying by and landing, yet another butterfly year tick that was my earliest ever sighting of one in a year, a nice milestone butterfly that puts you into the mind that summer is near. On some cloudy days or cloudy parts of days around that time I still saw butterflies happily quite active so it showed the real peak of the season was around the corner where butterflies would be active not just on the sunny days.
On a sunny and cloudy in places Friday 15th May I had a brilliant lunch time Lakeside walk when I finally, for a third year running still quite notable at this very local site for me, saw the Brown Argus my first this year I had been looking for on exercise walks there all week. I spent a treasured few moments with this stunning species which I personally have a lot of admiration for in the “Marbled White meadow” area a bit of rich butterfly, flower and insect generally grassland I nickname in the park. Green-veined White, Small Heath and Speckled Wood were also about that day. On the walk to Lakeside I did spot my first Common Blue Damselfly of the year too that day, my earliest ever sighting of one in a year the Brown Argus was my second earliest sighting of one in a year after last year. I saw the Brown Argus again the following Wednesday and following an evening and morning watching four of them in this field area in early March I got a magical natural moment that hot and sunny day seeing a Roe Deer’s face right beside me peering out of lush and dense vegetation. The day after Friday 15th after the lockdown restrictions had their first easing in May we managed to do our under threat yearly pilgrimage to Noar Hill in the South Downs. Here we were very fortunate to get to see about 5-6 of its main star the Duke of Burgundy. This made me extremely happy and it was a true honour to once again get to see one of our rarest and absolutely most beautiful butterflies and enjoy such special moments with them. One of my butterfly moments of the year as always. I also saw my first Small Blue of the year that day and Dingy Skipper, Orange Tip, many Small Heaths, my first Five-spot burnet moth of the year and a Swollen-thighed Beetle again on a buttercup a very successful and memorable walk. The next day I saw two equally as breathtaking species for the first time in 2020, Adonis Blue and Marsh Fritillary on a walk at Martin Down. These two were massive standout butterflies of my year I was so pleased to get to see this year on a standout day which included top bird sightings too. I was so fortunate as I mention in other highlights posts this year too to get to enjoy Martin Down on the edge of the county so much this year through the spring and summer and even slightly into autumn. I also saw so many other butterfly species that day including Small Copper, Green Hairstreak, Orange Tip, Small and Common Blues, Grizzled and Dingy Skippers as well as my first Cinnabar moth of the year.
At Lakeside on a scorching and sunny 21st May walk I found a lovely little watery, reedbed and boggy spot where I enjoyed views of Broad-bodied Chaser, Common Blue Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly and as I was transfixed on watching these a Blue-tailed Damselfly appeared my first of the year the second earliest first sighting in a year I’d ever had of one of them. The next day I was lucky enough to see Common Blue damselflies mating I really got close and fascinating views of that and all the little movements which was a special spring moment I took a macro picture, and see and photograph another Large Red Damselfly along the path I saw the one in April in more habitat teeming with damselflies. I got a second Marsh Fritillary fix at Bentley Wood on second May bank holiday Monday when we saw a good few there in a field and very closely too. I had never seen any here before so it was the first time I’d seen any outside of Martin Down whilst I always love seeing them and everything there which was great I loved seeing them again. That day at Bentley Wood I also saw more Pearl-bordered Fritillary and sightings of more Five-spot Burnet, Broad-bodied Chaser, the damselflies and Southern Hawker and Keeled Skimmer which I’d seen for the first time in 2020 in the New Forest the day before stood out. Also nice to see; our first ever Mother Shipton moth briefly which was nice, tadpoles in the pond and bees in and around a nest that day. A key spring day. That day before we went out I witnessed some raw wildlife action in my bedroom en suite when I saw a very large spider and photographed it there and noticed it had consumed a smaller spider which I had seen and photographed before. This and the few weeks where I saw lots of spiders headlined an amazing year I had of seeing insects and lots of spiders in the house and taking pictures of them with my new macro lens so good for detail within the light environment of inside and not what I’d experienced before perhaps animals I wouldn’t have noticed before which was great. Back to Lakeside on a very sunny and hot lunch time walk on 27th May I was delighted to see my first Meadow Browns of 2020 a couple in the long grass there. Easily my earliest ever sighting of them in a year as my first ever May sighting of one, showing again how seeing butterflies on local walks this year my butterfly season was a bit ahead in terms of its timeline than my other years. This was such an important one too as the first I saw this year that I see as a summer species always a magical moment to look forward to what’s to come. That day it was nice to see the fairly similar Small Heath butterfly around for comparisons as well as Whitethroat and Roe Deer other wildlife wise. I photographed the first Meadow Brown that day on one of the big oxeye daisies fittingly as on that day with two photographs also taken of landscapes dominated by them and a few weeks proceeding it the meadows of Lakeside and surrounding areas including our garden a little were teeming with them. I had a great year for regular daisies too. I always love seeing these flowers but noticed and appreciated it in particular this spring especially the sheer amount of them. That Friday I got even closer to a Meadow Brown at Lakeside, whilst also seeing Small Heath, Brown Argus and Common Blue on another gorgeous weather day. That walk I also had one of my flower moments of the year seeing a Bee Orchid for the first time in the flesh an iconic, distinctive and truly beautiful wildflower so I was very happy. I took the eighth picture in this photoset of it. I saw them again a few weeks later here too. Alongside the Snake’s head fritillaries I got to love and was delighted to see and photograph at Lakeside earlier in the spring and a few more I’ve seen what a glorious urban site for special wild flowers Lakeside is this year. The Bee orchids really defined the lockdown or part-lockdown spring for me. That evening I did one in a series of more relaxed and reflective Friday evening walks as I finish half an hour early that day from work and the restrictions lessening allowed more than one walk in a day. I saw a Common Blue damselfly by some nice flowers I admired down the road in bright sun, a Blue-tailed Damselfly by Lakeside on the walk and following the Small Copper and Orange Tip nicely in a lot of butterflies seen here this year another Meadow Brown over the green at the front of the house.
We returned to Bentley Wood the following Saturday in one of my best general wildlife days this year. This included great views of my first Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and Large Skippers of the year. Another summer butterfly with Large Skipper my second earliest ever sighting of one in a year. Two of my standout butterflies of 2020 so enchanting to see them, to make it the highest a butterfly year list of mine had ever ended May on at 26 two ahead of my tremendous year of butterflies last year at that stage. It was a very memorable day for flowers and dragonflies too with my first Four-spotted Chaser and Emperor dragonfly seen this year by the pond some awesome spawning behaviour witnessed by the Emperor especially too which was a top wild memory on a hot and sunny day. I took the ninth picture in this photoset of the Emperor dragonfly. It was my second earliest first Emperor sighting of the year too and also meant I’d seen more dragonflies or damselflies than I ever had to end May this year on that day I’d seen treble the amount I’d seen at that stage last year my highest ever dragonfly and damselfly year list. Meadow Brown, Large Red Damselfly and Broad-bodied Chaser completed the highlights that day. We closed a marvellous May especially for butterflies at Martin Down on a sunny Sunday afternoon getting to get valuable second or subsequent chances to see species we’d seen that month or before again; such as many Adonis Blues and Small Heaths, Small Blue, Green Hairstreak and Cinnabar and burnet moths alongside lots of top bird encounters that afternoon. It was also nice seeing more Meadow Brown and Large Skipper top additions to our butterfly scene at that stage I got a picture I was proud of featuring the Large Skipper that day the tenth and final that I took in this photoset. One of my best butterfly pictures this year. That day I also saw a larger fritillary species – most likely either Dark Green or Silver-washed – flying over the grass far away I did not get the chance to tell which but it was another extremely early sighting of a summer butterfly.
I was delighted to see my first Black-tailed Skimmer of 2020 at Lakeside on lunch on 1st June, not one I excepted to see here and my first ever at Lakeside so another showing how I can open my eyes to just what is about on my local patch. It was once again my earliest ever sighting of one in a year and is now a crucial one for me to see year after year as my dragonfly year really got going over that period of hot and sunny weather. Brilliant to see and I enjoyed more views of Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Speckled Wood alongside other wildlife that fine day. On another hot and sunny day the next day I was happy to see Small Tortoiseshell there throwing back to the earlier spring this year as well as many of my star species from previous days again which was nice. The Small Tortoiseshell was seen on a lunch time and evening walk the latter I got great vibes and memories on a hot evening walking over to the meadow areas here like I as a tradition do a lot on summer nights on memorable and packed butterfly watching nights the whole feelings of the evening just took me back to those times in past years. It showed the strong stage of the season we were in as the next day that was slightly wetter and cooler albeit humid still a real weather change after a long run I still managed to see Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Blue-tailed Damselfly and some moths at Lakeside. Meadow Browns were around the next grey day mostly too and over those few days there seemed to be one at every turn everywhere I looked at Lakeside especially in grass when I walked over there alongside other summer species it was that moment where I became so used to them and reassured by their presence to sustain the status of early summer as the weather dipped a bit. The sun was back for my lunch time walk that Friday and as if nothing had changed Meadow Browns, Brown Argus and Common Blue were ones I saw on the walk alongside Comma, a dragonfly species and a Common Blue damselfly a walk I saw more great flowers on too like a pyramidal orchid. I remarked what a rich urban site for flowers Lakeside is which is wonderful. The working week was finished off perfectly as I was drawn back to Lakeside for a second walk that Friday with an early Marbled White on my mind. I didn’t see a Marbled White but was delighted to see an orange skipper species at first thinking large, but when I looked at it properly landed in the long grass I was thrilled to notice it was actually a Small Skipper following its cousin onto my year list still on dizzy high figures compared to my previous years at this time. This was yet again my earliest ever sighting of one in a year by far I don’t usually see them until mid-June at the very earliest and often July. So it was a wonderful surprise seeing this species I very often see with the Marbled Whites before it which doesn’t normally happen. It was at a time of year when many of the summer species were being seen in this country so early by everyone so it was a real notable moment of that observation trend of mine with butterflies this year and a wonderful memory for me seeing my first of this species this year a key moment for me in 2020. I saw yet another summer species and had another of the standout butterfly moments of my 2020 the next day as I saw one of my favourites the Silver-studded Blue relatively hunkered down on a grey and showery day at Deadman Hill in the New Forest. My third earliest ever sighting of one in a year.
I had a brilliant butterfly lunch time walk at Lakeside on 9th June one of my best this year. I got cracking views of a Comma, many Meadow Browns with their wings open which was memorable and I photographed and Small Skipper. Also in the area I call Marbled White meadow after days of searching with others seeing them and the grass looking more and more ready for them each day I caught sight of a Marbled White. This was a special moment as I felt compelled to follow it into long grass. I got some precious moments enjoying its intricate and stunning colour scheme a black and white scheme my T-shirt that day resembled. For this a species I usually see for the first time in a year on my commutes home from work cutting through here without a camera and have to run home to get my camera and back to try and find it or one again it was a relief that lunch time to be able to with my macro lens photograph it again straight away on a nice sunny patch of a day that had its fair share of cloudy moments too. Seeing the Marbled White here has become such a tradition for me so it felt wonderful to see one that lunch time and it was yet again my earliest ever sighting of this species in a year as I was well into seeing the summer species by that point. As rain engulfed much of the later half of that week I still saw moths and Meadow Brown well at Lakeside with a nice Friday view of a Yellow Shell moth. I went back that same evening and saw another Yellow Shell as well as my first ever Burnet companion moth it was an amazing and beautiful little thing to see. I reflected how my interest in moths was really growing this year as well. I also got lovely views of Meadow Brown and more precious Small Skipper and Marbled White views too.
I had a beautiful taste of summer day for insects at Stockbridge Down and Common Marsh the next day in June where I had my best ever afternoon of seeing Dark Green Fritillaries at the down really with dozens seen and some very close we saw they are stunning butterflies, my first of the year another summer species I saw on my earliest date in a year ever. I took I feel my best ever picture of this species that day too with my macro lens. I also saw more Marbled Whites, Green-veined White, Small Blue and Heath, Cinnabar moth and got great views of three of my favourites the Large Skipper, many Small Tortoiseshells and Adonis Blue which was great. At Common Marsh I got the great summer moment of seeing my first Scarlet Tiger moth of the year I do like them and as I have done before there saw my first Banded Demoiselle of the year. Meadow Brown and Small Tortoiseshell were about there too a pivotal part of my year. The next day at Martin Down another top one I got great views of Dark Green Fritillary, Marbled White, Meadow Browns, Small Tortoiseshell as a little influx of them occurred, Large and Small Skipper and Cinnabar moth as well as see only my second ever Chimney Sweeper moths. Poppies turning a field visible from there red from a beauty and landscape photography point of view stood out on that walk too as did seeing little red flowers do the same to Stockbridge Down the day before. Memorable moments for photos.
On the Monday that followed my next butterfly quest was fulfilled as I saw a Ringlet flying at Lakeside in a flower bed by the visitor centre, my first of the year, my earliest ever sighting of one in a year once again and an impressive I thought eleventh butterfly year tick seen either in or near to Lakeside this year. It was a great moment seeing this subtly different to Meadow Brown butterfly which I anticipated a lot for the second year running as a year tick here. I also got cracking views of Meadow Browns, Marbled White and Large Skipper in flower rich long grassed meadows here that day. The next day I saw Ringlet and Marbled White again in rich flower patches beside and at the back of the visitor centre with Small Tortoiseshell too, as well as on the walk Meadow Brown, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Black-tailed Skimmer and Emperor dragonfly on what turned into a hot and sunny lunch break at Lakeside. The next day Lakeside was teeming with Marbled Whites and Small Skippers with the sun in and out and I knew peak season was here in the grasses really amazing to see. I also saw Meadow Browns, a bee on our buddleia bush at home, Banded Demoiselle and many flowers again such as bee and pyramidal orchid that day. I enjoyed so many other great orchids so close to me at Lakeside this year too like southern marsh and common spotted which was great. On that Friday I realised a bit of an ambition this year of photographing butterflies mating again I’d not managed it with a macro lens for years but I was thrilled to see two Marbled Whites mating in the grassland near the woods in the south west of Lakeside by the path that takes you to the ford. It was a beautiful natural moment to witness and get so close to smashing stuff with Small Skipper and Meadow Brown seen well yet again too that day. The mating Marbled Whites one of my butterfly pictures of the year too. A lot of the experiences in June when I mentioned or posted a photo of them on Twitter I did so with the #30DaysWild hashtag. After taking part in the last two shorter festive additions around Christmas and New Year it was the first year ever I contributed to this iconic and inspiring Twitter hashtag that unifies people run by the Wildlife Trust and supported by many what with me really immersing myself in wildlife at least once every day thanks to working from home so I very much enjoyed that.
After this came my week off of work where I mentioned any notable butterfly or insect experiences in my next of these posts about it. I saw my first Silver-Washed Fritillary and Purple Hairstreak of the year at Bentley Wood, first White Admiral and Purple Emperors of the year at Knepp, first Lulworth Skippers of the year at Durlston, first Wall Brown and Gatekeeper of the year at Portland Bill and my first ever Stag beetle at Fishlake Meadows during that week. Thanks for bearing with me in this really long highlights blog one of my longest ever for sure, although I’m afraid the next one and my autumn one this year is longer! As I said at the top, my sixth of these posts on Wednesday is about what happened next in my butterfly, insect and flower year after the week off so do look out for that if you’re interested. In my bonus eleventh highlights post this year about my November and December I also wrote about topics covered in this blog.
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